General

A new wind in the Kalahari

2010-07-02 16:06:00

Background to Kalahari Peoples Network (KPN) and our parent organization to the Kalahari Peoples Fund (KPN)

‘My heart burns for them to learn. That’s how our work would go forward.’
Tsamkxao =Oma, traditional leader 1987

The Kalahari Peoples Fund has been in operation for thirty years now. Founded by Harvard anthropologists as a way of giving back to San communities which had supported their research, KPF quickly became a powerful voice in human rights, land rights and other important issues affecting San communities and individuals – issues like health, education and development.

As part of an ongoing educational programme, which began with the establishing of the Village Schools Project (VSP) in the Nyae Nyae region of northern Namibia, an electronic communications network was envisioned in 2007 and officially launched in 2008. It is part of KPF and closely connected. We call it the Kalahari Peoples Network.

The Village Schools Programme has now been taken over by the Namibian government – but some of the children who attended the first pilot pre-school in Nyae Nyae twenty years ago are literate in two, maybe three languages and sometimes speak several others. They need, desire, want – and deserve – to be connected to the wider web of communication in the world.

Let nobody imagine this is easy. Even in larger centres, issues of computer availability, electricity and connectivity pose huge obstacles. Nobody has to fight harder to be electronically empowered than those who are already disadvantaged by history and geography.

The young San people we are working with are not only up for the task, they are vigorously encouraged by an older generation who saw how western education was necessary, and now view western technology in the same positive way. It is our privilege as well as our responsibility to make this happen.

Lesley Beake, Manager/Editor of KPN
editor@kalaharipeoples.net
www.kalaharipeoples.net

Conclusion: Words from Magdalena Lucas, Khomani woman, Trainee Editor for KPN, 2010

Being from the Kalahari and to be able to go into the Internet and find a website named Kalahari People’s Network gave my heart a warm feeling of having a value as human being.

Pride was taken away from my ancestors in a very brutal way and two years ago Kalahari People’s Network started to put that back in our heart in such a gentle way by giving the San a voice through the Internet.

I always wanted to write my thoughts and feelings on paper and to share them with others, now I have the opportunity given by Kalahari People’s Network. I am going to do my best in helping to develop my community for the future generation and to share what is happening in our community with the world.

Acknowledgements

Many organizations work tirelessly, and have done for decades, to support initiatives within San communities. KPN thanks them for the support they have freely given, particularly the Kalahari Peoples Fund. Our funders are anonymous. We thank them. Our friends are legion. We thank them too.

We need help to make the project go forward!

Specifically we need:
•    More computers
•    Better cell phones and sponsored airtime so that those without computer access can also be in touch
•    Digital cameras for our trainee editors and contributors all over southern Africa
•    Flash-drives to store and transport information
•    More training and distance back up for trainees working in faraway places.
•    Most of all, we need to find a sustainable method of keeping people connected. Solar power would seem to be a way … we need help to identify how to do this and where to source the technology

LINKS:
We have a newly installed SEARCH option on the website, which should take readers to exactly the information they are looking for. But here are links to some highlights:

Village Schools Project and source of quote from Tsamkxao =Oma, at the beginning of this article.
http://www.kalaharipeoples.net/article.php?i=52&c=26
Digital Story with !Xun and Khwe at Platfontein
http://www.kalaharipeoples.net/article.php?i=101&c=14
If I lose my voice, will you still understand me?
http://www.kalaharipeoples.net/article.php?i=236&c=10
My girlfriend and the Ju/’hoan Dictionary
http://www.kalaharipeoples.net/article.php?i=26&c=10
The eland man
http://www.kalaharipeoples.net/article.php?i=66&c=16
Interview with the woman presenters at XKFM
http://www.kalaharipeoples.net/article.php?i=57&c=30

Photo Credits: Greg Thompson, Catherine Collett, Trine Strom-Larsson