HELP SAVE THE SAN BUSHMAN

1. HELP SAVE THE SAN BUSHMAN By: Andrew Scott Guberman III, Hillary Greenholtz, and Bill Olson

2. Background Information • Population: About 70,000 • Location: Kalahari Desert in Africa • Appearance: Short slight bodies, small hands and feet, and yellow-brown skin. • Skills: They are nomadic hunters, gatherers, and very good craftsman

3. Pictures of the People

4. The Beginning • In their mythology, the Bushman believe God created all of southern Africa for the San Bushman. After he created the San, he then created the San's animals. God left them to guard it all, which they did for eons, until we more 'advanced' people arrived. • They appeared as a separate group well over 20,000 years ago making them the oldest know group of people in the history of man.

5. History • At the start of the Agricultural Revolution, the San controlled all of Africa up to the southern edge of the Sahara, except for the Pygmies occupying what is now the Congo, and the Bantu blacks having only the westernmost west Africa. • Bushmen who once roamed over all Natal except the thickly forested areas were gradually forced back by newcomers with a competitive way of life. These were iron age people who were pastoralists and agriculturists. As the number of these new men increased the more the Bushmen were pushed back towards the Drakensberg.

6. History (continued) • The Bushman over much of Southern Africa suffered greatly from interaction with cattle owning groups because they preyed on the cattle, having no concept of animal ownership in their culture, and they were hunted to extinction about 100 years ago by both white and black colonists. • Today remnants of the Bushmen survive only in the Kalahari. • The Kalahari desert is part of the huge sand basin that reaches from the Orange River up to Angola, in the west to Namibia and in the east to Zimbabwe.

7. History (continued)

8. History (continued) • The 'last' of the San survived into the 20th century only in the world's fourth largest desert, the Kalahari. The San learned to live there despite there being no surface water. The 70,000 or so Kalahari San that survive today are in Botswana (40,000), Namibia (30,000), and a few in Angola, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

9. Their Culture • They are hunter-gatherers, hunting with bows and arrows and eating edible roots and berries. The all migrate with the water and lived in rock shelters and in the open or in crude shelters of twigs and grass or animal skins. They made no pottery, rather using ostrich eggshells or animal parts for storing and holding liquids. • The Bushmen followed water, game and edible plants, and were always mobile. They did not farm or keep animals. They always carried everything they possessed with them as they moved. Traditionally San women gathered the edible plants, for food and sources of water, while the men hunted.

10. Culture (continued) • Bushman families are small close-knit structures and the children are greatly cherished. They are encouraged to join in discussion around the campfire and to share in the chores around the camp. San children learn at an early age how to utilize raw materials, derived from both plants and animals, in their daily lives.

11. San Bushman Art

12. The Problem • The government of Botswana is choosing to resettle several hundred residents outside of the Central Kalahari Desert and build a Game Reserve in this area. This resettlement, which had been planned since 1986, is having major effects on both the people and the environment in the Central Kalahari Desert and also those in the area where people have been resettled.

13. So Why Care? • Africa is where we ALL came from either in dim prehistory, or more recently. Through DNA blood sample and 'fingerprinting' it can be determined that the San are the oldest survivors on mankind's family tree. Thus whether we are black, white, red or yellow, the San can be linked to our oldest living relatives. • If we do not find a solution to this problem, there will be many horrific effects on the San Bushman and on the surroundings around them.

14. Tribal Leader • If the Government continues to go through with the game reserve then the San Bushman people will begin to die out. They cannot survive on the land without having animals to hunt. • Extensive research by social and natural scientists and by development workers has shown that involuntary community relocation of people with strong ties to the land has nearly always resulted in a reduction in the standards of living of those who were moved. • My people should have land and resource rights, the right to practice their own culture and learn their own languages, and to have a say in decision-making about development planning. • The government would be violating the human rights of the San Bushman if this occurs.

15. Environmental Problems • The Kalahari Desert, located in Botswana is one of the most remote deserts of the world. • The Kalahari contains a mix of woodland, savanna grasslands, and palm trees. • Wildlife includes antelope, giraffe, warthog, hyena, jackal, lion, leopard, the bat-eared fox, the rare wild dog, and a host of smaller animals and many species of birds. The game reserve would limit the amount in order for park officials to control the game. It would also lead to becoming a tourist attraction and disturb the peaceful wildlife already living there for thousands of years. • Plant species are most diverse around pans and these areas are a rich food resource for animals.

16. Environment (continued) • Due to droughts, the Kalahari has miles of dusty badlands. Because of the droughts, there are many wildebeest migrations. The wildebeest would have to travel toward natural water sources that have been available for thousands of years during extreme drought. However, if the game reserve were to be built, long cordon fences would block their way. • Wildlife in the Kalahari has adapted to survival without a permanent water supply. The building of the reserve would change that.The building of the game reserve will have major impacts on the vegetation and pan surfaces in the area. • This will cause a lack of wild plant and animal foods in the area. This could be very severe problem for people who obtain a portion of their diet from the bush. • Animals will soon begin to die out and so will the San Bushman. • After animals begin the die out, then the game reserve will just have to be shut down anyway so there is no point to building it in the first place.

17. Government • A major problem to the building of a game reserve and relocation of the San Bushman is the sale of large amounts of alcohol by outside agencies and individuals in the settlement, which allegedly has contributed significantly to fights and to spouse and child abuse problems. • Acts of violence and crimes will greatly increase if the San Bushman are going to be forced out of their land and forced to relocate out of a land in which they were the first inhabitants of.

18. OUR PROPOSAL

19. Our Proposal • The Kalahari Desert in which the game reserve would like to be built covers a total of 190,000 square miles in the land of Africa. The San Bushman have been living in this land for over 20,000 years and have survived just fine. If this game reserve is built, it will destroy the people and the ecosystem around it. The game reserve should be built some place outside the area in which the Bushman live. This will allow the San Bushman to keep their culture and survive the way they always have, off the land with no interference of the “advanced man.” Remember if you destroy the San Bushman, then you are just destroying your heritage. They were here first, and we evolved from them so I think it is fair that we let them keep their land to protect the people and the environment.

20. THE END