The Ju/'hoansi community hosted a three-day cultural festival at Witbos Village, outside Tsumkwe.
The community has been organising the festival since 2024 as part of efforts to preserve its cultural heritage and pass traditional knowledge and skills on to younger generations.
Funded by the Nia Tero Foundation, the festival featured various cultural activities, including traditional dancing, craft-making demonstrations and lessons on indigenous trees.
Participants also learned about different trees and plants used in traditional medicine, as well as those that provide food.
The festival aims to ensure that Ju/'hoansi cultural practices, traditional skills and indigenous knowledge are preserved and passed on to future generations.
Tsumkwe Constituency Councillor Petrus Mutji highlighted the importance of celebrating and preserving cultural heritage, particularly through the involvement of young people.
"After they did the dancing, there were little games they played, and you could see the kids were enjoying these games. So, it is very important how elders are transferring the knowledge, skills and traditions of this cultural heritage to the little ones. As we say, culture is what makes us who we are. It is our roots and our upbringing. Our elders and forefathers continue living through us. We move forward with our culture and traditions, and we must make sure that they do not die. We need to promote them year in and year out."
The NBC Director, Menesia Muinjo, who was in the Tsumkwe Constituency as part of a mission to engage with traditional leaders and communities, also attended the festival and donated two thousand dollars towards the event.
"This is a great opportunity to experience first-hand cultural activities here in Tsumkwe. This is in line with what we are busy with at NBC, because we have taken a decision that we have to bring out especially the cultural activities that were not prominent on our platforms. We have also decided that we will go to remote areas like this one and find those untold stories, including cultural dances."
Muinjo said that the NBC team came to record the cultural activities, not only to showcase them but also to preserve them in the corporation's archives.
The NBC news team also spoke to some of the cultural group performers ||Ao |Kaece and Xoa||A Hendere.
"I am feeling very excited. It is really good to be a young person among the elders because you learn about the culture and traditions, so you can keep the culture strong as you grow up."
"This is a big day when speaking about a cultural festival. It is where we showcase cultural activities, especially to the younger generations, and show them how the Ju/'hoansi live and do things so that the culture does not die. This generation must also teach future generations."
The Ju/'hoansi community plans to host the cultural festival again next year, in April.