San Bushmen Rain Dance Artwork by Sheila Terry
The Tribal Trust Foundation (TTF) has a long relationship with the Ju/’hoansi San of Namibia and Botswana who live in the northwestern Kalahari by responding to their requests to assist with preservation of their traditional culture. Nearly twenty years ago, the TTF provided support to the Kalahari Peoples Fund to bring San human rights activists to the United States. The purpose of their trip was to increase awareness of the Government of Botswana’s aggressive efforts to displace them from their ancestral lands. This small group of San Bushmen traveled across the country to attend the Tribal Cup Invitational Women’s Polo Tournament, our fundraising event at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club. During the awards ceremony, the San were honored for their courage and commitment to preserve their traditional way of life as hunters and gatherers. Today, their voices are amplified at the international level where they attend meetings of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), the Conferences on Hunting and Gathering Societies (CHAGS), and global discussions on human rights, climate change, and biodiversity protection.
In my memoir, Savage, I reflect upon an enlightening conversation I had with Roy Sesana, San activist and primary spokesperson for the tribe during their trip to the United States. It highlights what is called “two-eyed seeing,” seeing the world one way through a Western lens and another through an Indigenous perspective. Roy eloquently explained to me how our lives were more alike than different. At the time, I couldn’t imagine how this could be, considering he grew up living as a hunter-gatherer in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana while the women polo players grew up in an environment of Western culture, privilege, and influence. Roy affirmed, “We are the ancestors of our grandchildren. We look after them, just as our ancestors look after us. We are not here for ourselves. We are here for each other and for the grandchildren of our grandchildren. We respect our ancestors. We love our children. This is the same for all people.” He saw the oneness and interconnectedness of life while I was focused on the “here and now.”
When we become conscious of how we are the same and part of a greater whole, we realize that we are not only connected to each other and everything, but also to the past, present, and future. By embracing this truth, we become motivated to protect Nature, to protect the sacred, and live in beauty. Dr. Anita Sanchez, author of The Four Sacred Gifts: Indigenous Wisdom for Modern Times, stated, “…tell them that beauty is more than just an esthetic. Just as physicists speak of gravity being a powerful force, so is beauty a force of Nature. Each human being is a part of Nature, not separate; each of them is beauty, a force of Nature. It matters that you each use this force for your well-being and the collective well-being of all life.”
As you may have read in our previous newsletters, the San Bushmen of the Nhoma community (a remote village in the Kalahari Desert of Namibia) asked the Tribal Trust to provide a school in their village that ensures an Indigenous transfer of knowledge that coincides with teaching western knowledge. The Indigenous teachings will include learning in the San Native language, hunting and gathering skills, and the tribe’s unique healing trance dance spiritual technology. This “two-eyed seeing” approach to curriculum will offer the San and international conservation researchers who will be teaching there, an opportunity to learn from each other.
As a member of the Tribal Trust community, we invite you to use your life force to support this project while honoring nature and global healing. Please visit our website page to learn how you can make a difference.
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In gratitude, Barbara
Barbara Savage
Founder & Executive Director
Tribal Trust Foundation
The Tribal Trust Foundation is located in the unceded homelands of the Chumash People and the Seminole Tribe of Florida. By recognizing these communities, we attempt to honor their legacies, their lives, and descendants. To learn more about the Indigenous People’s land on which your home or work sits, visit: native-land.ca
The San Bushmen of Namibia
