Always something new ...

to learn. After being in the village
for almost two years it would seem
that there wouldn't be a lot of things
that I haven't seen.

But as I learned last weekend that just
is not be the case.

In this San (Khwe) culture there has been a huge
transition from the hunter/gatherer lifestyle
to the 'newer' way of life. What has happened
is that a lot of the bush knowledge is being
left aside. The younger generation haven't
the skills that their parents and forefathers
have.

It is the way it is now and for that reason I enjoy
collaborating and supporting the Cultural Groups
as they try to keep in touch with the Old Ways.

An example can seen in the picture above. What
you see are two of the young girls in the Cultural
Group learning the process of making rope.
The girl in the foreground is the assistant leader of
the group.

In this case they harvested what looks like a normal
cactus/succulent plant that is just everywhere out
here in the bush.

The process of rope making begins by placing a
stick on the ground then with another slightly
modified stick, strip off the pulpy/skin of the plant.
This is a little bit of work and what is done is
a foot is also used to add pressure during what
can be best described as the scraping process.
The result after scraping off the pulpy part are
fibers that are then divided up to be rolled
by hand into rope.

What was done was two groups of fibers of
approximately 20 each were placed on the thigh.
With one hand holding an end of each group,
the other was used to roll the groups.

One group of fibers were as result rolled in and
incorporated into the other in an easy and efficient
manner.

The finished product was one strong rope and it
had many uses and what was especially interesting
was how it was used to make a trap. I hope to
be able to get a picture of that in the future so I
can add to the blog.

It is one of the hunting methods that the San people
have used over the millennium.

For me, it was something new and reminded me that
I really have a lot more to learn about the 'Old Ways'
of the San people.