Khama III Memorial Museum takes off

| Tuesday October 14, 2014 08:00

 

Through the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation, U.S. Embassy will provide the museum with a grant of 78,000 dollars – or 710,000 Pula – to preserve numerous Khama Family manuscripts and Bessie Head’s literary collections, as well as make much needed structural repairs to the building that houses the archives and extend the library to create a reading room. 

These collections of documents are of valuable historical, cultural and literary significance, and by maintaining them, the museum can create a legacy to ensure future generations understand the post-colonial period in Botswana and the region. 

With the reading room and proper archiving, the historic documents will be more accessible, strengthening academic research, increasing tourism, creating jobs and helping diversify the economy. 

Funding for this project is part of a larger U.S. government program that supports the preservation of cultural sites, cultural objects, and forms of traditional cultural expression in more than 100 countries around the world. Since 2001, in Botswana the U.S. government has invested over 200,000 dollars – which is over 1.8 million Pula – in five different projects through the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. 

Projects have included the restoration of Old Palapye Church and the Preservation of San Artifacts in the Kuru Cultural Center in D’kar, training in the preservation of ancient rock art sites in Gaborone and at Tsodilo Hills, and last year, providing support to the National Museum’s leather conservation project to preserve almost 500 artefacts.