Navigating the University of Botswana Labyrinth

The University of Botswana was the first institution of higher education established in Botswana in 1982.  There are now campuses in Gaborone (the main one - where we are),  Francistown, and  Maun, with approximately 15,000 students enrolled.  The majority of the students live on campus in dorms.

When investigating opportunities for Fulbright Scholarships, the University of Botswana was requesting scholars from all disciplines. I decided to apply because Botswana seemed like an interesting place to go with fantastic natural environments and I received an interested response to an inquiring email that I sent to the chair of the Biology Dept. as he was excited about getting me there to teach a course.  This email reply is one of the main reasons we are here instead of elsewhere in Africa where my emails went unanswered.  Upon determining that applying to UB was feasible, I then had to develop a research proposal.  This is the case for many Fulbright Scholars, although some have pre-existing research projects and relationships.  I developed an idea of  investigating plant succession on islands in the Okovango Delta after floods have disturbed the vegetation; i.e. "How does the vegetation recover after scouring floods?"  I would base this research at HOORC field station.  I couldn't get much of a response to this research ideat from anyone at UB or HOORC, but I quickly learned that just getting a reply from anyone about anything is a feat.

Upon my arrival at the University I was confronted by a maze of brick and mortar pillars, archways, walkways, and buildings scattered around, and very deep network of concrete drainage ditches meandering throughout in unsuspecting places.  At least five new huge buildings are currently under construction, and giant cranes dominate the east end of campus.  A very strange looking university.  The biology building is enclosed in iron bars and has large open courtyards within containing  fetid little pools and some plantings and various stairs and walkways much like one of Escher's drawings.  People walk around in white lab coats.  It took some searching to locate the Chair of the Department's office and then ensued several days of confusion.

The chair  informed me of the days of the week and times that the class that I was going to teach (Biostatistics) was scheduled, but no one seemed to know where the class met. No one knew if  anybody covered the class during my absence  (I arrived a week after classes had begun), if there was a textbook assigned, and things of this nature.  Luckily, a Fulbright Scholar who taught in the Dept. last year had mailed me a key, because they weren't sure what office to put me in because of the missing key.  I wandered around the building for a few hours and figured out how to get some office supplies and how to fill out various required forms for the supplies. Late in the day, I was provided with an ancient but working computer and two non-working printers.  I was fixed up with email after a few days, but after about 9AM surfing the web becomes impossible due to the EXTREME slowness of the connection.   I eventually found out that I was told the wrong days and times for the class but was able to resolve this, and then later found out about a 3-hour lab that had also been overlooked.

The first day of class I looked at 50 happy well adjusted students.  Almost all are 3rd year Biology majors from Botswana with a smattering from other African countries (Zimbabwe) and one French guy here on an International Exchange Program.  Just like in the US, the front rows are dominated by girls and the back rows are dominated by boys.  I thought I would mix Powerpoint slideshows with lecture as Powerpoint can be quite useful for showing graphs and examples, but the complexities and pitfalls of using Powerpoint are a long story and quickly dissuaded me from this.  Avoid dependence on technology at any cost!  There are only white boards and instructors must have their own whiteboard pens.

This is a new class for me (never taught it before) and it takes me at least twice as long to set things up as a similar endeavor would in the US.  You have heard about the photocopying escapades -- that sort of thing is what makes things take soooo long.

The class meets on Mon. and Wed. at 8am.  On Tuesday is the lab portion -- I prepare lab exercises for these sessions and the students practice the problems.  After a few weeks my demonstrator (similar to an undergrad TA) surfaced.  I had been looking for her for awhile.  She grades the lab exercises and took over the photocopying just as long as I provide her with the material a week ahead of time so that she could print and photocopy -- a long process!  This saves me massive amounts of time.  In the Dept. there are hordes of  technicians in white lab coats who set up labs and do all sorts of things -- I am not sure what, but there are a lot of them.  They are all quite nice. The Dept. is desperate for instructors and wanted Priscilla to teach human anatomy and me to teach other courses as well but we said no!

After I had been at UB for 2 weeks or so, I received an email from last year's Fulbright who said I was supposed to be teaching another class.  Hmmm...  So I tried to track the info and eventually determined that I had been assigned a section of the beginning biology tutorial that no one had mentioned.  These are small sections because the beginning biology class has 500 students.  But where, and when, and teach what?  Well, I have finally figured out where and when, and I just wing it and we discuss the sorts of things that are covered in every beginning biology class.  So I missed a few lectures and we have met on the lawn due to the lack of a classroom but the class is composed of 30 very earnest pre-meds from all over Africa. 

Meanwhile Priscilla and I have been navigating the bureaucratic channels of the University to get an id card, residency and what not.  This is a LOT of time in offices, but people are mostly quite friendly and mellow (let's not rush on anything unless we must get to some government office NOW!) -- all of these processes are still ongoing and are nearly impossible to describe in any coherent manner.   

We have also been navigating the University's maintenance channels to get the endless problems at our flat fixed.  This is also still ongoing. Perhaps on Wednesday we will get a new hot water tank! And by the way: why in the world would you put an electric hot water heater in an upstairs closet in a climate like this?  And then position the overflow valve so that boiling hot water lands on the front door mat?

I soon found that my research plan for the Okovango was not practical.  It would take at least a year to have a slot at HOORC and the appropriate research permits, etc.  I have spoken with the faculty who engage in ecology an botanical pursuits about collaborations -- something may come of this but I think pursuing independent project may be better.  There is much talk about research but I haven't actually seen much evidence of it.  Identifying field sites is difficult due to transportation and permission issues. Tomorrow we'll be going to scout out a potential project in a mountain aloe population just outside the town of Molepolole.

Recently, the former head of International Programs, John Holms, gave a talk about a recent article of his in the Chronicle concerning the lack of research at African Universities.  He posited that this was due to the extensive familial ties that "bind" an African and make it difficult for them to commit to research projects.  He discussed the family ties in terms of the "cattle post".  Most middle-aged Batswana are of rural origin and have a piece of land with cattle where they love to spend as much time as possible with their relatives.  The number of cattle a man has is extremely important.  We are hoping to get invited to one of these cattle posts.  John's presentation created quite a ruckus on campus.  I think he may have underestimated the impact of the remarkable amount of time that is drained away by the filling out of forms, four-hour faculty meetings, and other bureaucratic necessities.  
See the link below for a recent article about the aftermath of his presentation.

http://www.sundaystandard.info/article.php?NewsID=8769&GroupID=4

For the last week UB has been on strike.  Mostly for me this meant an information vacuum -- not knowing if classes were going to meet or not.  The Biology building has been quiet except for students wandering around trying to determine of their next exam will be canceled or not.  I don't want to get into the issues here.

So that's it.  It has been a unique experience and the saving grace has been the wonderful people we have met whom have exhibited remarkable amounts of patience and kindness.   If you want to see some good smiles just say "Dumela!"