Artifi cial Insemination (AI) is an improved and effi cient method of reproduction in all living things including humans, goats and ants among others. AI in cattle production was introduced in Botswana in the early 1960s with the aim of improving the quality of the national herd, and it has been adopted by many farmers in both communal and private land across the country. This paper observes that AI has signifi cantly improved the quantity and quality of cattle produced by Batswana farmers and has allowed Botswana beef to be competitive in the international beef market. The cattle production, which has traditionally been critical to the economy, has contributed signifi cantly to Botswana’s gross domestic product (GDP) and the general development of the country. This paper traces the government effort at better cattle breeding effort to livestock improvement centres (LICs) traceable to the colonial period in the 1920s and the bull subsidy scheme which was introduced in 1964. The discussion on AI in Botswana also considers the challenges faced by the scheme from its inception to the turn of the new millennium.
The village of Molepolole, in southeastern Botswana, has long been known to experience an unusually high incidence of lightning activity. In an effort to verify this claim scientifically, two CIGRE lightning flash counters with standard antennae were installed at Gaborone and Molepolole in August 1992. This paper presents a summary of the results obtained over the four complete lightning seasons since then. Overall, the lightning ground flash density in Molepolole was 34% greater than in Gaborone. The 25-year mean annual rainfall in Gaborone is 12% more than in Molepolole, while the corresponding figure over the four-year period of observation was 22%. The mean number of ground flashes per mm of rain in Molepolole and Gaborone were found to be 25.5 and 15.5 respectively - a 64% higher figure in Molepolole - suggesting that the difference in lightning activity between the two locations cannot be meteorological or climatological in origin. Various other possibilities, based on topographical and geological causes, are discussed.
The X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) technique is applied to study Ni-Cu orebodies which are fed into the concentrator and smelter at Selebi Phikwe (22.00° S, 27.50° E), Botswana. An XRPD Diffractometer with a Cu anode, producing X-rays of wavelengths X{ = 1.54060 Â1 and K2 = 1.54439 Â is used, with X2 stripped off. The five samples studied contain pyrrhotite, pentlandite chalcopyrite and small amounts of magnetite, bunsenite, chalcocite and penrosite minerals. The largest intensity d- values for Selebi mine samples are 2.0641 Â for pyrrhotite, 1.7763 Â for pentlandite, 3.0366 Â for chalcopyrite. Other ?/-values corresponding to the interatomic spacing of the other crystal planes are also obtained for all the five samples. Using the obtained XRPD data and crystallographic relations, we obtain the lattice parameters for tetragonal chalcopyrite as a=b=5.3069 Â and c=10.3836 Â, cubic pentlandite as a=b=c=10.0487 Â, and hexagonal pyrrhotite as a=b=6.8820 Â and c=22.8037 Â.
The opportunity cost of those caring for HIV/AIDS clients is enormous. The probability of family caregivers contracting the virus due to exposure is high . Consequently, the caregiving environment is fraught with fear of infection. In Botswana Home Based Care (HBC) is seen as both a strategy and a solution of dealing with problems such as a lack of capacity in the health care delivery system and inadequate resources for HIV/AIDS care and management. Conversely, the burden of care and the human suffering experienced by HIV/AIDS patients and their families cannot be over-emphasised. The purposes of this paper are to: (1) assess human suffering experienced by both HIV/AIDS persons and their caregivers; (2) examine some of the challenges facing caregivers in HIV/AIDS care and management in a home care setting; (3) discuss the progress and implementation of home based care in Botswana. Introduction and background Historically, the sick have been cared for in the context of the family, and children in adult life have taken care of their elderly parents. Care giving in the home was mostly limited to the elderly, children and disabled persons, and the numbers of those cared for were low. With the advent of the human immune deficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) there is a role reversal in caring. Parents find themselves in a very difficult situation caring for their dying children, or breadwinners. In Botswana home based care programmes are characterised by severely sick people, and the numbers in home care continue to rise substantially due to HIV/ AIDS. HIV/AIDS demands more difficult care over much longer periods of time than used to be needed only a generation ago. The literature indicates that care giving involves a commitment of time and effort that may be made at a high price to the self. Nodding (1984) posits that for care giving to be complete, it has to be recognised by the cared-for person, which is at times hard to establish. Another potential risk associated with caring for HIV/AIDS clients is the increased probability of contracting the virus due to exposure. For instance, if the caregiver has become too committed to caring for the other, they cannot be preoccupied with self, thus compliance with universal precautions to prevent cross- infection could be neglected, and as a result the caregivers' own health needs may be compromised. Similarly, Jaggar & Bordo ( 1 992) point out that the essential aspect of caring is that it involves a displacement from one's own interests to the interests of the one cared for. Caring affects the one caring because she must become engrossed in the other. It also affects the cared-for because that individual's needs are met by others, and because that individual must somehow respond and accept the care offered. They further argue that caring cannot simply be a romanticised notion of selflessness, nor can it occur if the self remains aloof. Family care giving as a social phenomenon implies that there is a social and political dimension to it. To gain some understanding in home based care a review of the concept is critical. The concept of community home based care (CHBC) was introduced in 1992 when it became clear that public hospitals were not coping with the increasing number of AIDS patients. The development of the CHBC system began two years later. The first two pilot projects started in Tutume and Molepolole. Until then family members had to care for relatives living with HIV and
The one-humped camel has been introduced to many regions outside its natural area of distribution in North Africa, the Near and Middle East, as well as South Asia. Camels were imported into four separate entities in Southern Africa at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentiethcenturies. Colonial Botswana (or Bechuanaland Protectorate) was one of these but obtained camels mainly from the Cape of Good Hope (part of the Union of South Africa from 1910) as the territory was essentially administered from Cape Town. These animals were used by the police for regular patrols in the sandy Kgalagadi Desert and for postal deliveries. The police force continued to use camels on patrols until the 1970s and retained them until 2001. At this time the camels were handed over to local communities with the intention of developing a tourist industry based on camel safaris. Little is known about camel diseases in Botswana but antibodies to bluetongue virus were identified in the 1970s. In the early twenty-first century there are probably just over 200 camels in Botswana. This paper describes in detail the use of camels in police work, postal duties, and as a potential for tourism.
Botswana is interlaced with sand rivers. Many of them are dry most of the time. Some sand rivers run every rainy season; how much depends on the amount of rain and the catchment area. One famous sand river in Botswana (coming from Namibia) is the Nossob in the Kgalagadi Trans-Frontier Park. Its major flood was over 90 years ago. One of many other ancient sand rivers is the Okwa that dissects Botswana from Namibia (known there as Chapman’s) into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) towards the Boteti River.
Derek Jones arrived in this country in 1954, accompanied by his newly married wife, Joan to take up the post of District Superintendent of the London Missionary Society (LMS) in Maun. He might then have assumed or perhaps even wished that his role would be no different from those of the many LMS missionaries who had preceded him. Yet within 12 years, and in startling contrast, he was Mayor of a national capital, Gaborone, which had not previously existed, and dancing with Princess Marina in the Independence Ball.
Botswana’s Diamonds by Mike Brook, Group Manager-Hydrogeology at Debswana, is a welcome addition to the literature. It covers the discovery and development of diamonds and the recent moves to process and add value to diamonds within the country, thus adding jobs, creating incomes and building additional benefits for the nation—this is called ‘beneficiation’. Mike Brook’s first volume is still available at Excusive Books, Crocodile Pools Botswana: History and Biodiversity (Mmegi 7 October 2011).
This paper uses the data from 2011 Population and Housing Census (PHC) to examine levels and trends in adult mortality in Botswana using information on the distribution of deaths and population by age. Estimates of mortality indicate that mortality levels in Botswana have gone down between 2001 and 2011 nationally and across all districts. The data also shows that gains in life expectancy favoured urban areas to rural areas. The gains in life expectancy experienced in the 1980s and reversed in 2001 have been regained, may be as a result of scaling up access the provision of antiretroviral treatment since 2001 (Avert 2012, WHO 2014). The sex differentials in mortality are still observed.
This book aptly captures a ‘neglected’ topic from a historical and cultural perspective. The book starts by giving a historical background of the Bakalanga, and states that ‘The art and culture of food is the art of life’ (p.16). It situates the ‘business of cooking’ amongst the Bakalanga within a social relations context at individual, family and community level
Although Botswana is arguably a liberal democracy that guarantees freedom of speech and expression, political humour is not a tool that is often used to enjoy such freedoms save a few stand up comedians through the Comedy for the Nation of Botswana series (also known as ‘Laff-A-Lot’). Hence, Thapelo Ndlovu’s Dear Power Monologues is a welcome addition to the contours of freedom of speech and expression in Botswana. Nobody is safe from his acerbic tongue: Africans leaders such as Botswana’s Ian Khama, South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Swaziland’s King Mswati, Libya’s Kaddafi; Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, Congo’s Joseph Kabila, Malawi’s Joyce Banda, Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan, and Zambia’s Michael Sata are lampooned. In no small measure, Ndlovu is Botswana’s Michael Moore (see Dude Where’s My Country?).
After more than four decades of independence, Botswana, like other post-colonial transitional societies, is still faced with the continuing task of reconciling plural legal systems inherited from the former colonial power at institutional, process and value levels. As was the pattern in the rest of Anglo-phone Africa, at independence the country chose to retain the dual legal system. However, in relation to criminal law, Botswana dispensed with dualism of law while retaining dualism of the courts. She opted for criminal law anchored on a penal code based on the English common law to be applied by all courts, and partially standardised criminal procedure rules for customary courts. Thus, the basic model of dispute processing in criminal matters is based primarily on the legal formalist approach of the common law courts. This runs counter to the general scheme of dispute processing at customary law which was inherently more flexible and offered various entry points into, and options in the construction of disputes. Limiting these processes at customary law has been a major source of friction between indigenous and received courts as well as between the traditional leadership and politicians. Using an illustrative case, this article shows how the dispute process has become more unpredictable and complex under current arrangements. More specifically, it shows how different dispute resolution mechanisms, especially the courts, try to navigate
This paper investigates factors associated with HIV prevalence among young people aged 15-19 years in Botswana. The paper utilises aggregated Botswana Aids Impact Survey I and II data sets to establish factors associated with HIV prevalence and whether there has been change in behaviours between the period 2001 and 2004. The paper used both the descriptive and multivariate analyses in establishing factors that could be responsible for the declining HIV prevalence among 15-19 year olds. There is ample evidence to show that between BAIS I and BAIS II, young people's knowledge on HIV/AIDS has improved. Secondly, there is evidence that some of their risky behaviours have positively changed such as decrease in multiple sexual partnerships and increased condom use. However, there are some negative developments that can be observed from the results of this paper. For instance, there is a significant increase in the number of youth who indulge in alcohol consumption. The results show that youth who are more likely to indulge in alcohol consumption are males, out of school youth, those with less education and disadvantaged youth. Another disturbing observation is that there is no significant decline in the number of young people who had sex before attaining age 16. In order to sustain the decline in HIV prevalence, it is evident from the findings that the youth in Botswana have to change certain behaviours. Female empowerment also appears to be an important area where policy and programme intervention is called for.
