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.

Thanks to Peter Willis for articulating that which has been sending tentative tendrils into my consciousness.

Like the pre-shock waves of a great tsunami (when animals respond by moving up to high ground), we are discerning the outlines of a new human consciousness arising in response to the forthcoming turbulence in human civilisation.

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Runner-up in the 2009 Bradt Travel Writing Competition.

Anonymous arms handled large woven bags over the heads of the throng – an elevated baggage carousel.  The crowd surged as we stepped off the ferry.  “Bananas, bananas,” one vendor shouted as he thrust a bunch of squat green fruit into our faces.

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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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If you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.

That’s Al Gore talking about climate change and the scary place the world’s at right now.

The proverb rings true for Africa. It’s through collective, not individual action, that things will change. Traditionally, Africa is about the collective. There’s a neat tie-in with Al’s message about the natural environment. Africa is, after all, the continent of Nature.

Kenya’s women activist groups have called for a week’s Ban on Bonking to demonstrate to the male leadership of the country they want political reform. Since the violence that marred last year’s erections, I mean elections, (a slip of the tongue or the African phonetic transposition of Rs and Ls?), there has been an uneasy truce on the political scene. Women have decided it’s high time this changed and to take matters into their own hands. They will even pay prostitutes to abstain, to get their message across.

There is something positively Gandhi-esque about the initiative and in a country so beset by HIV/AIDS and overpopulation, a ban on sex couldn’t be more to the point!    Viva Mama Africa!