Page 63 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 8

Christian Psychology as a Challenge

comes will not be achieved until programs and 4.3 Damara culture and beliefs
resources are implemented which better meet All the girls are of Damara descent, which is an
the needs and preferences of all women”. ethnic group that makes up 8.5% of Namibia’s
population (Pendleton, 2002). Along with Bu-
4. Setting and context shmen, Damara people belong to the oldest
4.1 Beautiful Kidz and 3measures tribes in Namibia. The Damara people native
The Young and Pregnant program is a part- language is Khoekhoe language. The Damara
nership between 3Measures and beautiful are divided into various clans, each consisting
kidz. 3Measures is a community development/ of a chief under the Kingship of Justus Garoeb.
church planting work in Katutura, Namibia Traditionally, they were a combination of hun-
(3Measures, 2015). Their aim is to impact all ter-gatherer culture and herders of cattle, goats
measures of community: physical, social and and sheep (Pendleton, 2002). What we found
spiritual. Beautiful Kidz is a welfare organisa- with the girls is that they held on the traditional
tion established by Brain and Pam Kinghorn; it beliefs and were urged to abide by them during
is affiliated with Youth With A Mission (Beau- their time of pregnancy, even though when as-
tiful Kidz, 2013). Essentially, Beautiful Kidz ked why they believed what they did, they could
Namibia is an international interdenominatio- never say why. Even when the middle aged
nal Christian organisation, providing support members or parents of the girls where asked
and care for needy children and their families how the cultural belief came about, the answer
(Beautiful Kidz, 2013). Beautiful Kidz aims to was often that, that is how their parents did it,
provide medical, emotional, spiritual, physical so that is why they do it as well. Some of the
and educational care to children in need. traditions that the girls held about pregnancy
include; she would have to have her hair brai-
4.2 Katutura ded and wrapped in scarf when she gives birth,
Beautiful Kidz is located in Katutura is a town- she is to wear that scarf for three months after
ship in Windhoek. More specifically it is located the child is born, after the child is born she and
in the area called Damara location. Katutura is the baby are to remain in the home for three
one of Namibia’s biggest townships (Pendleton, months, and for those three months she is not
2002). Katutura has a population of 43,109 in allowed to eat anything other than porridge and
the 2011 census. In 1913 blacks living in va- meat with no seasoning.
rious parts of the Windhoek area were relo- There are also various myths and beliefs in the
cated to new areas, which was based on a di- community about pregnancy and breastfee-
vision of ethnic groups (Pendleton, 2002). The ding. It is believed that if the mother is strugg-
Damara people were assigned their own loca- ling to breastfeed her child she has to put a hot
tion, which has since kept its name. The name teabag on her breast to get the milk flowing,
Katutura means, ‘We do not have a permanent also if the child does not want to drink from
habitation’. This name derives from the fact that the breast, than the mother should give them
since white immigrants come to the city cen- diluted porridge or tea in a feeding bottle. This
tres, Katutura was the fifth location the blacks is done because formula is too expensive for the
had lived in Windhoek (Pendleton, 2002). To- mothers. In spite of all the basic information
day, Katutura is a vibrant city, which makes up about pregnancy was provided especially re-
60% of Windhoek’s population. Generations of garding nutrition during pregnancy, a lot of the
oppression have resulted in the never-ending advice will most likely not be taken into consi-
cycle of poverty, unemployment, alcoholism deration, which may negatively affect the child’s
and HIV (3measures, 2015). These are a few of development. All of the girls were unemploy-
the difficulties that are faced by the residents in ed; some were still in school, while others had
Katutura. Katutura is a place where people have dropped out. They tended to live with parents,
little hope for brighter days, yet is filled with grandparents or other relatives, who either have
immeasurable opportunity (3measures, 2015). a low status job or were unemployed.
On other problem of concern in the township is 5. Method and Approach
that of teenage pregnancy.
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