Food and Craft – Discovering Botswana

Dumela (hello in Setswana)!

On Tuesday we had an action packed day full of good food, dancing, and exploring the city. We started the day off by finishing up orientation and making sure all the students were comfortable and happy!

After orientation local staff took us to a venue called “Food & Craft”. It is a new restaurant and catering venue that opened a few weeks ago. When we arrived we were greeted by Busisiwe, a young, local, women, who opened “Food & Craft” as a way to help reduce the local unemployment of youth in the area. In Botswana, the unemployment rate for youth (20-30 year old's) is very high. Local staff picked “Food & Craft” so that we would have an authentic experience, but also support a local organization that is raising awareness, for a good cause, in the community. The food was traditional food with a modern spin to it. Everyone loved it and ate until their heart was content.

Once we were done eating we had the pleasure of enjoying a dance group who specializes in traditional Setswana dancing! We were able to watch them break it down and we were able to join in and learn some of their moves. The dance group works hard to perfect their routines and perform throughout Gaborone, so that they can preserve the traditional dance culture in their community. We were having so much fun that we had a very hard time leaving to go to our next activity.

[VIDEO::https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNsN4hMwnaw&feature=youtu.be]

We wished our new friends farewell and headed off to meet our host siblings and University student volunteers. The local staff set up an amazing race for us within the city of Gaborone. We were given clues and led throughout the city for an epic scavenger hunt. It was an exciting way for us to really get to know the city and experience the different historic landmarks and markets. Everyone was able to stop and try a mopane worm for the first time. The flavor was described by some of the students as tasting like grass and sunflower seeds! Despite their name, Mopane worms are a large caterpillar, that are found throughout most of Southern Africa. Personally, the mopane worms made me think of days, when I was a little girl, riding 4wheelers through my farm when grasshoppers and seeds would accidentally fly into my mouth, but they weren't too bad. Haha. Here is what some of our students thought about the mopane worm:

“Very salty and weirdly crunchy” -Karla

“Tasted like a sunflower seed at first but then you taste the inside of the bug... tasted like bug.” -Rikesh

“Okay at first... if you don't think about it, it taste fine.” -Haley

After eating the worms we ran to the Botswana Square. There, stands a trio of massive bronze statues, known as the Three Dikgosi. The three men were chiefs named Sebele I, Bathoen I, and Khama III. They play a huge role in the history of Botswana, because in 1885 they traveled to Britain to ask the Queen to put Botswana (not yet named Botswanna, but called the Bechuanaland Protectorate) under control of the Queen. She said yes, and because they were controlled by the crown, it kept the country from being included in the South African apartheid. From there, everyone raced to the finish line in the hopes of being the winner. Here is what some of the students had to say about the amazing race – Botswana:

“It was awesome because I really got to explore Botswana” -Regina

“It was really fun to see the main mall area and I really enjoyed learning about the history of Botswana” -Tate

All the students are doing amazing, and I am constantly impressed by the positive and excited vibes that never falter throughout our little CIEE family. Stay tuned to hear about our next adventure!