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Saturday, December 4, 2010

Chief's Day

Today the 4th is a day of celebration for the
San (Khwe) people. It is Chief's Day and
this year it was held in our village. It is on
a rotating basis and next year it should be
going up to the next village.

On this day the government allows a few
animals to be hunted and the meat is then
given to the Khwe and is distributed to every
village and person.

This year they hunted one elephant, a buffalo,
kudu, maybe a hippo and some other smaller
animals like a springbok or two.

Also part of the day's activities was our Young
San cultural group. Even though the picture is
of poor quality it does show the group on the
left and the people standing around the dancing
area. There was also a place a little to the left
where I took the picture and where the headmen
and special guests sat.

The kids danced their hearts out and the crowd
really just went wild. The older people also
jumped in and danced with the kids. They
didn't want the them to stop.

It was a good day.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Kwara

We have just begun a cultural project with
the members of the Young San Cultural
Performance group.
Above you can see a picture of a tree with
some poles around it and people underneath it.
That is the beginning of our project to build what
is called a 'Kwara'.
What a Kwara is is a traditional San homestead.
The idea of the Kwara was to build a place that
was safe from animals, such as lions.
What the San would do when the resources
started to get low, they would leave food and water
for the elders while the young people went
out and found another bountiful area.Then
they would build a new Kwara and come back
and get the elders who had stayed safe in the
old one.
Though we haven't near completed this Kwara and
I think that it may take a little time due to the fact
that we will need some dry grass to build some
traditional huts. There will be some available in a
few months after the rainy season.
Still, we need to put more poles around the tree
in the vertical position and also require more
to put around horizontally. Enough to make at
least three rows.
The great part about this Kwara is that since I
arrived, David (the leader of the cultural group) was
talking about making a cultural center. I think that
he was waiting for a proposal or project to come
along.
One day a few months back he mentioned that
we should make a traditional structure that could
serve as a cultural center.
So, here we are in the process of making this
Kwara.
Thinking about it, this seems to be the best solution
for a cultural center, as it should. Also, it costs
virtually nothing to make and the members of
the group are participating and in the process
learning about the old way.
We are thinking of the possible usages of this Kwara.
As mentioned above, a cultural center and with this
as a base things like ... a place for the group to practice,
a traditional area to greet and have meetings with
government officials and also as a fantastic traditional
space if any tourists or visitors come. I can just
envision the Young Cultural performing in the Kwara
and how fantastic it is going to be to see.
David is about 30 years old and told me that he was
lucky that when he was a child he had the chance
to see one of these. In the last 25 years or so he's
never heard or seen of one. So, it is really
important that we make this Kwara as original as
we can.
We are hoping that the elders will come out and
tell us exactly how the Kwara was, in it's design
and in it's usage. Such things as where the headman
had his hut and where the cooking fire was and
so on.
So, even though we aren't finished and there are
still many things to do, I am grateful to be a part
of this and to have the opportunity to learn first
hand about the old ways of the San.
It is important that this project goes well, seeing
as there is virtually no one under 30 to 25 years
of age that's ever seen a Kwara.
In one generation, all the past traditions have been
left behind and are only a part of the elders.
Building this Kwara is not going to change the
direction that the San people are heading in.
They will eventually all have the cars and
the luxuries but we are hoping that through
efforts like these, that the young will know and see
what was their incredible way of life that ended
only a short while ago.
I am thinking that I would like to be able to continue
posting articles concerning the progress of this
Kwara and one day have a finished Kwara to
present instead of a 25% completed one. I think
that I prefer that there are a few entries before it
is done. The slower and surer it goes it seems the
more details about the how and why come out.
This project I am really excited to be a part of.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Our World AIDS activity ...

Today, 1 December as you probably know is
World AIDS Day.

In the village we had a few activities to bring
awareness of World AIDS Day to the community
and especially to the youth. It has been told to me
that many of the people here haven't even heard of
this day.

We organized a mini netball and soccer tournament
as a way to bring attention to the topic of the day.

In the picture, the community counselor from the health
clinic (second man from left in black shirt) and the youth
officer (man on the left) are giving out the first and second
place prizes to the netball squads.

There was a small sum of prize money for the teams.
It was about 7 dollars USD for first and 3.50 for
second. It was only an amount to go out and buy some
fatcakes and some type of drink that they make out of
corn meal. Or anything else that they wanted to get.

With limited resources there wasn't much else we
could do but despite that, it came out ok.

I really doubted that it was going to work and thought
that for that small amount that there wasn't going
to be much interest but, surprisingly, there was. There
had to be at least 50 to 75 people at the netball game
and easily double that at the soccer match. Plus, the
vast majority was youth.

In the end I was pretty happy with the way that it worked
out. It was a community based and funded activity
that hit it's target group (youth) with the information
about what was World AIDS Day and it's meaning.

I always feel that we are on the right track when we
can do things like this with our own initiative.

Tomorrow I will do an informal verbal questionnaire
in the village and see if was something that we may
be able to replicate on other special days. If it can be,
then we can have quite a few days like this.

We probably didn't make a huge impact today, but
that's ok. Just like the tortoise and the hare, slow,
humble and steady can win a race too.