On a recent return visit to Namibia my husband Neil and I were lucky enough to visit an extremely remote area in the northeast of the country, where a group of Ju/’hoan San Bushmen are still able to live a semi-traditional life. This is now very rare as most groups live on land where hunting is not allowed and their traditions are dying.
Two women from among the Ju/’hoan San Bushmen in Namibia preparing ostrich shells for making them into jewelry. Photograph by Ann Cable.
While no longer nomadic, this group is still able to hunt using self-made tools, and have kept most of their traditions alive. The nearest town is about 280 km away over a very rough, gravel road so the village relies almost entirely on the surrounding bush where they hunt and gather plants and berries for food and traditional medicines. This is supplemented with some dry goods, like maize flour, which they can buy from the nearby very small, simple tented camp where we stayed. The philosophy of the camp is to persuade the bushmen that their cultural heritage and traditional skills can survive and have value and that they can get benefits from very limited eco-tourism.
Both men and women wear jewellery and the women make and sell it to earn some money to buy the dry goods to supplement their diet. I bought two pieces for the TRC, a bracelet (TRC 2022.3117), and a necklace (TRC 2022.3118).
Woman's bracelet made from ostrich shells and cotton (TRC 2022.3117).
The bracelet is made from ostrich egg shell and was bought from the woman who had made it. She breaks the shell and then uses a chisel to chip it into the right shape, using a small rock as her work bench (see picture). A tiny hole is then drilled in the shell using a spike made for her by the men and she threads the pieces together using whatever thread is available, in this case it is the thread from maize flour bags.
The bracelet has white, brown and black discs. The white discs are the natural colour and the brown and black are obtained by boiling the shell in oil over the fire. For brown only a couple of minutes boiling is needed, longer for the black.
Woman's necklace from Namibia, made from seeds, ostrich shells and cotton (TRC 2022.3118).The second piece is a necklace. This is made of seeds and ostrich egg shell, again using thread from maize flour bags. The black seeds are flat berries, the white discs are egg shell, the green seeds are from summer melons which grow prolifically, and the brown seeds are from watermelons.
Ann Cable, 16 November 2022
