THE Ombili Foundation near Oshivelo, which cares for 480 San people of all ages, needs support to sustain its work, says Ombili Foundation Manager Alfred Schultz.
According to Schultz, the San people had for centuries maintained a nomadic hunter-gatherer way of life but could no longer do so in modern-day Namibia.
Schultz said it was now the country’s responsibility to integrate the San people into the modern lifestyle, to teach them how to produce their own food, to send them to school and to employ them or help them how set up their own projects.
Schultz said for centuries the San people never opposed potential oppressors, always withdrawing when attacked, which resulted in the loss of their traditional hunting grounds and way of life.
He said, the non-aggressive peaceful nature of the San people made them an easy target for exploitation by fellow Africans, and that this ‘modern-day slavery’ is still widespread and one of the most important factors contributing to the misery and poverty in which many of the San communities live today.
They were employed as cattle herders or farm labourers and rewarded with alcohol and little food, resulting in starvation, alcoholism and the deterioration of the traditional moral fibre of the San communities.
Against this background, Schultz said, farmers living in northern Namibia founded the Ombili Foundation in 1989.
He said the farmers who had lived and worked with San people for several generations believed it to be in the interest of Namibia to find a way whereby the San could be helped to adapt to modern life and ultimately achieve self-reliance.
In 1990, Klaus Jochen Mais-Rische donated a part of the farm Hedwigslust to the Ombili Foundation and 380 San men, women and children opted to make this their new home.
Hunting is strictly forbidden there due to a dwindling wildlife population, but the gathering of wild fruit, berries, bulbs, wild spinach, mushrooms, termites and materials for handcraft is allowed on 10 000 hectares outside the 30 hectares donated by the owner.
Schultz said a code of conduct was formulated based on traditional values whereby the community lives.
During the years 1990 to 1997, Schultz said, certain projects such as a four-hectare vegetable garden under irrigation had been established, while millet and beans are grown annually on the neighbouring farm Ondera, courtesy of the owner at no cost to the Ombili Foundation.
Traditional and other handicrafts are encouraged and taught and the products are bought by the Foundation to be sold locally or exported.
A community centre, school, workshop, kindergarten, hostel, classrooms and housing for teachers and staff members have been completed with financial contributions by sponsors from Germany and donations by private individuals.
The Ombili Foundation has bought cattle that will eventually contribute to the goal of being more self-sufficient.
‘The transition from hunter-gatherer to self-production is not easy and a daily routine has been introduced, and the jobs include working in the vegetable garden, fields or with cattle, in the workshop, in the kindergarten and hostel,’ said Schultz.
The Foundation’s school, opened in 1993, teaches children from grade one to seven and currently has about 250 pupils.
‘We do not claim to have all the answers but together we are willing to face the problems that come our way,’ the Ombili Foundation manager said.
Schultz thanked all the sponsors, donors and visitors who support the Foundation, saying that without their support, the project would not have been possible.
