Coming to Namibia is nothing new, but what I have experienced there has always been a different experience. This is Namibia, Africa, an intriguing country, where the lives of the people are eye-opening, and what I saw and heard here is even more unforgettable for me as a seafarer, I can't imagine how different people's lives and cultures are, and the real experience is hard for me to believe.
I have been engaged in navigation for more than ten years, and I have been to more than a dozen coastal countries on the African continent, and each country has left a different impression on me, the seafood market in some countries has left a deep impression on me, the natural environment of some countries has left a deep impression on me, and the culture of the country, especially the humanistic culture, has left the deepest impression on me.
Namibia is one such country. When I first came to this country, my only impression of the country was that it was hot and poor, and I didn't have a good impression. Later, when I went deeper into this country, I realized that this country is worth exploring, and there are so many people and things that are worth encountering.
Not to mention, back in 2015, Namibia left a very deep impression on me, especially the girls there, which may have been a rare sight for me as an adult.
On that day, our ship entered the port of the country of Namibia as planned. After entering the port, the officials who came to the ship looked very different. One by one, they opened their mouths to us lions, wanting to get more out of our ship.
The first to come to our ship is the agent and customs, these two identities of people we have a lot of contact, this country of these two people we have met many times, every time to come is a challenge, especially customs and quarantine, it is really difficult to deal with the master, on the ship is not in the first time to clear us customs, but to ask us for things.
I remember that customs was like that, and as soon as we arrived on the ship, we had to inspect the food depot on our ship. They treat food banks like vaults and want to get more out of them.
At that time, the customs office asked us for a bag of rice, a basket of fruits, and also asked the captain for a box of wine and a drink. Seeing that he got so much joy, he properly helped us to process the customs clearance documents clearly.
After finishing the documents, watching them leave with fat heads and big bellies, carrying things and swaggering, I shook my head, this is Namibia. Maybe it's hard for a layman to have such an experience, but only when seafarers like us come to this country and experience it firsthand, we realize that these people are really terrible, and because of these experiences, I have feelings of love and hate for this country.
When I arrived in this country, I didn't believe that the country would be so poor, and the gap between the rich and the poor was very large. With this idea in mind, I asked the captain for a landing pass, and I didn't invite my colleagues to go to the local area with me.
Leave the docks alone and enter their country. From that moment on, I really understood what Africa is, what poverty is, and what women's culture is.
The weather was very hot that day, after leaving the dock, there were no vehicles on the road, I walked alone on the road without direction, thinking about where to go, as long as there is a different scenery, a different experience is not in vain.
So I walked for a long time, without positioning, without navigation, and entered a flat land along the semi-desert road, and saw some special houses, which I saw for the first time, and felt very different.
I saw that the houses in front of me were all hanging towers, that is, the lower part was hollowed out, and the upper part was inhabited. Looking at it this way, I think that the people who live here must be people with certain defensive abilities, and on the other hand, there are a lot of animals that haunt here at night and will attack human life, so they build simple houses like this.
On the other hand, their house was all made of simple wooden sticks and some sacks of cloth. It should be cool to live in the summer, but it is estimated that it will not work when it rains. However, they can live like this for a long time, and it should rarely rain.
I looked around, there was no one at the time, and I wanted to say hello to the locals, but I didn't see even a single animal.
I continued to walk, and gradually there were footprints of people on the road, and it was obvious that there were still people living nearby, but I didn't know where they were.
In order to be able to find these primitive people, I let go of my courage and continued to move forward.
At noon that day, the local sun was really hot, and I saw that there was not even a place to hide from the sun, and I had drunk all the water I had brought with me.
In order to find a water source and even a local village, I went around the road and climbed up the sand dunes not far away, hoping to stand high and see far and find nearby residents.
According to what I have seen, Namibia should be a desert country, and the desert here is golden, a bit similar to the Angola and Sahara I went to.
Take me up the golden sand dunes, there is really green in the distance, and there are moving shadows on the way.
At that moment, I was excited, how could there be people here?
I looked for a place where there were people and continued to walk, but I was actually bottomless at that time, worried that people would not know me, and even think that I was a bad person, so they directly arrested me and even ate me raw.
At the time, though, I didn't choose to back down. After so many years of sailing experience, I still work hard to find anecdotes about various countries, and I have experienced a lot of experiences like Namibia in other African countries.
With this experience as a foreshadowing, I still choose to move on.
As I approached them, I noticed that the people walking on the road were women, and the two women in front of me were undressed, except for a little privacy cloth hanging from them. When they saw me approaching them, they didn't react shyly, but stared at me with a curious look.
They didn't feel embarrassed because they didn't have clothes or pants, and one of the women stopped when she saw me approaching them, and took the initiative to greet me. It's a pity that I don't understand what they say.
When they saw that I didn't understand them, they started dancing with me. I half-guessed, but coped with it. When they saw me for the first time, they seemed very enthusiastic, pointed ahead, and seemed to say to me, "Let's go, it's my house in front of me, and I have someone in my house who can understand and speak English." ”
Since they didn't dislike me, and didn't even look shy because I was a man, I treated them as men, and boldly followed them to a place with shade in front of me.
On the way, the woman led me forward, and the people around me also surrounded me when they saw me. And the children here are even more interesting, seeing that I am a foreigner, they all come up to greet us.
The impression that African children have always left on me is curiosity and enthusiasm. They were curious about the unusual skin color of a foreigner like me, and they were especially enthusiastic about a foreigner like me, who often wore a smile.
The child took the initiative to come over and shake my hand, and held me very friendly.
When I arrived, the surroundings were like a tribe, with a few low houses, and these people were sitting lazily on the floor. If you look closely, you will see that the adults here are all women and children, and there are very few men.
I tried to ask one of the women some questions, but they wouldn't speak. She seemed very anxious, and moved in another aunt woman, her figure was too rich, at least two hundred pounds.
I doubt that such a person can eat like this in this barren desert, which is a bit unrealistic.
This person stood in front of my eyes, and at first she was cold, and when she began to speak, I realized her enthusiasm.
She speaks English, but not standardly. When I learned that I was a foreigner and a Chinese, I suddenly seemed very friendly, and my attitude changed from a cold expression to a warm one.
That's probably what the women here look like.
The woman asked me, "Friend, are you here alone for tourism?" ”
When I told her that I was a seafarer and was just passing through here and wanted to explore a different culture here, she laughed and said, "Friend, you are really here, it is about the afternoon, and our village will hold a coming-of-age ceremony for women, which will be a very ceremonial and very interesting traditional culture." Friend, you couldn't have come at a better time. ”
I saw that there were not many people present, and I pointed to one of the girls in particular, and said, "Could it be that this girl is going to hold a coming-of-age ceremony?" ”
"No, no, no, I have more than 20 people living here, and today these people have gone to a distant place, and they have been taken by the men of the tribe to fetch water in a farther place, and they will be back in about an hour or two." The woman explained.
The woman continued, "There is a shortage of water here, there is a serious shortage of water, and the first thing we have to do when we get to a place is to find a water source. We're probably going to have to look for a lot of places until we find a water source before we plan to live there. ”
It can be seen that these people's lives are uncertain, and they live wherever there is a water source. So where did these people go? I asked the woman about it.
The woman said to me, "They went to a place 30 kilometers away to get water, and by the way, the girls who were going to attend the coming-of-age ceremony took a shower there and came back to do it." ”
Why live here in such a far place? The woman and I asked.
The woman also enthusiastically told me, "It's not a safe place to be close to a water source, and often the place where there is a water source is a place where animals are infested." We humans and animals are fighting for water, they are smarter than us, and when they find a place, they will live there for a while, such as elephants, desert sheep, these animals tend to stay there to survive, and if we live there, then they will clash with us. Normally, we have to watch the time when we go to the water source, otherwise encountering them will be the beginning of our troubles. ”
The woman's explanation made me understand why they lived so far away and why the house was built like that.
In order to protect themselves, they had to choose to build a nest in a safe area.
The enthusiastic woman invited me to sit down somewhere, brought me a little meat, and said, "Friend, you are welcome to us, we have nothing to entertain here, here is a little dried beef, you can taste it." ”
When the woman said this, I was quite moved, I felt that this woman was cultured and knew how to be so polite. The rest of the people gathered around me, and everyone's eyes were full of curiosity.
I smiled and invited them to sit down, and everyone sat down as well.
I asked the woman, "How will your coming-of-age ceremony be held later?" ”
The woman said seriously, "Actually, it's a complicated process, and I'm here to tell you a little bit, but if you can stay, I think you'll be able to see the real scene in the afternoon." ”
When she said that, I was curious and scared. I was at least three hours away from the ship, which was a long way off, and if I stayed in the afternoon to watch them perform a coming-of-age ceremony, I would probably not be able to return, and it would be dangerous.
However, if I miss such a rare opportunity, I think I will regret it.
With that in mind, I chose to stay and see what happened.
It was already past one o'clock in the afternoon, and it was very hot here, so everyone found a shady place to sit. It was about 1:40 a.m., and finally a few men came back with a few women.
I saw the man coming, and quickly stood up. At first, the man was quite nervous, and only after the woman's introduction did he take the initiative to shake my hand.
After the men greeted us, I found that the girls who came back after me were all covered with their faces covered and covered with a rough fabric, and they only showed a pair of small eyes.
I wondered what they meant by doing this, and the woman explained to me, "These girls are the ones who are going to the bar mitzvah, they can't see people, and the men don't have a chance to see them." Before they have completed the ceremony, women have no chance to touch men. ”
So how do they hold it?
I continued to get along with them, only to know that there is actually a special long-lived man who performs a simple excision operation for every girl who is about to become an adult, the operation will be painful, unsightly, every girl has to go through, the pain is silent, and it is spring after surviving, and if you can't survive, you may whine.
The old man held a sharp weapon in his hand, and other people could not approach, he first tied people up, and then took the initiative to uncover a piece of cloth, and took the initiative to reach out to the woman's coming-of-age ceremony to move the knife, they would be in pain, and the pain was unbearable, but no one dared to shout out.
It's hard for me to imagine that it's impossible for them not to be in pain, and it's really hard not to scream.
After a manipulation by the men, the girls were then locked up in a room that was set aside for their use, and after a week, the girls could come out.
During this period, they hired people to serve, saying that the service was a bit high, but in fact they did not starve to death. After this time, they have a new life, and at this time, girls can boldly reach out to any man.
As long as you are not married, it doesn't matter if a girl gets along with a different man every day, even if she is pregnant.
Because of this practice, in fact, many local girls don't even know who the father of their child is after they become pregnant. Of course, the men here will not dislike the experience of women, once a woman is married, then she can no longer associate with other men at will, she must be loyal to her husband and pay all the price for her husband.
What is the so-called cost of everything? Through understanding, in fact, men are mainly responsible for food, and the problem of water sources is all found by women, and whether there is water at home or not depends on women to maintain it.
The division of labor between men and women here is very detailed, according to the meaning of the woman and my introduction, the men here must be wild, and the women must have the spirit of housekeeping, otherwise they will be disliked by their husbands.
Everyone here works hard to live. Think about it, too, if you don't work hard, you will either starve to death or die of thirst.
It's the first time I've seen such a coming-of-age ceremony in the local area, although I have seen some special coming-of-age ceremonies in other African countries, but they are all different. Namibia's approach was interesting and eye-opening.
After spending more than an hour with them, they thought I would stay with them for the night, so they were going to slaughter a skinny sheep. I appreciated their hospitality, but I was still stopped by me. I told them to get back to the boat before dark, so I stopped the enthusiasm.
I didn't bring anything with me, and I had some food in my backpack. Out of their enthusiasm for me, I also shared all the snacks in my backpack with them. After a brief goodbye to them, I took two steps and walked faster to the boat.
They were so welcoming, and some of the men walked with me for a while until they thought I was safe and didn't continue to take me back to the boat.
This time, the experience was special, and so was what I saw and heard. This experience is different from my experience in other countries, what they have taught me is that they are passionate, and their sincerity really comes from the heart. Their way of coming-of-age ceremony is also crude and simple. Girls are actually very guilty, such a practice is completely ignorant, and they are experimenting with girls' lives. If a girl can't survive her body, she may become an adult desert soul. Of course, the environment here is relatively clean, so there are fewer cases of infection, so they are basically surviving, and there will be a phenomenon of inheritance.
Their life is a nomadic way, a free way, wherever they go, as long as there is a water source, there is life. There is a clear division of labor in life here, and everyone's attitude is very positive.
I think this simple life is quite good, but they are so poor that living on such a land can only be said to be the survival of the fittest.
This experience was very special, and I felt that I was living in a very happy country when I saw and experienced it. Compared to them, the place where they live is really magnificent, and the people are more difficult than hell.
Seeing them, I still deeply wish them that their lives will be better and better in the future.