The lesser known face of Panda

The first is a legend told by the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) recruits. Their Panda sounded like a great adventure. We used to listen in equal measure of disgust and admiration to the gory and funny stories told by the fresh-out-of-war-school privates of how they were moulded into warriors. They told stories of rigorous exercises under the strict commands of merciless trainers. They even made us fear Panda.

The arduous BDF training that our uncles used to rave about when they returned to their home villages after surviving army training was our first memory of Panda.