The Kalahari Bushmen featured on prime time UK television on Sunday evening, in the BBC’s current affairs series ‘Tropic of Capricorn’.
In the programme, presenter Simon Reeve talks to Bushmen living in New Xade resettlement camp and inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve about the eviction of most of the Bushmen from the reserve in 2002.
A woman in New Xade tells Reeve, ‘It wasn’t my intention to come here. We were forced. The only thing is for me to go back. I will miss nothing from here.’
In the reserve, another woman tells him, ‘Life in the settlement camps is hard, but not here… I don’t need money to buy food to survive. If I want something to eat, I just go out in the bush and get it for free.’
Another man says, ‘The government is troubling us. With all my heart, I want them to leave us in peace.’
Before leaving the reserve, Reeve concludes, ‘It’s a very simple way of life. I’m not romanticizing it – It’s very hard, they don’t always have enough to eat….. But these people have chosen this way of life. This is what they want. They’ve seen the alternatives, and they don’t like it. They want to be here.’
For more information contact Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email mr@survival-international.org
Act now to help the Bushmen
Your support is vital if the Bushmen are to survive. There are many ways you can help.
- Writing a letter to the Botswana government is a quick and simple way to let them know of your concern.
- Donate to the Bushman campaign (and other Survival campaigns).
- Write to your MP or MEP (UK) or Senators and members of Congress (US).
- Write to your local Botswana high commission or embassy.
- If you want to get more involved, contact Survival…
- Visit the Bushmen’s own website…
