“Patricia is one of those strong women that this continent is so good at breeding. She is a storyteller to rival van der Post and David Rattray in her genre” - Dereck and Beverly Joubert - Film makers, National Geographic

DAWID’S RETURN – A TALK BY PATRICIA GLYN
Once again, Patricia has been trekking through the African wilderness with a ghost.  In 2005 she walked from Durban to the Victoria Falls in the footsteps of her long-dead ancestor Sir Richard Glyn.  This year (2011) she set off for the Kalahari, to find traces of a long-dead Bushman by the name of Makai Kruiper – a legendary mystic, hunter and leader who roamed ‘The Thirst Land’ a century ago.  And by her side was Makai’s grandson, Dawid, a man as legendary as his forebear.

Dawid is the elected traditional leader of the Khomani Bushmen, who live near the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP) which was once their homeland, and he embodies the most celebrated human rights victory for the Bushmen of Southern Africa.

 In 1999, Dawid and his clan won a claim against the apartheid authorities that had robbed the Khomani of their ancestral land.  In the years since that great day, however, lack of transport into the KTP has hindered the community from accessing all but a small portion of it.  So the old man asked Patricia if she could help him mount an expedition to the places of great historical and cultural significance further into the National Park which Dawid had not visited since his youth, and which his children have never seen.  So in April and June that is exactly what they did.  In a deeply moving and poignant trek, the Kruiper family and Patricia’s team visited and documented birth, death and burial sites; mystical and sacred sites; battle sites and hunting grounds. 

And once again, Patricia and her professional team of photographers and film makers have brought back thousands of photos and hours of footage, the best of which have been selected to illustrate her talk about this grand adventure.

The presentation is about how losing their land has brought the Khomani people to a state of utter despair and rage, and how going back to their heritage places helped to heal and restore them.   The talk also discusses how winning the land claim did not necessarily result in a new and profitable life and the help claimants need in this complicated process.

The presentation is also about what Patricia witnessed on this trip: the fragments that remain in the Kalahari sand of a long-gone life; the extraordinary memory and tracking skills that helped Dawid find his grandfather’s artifacts, some 100 years after they’d been buried; the secrets that have been handed down from son to son.

This is also a story about just how much the Bushmen can teach us about respect for our natural resources and how to preserve them.  Patricia demonstrates how the ‘old’ Bushman attitudes hold the key to our environmental future.  She shows how little they consume, how much they value what they consume and how much they leave in place for the children’s children. 

But it’s also an amusing talk about a journey with a group of irreverent story tellers, free spirits, hilarious mimics and loving people.  Patricia’s presentation lasts approximately one hour but can be tailored to suit any conference timetable.  To book this talk write to patricia@patriciaglyn.com or call +27 82 881 8550.