Bushmen Renaissance and Re-emergence

“After that, I could learn from the light. I could see all my Ancestors standing in the light and I could name them all. Not just the ones I knew in life, but all of them…”
-Bushman Noi Kruiper on alcoholism

Thank you for your continued support for the Mobile Addictions Treatment (MAT) program with the Khomani San Bushmen in South Africa. Conditions continue to be grave, and we are still hopeful that things can be done to help ensure that the Bushmen, their knowledge, and their stories survive.

Building on the success of the Community Addictions Treatment program we launched in May, we have been working hard to arrange to bring North American Indigenous Elders to the Kalahari to meet with local community members. Bringing Elders and Indigenous Cultural Practitioners whose people have undergone similar trauma and addictions issues we hope will infuse hope among the Khomani San community while we continue to raise funds to launch the full 40-day program. We anticipate this gathering will happen in the next few months and we will report on this during our next report.  

In the meantime, we have also been developing a series of PSAs to raise public awareness of the dire and desperate situation in the Kalahari. Our hope is that elevating the awareness will encourage those who want to help to consider donating and sharing these PSAs so that we are able to do more for and with the community.

Thank you for your ongoing support. Please consider sharing this information with friends and family who might also be willing and able to help so that we don’t lose the Bushmen, our ancestors, oldest man on earth. 

Links:

• PSA on the Bushmen
• PSA #3 Bushmen

Greetings! 

WISN (Worldwide Indigenous Science Network) has been busy getting plans in motion for the launch of the Mobile Addictions Treatment Program for the Khomani San Bushmen of South Africa. It’s a big road ahead and a bit of a daunting challenge, but we are ready, and we are grateful to any donors who come forward to help.

We are doing this on behalf of people like Lys, featured in attached image. Lys is a Khomani San Bushman. She still speaks the Nama language, one of just a handful of her people who do. Her community has been ravaged by alcoholism—not just the alcoholism itself, but the domestic violence and disease that comes along with widespread alcoholism.

Currently, our efforts have been aimed at bringing culture-based treatment to the Khomani San. We’ve partnered with an organization in Canada who has a long history in providing culture-based treatment to indigenous peoples of Canada with great success. The model works—now we just need the resources to bring this model of treatment to South Africa and eventually to other parts of Africa. We brought two indigenous counselors to South Africa this quarter to work with and train sober community members to create a foundation for after-care support. One of the biggest reasons for treatment failure is lack of community support. This one-month long training group was 16 women strong, and we truly believe they will be capable of anything they put their minds and hearts to!

Their focus right now is on stopping the construction of a second liquor store and tavern in the community. They’re meeting with the zoning board and other decision makers to try to influence this decision.

Phase II involves full 40-day treatment for up to 20 Bushmen, bringing indigenous counselors who can provide culture-based treatment to the Bushmen. But we need help in doing so. Our organizational funding does not cover addictions treatment, so we’re looking for outside sources and could use your help.

Thank you for reading and please consider sharing this information with your friends and family!