Since 2003, Gaia has co-organised an annual experiential learning process which has become fondly known as the "Botswana Experience", with Ngwenyama Lodge and the ABN. The week long retreat sees African community leaders and change-makers come together to reconnect with their traditional culture and Africa's pre-colonial identity.

As Tetu Maingi, Programme Coordinator at the Porini Association in Kenya, explains "The workshop gives participants an opportunity to explore more deeply, how traditional societies develop and maintain their intimate relationship with the natural world; how we can support processes of recuperation and adaptation; and what this means personally and organisationally for those committed to this path."

What I had imagined might be a typical NGO workshop, turned out to be a life-changing process.Wanjiku Mwangi, Co-founder of Porini Association, Kenya. Participant in the Botswana Experience, 2004.

The workshop takes place in the traditional setting of an acestoral lodge which is similar to the traditional rural homesteads of many of the African participants. The process is led by two Sangomas (traditional doctors) - brothers Colin and Niall Campbell in the Ngwenyama Traditional Healers Training School in Botswana. Participants are predominantly individuals from across the African Biodiversity Network, nominated as part of their journey to connect with their work with communities at a deeper level. The process encourages reflection on Africa's many indigenous cultures and their universal underpinnings. It includes a great deal of time in Nature and wilderness - sometimes in isolation - as part of the core objective of reconnecting with the Earth.

A Film about the Botswana Experience

The film A Story Worth Remembering? Unearthing Africa's Identity documents the experience of participants 2009. As this film shows, the process is a transformative one. It allows participants to break from their daily tasks and to find space to reflect on Africa's unique traditions, culture and identity. As part of this process the 'development' models which have been imposed upon Africa since the colonial period come into question, and participants ask themselves who really knows what Africa needs? And has Africa's true identity been lost or compromised along the way? What is their role now?

The film is narrated by Ghanaian born, British Actor, Hugh Quarshie and has been co-produced by Gaia, the African Biodiversity Network and Ngwenyama Lodge. Watch the film here.

Reflections from Past Participants

Wanjiku Mwangi, participant in the Botswana Experience in 2004 & 2006

"The Botswana Experience made me realise how disconnected we have all become. The thread of our wisdom and of our very existence has been disconnected from Nature and from the Elders. We are now living in isolated islands in the cities of the world, in small peer groups that we think are important. We think that we are ahead, that we are civilized. But we are empty at the end of the day.

I came out of the process a stronger person and I knew that I was heading in a different direction. I had been working in the UK for four years but I knew now that I was not going to return there. I was going to stay in Africa, change my career and reconnect with Nature, with my family and with the ancestors. I needed to go back to my roots and speak with my father who has a wealth of knowledge. I needed to immerse myself in it until this wisdom was revealed in me. Looking back, Botswana was very transformative for me and my family."

"In my previous NGO experience, communities were looked at as 'beneficiaries' because the development model is framed in that way: There are donors, the implementing NGOs and the beneficiaries who are dictated to. I realised that we never sought the wisdom or the spirit of the community as we worked with them. This process opened my eyes to this, made me realise that there is great wisdom within the community and that I would approach my work with them very differently in the future."

Wanjiku Mwangi co-founded Porini Association in 2005, a commitment she and others made in Botswana. Porini Association works with communities across Kenya to strengthen community and ecosystem resilience and to revive traditional African identity and culture. Find out more about Porini Association and their work with the Karima community.

Gathuru Mburu, participant in the Botswana Experience in 2004 & 2007

"I have twice participated in the Botswana Experience. It is a very powerful process which actually changed the direction of my life. After the workshop I began working with the African Biodiversity Network on a part-time basis and I joined hands with other participants in thinking about how we could integrate some of our learnings here into our work with communities. Porini Association emerged out of this and I worked with Porini for a short time before forming the Institute for Culture & Ecology (ICE) in 2007.

The Botswana Experience is a really transformative one. When I first attended in 2004 I knew very little about my culture. The education system I had gone through, and the faith I had been born into, did not give me a chance to look back and reflect upon my real cultural heritage. As we explored ideas around Earth Law or natural customary law we decided that in order to really understand it we must commit ourselves to very personal processes of transformation. We called this a process going 'back to roots'. This meant returning to the communities in which we had grown up, in order to learn about the community. As a group we all recognised the identity crisis taking place in young Africans. We are torn between cultures - part African and part western. We have no direction and no true sense of who we are. We decided that returning to our roots would be a vital part of a journey of rediscovering ourselves and asking who are we? What are we? Where are we coming from and where are we headed?

"When I went back to my community I discussed these issues with my parents and with the wider local community. They told me that in order to seek advice from the Elders on these issues, and in order for them to guide me, I would need to be initiated as one of them. I entered into a process which confirmed me as a Junior Elder and then the Elders began to open up to me about issues of culture, governance, livelihood and community. They discussed their concerns around the disintegration of the community and their environment, and the many external forces that they recognised were threatening their future. Out of these discussions and dialogues with the Elders I recognised how vital this sharing process was. Dialogues with Elders and young people from the community now form a critical basis of all of our work at ICE."

Gathuru Mburu is founder and director of the Institute for Culture & Ecology and Coordinator of the African Biodiversity Network. Click here find out more about ICE's work with communities in central Kenya or watch The Kamburu Story, an inspiring short film about their work.