Eco lodge project
Current Project
Building an Eco Lodge & why this helps the San Bushman people
In 2022, the N/a'an ku sê Foundation, an organization in Namibia that helps to retain the valuable wisdom of the San Bushman people and improve their lives, took over a farm called Harnas. Marlice van Vuuren who, together with her husband Dr. Rudie van Vuuren, founded the N/a'an ku sê Foundation, grew up at Harnas with the San Bushmen. They were her best friends. She even speaks the click language fluently.
The Ancient Skills Academy, a place where visitors can experience the San Bushmen culture, was originally developed and based at N/a'an ku sê (close to the capital Windhoek). In 2022, after taking over Harnas, they decided to move the Ancient Skills Academy from N/a'an ku sê to Harnas, because the habitat at Harnas is much more similar to the habitat the San Bushman people are used to.
Initially the San Bushmen from the Ancient Skills Academy came with the idea of building an eco lodge at the Nyae Nyae Conservancy, in the north-eastern part of Namibia, close to the Botswana border, to enable them to have a greater opportunity to showcase their natural skills on a daily basis, to pass their skills and knowledge to the next generation, and to have a more consistent income.
But after exploring this idea with Dr. Rudie & Marlice van Vuuren, they decided that building an eco-lodge at the Nyae Nyae Conservancy was not feasible because it was way off a tourist route and they both agreed to build the eco lodge at Harnas.
The eco lodge is building and enhancing on the current Ancient Skills Academy which has been operational since 2016 and will enable the San Bushmen community to:
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Have a greater opportunity to showcase and share their natural skills on a daily basis
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Generate a more consistent income to build an independent and secure future
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Provide visitors a unique opportunity to experience the longest culture alive on our planet
Why 4People&Planet is committed to the San Bushman people
Thirteen years ago, I travelled with my family to Namibia for the first time. We started our road trip at N/a'an ku sê, an organization close to the capital Windhoek, dedicated to preserve landscapes, protect wildlife, and help to improve the life of the San Bushman people (one of the longest cultures alive on our planet). At N/a'an ku sê we visited the Ancient Skills Academy, a place where visitors can experience the culture of the San Bushmen. I heard about this culture before, but I never really looked into it. And I must admit that my initial thought by hearing the words 'San Bushmen' were:
'it sounds like a culture that is way behind compared to modern society.'
I had no idea of all that awaited me in the next thirteen years.
It was a nice first experience with a culture I knew nothing about. We also met Marlice van Vuuren who, together with her husband Dr. Rudie van Vuuren founded the
N/a'an ku sê Foundation.
She told us about her childhood and how she grew up with the San Bushmen. This inspired me to go back as a photographer. But....following the advice a very wise 80 year old lady from Paris once gave me, I returned to the Ancient Skills Academy without my camera to fully immerse myself into their world. Leaving my camera behind, was the best thing I could have done.
Besides being overwhelmed to see how they managed to find food and water in an environment where I thought, 'does anything even grow here?', just to be with them in this remote, vast and starkly beautiful environment - despite the language barrier - this whole experience brought me back to the essence of life. To the very basis. In the ratrace of my daily life, this was something I seemed to have lost.
In the years that followed, I repeatedly visited the San Bushmen at the Ancient Skills Academy. With my camera though. I loved to learn all the things from a world I was not familiar with. Sometimes they gave me a look as if they were wondering: 'from which planet does she come.' And indeed, I came from a 'slightly' different planet.
It became a personal challenge to learn all about their survival skills, how they live in harmony with predators and the natural world around them, how they find water, edible plants and natural medicine in such a harsh environment.
Since the San Bushmen don't have a written down history, I started to document their knowledge and stories. And gradually, a mutual trust started to grow between us.
What most inspired and touched me was how they take care for each other and the world around them. Not for themselves, but for the people who come next. Surviving as a culture for over 20.000 years; in their world it didn't mean to only take what you need. It was about taking care for each other including the world around them, so the next generations would be able to survive as well.
My initial thought 'this culture is so behind compared to the world I live in', turned into 'we lack deep understanding how to take care of the natural world and each other on the longer term.'
I also noticed that their ancient skills were very useful in various aspects of my daily life, whether it was while doing things out of my comfort zone, when we found out that the health of one of our children was in danger, or while looking for certain purposes in life.
We felt that we could bring our two different worlds together, that we could strengthen each other.
Because we had build such a great mutual trust in the last thirteen years, we started to create a book together. To share their ancient wisdom to inspire modern society, reflecting their teachings, their survival skills documented from my creative perspective.
'ANCIENT Wisdom in Modern Society ' was not just created because of their skills and knowledge, but also with them and for them. This book will therefore be used as a lever to raise money for the eco lodge at Harnas.
We recently had the honor of organizing a remarkable fundraising book event dedicated to the eco lodge:
This event was a resounding success, so far we have raised € 130.000,-. This is a fantastic kick start, and will get the eco lodge project on the way.
However, to get the eco lodge at the fullest possible scale and impact, we aim for around three times this amount.
We hope you join this great cause.
With love,
Alice Braat
Chair 4People&Planet
