My Culture, My Life

Dancing, singing, eating, experiencing and learning – this is what the Sanlam My Culture, My Life roadshow is all about.

On 4 June, the My Culture, My Life crew hit the road to the Erongo and Kunene regions, where most of the roadshow took place, to explore the Damara culture and educate the youth on the importance of knowledge and pride in your culture.

Zenao Angula, the brains behind the project, said the roadshow has been running for the past three years where the regions targeted were Omusati, Kavango East and Kavango West – and this year Kunene and Erongo, of course. The cultures dealt with previously were the Owambo culture and the Kavango culture.

The roadshow incorporates entertainment, education and interaction between the My Culure, My Life crew and the communities as well as different schools.

This year was certainly an exciting experience as radio presenter NSK as well as artists Female Donkey and Kalux brought so much energy to the schools that it was really hard not to have a good time.

While NSK led the programme, Kalux and Female Donkey not only entertained pupils with their hit songs, but also took it upon themselves to educate the pupils with informative and interesting presentations on the Damara culture.

Kalux’s presentation dealt with traditional food, traditional musical instruments and the traditional lifestyle. Always energetically kicking off his presentation, the artist would dive into his first topic, asking the pupils how much they know about their traditional food.

“Damara traditional food is vey unique and special,” he would say. Kalux then went on to the most popular dish in his culture and one the pupils was very excited to talk about it. “The most common meal enjoyed by the people is porridge, called ‘mai-i’ which is prepared over an open fire. The porridge is prepared in two ways. The first being the ‘mai-i’ which can be served with meat and sauce and then there is ‘maxua’, which is a thin porridge made from maize meal, consumed as a drink,” he explained.

Kalux further stated that Damara people also used to make their own fat from cow milk which is called ‘gomasam’. “After milking the cow, the milk is put in a wide open bowl and when cream forms on top, it is scooped and prepared to make butter. You then boil the milk until the milk and fat is separated,” he said, adding that the fat could either be used to cook meat or be put in porridge.

He also mentioned biltong, various wild fruit, traditional beer and vetkoek.

The artist also elaborated on the creativity of traditional Damara musical instruments. “A flute guitar was usually made out of tins and fishing lines. Bamboo cane was used as special flute like instruments. Drums were made from hollowed wood stumps and covered with dried animal hides,” he said.

Kalux then went on to the third and final part of his presentation – weddings. “In Damara tradition, the sister had to choose a wife for their brother in order to secure his happiness, and in that way they can also not complain about her as she is their choice,” Kalux started off. He further mentioned that the bride’s family had to pay dowry of one cow with a young calf to symbolise the bride’s fertility and that she would be able to secure the wealth of the family through offspring.

“Young girls, upon starting with their womanhood – when they have their first menstruation – had to undergo a ritual to separate and prevent them from a risky and promiscuous lifestyle. They were kept in a secret rooms and taught matters concerning motherhood and other feminine things to insure young girls to become responsible wives and mothers one day,” Kalux said in his presentation, adding that the man’s role in the family is that of the breadwinner who would hunt while the women raised the children and took care of the matters of the house.

“Traditional stories were told around the fire and usually grandparents were responsible for telling the tales to the grandkids. The most well-known tale was about ‘/Girib tsi #Hiras’ – ‘Jackal and the Wolf,’ Kalux concluded.

After performing his hit song ‘Netira’ which is a crowd favourite, NSK welcomed Female Donkey to the stage. In true Female Donkey fashion, she took the schools by storm with her dancing and singing, however remained stern when it came to the educational part of her presentation.

Just like Kalux, Female Donkey dealt with three different topics in her culture, namely the upbringing of children, traditional attire and and the selection of a tribal chief.

Female Donkey mentioned that after the birth of a baby, the mother is treated with a variety of natural herbs. The newborn and mother have to stay home for up to three months while elders aided the new mother.

“The baby goes through a ritual where the its hair gets cut and a traditional name is given by the father during the traditional practice. During this process, the mother and the child receive gifts, caretakers receive the sign of gratitude and only the people offering gifts are allowed to see the baby. The practice is then ended with a celebration in which the hair cutting process takes place and everyone who attended the ritual is invited to eat and drink,” Female Donkey explained.

Moving on to traditional attire, Female Donkey would swing her beautiful blue, white and green traditional Damara dress in the wind before quizzing the pupils as to what the different colours meant.

She mentioned that the historical traditional attire has been replaced with contemporary attire. “The animal hides were replaced with fashionable fabrics in the Damara culture. This attire is normally worn at auspicious occasions. Thus the Damara people sought a perfect replacement for the animal hides and introduced the Damarokoes (Damara dress),” she explained.

Female Donkey then dealt with the colours of the dress. Blue identifies all the different clans amongst the Damara groups while the green and white represents peace among all Damara speaking people.

The head gear, known as the Damara!kaib, is fashionably tied and also serves to carry firewood and water containers on the women’s heads. “This process is known in Damara as ‘khao’, meaning to carry a load or something on the head,” Female Donkey said.

She then also explained that the fashionable elbow sleeves were designed to allow for free movement of the arms with no constraints while the dress is not too long to prevent it from catching dirt from the ground or thorns and branches.

“The Damara attire for men are shirts, coats and blazers which include the traditional colours such as blue, green and white,” she said.

In the selection of traditional leaders, Female Donkey explained that the chosen leaders select their own advisors after observing how these individuals look after their families and interact with the people in the community, including strangers.

She mapped out the characteristics of a chief: To be patient, experienced, fit and well-mannered.

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