Dear friends, dear supporters,

In December 2011, thirty-five children left our preschool in order to continue their studies at the primary school in D’Kar. During the three years they spent with us, I had the opportunity to get to know them well and to become attached to them. I miss them now. Fortunately, D’Kar is not far from us and I go visit them often.

In January, twenty-two “new” children arrived, also from D’Kar. They are very small, only 3-4 years of age, and I am very fond of them. Some of them cry because they miss their mom, others are frightened or shy, while some make friends immediately and have a world of fun. We were obliged to reduce the number of registered children because the Ministry of Education deemed our preschool overcrowded: there cannot be more than twenty-two children per every two instructors.

D’Kar is a very poor village, an agglomeration of miserable huts scattered in the sandy savannah. A few of these huts are still of the traditional sort, with walls made from cow dung and straw thatched roofs, but most are made from various waste materials. D’Kar is situated about eight kilometres from our welcome centre.

The inhabitants are for the most part San or Bushman, though there are also Tswana and Herero. Today, it is no longer rare for the various tribes to mix among themselves. Most of the families are fragmented due to AIDS or its consequences, or else because of alcohol abuse. A high percentage of our children grow up without the presence of a father.

Our work takes place in a rural part of the country, the semi-desert of the Kalahari. The situation in the big cities is undoubtedly different and likely better. Ninety percent of our children come from a very poor social class. The women begin having children very early and have an average of 4-5 children, and many of our children have 8-9 siblings. In these past few years, the situation has slowly been changing, and some young mothers now go to the hospital every month in order to have a contraceptive injection. Condom use is a very complicated issue. While condoms are free, they are subject to strange beliefs and superstitions. Unfortunately, I am told that few use them, and consequently the HIV virus can spread easily. Though the Ministry of Health has put together effective information packages on prevention, many persons are unable or unwilling to understand the importance of the condom. The government provides AIDS anti-retrovirus therapy, an opportunity that other African countries do not have.

The information I have comes from what I see and hear in the village and from our personnel, but I would like to clarify that it is difficult to understand the mentality and culture of this population. People here are very reserved with respect to these topics.

Even in Botswana, the effects of the global economic crisis are being felt. Due to inflation which has raised the price of gas, the overall cost of living has noticeably increased. Almost all goods, and especially fruits and vegetables, are imported overland from South Africa. Botswana produces meat, sunflower oil and Matebele (a type of maize). Our attempts to plant a vegetable garden have failed various times because of our absence during school holidays, but also due to the presence of numerous types of insects that devour everything. This does not, however, mean that others have not been successful in similar endeavours.

The staple food is maize. On a fire, in an iron pot, they prepare a maize porridge called pup or simply porridge. Alternatively, there is rice or samp (maize grains). The local inhabitants do not have three fixed daily meals the way we do, but rather eat when they feel hungry and until there is nothing left in the pot. If they have the possibility, they add sour milk, called Madila, to the pup. Rarely, they can afford a bit of ground meat, which is usually too expensive for them. Proteins necessarily come from beans, sour milk, Mapani worms (a type of caterpillar that hatches on a particular plant during the rainy season) and eggs. I think that almost every family owns a few chickens that wander around their hut.

The cheapest and most consumed vegetables are cabbage and spinach. People also willingly eat tomatoes, and immediately before and during the rains, they can find Kutschus (a mushroom) in the savannah, as well as various leaves, herbs and roots. Vitamins are provided by a nut called Marambas, red berries and a type of wild melon. The favourite drink is heavily sweetened tea. There is a relentless struggle between our personnel and Maryna, our administrator, over the exaggerated consumption of sugar: they are capable of putting six teaspoons of sugar in every cup of tea – the more sugar you provide, they more they use.

In our area, job offers are scarce and moreover people seem listless, disinterested and with no intention in busying themselves: working or not working does not change that much!!!

The average wage of a worker is around PULA 950 per month, which corresponds to €100 at the moment, an amount that is certainly not sufficient to feed a family. State wages are higher.

Food items such as potatoes, zucchini, meat, apples, pears, oranges, yoghurt, fruit juices and hundreds of other products that are part of our daily diet are prohibitively expensive for people. It is not, therefore, that they do not like eating a good apple or buying themselves a dress from the Chinese store, but simply that they are unable to afford to do so. Owning a bicycle, for instance, will remain a dream to them!

People here live from hand to mouth, without the slightest ability to think about tomorrow, let alone about a more distant future. The little money they receive, they spend all at once only to be left with nothing after a few days: the goods on offer in supermarkets are numerous and inviting, and the temptation is great.

In addition, alcohol abuse causes enormous damages, and a high percentage of men and women are victims. Often, money earned in a week ends up going to whiskey and beer during the weekend. People produce alcohol from everything at their disposal. Those who pay the consequences are often the children, who have to seek food from relatives and friends. If in the clan there lives a good person who works and does not drink, he or she often (and not unwillingly) has to support entire families.

Orphans, vulnerable persons, the elderly and the disabled receive a generous monthly food ration from the government consisting of corn flour, rice, sugar, tea, cabbage, onions, oranges, oil, milk, beans, flour, a bit of dried meat and matches. The ration is abundant and sufficient for more than one person. The problems with regards to this support are multiple: for instance, the criteria used to establish a person’s vulnerability remain unclear. I have great doubts about this process: it’s the same the whole world over!

Almost always, the beneficiaries of the food basket have to divide it among many mouths – too many mouths – and for the orphan or the elderly recipient often little or nothing is left. The stronger have precedence. Certainly, there are also families with a higher standard of living, but I can assure you that these are few.

This is, without exaggeration, the reality of D’Kar’s inhabitants, most of whom are Bushman. Centuries ago, the Bushmen were not primitive, though they may have become so today!! Their decline, however, has been neither accidental nor innocent. We, whites, have a great responsibility in their regard. But the history of the Bushmen and of their social changes is a topic I would like to tell you about another time.

I can now give you wonderful news: finally the contributions from the CINQUE PER MILLE have arrived!

Your money!!!! A heartfelt thank you!

During 2007 and 2008, we received more than €45,000, a notable sum that has allowed us to carry on with our projects.

Sincere thanks also to our accountants who support us by advertising our organisation to their clients, who perhaps do not know to whom to give their 5×1000. If your accountant does not already support another organisation, perhaps you could be the spokespersons who propose our organisation. In such cases, contact us at the email or phone number below, and we will gladly arrange to send our fliers to your accountant or directly to you. We hope to have you once again at our side in 2012.

OUR FISCAL CODE IS: 97295570150

ASSOCIAZIONE MOSAICO EUROAFRICANO ONLUS

Please do not forget us!

Affectionately,

Cecilia