IYA and the Bushmen

This past weekend we went on another trip with the IYA – have I explained the IYA? Mmm, don’t think so, will do so in another post. Anyway, we packed 21 teens into a number of cars and headed north on the Okahandja road. WHAT? You ask, Are we doing going on ANOTHER trip with teenagers? Did we not learn from the last one?? But I have signed up for being and IYA leader and so must go, and therefore K must go too!

This trip was for the bronze award youngsters to have their expedition. Bronze is really all about training to do silver and gold level IYA. They learn how to put up a tent, how to hike silently so that they see interesting things, how to work together as a group and how to skip bathing.

The first leg of the trip was out to Abaadi where we were led on a walk by a pair of bushmen. They were dressed traditionally and showed us fascinating things like how to store water in ostrich eggs, how to identify uses of indigenous plants and how to make fire with two sticks. The students had so much fun doing the last! One must call the fire at the same time as rubbing vigorously. The way to call fire is with an eerie combination of clicks and eees, something like “tchai tchai eeeeeee”.

We also learned how to bake bread using an old anthill as an oven, the bread was mixed in a bucket and then placed under the anthill and covered with coals. I have rarely tasted anything so delicious!

After Abaadi we drove back to the Galloway farm where we set up our campsite in a riverbed. The kids made potjies while the adults chilled with a bottle of wine and appreciated the view. It was fascinating to watch the youngsters figure out who knew how to make a fire, who knew which stick went where on their tent and who was the most afraid of snakes! It was lovely to see that the people who are not the popular ones in school suddenly were everyone’s best friend because they had been camping before.

After sunset, dinner and marshmallows the students self-regulated and went to bed early. We woke them at 5, when it was still dark and felt like night, and headed off on a stiff walk around the farm. By the time we came home in the bus there was not a young voice to be heard, only snores!