First Week of Classes

This week was the first official week, although for all practicality, classes truly start next week. So for the two days of the week, I didn't have a professor show up to a class but once, and the majority of students do not show up the first week of classes either. This is a very strange and unique concept. In addition to this, students are protesting the lack of allowances paid to students who take more time than the program allotted. In Botswana, education (as well as health care) is completely free to all citizens from primary education all the way through university. To further encourage students to attend school, students enrolled at UB are given allowances monthly (about P1200, or $150) to use for whatever they please. P1200 is a substantial sum here, since a really nice meal out costs at most P50-60 or so. They get these allowances so long as they take classes of a certain number of credit hours. However, say their program of study is only 4 years, but it takes them 5, they are still supposed to get paid in that 5th year. However, because of the declining economy, due mainly to decreased diamond demand in the US, the government announced they would stop supporting allowances for students who take longer than their program. Such protests could turn into strikes, which has happened at least on 2 occasions in the last 4 years, where the school shuts down for a week or more until a settlement can be reached. This is a very different system of education here for sure. Today the members of student body and the Ministry of Finance/Education are supposed to meet and try and work out a deal to avoid this.

So far, I have not too much to report about the classes other than a few odd things. One is from my Abstract Algebra II course yesterday. The classroom has no chairs OR tables, but merely a handful of stools in it to sit on. Taking notes on your lap sitting in a stool with no back is definitely not the most comfortable of situations, especially when the majority of the class is standing. The professor is hoping to change the room (calling it a "load of rubbish" - he's British) so that we can at least have chairs to sit on for all students in the class. Yesterday, my roommate Adam (he's from North Carolina and goes to UNC-Greensboro) had stones thrown at him for attending class and not protesting. This was also an eye-opening story in the sense that education is taken a lot differently here. College students in the US definitely take for granted having chairs, desks, and comfortable learning environments. And they definitely take for granted the food. The dining halls (or refectories) here are much more basic than anything I have seen on college campuses. The meals are pretty unchanging between lunch and dinner. Every meal so far has been rice, with beef or chicken, some sort of coleslaw/squash/carrots and a cup of juice. A huge departure from the myriad of options available to dining halls at Wheaton. There is no option here, you're just given a tray with food on it. It does do the trick of filling you up with some nourishment, but I am also buying fruits from the supermarket to get some other vitamins, etc.

As I have discussed previously, this weekend we are leaving Gaborone to go to a village about 45 minutes from here for another traditional dinner and festivities and staying overnight in traditional huts. On Sunday, we will be traveling to Mokolodi Game Reserve (see previous posts for a link) for a 2-hour game drive. I am hoping to at least pet the Cheetahs (only tame cheetahs in all of Botswana) as well as explore some of the reserve. I am also hoping that the weekend after, or a little later, to hike Kgale Hill in Gaborone. It's a hill that overlooks much of the city and is filled with its own wildlife as well (mostly Baboons and other birds). I will obviously take tons of pictures, although I am not sure how quickly, if ever, they will be posted. The internet is painfully slow (I read magazines and books while pages load), but I will try to create an account and post as many as possible.

Hope you all have a great weekend.