Cultural Differences (Namibia and Malaysia)

Culture itself comprises of how certain people live, their religious and belief, dressing codes and food habits.  I am going to give some points of how Namibian culture is differ from Malaysian culture and also try to emphasise a bit on their differences.

Namibia has 8 different ethnical groups, these ethnic group are as follow

Ø  Damaras

Ø   Hereros

Ø   San people

Ø  Vamboes

Ø  Kavangos

Ø  Vamboes

Ø   Tswanas

Ø  Namas.

 Each ethnic has different speaking way depending on the tribe. Most of the people in Namibia are black but you also find whites people. The majority are Owambo speaking and most dominant ethnics in Namibia, just like Malays in Malaysia. In Malaysia there are only have 3 ethnics namely Malays, Chinese and Indian

. In Namibia most of people practise farming and agricultural activities, and this is what makes people’s life easy. In farming we plant and cultivate mahangu and maize. We then harvest when crops ripe. We only cultivate during the rainy season (summer) because Namibia does not receive rainfall all year round. Mahangu and maize meals are staple food mainly in the Northern and Eastern part of the country. We also practise stock farming whereby some people raise cattle, goats and donkeys for domestic purposes. Stock farming is very rare because not everyone can afford to buy such domestic animals.

Marital issues

In Namibia, a man is allowed to married at the age of 25 and the woman should be 20 years old. There are steps that have to be followed before the wedding take place. The steps are investigation, engagement custom, marriage contract and enthronement. When it is time for a young man to get married, a man has to take a responsibility of finding his own bride. The family from both parties (man and woman) has to meet and they have to agree if they want the wedding to go through. In Malaysia it is different because if a man wants to get married, it is his family who will look around to identify a number of potential brides.

 In conclusion, Namibian culture is totally different from Malaysian culture. In Malaysia, many people believe in God and this can be proved by praying every day. The fact that many Namibian are Christian and Malaysian are Islamic play a vital role on the cultures sharpening between the two countries.