Purpose of Trip to Botswana September 2005
In September 2005, I participated in a very powerful journey to Botswana in Africa. I fell in love with the Kalahari Desert and all that lives in balance in this huge land. Although there is great attention to the conservation of the land and wild life, there seems to be an orchestrated attempt to see that The Bushmen, who are an essential part of that balance, be relocated and consequently their traditional knowledge and well-being may be destroyed.

Gloria Steinem (Author/Founder Ms. Magazine) and Rebecca Adamson (Founder First Nations) invited me and several other friends to go with them on a trip to Botswana. Our itinerary included a safari on the Kalahari Desert and the chance to meet two of their friends, Roy Sesana and Jumanda Gakelebone. These men are Bushmen who generously introduced us to the wonders of the desert as well as taught us about the ancient traditions still practiced by the Bushmen. (I just read that Roy Sesana has recently received The 2005 Right Livelihood Award for his work to preserve his people and culture!)

As it turns out, we arrived during a very complex time. The Bushmen are taking the Botswana government to court on a land claim and the government is behaving in a shocking and abusive manner.

The government has moved Bushmen into relocation camps. Some communities are holding out on the desert but their water has been cut off, and their radios for communication with their lawyer confiscated. In a recent attempt to get food and water in to the people, 28 were arrested, including our friends Roy and Jumanda.

The situation is very bad now. Of course, news like this is bad regardless. But somehow, when one has just sat around the fire, told stories, shared songs and dances, and laughed with people, it becomes very personal. This case is important to indigenous land claims all over the world. And the immediate human rights issues cry out for global support and attention.

For more information, please see below.

Start with reading astute observations from one of my travel mates, Abigail Disney.

In the photo gallery you will see pictures of the desert and of a few of the many beautiful animals we saw. There are pictures of our visit with Bushmen in the relocation camps. There are much happier pictures of us with a Bushman community that is living traditionally.

The Botswana government seems determined to destroy the culture and the way of life of The Bushmen. It is on the point of changing the country's constitution to remove existing protection for the San Bushmen. These camps are sites of misery, boredom, unemployment, alcoholism and AIDS (37 Bushmen in just one of these camps now have HIV/AIDS.)

We had an opportunity to spend a few days with The Bushmen who are living on a private farm, protected by the farmer. They maintain their traditional way of life. They care for themselves in a non-violent and community manner. They have immense knowledge of herbs and medicinal plants. They make wonderful art and jewelry. They showed us how they gathered plants, cooked food, and made jewelry. They sang us wonderful songs and showed us a melon dance where they toss the melon, each with their own signature toss.

But they could not do this if they had been relocated and put in camps where they have no access to their traditions, most of which require living in balance with the land and the animals.

As I flew over the desert which goes on and on for thousands of miles, I could see no reason except historic disdain and racism that the government would want to destroy these people and their way of life. Oh, yes, well there is De Beers diamonds!

The San Bushman are global family. The Land Rights Fund describes the situation like this:

The San Bushmen cause is a unique one: according to many geneticists and most ethnologists, not only do the San Bushmen of southern Africa's Kalahari represent the oldest living culture on earth (estimated to be as ancient as 70,000 years old), but we all share a common DNA with them, making the Bushmen our oldest living ancestors. San Bushman culture is non-violent, actively promotes gender equality and centers around healing - whether through traditional medicines or the use of trance. Hunters, gatherers and in some cases herders, the Bushmen traditionally require little to take care of their daily needs and are widely known by anthropologists and ecologists to be acutely aware of the fragility of the natural environment: true caretakers of the earth, in other words. However, in most of Southern Africa, but especially in Botswana, they are being dispossessed at an alarming rate, mostly due to diamond mining, cattle ranching and the establishment of game parks - a process that Amnesty International has called a "cultural genocide."

Now it appears to be more than cultural. The government is making it impossible for these people to live. It has become a life and death issue. Botswana holds proud its reputation as a democracy in Africa. But they are about to participate in what may become genocide.

Here is the good news. The powerful women who were on our journey, along with human rights organizations and land rights groups and tourism companies are joining together to shine light on this part of the world. Criticism has been expressed, meetings have been requested, negotiated settlements proposed, and it looks like there is some receptivity. We want to encourage this.

Mostly I want to impress upon you how deeply moved I was by The Bushmen. They hold, precariously, ancient wisdom and global ancestry. May we in our collective heart, our belief in hope through activism, have an effect on this current situation.