Patterns in the Sky

My intention is to expand Botswana’s current tourism product which is currently wilderness and wildlife based to include Cultural Tourism. I am a storyteller and new author, there are very few writers in Botswana writing about the people and culture of Botswana. My books is my contribution to recording traditional beliefs that were originally passed on through oral tradition. There is also high unemployment amongst youth who end up resorting to crime to survice creating several socio-economic issues.

My plan is to personally publish a children’s book annually, launch it by grooming and training a small group of youth a year. The youth will tell the same story through a combination of performing and visual arts (art exhibition and live performance) in my home village Maun and the capital Gaborone. It will be a double launch which introduces the youth’s talent and my book. My books are currently for sale in all of the curio shops in the Okavango Delta and Chobe and will continue to be sold in those shops.

These pockets of youth that I and some professionals work with are groomed with each launch meant to create a pool of semi trained individuals who in the long term will become the pioneers of cultural tourism in Botswana. That way we will be able to advertise and stage regular events to tourists and local residents where the youth will be paid for each production.

I am in the process of registering an association for youth that will ease the process so that with the help of a Board of Trustees, I will be able to spread and share the workload with other interested parties, plus ensure the longevity of my effort should I die or become incapable of continuing to mentor the project. The aim of the association will be to eventually assist more youth to package their craft and present it to tourists coming to Botswana and form income generating enterprises within the industry that can be branded as Cultural Tourism.