On track

The upcoming big event (for us) is still
on track. As anyone who has ever worked
as a volunteer can tell you ... nothing is sure
until you've arrived back after the plan went
off.
But, I am especially concerned about the trip
to the lodge coming out somewhat successful.
Basically, if we go, that's success. It is the
simple criteria we are striving for.
The main reason being is that last year the kids
were promised that would have the chance to go
to Botswana. They were to attend the 'Kuru Festival'.
A big cultural event that attracts many groups.
They had money to go to the event donated by
an NGO that works with indigenous minorities. The
kids were pumped and another organization that
promised to supply the transport, didn't even show.
The kids were just plain ... well ... best said ... their
little hearts were ripped out.
As a result, they lost confidence, interest and
... so ... if one wants a group together for reasons
as to develop or help or support, things like
disappointment is not going to bring any kind of
good results.
So, what we've done is confirmed, confirmed,
confirmed, confirmed and re-confirmed. But still
doesn't mean that we're going to be in business.
But, this time, it seems that it could actually happen.
The guy providing transport is the best we can find.
The lodge is really top notch. The owners are quality
and have an interest in supporting the San within the
National Park.
So, with a week to go all the stars are lined up and
hopefully they stay that way.
On the kids side, as you can see in the picture they
were lining up to do their routine a second time.
The kids are working hard.
It surprised me as I have been involved with that
group for over a year an a half and I have never seen
them this way. I am impressed with their effort.
Back to the picture ... on the left in the red shirt is
David the group's leader. He's been involved with
the cultural group project since 2005.
These kids are what you could call of the second
generation.
This is a good project and it keeps young kids
occupied (especially out here in the bush) and it
has had a positive affect as all the kids in the group
are attending school.
They are really just a great group of kids.
Yesterday, they put on a show during their practice
sessions. David told them that with a week left
it was time to buckle down, get serious and try
their best.
They also motivated a few elders to come and
participate.
The elders have the knowledge that's not getting
passed out due to the different way of life.
One of the goals with this group is to do just that.
Try and keep the 'Old Ways' alive by handing down
the knowledge, just as it used to be.
Again, the elders just talked about participating
and if the old saying goes ... if I had a dollar for
every time ... then we'd be pretty much set.
But this volunteer thing is a lot of time hoping and
praying that things will work out.
Stars, stars ... don't move at least until 7:00 p.m. next
Saturday night.
This way their little hearts won't be broken again..

We're almost there ... finally

It has been oh ... let me think ... something like
a year since I've talked to the lodge owner about
our Young San Cultural Group going to his lodge
to perform. I mentioned a bit about this being a
possibility in the prior blog post. In fact, if they
go they will be the first San group to have performed
at any of those lodges along the Namibia side
of the Okavango River.

Since posting that article we've been working on
making it come to fruition. The main problem we
had was transportation as the lodge is about 75 km
or 50 miles away.

We've received a promise of being transported by
the village school's assistant principal. He's about the
most reliable person in the joint, so, if it don't go with
him ... then ... it's about impossible to get that sorted.

So that is good, then we have an agreement with the
lodge owner who is noted as a reputable man so the
two biggest issues are ... on paper, solved.

It ought to be pretty interesting and the kids are going
to basically get thrown out of the boat and have to
tread water. Sounds bad, huh? What I mean by that
is it will be the first time for the kids to perform at any
lodge. Plus, the owner wanted them to show up on the
5th of November because he's having a full house and
supposedly they are going to be important guests.

Man, got to admit, I really don't know how the kids are
as far as anxiety about it goes but, I got a little. Well anxiety
seems to be kind of a negative thing, I guess. I really have
concern or more like, I am really hoping that it goes so
well.

Right now the kids are going nuts practicing which is the
goal of it all is to keep them engaged in activity. As it has
been said: " Idle mind is the devil's playground". Really
holds true out here in the bush.

We have to nail down a 45 minute program and the group
has a mixture of traditional songs and some new ones of
their own.

As for my work goal in all this ... it's to really get the group
to get their first plunge into a new world.

The other day I thought back to my time in El Salvador and
how we did the 'plunge' only with girls soccer. In the campo
(word for bush, rural area) it was unheard of. It took 14
months of cajoling, pleading, begging and finally just plain
demanding. But we had one game and we were ... out there ...
pushing the envelope so to speak. But two years later I
received an email from the volunteer that replaced me and
in it was a picture of a girls soccer team with full uniforms.
I felt pretty ok when I saw it.

So, I guess it is getting easier because this time it was only
12 months to get the activity happening. But I do hope that
at least, if they never go again to another lodge to perform,
that they will have had one good experience that they'll
never forget. Or, I'll get an email with a picture of them
tearing it up with the crowd going crazy, can lightning
strike same place twice?

Oops, almost forgot, in my enthusiasm I am leaning towards,
this is all going to work out and we will go. But, through
experience it is better to think of the glass as half empty.
This way if there is a let down, there's not too far to fall.

But, we will get there ... this time ... for sure ... again.

New season

The other day we received our first rain of
the upcoming rainy season.
It is really remarkable how the plants spring
to life with little humidity. They are what survives
and thrives in these conditions.
In the picture is one of those plants that flower
after receiving it's first watering/rain. The picture
is kind of bleached out and my first thought
was to shade it a bit to make it look a little prettier,
but I decided to leave it the way it is. The reason
being is I feel that it gives a good example of the
light and ambiance at this time of year out in the bush.

This volunteer work is something at times and it
really is simply, working with people and not much
more complicated than that. The simple and logical
way to put it is ... if the people want to, then it will go
and the chance of it being actually anywhere close
to sustainable, may happen.
This is the intro to an update concerning the work with
the San Young Cultural Group. I've mentioned it prior
blog entries that one of the underlying goals is to get
the kids out of the village and give them the opportunity
to see and experience some new things. The purpose
is to combat the tendencies of the youth to drink alcohol
out of what they call 'boredom'.
So, to get them out and about will hopefully open their
minds and give alternative visions as to which direction
they may want their lives to head to.
A year ago I met one of two owners of a lodge 80 km
or 50 miles from here.
At that time I mentioned to him that we had this San
Culture Group and is there was any way that they may
have the chance to go to his lodge and perform. He said
that he was trying to encourage San groups to come to
his lodge but hadn't had much success.
I returned to the village and told our group's leader what
I was told. Well, nothing happened and despite probably
bugging the leader once every two weeks, it took the
leader's per chance meeting of the lodge's owner to
look like ... the show may actually hit the road. As men-
tioned above ... if they want to, it will probably work out.
We have to begin to work out the details this week and
trying to keep the 'glass half full' mantra ... am hoping
that it finally will be
.
I added on one more year here and one of my main
goals before I finish is to at least ... once ... see the
kids have (as of now) probably the biggest experience
of their lives.
It could open the door to a fantastic opportunity to have
an ongoing working relationship with the lodge. If not,
it will be a life skill experience and it is a no lose
situation.

It is kind of funny but after one lives in a place for a while
we seem to get the feeling as how things are flowing.
In this village there have been some problems like
anywhere else, I guess.
Mainly alcohol, a confusion in leadership and throw in
a few tricky people ... and ... it all just adds up to a
situation that holds everything and everybody back.
This has been the circumstance almost ever since I've
arrived here but the crazy thing is ... that over the last few
weeks some of the people are beginning to stand up
and take back some control.
The place actually feels different. Maybe there is more
than one change of season going on.
As the Dalai Lama said; "the true development is the
development of the character".
I found this to be so true, as if the people have good
intentions then things work out fine. Maybe they will
even make better life choices.

This is good for me as people are coming up to me to
help them write reports, proposals and even add two
cents of my opinion to it all.

It only took two and a half years for this energy to come
to life.

I have 8 months left and I know that the rainy season is
sure to come. I just hope that the motivational season
has also just started and lasts till I am finished.

making clothes

Our Young San Cultural Group uses as
their clothing, skins, just like in the old way.
The San cannot hunt anymore as was their
cultural/ancestral way. So to get skins it's not
like the way it used to be where the hunters
would go out and of course bring them back.
Now, how one gets a hold of skins is to
request it from the local game farms or
from the game hunters.
There is game hunting allowed and it is done
in a controlled manner so as to not deplete
the animal population.
Our cultural group has grown a little and we
were in need of a few articles of clothes for
the boys.
In the picture you can see one of the managers
of the group sewing a skin into a piece of
clothing.

There were a few things that happened this
week. One actually happened and the other is
a promise for something to happen.
First, the promise of what may happen. That is,
that we may get the opportunity to take the
cultural group kids to a game park. This will
be accomplished with the help of one of the
Lodges which are along the Okavango river.
The owners are from South Africa and they
are interested in working and supporting the
San people.
They have promised to provide two game
watching vehicles and the kids ought to be
looking pretty important riding in those. None
of the kids have seen many of the game animals
and this should be a huge treat. Here it is a
bit different as there isn't much transport
available for these types of activities.
To say the least, this will be big.
As a way of saying thank you to the Lodge
owners we are hoping to go to the place
itself and perform an appreciation program.
This will also get the kids to see this Lodge
which is a really nice one.
So, as it goes time and time again. This is a
promise and nothing has happened and
seeing is believing but this one seems a
little more sure than usual.

The thing that did happen was on the 7th it
was National HIV testing day. Man, there was
at least 150 people that showed up. The other
years there were like 15 tops. Don't know
what happened but it was crazy.
Knowing one's status really is the only way to
plan.
If one is negative they can continue to protect
themselves, or, if they were just plain lucky, then,
they can think seriously about protecting
themselves.
For those who have contracted HIV, then, they
can be monitored until or if, they may need to
start taking ARVs.
But to have that many people come out is
close to a miracle.
It was a good week and really pretty satisfying.

Rollin

In the picture is what is for dessert
today.
The weather in the southern hemisphere
is starting to change and the sun is
beginning to get a bit stronger day by
day.
This gives us the opportunity to get more
creative with our solar oven menu as we
have more heat to work with.
What me and my site mate made were
these rolls. There are two types thanks
to a care package. We have blueberry
and raisin.
With the limited supplies we have out
in the bush it takes a little creativeness
to put anything other than rice and sardines
in our plates.
It is a simple recipe and if anyone is interested
here it is ...

-1 and half cups of flour
-1 package of cinnamon oatmeal
half teaspoon of salt
-1 to 1 and a half tablespoon(s) of yeast
- over room temperature of water or warm to touch

knead that together and let sit in warm place for
about half an hour.

Then the key to this is to roll it out using an old
ketchup bottle into a semi thin sheet. (The
bottle is the only thing we had to roll the
dough out). Just joking and anything to roll
out is obviously ok.

Next ingredients are ...
- cinnamon
- sugar
- blueberries
- raisins

Sprinkle a generous amount of cinnamon and
sugar on the top. Then add the raisins and
blueberries. Roll them up them cut them into
pieces like in the photo.

We put them in the solar oven for a few hours
but now the sun is overhead and the oven
is really hot. So don't know how that would
translate into a regular oven temperature.

But it came out great, it is a little treat and
despite being out here in the middle of nowhere,
with a bunch of sun, it can be done.

Visitors

In the picture on the left are two bicyclists.
They are from France and have been cycling
down the west coast of Africa.

They've been on the road exactly one year
when they dropped in to stay overnight here
in the village. At the end of one year they have
accumulated 11,000 kilometers.

For me it was interesting and I can speak the
French language. They were surprised and
of course they observed and mentioned that
I speak the Quebec / Canadian French. But
actually I really speak the Le Senegal village
French. I can speak well enough to not be
able to go hungry in any Francophone country.
But it was good nonetheless to be able to use
the language again.

Also in the picture on the right is the guy from
Romania and his wife and child.

We are located in the middle of a national
park and there isn't much for miles or
kilometers at a time. So, for cyclists our
location is actually advantageous.

So far we've had a couple from New Zealand
and the United States stay here about a month
back.

This is actually a pretty fun thing to be able to
have people drop by and if they are cycling
through Africa they are apt to be interesting.

As far as activities in the village ... it has been
a little slow. The work with the cultural group
has been sidetracked due to a church taking
the group and using them as a choir. It is ok
except for the fact that the church has practice
on Friday and then has services later on
Saturday. So, they cut into the time that was
used as cultural group time.

I really don't know how this will pan out but I am
hoping that the cultural group will be able to
get back together. But this one I am not too
sure of.

This seems to be a typical scenario. It goes
like this ... whenever it is too good to be true,
it is.

So, it is placing a little more emphasis now
on the small business sector or ... working
with the guy who is working to develop his
beekeeping.

So, seeing as plan A is sidetracked, it's time
to go to plan B.

Now it is out tomorrow to look for a plan C.
I found that a volunteer always needs to have
one plan in the bank, just in case.

semi traditional

In the picture is a traditional piece used
by the village's San cultural group.

The skirt is tied around the waist and
the beaded area is worn over the behind.
When the girls are dancing the beads
move and it adds kind of maracas sound
to the songs.

The one in the picture is actually a mixture.
The yellow pieces are reeds and are
actually traditional for the Mbukushu people.
They are a Bantu language speaking tribe.
The other pieces are porcupine quills.

The San (Khwe) people are Khoesan
speaking and their traditional pieces
are the porcupine quills.

For the Young San Traditional Dance
Group we have about 6 of those at this
time. We are in the process of trying to
change the reeds to the quills.

To get the quills is not easy and it is more
about people happening to find them. So,
it is going to be a process to outfit the 6
skirts with the quills.

It will take time. Things move slow out here
in the bush.

Blank Slate - Sign

I have been back in the village for over
a month and it is always a little struggle
to get momentum going again.
But ... things are starting to move. Right
now the majority of the people in the
village are out in the bush collecting what
they call ... devil's claw. .
They dig it up, sell it and it is then exported
to somewhere in Europe where I've been
told they process it for some natural remedy
or drink. I really don't know for sure.
We have been continuing with the Young San
(Khwe) Cultural Group project. In the picture
is an old metal shelf from a locker that we'll
try and make a nice sign out of. The kids
have gotten a little entrepreneurial and have
gone out to the road and are trying to attract
tourist to watch them dance and hopefully
leave an offering.
What happens is that we are the first village
that anyone comes too after driving 60 km
or about 42 miles. So by the time they come
up upon the village they are going pretty fast.
The kids have found that they need a decent
sign that is at least 500 meters or yards
ahead of where they are so the people have
time to stop or not jam on the brakes and
create an accident.
So, me and the Romanian guy have volunteered
to try and make a good sign that will be easy
to read for people who are traveling at 130 kph
or 80 miles per hour.
We also made a music CD of the songs that
the group performs. I took the audio off the
video clips that we took of their practices. The
group played it last night. I wasn't there but
I guess they had a little speaker system and
the neighbors all came over thinking that they were
performing. The kids danced to the CD and also
decided that they wanted to do a few of the songs
over and also add to the 12 songs on the disc.
We are trying to also take the kids out to the
game park to see some of the animals. This
is always an exercise in patience and the ability
to face rejection and being let down. We have
talked with an organization about transportation
but we would be going in a few weeks during
their school break. A few weeks is a long time
when it comes to planning things out here. So,
that's on the drawing board and we'll just try our
level best to make it work for the kids.
I've had a discussion with David the head of the
cultural group and a person who works with
cultural issues and so forth.
The point is that with the change in the traditional
ways of the San that the knowledge of the those
ways have a chance of vanishing with the passing
of the elders. I brought back a small Flip Video
camera and the thought is to try and film interviews
with the elders and hopefully get them to demonstrate
the traditional skills and tell us of the old ways.
The thought is that if we can document some or all
of it that it would be available for future generations
if need be. I am not sure if this has been done before
for this San (Khwe) people but no one seems to
remember anything like it.
The plan is to create a small digital library . But like
all the ideas and plans, it seems great and we are
ambitious about it. The real thing is ... can we do it.
This will take participation and if the elders agree
then we are in business.
We have one man who lived the old ways until he
was in his early 20's, so he would have gone
through all the traditional ways such as hunting a
springbok on foot. This would have proven that
he was capable of being a provider. We will
start with him and he is a good man with an
open mind and he understands what we are
trying to do.
I am excited about this as I should have a
tremendous chance to learn of the old ways. Of
course they will talk in the San language of
Khwedam so I will understand not too much.
David will fill me in afterwards.
Right now the majority of the work is cultural related
and in my mind it is more important than what it
seems to be. A people have lost their traditional
ways and are struggling to find another identity
or way. Sometimes it is better to take what you've
learned and then go back to the beginning or
basics. In this case the basics are the old societal
ways.
Now, the societal ways are somewhat confused and
many of the ways such as only elders could drink
alcohol, respect for adults and expectation of young
men providing for their families are on the way to
being lost. These are just a few examples.
By keeping in touch with the old way's expectations
from the society and adapting it to today's life, I
think that the San could work they way out of the
marginalized life that many are experiencing now.
All this sounds good on paper but it is a challenge
at the least. That's why I came back for a third year.

Mood lighting

It has been a while since I've posted to
this blog. In the meantime I've been back
home to the States for a month's leave.

I arrived back in the village last weekend
and have begun my third year here.

It takes a few days to get back in the swing
of things for the obvious reason that the life
in the States as compared to here is very
different. It takes energy to grasp a hold of
the 'now' and the wheels in the brain were
spinning continuously marking the differences
from here and there.

But it is back and it is time to get back to
business.

I went to the cultural group's practice yesterday
and they were highly motivated and it was
really fun and the energy was proverbially off
the charts. We've gotten a new skin to replace
the one on the second new drum. That was
the one that the kids destroyed within the first
week. It is a duiker skin and should be a few
times stronger than a goat skin. They said that
the duiker skin should last at least three years.
All we have to do is get the man who made the
drums to do the process of treating the skin and
make it fit.

We did a little home improvement as you can
see in the picture. With electricity at what is best
described as 'sometimes' we have to always
have the candle back ups.

We made four of these wall mounted candle holders
out of some wood that was laying around. One person
mentioned that we are getting the old castle lighting
scheme going.

They may call it that but I call it mood lighting. In fact,
it's really kind of nice at night and has a peaceful and
tranquil effect which is a good way to end anyone's
day.

So, it is back in the saddle again and as things get
moving, I will be posting more entries.

One more year and more ahead.

Instruments

In the picture you can see four of the
kids who are part of the Young San
Cultural Group.

In their hands are from left to right ...
can on a stick with some beans in it.
The girl on the left has the 'kaworoworo'.
I had a past blog article about it and
if you put kaworoworo in the search
field in the above right it should search
it out, if your interested.
The only thing I can add to my knowledge
of the kaworoworo is that by trying to
play it, I've found that as simple as it looks,
it takes some practice. So far, it appears
that I need a bit.

The next one is one of the new drums. In
fact, it is the big bass drum and you
can see in the middle of the drum's head
a black substance. That's from bees wax
and they put that on there to increase the
bass sound.

To the right the young girl has the '|'guru'
and again, there is a prior blog article
concerning it. Again, what I can add to my
knowledge of the |'guru is through my playing
it. This one is easier and you can see in the
girl's right hand what looks like a melon
skin. That has a little hole on the side of it
and there is a little piece of some type of
membrane over it. It plays best on the bare
stomach and it seems that it is something
that's played while someone is singing.

There are about two to three other instruments
that we need to get, plus also need to learn
how to play.

The second new drum's skin is already
destroyed. It only took a week so we have to
look for a new goat skin again. This time the
kids are going to pay for it. They have a little
fund they acquired from dancing for a few
tourists.

So the group's leader told them, you broke it,
you fix it.

The leader of the group is doing a good job
and is not only concerned with dancing and
performing but also the development of the
members character. Out here in the bush and
in this village, it is just so important.

But one thing I can say about the kids screwing
up the new drum ... well ... kids are kids no
matter where they are in the world.