looking forward to see the delta

time is running out. i am using my last days to run all the errands in town, i couldn’t until now. i meet some people of the youth dialogue era and the botswana society last week and today.

also, i meet a lady at the WCCC who just opened her own ngo: reunion center of reconsiliation. it works on re-integrating ex-prisoners in society by giving them working opportunity on farms and so on. she has been in prison herself and told us about how challenging her situation was after she got out and her whole family had turned her down.

actually, i meet a lot of people here who are very excited about giving me jobs;). but i doubt that either of them has any funds to pay. but i might go into funding myself, since i met quite a few people who would pay for a fundraiser from europe or america to keep their ngo running.

i am at a point, where i am just really looking forward to my future. i am so excited what it might bring.

also, right now, i am excited about finishing up in gaborone and leaving to the north. i will miss some people i met here… but still, i feel it is my time to travel. i wanna go places, now!

how the people of botswana decided to build an university

you know, before botswana became independent, yu could not find a single town in the whole region of nowadays botswana. actually, it only consisted of wide plains of desert and bush scattered with houses.

that has changed a bit since then. the biggest city till today is gaborone, the capitol, in the far south of the country. at the time of indepence in 1966 it was no more than a small village. until today, the city center is quite small and people would say, that it hasn’t lost its village character since then.

for the last 50 years, botswana has worked on independence in all areas you might think of. of of them is the area of education. at indenpendence, the country only had a hand full of schools and not a single university. so, the people decided to build their own university. it is nowadays located on a huge campus in the city center and it’s extending constantly. back in the days, everyone in the country contributed to building the university with their own wealth.

that means, that everyone would come a bring a cow or so to gaborone. cattle are actually one of the most valualbe things in botswana and having many cows will mean, that you are a rich man or woman. so, everyone would bring something of their valuables to contribute to build ub (the university of botswana).

the people realized, that education is your strongest weapon in your fight for independece. until today, the vision of ub is: education is a shield. it will defense you against any aggression.

people, keep empowering yourselves through education, they say.

thinking of Port Elizabeth

folks! quite a few of you might remember, that i used to study in port elizabeth/south africa some time ago. this entry is especially for those, who spend time with me, there… studying, partying, travelling, cooking, whatever…

here, in gaborone, it seems to me, that i meet port elizabeth on every corner i turn. i came across so many people allreadz who used to study in pe as well. we would end up charing experiences about living and studying there. actually, it looks like, that quite a lot batswana go to pe for their studies. well, it is a good university, though. probably one of the best in thewhole of southern africa.

pe-folks… i have been thinking about you. lets meet up at some point to chare old memories and spend some time together.

greetings out of the african summer.

martina