next generation of dancers for the Young
San Cultural Group.
Yesterday at the practice I had a chance
to take the picture of these kids dancing
along with one of the songs. It is a song
about going in the veld and picking the
traditional fruits and food in the bush. The
dancers have a portion of their routine where
they spin and bend down to pick something
from the ground. The picture got a few of the
kids doing that part of the dance.
It is one of the goals of the cultural group to
be consistent and continuous in it's
existence. So far there has been two gen-
erations and by the looks of it, the third one
is in the wings.
There has been some success with this as the
young kids look up to the older ones and as
so far, the older ones haven't been in any
trouble (pregnant or going to the bars ... yet)
they are what the kids out here need, role models.
The group was practicing because tomorrow the
4th is Chief's Day (for the San - Khwe) and they
have been invited to perform. They are the only
dance group invited and they have been to two
other Chief's Day and the crowd liked them. I am
going to state that if the crowd liked them then,
they'll love them now. As a result of the month
long training the kids did before going to the
Lodge, they've become even 10 times better.
It has been a good run with working with the kids.
We've struggled for a year and a half to get
things moving and now ... we've been to the Lodge,
the nature park, the fisheries institute and in
a 'what is in the works' category ... a possible
tourist boat trip on the Okavango river.
None of the kids have ever been on a boat so
it looks like it may be that there could be some
impact in the form of a new experience.
In the village the school is out and it got a bit
quiet. But there seems to be some change in the
air. I've lived here for two and a half years and
one gets the flow of life after a while. It seems
like there has been less drinking and almost
no fighting ... is it possible that there is a spiritual
revolution going on?
Strange things can happen ... I've been told.
No comments:
Post a Comment