This week had some reminders of the fragility and strength of both humans and animals. Gofa, Atamalang and Agang met me to talk about their efforts as members of Green Habitat Botswana to promote environmental education and resource protection and restoration. Green Habitat Botswana has about 20 active members, all young professionals, from a variety of career fields. They partner with primary and secondary schools on litter picking and tree planting campaigns and share conservation info through social media. This year’s goal is to plant 3000 trees. We talked about Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Her autobiography, Unbowed, details her work not only to plant trees, but to work for gender equality, democracy and peace. When I first met UB Population Studies Chair Dr. Rakgoasi, he mentioned that a member of the department was very ill with cancer. As it turns out, Dr. Bainame was a key contributor to the report that forms the foundation of my research and had previously been the instructor of the course I am auditing, Demography of Botswana. Dr. Bainame passed away this week. The love and respect that his family, colleagues and students had for him overflowed at his UB memorial service. The service alternated between spontaneous hymns sung a capella in Setswana and moving testimonies. Poignant for me were the words of a PhD student, Moses, whom Dr. Bainame had mentored through his work on three degrees at the university. I first met Moses at a department meeting convened for the purpose of planning the memorial. Moses was not sure he would be capable of speaking at the service, as he was so emotionally devastated. Dr. Rakgoasi encouraged him softly, saying, “It is o.k. to cry. We are human. We cry when we are sad, and we cry when we are happy.” Somehow in the next 24 hours Moses found the strength to speak, and to speak in a way that had everyone wiping their eyes. We learned that he is South Sudanese and has endured the horrific deaths of family members and friends through years of conflict there. He said he had never cried tears over those losses. His eyes had remained dry. His tears flowed for three days for Dr. Bainame. For me it was a touching convergence of my experiences with South Sudanese Lost Boys and this current reality in Botswana. Friday I met several of the other Americans who are here in Botswana on various Fulbright programs at a dinner party at the home of a U.S. Embassy staff member and her husband, who works in international development. The group included college professors, post graduate students and a former Fulbrighter who originally came to Botswana five years ago and stayed on, co-founding the NGO Young 1Love. I discovered Young 1Love in 2015 when I read the article What Botswana's Teen Girls Learn in 'Sugar Daddy' Class. It was a fun night of conversation about the ins and outs of Bots and lots of good Mexican food.
I spent Saturday with Andy from Heritage Adventures exploring some rural areas and villages around Gaborone. Our stops included the Matsieng Footprints, the village and kgotla of Mochudi and the Manyana Rock Paintings. As the legend goes, Matsieng, ancestor of the Batswana, was a one-legged giant who emerged from a hole in the ground leaving a hand and footprint. He was followed by his children and animals. The hours in the car with Andy provided lots of time to talk about his experiences building a small business, Botswana's rural-urban divide and history, culture and social norms. In both the rural and urban areas of Botswana, one sees lots of cows (and goats and donkeys) on the side of the road and in the road. The animals present a real hazard to drivers, especially at night. The owners of the cattle bear the legal responsibility for their meandering. If you hit a cow with your car, the owner has to pay you for the cost of repairs to your car. As we pulled in to the Matsieng Footprints, a cow crossed the road slowly in front of us. As she passed, we were startled to see the head and face of a stillborn calf, hanging from the back of her body. The mother and the baby, one still strong and one so fragile.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
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
Categories |