Many Westerners regard African tribal lore as simplistic, even naïve. This is far from true. On the contrary, African beliefs reveal a sophisticated, experiential understanding of the natural environment – one that most Westerners have lost touch with.

Born out of millenia of living at the mercy of the Earth’s vagaries, rural Africans have an innate understanding of nature. With the current environmental problems facing the planet, traditional Africa is a good place to search for the wisdom that points the way to ensuring our continued place here.

With this in mind I went looking for the Keepers of the Knowledge, the Sangomas and the Healers in rural South Africa recently.

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“Bamba!” Sakoi Shengaera greets us in the village of Shaikarawe, 15kms west of the Okavango River in northern Botswana. The village is inhabited by Khwe Bushmen and we’re here to learn about the culture and beliefs of the people who call themselves the Bugakhwe or Bush Khwe.

We find a shady spot.   It’s September – The Month When Messengers Come – so called by the Bugakhwe because when leaving home in the cool mornings on food gathering expeditions one doesn’t anticipate the heat of midday.  Caught unprepared, someone has to be sent to the nearest settlement to ask for water. Read the rest of this entry »

2010 is a significant year for Africa. The pride that the first time hosting of the FIFA world cup brings is tangible. “Ke Nako” is the refrain. It is Time – to be acknowledged, to be recognised, to take our place on the world stage.

What is less on our minds is the fact that 2010 has been declared as the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity. The rapid loss in biodiversity on the planet gave rise to this attention-getting intiative. Species extinctions are almost a daily occurrence, and they are only the ones we know about – there are many more, unknown to science or beneath the surface of our awareness that we remain ignorant of. The real scary part is that these extinctions are, in almost all cases, caused by human beings.

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I recently met with an old Bushman woman, called Ouma Khunna. She lives near the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, in which she was born in 1931. Her clan are known as the Khomani San and were the first people in this corner of the Kalahari.

I asked her what she preferred being called, Bushman or San. And she answered in a definite tone, “Ek is ‘n Boesman.” I am a Bushman. This apparently started a thought train going because she then went on to explain that really her people were Tsaasi (I’ve spelt it phonetically) and that she was a Khomani Tsaasi.

“Tsaasi?”

“Ja, ons is die mense van die tsaa.” We are the people of the tsaa.  Tsaasi.

“And what is a tsaa?” I enquired.

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I heard a lovely, true story today, which shows just how far a little respect goes.  It was school’s out for the boys of Paarl High School and as they came out they filed past a bergie woman (a tramp) scavenging in the dustbin on the pavement.  Being well brought up boys, with respect for others being a cornerstone of their education, they each greeted the tramp with a “Good Afternoon” as they walked by.  There was no apparent reaction from the bergie until one waiting mum noticed in the lull between the surges of departing boys that the bergie walked over to an empty parked car and primped her hair in the reflection of the window. The simple act of the boys’ acknowledgement seemingly engendered an upsurge in pride in her appearance.    How cool is that?

Dignity and respect are mentioned in at least two southern African countries “Visions” that I know of.  Botswana and Lesotho.  Could it be that this will become a worldwide phenomenon?  Global civility.

Like doctors who warn an overweight, beer guzzling, two-pack-a-day smoker that he needs to slow down, so do proponents of population control warn of the calamities that await unbridled population growth.  And it’s not because they hate humanity.  On the contrary, it is out of a profound Love for Humanity that they do so.

Let me put my cards on the table.   As a young adult with an innate curiosity in the world I became convinced that,  in our time in history, the gravest danger to humanity was humanity itself.  Considering this,  I believed that the most generous gift one could give to this amazing phenomenon called Life was to forego the joys of personal procreation.

Sounds weird but stay with me.
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Every second Saturday is Good Hair Day, for dogs at least. In the small Moravian village of Elim, near the southern-most tip of Africa, dogs are given a wash and pamper by local farmer, Andrea Booysen and her helpmate, Belinda Owens. And it’s more than a lick and a promise for these often neglected animals.

Elim houses

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