Botswana

April 19, 2011
CULTURAL DIFFERENCES/SIMILARITIES

So cultural differences? They’ve been asking us this all throughout training. I don’t know, maybe we’re near a city? But I don’t necessarily see THAT much of a difference. My sisters and I have the radio blasting all the time…and we’re belting out the songs. Bruno Mars. Celine Dion. Justin Bieber. It’s the same music! Sometimes, when we’re in the mood to dance, we find the house music station. So in terms of differences in music…we listen to the same music here. At least my generation knows all the top 40 hits in the US…I guess, I can say it’s top 40 hits in the world…since I’m here in Botswana. The only difference I see, is that they’re not so big on silence. They always have a radio on. If not, then they always have the TV blasting. But to be honest, I really don’t mind it, cuz I’m not very good with silence either.

Idols? Ya…my sister covers her notebooks with pictures to help individualize them and to help get them to last longer. What does she plaster all over her notebooks? Rihanna. Lady Gaga. Britney Spears. Jaden Smith. Sandra Bullock. And they don’t plaster just random pictures that they found…they really like these people. Read all their gossip. Listen to all their songs. Watch all their movies. Tell me…how insanely different is that from the US?! I don’t know, maybe it’s my family. But the other LCFs (Language Cultural Facilitors) seem to be on the same page as them as well. In fact, the only real Botswana addiction that I see here is a TV show called Generations. Otherwise, I’m watching Oprah, Tyra, Two and Half Men, My Super Sweet Sixteen, and some Korean Soap Opera, Jandi. In fact, that’s more culture than I used to watch back in the states…come to think of it! They love Beyonce. They can do the Single Ladies dance. They had me playing Bruno Mars – Grenade on repeat (which is funny, cuz I’ve had that on repeat a good number of times too). My sisters are like any other teenagers in America, but with a Botswana accent.

Another thing that I found fascinating. Is that there are little tidbits on Japan and their culture. They have little 10 minute mini-shows about Japan, their food, their monuments, their traditions. We don’t even have informational cultural shows on normal TV in the US. They seem to really try to expand people’s imaginations and understandings of other cultures. So we have mini-documentaries about Japan. And we have Korean soap operas. My sisters completely understand that there are multiple types of Asians in this world, and have no problem wrapping their mind around the idea that I am Chinese, but that I am American. 

Being gay in Botswana is illegal. But on their most popular show in Generations, they have a gay couple (or they had just broken up). I’ve had talks with the Batswana that are in my generation, and they have absolutely no problem with homosexuality. In fact, they love them to be their best friends as well. Many are open about their sexuality preferences. It really only becomes an uncomfortable topic as the generations age. And exactly how different is that from the US? Besides the fact that it is legal in the US…people still have the same reactions. And I am sure as time passes, and my generation becomes older, sexuality preferences will no longer be an issue here, just like in the US.

HIV/AIDS, I will get into that later. I need to delve a little more. It’s a harder subject to breach. But it is anywhere. So I’ll get back to you on that.

Food is also another subject all in itself…I will get into that later too. This is probably the main difference I have encountered.

Maybe I just got lucky with my family, where they are educated and understanding. But from what I’ve seen so far, they aren’t all that much different from us. We laugh at the same jokes. We watch the same shows. We listen to the same music. We can have real conversations. The only difference between the US and Botswana is a slower development of infrastructure (and food, but that’s a different story)…but I believe that it will get there. The US has had a bit more of a head start on that (and more money). But Botswana is trying. And that is what matters.