The gods Answer Basarwa�s Cry For Ostrich Egg-Shells
Monday, May 18, 2015
Working with ostrich egg shells. Some of the 20 crafts women at a week long workshop supported by Orange Foundation
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.
The rise in defilement and missing persons cases, particularly over the recent festive period, points not merely to a failure of policing, but to a profound and widespread societal crisis. Whilst the Police chief’s plea is rightly directed at parents, the root of this emergency runs deeper, demanding a collective response from every corner of our community. Marathe’s observations paint a picture of neglect with children left alone for...