Main Mall MANIA!!

After leaving the NGO we finally got dropped off at the Main Mall! While we were here we were able to use our price haggling skills with the different vendors and acquired some really cool souvenirs, like this 3 foot walking stick!The vendors had lots of hand crafted wood figures, paintings, earrings and necklaces. The outdoor market was surrounded by a courtyard that also had different shops and boutiques. It was definitely a fun experience to be able to acquire some local arts and crafts to take back home with us! We walked back to campus looking like tourist with our backpacks and cameras and got to see more scenery of Botswana . I think it's safe to say everyone thoroughly enjoyed the market!

Sharee Ashford
Fort Valley Wildcat to GSU Eagle
Biology Major

Meeting with the community

Today we met with the people from the community and got to know them and discussed about the organic gardening project that begins tomorrow. I think both parties felt good and excited about working together, although it seems like none of us are experts in gardening. I guess we are going to be learning together. Today was sunny and warm and we had a good time enjoying snacks with the locals at Somarleang Tikologo. We also learned about transplanting and pest control from an organic gardener, so tomorrow we get to test our skills.

Silvia Tamminen
International Studies major
Tue June 1st

Media links

Local media came to see us off:

http://www.wtoc.com/global/story.asp?s=12547332WTOC-TV - Savannah
http://www.statesboroherald.com/section/1/article/23130/preview/Statesboro HeraldVideo: http://www.statesboroherald.com/multimedia/1375/Statesboro Herald

Pictures at long last

Here's the picture from our arrival. South Africa is all geared up for the World Cup. And in true capitalistic form, Coca-cola is a proud sponsor. We will attend match 12 between New Zealand and Slovakia. We are all excited about the opportunity.

This picture was taken at the pottery factory on Saturday, May 29th. We spent the day tour the sites surrounding Gaborone.

Next we traveled to the one of the painted rock sites. The San (bushmen) used this area for safe harbor. Some of the paintings have faded, but the site was fascinating.

Donna K. Fisher

June 1, 2010

I bless the rains down in Africa!

We made it! After a long and bumpy flight across the atlantic, we arrived safe and sound to Johannesburg. We had a brief overnight stay in the city, and then began our journey to Gaborone, Botswana. It was amazing to see the beautiful landscape and mountains along the way, and we've all been taking lots of pictures! The past few days we have been getting a feel for the capitol city here and the surrounding area! With a campus and city tour, visit to an ancient tribal rock painting site, traditional cultural village, national museum and monument, we have all begun to experience the local culture here. The weather has been cold and wet the past few days, which is not common at all since we are in the "dry season", but we are adjusting! We begin work with Somarelang Tikologo, an environmental NGO, in the morning and will continue our classes with Dr. Fisher and Dr. Charles as well. This has certainly been a great start to our African adventure, and we will report back soon with more posts and pictures!

Jackson Head
Senior, Regional Economic Development Major
Dublin, GA

Botswana at last

We've made it. This is actually day three of our travels. The students are all happy and healthy, although they are finding the food a bit interesting (weird as they say, but they're learning to say different).

The group met up at the Atlanta airport on the 26th for our 15 hour flight. Most of us were able to sleep at least for a few hours.

The internet is spotty right now so I'll only post one picture for now.