Kara News
Introducing The Kara
Heritage Institute
Inaugural
Edition
December
2002
Mbekara:
Dzomo La Dzimu
Self Knowledge Shall Set You
Free
Dr Mathole Motshekga is the
founding
Director of the Kara Heritage
Institute.
He is currently a member
of the Gauteng
Legislature and Chairman
of Sechaba Trust
and of Quality Engineering
Services.
Inside
this issue:
Editorial | 1 |
| History
of the Institute | 1 |
| Status
of the Institute Today | 2 |
| Co-Operation
Agreements | 3 |
| Public
Activities of the Institute | 4 |
| Reference
Library | 4 |
| The
Institute’s Publications | 4 |
The first ever edition of the Kara Heritage Institute is set to poke themes
that would stir critical debates among indigenous African people.
The editors of Kara News envision to raise controversial issues ranging
from religion, philosophy, sciences, astrology, cosmology, etc. Karaites, a term used to identify members of
the Kara Heritage Institute, will be provided with space in which they can express
view and pursue critical debates on issues affecting the indigenous African communities.
Likewise, the Newsletter will keep the Karaites abreast of what the Institute
is doing from time to time. It is expected
that Kara News be published on quarterly basis, or whenever necessary special
editions will be issues for special events during the year.
The topical news will include among others:
·
Public activities of Kara;
·
Seminars and conferences;
·
Television and Radio Talk-shows;
·
Community driven developmental projects;
·
New publications on African philosophy and history,
etc.
Since
this is an inaugural edition, we can scarcely attempt at any exhaustive exposition
of the Kara Heritage Institute activities. However, we may afford to provide an overview of the history and
profile of the Institute.
Dr. Mathole Nacherofho Motshekga established the Kara
Heritage Institute in 1982 when he was a research fellow at the Max Planct Institute
for Foreign and International Law at Albert Ludwigs University in the Federal
Republic of Germany. Two students, Saba Qgobal, a Togolese and Ndombasi Mavinga,
an Angolan, assisted Dr. Motshekga to establish the Kara School of Philosophy, Arts and Culture registered as an NGO under German Law.
At Albert Ludwigs University, Dr. Motshekga
was appointed a visiting Lecturer in the Faculty of Law. During his stay at this
University, Dr. Motshekga studied ancient African history, philosophy and Hieroglyphics,
with focus on Ancient Ethiopia (Atape) and Egypt (Hakaptah). He delivered public
lectures on:
· Integrative macro-micro
cosmic theory of the Evolution and Nature of Man at Albert Ludwig’s University,
Freiburg im Bresgau;
·
Evolution and Nature in Africa at Bayreuth University;
·
The Nature and Significance of Kara Philosophy -Today and Tomorrow at
Hatha Yoga School, Freiburg im Bresgau; and
·
The Essence and Significance of African Nature religions with specific
reference to the Karanga at the KHG; Forum for International Dialogue, Bierbronen.
Upon
his return to South Africa in 1984, Dr. Motshekga established the Kara Cultural
Centre in Mamelodi, Pretoria, with the assistance of Nokoai Ramasehla and Ntsoaki
Moletsane.
The Kara Cultural Centre
The
establishment of the Kara Cultural Centre stemmed from controversies surrounding
the origins of the universe and humanity.
The Kara Heritage Society had acknowledged with grave concern the ignorance
of the world, including the African world, about the history, culture and place
of indigenous African peoples in the cultural history and community of nations.
The Kara Heritage Society
believed that the dignity and equality of all people including indigenous Africans
is cross-cultural, universal and internationally accepted. Consequently, there
was a quest for mutual recognition of one another’s history and culture as expounded
by sages and scholars of all cultures.
Until
recently, there has been a problem regarding the origins of indigenous African
peoples. Fortunately the remarkable archeological and historical research findings
have demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that the history of the world and
its civilisation proceeded from “Black Africa” – known to Egyptians and Ethiopians
(i.e. indigenous Africans) as Ta Neter, i.e. God’s Land or the Holy Land.
Paradoxically, since the beginning
of the Graeco-Roman period, which laid the foundation for the Euro-Asiatic era,
the indigenous Africa (“Black Africa”) came to be known as the Dark Continent
or as Hegel put it, the Land of Childhood. Today, however, the erudite of the
world acknowledge that human civilisation has genesis in African mystery teachings
or more specifically the Karaite or Haramaite (Gr. Hermetic) philosophy.
These
revelations prompted African intellectuals, who have a deep attachment to African
peoples to be proud of their past and their achievements; sensible to their continuing
responsibilities, and are pondering over their development, to ask the question:
Who am I? Where do I come from and where am I going? Or to put it otherwise What
is the past (History) present and future of the African peoples.
At
its inception the primary aims and objectives of the Kara Cultural Centre were:
· To promote informal education,
research and writing on all topics pertaining to Africa
and any other matter incidental thereto;
·
To counsel students on subject choice and career as well as on the availability
of study and research opportunities; and
·
To create a forum for intellectual exchange, by organizing seminars on
matters falling within the aims and objects of the Centre.
In
South Africa, in the year or 1985, Dr. Motshekga delivered the following public
lectures:
· The Politics of Education and Culture in South Africa, Pretoria;
· African Cultures, Religion, Humanism and Christianity,
Funda Centre Soweto (in Johannesburg);
· The Effects of Cultural Factors in the helping
professions at the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the South African
Black Social Workers Association held in September 1985; and
· An Indigenous African View of Creation or
Evolution of the Universe and Man.
In addition, Dr Mathole Motshekga started professing
Hermeticism or Karaism (Kara Philosophy). There a Kara Heritage society was born.
His efforts, however, were suppressed by Apartheid security forces whose ignorance
led them to believe that Karaism was a clandestine movement brewing insurrection
against the state.
Karaism
employs a paradigm that surpasses the contemporary African Studies Centres that
have mushroomed in western universities. It
is a cutting-edge perspective in that not only revives the dignity of indigenous
African people, but also debunks the contemporary western scholarship for its
apparent hypocrisy and the looting of Africa’s knowledge, which erroneously is
being mis-attributed to western scholars.
The Kara Heritage Institute is a registered
non-governmental organisation (NGO) according to the Law’s of the Republic of
South Africa. The institute is also an
accredited international non-governmental organisation (INGO). Furthermore, and
perhaps most important, the Kara Heritage Institute is a constituent member of
the South African Chapter of the African Renaissance Institute (SACAR).
The Kara Heritage Institute aims to become an
internationally recognized African heritage organisation of transformation. The
mission of the Institute is to collect, process, interpret, disseminate, co-ordinate
and communicate on the African Heritage. The Institute focuses on cultural, socio-economic
and developmental issues.
The primary goal of the Kara Heritage Institute
is to promote the African Renaissance through community development and nation-building
projects. This approach has been adopted
to ensure:
· First and foremost, that the Africans know
themselve
· Secondly, that we recapture,
develop and propagate African Philosophy of Oneness and common origins of the
human family; and
· Thirdly, to develop programs
which:
a.
Mobilise African Communities to reclaim and record their culture and heritage;
b.
Reclaim African history and cultural heritage from antiquity to the present;
c.
Develop their diverse cultures and indigenous knowledge systems; and
d.
Promote public awareness of the African heritage and comparative studies
in science and technology.
e.
· The Art of Life;
· African Martial Arts;
· Indigenous Knowledge Systems
and Sustainable Development;
· Africulture and Agriculture;
· Health and Healing
· Organic Agriculture Planning;
· Introduction to Geology and Mining
Engineering;
· Horticultures Production and
Organic Fruit Production;
· Introduction to Aviary and Organic
Poultry Production;
· Organic Farming and Apiculture;
· Eco-cultural Tourism;
· Leather and Beadwork;
· Spinning, Weaving and Knitting;
· Pottery and Artistic Painting;
· Textile Technology and Fashion
Design;
· Music, Speech and Drama
· Introduction to Business Management
· Introduction to Agricultural
Business and Farm Management;
· Basic Book Keeping;
· Introduction to Marketing Management;
· Introduction to Agricultural
Technology
· Archeo-astronomy and Organic Farming;
· Organic Farming and Food Security;
· Cultural Tourism and Hospitality;
· Indigenous African Medical Theory and Practice;
·
Comparative Indigenous Afro-Chinese and Indian Medical Theory and Practice.
The Kara Heritage Institute has been cooperating with
various institutions and Education and Training centers for the purpose of empowering indigenous African communities.
Most agreements concern developmental projects in agriculture, information
technology, science and African indigenous knowledge systems.
· On 21June 2001 the Institute organized celebrations
of Solar Eclipse in Johannesburg. The
Director of the Institute conducted several interview on the topic;
· In February 2002 the Institute together
with the Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture held a conference
on Human Origins and History of Civilizations in Johannesburg;
·
On May 26, 2002, together with the Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts
and Culture, the Institute conducted a workshop on Africa Day;
·
On June 21, 2002, the Institute conducted a workshop at African Window
Museum in Pretoria, on African Astronomy;
·
On July 21,
Seminar at Transvaal Museum on African Cosmology and Human Development.
·
On July Dr Motshekga addressed the Pan-African-
American Religious Consultative Forum
·
Co-trained artists with the Provincial Parks
Board at Polokwane Melting Pot;
· The Institute has spearheaded
the formation of the African Development Network (ADN), which is composed of professional
volunteers, private and public sectors, as well as NGOs.
The ADN operates in Johannesburg and focuses on community mobilization
and development. In this partnership, involved are also the
South African Council of Ethiopian congregations and the Ethiopian Congregational
Research and Development Agency;
·
On 22 November Dr Motshekga addressed the African Renaissance Colloquium
(SADC) held in Pretoria;
·
From 30 November to 4 December the Institute was commissioned by the Dept.
of Arts and Culture to train artworkers and crafters for their exhibitions during
the period of Solar Eclipse.
·
From 5-9 December the Institute conducted further training at Polokwane
Melting Pot together with Ntsika.
·
On November 1-3, 2002 the Institute, together with National Research Foundation
and the Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture hosted an African Indigenous
Knowledge Systems;
·
On 5 November Dr. Motshekga addressed a meeting
of businessmen, government officials and judiciary officials at Gaborone, Botswana
on Unity in Diversity: Africa in the Third Millennium
·
The Institute was commissioned by the National Arts Council to train crafters
in the Limpopo province;
The Institute, together with
the Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture, held a parallel event
to the WSSD – a Colloquium on Indigenous Knowledge Systems;
·
The
Institute was accredited by NGO Forum at Nasrec and exhibited a Ubuntu Village
during the WSSD;
·
On
4 December, Dr Motshekga addressed the Musina Solar Eclipse Festival;
·
On
5 December Dr Motshekga addressed the SADC Forum of Traditional Leaders;
The
following publications are available for purchase:
1.
2.
| The Dawn of the African Century | R100.00 |
| African Renaissance and Theosophical
Movement | R 40.00 |
| The Influence of African on the
Development of Western Civilisation | R 40.00 |
| African Unity in Diversity from
Antiquity to the Dawn of the African Century | R 40.00 |
| Reclaiming the History, Culture
and Spirituality of the People of the Sun | R 40.00 |
| Man: The Universe in a Nutshell | R 40.00 |
| Zep tepi – The beginning of Time.
Lecture on cassette | R 40.00 |
| Harmonizing Cultural Diversity
for the African Renaissance | |
| Recommended Reading | |
| The Pert em Heru: The Egyptian
Book of the Dead | R270.00 |
| Lefafa Zedeki: The Ethiopian Book
of the Dead* | |
| Kore Kosmu | |
| The Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom
of the Pharaoh | |
| The Most Hidden Truths | R100.00 |
| The Roots of the Bantu | R 150.00 |
| The Karanga Empire | R 100.00 |
| *You need
to place order as this book is in high demand | |
Reference Library
The
Institute shall establish African libraries and museums and assemble books, periodical
articles, and press cuttings and index them on computer for easy access. In addition
newspaper and periodical articles on the African Renaissance will be kept on readily
accessible country and subject files. A provisional database for this purpose will
be establish on the Institute’s web site (www.kara.co.za).