Botswana Time (2005) by Will Randall

Author:Will Randall
Format: epub
Published: 2005-06-07T16:00:00+00:00

8

Standard One

Now with my own accommodation and in possession of a regal set of wheels, I concentrated on my day-today activities at the school. Pleasingly, the children took little time in allowing me to settle in. Occasionally, one of the younger ones would look at me shyly, clearly wondering what on earth it was that I would get up to next. Initially, I was really an odd-jobber, teaching a lesson here, a lesson there, and organising a nature ramble or a reading class in order to allow my colleagues to complete their marking, prepare new lessons or simply have some time off.

“What I would really like is for you to try and open the older ones’ horizons a little. This is of course a fantastic place to grow up, but I would expect a number of them to be able to achieve grades here in Bots that will allow them eventually to head off and study abroad or down south (the recognised slang for South Africa). Maybe a few of them will end up going to the States or even the UK. That’s why it’s important for them to start getting to know now what their options are.”

Nodding, I agreed wholeheartedly. Wherever I had taught, either at home or abroad, it had been clear to me that the greater the understanding that my pupils had of the wider world, the greater chance they had to make important decisions for their futures – their options becoming that much broader. Those who, because of the constraints of their background or character, refused to look further than the end of the street, tended to remain there. Sometimes they were perfectly happy with their lot, but more often they were not. Frustration was born from the limited world that they inhabited and its stifling effects. Only through learning were they given the chance to dream. Too often they were not encouraged to do so.

The children here had the distinct advantage of having parents who were convinced of the importance of education. Once upon a time cattle-herding tribesmen had had little need for any formal instruction, and due to the isolated nature of their stations would have found it difficult to attend school on a regular basis anyway. Since independence, a sizeable percentage of the population had now drifted towards the capital, Gaborone, and the other towns of Francistown, Maun and Kasane, and were increasingly employed in jobs that required technical skills. Most of the parents of the children at the school were employed in white-collar jobs as bank officials, post-office administrators, businessmen and women. Some others were also employed in the other primary schools in town. Many had attended higher education either at the University of Botswana in Gaborone or further afield. As I had observed in other developing countries, their children recognised both how little their grandparents had had in the past and what prizes might be available for them in the future, so were determined to work hard, to succeed. What a difference that made to me.

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