The gods Answer Basarwa�s Cry For Ostrich Egg-Shells

Working with ostrich egg shells. Some of the 20 crafts women at a week long workshop supported by Orange Foundation
Working with ostrich egg shells. Some of the 20 crafts women at a week long workshop supported by Orange Foundation

Basarwa craftswomen were working with the hard to find ostrich egg shells again last week as the gods delivered them the rare gifts in five 50kg bags filled with the ostrich egg shells.

Other paraphernalia included sewing needles,  threads and beads, crushed eggshells crushers and cutters and weaving material.

It was a gathering of 20 of the best Basarwa and Hambukushu craftswomen taken from three of the 16 settlements of Basarwa, as the Ghantsi Craft centre and Orange Botswana put joy on the faces of the famous craftswomen who have been of late struggling to find ostrich egg shells to continue their age old ornamental tradition. The Basarwa women from Ghantsi, Qabo, and D’kar, narrated how these days they are forbidden by the Wildlife Department from fetching ostrich egg shells in the bush as such an activity has now been criminalised.

Editor's Comment
Who watches the watchdog?

For a fact, in a democratic society such as Botswana, the media plays a crucial role of being watchdog, holding the powerful to account and exposing all possible wrongdoing for the benefit of the public.There has been a nagging question about who watches the watchdog after all? Perhaps, the investigations into alleged wrongful acts implicating those supposed to be playing the watchdog role will shed more light into what has happened such that the...

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