Living Museums Receive Donations During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Like everywhere else in the world the Coronavirus has led to a collapse of the tourism industry in Namibia. For the six living museums which are supported by the Living Culture Foundation Namibia (LCFN), this means a total loss of all income since mid-March 2020. Neither international tourists (about 90% of museum visitors) nor local travelers or school classes were able to visit the living museums and the future is uncertain, as it is currently still unclear when international travel will be possible again.

Specifically, in the case of the Living Museums, this means that around 220 museum workers are currently unemployed. The Living Museums are the only employers in the six villages where the Living Museums were developed and the loss of income also means a subsequent collapse of all income for the remaining village communities (an estimated 2000 people).

In May, the LCFN started a campaign to send out a donation calling for a Corona emergency package. Currently, they managed to collect donations of around 6000 Euros. That means that each one of the six Living Museum will receive food supplies of around 1000 €.

In July the first two Living Museums (Mbunza Living Museum, close to Rundu and Mafwe Living Museum, north of Kongola) have received the long-awaited emergency food supplies. The LCFN bought maize flour, flour, rice, pasta, cooking oil, sugar, yeast, salt, washing powder, soups, and tomato sauce for 32.000 N$ for both museums. The remaining 6000 N$ were handed over in cash to buy Mahangu, a very sturdy, drought-resistant traditional millet, which is processed into a porridge and also used to build the fence for the traditional homestead. The thankfulness was huge in both Living Museums.

Article submitted by Mr Sebastian Dürrschmidt from the Living Culture Foundation Namibia. More on the website of the Living Culture Foundation Namibia: www.lcfn.info