I have three weeks left in my formal Fulbright DAT program and then will travel for three weeks in Botswana and South Africa. The first of the "lasts" are beginning. Friday was my last UB Demography of Botswana class. The professor assigned a paper for the students to work on for the last two weeks of the semester, so the class will not meet again. Wherever I go in Gabs, I'm thinking, "this may be the last time I'm here." Some pressure now to visit those last schools, interview those last people, write the Summary Report, create the lesson plans. And underneath it all, the ever-present pressures of just navigating everyday life. As Tess and I often discussed, it's not that easy to be a visiting scholar here. Lots of things that shouldn't be so difficult, are. This was a short work week due to the public holiday on Monday. I had one interview, with Chris of BW Jobs 4 Graduates. One key requirement for "harnessing the demographic dividend" is that Botswana's youth need to be gainfully employed. Botswana's youth unemployment rate is at least 25%. BW Jobs 4 Graduates started in 2012 as an online job board. Since that time they have expanded their offerings to include an annual job fair, weekly seminars for job seekers and practical services such as help with CVs, cover letters, interviews, etc. Before the interview I attended the weekly seminar. This week's theme was "How To Make It In The Hospitality Industry". Tourism is Botswana's second largest industry after diamonds. The two presenters (one female and one male, one older and one younger, one who came up through a formal management trainee system and one who started as a doorman), shared their stories and gave a lot of helpful advice. You don't necessarily need a degree in the industry. You don't have to wait for the perfect job. Take a job or a volunteer opportunity you can get, learn from it, find mentors, build your skills and confidence. Position yourself to walk through doors when they open. After applying five times, Chris was accepted into the Mandela Washington Fellowship program. He will spend six weeks at Appalachian State University in North Carolina this summer. On Thursday I returned to Nare Sereto Junior Secondary School in Gabane with Tebatso and his Banabakgwale Association colleague Prince to meet with Gloria, the ICT Teacher, to discuss plans for the World ICT Day event on May 10th. I was also able to introduce my 10-Question SDGs survey to the Social Studies class that will be participating. Research permit rules require that the learners have two signed consent forms before they can take the survey (one signed by parents, one signed by the learners themselves). The learners left school with the parental permission slips on Thursday. Fingers crossed. I'll be back at the school on Monday to check up on the survey.
The last day of my Demography of Botswana class was the best of the semester. We had a guest speaker from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning who provided a clear, concise, engaging overview of Botswana's population policy, termed the Revised Population Policy of 2010. This policy is one of the drivers of Botswana's economic development (including United Nations Sustainable Development Goal implementation), setting targets for population size and distribution, health, HIV/AIDS, vulnerable populations, housing, water and energy, food security, technology, resource protection and more. Friday was the inaugural celebration of World Book and Copyright Day at the Gaborone Public Library, so no SDGs seminar for kids, but a successful event for the library that was well attended. The day included a presentation of 5,000 children's books from the Botswana Book Project, affiliated with Minnesota's Books for Africa. These books will be distributed to libraries around the country.
1 Comment
Gretchen Damon
5/5/2019 10:21:45 am
I've looked at the website of Books for Africa as a possible service opportunity. I'll have to visit it again. I hope you got your permissions slip back. Always one or two stragglers here in the U.S. I don't know about Gabane.
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About MeA 9th grade AP Human Geography and Global Studies teacher at Stillwater Area High School in Stillwater, Minnesota, USA, living and learning in Gaborone, Botswana from January to June 2019 as a Fulbright Teacher. Archives
June 2019
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