[This post was initially written in early October last year but I have continually been making additions since then, and recent events have once again made this topic relevant to my life in Shakawe.]
Though this will never be a complete process as I will always be an outsider, I am coming to gain a greater understanding of the people and their culture. In short, the people of Botswana are very friendly and open to sharing their culture.
In an earlier post from September, I had said that I do not always know the intentions of people when they talk to us, and I spent a lot of time being rather skeptical of anyone I met. While I still can't speak for everyone, I now understand the friendliness of the people here. It isn't exactly challenging to remember two young white girls ("lekgoa") who always walk through town, but many people to whom we have now been introduced say they recognize us from seeing us in town or they have heard about us and they know where we work, and seem interested in getting to know us - whether it is the friend of our supervisor, the employees at the grocery store, a police officer who gave us a ride one day, the lady working at the library who taught us some Setswana when we walked by her every morning, the geologists at the mining camp that we always walk by, and an assortment of children, friends of friends, shop owners, and other kind strangers.
Though this will never be a complete process as I will always be an outsider, I am coming to gain a greater understanding of the people and their culture. In short, the people of Botswana are very friendly and open to sharing their culture.
In an earlier post from September, I had said that I do not always know the intentions of people when they talk to us, and I spent a lot of time being rather skeptical of anyone I met. While I still can't speak for everyone, I now understand the friendliness of the people here. It isn't exactly challenging to remember two young white girls ("lekgoa") who always walk through town, but many people to whom we have now been introduced say they recognize us from seeing us in town or they have heard about us and they know where we work, and seem interested in getting to know us - whether it is the friend of our supervisor, the employees at the grocery store, a police officer who gave us a ride one day, the lady working at the library who taught us some Setswana when we walked by her every morning, the geologists at the mining camp that we always walk by, and an assortment of children, friends of friends, shop owners, and other kind strangers.
In particular in the first two weeks since coming back to Shakawe, we ran into people we had met once or twice before, either randomly on the street or through someone else that we knew, and they all asked if we remembered them. Once getting past the awkwardness of us realizing we had forgotten their names or didn't actually remember them, I have come to appreciate the intentions of all these people and we now have a growing group of local friends. Most of the people that actually stop to have a conversation with us are genuinely interested in getting to know us, it's just a matter of me remembering to look around as I walk and not staying in my own little world. After meeting someone once in Botswana, they consider you to be their friend, and it is a nice feeling to have people excited about seeing you a second time. The friendliness of Shakawe specifically extends even beyond the town itself. In my travels around Botswana, many people I have met have high praise for Shakawe or are even from here, and there is some sort of instant connection and sense of pride of being associated with this small and humble town.
The people are very open to sharing their culture with us. A perfect example of this welcoming culture is the celebrations that were in Shakawe on Botswana's Independence Day back in September. Everyone wanted us to sit down to watch, offering their chairs to us. The second time we walked past one of the tents, a lady came out and greeted us warmly, then before we could say anything she proceeded to usher us into the tent, swiftly pinning a little "VIP" tag on our shirts, then rearranging chairs and people in order to get us two seats near each other. I still don’t know why I was considered a VIP because really I am no one special, but twice I have been at a VIP table and felt very awkward about it. However, I have realized this should not be the case - even though there are VIP tables, there does not seem to be any stigma with it, and no one even batted an eyelash or questioned me being there, except myself. Without asking for it, we even got a play-by-play translation and interpretation of the performances and speakers from some important-looking man sitting in front of us. Later in the ceremony, one of the speakers seemed to be introducing some of the VIPs, and though most of what was said was in Setswana, I understood the part where the speaker welcomed his "friends from America"…and I realized he probably was referring to Bailey and me. Despite the inaccuracies, as I'm guessing he was referring to the US and he had not even asked us where we were from but had assumed, I still appreciated the hospitable gesture. |
In other instances, we have seen that everyone is proud of their culture. People get very excited and literally flock together to watch the traditional dance groups perform, with loud cheering and audience participation in the dances. We are always asked or told to take pictures of the performances and to show them to people back home to tell them all about Botswana. At first I found this a bit strange, almost like they are exploiting their culture, and seeing local dance groups perform traditional "African" dances at both tourist and local events made me think about the stereotypes that many people have about "Africa" and how they are perpetuated.
I now understand the VIP scenario: at community events there is always a centre tent or a centre table, usually white, reserved for VIPs. A lot of the culture revolves around the processes, procedures, formalities and appearances. We have seen this at every single community event we have attended in Shakawe and the surrounding communities, everything from a nursery school graduation ceremony to a tree planting day to a mobile clinic launch event. In addition to the VIP tent, there are always other tents set up with chairs underneath for people to sit in the shade. There is an MC, guest speakers, and often a DJ. There is always local entertainment. There is always transport arranged to ensure people can get to the event. Regardless of your social or economic status, everything is catered and you are served food. Cold bottled water is distributed throughout the event. Every meeting and event has an opening and closing prayer.
It is not so much about the actual event itself, but the process of planning and carrying it out, and the symbolism of the communal nature of it all. Everyone works and shares and celebrates together. This collectivist mentality also transcends into the way in which development is done (or not done) in Botswana…more to come about this in a future blog post. And one could also say this is a reflection of Botswana's history, where the ways of the Tswana people revolved around collective decision making, consultation and compromise, with participative community kgotla meetings to resolve disputes or make decisions that pertain to the village. These values still exist in villages today and their influence can even be seen in Botswana's modern-day democratic government.
And finally, the Batswana appreciate when you make efforts to integrate into the local culture. Key examples - my attempts at speaking Setswana, introducing myself with my Setswana name (this always gets a great reaction), helping cook for one of the aforementioned community events, and the time I went to a local church service. Pulling out my Botswana residency permit when I enter back into Botswana always warrants a smile from immigration officers, sparks conversation (partly in Setswana), and once even ended in a marriage proposal (joking or serious, I am never too sure).
Living in a small town like Shakawe has given me a better understanding of the people and what brings them together as a community. At first I thought that there was a severe lack of community or cultural events, but how wrong I was.
My next mission is to join the choir that I see practicing just outside my house most nights of the week..I can only imagine their excitement!
Living in a small town like Shakawe has given me a better understanding of the people and what brings them together as a community. At first I thought that there was a severe lack of community or cultural events, but how wrong I was.
My next mission is to join the choir that I see practicing just outside my house most nights of the week..I can only imagine their excitement!