The !Kung San people of the great Kalahari Desert are said to be among the oldest surviving cultures on Earth. They have celebrated an estimated 40,000 years of nomadic existence through out southern Africa. This elder !Kung San woman was saddened by the immense changes that have swept through her culture in the last 100 years. She explained further that the young people of her tribe didn't want to learn about the traditions and history of their people. She said she would take her culture with her to the grave and the young people would be left with nothing. This gesture of reaching symbolizes her desire to share her knowledge. The sense that something is slipping through her fingers represents her feeling of loss; the lift in her body shows her strength.

---from the journals of Elisabeth Sunday, Botswana,