Mothibi thrives in new role in Germany
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday January 28, 2023 06:00
She joined the organisation on a three-year contract last October. Speaking to Mmegi Sport this week, Mothibi told of her early difficulties in adjusting to life in western Europe.
She said when she wants to buy food, she bought according to colour. If it was black, she guessed it was coffee, if it was white meat, bird kind of, she guessed it was chicken.
The food packages were labelled in German, the people spoke German while she was not conversant in the language. Mothibi laughs it off when she narrates her early days in Frankfurt. After a short stay, she adopted to the new lifestyle.
“Right now the lifestyle does not feel different for me compared to Botswana. I did not struggle to adjust, maybe it is because I travelled extensively but I believe any Motswana can be able to stay here and get by,” she said. Mothibi said there is a lot of black community in Frankfurt where she is based, and she does not feel like an outsider and Germans are warm people.
Mothibi was the secretary-general (2014-2018) of the International Working Group on Women and Sport (IWG) and was the driving force behind the success of the 7th IWG World Conference, which was held in Gaborone in May 2018. She worked for the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) as a special projects officer.
She was later promoted to acting sport development manager, then games manager. Mothibi was seconded to the Region 5 Youth Games and served as deputy general manager. She left her employ at BNSC as games director. Mothibi would then enroll at Tsukuba International Academy of Sport (TIAS), a university in Japan. She pursued a Masters in Sport and Olympic studies, majoring in Sport for Development and Peace.
The travelled sport administrator said when Botswana hosted the IWG secretariat between 2014 and 2018, TAFISA partnered with the organisation. Mothibi said she was able to assist the association in connecting with Region 5 and the BNSC and the two organisations are now TAFISA affiliates. During that period, TAFISA started to spread its footprints in Africa.
Mothibi revealed that before being hired, TAFISA knew her potential but the post was advertised online. “TAFISA’s mandate is sport for all and physical activity and when I say it can benefit Botswana through innovative programmes that TAFISA has but also zoom into sport for all which is not big in our country,” she said. Mothibi said many Batswana are engaging a lot in physical activities, with running clubs and a lot of people running marathons for physical activity and fun.
She said with the work that they do at TAFISA, they can share that with Botswana so that they maximise on the benefits of health, physical literacy and education. “We can do that either through sharing more innovative ideas of physical activity or by structuring some of the programmes we already have,” she said. Germany has some sports that do not exist in Botswana such as floorball, table soccer, tchoukball, dodgeball, bossaball, camogie, circle rules football, amputee football, airport, airsport, corn hole Europe, Go federation, gliding, footvolley and flying disc. “Life is expensive here and I had to learn how to do things differently.
You in Botswana you drive to work, here we use trains to work. I am working on bringing my daughter to come stay with me in Frankfurt,” Mothibi said. She describes herself as a go-getter, risk taker and goes for anything that she wants to achieve.