KalahariLog

Sweeping the dirt around the house is a daily tradition in Botswana. It must be done with a "Tswana broom" which is well described by another American visitor as "about 50 strands of long dried out loose straw, which are tied 3 inches from the top end with a cord made from dried out weed." The main difference between a traditional broom and a Tswana broom is that the business end of the local broom is much smaller and circular. In the morning, along with the chattering of waking birds, come the sounds of women sweeping their yards. As I walk to work, I see them too. Very rarely, there is a man sweeping but it happens. After the sweeping there are beautiful patterns left in the dirt. One local lady told us that the patterns are made in order to help to spot if a snake has slithered in your house. These days, in the capital, there aren't many snakes, but the patterns are still a pleasure to see.

The tradition of sweeping the yard every day, however, doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't trash elsewhere in the city. On the contrary, I see people throwing their trash on the ground, the moment they are done with the cup of soda, or the styrofoam container of food. Cans and bottles fly out of car windows regularly too. Near the combi stops it's the worst: candy wrappers, phone-cards, cigarette butts, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, broken glass. There are piles of discarded plastic bags on every corner, and when the wind blows they fly up and get snagged in the trees. This is a serious enough problem that at least one city, Francistown, is considering banning plastic bags altogether! Bans on plastic bags seem a good idea to me: even San Francisco recently had a vote on the issue and they voted to do so. People tell me that Botswana is really garbage-free compared to most other African countries. As with most other things, it's all relative: compared to the US, there is noticeably more trash on the streets. On the other hand, compared to Germany and Switzerland, the US is much worse.