A Visit from Namibia

We were very lucky this weekend to have a visit from family in Namibia: Jakes, Nawa, Mirjam, Daniel, Ndahafa, Megan, Avehee, Edison, and Tjiripo. It is such a long trip from Windhoek to Gaborone - 1090 kms to be exact! And one that we will be making soon in the opposite direction. They arrived about 2 am on Friday morning and left around 8 am this morning. So a very quick visit, but the only one possible with everyone's busy schedules. Mave and Kuno were especially happy to be able to play with their cousins; Kuno was very eager to know how to say this and how to say that in Otjiherero. We showed them as much of Gaborone as we were able to, including all of our malls - Riverwalk, Main Mall, African Mall, Borakanelo Market, Game City - and then some of the more historical sites like Government Enclave and the Three Dikgosi Monument, and our neighborhood, Thornhill School, Kgale Hill, University of Botswana and more. On Friday night some of the adults went to Ashoka Palace for dinner which was very nice. Early Saturday morning we did a game drive through the Gaborone Game Reserve where the attendant on duty was a Herero-speaking Mostwana, very anxious to talk about Namibia from where (of course) his family hails. We spent a lot of time trying to find just the right German Print fabric for a Herero dress, though in the end were not successful. In general, it was great just to visit and catch up on news!

Internet Cafes

Kuno thought that we should write about internet cafes. In some parts of town there is an internet cafe on almost every block, or so it seems. During our first month here, before we got wireless at home, we spent a few to several hours a week at our neighborhood internet cafe, Village Internet Cafe. It is a very busy place with about 10 computers, often all occupied; it also provides typing, printing, photocopying and other such services. It is also well stocked with school supplies and we have made emergency trips for those on several occasions. The staff are very friendly and we are always happy to see them again. These days, however, about the only time we go to an internet cafe is when Mave has ballet. Out there in Broadhurst Industrial Area internet cafes also abound; there is a small one just across the street and that is where Kuno and I go to pass the time. Kuno gets some game time and I just read. That one, with only four computers in a very small room, is usually pretty empty and I cannot figure how anyone is making any money. The going rate everywhere is about 10 pula (about $1.10) for an hour of internet/computer time.

Mave's Sleepovers

It seems like Mave has a sleepover every other weekend. Last weekend, following the disco at Thornhill, we even had a sleepover in our small flat! Here is Mave with some friends from Thornhill after a birthday sleepover at a friend's house. Not all the friends from the party are even in the picture......

Ditshwanelo Human Rights Film Festival

The Ditshwanelo Centre for Human Rights in Gaborone has been advocating on behalf of Batswana and others in the region for more than 15 years. It is directed by Alice Mogwe, a gender and human rights activist. For the past several years they have organized an annual human rights film festival. Last night Sethunya and I attended a Zimbabwe themed evening of films at the festival. The first, 'Shame of Musina,' exposed the disgraceful conditions at the Musina refugee camp in South Africa, just over the border from Zimbabwe. The South Africans, determined not to 'encourage' Zimbabweans to enter their country, refused to erect tents of any kind and barely provided water or sanitation facilities to the thousands in the camps. The conditions were unspeakable and in early March this year they shut down the camp - leaving the occupants stranded. The second and third films: 'Democray - Missing - Presumed Dead' and 'Death of a Nation' documented the beatings and killings of men, women and children in Zimbabwe, the burning of whole villages that had supported the MDC in the election, often times led by ZANU PF Members of Parliament, and the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy, infrastructure, living standards. People in the rural areas forced to eat berries and hacha, no clean water or medical supplies available and hence a cholera epidemic for a disease that can normally be prevented and treated. The last was a film version of a play that was staged in Gaborone last year: 'The People's Voice,' which addressed the plight of Zimbabweans in Botswana. The play pokes fun at the Botswana response to the influx of Zimbabweans with many more serious barbs. Here Zimbabweans have not been confined to camps but are dispersed throughout the country, with large concentrations in Francistown and Gaborone. They certainly face discrimination and fear being picked up and deported by the police.

One of the big points of the play was: Where is SADC? Where are Zimbabwe's neighbors to speak out on behalf of the battered people of Zimbabwe? This lack of response too has been maddening. Ian Khama has actually been more forthright on this issue than any other leader in the region. Remarkably, within 12 hours of the installation of Andry Rajoelina in Madagascar this week, SADC issued a statement condemning the action and threatening sanctions against the country. And yet the same leaders have not been able to respond to a much more urgent situation in a country that has seen the worst human rights abuses in years in the region.

One of the recent campaigns organized by Ditshwanelo was the Fight Cholera Campaign at Xmas time. At bus and train stations in Botswana, where Zimbabweans would be boarding to head home for the Xmas holiday, they made available 10 sachets per person containing tablets for cleaning water. One sachet cost 50 thebe (about five cents) and would purify 10 litres of water with the hope being that those returning home (and later back to Botswana) would have clean water available to them while there.

The National Archives

One of my favorite colleagues in the Department of Sociology is Sethunya. I heard that she was taking her research methods class to the National Archives for a tour, so I invited myself along. The National Archives, also in Government Enclave, operates under the motto: 'Preserving Our Past, Securing Our Future.' The emphasis from our guide was definitely on the more distant past. Indeed, there is a '20 year' rule which means that some more recent materials will not be available. All of the archivists whom we met were very welcoming and clearly dedicated to maintaining a record of Botswana's past and present. The students seemed very interested in the history of Botswana contained within the Archives walls. I look forward to working there in the weeks and months ahead.

Kuno on GABZ FM

Every morning on our 12 minute drive to school we listen to GABZ FM - to "the best breakfast show south of the Sahara" with Lebo and Gabriel. Every morning at that time the presenters ask a question, clearly aimed at young kids on their way to school. Well, this morning Kuno decided to call in to answer the question: Why is blue cheese blue? First, they gave a few wrong answers that had been sent in by SMS and then they played the conversation with Kuno, called in by mobile phone from the car. It was fun! Other questions that we have heard include: how many US states? What is the largest mountain range in Africa? What imaginary line runs through Botswana? Who built the Botswana rail line? The 'answer' to that question was Cecil John Rhodes though, as the presenters were quickly corrected in a text message, the real answer is: "The natives built the rail line!"

Postscript: It turns out - from all the friends at school who were also listening to GABZ FM in the morning - that it is totally uncool to call in with an answer to the question. It is hard being the new kids in town.....

Thamaga Pottery

We headed to Thamaga this Sunday, to visit Thamaga Pottery. Thamaga is about 40 km west of Gaborone on the road to Kanye. From Kanye one can pick up the Transkalahari Highway and head to Namibia, which we will do in May. Unfortunately, my least favorite though very common southern African driving conditions prevailed: a wet two lane road with a 120 km/hr speed limit which most drivers exceed, except for the 80 and 60 km speed limits when passing (frequently) through villages, an abundance of goats, cattle and stubborn donkeys on the side of the road as well as men on bicycles and other pedestrians, often women carrying loads on their heads or boys carrying firewood on their heads or in wheelbarrows, the occasional donkey cart (ok, the donkey cart was in Thamaga), heavily laden small, old white bakkie traveling 40 km/hr or huge lorry or bus traveling 130 km/hr, high grass along the roadside making visibility poor and hiding animals, and the odd cattle grille or pothole. Other than all of that, no problem.

We passed through a few villages on our way to Thamaga - Mogaditshane while still close to Gabs, then Kumakwane and Gabane. We had actually been out this way on the weekend of our Cultural Excursion and today saw the turnoff to the Livingstone Memorial in Kolobeng (which we have not visited) and the Baharutshe Cultural Village. To get to Thamaga Pottery one takes the first turnoff to Thamaga and then the first turnoff to Molepolole and it is about one km up on the right. In Thamaga people were streaming out of their churches, though in the one next to Thamaga Pottery the singing was still going strong. Thamaga Pottery has been in existence for nearly 40 years now. It employs about 20 villagers and is supervised by a village committee. A distinctive 'Thamaga' pottery style has developed and is known throughout Botswana and even other parts of the world. The shop is open daily 8 to 5 though the potters do not work on the weekends. We think the bowls, especially, will make lovely gifts!

The Morula Tree

One of the things I have just loved about my sabbatical is all of the reading I have been able to do, in particular Botswana history and politics. It has been fascinating to learn so much about another country in southern Africa, having spent so much time in the past on one, Namibia. I have been surprised, though should not have been, at how very different Botswana politics and history are. One of my special interests has been the formation and emergence of political parties in Botswana, as it is clear that they are a big part of the answer to my research question. I have been scouring books and articles looking for any references to women having been involved in this process. And (as I suspected), with one exception, I cannot find any. Parties emerged much later in Botswana than in the rest of Africa, including neighboring countries. Indeed there was not really much of the nationalist mobilization in Bechuanaland that there was in other territories. Certainly there were no liberation movements that resorted to armed struggle as in almost every one of Botswana's settler colony neighbors. [This would create enormous challenges for desperately poor and isolated Botswana at independence. With the later discovery of diamonds and the slow march to freedom in neighboring countries the situation would change, albeit haltingly.]

So what does that have to do with a morula tree? Well, the first significant political party to emerge in Botswana was the Bechuanaland [Botswana] People's Party in 1960 which attracted an early following especially along the 'line of rail' from Lobatse to Francistown. The BPP had a lot of external African support and southern African influence, having been started largely by miners and other workers returned from South Africa. It won three seats in the first parliament though eventually suffered the consequences of debilitating splits. The next significant party to emerge was the Bechuanaland [Botswana] Democratic Party in 1962 founded by, among others, Seretse Khama and Quett Masire, the northerner and southerner, 'chief' and 'commoner,' who would be Botswana's first president and vice president (and second president). The BDP had extensive rural support, important in the early years in Botswana, and won 28 of 31 seats in the first parliament. Indeed, it has been the 'ruling party' ever since, though with diminishing support in recent elections. The BDP held its first public meeting under this morula tree in Gaborone, nearby present day Government Enclave. The meeting was meant to be held in Mochudi but permission was denied by the chief. This is another striking difference between Botswana and neighboring countries: the continuing power and legitimacy of chiefs in Bechuanaland during the protectorate period. One of the goals of the BDP was to remove some of the chiefs' powers, preferably without them realizing it.

We know morula trees from Namibia, where they are common in the North. They also appear to be quite common in Botswana. There is a large one outside Kuno's classroom at Thornhill and he tells me that he regularly eats the still raw green fruits. They are routinely sold on the roadside and in the markets when they are much riper and yellow. The increasingly popular Amarula is made from morula fruits. So today, while Mave was working on her French project at a friend's house (she is a much more reluctant explorer), Kuno and I set out to find The Morula Tree. It is situated off of a busy road, between the high walls of the US Embassy and Debswana's Orapa House - would not be a good meeting place today! A sign in Setswana indicates that the morula tree is a national monument. The bus and train stations are just over the pedestrian bridge nearby so we took the opportunity to visit those as well. The stations provide the venue for a vast market where the usual foodstuffs and wares are sold and taxis and kombis to all destinations can be hired. Kuno and I tried the roasted maize that I have been eyeing for some time. This was one of my favorites on River Road in Nairobi as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kenya. Also in abundance - sweet reed, a lighter thinner sugar cane, that is available on the roadside all over town these days.

U9 Cricket Festival

Yesterday morning Kuno spent four hours in the hot sun at Westwood International School for an Under Nine Cricket Festival. His team played three others from Baobab, Acacia, and Broadhust. As I have mentioned, Kuno was disappointed that there was no soccer at Thornhill this term but decided to go ahead and try cricket. He is looking forward to soccer next term. On the sidelines the parents discussed current events - the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan and the death of Susan Tsvangarai in a car accident south of Harare. As one mom, Tidimalo, put it: "I smell a fish." Apparently the rumors are flying in Zimbabwe, and certainly here on GABZ FM they don't believe it was an 'accident.' The offending vehicle was an 'aid' lorry of some sort. Meanwhile, Morgan Tsvangarai, slightly injured, has come to Botswana to recover and come to terms.

No. 1 Ladies Opera House

Well, it seems like we cannot have been here for more than two months without making some reference to the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency! The books are in all the bookshops, including the latest one - The Miracle at Speedy Motors - just out in paperback. (Kuno has also found the latest in his favorite series by Alexander McCall Smith - Akimbo and the Baboons.) We were delighted to see, soon after we arrived, a sign for the No. 1 Ladies Opera House, a cafe and restaurant out by Kgale Siding. We were anxious to go there and enjoy a steaming mug of redbush (rooibos) tea, only to learn that it has recently closed! Not enough business, I was told by Rapelang at the nearby Botswana Society office. It is in an out of the way spot; I am sure if it were on the Main Mall or one of the other malls, it would have been a different story.

We have many connections to the books to report. For example, when she was assessed at Thornhill, Mave was reminded that Mma Ramotswe's foster daughter, Motholeli, 'goes' to Thornhill and indeed when they were making the TV series (or is it movie?) they did some filming at Thornhill! We have heard that an HBO series begins on March 29th (though, unfortunately, not here). Tlokweng Road is just around the corner from us; we cross it every time we go to Riverwalk. Mave is keen to drive down it and look for Speedy Motors. In fact, we have driven down Tlokweng Road to get to our security company offices and I think if we drove just a little bit farther we would find it! (I would have thought that Speedy Motors would be on Kubu Road in the Broadhurst Industrial Area, but I guess not.) The museum that we visited in Mochudi once housed a school, the one that Mma Ramotswe 'attended;' it is certainly true that the view from the nearby rocks overlooking the village is a peaceful one. I have been for tea at the President's Hotel in town; as refreshing as Precious describes it - and a great vantage point from which to observe all kinds of activity on the Main Mall below. We too admire the view of Kgale Hill on an almost daily basis and we have savored the ubiquitous pumpkin and butternut squash. We have located Zebra Drive near the Gaborone Sun and drive past it often. We would have no trouble agreeing with Mma Ramotswe that Botswana is certainly among the best countries in Africa in which to live! We see her and Mma Makutsi (and especially her shoes) many times over every time we venture out our door. (That said, we also see many much more 'hip' Batswana, who occupy themselves with somewhat weightier issues than those of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.) Still, the books are lots and lots of fun, even more so now that we are here and have experienced Botswana for some time!

Postscript: we have now watched 'the movie' which was shown on BBC about a year ago and which we believe to be the first installment in the series currently being shown in the US. While it is lots of fun to watch - and we have watched it a few times - we hope that no one thinks that this is life in Gaborone! There is a shopping center at Kgale Hill and much of the film seems to take place in 'Kgale' which is much more like a village outside of Gaborone, even those just a mile or so from our place. One friend Tshepo - who is an extra in the funeral scene - expressed disappointment that so few Batswana actors were used, instead South Africans and Nigerians etc; indeed she said even the food on the set was provided by South African companies. In her view, and we would concur, the characters also do not come across as Batswana that we know. Never mind that there are no rhinos in Mochudi and that the road from Mochudi to Gaborone has long been paved!!!!! But it is still fun for us to be reminded of Botswana. (We have none of the problems that others seem to have had - that the series does not portray all the problems of darkest Africa. That is what many people don't understand. That life goes on here as everywhere else. And that many places in Africa do not conform to all of those stereotypes.)

Khama Rhino Sanctuary

Again, because the kids had a four day weekend we decided to do some serious traveling this weekend - to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary just north of Serowe - up Sunday and back Monday. It is about a 360 km trip one way on mostly good roads (though only two lanes, one in each direction). I was a little anxious about making the trip alone with the kids in our relatively small car. But it went very well and I now feel ready to travel anywhere in Botswana. One drives straight north from Gaborone on the A1 to Francistown, through Mahalapye, to Palapye. Once in Palapye, one turns left onto the A14 to Serowe. Once through Serowe there is a right turn that leads to Paje (and on to Orapa) and the Rhino Sanctuary. It is completely unmarked until you actually get there. It is a more than 4,300 hectacre sanctuary begun in 1992 in order to provide a safe environment - from poachers - for the few remaining white and black rhinos in Botswana at the time (mostly in Chobe). So, initially a few white rhinos were translocated to the sanctuary and today the population of white rhinos is up to more than 40. There are also three black rhinos and the goal is to rebuild Botswana's black rhino population as well. The sanctuary is located in an area of Kalahari sandveld that is a former cattle post; it is centered around Serowe Pan, a large grass covered depression with several natural water holes. It is an ideal location for white rhinos and other grazing animals. (It is also located next to a large Botswana Defence Force base which provides protection to the sanctuary.)

We left home around 7 am and arrived around noon, including a couple of stops. [We did not stop, though should have, at the sign that said we were crossing the Tropic of Capricorn.] Once there, we settled into our very comfortable Chalet G and walked to the restaurant for lunch. At 3:30 we went back to the reception area for a 4 o'clock game drive with Vivian, our driver and guide. We had our best game drive yet, even though it got quite cool, overcast, windy and wet while we were out; luckily we had jackets along with us. The white rhinos are quite stunning; we saw many of them grazing in the pan area. We also saw some that we thought were black rhinos but they were just white ones that had rolled in the mud. In addition to the rhinos we saw zebras, red hartebeest, wildebeest, ostriches, warthogs, impala, kudus, brilliant gemsbok and a jackal. We saw lots of incredible birds including yellow billed hornbills and secretary birds. (Eland continue to elude us; they are the largest antelope followed by kudu and gemsbok, both of which we have seen.) This is definitely a place to which we would like to return!

We did not explore Serowe, home of the Ngwato royal family (Khamas), at all. I felt like I could see vestiges of the homesteads of the past, encircled by hedges, that gave a distinctive feel to what has been called Africa's largest village - with a population today of 90,000. On our next trip we will want to see the rest of Serowe including the Khama III Memorial Museum that also houses the Bessie Head papers and the summit of Thathaganyane Hill where Seretse Khama and other Khama family members are buried. Serowe is where Bessie Head eventually made her home. She wrote about it most notably in Serowe: Village of the Rain Wind.