In 1962 Kenneth Abrahams opened a medical practice in Rehoboth and was granted citizenship of the “Baster Gebied”. What did this mean? Basters make up the largest portion of Griqua people (people of European-slave, and European-Khoi, Khoi, San, and some BaSotho and BaTswana descent) who constituted their own community between the Cape Colony’s northwest frontier and the lower course of the Orange River at the end of the 1700s. With missionary influence, they developed written codes of regulation, many adopted from Khoi people – including the offices of the Chief, aka Kaptein, and Sub-Chief, Onderkaptein, that met at annual gatherings and developed their own constitution. They also elected Council – Raad  members, responsible for the governing public life. In the 1870s Rehoboth Basters moved into an area south of Windhoek, where they joined a sub clan of the ǀGowanîn (Dune Damaras/ Damaras) who had settled in Rehoboth in the 16th century. The German colonial administration concluded a Treaty of Protection and Friendship with the Rehoboth Basters in 1885 where they recognized their right to self-governance. This self-governance was challenged and resisted in various ways over time, with ongoing calls for independence from the state of Namibia, and the return of ancestral lands.