Xenophobia among Batswana must go now
Friday, March 20, 2015
Betrayal: The Three Chiefs monument in the CBD
I was reminded of this several months ago when a young Motswana professional male now in a major institution leadership role much younger than I who had just come back from a lengthy trip to America angrily told me to leave his office when I differed with him about something while at the same time almost yelling, “you are new here.” At the same time he loves everything American which is why per chance he overspent his time in MY country.
It made no difference to him that in yelling at me and ordering me out of his office that he was breaking a sacred Tswana norm regarding respecting your elders. Instead all he saw is that I was a foreigner and a black one at that which certainly exemplified his xenophobic behaviour much more than if I had white skin and blonde or sandy hair and of course the blue eyes. Of course, he would have calmed down and even smiled if I told him I would sponsor his next trip to the States so his wife or/and girlfriend and he could go on another spending spree with their American Express card(s).
The research presented at the recent Botswana Secondary School Teachers Union symposium should serve as a wake-up call to us all.We are so focused on coding, artificial intelligence, and the jobs of tomorrow that we are neglecting the basic safety and emotional well-being of the children sitting in our classrooms today.Statistics are deeply worrying. One study revealed that 34% of secondary school learners in Gaborone meet the criteria for a...