Michael Liswaniso When you enter the regional capital of Kunene, Opuwo, the first to welcome you are the Ovahimba, the majority population of the town who can be spotted in their full traditional regalia flanked by either a herd of cattle, or goats. This is simply because cattle and goats are seriously considered to be the best way to invest in this northwestern part of the country, I have learned. Believe me, if you want to purchase a quality goat or a cow, come here! This being the case, a reliable resident recently told me: “If you own lots of cattle and goats then you are rich,” while another told me to tour around the district’s villages to see what is happening at the cattle posts. “If you take a tour you will find out that there are a lot of cattle- and goat-posts but yet the people at these posts who mostly are owners of these livestock struggle to put bread and butter on the table. All they can do with their precious livestock is to slaughter or sell it off when there is a typical family problem or when there is a need to buy something very useful for the community.” Now one wonders what is better, to continue to “fast” for a whole month and endure hunger, or to sell or slaughter one of the “precious” tamed animals to be able to put bread on the table? Is this what we term good sustainability of our resources or investments? Maybe only those with big economic muscle can answer me on this one and yet, this is how fellow “comrades” survive each day leaving a lot of unanswered questions in my “bongo” (brain). Indeed, livestock are good valuables as can be attested by prominent figures of our society who own a lot of them on their “plush” farms, as well as by those “ordinary” citizens on resettled farms. Now, is it wise for one to continue to starve while livestock are everyday on parade at our “cattle posts”? What do livestock mean to us? Because personally I thought they are on our enrichment sideline not to make us bankrupt but to provide us with good things – not starvation. I experienced an incident where fodder was purchased for livestock while the owner sat with no food. Is this sustainable and worthwhile? Well, in the long run it is sustainable but short term it is risky because what if the livestock are poisoned? What if the livestock are struck by any natural disaster such as lightning, earthquake after-shocks as happened recently here in Opuwo, or even hit by a severe drought? I strongly feel we should always strike a balance where both sides of the coin benefit. It is high time now that we try to change our fellow citizens’ attitudes and encourage them to turn things around to be profit-oriented and sell off additional surpluses of their livestock each year to make money, and chase away starvation in our society. We need to turn the country into a breadbasket if we are to talk about “food security” in the country. It is also really disturbing to learn that fellow countrymen are exchanging these valuable commodities for alcohol. And on this front I thank and congratulate the regional police officers that have taken up the task to curb this in the same way they are handling cattle rustling in the region. It is not a secret that in the past people lived on milk, blood and even meat from these livestock and some are still doing so, but shouldn’t we keep track with the world? If not then what is the use of putting up all these infrastructures and national development goals if we do not want to keep track with globalization? Time for change is now and we all should play a role to educate our people about the economic gains of these animals which if struck by lightning can lead to chaos and outcries. Eewa!!!