25 Sep 2014

All roads lead to Omaweneno in Kgalagadi District for the Baherero heritage celebration billed for September 26-27. 

In an interview, one of the organisers, Tiree Bimbo said they were ready to host all the Baherero and Manama from all parts of the country and visitors from South Africa and Namibia. Bimbo said the event had been held in Namibia for a very long time; hence it was decided to have it in other countries to give them the opportunity to host it.

He said South Africa hosted the event in Tlakgameng last year. He said they had chosen Omaweneno because it was their place of origin and had a lot of history there. All Baherero, he said, came from Omaweneno but had since spread throughout Kgalagadi south in places such as Tsabong, Makopong, Kokotsha and Draaihoek.

“The main purpose of this gathering is to celebrate our culture and everyone is invited to come and celebrate with us so that they can know and understand where we are coming from and we want them to learn about their culture, dressing, food and their traditional dance,” he said.

He said the events which start on Friday with a workshop about their culture will end with a cultural festival later during the day. All Baherero groups from different places, he said will be given the chance to perform so as to display different tastes of their heritage that other people were not aware of. 

On Saturday, he said they will share with the attendants the theme of the day and also give a lot about their heritage adding that guests will be entertained through horse parading and women and men parades as well. He noted that they will also cook all kinds of their traditional food so as to encourage all to taste their food.

Later that day, he said they will be a beauty pageant competition queen of Baherero will be crowned to be used as their ambassador and used as a driving tool that will be responsible for teaching about Baherero culture. 

He encouraged people to attend the first ever Baherero event I Botswana to learn more about their roots. 

“We are Hereroes and people should be proud of who they are and where they are coming from,” He revealed that they had invited Manama because they share the same history as them as they both fought for their land on 1904 to 1906.During the genocide, he said both were forced to leave their place of origin in Namibia. 

‘They both lost their lands, livestock, friends, family members and their language and the same gun that was used to kill their grandparents was also used to kill the Manama.” ENDS