Sticky business ...

In the picture you can see a bottle half-filled
with honey with a label on it.
This is one of the mini-projects of the past
week. This article ties in a bit to the |an tcaka
one of a little while ago.
This week David and his brother harvested
the honey from one of their 4 beehives. We
talked about putting a label on their bottles so as
to start preparing for marketing at a later date.
We put our ideas together and came up with what
you can see. Of course being out in the bush we
struggled to make and to make do. A little yellow
paper and a glue stick and ... voila!

They do have a ways to go and 4 beehives will
not bring them to the Forbes 500 list for sure but
it is  a bigger deal than one would think.

It lies in the problems that the San people are having
in their need to adapt to a new way of life. As
mentioned many times before in prior blog
articles, the San are in the midst of quite a change
of life style. The older generations, grandparents and
some older parents, came from the hunter/gatherer
ways. The younger two generations are from more
of a static (city type) life style.
The basic concepts of marketing just weren't the
San's way. They didn't have shops or stores, they
lived out in the bush.
So, the idea of making labels and producing and
developing a business idea is kind of a foreign one.
It is difficult to grasp concepts that aren't part of
the standard passing down from parents to children.
The younger generation kind of has to learn on their
own. It has to become a part of who they are.

The brothers that have been working with bees over
the last 4 years or so have learned a lot about the
actual skills of beekeeping. Now that they are more
than well qualified they are ready to take it further.
It is a slow process but the motivation is there so it
is a matter of time and perseverance.

Being in different places and working with different
people in various stages really leaves food for thought.
Working with the brothers brings me back to the days
of my youth where the phrase was ... in this country
of opportunity anyone with an idea or a hard working
person can make it.
Though it has been a while since I've been in the States
I have kept up a bit with the situation of the economic
crisis.
It just makes me think of how fragile a developed
economy can be when due to problem in the housing
sector, that the system is seriously challenged, 
resulting in a lot of pain and suffering.
So working here with the people where life isn't so
complicated and where a person with an idea or
dream, can have the opportunity, is really refreshing.
Nothing is perfect and there is the resources problem,
but there is hope and a chance.

And that is |an tcaka (very good), I would say.