and downs like usual. One statement I can make
about the time that I've spent in Africa villages
is that, it's never boring. There's always something
going on, good or bad.
This week I finally was able to start on a project that
I've been trying to get going since the first day I
arrived in the village. That is of making a video of
health issues such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB
to name a few, in the local language which here is
Khwedam, one of the San languages. It just makes
sense to have all this info in a format that can be
repeated easily. Many of the older San people
can't speak or understand very well the languages
that they are given instruction in. So, finally we
are beginning to put a DVD together. So far
we've covered about 2 of the 7 topics we plan to.
But it is progress and progress is good.
Also speaking of DVDs, we are just about finished
with the one we made with the church's choir. It is
really an amateur (technology wise) production but
even with that, it couldn't take away the fact that the
kids are actually pretty good. It was a fun thing to
do, it animated the choir and they will have a disk
that they can keep. We still need to rearrange the
songs so that the songs flow from one to another,
but this is also a great learning situation as they are
getting the eye and ear for it.
There was a memorial day for a former chief that I
didn't get the chance to see. But I heard that there
were game meat involved in the festivities. I believe
there were 1 elephant, 1 hippo, 1 or 2 buffalo and
2 or 3 kudu killed for the festival. This was done in
a controlled way and all was legal.
The San's history is that of hunter/gatherers and the
game meat is part of their heritage. Since the establishment
of the game reserve, they've been not allowed to hunt and
in essence have lost most of their culture. They are now
being lead to an agricultural way that their forefathers
didn't have any knowledge of. Someone brought kudu
meat to this village and man, you should have seen the
people literally going crazy for it. They were actually
giddy. I guess for the brief moment they were in touch
with the thousands of years of prior existence.
One of the strategies for transitioning the San has been
hunting concessions. Trophy hunters pay a fairly healthy
fee, to hunt a certain amount of each animal (decided by
the government) during a hunting season. What then
happens is that some of the money is returned to the
San in forms of services and outright cash payments.
Also, the meat from the slain animals are given to
the San villages.
I must say that by living with the San and seeing the
results of such goings through the transition, well,
best way said, it ain't easy.
The school is going on a break until mid-January so that
kinds of takes away a source of activity for me but
we've replaced it with a kids cultural group. Oh yeah,
speaking of cultural group, the older cultural group that
was supposed to go (key word here ... supposed) to
the national dance competition got the word that they
weren't going due to some problem. I feel bad for these
youth, they had been practicing and well, we can
all imagine the disappointment that they must have felt
when they first heard the bad news.
OK, back to the kids cultural group. Since school is
out,one of the guys who are working the cultural angle
organized this new group. They are about ages ranging
from 10 to 16 years old and they are ... fantastic. I am
thinking that if this group could just be developed and
stay together they will be formidable. This group
went to the commemoration day and I was told that
they were the high point of the whole affair. I have
watched them and they are full of energy and they are
having fun. Hopefully nothing or anyone comes by and
ruins it for them.
So basically, that's the week. Nothing spectacular but
it was alright and of course in is my opinion, not boring.
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