from the lives of our children
Gugama, the creator, made us. That was a long time ago � so long ago that I can't know when it happened. That is the past, but our future comes from the lives of our children, our future is rooted in the hunt, and in the fruits which grow in this place. When we hunt, we are dancing. And when the rain comes it fills us with joy. This is our place, and here everything gives us life.
God made us, and He made the animals for us. Why does the government think they are more important than the people? The government just wants to take all our good things. The government is like a poor fellow who sees a rich man and is jealous and wants to take what he has. Now we must live in the shadow of being thrown off our land. There can no longer be any rest.
I was born in this place and I have been here for a very long time. Now this relocation thing has come, but I don't have the full truth about it. They come and say that I have to move, that this place is for animals. But why must I move and leave the animals? I was born with them and I must stay with them. I have that right.
I was born in this place, with the eland. And we have to stay together. My strength is the force in the animals which my father once hunted and my mother cooked. They gave me everything you see here. This is my birthright: here where my father's body lies in the sand. Who are they who want to chase me from my life which was given to me by God? My father's spirit warned me this would come.
�Mogetse Kaboikanyo Kgalagadi bushman, Botswana
Survival International
