Dumelang Borra le Bomma

Gaborone as seen from iTower’s rooftop restaurant

Wow. I cannot believe I’m here in Africa but more specifically Botswana. It feels surreal.

I have dreamed of traveling to Africa for the past five years since I took my first African Studies course in my senior year of high school. But even before that, there was a yearning to learn about my ancestors and to understand Black people throughout the diaspora.

My plane from Johannesburg to Gaborone

Even so, the continent had always seemed so distant, so unlike anything I’d known. When I was younger, I was taught that it was a poor continent, rife with war and famine. I was taught through media that because it was different from Western civilization, Africa was something to look down upon or pity. A place worthy of charity or safari and nothing more.

But unlike what some may believe and even what I may have believed once upon a time, the continent is rich with beauty and charm and history unlike anything I could even dream. And while there may be infrastructure problems, the same can be said in parts of the United States.

Africa is certainly not a monolith though, so now, I will focus on the crux of my journey. I’m here, living and learning in Botswana for nine months. I get to immerse myself in the everyday life of the Batswana (the people of Botswana) and begin to understand the complexities of culture and colonization.

Gaborone’s Central Business District

After a 15-hour flight and a bumpy ride through a lightning storm, I arrived in Botswana. For the Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (ETA’s) in Botswana, there is a three-day orientation in Gaborone, the capital city. For that time, I stayed in a hotel with three other ETA’s and our mentor in the Central Business District (CBD). Having others with me these first few days was crucial because it meant that if any shortcomings or anxieties happened during the first three days, we would be there for each other, learning and growing as we went along.

As an American coming into Gaborone, I was immediately hit with a sense of culture shock, even though the city was similar to things I had seen in the United States. The first thing that I had to recover from was the accents. While almost everyone here speaks English beautifully because of British colonization, I was not used to the way that some locals spoke and had to ask many people to repeat themselves. Additionally, because everyone around me spoke Setswana when they were not talking to tourists, it was immediately clear that I was out of my element. But, Batswana are very patient, kind people. And for me and the other English Teaching Assistants throughout our orientation, that went a long way. The first and most important Setswana phrase that I learned prior to my arrival was Dumela mma/rra (or Dumelang for a group of people) which means hello ma’am/sir. Everyone greets people and asks them how they are. It is extremely rude not to, especially with elders. And I love this practice. It opens up the space for community and conversation.

A donkey sitting under a marula tree, known for its fruit which makes Amarula liquor

Beyond hello, learning other Setswana phrases like o tsogile jang/le kae (how are you?) or ke a leboga (thank you) were also a way to bridge the gap between me and a motswana (a person from Botswana). They were ecstatic that I was learning Setswana even when I clumsily fumbled my way through the words.

Beyond language learning, the first few days of my trip were spent meeting embassy and government officials, exploring, and eating lots of good food. We tried Pap, a porridge made with ground corn, ate Lebanese food, and even had some Nando’s outside the city.

Houses outside of Gaborone

House outside of Gaborone

Gaborone is like cities in the west, with skyscrapers and nightclubs, but I thought the best parts of the city were where the modern and the traditional met, whether this was through the architecture with ridged roofs and sandy building facades or the amapiano music (although you may have only heard of Tyla).

Rock painting of giraffes

One of my favorite parts of my time in Gaborone was not actually in the city, but in a historic village called Manyana. On the drive there, there were cows, goats, and donkeys roaming around and sometimes crossing streets. In Manyana itself, a tour guide showed us the rock paintings painted over two thousand years ago by the San people. Their spiritual leaders smoked herbs and then drew what they saw and then interpreted it to their people. It also has historical significance for the Bakwena, who used the rocks and caves during battle. We also saw Livingstone tree, a tree so old and heavy that it has split into two. The tree was where David Livingstone, a British missionary, would sit and teach the local people.

Livingstone tree

The deep cultural roots of the Batswana are what drew me to this place. But this experience has tested me in ways I would have never expected.

Cows on the road to Manyana

Could I be crazy for doing this? Living in a country virtually alone for 9 months? Maybe a little bit. But as I write this post while high in the sky on my way to Shakawe via a flight to Maun, I can confirm that this country and its people are transformative. There is a calmness and a beauty to life here that you cannot find in the U.S.

I will send more updates soon from Shakawe. Ke a leboja! Thank you for reading!

-H.M. Young