06 Oct 2020

It is amazing how some villages have changed over the years.

When Botswana attained independence, the only decent facility found in Etsha 6 in the Okavango Sub-district was a primary school.

Today the village has a range of shops including a fueling point, a clinic, modern houses constructed by Botswana Housing Corporation among others.

Etsha 6 is dominated by Hambukushu, Baxeriku and Manyambe who came together following relocation from Angola.

History indicates that the inhabitants settled at Etsha around 1967 finding nothing, but thick bush.

According to elders, life was admirable in the past as they upheld their social and cultural practices despite lack of developments.

They, however, appreciated a boom in developments they experienced after independence.

The 85-year-old Mr Sekwenje Mate said in an interview that when they settled there was nothing to be proud of.

He said they appreciated the warm welcome extended to them by the then Batawana tribal leaders.

“What mattered a lot to us was that we have found a place of refuge and peace in Botswana and we were overwhelmed by the warm reception by the then dikgosi who allocated us land,” he added.

The elderly man also recalls that the first activity was to clear the bush and construct their traditional houses using reeds from the river, saying the first development in the village was a primary school built in 1969.

Other developments such as clinics, shops, he said were not that much a priority as traditionally the Hambukushu tribe engage in animal husbandry and subsistence agriculture.

They grow millet, sorghum, ground nuts, pumpkins and watermelons using slash-and-burn agricultural methods. Apart from agriculture, he said they were known for their basket-weaving artistry, and fishing.

He said hunger was a taboo as they fully utilized their hands and brains to put food on the table adding that they even assisted those in need.

Mr Mathe said the tribe also believed in their ancestral and traditional healers, noting that when one fell sick, they would go out gather some wild herbs for treatment.

He also pointed out that they performed healing dances for the sick.

“During our olden days life really was better even though the conditions of living were not comfortable as they are now.

We hustled better as compared to the present life which is marred with a lot of challenges including social ills amongst young people.”

Mr Mathe explained that discipline was instilled in every household stating that they treated every parent with respect irrespective of their backgrounds.

Today, he said they were troubled by youth indiscipline exacerbated by poor parenting.

In the past, he said children were drilled on social and moral values so that they could grow into responsible citizens.

Etsha 6 village chief, Kgosi Mwakaupi Seemeko concurred that life now was more busier than it used to be in the past adding that today the buzz words are equality and freedom.

While some people view the change as positive, he said it is necessary not to discard everything just for the sake of modernity.

Kgosi attested that Hambukushu was one of the few tribes committed to upholding cultural values in its totality.

He said they were still preserving their culture because they believe that it defined people’s identity and origins and also encouraged unity among the tribe.

Kgosi Seemeko acknowledged that there was no doubt that things had differed greatly between the past and present in many aspects of life but expressed happiness that many elders retained high levels of traditional knowledge.

He also shared that marriage in the past was easy to perform unlike today where people had turned bogadi into business.

In the olden days, he said the groom paid two beasts and he would also be asked by the bride’s parents to cut tress from a field or construct a house in order to prove his worth, as a family head.

In their tradition, he also noted that once a young man impregnate his girlfriend, parents consider the couple as married and they could be allowed to stay together depending on negotiations between their families. ENDS