Asa Segootsane is a San woman, born and bred in Kaudwane. In this rural village in Kweneng West, there is not much to do for a living. You can either be a nurse, a teacher at the local primary school or a police officer at the Kgotla.
However, most people presently holding these positions are not from Kaudwane because the natives do not command much by way of formal education and qualifications. They are made up mainly of people who have been relocated from settlements in the CKGR - Galalabadimo, Mothomelo, Kikao, Metsiamanong, Gugamma and Gope - which were/are themselves much benighted. Forty-year old Asa is no exception, but she has to provide for her own child and two of her late sister's. In 2006, Asa was one of eight people who attended a workshop on employment creation run by a Molepolole-based social welfare group. They were trained in baking, sewing, bricklaying and jewellery making. All the participants did well in the various courses, and there was considerable hope for the future of Kaudwane. However, Asa says a few weeks after the workshop, the projects began to collapse because people - one after another - left and returned to their ordinary routine of collecting mahupu, the wild berries, and their other methods of sourcing food.
