Real Namibia: Oshakati

“Probably the best way to describe Oshakati is to say that it is ‘a small African village that suddenly aspired to be New York’.”

While the rest of Namibia strives to be European in Africa, the road to Oshakati leads straight into Africa. There are a number of routes to Oshakati from all over Namibia, but you only really know that you are on the way when you see the first huts and cuca shops.

Central northern Namibia is regarded as ‘home’ by most members of the Oshiwambo culture, the largest group of people in Namibia. On every major holiday, and on as many weekends as possible, many Oshiwambo people will take the opportunity to head north to the family’s farmstead. It is an exodus that leaves everywhere else slightly understaffed and frustrated.

Oshakati lies at the center of the central northern area, and as such, enjoys the status of a ‘second capital’. Roughly half of Namibia’s population claims a home within comfortable driving distance of the town, although it is useful to bear in mind that a two or three hour drive is regarded as comfortable in Namibia.

Although there are many similarities to the rest of Namibia, Oshakati is different in many respects, very different. Probably the best way to describe Oshakati is to say that it is ‘a small African village that suddenly aspired to be New York’. Everyone has a very entrepreneurial attitude of an Asian with his first shop in a big city, there is no end to the nightlife, but goats and donkeys are not uncommon on the side of the highway.

The culture of Oshakati is wrapped up in the extended family. Everyone is a cousin or a second cousin to about a hundred other people with whom they will meet and exchange lengthy, formalized greetings.

The economy is also wrapped up in the extended family. A family will have a farmstead in the communal farming area. As families grew, the land was subdivided so related families farmed the dame areas. The main products of the farming are goats and Mahangu, the Namibian version of millet, although cattle is farmed to a lesser degree.

Prominent or more affluent members of the family will own what is known as a cuca store. This store sells basic household necessities such as soap, maize meal, sugar, cosmetics and sweets for the kids to extended family and any other passer by. It also usually doubles as the neighbourhood pub.

The most remarkable thing about the cuca shop is the name. ‘Club Hot Fire Love Life and Industrial Engineers No. 17’ would not be out of place. Nor are ‘Mr Bean Bar Number 7’ or ‘Sun International Hotel and Hair Dresser Number 2’. The reason for the numbering is that if you have a shop numbered seven, it stands to reason that there must be numbers one to five, so perhaps people will believe you are prosperous even if numbers one to six are presently only an aspiration.

The basic unit of currency is the goat. Although much has been said about the value of cash in the economy, a pair of goats can make more goats, and they are exchangeable for cash if it is needed. A man with two goats may seem poor, but if they are in the right mood, he could be well on his way to wealth.

That all of this works, is proved by the fact that the place is busy, and every visit to the town reveals a new shopping center, open market complex or housing development.

The visible, traditional culture of Oshakati and the north is being swamped out of existence by the new spirit of materialism. Although huts are still very much in evidence on the traditional farmsteads, they are giving way to brick and cement houses as the wealth pours in.

A glimpse of the visible manifestations of older traditional culture can still be gained at a couple of traditional villages and the museum but the vestiges of this culture in the broader environment will only remain for a while. Oshakati is changing as rapidly as money can be had to afford change.

That being said, the family bonds and the entrepreneurial drive will remain and in this regard, Oshakati will continue to be a dominating force in Namibia’s society.