The Last Few Months....

I am now on holidays from work and decided I should fill everyone in on what’s been going on with me since I last wrote. I apologize for it being so long, I’m not really sure where the time has went.

In November, Sarah, Teneille (our friend from Saskatchewan), and I went on a trip to Zimbabwe to visit Victoria Falls. We went canoeing on the Zambezi River with hippoes, bungee jumping at the gorge (I realize we are incredibly lucky!), and exploring around the Falls. The whole place was beautiful and the scenery in Zimbabwe, with its lush green trees and hills, was a nice break from the flat desert terrain on Ghanzi.

On the way back from Zimbabwe, we went on a safari in Chobe National Park. Our guide was amazing and we were able to see a ton of different wildlife – lions, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, and soo many elephants. The whole trip was completely breath taking and it was really cool to be able to take a break from work and see a bit of the wildlife here!

I moved houses a few weeks ago. The rainy season has now started (torrential down pours almost every day) and much to my surprise my house leaked - A LOT. Every time it rained, water would pour in from the ceiling and walls and the entire house would be soaked. Sarah’s house, which was attached to mine, did the same thing so we decided it was time to go. We actually ended up moving right next door into one house and now enjoy leaky-free rainy days! On the downside, the rain has brought all sorts of new bugs...some of which are a little terrifying.

I also had my first experience ever with hitch hiking here. I know what you are thinking, but it is not as bad or dangerous as it sounds. Hitchhiking here is kind of an organized system where you wait at a designated hitching post to get picked up and negotiate a price to your destination (it’s usually about on par with the bus). A lot of people use hitching as a mode of transportation because not that many people have cars and the busses don’t run that often. Anyways, Sarah, Teneille and I hitched to Maun for a weekend and it was a really interesting experience. The man that we drove with was a secondary school teacher in Ghanzi and I ended up having a great discussion with him about everything from politics, religion and gender roles in Botswana to witchcraft and the meaning of true love. Needless to say, while I won’t be hitching every day, we got to Maun safe and sound and I gained a whole new perspective on a lot of issues in the country. In Maun, we just relaxed and went on a boat ride on the channel leading in the Okavango Delta. There were thousands of water lillies in the river!

In terms of work, my office closed on Friday for the holidays and doesn’t reopen until January 9th. The last month has been completely chaotic but I guess it has definitely kept me busy. I was able to visit Metsimantle, another San settlement, and the trip was really great. Some of the younger girls taught me how to cook traditionally using the cast iron pots and I was able to meet the village chief and his wife.  I also somehow attracted a slight stalker at the settlement – who bothered my for a few weeks but that seems to have been settled as well.  Sarah and I also wrapped up a project we have been working on for the last three months!

Everything else is great. We have decorated a little bit for Christmas with snowflakes hanging from the ceiling and homemade stockings up on the wall...but it still doesn’t feel like Christmas when it is 40 degrees outside.  We also did some Christmas baking to bring to our staff Christmas party. They don’t really have the same kind of baking we do, so they were all pretty excited about it! We had a braai (a barbeque) and ate a delicious traditional meal (I have discovered a new favourite food called chakalakah). I really think the most amazing part of this whole experience so far is working with all of my coworkers. They are always incredibly supportive and (even though the work is at times frustrating) have made my experience here fantastic so far.

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas from Botswana!! I will be spending two weeks after Christmas in South Africa with Cody, so I’ll be sure to write again when I get back to Botswana in the New Year!

Happy 2012!!

Dana

Monong

What a crazy week! From Monday to Saturday, I went on a settlement visit to Monong for a Master Producer Workshop. Monong is a San settlement located about 600 km from Ghanzi, in the middle of the Kalahari, only accessible by sand roads. On Monday, Sarah and I helped to load the truck with lots of food and supplies for the workshop and started the journey. We rode in the back of the truck which made for a pretty bumpy ride. As with any trip I have made here so far, there was plenty of cattle, donkey, goats and horses walking along the road. We also had to stop a couple times due to getting stuck in the sand. Even with 4 wheel drive, these roads are difficult to drive on and it makes for a long trip.  

Monong is a settlement of about 270 people. There is no electricity and the people live almost entirely off of the natural environment. In the settlement there is a pre-school, primary school, clinic (although the doctor is currently not there), and a small cooperative that sells basic supplies such as sugar and flour. Sarah and I spent the week in our tent pitched outside the house of one of the producers. The closest hospital is approx. 40 km away in a Ncaang. This workshop was attended by producers from Monong and the nearby settlements of Ncaang and Ngwathle.



While it was all an entirely new experience for me, I'm going to highlight the most memorable parts of the week. For starters, I was able to make my own jewelery entirely from scratch!! I know I explained the process in a previous post, however after making the beads myself I have a whole new appreciation for the hard work the producers put into each and every craft. It took Sarah and I five days to produce a bracelet and an anklet (but it was definitely worth it). Here's how we did it:

First, we had to break apart the shells into tiny pieces. This is done by pushing two outside pieces of shells against each other until the top one shatters.

Then, we had to drill a small hole into each individual peice. This takes an incredibly long time and the because the shells are fragile, we broke alot of them. My hand were definitley blistered after this.

We then put each piece onto a string. The string is actually made from torn apart plastic feed bags. Somehow strands are rolled together back and forth until you have a thick thread. It was really fascinating and I tried to do it, but my string just fell apart. After the pieces are strung, you then have to cut each individual one using nail clippers into small round shapes. The idea is to have them all the same size, but that is MUCH easier said than done. Ours were very misshaped, some of them were circular..others not so much. Again, we broke a lot.

After all the pieces have been cut, it was time to smooth. Every step I could not get over how much effort is required. There was two of us working on the beads and we still were at least 10 times slower than any of the other women! The string of round (ish) beads are placed across a piece of wood. We then went over and over them, back and forth, with a smoothing rock. Every time we thought they were smooth enough, Mmamaswe (the field coordinator) just laughed and said keep going.



Finally the beads were smooth enough to use. Throughout the smoothing process, we lost many more. I think we started with about 600 beads and after all of the steps we were left with under 400. At this point, we could colour some of the beads so that we can make interesting patterns in the jewellery. To colour them, we put them in a tin with a tiny bit of oil and then fried them to the colour we wanted.

Finally, it was time to make the finished product. I decided to make a bracelet and Sarah made an anklet. We also have some beads left over to make some matching earrings.  

After spending 5 days on one bracelet, the other woman had to laugh. Throughout that same amount of time they were able to produce countless pieces of beautiful jewelry with many many more beads. My bracelet was made with something like 70 beads but many of the jewellery pieces that they produce use upwards of 2000 beads!

In addition to learning how to make the crafts, I also facilitated another workshop on Natural Resource Management. The women were full of ideas about ways they can better conserve their resources. They also brought to light different challenges they face with gathering the various licences required to collect certain resources. This issue I am going to look further into and perhaps we can find a solution to allow them to have full control over the resources in the settlement. Sarah and I also conducted a session on HIV/AIDS. The health coordinator could not make it to the workshop so we were asked to fill in. The discussion went well and the women were all very open to discussing the topic.

All of the children at the settlement were fascinated by us. Every day after school they would just come sit around where we were working and slowly inch closer. After two days of silence (the language barrier is slightly challenging) we decided to teach them some games. We sang different songs like Head and Shoulders and the Hokie Pokie and they taught us a lot of the games that they play. It was also a great way for us to learn basic Setswana vocabulary. They also LOVED having their picture taken. Any time they saw the camera, they would get so excited and quickly form to all fit. 

 One night, we drove out to the salt pans. From a distance, they it looked like a lake but they are actually just huge salt deposit. Qosa, one of the field workers, told me that they can use the salt for cooking.

The food over the course of the week was the biggest challenge. All the meals were cooked in large cauldrons over an open fire. Although we brought lots of food for the workshop, there is no electricity in the settlement and thus nowhere to refrigerate the meat. After a day in the heat, I already knew that it was a bad idea to eat it. Almost all of the food was cooked kind of like a stew with the meat so we avoided most of it. By the fifth day, the meat was very clearly rotting but was still being used (some people were sick from it). Sarah and I just ate plain rice and pap for the week but it wasn't so bad. This is one of the traditional meals.

All in all though, the week was a huge learning experience. I really enjoyed being able to spend time with the producers and have definitely gained a new appreciation for what they do. Also, seeing a lifestyle so much different than my own definitely made me thankful for some of the things in my life, and question others. I think going into the field has been my the best part about my work here so far and I look forward to having more opportunities to visit other settlements in the future.

Master Producer Workshop

This week, there was a Master Producer Workshop (MPW) at Gantsi Craft. Producers from three different settlements – New Xade, D’Kar and Ghanzi – came to Gantsi Craft from Monday until Friday to participate in various craft workshops and training sessions. They stay in tents set up in the yard for the week and many of women have their children with them. All the meals are cooked in the traditional way over fire in large cauldrons.The producers who attend the workshop can then go back to their settlements and disseminate the information and skills learned to other members of their community.

Each morning of the MPW is started with an opening session that involves all of the producers singing and dancing. I am so amazed at how beautiful the singing is because it always seems so effortless. The singing is followed by a prayer. I participated in this exercise two mornings this week (I was out of the office the other mornings) and really enjoyed it. The rest of the day consists of workshops on various issues such as Quality Control (of the craft products being produced), Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, and Natural Resource Management.

 I was responsible for developing and presenting the session on Natural Resource Management. I was slightly nervous because this was my first presentation here but also excited to have a tangible task to work on. The presentation had to be very simple but also informative. Many of the producers are elderly women with very little to no education. Also, none of the producers speak English.  Goise, one of my co-workers, acted as a translator throughout my presentation. I decided it would be best to simply ask the producers many questions about what they though natural resources were, why they are important, what they can be used for, and how they feel they can preserve them and then fill in any gaps if necessary. This way, I could get an idea of what everyone’s basic understanding was to begin with and then build off of that. It was very strange, asking questions and not being able to understand any of the responses from the women until they were translated back to me. But everyone was very responsive and engaged in the discussion. For the most part, all the producers had a good idea of what natural resources are. There were some areas of disagreement for example – one woman said that natural resources are things in nature that can never die. I went on to explain that while there are some resources that last forever, like the sun, there are many resources that will eventually run out and that is why we have to know ways to conserve them. Everyone in the group understood that natural resources are incredibly important for their well-being, as they contribute to everything from building shelter, having food and earning an income (all of the craft products they produce are made from natural resources).  Ways that you can help to preserve natural resources were also talked about and the producers worked together to brainstorm ways they could conserve resources in their settlements. An area of further exploration that was identified is community trusts that are responsible for the natural resources within the community. Overall the workshop went very well, and I was happy that so many of the women were open to discussion. I will likely be building off of this presentation to hold sessions at other MPW’s in the future.



Between each workshop session, the women able to spend some time each day actually producing the crafts as well. This is so that they can improve the quality of their crafts and ensure that what they are producing is up to standard so that the crafts can be sold. They can also exchange design ideas and production methods.

The process begins with whole eggshells. In the past, the eggshells used to be collected in the wild. However, due to land disputes and instability in collecting the resources, the eggshells are now retrieved from a local ostrich farm. The shells are then shattered into many small pieces to be shaped into beads. Some of the shells are also painted and sold whole.

The shattered pieces then are drilled with a needle to create a small hole in each one. The pieces are then strung on a long string. Each piece is then cut individually using nail clippers (in the past, knives were used but today nail clippers make the process much easier) to approximately the right size for the required beads. The women use their thumb to measure the size.

After all the beads on the string have been cut, the string is laid out across a board. The beads are smoothened by scraping a rock against them over and over. A little bit of water can be added to make the beads easier to smooth. This step needs to be done very carefully to ensure the beads are not broken.

Once all of the beads are smoothened and the same size, they are ready to be used to create the jewellery. Some of the beads are burned to change their colour. If they are burned slightly, the white beads will turn a tan colour. If they are burned a little bit longer they will go black. The only downfall is that burning the beads makes them more brittle, so the jewellery that is made cannot use completely coloured beads or it will break.

While each piece of jewellery has certain things that should never change such as length and width of the product (although this is one of the biggest challenges because the producers often do not understand these guidelines) the producers have the freedom to create whichever designs they like. The crafts that they create are a representation of their culture.

At the next workshop, I hope to try these techniques for myself and maybe I will be able to create a pair of earrings or something small. It is incredibly time consuming and labour intensive but the end result is beautiful. I doubt I will ever be able to create anything close to what these women do because it is a skill that they have learnt over a long time and worked on....but I would love to at least learn some of the traditional techniques.

The MPW was successful and the producers were able to produce many high quaility crafts that Gantsi Craft could buy. I also learned a lot throughout the week and look forward to working with the producers again.