SWAKOPMUND – Walking the Swakopmund Museum makes for an euphoric experience which carries you to places and times you have not been before.
There are relics of old transportation, gigantic teeth of a slain elephant, baptism dresses with an age old yellow tint and Okavango Canoe. This was the excitement and foresight which drew the Grade 7 class of the Nomtsoub Primary School in Tsumeb to Swakopmund last week. “I thought it was a good idea to come see Swakopmund for the first time and learn about our backgrounds, and to see the things we have never seen before.
I really think it is important for young people like us to come see old things and learn about how our forefathers lived and what resources they used to stay alive,” said the headboy Matthews Nambahue(15) while admiring the gigantic Iron Pot used for production of blubber between 1891 and 1903.
“This experience and trip to Swakopmund was totally awesome. I got to see things that I have only learned at school in the History class. I think students, and even teachers should take advantage and make use of museums to get information about historical happenings and even about our own ancestors,” smiled Shana Somses(18), a relief teacher at the Nomtsoub Primary School.
The Swakopmund Museum is the largest privately owned museum and was founded in 1951 by a dentist, Dr. Alfons Weber.
An original ox-wagon used on the route between Grootfontein and Angola is displayed alongside the carriage of the last German governor, Dr. Th. Seitz (1915).
A sand sledge used to transport heavy loads in the Kavango region is also on display a few metres from the Okavango Mokoro log Canoe. The Museum also houses several pictures and apparatus used by Weder in his dental practice, depicting the lifestyle of Namibian communities during the German colonial period.
By Jemima Beukes