Way Forward
Regarding
the way forward, the workshop resolved that the YMCA should fully assess
the situation of the San in Angola. The assessment will cover, for example,
education, health, land issues (land use, ancestral land, etc.) gender,
employment, food security, hunting and gathering, dependency and traditional
leadership. If possible Trócaire Angola should assist the YMCA
in this endeavour. The assessment should result in a project proposal,
and Trócaire and WIMSA will assist the YMCA to get in touch with
the relevant international donors.
The workshop further resolved that the next step should be to help the
Angolan San communities to identify San leaders and establish community
committees where appropriate. The participants felt that an Angolan San
CBO should be established as most San communities in Namibia, South Africa
and Botswana have done, and the tasks of this CBO should include facilitating
the planning, implementation and monitoring of income-generating and other
development projects. Participants emphasised that the Angolan San should
work together with local leaders and if possible with the Government.
The participants expressed their wish that the establishment of a WIMSA branch office in Angola be regarded as a crucial step in the long-term development efforts of Angolan San communities.
Field Trip to Tsumkwe West
A field trip to Tsumkwe District West followed the workshop. All delegates met with community members in the villages of Mangetti Dune, Luhebo, Kakudi, M'Kata and Omatako, and the Angolan and South African delegates visited the Mangetti Dune school, police station and clinic. The Angolan delegates' search for missing relatives led them from village to village without success; no missing person in the photographs presented was recognised.
The Angolan and South African San were very interested in the community-based Omatako Valley Rest Camp. They posed a number of questions about the buildings, solar pump, management and ownership of the campsite. Community members running the campsite answered the questions and Chief John Arnold gave the background on the construction of the !Kung Traditional Authority office in the Omatako village, which the community had built with financial and technical support from WIMSA.
LEFT:
YMCA Angola delegates Benedito Paulo and Daniel Gasper detailing
the preparatory work for the delegation’s trip to Windhoek
MIDDLE: Tsumkwe West !Kung Chief John Arnold reporting on the situation
of the San traditional authorities in Namibia
RIGHT: Rosalia Joao reporting on the general situation of the Angolan
San
Developments Since
All parties regarded the workshop and field trip as a major success in cementing first bonds with the Angolan San. Meanwhile the YMCA, Trócaire Angola and WIMSA have agreed to implement the most pressing workshop recommendation: to conduct an assessment of the situation of the San in Angola. The three organisations are now jointly preparing a funding proposal and searching for suitable personnel to assist the YMCA in conducting the assessment and in carrying out a desk study on Angolan San in the near future.
The
signing of a ceasefire by the Angolan army and Unita rebels on 4 April
2002 gives cause for hope that the people of Angola will experience peace
after more than 25 years of war. It is hoped that President Dos Santos
was also referring to the San communities in his country when he announced
on national television on that historic day, "I will do everything
to ensure the commitments undertaken are respected and that all Angolans
feel they are citizens of one country, in which each can freely express
his ideas."1
LEFT:
Daniel Gasper of the YMCA explaining the content of
posters on Angolan San
MIDDLE: Joram |Useb of WIMSA assisted by Wentzel Katjara of the South
African !Xun and Khwe CPA
summarising the workshop delegates’ recommendations
RIGHT: WIMSA Co-ordinator Axel Thoma receiving a gift on WIMSA’s
behalf from
the Angolan delegation – a red soapstone sculpture