The Bushmen - Are We Losing Our Ancestors?

Call:
Motswe wa rona o montle, o montle
Motswe wa rona o montle, go gaisa wa lona

Answer:
Re tla o sinya ka pela, ka pela
Re tla o sinya ka go bitsa ... (name of person sitting in a ring)

The translation for this rhyme is:

Call:
"Our house is more beautiful, more beautiful
Our house is more beautiful than yours

Answer:
We will destroy it quickly (the house)
We will destroy it by calling....so and so"

This is a game that is played similar to "Musical Chairs or Duck, Duck, Goose." I was born and raised in Southern Africa in a country called Botswana. I went to school there and this is a game that was played during break time (recess) at school by a group of children. The point of the game was that when chosen, the person would get up from the ring and chase the chooser around until they got to the vacated spot and sat down before the other. Whoever was left standing had to walk around the circle singing the "call" section and the rest of the circle would "answer" until someone was picked. I enjoyed playing this game with some of my classmates but rarely had the opportunity, being an outsider because of my skin color.

In light of recent events, I think the first part of this game sums up what is happening in Botswana with regard to the Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert. They were forcefully and wrongly evicted from their ancestral, hunting lands in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) and put into settlements at Kaudwane and New Xade. Because there "might" be diamonds in the area, the Busmen were moved out to enable a diamond company to search for them. It, (the company) has ruined a beautiful house for profit. To what end will the next generation have the ability to know the history of the people of the desert. It would seem that even the most progressive of countries will destroy a heritage that cannot be replaced. History, apparently, does not serve a purpose and that is a shame.

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve was created in 1961 to protect the 5000 Bushmen living there. They survived without any modern amenities and just lived off the land. According to the Government, "The relocation of the San communities has nothing to do with diamonds, but is being carried out to provide them with better educational, health and social amenities enjoyed by the rest of the population." Pardon me for being cynical, but this stinks. The San are the ones to loose more than anyone. They will be loosing, their culture, communities and their health. They survive off the land, to push them into modern society and technology would be devastating for people with a simple way of life. Not only that, the flora and fauna of the Kalahari will be depleted or sent into extinction. The whole ecosystem will be damaged and the Bushmen will be devastated. We truly will be destroying a beautiful house.

The article on this website will show you what greed can do to the planet.

http://www.debeersgroup.com/debeersweb/General/News+Archives/Issues/