Albert Welfing and the shaping of Maun

It was 1983 when the then 30-year-old Dutch man, Welfing left his mother's back yard for the unknown Botswana. 
On the night of May 1983, the weary Dutch man alighted from a bus into the dark bushy space that was Maun - carrying only his suitcase. He spent a few nights in one of the roundavel huts that constituted Riley's Hotel. Today, Welfing says he cannot even recall the location where he dropped off the bus. Maun has changed since he set his foot in it 28-years ago.

Welfing is an architect, building engineer, state agent, valuer and the director of the architectural firm Agora Architecture that he established in Maun in 1986. His company has been responsible for designs, supervision and management of projects in Maun and as far as Ghanzi, Kasane and Francistown. When this newspaper visited the architect he was designing a shopping mall for a client in Mahalapye.