Back to Mama Africa, and this time we stop in Botswana in Southern Africa. It is a great and immensely interesting stop. Not only do we get to make and eat wonderful food with wonderful people, there is also so much to learn about Botswana. The stop includes finding out about the love story that changed the course of history which is lesser known than Edward and Wallis, however similarly changed the course of history, even if in a smaller scale. We learn about the Okavango River and delta. I read skilfully written books about alienation, racism and the AIDS epidemic by Bessie Head and Unity Dow. We also learn that Botswana has the 4^th highest prevalence of HIV in the world (down from first place in 2000), a booming economy, is home to Kalahari Desert (70% of Botswana) and has the fourth largest gross national income capital in Africa.

Seswaa, pap and good drinks

The Botswanan night gathers eleven seasoned Virtual Nomads and two delightful newbies who travel across the city for their Virtual Nomad inauguration. Our friends CÖ and MJ bring Botswanan flat bread. They have been preparing for the night by first watching a video about how Botswanan women prepare the bread and then learning some words in Setswana. (Botswana has three official languages: English, Setswana and Kalanga.) This is an impressive way to enter the Virtual Nomad community and we welcome them wholeheartedly. It is a wonderful night, as always, and we eat great food, drink some wine (we tried to get beer from Botswana but failed) and listen to upbeat, energetic Botswanan music. 

AK has prepared the main dish which is Seswaa, the national dish of Botswana. It is served with Pap which is a bit like funge (see Angolan entry and my absolutely disastrous funge). Pap feels a bit like something in between porridge and very soft rice. Seswaa, I heard, is delicious and meaty J. Seswaa is made of beef (our case) or goat meat. The dish is called Seswaa in the north of Botswana and actually Ioswao in the south. It is a dish that is served in celebratory events (weddings, funerals, etc.) and basically is comprised of meat, water and salt. The dish is not supposed to be prepared with anything else and adding for example vegetables would be considered an infringement. We prepare pap to accompany the meat, and AK and I manage to make it miles better than my intention with the Angolan funge.

JK has prepared Botswanan chicken pies. He prepares the pastry himself, and the filling is made up of chicken, onion, chicken and spices. This is the most popular dish of the night and even A (10) manages to eat two, and would have eaten more if we let him. The pies are eaten warm, and are quite filling with all the pastry and rich ingredients.

I bring Morogo: a colourful vegetarian dish. Also known as moroho, it is a dish made with at least three different green leafy vegetables. Morogo is also the name of an African spinach, but unfortunately we do not have access to it now, so I use normal spinach instead. Morogo is a common vegetable consumed in rural communities in Botswana, and also in other Southern African countries. The dish itself consists of morogo/spinach and tomatoes steamed together with onion and oil.

I also bring Botswanan lephutsi with cinnamon that then morphs into “pumpkin stuff” as the form of our lephutsi does not really maintain the form it is supposed to have. Unlike ours, typically lephustsi would be squared pumpkin pieces quickly boiled together with cinnamon, then slightly fried with sugar. I over-boil them, so the pumpkins do not maintain their form, rather becoming a pumpkin ‘mush’. Nevertheless, the lephutsi is delicious and goes very well with the rest of the Botswana dinner.

As the icing on the Botswanan-menu cake, FK (14) prepares Botswanan donuts that are warm, squishy and soft. A (10) and L (17) demand more donuts than there is batter for, and so the donuts are a total success.

Seretse and Ruth – the love story of the century

Botswana translates to ‘home of the Tswana people’ (in Setswana). It was home to different Bantu hunter-gatherer tribes that carried out commerce throughout the region. The current Botswana population is estimated to be made up of 79% Tswana and 11% Kalanga people, both groups belonging to the Bantu linguistic family. The Livingstone guy (David Livingstone, the first European to cross the continent from West to East) arrived in the 1810s and convinced Chief Sechele I to convert his people into Christian faith. Known as Bechuanaland, Botswana became a protectorate of the United Kingdom – meaning namely independent and governed by a Chief, however having external affairs controlled by the United Kingdom. The Brits were very interested in the shiny rocks and other natural richnesses found there, but the Chiefs resisted, and Botswana never officially became a colony of the UK.

One of the most fascinating parts of the recent history of Botswana is the story of Chief Seretse Khama and his wife Ruth. Seretse was studying in England while his uncle was holding the vessel in Botswana for his nephew to come and claim the throne. He fell in love with a white English rose Ruth and they were married in 1948. The marriage was not favoured by anyone– not the Apartheid-policed South Africa (from where many administrative issues of Botswana were managed, and the relationship with South Africa was, of course, controlled by Britain), nor the mighty English who wanted to keep South Africa happy, and collect diamonds in Botswana, nor Ruth’s British family, nor Seretse’s uncle nor (initially) the people of Botswana who were not happy with a white queen. The lovers, happily married, returned to Botswana but Seretse was then forced to exile in England. He was first ‘sentenced’ to exile for five years but later for life by Winston Churchill, who had promised him freedom. Seretse renounced the crown, returned to Botswana with Ruth and founded the Botswana Democratic Party. When Botswana became independent in 1966, Seretse became the country’s first democratically elected president. His economic and social policy lifted Botswana from one of the poorest countries in the world to the country with the strongest economic growth in the world during 1970-80. He accomplished many social advancement milestones including founding Botswana’s first university. While still President, in 1980, Seretse died, and later his and Ruth’s son became Botswana’s fourth president. The current President Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi (since 2018) represents the same political party as all the previous presidents (BDP).

The life of an immigrant and the unwanted – and the impact of the AIDS epidemic

Even if considered one of Botswana’s most prolific authors, Bessie Head was born in South Africa. Born to a white mother and black father, her mother was locked in an asylum around Bessie’s birth and was considered schizophrenic as she had been in a relationship with a black man (which was forbidden in South Africa according to the delightfully named Immorality Act). Bessie’s mother’s family rejected a ‘coloured’ child as interracial relationships were illegal, and her mother, also named Bessie, had to give up her child, only being able to leave her child her own name. Bessie, the child, was then given to white foster parents who thought she was white, but then returned the child when they realised she was not. A poor ‘coloured’ family took her in and raised her as their own. It was not until her foster father died, and she was sent to a catholic boarding school, that she heard about her origins, and her white mother. Bessie was not allowed to return to the woman she had thought was her mother and instead experienced unbelievably harsh racism and prejudice from both white and black people. While struggling with her mental health throughout her whole life, she was still able to build a career in journalism, and become considered to be one of the pioneers in black female journalism. Growing tensions (and leaving a brief marriage) forced her and her son leave South Africa for Botswana. Life in Botswana was never easy: deep in poverty, Bessie and her son were not granted nationality until fifteen years after they had arrived and Bessie had become internationally recognised for her writing. She died at the age of 48.

Bessie’s most notable works are When Rain Clouds Gather and Maru. I find an edition that includes both of these books. Both have been said to reflect Bessie’s life – When the Rain Clouds Gather is about the life of a refugee from South Africa, and Maru is about prejudice and racism.

It is delicious, superb, clever and brilliantly political writing. Reading When Rain Clouds Gather, I am sad that it did not achieve more recognition during her lifetime, and the story is still not more well-known. It is satirical, very bright and spot on in its political analysis and description of human nature. It dwells on the life of an immigrant, Makhaya, a stateless person and the political game around his status. Makhaya is a refugee from South Africa in Botswana who finds ‘refuge’ in a white European agricultural expert named Gilbert who wants to bring agricultural development, progress and prosperity to the village of Golema Mmidi but faces resistance from the more traditional forces. Makhaya has lost faith in human nature and while not completely reversed in these feelings, gradually finds new meaning in the life in the village. The story navigates political corruption, wealth disparity, forward thinking and fiercely independent, strong women. Bessie is a very skilful observer of the human condition.

I am less fond of the second book, Maru. It is again masterfully written and contains a moving description of racism, sexism and alienation, but there is something deeply disturbing about the central love story. The main character – so clearly autobiographical that it is not even camouflaged – seems to lose her voice when her manipulative love interest takes interest in her. I struggle to understand where the love comes from, and it disappointed me that this book follows that unfortunate literary (and cinematographic) tradition in which a manipulative, indifferent, coercive love interest (usually a male, not always) is somehow the epitome of great love. And he, of course, must be some kind of king/prince/billionaire – in this book he is a future chief/king. This narrative choice is unfortunate as it takes the sharpness out of her writing and diminishes the value of the storytelling.

Bessie Head has more books which I am tempted to read, especially her book about Seretse and Ruth (Serowe: Village of the Rain-Wind) but I need to move on, on the yellow brick road, and choose my third and final Botswana book. Quite clearly it has to be by Unity Dow.

Unity Dow is a Botswanan human rights lawyer and former judge of the Botswanan High Court, a member of parliament, and an author. She comes from a rural village with no electricity, paved roads or running water. Her parents believed in education and young Unity not only excelled in her studies but after studying in universities in Botswana, Eswatini and Scotland, Unity formed a successful career. She became internationally famous for her landmark legal case of changing the nationality law in Botswana (so that children could also have their mother’s nationality and not just father’s). She has worked in human rights projects within Botswana, but also internationally in several African countries. Her books focus on social issues including AIDS, domestic violence, child abuse and inequality.

I decide to read her first novel, Far and Beyon’, written in 2000, that focuses on the rampant AIDS epidemic in Southern Africa. It describes the different cultural and spiritual approaches to the epidemic. In 2000, globally, Botswana had the highest prevalence of HIV infected people (25% of the population aged 15-49), while in 2022, Botswana listed forth (16.8%). In 2022, the twenty countries with the highest prevalence of HIV infections were all in Africa, and even if the infection rates have decreased in most of the countries (not all), Botswana and neighbouring countries still need to constantly tackle the problem.

Far and Beyon’ is a highly effective and interesting book. The main theme is the impact that the HIV epidemic and family violence have in rural Botswana. It also deals with generational differences, as in the story, an illiterate mother Mara turns to mystics and magic to fight the enemy she thinks has killed her husband and her two sons. The remaining children – daughter Mosa and son Stan – understand that the problem is much bigger than just an evil spirit. The culturally narrow place for women, and the pressures of cultural practices and customs are explored not only through Mara, but above all in the story of Mosa who tries to find a way to balance embracing culture and tradition, while rejecting the repressive and abusive forms within her culture. Present in the narrative is also a strong thematic concern surrounding the abuse of power between those who have it and those who do not; as an example, Unity illustrates how ‘christianised’ western education, considered superior, is preached by teachers who then sexually abuse their female students, leading to an increase in the spread of AIDS.  

I would also like to read Unity’s book Saturday is for Funerals which is another book about AIDS but I cannot get a hold of it. The book describes the response of Botswana to the AIDS epidemic that was predicted to kill 85% of those that were 15 year olds in 2000. This book describes the actions taken by Botswana to prevent this.

FILM: More Seretse and Ruth, and then that Coke bottle

A (10) and I watch the documentary Into the Okavango that follows a 4-month expedition from Angola to Botswana along the river Okavango, to study the ecology and the effects of climate change. Labelled as a National Geographic documentary, it follows a group of modern day explorers led by an American conservation biologist (Steve Boyes), a native Okavango bushman (Tumeletso Setlabosha) and an Angolan scientist (Adjany Costa) as they travel 1,500 miles through the river and the Okavango Delta. The objective was to explore ways to conserve the Okavango delta, a World Heritage site that is home to the largest remaining population of African elephants, amongst other wildlife. The area is mainly undiscovered and the team go through different obstacles, from having to drag their boats for days across hard terrain and facing local (controlled) fires. But they manage to fulfil their mission, collect data from around 50,000 locations, contributing to biodiversity conservation. A great watch with kids.

A comedy from the 1980s, the Gods must be crazy, is a coproduction between South Africa and Botswana, and it is famous for the falling object (a Coca Cola bottle) that the tribe living in a remote bushland first worships and then wants to get rid of. It is an amusing but partly uncomfortable movie. The white people are portrayed as prisoners and slaves of modern times which is at times very funny, but there is an underlining patronizing tone to the movie (something familiar to Zona Sur that was part of the Bolivia stop). It is still a story of white saviours with cute ‘little buggers’ bushpeople that are portrayed as childlike in their way of life in the bush. A (10) who watched the movie with me laughed out loud with the physical comedy parts (people falling in rivers and knocking over things when nervous) but even he was slightly confused with how the non-white characters were portrayed. “Has not aged well” was his conclusion.

A United Kingdom (2016) by Amma Asante tells the story of Seretse and Ruth, played by David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike. The movie stays quite faithful to the real story and is beautifully shot. There is some fine acting involved but the chemistry between the two leads does not convince enough for the movie to give justice to a couple who changed the course of history. In order for the movie to be really moving and effective, it would have required more charismatic leads, as the strong bond and all-encompassing love against all odds does not transmit from the film. This is such a shame, as it is such an important, unknown and remarkable story. Shot in both Botswana and England, the landscape is gorgeous and the lighting and scenography are outstanding. It stays quite loyal to the original story and received generally favourable reviews. While all this is probably justified, I just cannot get over the lacklustre chemistry between the leads.

Louisa’s music

There is a lot of interesting music made in Botswana – upbeat rhythmical music and interesting hip hop. We take a special liking of Louisa April. She is not a professional singer but a communications specialist who specialises in Integrative Strategy Development. She has a silky, dreamy voice that is perfect for a winter night. Another interesting artist is a neo-soul singer Mpho Sebina, who creates music with an island-beat sound.

Next stop Brazil