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Thursday, 11 June 1987 & Beyond: It’s Been Quite a Life!

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July 6-7, Denver, Colorado   My trip back to the USA worked out fine.  There were no hassles with Zimbabwean customs officials over the BMW auto parts I was bringing in and Robson’s grateful relative met me on Thursday afternoon at the station in Bulawayo to collect them.  I spent Thursday night with Adrian and Penny Feather in Bulawayo, the English couple who had hosted me for several days the previous year.  On Friday, they took me to the airport for my overnight flight on British Airways to London.  I spent a couple days in London getting to know that fascinating city.  Then on to Northern Ireland where I travelled around for a few days.  My positive interactions with Protestants and Catholics convinced me that spending time there to write about the serious conflicts in that society would yield a wealth of good stories.  From there I took a train to Dublin where I was treated to great Irish hospitality and that pub tour I mentioned in my last story.   Sunrise somewhere over North
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Wednesday, 10 June 1987: Out of Africa

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  8:15 PM, between Gaborone and Mahalapye on the overnight train to Bulawayo This is a sad occasion.   About an hour and a half ago, I said goodbye to 10 friends and colleagues at the Gaborone station as we toasted each other with three bottles of Champagne I had brought along.   They included: - Masego Mmputakwane, the handsome, good-natured, 30-year-old Motswana who received his M.A. from ITC in the Netherlands last year.  We were both new Environmental Science faculty members this year.  Two nights ago, we had dinner at my favorite Gaborone restaurant, The Taj.  It’s Indian but also serves Chinese and Mauritian food.          - Berneck Makwiti, the ES Department’s chief cartographer.  He is an ever-polite Malawian who was so helpful providing supplies and equipment I needed for my classes.  A true gentleman with a big smile.  I introduced him to the Botswana Photographic Society a few months ago and told him that he must win the trophy for the best color slide which I won last
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Tuesday, 26 May 1987: RIIC Produces Equipment for Rural Botswana

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June 12, in route to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe When my environmental science colleague, Masego Mmputakwane (pronounced ma-SE-ho mm-pu-ta-KWA-ne) invited me to join him on a one-day trip to Kanye, Botswana, of course I said yes.   Not only did I welcome the opportunity to visit another part of Botswana, but I’ve found Masego to be “good company” – an upbeat fellow with whom I’d enjoyed stimulating conversations.   View southeast of Kanye, Botswana from Hospital Road.  Kanye is a large village with a population of some 30,000.  It is about 100 km (1½ hours) southwest of Gaborone by car.   The purpose of our trip was to visit the Rural Industries Innovation Centre in Kanye.   Masego is hoping to do a research project on the dissemination of technology using RIIC as his main example.     The center began operations in 1977 to develop and produce equipment for farming and other primarily rural applications.   The products are manufactured using “appropriate technology” (neither high-tech nor ene
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Friday, 22 May 1987: My Final Thoughts on South Africans and Their System

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10:45 PM, UB Environmental Science Computer Room This afternoon I finished writing up the stories of my South African travels from my notes.   Most assuredly a cause for celebration.   Obviously, there is much more I could have seen and done in South Africa.   But after more than a year, my curiosity about the people and their messed-up system has worn thin.   Not that there isn’t more to learn.   Far from it.   One problem was that much of it has become too predictable.   How many tales of black indolence can I listen to?   How many angry anti-government cynics can one endure?   Of course, many South Africans of all races and political persuasions have messages worth hearing but in due time you hear many different messages which break down into a few general themes. Writing in Chobe National Park, May 1987.  My Botswana comrade, Hugh, once accused me of being glued to my typewriter.  I can’t argue with his assessment! Photo by Hugh Gordon.   The situation in South Africa today is fa
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Sunday, 17 May 1987: Right Wing Victory in South African Elections

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U.B. Environmental Science Computer Room Because my visa to South Africa was not renewed, I was unable to get into the country for the 6 May elections.   On the 7th, I went with Hugh to the Oasis Fitness Centre here in Gaborone for one of our regular work outs on the Universal Gym.   Afterword, I stopped at his house for a few minutes before pedaling back to campus.   “Have you seen the election results?” he inquired while handling me a copy of The Star (Johannesburg’s leading English-language paper) .  “Right Romps Home” read the headline and so they had.   The big news:   the Conservative Party had replaced the relatively liberal Progressive Federal Party as the official opposition.   In other words, a party to the right of the ruling National Party had replaced a party to the left as the second strongest in Parliament.   More than 75% of the votes went to National Party candidates or to those to their right.   I was stunned.  I shouldn’t have been.  After all the time I’d spent in
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