Himba shaman: "There is a secret only you know."

From my Namibia journal May 7, 2003

(This will be the introduction to my first book on African Myths)

 

Mbahuma, powerful Himba tribe shaman, near Epupa Falls, Namibia, Africa

Deep inside a mystery rattles my spirit. Today, Mbahuma, the most powerful Himba tribe shaman, mentioned a secret. His one eye watched carefully. Where the other eyeball should have been, was just an empty hole with draining fluid. I had heard that the best shaman had some deformity.

Under a scraggly, thorny shrub of a tree at the top of a dry rocky creek bed, Mbahuma told me: “You’ve been looking. You are trying to learn many things. You will find it.”

“But there is a secret,” continued Mbahuma under that lonely tree. “A secret only you know.”