Ovambo people

The Ovambo (Aawambo), Ndonga, Kwanyama, Kwambi, Mbalantu and kindred tribes of Ovamboland, are Namibia's single largest people at half the nation, two million strong, with Ambo kin across the Kunene in Angola. Missionaries failed to wipe the old ways: rain rites, initiation and ancestor veneration persist beneath a Lutheran skin taken from German preachers, 97 percent converts and 3 percent old faith. Millet and sorghum fields, cattle posts and migrant labour built Ovambo wealth; Oshakati markets and Ondangwa churches anchor the north. SWAPO's liberation war was fought largely by Ovambo soldiers, and independent Namibia's presidents have all been Ovambo. Marula beer, oshifima porridge and the wedding ox still seal Ovambo life. Half of Namibia speaks Oshiwambo dialects at home. Ndonga, Kwanyama and Kwambi chiefs still hold local courts. Angola's Ambo number two percent of the nation. Lutheran hymns in Oshiwambo fill northern churches weekly. Ovamboland's old name still marks every map of the north.