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Fascinating culture of the San

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Culture of the Zambezi region

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Hunter-gatherer culture of the Damara

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Unique culture of the Ovahimba

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San culture of the Kalahari

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Bantu culture of the Okavango

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San culture of Northern Namibia

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Living Museums in Namibia

A Living Museum is an authentic way of presenting traditional culture and has three main aims:

1

Fight against poverty in Namibia

By developing a Living Museum local communities can create a sustainable source of income

2

Preservation of traditional culture

With the work in Living Museums people in communal areas are encouraged to deal with their traditional culture to protect or regain important parts of their cultural identity.

3

Creation of a cultural and intercultural exchange

Visitors of the Living Museums can learn a lot about the interesting cultures of Namibian language groups and have a great opportunity to get to know the people of Namibia.

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Living Museums in Namibia

Please find an overview of all Living Museum in Namibia

Infrastructure project completed at Mbunza Living Museum

Infrastructure project completed at Mbunza Living Museum

In the Mbunza Living Museum, another major infrastructure project financed by our association was completed in September 2024.

The Living Culture Foundation Namibia helped setting up a small campsite including a shower and toilet for travelers who visit the Mbunza Living Museum to further support the Living Museum.

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Traditional, intercultural workshop of all 7 living museums

Traditional, intercultural workshop of all 7 living museums

During the last project tour, the idea of a traditional workshop at the Mbunza Living Museum came about. The aim of the workshop was to improve traditional craft techniques that originally played a role in the respective traditional cultures and are now demonstrated in the living museums, as well as to relearn lost techniques. Furthermore, the workshop should also contribute to intercultural exchange. It was the first time that members from all seven Living Museums came together.

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Living Museum Workshop 2023

Living Museum Workshop 2023

The Living Culture Foundation Namibia is organizing a traditional workshop and music festival for all Living Museums from Monday, October 30, 2023 to Friday, November 3, 2023. The workshop will take place at the Mbunza Living Museum, approximately 15 km west of Rundu.

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Sensational 4000€ fundraiser

Sensational 4000€ fundraiser

The employees and patients of the dialysis clinics in Tangermünde and Genthin handed over a donation of €4,000 to Dr. Ralf Kühn, founding member and chairman of the board of the German-Namibian association Living Culture Namibia at his farewell party from work. This money was given to the Living Culture Foundation as a grant for the further development of the museum landscape in Namibia.

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Mbunza infrastructure project (part 1) completed

Mbunza infrastructure project (part 1) completed

Thanks to a very generous donation of €3,600 from Ms. Ute Schmidt-Rohr, we were able to successfully complete the first part of the water infrastructure project at the Mbunza Living Museum.

A pump was installed at the Samsitu campsite very close to the Living Museum and it continuously pumps water via a small mini-pipeline into a 2500m³ tank at the museum. Thus, for the first time since the opening in 2011, the museum project workers have a regulated water supply directly at the project site.

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Mbunza infrastructure project news

Mbunza-Opening-04---traditional-fishing

The first stage of the water infrastructure project for the Mbunza is, thanks to a very generous donation, in the starting blocks.

The access to a supply of water is one of basic human needs. However, this need is not fulfilled in many parts of Namibia. This is also the case in the Mbunza Living Museum in Northern Namibia, about 15 km west of the town of Rundu. The staff of the living Museum does not have a water supply and needs to carry water from a great distance.

To ensure a regular water supply (and further development) for the Mbunza we launched the "Infrastructure project for the Mbunza".

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Call for donations - Sustainable Infrastructure Development for the Mbunza Living Museum

Call for donations - Sustainable Infrastructure Development for the Mbunza Living Museum

We have a new infrastructure project and ask for your support. This project is about supplying the Mbunza community with clean drinking water (step 1) and creating a sustainable source of income in the form of a small campsite for visitors to the Living Museum (step 2).

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Project report by Dr. Ralf Kühn

Project report by Dr. Ralf Kühn

Read a project report from the LCFN project tour 2020 by Ralf Kühn and Sebastian Dürrschmidt with the visit of four projects.

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Project completed – Aid supply for the Living Museums

Project completed – Aid supply for the Living Museums

We made it! In these testing times we have finally managed to deliver all aid supplies of our 6000€ fund raiser to the Living Museums.

Goal was to supply all Living Museums supported by us with basic food products to the value of 1000€ per museum to help the actors and their families to make it through this tourist and income free time.

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Donation of blankets and update: Emergency aid for Living Museums

Donation of blankets and update: Emergency aid for Living Museums 220 blankets for 220 museum actors

Based on the Corona situation in Namibia we sent out a donation call for a Corona emergency package on Betterplace at the end of May. Currently we managed to collect donations of 4000 Euros, 2000 E are still missing so that every museum can receive food supplies of 1000 E. Here you can continue supporting us:

Corona emergency support on Betterplace

We also received numerous donations directly onto our foundation account. We are very thankful and impressed by the willingness to support us during these difficult times.

Great donation - 220 blankets for 220 museum actors

Through our call for support Alexandra Sacharow from Red Earth Safaris learned about our emergency project. Her German clients Jürgen and Brigitte of the German company Siebdruck Uth donated 220 blankets for 220 actors in the Living Museums to a total value of N$ 13.200. We also want to extend our hearty thanks to that!

We received the thick wool blankets just now - fittingly on one of the coldest winter mornings of the passed years here in Windhoek. Together with the food donations the blankets will be distributed to the Living Museums in the next few days - we will keep you informed!

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Corona situation in the Living Museums in Namibia: Call for donations - Every help counts

Corona situation in the Living Museums in Namibia: Call for donations - Every help counts

Like everywhere else in the World the Corona virus has led to a collapse of the tourism industry in Namibia. The safety measures in Namibia began with the halt of international air traffic on March 15 and with the restriction of local travel and school curriculum on March 27 (Namibian Lockdown)

For the six living museums we support this means a total loss of all income since mid-March 2020. Neither international tourists (about 90% of museum visitors) nor local travelers or school classes were able to visit the living museums and the future is uncertain, as it is currently still unclear when international travel will be possible again. Local tours have been allowed again, but the Namibian economy is so weakened that hardly anybody is travelling.

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New Signboards for the Mbunza and Mafwe Museum

New Signboards for the Mbunza and Mafwe Museum

As marketing and consulting organisation the Living Culture Foundation Namibia is also responsable for the proper signposting of the six museums it is supporting in Namibia. The relentless heat of the sun especially up north fades and burns away the colours of the signboard to the extend that we have to replace them every 2 – 3 years.

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Living Museums in Numbers

In-Numbers

The tourism in Namibia is at a peak in 2017 and 2018 and the Living Museums are visited by quite a number of people in the last two years. Here are our statistics for the last year 2017.

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Voices from the Living Museums

Voices from the Living Museums

On the occasion of our 10th anniversary we asked the managers of the Living Museums to give a short statement on how they see the work in their Living Museum. Here are the answers:

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Call for donations

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The museums supported by us owe their existence to the income they make from tourism in Namibia. A lot of visitors to Namibia enjoy visiting the museums for an extended time and decide to camp directly at the Living Museums.

This of course increases the income for museums that have a campsite. Not only does the campsite itself generate income, but guests are taking part in numerous programs offered as they have more time at hand. Those who have camped at one of the Living Museums of the San know what an up-close and personal experience it is and how much this contributes to an eventful visit at the museums. 

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Dr. Ralf Kühn visits the Mbunza Museum

Dr. Ralf Kühn visits the Mbunza Museum

At the end of February 2017 I had again the possibility, together with friends from Germany, to visit the Living museum of the Mbunza very close to Rundu. Since the opening in 2012 it is my third time already. Immediately I recognized how structured and organized the visits of tourists are handled, how much effort Sebron and the colleagues of the museum put into imparting knowledge and to really show the very specifics of the ethnicity of the Mbunza on the Okavango river.

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