Botswana - January 2007

So I was in Mozambique and South Africa and it was very nice to be in countries where the food is good, the people are welcoming and xenophobia isn’t rampant…all unlike Botswana.

In Mozambique, we meet Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) from Zambia, South Africa and Mozam. It was interesting to hear and compare experiences and the unanimous conclusion was or is that we, Botswana PCVs, have not had a typical PCV experience. Unlike the other PCVs, we have not made friends with the locals and we, as a whole, are not accepted or even wanted in most communities here. There is a vast difference and “cultural” divide between western-educated government officials and the communities here. We have 3 main areas of work here: Community Capacity Building (CCBs), NGOs, and District AIDS Coordinators (DACs). We were 41 at the start and now we are 30, with the mayority of NGOs gone. The main reason being that their communities did not want them.

The main cultural challenges here are Xenophobia and Laziness. I speculate the reason for the former is that Bostwana is one of the few Southern African countries not to be “colonized” though it was a British protectorate. And I understand their xenophobia as the countries surrounding them continue to deal with poverty and injustice, issues not widely present.

The laziness is not laziness per say but it’s their cultural lifestyle that breeds a very laid-back mentality. People are given or entitled to land, education, and health; all free and equaling no worries among the people.

There is a lot of money here. The GDP for 1.8 million Batswana is similar to Mexico’s GDP and Mexico has a lot more people. And Mexico is a lot more infrastructurally and economically developed. But the main issue here has been trying to get people out of their farms and comfortable and fairly independent lifestyles to work for diamond-money Batswana. Here’s my opinion:

40 yrs ago Botswana found diamonds. These diamonds are controlled by few Batswana (40 yrs ago Botswana owned 75% of diamond profits, the other 25% by South Africa; now it’s 50-50) but these new and few rich don’t or can’t exploit these diamond-rich lands alone so they try to recruit locals. How do you recruit farmers from the comfortable and independent lifestyles to want to give this up and work for someone else? It’s like dangling a carrot in front of a rabbit.

Right now villages are being flooded with china and indian shops that sell anything and almost everything dirt cheap; from clothes, bikes, TVs, cellphones, to DVD players. The Indians have mainly the supermarkets, fast-food shops, and small industries like construction.

Now villages see and are enticed by these material things. So they observe that you need money to buy these things that they don’t need but want, and presently are doing everything possible to do this. And being that I’m foreign (foreigners have money you know), I receive a couple of villagers a month at my doorstep asking for work so they can make money and go to the china shops.

So this is the Batswana struggle in my eyes. The rich western-educated politicians here trying to get their people to become dependent (like slaves) so that they will eventually become a westernized-type country where people are dependent on “others” for almost everything (food, clothes, health, wellbeing) while those few “others” make millions providing these things…Capitalism. The younger generations are pretty much following suit but they are few and live in the larger towns or small cities and these are few also.

So for me, in the beginning, it’s was a bit difficult battling the culture that was instilled in me and trying to work with people who don’t understand or even want what I am supposedly here trying to promote; “western values and culture” though they want at the same time the cool cellphones or other gadgets. Intelligently, when I think about it, pop culture, cool gadgets and capitalism is being very well-marketed from the US.
The US is the melting pot, as we all know, and that’s its key because if you can create a lifestyle and products that appeal to the melting pot (Africans, Asians, Europeans, Latinamericans), you know or there is a very high probability that it will appeal to the world…the “laziness” and “xenophobia” are highly understood.

OH! And 2 new things about me since being here:

1. I Love spicy food now!! I’m putting Cayenne Pepper on eveything! Though not a big fan, as of yet, of the liquid spices. Now I’m discovering the different spices like the ones that target the throat, the tongue, the sinuses, and the esophogous…I’m fascinated! The lack of spices and variety of food here were the main cause.

2. I wear sandals and flip-flops, but nice ones, cause closed shoes in 90 plus degree weather for long periods is not cool or comfortable. So I now feel comfortable (for the 1^st time) wearing NICE flip-flops with kakis or pants and I just got a pair of Chacos!