The Travaglinis and Gaborone�s Early Days :: Mmegi Online

With the 50th anniversary in mind, I wish, once again, to suggest that Gaborone in particular, and the government more generally, should somehow recognise the remarkable contribution that the two Travaglinis, Alberto and Alvaro, with wives, Anna and Antonia, made to the new capital, over such a long period, So, as far as this column is concerned, let me make a change, by using people’s recollections to give a flavour of life as it was in the earliest days of the new capital town.

Here is Luisa (Travaglini) recalling that, ‘Dad (Alberto) and Uncle (Alvaro) were the first to employ women on job sites.

I remember the women singing as they cleaned the windows and floors. A voice would come from one house and a chorus of voices would then join in from the other houses’. She added, ‘after a day’s work in the 1960’s Dad used to paint all the road signs at night by candlelight’ and then talked about the Wallop Shop. ‘The Wallop Shop was a sort of canteen - a recreation area where you could play darts, drink a beer and play bingo on a Friday night. It was built by Costain in their Camp:

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