Field work among San youth in Platfontein, Kimberley (SA)


Tarja Juvonen
PhD (Soc.Sc), University lecturer (tl)
Social Work
University of lapland


Field work among San youth in Platfontein, Kimberley (SA)



This summer (2017) I got an opportunity to visit South Africa and San communities at Platfontein, Kimberley and Rosedale, Upington. I spent a whole month in exchange in South Africa as a member of PARTY (Participatory development with the youth) project. PARTY is a EU funded, international and inter-sectoral research and innovation programme that aims to “endorse human development and assist in reducing youth unemployment by increasing the involvement and inclusion of young people in service development in South Africa and Namibia by using participatory and explorative service design tools”. The project is focusing on San youth and young adults that are “living in poor or otherwise marginal conditions and who either are or face the risk of becoming marginalized”. 


Platfontein is the collective name for the !Xun and Khwe San communities residing in a settlement on the barren farm, approximately 10 kilometers north-west of Kimberley. The community of about 7 000 inhabitants lives in small and modest brick houses that the South African government built for them. From basic services a school, two shops, a municipal building and a health clinic are available. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has a radio station located in Platfontein. Own radio station is important and the community members are free to visit the station and participate in the making of radio programs also in their own languages. Primary sources of income are child support and disability grants. Unemployment is extremely high and poverty is acute, visible and debilitating. The increases in food prices have caused hunger, malnourishment and diseases. Alcoholism is a common problem, as is domestic violence, teenage pregnancies and HIV. Suicide as a cause of death is out of proportion to its population within this small community. San culture and identity are disappearing as well as their languages. This is due to the fact that Afrikaans and English are the main languages used at schools and public services.
 
Above mentioned realities formed a compelling framework to our visit and workshops with the youth. Even though the statistics and frameworks might seem depressing, the youth we met had prospects for the future. They had plans and some of them were soon to start studies in various educational institutions outside Platfontein. The youth also welcomed us to their community and participated actively in workshops. During our stay, we had six workshops in which we did poster design, designed art from trash, shared their culture and traditional habits, did storytelling, community walking and prepared a play, which was performed publicly at Platfontein´s school yard. The aim of these workshops was to recognize the strengths of the young people and the challenges they are facing, to find channels for developing models for creating local dialogue. More far reaching aim was to identify possibilities for youth employment. This is not an easy objective to reach in a community where unemployment rises over 90 percent, where jobs are few and public transportation to the nearest city, Kimberley, is practically non-existing. Still as I mentioned earlier young people can and are willing to overcome these structural constraints. 


The big question is, as it´s always with the projects that are temporary, periodical and do not originate from the community, whether they can help San youth and more widely their community and culture? What the project has to offer to these young people it manages to reach? One answer and what we were trying to do was to emphasize the importance of one's own culture and identity. That San youth can be proud of their history and traditions. Besides this abstract aim, we introduced to the youth some practical and hopefully useful tools or ideas to be used in the future. These tangible tools were making a poster in which you can present shortly and in an informative way your ideas. Using trash as a material for art increases environmental awareness and shows that art making doesn´t need to be expensive. Using drama as a tool for representing important and meaningful themes opens a different kind of forum for local dialogue. Community mapping in turn is a nice method to pay attention and learn more about meaningful places in one´s own community.  

From the point of view of social sciences and social work my first exchange in South Africa was fruitful and thought-provoking. Platfontein as a place and the current situation of San people are rich on cultural, societal, equality and other ethical questions, not to mention welfare issues. It gives the social scientist a “lapful” of themes and questions to research. My exploration will continue in September when I return there.




References

Oatway, James (2013) Lost Crows: Fighting for survival after fighting for the apartheid war machine. Osoitteessa: http://www.osisa.org/fr/openspace/south-africa/lost-crows-fighting-survival-after-fighting-apartheid-war-machine


https://www.ulapland.fi/EN/Webpages/PARTY
van Wyk, As (2014) The militarisation of the Platfontein San (!Xun and Khwe): The initial years 1966–1974. The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, 10(3), 133-151

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