Brigitte Weidlich
22 October 2009
THE Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) has published a book on the cultural heritage of the Haikom, one of the marginalised San-speaking groups, who lived in the Etosha National Park for centuries until they were evicted by the South African apartheid regime in the early 1950s.
The book with the title 'Born in Etosha - homage to the cultural heritage of the Haikom' was written by Ute Dieckmann, who runs the Xoms Omis Project within the LAC, which records the Haikom history and cultural heritage in partnership with the University of Cologne, Germany.
Launching the book recently, LAC Director Norman Tjombe said that most brochures and books on the history of the Etosha National Park - Namibia's main tourism attraction - do not mention that people had been living there.
"What is normally not mentioned is that a large number of people - in fact an entire community - were displaced to make way for this pristine beauty. The remaining land been appropriated for private ownership and now counts as part of the more successful commercial farms in Namibia. The Haikom community had lost all land that they utilised," Tjombe said.
"The 'official' historians completely forgot about the Haikom: They are not even mentioned in any context. It is as if the Haikom did not exist at all. Apart from those working on commercial farms, in the small towns around the region, and much fewer in the Park, are but squatters scattered throughout the region, without any form of meaningful and independent means of subsistence."
"The new book details in a very visible form the history, culture and heritage of the Haikom community and their connection to the Etosha National Park," he added.
Recent Government steps to buy two farms at the southern border to Etosha and to settle some of them there were a positive move, the LAC Director said.
The book has 78 pages with many photos and it brings Etosha to life in many ways: the unique character of each water hole, hunting field, hill, pan, resting place and even some individual trees are beautifully described in their original names in the Haikom language. The names reveal the close connection of the Haikom with their natural environment.
Author Ute Dieckmann said it was important to broaden the knowledge on indigenous and marginalised minorities in Namibia.
The book is a platform for and of the Haikom through which they speak of their history, their struggles and the opportunities they might have.
Two of the core team members of the Xoms Omis Project, Hans Haneb, born in 1929, died in November 2006, and Jacob !Uibeb, born in 1938, died in June 2007. They were part of the initial team and were eager to share their history - which intertwined with that of Etosha, as they actually lived in the Park before they were evicted in 1954.
Publication of the book, which is available at the LAC and leading bookshops in Namibia, was sponsored by the German Embassy in Namibia.
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