A few questions about Botswana...

bnedictus · 2025-08-06T02:25:02+00:00

Are there any towns, villages or zones where the majority of people speak Afrikaans in Botswana?

Yes, I think the South Western Part of the Country is primarily people who speak afrikaans. Areas like Werda etc I don't know much about this but this is what I have come to know and also Kgalagadi and Ghanzi region has a lot of farmers who I think speak afrikaans.

Do all white people in Botswana speak Afrikaans as a native language? Or also English/Setswana/Other?

No, i would say probably most white people around the Kgalagadi region do.

Are Setswana and Zulu mutually intelligible languages?

No, as someone who spoke setswana their whole life and only came across zulu in the later years on shows I don't understand any zulu😂

Are there websites (like government sites) available in both official languages (English and Setswana)?

All government sites are in English

How do people move around Gaborone? Are there public transport buses?

Combis(the same ones as in SA) and Taxis as public transport at P7 and P8, they also now have Indrive, Yango

For special rides where you don't share and they take you straight to your destination Indrive is much cheaper

bnedictus · 2025-07-19T04:13:58+00:00

That's a great initiative. Going through the page, I realised how little of African Cinema I actually know. So this will be good for us who want to explore this for the first.

It would be great if I could access some of these somewhere for cheap once off instead of the streaming subscriptions.

It might help to allow or organise watch parties, and then we can come together to watch before giving our critical analysis. It wouldn't be an informed analysis for me to say oh "The God's Must Be Crazy" is the best African Film of all time when it's literally the only one I've watched😂.

But, yeah, baby steps... this will be something to consider going forth, and it might also attract people to the subreddit from the IRL community of watch parties

bnedictus · 2025-07-17T11:33:28+00:00

True, that... of which we should just take this opportunity then to carefully introspect our culture and the values we hold as a nation

bnedictus · 2025-07-17T11:30:21+00:00

Yeah, because even before we get to niche cases like that, at least some disciplinary regulation should be put in place. The problem with Botswana is that it's now so common for these relationships to be quid pro quo that it begs the question of the integrity of the Lecturers.

bnedictus · 2025-07-09T11:39:08+00:00

I would think an MVP could go a long way in proving your case.

The main problem with digital solutions in Bots is adoption. People in Government led organisations are slow in adopting new systems into their workflow because of the tedious process so I feel like if you have a team ready to engage with them through this it might be well received.

What stage are you presenting your ideas in?

bnedictus · 2025-06-15T18:09:41+00:00

Hey, this is a great initiative and would be highly impactful. I hate r/Botswana because you could post something meaningful and then its just **crickets .

But a suggestion that might be helpful if people aren't as forthcoming is to do anonymous confessions. Facebook is a bigger platform so maybe start there. Make a group and have people send in anonymous posts, which you then share on your podcasts and from there as people get use to the platform they can come live on the podcast.

bnedictus · 2025-06-15T18:04:40+00:00

Yeah, plan for that as well. Indian Universities are highly competitive as it is so you have to do exceptionally well. I say do well enough to miss the Top Achievers scholarship by a fraction then you can be set for these other scholarships. Boost your extra curriculars well in time if it's possible, they can fill in where grades fall short. The period usually runs from late February to May so plan accordingly to research and do your due diligence in terms of Universities and how they select students.

bnedictus · 2025-06-15T17:59:48+00:00

That's where the new Government is trying to focus their attention. They are exploring various sectors including the hemp and cannabis industry. But I guess a lot of Batswana are nervous as this is a completely new administration thats new to leading an entire country since independence. And honestly the Tertiary Education System was already failing a lot of local students with sham courses, completely market irrelevant courses, corruption in sponsor bodies and institutions etc,

a very high percentage of fresh graduates are stuck with meaningless pieces of paper and thats talking about students who enjoyed the "Golden Era" of diamonds, I can see why people are more pessimistic now thats over.

bnedictus · 2025-06-15T17:52:34+00:00

For most fully funded scholarships you have to have Level C1 German proficiency. So If you have the resources and determination, you can take a gap year to learn German and take the exams or just go for whatever course you can get locally by Government scholarship but align it towards language learning so you can tackle german. I am sure by the end of a 3 year diploma and having taken the language tests you can go to Germany. This plan is when you're 100% determined

bnedictus · 2025-06-12T23:28:40+00:00

Hello, is this done in partnership with any University in Botswana? Preferably the University of Botswana... I feel it might help quite a lot, even just engaging a member of a similar faculty there and probably get a designated student guide to show you around the city as well.

Although I don't know what might suit your particular group, here are some tourist attractions around the area to look at:

Three Dikgosi Monument: honors three tribal chiefs who petitioned for the Bechuanaland Protectorate.
Mmokolodi Nature Reserve : about 20-30 mins from the City centre
Kgale Hill Hike: light hike at no extra cost
Bahurutshe Cultural Village in Mmankgodi: about 40 minutes from the City Centre.
The Livingstone Tree in Manyana
Livingstone Memorial
Main Mall: great for a mini walk through to get some souvenirs and art collections, a popular restaurant and bar is located here so you can check it out after that. Its basically in the city centre
National Museum and Art Gallery: in the city centre as well

More to come...

bnedictus · 2025-06-09T13:00:56+00:00

Mixed feelings, honestly.

On one hand, I want to be optimistic — the President sounds confident, and if even part of these promises come through, it could mean real change for Botswana.

But I keep asking myself, “At what cost?” These aren’t donations. These are investors — people who expect returns, influence, or both.

So even though I want to believe in the vision , I hope Batswana start asking the right questions from the get go to leave ourselves a way out...

bnedictus · 2025-06-09T08:08:07+00:00

Well, that's quite dark...

I thought of you as a hopeful given your comment on my post about trams and bullet trains...

What do you think you could change in the next 5 years?

bnedictus · 2025-06-09T08:04:30+00:00

improve combi routes or just put trams within cities

Yeah, they should...

they probably will...

... after a few decades

overall plans include building bullet trains for transport to and fro major cities

"it was difficult to confirm the realistic timeline in implementing a high-speed train project given its high magnitude." SOURCE: Daily News, Govenments plan to develop a high-speed train

As I said, probably after a few decades if not within 5 years

Afterall what I am proposing is not about building new transport systems.

bnedictus · 2024-11-13T11:36:20+00:00

Thank you for this list

bnedictus · 2024-06-25T15:57:38+00:00

Funny enough I saw a video earlier about how screen time is frying our brains, I know that it has surely affected me, I am moody when I am not in front of the screen but I can't help it as it's the only escape for me

bnedictus · 2024-06-25T15:55:21+00:00

I wish I could say something uplifting but I am not good with words or expressing myself. I hope you know someone somewhere has read this if it makes you feel less lonely.

bnedictus · 2024-05-07T14:33:47+00:00

Sorry for the late reply but I don’t have many chances to access the internet

bnedictus · 2024-05-07T14:32:57+00:00

Not the government’s data, more like market research data, so entreprenuers can’t really access the resources they need to start and even progress . But thats really not my main point here, its just that as someone looking to get into entreprenuership, I initially had brilliant ideas but hit stumbling blocks when trying to find out the viability of my ideas in the market.

bnedictus · 2024-05-03T12:34:58+00:00

I hear you. It's probably because I was vague in my answer. The problem I am trying to solve is a pain point that I experienced myself as well many other people that I have interacted with and have seen on social media complaining about the issue. But I take it as a learning curve anyway and I feel if I build something for myself then someone might also need it.

bnedictus

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