I’ve been seeing thousands of photos of the San people the past years. It gave me so much hope to meet them one day. If you follow me since a while, you know my fascination for the San (or pejoratively the ‘Bushmen’ -as used by the European colonists).
The San people are our oldest human ancestors, they are direct descendants of the first Homo sapiens.
‘San’ is a collective term for several indigenous ethnic groups in Southern Africa. These groups include, for example, the ǃKung, |Gui, Ju/'hoasi or Naro Tribe.
The San are the earliest hunter-gatherers on the Planet and the majority lived in Southern Africa (but recent evidence show other parts of Africa).
Sadly, the San people have been exterminated in mass by the European settlers and by the Zulus. Luckily, the San could survive until a few years ago.
Although they could stick to political, economic and social survival strategies, modern life has destroyed them.
Some said: ‘we are forced to live in the world we do not understand’.
Some governments, like in Botswana, moved them from the bush into villages where they could receive a ‘modern education’.
The subject is complex and I’d have lots to tell you.
But pure San people are getting extinct. They do not live as before anymore. What you see on Internet and else are shows for the tourists -the only way for the San to survive is to earn money from tourism.
I didn’t want to see these shows but to participate in a deeper way which is my secret.
Thanks to my dear friend Clive, 2 special San men were waiting for me. Xgaiga 2 (photo 1), born and raised in a modern village, and the old man Xhara 1 (photo 2&4) born in the bush, raised as proper hunter-gatherer but relocated at the age of 17.
I had a long conversation with them (although Xhara 1 only speaks Setswana and the click language) that I will share on Youtube.
I met the San. Different than expected. But without artifice, through a honest conversation tinted with sorrow and resilience.
Comments