The following is an article I accidentally came across in the London Metro, some 6 years after the trip.
Namibia 2005 - Jaco
He wanted to be an au pair in Germany, … now he’s a gay chieftain with barren wife and 35 children
Namibian farm boy Jaco Burger had an unconventional dream growing up – to become an au pair in Germany. But the Afrikaans’ future held a far more unusual turn of events than this. Today, aged 33, he is the chief of the Himba people in Otjikandero, in northern Namibia – and 35 adopted children call him ‘dad’.
He leads a community where wealth is counted in cattle, wooden stools are used as pillows and lives are led just as they were many years ago.
Born into an Afrikaans farming family, he was raised primarily by a nanny from the local Damara tribe. But the biggest influence on his early years were the Himba cattle traders that would stay on the farm while venturing south from the Kaokaoland region.
The Himba people arrived on what is now the Angolan and Namibian border, at the tail end of the Bantu migrations from east Africa, a few hundred years ago. Cattle are a central part of their culture and economy. A refusal to integrate and assimilate has kept the semi-nomadic Himba unique, living their lives as they have for millennia.
In his youth, Mr Burger would spend all his free time with the Himba traders, learning their language and customs. By his teens the Himba treated him as one of their own and adopted him into their tribe. Following the rites of passage as a Himba man, a wife was bestowed upon Jaco, despite the fact he was in a serious relationship with a neighbouring male farm worker.
Mr Burger does not believe he is being hypocritical and neither do his Himba family who gave him Makaja.
His wife cannot bear children, so is viewed in a negative light in the matriarchal culture. It is seen as a perfect match between a man who does not want heterosexual sex and a woman who cannot conceive.
Mr Burger and his wife have a strong and trusting union, while openly fulfilling urges in other relationships.
The couple soon became broody and, after a visit to their tribal homelands, adopted five Himba babies from disadvantaged backgrounds. With little experience of childcare but lots of love they raised their new additions. He said: ‘It was hell, neither of us knew anything about kids but we learnt pretty quickly.’
Two years later, they adopted five more. The trend continued and today Mr Burger and his wife have 35 children.
(Article in the London Metro 18 April 2011 & Photo credit = Jonny Newton)