unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (08/23/89)
wouldn't believe what these women will do.'' Twenty-eight women participated in a holistic, three-month course that included classes in literacy, motivation, group dynamics, and vegetable gardening. Now one can find them every day working on a government-donated plot here in the center of Gaborone, the capital city, weeding, watering, and selling a surplus of grains and vegetables. Families which before only ate sorghum, corn, and cabbage are consuming a variety of fruits and greens. Women who a year ago couldn't read are now managing their cooperative's bookkeeping. ''Before I didn't have a job. My mother had to help me with the money she made brewing and selling beer,'' recounts Naselele Pheleme, the mother of seven children. ''Now I am independent.'' Similar comments can be heard in Kanye, a town 60 miles southwest of Gaborone, where 56 families (90 percent headed by women) are building a community from scratch. ''In five years we want the donors to see our homesteads, bakeries, poultry projects, and crops,'' said one woman, referring to the ''productive homesteads'' that each will build, and which include a house and income-earning activities. The productive homestead is a strategy proposed by Swedish horticulturalist and longtime Botswana resident Gus Nilsson (for a profile of Mr. Nilsson, see the People section, Aug. 4, Page 14). Using his water-saving technique of planting in concrete benches filled with river sand, the UNDP and the Botswana government have funded several successful experiments with small groups such as those in Gaborone and Kanye. What holds the government back from a full endorsement is the cost of bringing irrigation to the plots. BOTSWANA is off to a good start in its quest for national food security. The country is self-sufficient in beef and, due to good rains the last two years, it has stored reserves. But the remainder of the country's demand for food is still met by imports. Supermarkets are full of breakfast cereals, fruit juices, milk, and corn with labels that say in both Afrikaans and English: Made in South Africa. Although Botswana and South Africa are both members of the Southern African Customs Union and have been reliable trading partners since before Botswana's independence in 1966, the two face off in the political arena: Botswana President Quett Masire publicly assails South Africa's apartheid regime and South African Foreign Minister Roloef (Pik) Botha accuses Masire of allowing the African National Congress guerrillas to operate from Botswana territory. ''We are aware that our region is not stable and we depend on South Africa for 75 percent of our imports, most of it food, and that any disruption would have severe consequences,'' says Moremi. She acknowledges that there have been no indications that a trade cutoff is in the offing, but the 1985 South African embargo of Lesotho, a tiny country surrounded by South Africa, still haunts Botswana's citizens. Twenty-five percent of Botswana's children are malnourished, according to Moremi. Although the market is providing food to those who can buy it, many families lack the ability to acquire enough food in the market or by growing it. But as long as the government focuses on households and women and they continue to demonstrate success, national and household security will eventually come to mean the same thing: that all are fed. * Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501) --- Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange -=- Every child smiles in the same language. -=-