Back From The Bush

Spent the last week in the Dobe (or G/hui!'han) area (right next to the Namibian border in the middle of nowhere) doing some project work with TOCADI. The Ju/'hoansi people have acquired land from the government and are starting there own San communitied there. TOCADI is trying to help these people become self-reliant so the Ju/'honsi people will be able to live how they want to, away from the influence of the predominate Tswana culture of Botswana.

The G/hui!'han area is extremely rural, sparse in population, and poor. The Ju/'honsi people there are no longer hunters and gatherers but they are still deeply tied to their traditions and heritage. While I was there I learned about how to get water from a dry water hole, what you can eat from the bush, and a bit about traking animals. Some of the elderly people around Dobe are former hunter and gatherers themselves.

To make these people independent, TOCADI has been funding different projects to make the sommunities self-sustaining and well educated. TOCADI has helped build several wells (like the one pictured below) and has held several educational seminars on how to read and write Ju/'honsi. This past week TOCADI was helping elephant proof a water pump for a future settlement.

When their water holes dry up the elephants smell the water from the pump miles away in the sommunities. When they get there there usually pretty thirsty and like to pull the pumps apart to get to the water inside. Therefore its important to make sure to elephant proof the wells before people start settling there.

To elephant proof the water pump we had to dig a meter wide/sholder deep trench around the well and place poles around center. The idea behind the trench is the elephant will look down and be to afraid to cross. Then the poles keep it from reaching in to the pump. (However I was also told if an elephant really wanted to it still can get in there to the pump and break the poles).

The work was extremely hard to do for a number of reason. We only had a few tools, three shovels and one pic axe, and we were in the middle of the African wilderness which meant sweltering hot days and freezing cold nights.

Our crew was comprised of 5 community members, the TOCADI Dobe team (Joyce, Damo, and Myself), and our driver Charlie. It took us three days to complete the digging. After that we went deeper into the bush to cut down a tree for poles. However we didnt have enough time, energy, or resources to put the poles up so we concluded there. This was what it looked like when we were done.

The trip to the Dobe area was a long one. It took around 400 km to get there, 200 of which were rural dirt roads. After taking such a beating forging through the African bush our Land Rover decided to stop working 60 km away from the main road. Luckily we were able to hitch-hike back into Shakawe on the back of an old rusty flatbed semi-truck which spewed gas and exhaust fumes all over us. Dont worry. Im now safe and sound in Shakawe.
Sala Sentle
Travis


ps here are some b+w's i took of people and stuff. i thought they looked kind of cool.

In Shakawe

I've made it safely into Shakawe, a small town on the Northwestern border of Botswana next to Namibia. The villiage sits along the Okavanga Delta, an inland delta filled with hippos and crocodiles. The homes here are made mostly of reeds, grass, and mud from the delta giving the villiage a unique personality in comparison to my previous stays. I'm at the TOCADI office now, which I was supprise to find has electricity and the interenet (however, the electricity seems to go out at least once every day). Right now I'm helping organize an expidition out to different San communities where we will collect information and help out the local people. TOCADI does a wide variety of work dedicated to helping the San. Yesterday, we invited different communities members to watch us plant a garden in order to teach people how they can do the same. Saturday, I'll be helping with a fishing expedition along the river. The goal here is to make the San communities independent in the modern world but at the same time maintain their unique cultural heritage. The organization provides communities with the means to make traditional baskets, art pieces, and at the same time educates people on their traditional language (teaching how to write all the clicks) and different life skills. Since its creation TOCADI and its parent organization Kuru have helped publsihed a book on San oral hisotry (Voices of the San) and an annual traditional San dance festival. For more information on the San here is an ok website (I have some problems with it though).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushmen

I've attached some pictures of the Delta, the office, my kitchen at home, the TOCADI garden, and a sot of a typical home in Shakawe. Enjoy.






ARE (love in Ju/'hoansi)
Travis