Botswana Community in the UK have decided to launch a fund raiser as our response to the President of Botswana ’s appeal for everybody to assist with the Covid-19 pandemic however they can. We are aiming to raise £5,000 which will be used to provide food for families in Botswana who cannot afford to feed themselves because the lock-down has made it impossible for them to earn their living in the usual way – producing traditional items such as clay pots, straw baskets, wood carvings, leather crafts, beaded necklaces, bushman paintings, etc and selling them to live from hand to mouth. Many of them were close to starving anyway so this has been the last straw! See here for examples of arts and crafts produced in Botswana, particularly in rural areas.

Remember the film A United Kingdom - the story of King Seretse Khama of Botswana and how his loving but controversial marriage to a British white woman, Ruth Williams , put his kingdom into political and diplomatic turmoil. Remember The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency - a TV series about a lady detective in Botswana based on the books written by Alexander McCall Smith. Botswana is a land locked country just above South Africa the size of Texas with the population of Wales. Though it's famous for the Okavango Delta - the largest delta in the world that doesn't empty into a sea - and is very popular for it's wildlife safaris - it's in lock-down now because of the Covid-19 pandemic and nobody's going there now! Batswana - as people from Botswana are called - are normally a happy peace loving people, who remember that only the British Government prevented them from becoming a part of South Africa during apartheid, aren't very happy now and need your help!