Khwe Living Museum, Namibia

‘Living museums’ are projects set up by:: 'Living Culture Foundation Namibia', with native communities in Namibia with the aim of preserving the native languages and cultural traditions of each group. Each museum allows guests to experience the lifestyle of the community they are visiting, with interactive skill displays, traditional crafting and more. It is the goal of LCFN that every language group in Namibia is represented by at least one living museum. Currently, there are six such experiences in the country and the foundation is hoping to establish another with the Khwe San people near Divundu. The ethnic group of the Khwe, with only about 4000 people in Namibia, has a turbulent history, determined by relocation, political restraint and marginalization by other, bigger ethnic groups. The museum village consists of some traditional grass huts around which the pristine way of life and pre-colonial culture of the Khwe is illustrated. Visitors experience traditional dances, receive an insight into the ancestral world and see, smell and feel the historical life of the Khwe. Hereby emphasis is put on presenting the old hunter-gatherer culture as authentic as possible.