Yesterday I went on what ended up being a large excursion to the old mall. I was in pursuit on a “learn setswana” book. It’s not too surprising there aren’t many books on the subject and that they aren’t readily available. The one I finally found was one of 6 copies in the store and it was written in 1973… No joke.
Peace Corps is in Botswana and apparently in or near Maun as people keep asking me if I’m Peace Corps. Someone told me that the Peace Corps volunteers are fluent in Setswana (and must be the only white people who are).
Around the corner from the book store was the library. I know that they are, but I still hope that they weren’t the only bookstore and library in town. The bookstore had next to nothing beyond school textbooks. There was no Di Vinci Code or War and Peace. I was also the only person in the store.
It makes sense that there is little market for books here I guess. The Ex-pats all bring in their own from out of the country. The rest of the people have a hard time affording books. Many of the basic school books and things were around 100Pula. The teachers at the daycare have only received something like 500P in the last 10 months. One of the mothers of the children that we gave clothes to makes 200P a month, but she is only employed for 6 months out of the year.
The situation feels so bleak sometimes
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