Wireless troubles again…I'll have to go get my laptop checked out during first break tomorrow.
Written Monday, 26 May:
This afternoon, SPEs (Service, Physicals, and Enrichments) began. My first project, not counting Camphill on Saturday, was Naledi (Nah-lady) Feeding. With a list of sixteen names and corresponding amounts of sorghum, soap, sugar, and tea, we embarked on an hour-long, winding drive through Old Naledi, the poorest section of Gaborone. I flashed back to Chincha, Peru – the classic "third-world", poverty-stricken community. Children ran around half-clothed, and as we turned away from a shiny, silver Toyota dealership onto a dirt road leading into the borough, the contrast was striking and unbelievable. We slowly drove around to different drop-off points, and I wondered why the families we were helping were chosen. Most everyone seemed in need. I told myself not to complain about the cold showers or lack of toilet paper in the boarding house – at least we have a bathroom with running water – but I knew it was an empty promise. However, I am eager to return next week, and to start working on some on-campus projects: fundraising, so that we can deliver heads of cabbage as well, and a letter to the city's private hospital, requesting a wheelchair for one woman to whom we deliver food.
But despite the sad conditions of this area of Gaborone, Botswana is a lot better off than the surrounding countries. "This teacher is like a dictator...She could be Mugabe," students say, subtly commenting on the situation in Zimbabwe. "I cringe at the thought of having to go to South Africa…My friend who lives there says that you have to expect to be held up at a dinner party," Batswana (people who were born in Botswana) say about their southern neighbor, the appalling crime now joined horrifically by the xenophobic attacks. And the pioneering first president of Botswana, Seretse Khama, worked tirelessly for the freedom of neighboring countries and strove to end apartheid.
Botswana's current president also is working for the freedom of the people of other African countries. According to one woman I spoke with, a certain brotherhood exists among the leaders of southern African nations. Now, unity can be a good thing, but, as this lady described, when a leader refuses to condemn tyranny or violence in a country simply because the leader of that country is black, the brotherhood becomes damaging. The current Botswana president, Ian Khama, assumed his position on 1 April 2008. Immediately, he condemned Mugabe in Zimbabwe for the terrible economic situation of the country (the hyperinflation decimating peoples' lives) and for the dire elections. "To have elections and keep the results secret indefinitely is horrible," said one woman. A run-off has currently been scheduled for 27 June. Khama also offered the opposition leader, Mr. Tsvanagarai, sanctuary in Botswana, a haven from the death threats and possible foul play by Mugabe that could occur in Zimbabwe.
Botswana: the epitome of the combination of the good and the bad.
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