Katutura Single Quarters

This morning Nawa said that she needed to check up on some Herero dresses she was having made in Katutura and I thought that would be a great opportunity for the kids to see a bit of Katutura. This would be the one time ‘black township’ for Windhoek, just as Khomasdal served as the ‘Coloured township.’ Both essentially continue in those capacities – and are a distance from the CBD and the ‘white suburbs,’ which are no longer only white. In all of these areas too tremendous building and growth has taken place. I could probably hardly find my way around Katutura today and I used to know it like the back of my hand. Nawa drove the white bakkie and Ndahafa went with. Mave and Kuno were thrilled to finally be riding in the back of a bakkie, even if with a cover. We stopped first at the market in the Single Quarters which was once a place you would want to stay away from and was just a haphazard open market. Today there is a roof overhead and lots of stalls for hair salons, dressmakers and tailors, television and computer repair, food stuffs and a long outer row of braaivleis – roasting meat. We stopped there and enjoyed $N10 worth of roasted meat. On our way out we noticed a tour bus and group of Europeans touring the market. From there we passed by the Herero Market and then on to Soweto Market, not nearly as interesting somehow.

After we got home we headed back into town - we thought for some cake, which Mave had requested from yesterday. Instead we had a so-so lunch at News Café Central. This was our third stop; it seemed hard to find a place with only light meals. As we were returning to the car we encountered two stunning Himba women crossing Independence Avenue. They were ochred all over and their hair was beautifully done. They strutted proudly up the street, one of them only half clad, with a smart leather bag in her hand. I said I had never seen Himba women like that in Windhoek and Nawa said it has become very popular now for them to come to Windoek to shop.

Once home, for the second night in a row, we had lots of visits from family members living in Windhoek. Among others, Harari, who looked after Kuno when we were on sabbatical in Namibia in 2002, came by. Of course, she could not believe how big Kuno is now!