African Cave Art and the Organic box design When 18th Century European immigrants first found San rock art they thought it to be as crude as the people who painted them, 'just Bushmen' was their attitude with two-dimensional accounts of their life. They called them San, meaning literally 'outside'. Small bands of these Bushmen were actually paraded around Victorian England in freak shows. They were seen as something not entirely human, their extraordinary language is a series of clicking sounds, which anthropologists regarded as little more than farmyard noises. Thankfully we now have a lot more respect for these noble people. Their art is often finely detailed and delicately coloured. They are not only accounts of their lives but repositories for it, literally when a shaman painted an Eland or a Springbok they were not just paying homage to the animal; they were harnessing its very essence. Many of the existing paintings are now only stains in the rock having been washed away by rain. Despite this the paintings are often masterpieces and can stand on their own as great works of art. The rocks themselves are largely Table Sandstone and are often weathered into spectacular formations making the landscape almost ethereal. By choosing this stunning and eloquent art to represent our Organic Tea we are not only bringing its beauty into your home, but are also aiming to evoke some of the spirit of these people who once discovered the health giving properties of this amazing plant. The San people are vanishing; the painters are no more, we hope that we have done them justice. There is even more reasoning behind our choice. We feel so strongly about the heritage behind Redbush Tea that we want to give back something to the descendants of the people who first discovered this amazing plant, and in so doing we hope to help them preserve their culture. The Redbush Tea Company will be giving a percentage of the profits from the sale of this tea to the Kalahari Peoples Fund (K.P.F.). They are a 25 year old, non-profit organisation that came together to help the San and other peoples in southern Africa. KPF raises funds and provides technical and advisory assistance, principally in the areas of community based land & resource rights. Most critical in its mission are achieving progress in education, human rights and development land use planning, as well as assisting in building schools, medical facilities etc. « back   next »