Botswana's never ending summer continues, with hot sun, little rain and temps in the 90's. Batswana are constantly talking about the hot, dry weather and the impacts of climate change they are experiencing now. Botswana is an arid country with an agricultural sector dependent on cattle grazing and sorghum and maize crops. Cattle can't find enough grass to eat and farmers can't plant crops in dust. Meanwhile, neighboring Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe are reeling from the storm surge and flooding wrought by Cyclone Idai.
This week I visited a private school, Westwood International. Westwood is an International Baccalaureate (IB) school that includes both primary and secondary grades. I was welcomed by the Secondary Principal and spent time in four Geography classes, two with high school aged students and two with middle school aged students. Lesson topics included economic flows, extreme environments, map reading and biomes. Westwood is similar in many ways to Maru-a-pula that I visited last week. The high school level Geography teacher supplements her curriculum with some of the same online resources that we use in Stillwater. On Thursday I interviewed Andrea Malenya of the Botswana Book Project, which is affiliated with Books for Africa. We talked about the possibility of the Gaborone Public Library tapping into their book donation system as the children's library only has four shelving units of books, most of which are old and Eurocentric. I shared her business card with the librarians and they plan on arranging a meeting. I also headed outside of Gabs to Gabane to visit Nare Sereto Junior Secondary School with Tebatso of Banabakgwale Association. They have "adopted" the school and help with an ICT Club after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We met with the ICT teacher Gloria and the ICT Club and discussed plans for me to possibly conduct a survey with the learners and help organize a virtual exchange with Stillwater as part of their World ICT Day event in May. Interestingly, their computer lab currently has NO COMPUTERS in it as it is being used as a teacher work room during renovations. Friday included a sort of scavenger hunt around Gabs to find the correct offices of the Department of Immigration and Citizen Services to either procure a residence permit waiver, a residence permit or an extension of my tourist visa. I was able to get my tourist visa extended by 30 days but will need to return in a few weeks with more letters and documents in hand to secure permission for my remaining time in country.
1 Comment
Gretchen Damon
5/5/2019 10:00:59 am
Yummy looking birthday cake. I bet you have a special folder/envelope for ALL those important documents. Wow!
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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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