Most-prized Possession

 

Most Prized Possession

In 2004, we visited our daughter, a Peace Corps volunteer, in Namibia, Africa. After seeing her work and enjoying the overwhelming hospitably of the people of her village, we visited the homestead of a family in the Himba tribe. The Himba people are hunter-gatherers and subsistence farmers relying on their cattle and goats for housing, clothing, and food. When we arrived, we were welcomed by the patriarch who introduced us to his wife and children. Proudly, he showed us his cattle. Cattle are an indication of wealth in the Himba culture. He drew milk from a cow into a goatskin pouch and invited us into the family’s home that was constructed from goatskins.

Inside, we gathered into a circle around a central fire pit. As we passed around the milk pouch  to sample the fresh milk, the family pointed out their furnishings, crafts, and jewelry made by the women, and farming tools, all the while laughing with one another. The Himba use a paste, called otjize, made from butterfat and ochre pigment to protect their hair and skin from the hot climate and insects. The matriarch demonstrated how she ground up the ochre, an orange-colored clay, mixed it with fat, and created the paste. She then offered to share it with us. We laughed together as she painted our daughter’s face a bright orange. 

Through our interpreter, the mother offered to show us her most prized possession. We were expecting to see another useful tool or even a goat. Excitedly, she held out her voter registration card. Namibia’s voting campaign that year had encouraged everyone in cities, villages, and rural areas to register.  In their traditional dress, each citizen had been photographed and registered. This card showed our hostess, hair and face painted with otjize, smiling broadly. 

Voting is a right Americans share with the people of Namibia. Our homes and cultures may differ but our duties as citizens are the same. We have a duty to register and to vote. Our Himba hostess was proud of her right to vote. Are we as proud? If you were asked to share your most-prized possessions, would your right-to-vote be on the list?  

As we left the Himba homestead, children ran waving after us. We remember the bittersweet milk, the goatskin house, the orange otjize, and the laughing family. We also remember the pride on the face of a busy woman who knows that she has a voice in her nation’s future. Be sure to have a voice in yours. 

Register today. Vote.