Kgotla Meeting

Yesterday I got to go to my first ever Kgotla meeting in my village. Pretty exciting huh? What's a Kgotla meeting you ask? Well the Kgotla is the place in the village where the Kgosi (chief of the village) works, so the village holds meetings at the Kgotla to discuss issues or concerns in the village. The organization of power in most villages in Botswana is the Kgosi, Assistant Kgosi, Kgosana or Headmen (the heads of the different wards within the village, Machaneng has 7 wards and 6 Kgosana, the one ward doesn't have a Kgosana because it is a newer ward where the Jr. Secondary School was built), and the Village Development Committee (VDC). Here's a picture of what the Main Kgotla looks like (each ward has a smaller Kgotla where issues within the ward are discussed and talked about, but the Main Kgotla is used for bigger issues).

 

Some of the really important people in the District came to Machaneng today to talk about issues within the village and talk about the funding of youth activities. I went to see what a meeting was like and because the Out-of-School Youth Officer and I needed to talk to the District Commissioner about using this building that he is in-charge of for the preschool we want to start. The meeting was supposed to start at 2:30pm so I left my house around 2:45ish because things never start on time in Botswana. When I got to the Kgotla I was surprised to see that the meeting had started on time and there were lots of people already there. I decided to sit under one of the trees because I didn't want to be disruptive and the meeting was all in Setswana I didn't think I needed to be up where all the important people were sitting. After a few minutes I noticed a group of children gathering around me. I tried to ignore them since the meeting was going on and once again I didn't want to be disruptive. Soon I had children sitting all around me giggling and staring at the "lekgoa". A little while later a woman came over to me and told me to go sit in the Kgotla (the main building), so I went cause I didn't want to be disrespectful. Once I got to the Kgotla I notice there weren't really any chairs for me to sit in except for one empty one up front where all the important people were sitting. I decided to go sit in the back on the floor. After a few minutes another women came over to me and told me to go sit in the chair. In the Botswana culture men are supposed to have seats first and if there are none left then women sit on the floor, so I thought I was just being respectful by not taking the empty chair. I told her I was fine where I was, mainly because I didn't think I was important enough to be sitting up with the Kgosi and District Heads. Guess I was wrong because a few minutes later I was told again to go sit in the empty chair next to Kgosi Sarona. This time a obeyed because I figured refusing would have been disrespectful. So the next couple hours I spent listening to speeches made by the District Head and various individuals for the community. It was all in what I like to call Setswanglish (Setswana with some English mixed in) so I was able to pick up a little bit of what they were talking about. They talked about the libraries and how there needs to be more emphasis on reading in the community, funding for various things like youth sponsored things, and more funding for music and the arts in the youth, and more funding for youth development in sports. All pretty good things from what I picked up. As I was sitting there trying to understand what was being said I noticed my posse of children had followed me and were now sitting on the other side of the wall from me. A couple of times they got a little loud and were kindly told to quite down. I guess I was just more interesting to the children then whatever they were talking about during the meeting. Towards the end of the meeting the Out-Of-School Youth Group preformed a skit about Multiple Concurrent Partnerships and how that can easily spread HIV. It was really good and I even got a video that I will try to post sometime. It amazes me how talented these youth are. They had a DVD they were selling for P50 and the District Head of Youth and Sports said he would buy one for P500! The group was really excited! They want me to buy one from them but I told them I would if they make one with English subtitles.

After the meeting the Out-of-School Youth Officer and I were able to talk to the District Commissioner about the building we wanted to use. Unfortunately he said the Wildlife Department had already asked to use the abandoned building so we wouldn't be able to use it. On the brighter side Kgosi Sarona and a VDC member said they would look into letting us use the old preschool building. The Out-of-School Youth Group had sent the VDC a letter a few weeks ago about being able to use the old preschool but the VDC didn't really understand why they wanted the building. After talking to the VDC member, she said we could come to the next VDC meeting and explain what our project plans are. Things are looking good, especially since Kgosi Sarona thinks the project is a good idea. I just hope we will be able to convince the other VDC members as well.