My Purpose in Life

Once again, black and white ceases to be so.

I've discovered that tourism is not, in fact, the most detrimental industry to wildlife conservation. Nope; it's agriculture. I this here country, people have been subsisting on cattle for the last several hundred years. Once the colonists (protectoratists) came in and all these wide open spaces, they decided to pay premium prices to stimulate the agriculture industry. They thought they were helping.

I don't remember if I explained the protectorate/colony thing. If I did already, disregard this paragraph. Botswana was never formally colonized. In the late 1800s, the leader of the Tswana, Khama the Great, appealed to the British to protect his people from the colonizing of the British, Dutch, and I think Germans. In return for "protection", Botswana would allow the British to rule indirectly (i.e. not really at all), build missionary schools, indoctrinate the country with Christianity, and pass freely to Rhodesia (now Zim). Thus was created the Protectorate of Bechuanaland. That's why they don't hate white people or English people (which are essentially the same thing here).

Well, as it turns out, the land is not that good for feeding cattle, and overgrazing has caused that to be even more true. Agriculture, the way it is done now, is not a sustainable industry. The land will run out of water/nutrients/grass. This has encroached on the wildlife's land, and now giant fences have been erected to prevent the spread of disease from wildlife to cattle, causing near-extinction of migrating species such as wildebeest and hartebeest. And the people can't necessarily do anything about it; the major industry in Botswana, the diamond industry, does everything by machinery. If people want jobs, they have to raise cattle.

Also, when there's no grass, thornbushes take over. Water sinks lower in the ground. My skirt gets caught on thorns.

There has to be an alternative, right? Yep. Tourism. Tourism can be more sustainable, except that the industry is currently monopolized by foreigners. Batswana don't have the money to invest in fancy-schmancy safari agencies that will make American tourists happy. But South Africans do. And Europeans. Sure, they employ locals to do their cooking and cleaning. Great. In many cases, a tourist will pay a safari company in their own currency, say US dollars, and the Botswana government never sees a single pula. On average, Botswana receives 8% of the profits from the tourism industry. The rest is kept by foreigners. Okay, we need a better solution than that. Hopefully, by watching cool animals for a while, I can figure out the answer.

What would the Lion King have been like if it had taken place more recently, when the grasslands are nearly destroyed from overgrazing? Here's a guess:

Simba would return from his Hakuna Matata jaunt with Rosencrantz and Gildenstern to defeat Scar. Only, when he gets back to Pride Rock, Scar is already dead. He starved to death after eating all his hyenas. There are no more ungulates to hunt. Good, thinks Simba. He can now have Nala all to himself. But no, he discovers that Nala has also starved to death. In his grief, Simba stabs himself with one of Nala's ribs. ("O happy dagger! this is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.")

Gosh, that's sad. It's not really like that. Actually, the fences have made it easier for predators to catch animals, so until the ungulate population disappears completely, lions are not too upset.

Today is our midterm. That means classes are half over. That means the semester is 1/3 over. Whoa.

Yesterday, we had a pretty cool lecture about science and the scientific method. Only in Botswana would a lecture like this quote the Bible several times. Here I'll reproduce some of the lecture which I found interesting:

"Scientists are responsible for truth, knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.

The truth is out there; truth is what it is, the underlying reality of all existence.

Knowledge is what we think we know about the truth. Knowledge is subject to revision and improvement.

Wisdom is realization that there are discrepancies and weaknesses in knowledge. Wisdom leads to the process, called the philosophy of sciece, through which knowledge is better modified to fit the truth.

Understanding as defined by Job (28:28) is the effort to avoid evil. Understadig is what we use in order to adequately apply our wisdom and knowledge in guiding our actions.

Philosophy means, literally, the love of wisdom.

While applied scientists seek understanding, basic scientists seek knowledge; you can't do everything."

Cool. Perhaps I've found my purpose in life. I think I'll seek knowledge so other people can find applications of it.

Each day, I compile a list of things to check on Wikipedia. They should make a portable Wikipedia. That's constantly updated via satellite. And they should call it...The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Oh wait, that's already been done.

I've discovered that I'm much more comfortable discussing racial issues here. It's much easier to say "black people..." or "white people" when I'm a minority. Last night, I was talking to my host-sister about the differences between black-people hair and white-people hair. We were then talking about other stereotypes, like that white people have lots of money and black people will steal from you. I don't think I'd feel comfortable talking about that if I were in America. I wouldn't want to get misunderstood.

Yesterday we visited Otse for Clean Up the Environment Day. We got to sit at a ceremony for four hours. It was a lot like the Botswana Day celebration, but longer. And, other than two speeches, completely in Setswana. I had almost forgotten that feeling of not understanding anything and feeling like I don't belong, a feeling I had had a lot of in Otse. But then they fed us. There were brownies.

Oh, and it was COLD. Of course, it was really only about 65 degrees F, but for someone who has adjusted to the relentless heat and was not wearing long pants, it was cold. All of us were shivering all morning and some people's lips were blue. Hypothermia is a bonding activity.

Oooh oooh! They're making a move of No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Actually, I think the movie is made already. I think it's coming out in December. They filmed it near one of my friends' host-house.

This weekend we go north. Saturday, we take a train to Francistown. It's a 10-hour overnight train ride. Then there's an 8-hour combi ride. Yep, that's 15 people crammed into a van for 8 hours. Then a week of excursions! Animals and animals and animals and some plants and bugs and animals. I've got my bug repellent all ready. And, we are expected to look like tourists, so I can wear shorts and a tank top. And, I get to sleep in my tent. And, they have an elephant pest problem there. And, we get to go to Zambia. Yay.