Maybe they taste like chicken?

A few weeks back, as some of you may know, my classmates and I took part in a pre-departure cultural training that was put on by CIDA and the Centre for Intercultural Learning. This three day training was filled with role playing scenarios and lots of information that I felt would really help prepare us for working in another culture.

Sorghum Porridge

One of the things that we got from the training was a Country Booklet that had information about our individual placement countries. This book included a section on history, culture, politics and geography and then there was one section that had recipes. The first recipe was for a Sorghum porridge which is a staple food in Botswana and comparable to a porridge you may eat in Canada. It was not till I looked at the second recipe that I was a little taken aback. Here is what I saw.

Masonja

Ingredients:

2 kilograms dried phane (caterpillars)

1 teaspoon of salt
3 table spoons of cooking oil
1 onion
1 tomato peeled and diced
1 tablespoon of peri-peri sauce

Directions:

1.       Soak the dried phane in salt water until swollen. Drain. Boil the phane in fresh water and drain again.

2.       Heat oil, add phane, and fry. Add onion, tomato, and peri-peri sauce and simmer until tomoato is cooked.

Masonja

I am not a picky eater by any means although the idea of eating caterpillars freaks me out a little, I am open to trying everything at least once.   You know how the saying goes "when in Rome... " well I guess the same could be said " when in Botswana..." :-) 

Indigenous Rights in Botswana

In our geography class we had to make short presentations about an international development issues that we were interested in.  I decided to do my presentation on Botswana so that I could learn more about where I am going to be living for eight months.  One of the most pressing issues in Botswana's history has to do with the treatment of the San people in Botswana. The San people are indigenous to areas all across southern Africa, but the portion that I am going to focus on are those who called the Central Kalahari Game Reserve home.

The Central Kalahari Game Reserve has recently been discovered as one of the richest diamond areas in the world. That discovery had the Botswana Government very interested in this land. They wanted the land so they could capitalize on the wealth, but in order to do so they needed the San people off of that land.  Promises were made by the Government to the San people as incentives for them to leave their land but rarely were followed through on. The government continued to make life hard for the San people by impeding their day to day life. In 1997, the Government evicted the first round of people.  By 2002, the government had evicted more people and they were stopping rations and destroying the wells on the Reserve.  That year was the year that there was a court case launched against the Government on behalf of the San people.  The third round of evictions happened in 2005, when many were sent to resettlement camps. The camps were very negative places for the San people who were used to their traditional ways of life. Moving to these camps lead to an increase in depression, alcoholism and HIV/AIDS in the San communities. 

 In what termed out to be the longest and most expensive court case in the history of the country it was determined that what the Government did to the San people was unlawful and unconstitutional and that the San people had the right to live on the Reserve and hunt without permits. But for the San people that did return to the Reserve, it was decided by the judges that the Government did not have to provide services to them.  Many small organizations, like TOCaDI where I will be working come September, have stepped in to attempt to fill the gap that has been left by the government for the San people.

When I first read this I felt shocked about how a Government could do this to their own people. But then I got thinking about Aboriginal people in Canada and the similarities between the Aboriginal  and the San people and there were a lot. This just shows that whether in a 'developed' or 'developing country', violations against human rights are still happening till this day. Too often people in the ‘developed’ world get the ‘us and them’ framework for looking at things, but this example shows that in a way we are not a lot different than people half a world away.  I am interested to get to see first hand what the current situation between the Government and the San people is today.  I am also interested to learn about what it would have felt like to the San people to have their own Government turn their backs on them for material gain.

Well Thanks for Asking!

What is INDEVOURS? Well I am glad you asked! 

INDEVOURS is made up of myself and 31 of my wonderful colleagues in the International Development program at the University of Waterloo.  This group was created through a marketing and fundraising class that we took this year and last. We are using this as an opportunity to learn more about social media, advertising and what it takes to carry out successful fundraising initiatives. We are taking the skills and money that we raise and using it towards our overseas field placements in the fall.

Our class put this amazing video together to really show the world (and especially you, Ellen DeGeneres) who we are and what we are trying to do. We would love this video to go viral, so share it with all your friends and help us raise awareness. Thanks in advance.

We have raised money by running an Ultimate Frisbee tournament, which was a huge success. We also have raised money through selling calendars and bed sheets throughout the last few terms. 

We have a Global Gala in the works right now that has huge potential to help us meet our fundraising target. It is going to take place July 13^th at 5:30pm at the University Club on the University of Waterloo Campus. For more information about the Gala or to support us by buying a ticket, check out our webpage for more information http://indevours.wordpress.com/events/global-gala/

Through this we are learning a lot about what it takes to run higher profile events and the difficulties that come along with it; including getting people interested in coming and standing out from the pack when there is so much else going on. I know that some of my classmates, myself included, are a little nervous about this event but I know that if any one group of people can pull this off it is going to be INDEVOURS.