Baboon skull
Last year, May through July, I did field research in the Caprivi region of Namibia. The area is rather remote, smack dab in the middle of southern Africa.
For the people who live there, life proceeds at a walking pace. Electricity and running water don’t exist, except at the lodges, which use generators. Nearly all homes are made from poles, mud and thatching grass.
Family in Caprivi
As part of my research, I needed an informal census of my study area. I needed the name of each village, its GPS coordinates and its number of households. To do that I had to get permission from the headman of each one. Altogether there were 103 of them, though some villages were small and close together.
I hired a local man named Elvis to help me do it. He spoke four Caprivi languages and English fluently.
Elvis, my research assistant
White devil
The first day started late. We talked to 13 village headmen. In four of those villages, people asked Elvis whether I belonged to a satanic church. One teenage girl called me a white devil and grabbed a jagged piece of glass for protection.
Being accused as a Satanist unsettled me a bit. Couldn’t they tell I was one of the good guys?
As Elvis explained it, people were concerned about white Satanists from nearby Zambia. Rumor had it that these Satanists were in Caprivi recruiting new members for their church. They showed videos on the life of Jesus but later offered their followers large sums of money to murder a family member. The church leaders would then drink the blood. They also had a thing for kidnapping children.
Apparently members of the church were easy to identify. They were white and might try posing as researchers so they could get information on your family.
Oh great.
Much to Elvis’ credit, only one village headman that first day refused to have his village counted.
We faced this rumor each and every day. Someone always brought it up. In a brilliant case of a rumor run amok, one village headman told us in all seriousness that two of the church members had in fact been seen recently in a nearby village. They were posing as researchers taking a census.
That would be Elvis and I.
Overcoming the suspicion
I was flying blind. Without access to real information, I had no idea where this story originated.
Was it simply a deep-seated suspicion of white people following years of apartheid? Was it some over-zealous ministry that horribly botched its relationship with the locals?
Was it me?
I had no choice but press on. Otherwise, three months of research would be wasted.
I decided to divide and conquer. The less educated were the most likely to buy into the rumor. Others knew better. I would integrate myself into the community as best I could in the short time I was there.
- I bought my beer at the bottle stores, not at the lodge, and drank with the guys.
At the bottle store
- I attended the church closest to my campground where I stayed, after being invited to do so.
Church choir
- I went out of my way to give people rides. (This can be a dangerous practice, especially if you’re in South Africa.) In a place where maybe five locals own a car, that’s a big deal. One day Elvis and I managed to pack seven people into the 4×4 with us, saving them a three-hour walk through the bush. That was a crowded ride.
- We walked a lot. I didn’t always have the vehicle. Our record was 17km and 33 villages in one day. It gave me the chance to experience life the way many Caprivians do - on foot. It gave me a feel for the daily rhythm of their lives.
Long walk with Elvis
Finally the truth
As it turned out, the rumors were almost true. Almost. But I didn’t find out the real story until I got back to the States and could do some Internet research.
In November 2006, riots broke out in Lusaka, Zambia, after word spread that the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God had kidnapped two people and were about to sacrifice them. Thousands of Zambians rioted at the church, causing hundreds of thousands of US dollars in damage.
The Zambian government temporarily closed down the church and deported two of its pastors. The US Department of State’s Web page for Zambia even mentions it. The Universal Church denied the rumors. And it sued a Namibian government-run newspaper for libel for running a story headlined State bans ‘satanic’ sect.
So the rumor had legs, and strong ones at that. As it turned out, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God is Namibia’s fastest-growing denomination.
Maybe their missionaries really were crawling around the bush.
What can you take from this?
Hopefully you won’t find yourself in exactly this kind of predicament, but people do tend to be suspicious of outsiders. Rumors and past experiences can fuel that suspicion. So what do you do when you feel the heat of being wrongly accused?
- Don’t give up - Don’t push back too hard but stand up for yourself.
- Look for allies - Not everyone will share those suspicions.
- Listen to people - The more you listen, the more people will trust you.
- Take part in the community - Obviously you can’t force yourself on people but you can find ways to connect.
- Don’t jump to conclusions - People might have legitimate reasons for feeling the way they do, even if those reasons are based on bad information.
I didn’t go back this year, but friends of mine did. They said that everywhere in my study area, people would ask about me. Even the little old ladies. They wanted to know when I was coming back.
I guess I passed the test.
on Aug 29th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I used to live in a small town. Talk about a breeding ground for rumours. I was an ‘outsider’, in other words I wasn’t born there. When my marriage broke up, I was the centre of some pretty nasty rumours. I completely ignored them and simply continued to live my life, like nothing was happening. However, years later, after I had moved away, my son broke down one day and told me how ashamed of me he was for doing all those things. You see, he was 7 at the time and people were talking about me in front of him. Adults, not just his friends repeating their parents! It never occured to me that he had been impacted, quite dramatically actually. This was a powerful lesson in that ignoring the rumours, in this case, was not the appropriate action to take.
Urban Panthers last blog post..Cut and run
on Aug 29th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Elvis and Jesus…never know where they will turn up. chuckiing.
First, I am terribly green with envy about your field research. Your story goes to the heart of the necessity of it though. Boots on the ground, beer with the locals, real hands on knowledge. NOTHING beats it.
All those “Liar and Truth Teller” math problems popped into my mind for a second… In any event, participating in community is a great way to show not tell them, that you indeed can be trusted…I also pack scotch and chocolate in my location bag. It sustains me and breaks the ice too if need be.
You passed the test. Now when you go back, you will have a local name…I wonder what they’ll call you?
Janice Cartiers last blog post..Send More Godiva
on Aug 29th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Chuckling. oops again
Janice Cartiers last blog post..Send More Godiva
on Aug 29th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Urban Panther - Some people thrive on rumor-mongering, willing to tell out-right lies just to keep things rolling. What a terrible thing for you and your son to go through. I grew up in a neighborhood full of gossips and have been on the receiving end of it myself. I have very little patience for it.
Janice - LOL. There’s plenty of both Elvis and Jesus in Caprivi. Between the churches and the tombo stands (traditional beer), they’ve got the place covered.
Elvis is a great guy and a fantastic researcher. We became fast friends, which in some people’s eyes made Elvis a friend of the devil. One woman even said that she saw us praying to Satan after she told us to leave her village. We were eating lunch in the one shady spot near the road. But that was an extreme case.
Having a camera helped a lot. Some people are still superstitious about having their pictures taken but most people respond well to it, especially if you promise to print a copy and give it to them the same week (we had a portable printer that ran off the cigarette lighter in the 4×4). Some of my friends take pretty nice cameras into the field. I use a Canon Elph. No decent zoom for wildlife photos but it takes good portraits and is small enough that it doesn’t draw attention to itself.
As for what local name they might give me, I don’t know. That’s an interesting question. I guess I’ll just have to find out.
on Aug 29th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Elvis is rocking in that cool shirt. Praying with the devil under that shade of a tree…there’s a painting… or a song…LOL.
What were they eating, mainly I mean, these village families? Typical lunch or dinner.
Janice Cartiers last blog post..Send More Godiva
on Aug 29th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
They eat a lot of maize, millet and melons. For protein, fish and chicken and some game meat - but there are lots of restrictions on that. Cattle, for the few who have them, are used like a savings account and usually not eaten.
Food security is a big issue there and people do go hungry. Drought is a big problem and agricultural practices are really basic. No irrigation, no fertilizer, lots of crop raiding by wildlife.
While I was there, an elephant that had been shot in Botswana died on the Namibian side of the border, just across the river from where I worked. People carved it up to eat. Wasn’t very good meat though, already starting to turn. A few weeks later someone illegally shot a hippo that was left floating on the river. That got carved up and eaten too.
Things worked pretty well there before colonization in terms of sustainable hunting and gathering. White settlers and later the South African army brought a lot of poaching to the area. And now, all of Caprivi is much more populated than it ever was, so balancing the needs of people and wildlife conservation is really tricky.
on Aug 29th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Interesting about the cattle, but it was the original money. That and cowrie shells.
I guess it goes to the water issue first. And encroaching populations. I will be looking on the maps at this region wondering about Elvis and his family. They are in one of those places in between.
Interesting post. Thanks.
Janice Cartiers last blog post..Naughty Friday "Oyster"
on Sep 1st, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Wow, what an adventure! Captivating story, too.
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on Nov 4th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
I love your stories. What an adventure.
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