Trip to Mmankgodi

On Sunday afternoon we had a real treat. Around 3 Masters came back to pick us up to take us about 40 km outside of Gaborone to Mmankgodi where he is building a house, some shops and more. But first we had to do some shopping for the braai that we would hold out at Masters’ place. That meant some water and juice, lots of meat and a few rolls. As we were driving around town I had a fleeting feeling of homesickness for Namibia – which Mave later announced as well. Windhoek feels much more cosmopolitan than Gaborone and certainly more 'developed.' In Windhoek, of course, I know my way around so well and will always run into familiar faces in town. I am not sure that in Gaborone people even go ‘to town’ in the way that they do in Windhoek. Gaborone is much more African with everything kind of jumbled together and by that I mostly mean the different neighborhoods. Really, that is also why I am so happy to be here – to be somewhere like that - rather than somewhere in which the 'townships' and 'suburbs' (and all the baggage that go with them) are so clearly demarcated. The two countries, though neighbors, have such vastly different histories, which surely account for the many differences one notices even at first glance.

We were soon on the road to Mmankgodi, having turned off from the Lobatse Road which we recognized as the road to the Mokolodi Nature Reserve, past the big Game City mall and the baboons by the side of the road. The countryside was relaxing – quite green with all of the recent rain - with many hills surrounding us. We passed through villages and settlements, stopping at one point to purchase some firewood from the side of the road. It was sitting there in a pile and we pulled over to wait for the kid who was tending it to come and get his money. He asked for 25 pula and Masters gave him 20. The village of Mmankgodi is fairly populous – though not by Botswana standards where villages can actually have in the tens of thousands of people. Most of the houses were made of cement or brick with mabati or corrugated iron roofs; some more traditional huts with thatched roofs. We passed by one very impressive compound with a high stone wall and lovely open structure inside; turns out it was the village kgotla. This is the gathering space where for generations Tswana men have gathered with their chief to discuss and decide upon village matters. Women and children could attend to listen but not speak. The kgotlas continue to this day and are venues for discussing development, education and other such issues. People contend that they go some way toward explaining politics in Botswana today, for example, why there are so few women in formal political institutions. Once at his plot we found the two Zimbabweans whom Masters has hired to thatch his roof. He says that many Zimbabweans are multiskilled; they are all over Botswana these days, given the dreadful situation in Zimbabwe. These two live in Gabane and are doing the work for him on a job or piece basis as they do most of their work. In the background we could hear music and drums farther into the bush from an apostolic church. As on the farm in Namibia, Kuno was thrilled to run around and play with the insects and plants and sticks and bones. As it got darker it finally got cooler we could hear the clanging of the bells as the cows started coming home. We enjoyed a typical assortment of beef, kidneys (which even the kids enjoyed), chicken and sausage cooked over a ‘grill.’ Once we had finished eating and could hardly see anything anymore we headed back to Gaborone. There was a huge line of traffic headed in the same direction as the weekend and the Xmas holidays were coming to an end and people were heading home. Back in the hotel we could not get to sleep until the wee hours of the morning. We will have to start waking up at 7 in the morning and no naps during the day to finally get back on a regular schedule.