The Wood-Carvers of Kavango
By Awake! correspondent in Namibia
WHAT happened? Startled, I sit up. Something has awakened me. Anxiously, I look out at the African night. I see only the stars twinkling brilliantly through the branches of the camel-thorn tree.
Then I notice it—hear it! The silence!
The drums have stopped. All through the night, the throbbing tom-tom-te-tum-tum has been a background to the other noises of the African bush, but now they are silent. It is eerie at first. Then the normal nocturnal noises become noticeable again. The crick-crick of crickets and the zoom of mosquitoes, the whir, chirp, buzz, and hum of the myriads of insects that make up the musical mosaic of the tropical night. I am now wide awake. I lie thinking about these fascinating drums and how we had watched them being carved.
My wife and I were sleeping in our trailer on the bank of the Okavango River. We were visiting the congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses at Rundu, a trading village in Kavango Province in the northeast of Namibia on the Angola border. On our way through the bush, we were intrigued by the open-air workshops, where wood-carvers were busy whittling and whistling, chipping and chopping, sawing and sanding away at tree trunks.
Among the carvings were masks used for ceremonial dances as well as for “signposts” outside kraals where there were sick people. These masks were to warn visitors and to chase away bad spirits. Although many find the masks fascinating, Christians in Kavango do not keep them in their homes because of the connection with wicked spirits. It is therefore good to see that many objects are no longer being carved with these masks as the main feature, but all sorts of geometric designs are now used for ornamentation.
The wood used is teak. It is sad that this beautiful wood is becoming scarce in Kavango. Hopefully, more attention will be given to planting new trees, as it takes 50 years for them to mature. The wood has an attractive grain, with light and dark patterns, which is effectively featured in the carvings. A suitable tree is selected and then chopped down or burned off at the base. Then it is dragged to the workshop hut, where it is sawed into round stumps or flat planks, depending on the art object to be made.
A Sawmill in the Forest?
Watching the carvers at work in one of the huts, I noticed some of these smoothly sawed planks in a corner. I was curious about how these were cut, as there is no sawmill or electricity in the forest. I asked Joakim, who was chipping away at a drum.
“Well, you see, Tatekulu [Older One],” he explained, “it is really quite simple. We push the tree across the hole. Jonas climbs down into the hole, and I stand on top, on the tree. Jonas pulls the saw down into the hole, and then I pull it up. We both keep pulling. We soon finish sawing the tree, and then we have the planks.”
“But surely,” I said, “that must take you a long time, and then you must be very tired.”
“No, Tatekulu, not really. The sun comes up and we work. The sun goes down and we rest. Tomorrow the sun will come up again. The next day also, and the next. There are many days, much time. Time to work and rest.”
Taxis of the Okavango
Taxis in the heart of African forests? Yes, but these are not the cabs of New York City nor the rickshas of Yangon. The people of the Okavango River also do a different type of carving. The taxis of the Okavango are the mawato, or mekoro as they are called farther downstream. These are dugout canoes, carved out of solid tree trunks.
You see, the Okavango River forms the northern border between Kavango and Angola and offers the easiest transport—up, down, or across the river. Whether upstream to Owambo, downstream to Botswana, or across to Angola, the mawato, or water taxis, can travel on this water highway regardless of borders or man-made boundaries.
However, there are two residents of the river that wato (singular) passengers have to acknowledge with deep respect. In spite of human encroachment into their natural habitat, the crocodile and the hippopotamus are still to be found—and feared! Previously, when a wato capsized near Rundu, one unfortunate occupant was too slow and did not reach the bank. He was killed by a crocodile!
As for “the lord of the river,” the hippo, why, a warning grunt, even from afar, sends the ferryman in his water taxi scuttling for the bank until he is sure that it is safe to cross. He knows that the fearsome jaws of the hippo can easily crunch a wato.
But the taxis are not limited to water travel. As a wato, or mokoro, ages, and bigger and more dangerous leaks develop, it is withdrawn from river service to become a land-based sled or trailer. We have seen many an old canoe, piled high with wood or goods from a nearby trading store, hitched behind either oxen or donkeys and slowly slithering or sliding over the soft sands of Kavango.
These Okavango taxis, now equipped with reliable one-donkey-power drive, can transport goods and provisions over terrain where modern multihorsepower vehicles get bogged down in thick sand. Archaic? Maybe. Tedious? Possibly. Slow? Yes, as some people consider slowness. But Africa is the timeless land! As Joakim the wood-carver said: ‘Tomorrow the sun will come up again. There are many days.’
These, then, are the wood-carvers of Kavango. What a pleasure it is to share with them the message of peace that comes through God’s Kingdom! (Matthew 24:14) Superstition is rife in many of the tribes, but seeds of Bible truth have taken root.
Three years ago there were 23 baptized Witnesses in the Rundu Congregation. They met in a small Kingdom Hall with wooden walls and a low roof made of corrugated iron. “With a squeeze it could take 40 people,” recalls Christo, a traveling overseer of Jehovah’s Witnesses, “but 56 came to listen to the public talk. This is a tropical region of Africa, and it gets very hot and humid. My shirt was wet with perspiration while I was giving the talk. In the cramped little Kingdom Hall, it was too uncomfortable to wear a jacket.”
In spite of these unpleasant conditions, the number of interested people who attended meetings kept increasing. So plans to build a larger and more suitable hall became a matter of urgency. A local Witness kindly donated land for this purpose.
Witnesses from other parts of Namibia and South Africa responded to the call and came to this remote region at their own expense to help build the hall. Local people also became interested in the project. For example, young Ambiri and Willem, though not Witnesses themselves, kindly offered their assistance. Soon both began studying the Bible and attending meetings. Now they too are baptized Witnesses.
Another interested person who helped with the building work was a refugee from Angola named Pedro. As a staunch Catholic, Pedro got involved in a religious discussion with Witnesses at his place of work. But afterward he reflected: ‘How is it possible that Jehovah’s Witnesses know the Bible so well?’ He then formulated a plan of action. He would ask the Witnesses for a Bible study. Then, as soon as he had sufficient knowledge, he would stop the study and use the Bible to prove that the Witnesses are wrong. Did his plan succeed? “After the third study,” recalls Pedro, “I went home and said to my mother: ‘Mom, from today onward, I am no longer a member of the Catholic Church.’” Though his family opposed him, Pedro made fast progress and soon resigned from the Catholic Church. He was baptized in December 1989 at the “Godly Devotion” Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Windhoek, Namibia.
Other interested persons also helped to build the Kingdom Hall. “I remember something that happened while we were busy pouring the foundations,” says Christo, the traveling overseer. “About 40 of us were busy on the job. I noticed one person who seemed a bit aloof. So I introduced myself and asked him: ‘Who studies the Bible with you?’ Young Mateus answered: ‘You must talk to these people because they don’t want to study the Bible with me. I’ve asked them to help me many times, but they have done nothing.’ The reason for this was that the local Witnesses were already conducting so many Bible studies that they had placed Mateus on the waiting list. However, I managed to make arrangements for a Bible study, and today Mateus is a baptized Witness.”
In July 1989 the Rundu Congregation dedicated their new Kingdom Hall. Since they started using the hall, 10 new ones have been baptized, bringing the total number of baptized Witnesses to 33. Many others are progressing toward baptism, and during the last visit of the traveling overseer, 118 attended the public talk.
We hope you have enjoyed this brief trip to Kavango—with its remarkable river, fine forests, capable wood-carvers, and timber taxis—where the message of Jehovah’s Kingdom is finding hearing ears and responding hearts.
[Pictures on page 16, 17]
From left clockwise:
▪ Publishers in front of old Kingdom Hall
▪ New Kingdom Hall at Rundu
▪ Crocodile and hippo in the Okavango River
▪ Various masks and carvings