Botswana

sp27 · Post by **sp27** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 5:04 pm

Does anybody know about Botswana (South Africa) and the school(s) there ?
TK-Y

sibelsibel · Post by **sibelsibel** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:18 am

Firstly you should not confuse Botswana with South Africa as they are two separate countries. It is the only country in Africa with a hard currency using the Pula, which is supported by diamonds. Hence if you are paid in Pula, you do not need to worry when you leave the country as all your money in transferable into sterling or dollars etc.

The country is very dry and has two main cities, the capital Gaborone and a town on the Zimbabwe border, Francistown. Most people speak English fluently, and are generally very respectful of teachers and education. If you like discovering beauty in the desert, then Botswana could be your cup of tea, but it is much less developed than their neighbours. It is right in the centre of a lot of interesting places to visit like South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. The people are generally friendly although there is not much to do. You would probably need to buy a vehicle as public transport is not easily accessible.

sp27 · Post by **sp27** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 8:09 am

Thanks very much. Did you teach in this country ? If yes, which school ? How was it ?

sibelsibel · Post by **sibelsibel** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:38 am

23 years ago, I was sent to the village of Ghanzi on a Canadian government programme to help rural education in the country and to go where local teachers did not want to go. So my knowledge of the international school scene in Botswana is zero. In those days, there was not much traffic, the people were friendly, and the struggle against apartheid in neighbouring South Africa was still raging on. All the grass in the school was uprooted to discourage snakes, so the village became a muddy mess when the rains, which were rare, came. There was a golf course in Gaborone but the greens were made of sand and needed to be raked after play. Litter seemed to irritate me in those days, as it existed in Botswana yet was more or less non existent in neighbouring countries. The people were always friendly and curious where I had come from. The local people were quite sophisticated and appeared to be very knowledgable about the world even though most of them in my village lived in very basic housing and carried water long distances.

Of course none of this information does you any good as no doubt you will be going to a modern, elitist international school in Gaborone, where you will only meet the children of the wealthy and those foreigners who are temporarily posted in the country. Most of your students will have maids and gardeners, and tutors to help them pass their exams.

I envy you for going to southern Africa. It was a magical place for me a generation ago, and I hope that some of that magic still exists.

sp27 · Post by **sp27** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 10:35 am

It's great !

Thanks

Traveller1 · Post by **Traveller1** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:55 pm

If you can cope with Africa Botswana is brilliant.

It must be one of the safest countries in Africa, they have proper elections every 4 years, in the '90s they had a credit of 4 billion USD with the World Bank, a population of 1 million people in country the size of France.

The best game viewing in the world, the whole Northern third of the country is game park and wild area.

Westwood is the premier IS in Botswana, and is an IB World School. However there are other International Schools there.

The biggest drawback to teaching in Botswana are the salaries. Quality of life is outstanding.

sp27 · Post by **sp27** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 10:05 am

Thank you for your reply. Did you teach overthere ? Do you know someone who's teaching ?

Traveller1 · Post by **Traveller1** » Sun Mar 25, 2007 6:12 pm

> Thank you for your reply. Did you teach overthere ?

Yes.

> Do you know someone who's teaching?

Yes.

Would I go back there? Yes, absolutely.

sp27 · Post by **sp27** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 3:19 am

Could you tell me the cost of living ?

- food (bread, milk, cheese, etc....)
- drink (coke, oranjuice, beer, wine,...)
- snack (sandwiches, ..)
- take away (pizza, hamburger,..)
- restaurant (italian, us, ...)
- entertainement (movie, theater)
- travel (safari, ...)

Many thanks