By Nicole Findlay
As May blossomed into summer, most students settled into jobs that would fund the coming term. Karim Myatt, a third year undergraduate student in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, spent his summer further afield than most.
A participant of Students without Borders, Myatt spent the summer as a volunteer on the Dqãe Qare game farm in Botswana.
“Part of my job was to inform the tourists of the current state of the bushman, and the oppression that they faced at the hands of the Botswana government,” said Myatt. “The San communities are faced with extreme poverty, dispossession and are becoming increasingly alienated from their culture and traditions.”
The only game farm in Botswana owned by Bushman, Dqãe Qare is located in the Kalahari Desert close to the village of D’kar. Springbok, gemsbok, red hartebeest, zebra, giraffe, ostrich, jackal, caracal and many species of birds populate the 7,500-hectare farm.
The game farm provides tourists with an opportunity to witness a disappearing way of life. Visitors gain an appreciation for indigenous culture through demonstrations of the traditional uses of various local plants including medicinal use and fashioning ropes, tracking animals by reading the footprints left behind in the sand, story-telling and traditional dancing.
The community-based project creates employment and generates income for the Bushmen while preserving their indigenous knowledge and culture. During the summer, Myatt provided information to tourists, transported workers from the nearby village and provided marketing assistance to local artisans.
The experience has fuelled his commitment both to the indigenous peoples he worked with and his own studies. He hopes to begin importing Bushman crafts to Canada and reinvesting the proceeds in the Botswana community. He is also trying to fundraise and identify sponsors in support the travel costs for Bushmen participation in Canada’s annual indigenous week.
“I want to use by training to gain more knowledge about Bushmen and their culture,” he said. “I felt that it is my duty to inform people and bring their plight to light. They struggle to keep their culture alive against all odds.”
The Students Without Borders program is run by the World University Service of Canada (WUSC). D’kar Trust is a Kuru Family of Organization (KFO). The organization operates in Botswana and South Africa and comprises eight non-governmental organizations mandated to provide sustainable development support for indigenous peoples.