University of Guelph visit to HOORC

This week a group of 12 people (one faculty and eleven students) from the University of Guelph visited HOORC as part of their field course. In the Library, they were taken through the digitisation work done on the legacy collections. Of particular interest to them ,was Doc Heinz's colour slides of bushman life. Later, Mieke Vanderpost gave a presentation on the San people, chronicling their history, unique cultural practices, and their dialect easily identifiable by the click sounds. It was in keeping with the preservation of their culture and to assist them integrate into society that the Kuru Development Trust was established in 1985, for which Meike Vanderpost has been a part of since its establishment. Part of the Trust's activities include the organisation of yearly art cultural music festivals which attract the various San groups. However, she lamented the gradual disappearance of the San culture, notably their rock paintings, for which they are renowed for.