2011-05-23
Statement presented at 10th Session of United nations Permanent Forum for Indigenous by Job Morris
Madam Chair, thank you for this time.
My name is Job Morris. I am from a small Indigenous village in Botswana called D‘Kar. It is in the Central part of Ghanzi District on the Kalahari Desert, and has a population of approximately 1500 Indigenous Peoples, called by our tribal toungue as Naro. However, I am here to represent not only the situations of my people but also of Indigenous Peoples throughout Botswana.
Indigenous Peoples in Botswana are identified using many derogatory names and those names act as a collective identity that encompasses all our tribes. I am Naro and I cannot hear or understand Dxana, Dcui, Ju/’hoansi or others when they speak but we are tied together by the common problems we have. When we identify all these groups together we use the name ‘San’.
Madam Chair, because of industrialization, we San have lost our lands. We are often driven away from soils we once knew and are relocated to other lands where we conflict with other groups. This is not development to us. Is Botswana a place rich in heritage but hopeless for the future of the San? A place of plentiful resources, yet continuous deprivation?