In the sunshine and heat of Botswana, it is common to see people, especially women, walking with colorful umbrellas to block some of the sun's rays. This week I came out from under an umbrella because I finally have the magic research permit and am free to request visits to schools and interview people to my heart's content. On Tuesday I met with Jobe Kefaletse of the Ministry of Education and got a better feel for Social Studies education in Botswana. In Botswana, ten years of education are compulsory and school fees are required. The public school system consists of:
Visiting schools requires the research permit plus a letter of permission from the Ministry of Basic Education. This was procured on Thursday by walking 40 minutes to an office building on Main Mall and waiting in a very hot and stuffy hallway for an hour until a nice man perused my newly minted research permit and all of its accompanying forms and typed a letter for me on his laptop. The expected protocol is that you just show up at the school with the letter. Fortunately I have contact info for the teachers I met at the Social Studies meeting last week so I have connected with two of them to make arrangements for the coming week. UB will be on spring break, so no classes, and I can use the time to visit schools. On Friday afternoon I once again returned to the Gaborone Public Library for the SDGs seminar for kids sponsored by Banabakgwale Association. No seminar this week as Tebatso had some other pressing matters to work on, but I was able to meet his Banabakgwale partner Motheo and talk more about potentially connecting Batswana youth with U.S. youth to dialogue about sustainable development topics. They are planning a World ICT Day event in May at a Junior Secondary School in Tebatso's home village of Gabane and invited me to be a part of that event. Tebatso also formally introduced me to the Senior Librarian. I showed her the magic research permit, her demeanor flipped 180 degrees from skeptical to helpful and before you know it I was on the phone with her contact Samuel from the Botswana Youth Empowerment Projects setting up a phone conference next week. She and I also talked with Tebatso about a grant he is applying for to create an outdoor space for kids at the library and the possibility of connecting with the Botswana Book Project to add some new children's books on Sustainable Development Goal related topics. Lots of brainstorming at this point, so we shall see which plans come to fruition!
1 Comment
Gretchen Damon
5/5/2019 09:54:17 am
You deserve a nice smoothie bowl after all that bureaucracy chasing!
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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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