Debswana gifts Xere Cultural Festival animals for demonstrations
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Sunday August 11, 2024 06:00
This comes after the festival got a donation of animals from Debswana to use for demonstrations of Sesarwa culture such as hunting and cooking game meat. The event will be held in Xere village from August 22-24. The organisers of the event, which is dedicated to preserve the Sesarwa culture, are anticipating more patrons this year, such that they have stretched it to two full days of immense fun. Speaking at a media launch in Gaborone on Tuesday, the event coordinator from Blacksmith Communications, Rapula Kegopilwe, said this year’s edition promises to be a banger.
He said, unlike last year, patrons should expect more activities including exploring the Sesarwa culture including wild animals hunting, cooking game meat the Sesarwa way and tasting it, cultural exhibition and performances. “Our aim is to see Batswana attending the Xere Cultural Festival in higher numbers than last year where we had 3, 000 patrons of whom 150 were foreign tourists. We were happy that the public came in large numbers and hope to see the numbers increasing this year. We will have a cultural exhibition in the morning of the first day to demonstrate the Sesarwa culture such as hunting. Thankfully, Debswana has provided us with animals and therefore we will see how they were hunted, skinned and cooked before later tasting the game meat,” he said. He added that the Xere youth would also be showcasing their talent through different art exhibitions they would be displaying at the exhibition.
Later in the evening, he said there would be a Sundowner Picnic where patrons would have dinner while watching the beautiful sunset. He added that different Basarwa artists would be entertaining revellers with short versions of poetry, song and dance. On Saturday, exhibitions would open for people living in and around Xere and a game drive into the CKGR. He said in the evening, there would be A Night With the First People of Kalahari event where there would be Sesarwa cultural dance and song and a music festival later on. Kegopilwe also encouraged people to attend the event in large numbers saying they would be giving everyone a very important person (VIP) treatment. He said this year, they ensure that catering, accommodation, and lights, sound and amenities are top-notch.
For his part, the acting Permanent Secretary from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MEWT), Boatametse Modukanele, said the Xere Cultural Festival is different from other cultural events because it teaches and promotes the Sesarwa culture. He added that the event would be showing patrons the beauty of tourism. He added that they would take them to CKGR where Xere residents originally hail from. At the event, there would be activities such as quad bike riding, horse riding and others. “Xere is close to my heart. I worked at the CKGR for years, experienced their lifestyle and culture first hand and therefore I am happy to see them wanting to share and teach the world their culture.
My Ministry has helped them through the Xere Trust with finances and manpower to ensure that everything goes smoothly in terms of accommodation, catering and all that is needed to make this event successful. We want the event to be top-notch so that it grows and the trust can be able to sustain it on their own in the future. We also want people residing in nearby villages to benefit from the event as well,” he said. Meanwhile, Xere Kgosi, Molaodi Moipolai, pleaded with Batswana at large to support the event by coming in large numbers. He said it was through the event that they could preserve and sustain their culture saying the culture was dying as many people were adopting the modern lifestyle and therefore forsaking their own culture.