Jahohora and First Day: An African Creation Story (Nejuva Etenga)

A tale within a tale, Jahohora and First Day retells the Herero creation story in English and Otjiherero.

The first in a series of children’s books taken from the childhood scenes in Mari Serebrov’s historical novel Mama Namibia, it celebrates traditional Herero culture and family.

With culturally accurate context, Namibian artist Romeo Sinkala brings life to the words through his desert landscapes and depictions of all creation emerging from the sacred omumborombonga tree.

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Author’s Note: Following the publication of my historical novel, Mama Namibia, which tells the story of the Herero and Nama genocide at the hands of the German military and colonists in the early 1900s, my Tate, then Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako, encouraged me to write a series of children’s books based on Jahohora’s story from the first chapters of Mama Namibia.

Reflecting years of research involving Tate and his conversations with some of the last survivors of the genocide, those chapters are rooted in traditional Herero culture and show the importance of family in Herero life. They also provide a glimpse of a culture that was forever changed by the genocide. Tate’s wish was to keep the memory of that culture alive, as much as possible, for future generations.