Botswana, Gaborone

GABORONEcc Forget Professional Development! Opportunity knocked for a free trip to Botswana and I eagerly opened the door.c I volunteered to give a cartooning workshop that was a no fear, no pressure, and certainly no problem, presentation called NO FEAR CARTOONING.

In between conferences, I walked Gaborone in the heat of the day.c I didn't learn the population of the capital but it was sparse.c Everything was new and there was so much open space. c It would get worse before it got better.c One third of the population was HIV positive.c I kept counting every three people as I walked through the town.c A lot of tragedy was yet to come.

A local art teacher took me along with two teachers from Zimbabwe to a basket/crafts shop.c I thought I might get one basket.c Well, I got caught up with the others with no regrets.c There were two kinds of baskets - Botswana and Zulu.c The Zulu were more expensive but none of them were cheap.c When one of the teachers passed over an amazing basket - at an amazing $100 - I snatched it up.c I figured I could afford it since the school paid fifteen times that to send me to the conference.c And, I wasn't done shopping.c There were two more baskets just screaming for me to take them home.c

Copyright 2001 by Phillip Martin All rights reserved.	World	Botswana	E-mail

Downtown Gaborone I didn't buy all of them		GABORONEcc Forget Professional Development! Opportunity knocked for a free trip to Botswana and I eagerly opened the door.c I volunteered to give a cartooning workshop that was a no fear, no pressure, and certainly no problem, presentation called NO FEAR CARTOONING. In between conferences, I walked Gaborone in the heat of the day.c I didn't learn the population of the capital but it was sparse.c Everything was new and there was so much open space. c It would get worse before it got better.c One third of the population was HIV positive.c I kept counting every three people as I walked through the town.c A lot of tragedy was yet to come. A local art teacher took me along with two teachers from Zimbabwe to a basket/crafts shop.c I thought I might get one basket.c Well, I got caught up with the others with no regrets.c There were two kinds of baskets - Botswana and Zulu.c The Zulu were more expensive but none of them were cheap.c When one of the teachers passed over an amazing basket - at an amazing $100 - I snatched it up.c I figured I could afford it since the school paid fifteen times that to send me to the conference.c And, I wasn't done shopping.c There were two more baskets just screaming for me to take them home.c