The Otjikandero Himba Orphan Village Project was started in 1999 when Jaco Burger moved to Kaokoland to work and live with the local Himba tribe. He had met Mukajo there previously. As a result of leukaemia she could never have children, but as the last queen in her blood line of the Ovahimba's and considering her great love for children she was desperate. Jaco and Mukajo came together for the Himba Orphan project and had a traditional Himba marriage. Women are not allowed to have children in the Ovahimba tradition unless they're married. Jaco decided to live with the Ovahimba's in Kaokoland and he was adopted by the Ovahimba's as well as the Chiefs. He also has a Himba mother with whom he lived for a couple of years, which enabled him to learn their language.
Otjikandero Himba Orphan Project is the first registered Orphan Trust Fund in Namibia. This will assist in reduction of required income tax payments which are currently resulting in substantial losses to the project. Various monthly expenses are at the moment still more than the income of the project.
We visited here in June 2017.
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