One dust road following hundreds of dust roads leads me to the primary school Otjikandero in vast Namibia. Here children of the Himba tribe are learning different qualifications to the ancient beliefs of the Himbas.
A little room of 12 m² seats approximately 25 children on small plastic chairs. The light comes from a plastic bottle stucked into a hole in the roof, filled up with rainwater, which reflects the light into the tiny dark room..
Since the Himbas earn their living through tourism, this school has been created, providing the children with basic primary school knowledge and daily lunch, under the shadows of the trees.
My guide, Jacob, a young man, has been „discovered“ by the Chinese in this far away place and has received a scholarship to go to China for a year. You ask yourselves how this came about, but fact is that Namibia is home to more than 40 Chinese companies already and this number is growing day by day.
The rapid expansion of Chinese investments in Namibia has sparked both hope and insecurities about the true intentions of China to invest on African soil. Also the Implications this might have in future for the development of the African economies.
I wish Jacob good luck in China and can’t help to imagine him amongst a bunch of Chinese students, far away from his Himba family and the African Bush.
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Stay tuned on my blog for more exciting information on the Himba tribe
For donations to the Otjikandero School, please visit following link https://trainoccasion-primaryschool.webs.com/get-involved-new
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