This beautiful fire in the picture above is a very special symbol for every San person (Ju/’hanse). It is a norm for us: every day you must make a fire at your house, whether you have food or not. We also have a special fire where everybody would gather for storytelling, healing or just generally having fun sitting and talking together. We also believe that if you do not make fire at your house, then it will attract bad insects and reptiles, for example snakes. So, you should always make fire at your house because the smell makes you feel protected and keeps away all the bad insects and reptiles.
This picture is just showing how important fire is. It was drawn by my uncle. His name is Tsemkgao Fanie Cwi.
My name is Nǂaisa Ghauz from Namibia. I live in a small village called Tsumkwe in the North-Eastern parts of Namibia, Iam a San lady, iam from a San group called Ju,/’hoansi. I work as a Administrative officer and as an Assistant Librarian at the Tsumkwe Community Library. I am 26 years of age, I have five siblings of which I am the first born and being the first born have taught me one thing which is to be responsible and to be a role model to my siblings and not only to my siblings, but to the society within my community at large because I am one those few people that has completed school in my community. In the future iam welling to be more productive educational and economic wise in order to motivate my fellow San people especially the youth because we can not be marginalized forever. I am one of the satellite pioneers representing Tsumkwe once again thank you ǃkwattu for that opportunity.
