JOROKEE.P

OPUWO

INTRODUCTION

Opuwo is a town in the northern part of the Kuneneregion in the north-western part of Namibia .Opuwo is also known as Okaoko, that is how the residuals call it .Okaoko is the home of Ovahimba, Zemba and Hakaono, there are nomad of Namibia.Okaoko is the land of the unspoiled nature. The Ovahimba people dress in their goatskin and aprons, gleaming with ochre and butterfat posing for the tourists. Opuwo waste former camp of the South African defense force and South African Police counter insurgency unit camp.

HOW OPUWO GOT ITS NAME

The Okaoko area was first called Otjihnamaparero which means bore hole and that brings water, that’s how all the local residents. Late the town got the Opuwo .Hugo Hahn the commissioner of Ondangwa during that time .Hugo went for a to ask for land in the Okaoko area from the Local headman in the Otjihnamaparero ,when the headman give him the space of land to Hugo ,but Hugo said “Its OPUWO ,it’s enough for me ,I don’t want any place no more or another place . It’s when their decided to call the place OPUWO.Is also called Opuwo and Otjihnamaparero .During the colonial Opuwo was Ohopoho but some local residents today still call it Ohopoho.But many people prefer to call it Okaoko.

DEVELOPMENT OF THE OKAOKO AREA

Development in the OPuwo has been very weak, but most of the essential services and goods are built up .it’s one of the areas with disadvantage people and are very behind with technology .OPuwo has developed in the following.

ROAD

Opuwo is one of the rough road and its very long distance in Namibia. But to the Ovahimba it’s not a problem as their can 3 to 4 kilometer in a day. The government has tried to improve the road.

COMMUNICATION

Communication in Opuwo is recently improving at very slow speed with Mtc .there are not aware of internet as major of them cant browser through the internet and see it as waste of money. While their sees as they forefather did not use it so there will not use its set as believe.

EDUCATION

When it comes to education in the district around Opuwo ,parents do not support the fact that children should go to school .there are about 4000 children but only 1000 manage to go to school regularly .Base on those analyses its very difficult to developed . Reasons why children don’t go to school: • They are no enough schools to accommodate all the children • Some Himba parents believe that is not good for the children to stay way without parental care.

HOSPITALS

There are many clinics and hospitals for the Okaoko people just that there have other believes of healing themselves through traditional doctor that are believe to be the cheapest and very easy to access them as their live in the same neighborhood .But on the government it has done its best to bring their servicesclose by .

NATURE

Opuwo is place with many attractive place and people that live there attract tourists. It has the Epup and many more.

CONCLUSION

Okaoko is a place where people knows their culture and show pride towards it .Is one traditional groups in Africa that still know their roots.

REFERENCES

Mescher G., Henrichsen D. (2000) "The new notes of Okaoko" p.5-50. Retrieved October, 2012.