A number of journalists are using new media tools to report and monitor the elections. The team attended a two-day workshop organised by African Elections Project and Media Institute of Southern Africa (Botswana Chapter) in Gaborone on 28-29 September 2009.

All African Elections Project bloggers are first time bloggers. Blogging has not yet become popular in Botswana as in other African countries such as Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Liberia and South Africa.

Filling The Gap is an interactive blog by Ephraim Keoreng, a Botswana based socio-political journalist.

His latest post is titled, Five Foreign Judges Sit On Motswaledi Appeal:

Five judges from South Africa today sat over an appeal by suspended ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) secretary general Gomolemo Motswaledi.

Motswaledi had sought the courts to seek redress over the president's decision to suspend him from the party. the 60 day suspension has made it impossible for the secretary geenral who was expected to represent the party at the Gaborone Central constituency as MP candidate, to be nominated to IEC as the deadline has since passed (whilst he was still under suspension).

Kutlwano Tina Mosime blogs at Free & Fair is Straight Up!

We believe in a free and fair electoral system and don't condone vote rigging. We are Watching: Botswana General Elections, 16 October 2009.

Kutlwano posts a press release from the Botswana Team of the African Elections Project:

The African Elections Project (AEP) www.africanelections.org will be covering Botswana’s 10th general election, taking place on October 16 2009, to elect parliamentary and council representatives. AEP in conjunction with its partners, Media Institute For Southern Africa (MISA) www.misa.org held a two-day workshop aimed at equipping journalists with cutting edge Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) skills in elections coverage in Gaborone on 28-29 September 2009.

Keeping an Eye on 2009 Botswana General Elections is written by Tshiamo Tabane:

This blog will give readers such as reseachers, analysts and other interested readers imperative information concerning, Botswana 2009 General elections. This blog will also highlight on controversial issues associated with elections.

His latest entry is about election related court cases:

The 2009 Botswana General elections are surronded by court cases including the president of the president of the ruling party Ian Khama suspending the seccretary general of the party Gomolemo Motswaledi.

Kaombona is a senior reporter with Echo Newspaper. He blogs at Talking Elections 2009.

He writes about financial problems facing local observers:

Local election observer mission Botswana Electoral Support Network (BESnet) which is made up of non governmental organisations say they are faced with financial limitations which will compel them not to observe elections in all the polling stations around the country.

The Elections Bug blog is written by Jowawa Mothusi, a 2nd year Journalism student at Limkokwing University and a freelance journalist for Mmegi Youth News as well as Inner City News.

Soldiers encouraged to vote, he writes:

The Commander of the Botswana Defence Force Army Commander General Tebogo Masire has taken to the road on an end of year mission aimed at addressing all the army officers in the country…The address to the soldiers encouraged them to go out and exercise their democratic right by voting for their preferred representatives. He however cautioned the army officers against taking any political affiliation and instead remain as neutral as they could possibly be. The soldiers are expected to be among the security eyes during and after the election process to guard against any infiltration of the Electoral Act.

Patricia Maganu blogs at The Observer 2009.

While she was attending ICT training, she wrote about the importance of using new technologies to monitor elections in Africa:

I am about to complete the course on elections using ICTs and i muct say that i appreciate what PenPlusBytes and Africa Elections Project (AEP)is doing for African countries as far as this issue is concerned. God knows for how long African countries have been missing such tools to get information as instantly as possible to the people on the ground who really need it.

Bontle Tshukudu blogs at Battle Ground Open: Elections 2009. She writes about herself and her desire to see a free and fair elections in Botswana:

My name is Bontle Tshukudu, a reporter for UB Horizon newspaper.It covers news affecting students and staff in university of Botswana.Its a practice ground for young writers to polish their writing skills hence gain confidence.

i will be covering election process in Botswana and ensuring that they are free and fair. For the first time in history young Batswana have registered to vote in large numbers. Some may wonder what really urged them to register in large numbers? Is it the pintch of unempolyment, under or misemployment, lack of sponsership to further their studies, or is it that now they know its important to vote?

You can see the full list of bloggers expected to report and monitor the Botswana 2009 Elections here.

The bloggers are also sending text messages of what is happening in polling stations around the country. The messages are posted on African Elections Project Twitter page for Botswana.

They are also posting videos of events and incidents related to Elections 2009.

The 3rd season has already developed a huge amount of interest on the continent. African bloggers are currently discussing the show from a variety of angles. Bazanye wants to offer updates of Big Brother III but he does not own a TV. So what does he do? He makes them up:

Because I have no TV (ref Crime Rate) I cannot offer updates of Big Brother Africa III.
Not unless I make them up, as I shall now proceed to do.
Day I
10:40pm
Uti belches loudly and drops his hand to his belt. After a single deft gesture he has his large belt clip open, his fly unzipped and his belly is able to escape from confinement. “That was good food,” he says.
Sheila repeats the first word she uttered when she entered the house. “Fuck!” she says.
Uti, speaking drowsily, replies, “You misunderstood the reason I undid my fly. It’s because I am full. Maybe later.”
Sheila is disgusted and walks away from the table to join a gaggle of other housemates who have drifted towards the fridge. She leaves Morris at the table. Morris is looking at Uti enviously. “How did you do that?”
“How I opened my fly so fast and with only one hand?”
“No, I mean how do you repulse women so fast? I am a pretty boy so I don’t know how to do that.”
He then adds, “Shwinggg!” and walks away, too.
Mimi’s head is literally inside the fridge. She is that eager for a drink. Takondwa is looking at her bum.
11:00pm
Munya and Lucille are having a conversation. “As I said in my intro montage,” Munya brags, “Zimbabweans are the ultimate hustlers.”
“Do you really think that is the best thing to say to the rest of Africa about Zimbabwe?”
“Why? What’s wrong?” he continues grinning because he really doesn’t know what is wrong.
12:00-next morning
Uti farts all night long.

Felix writes a 2-part series about BBA. After briefly discussing other reality shows such as Apprentice Africa, The Ultimate Search, he focuses on Big Brother Africa III:

Let me try and describe the whole scenario, they come into the house, six boys and six girls, youths with hormones pumping like wild fire, desperate to win the prize money of 100,000USD, knowing the craziest in the house or better still the wildest, which means taking showers naked on live television,… Each housemate will scheme and play the game hard in order to be the last man or woman standing to win 100,000 US dollars; while audiences watch every minute and every second of their lives in the house live on satellite TV. Not forgetting those hot and steamy shower hours where everything comes off in the full glare of the Big Brother lenses, and the organizers of the show in other to make this happen, they arrange a cozy, luxury two bedroom apartment with small rooms, and share the participants to be 3boys and 3girls to a room and they are welcomed with enough food, drinks, cigarette and music to swing into the mood of getting to know each other fast enough for action to start taking place in the house.
Funny thing is, I find it really fascinating how watching a group of people sitting around, talking, eating and sleeping? Can be entertaining, yet you get millions of fans going to bed late, because they are waiting for the housemates to go to bed first or hoping some action like what happened in the last edition will reoccur, some might say it’s the Shower Hour( the most watched session), but the truth remains, its gets a lot of fans hooked to the screen, even me…(lol) sometimes.

Is BBA a vehicle for encouraging immorality and promiscuity?

My questions are what is the average Africa youth to benefit from Big Brother Africa which without a doubt has become one of the most followed reality series in Africa and M-net, producers of the show got massive auditions across the 12 countries for season 3. BBA2 received over 900,000 SMS messages; over 14 million registered page impressions and over 4 million viewed video clips on the show’s website and which of course means the organizers of this show are really smiling to the banks each season. My other question now being what value is being delivered? Or are we being westernized to the point where we aimlessly follow a show that is immoral and a vehicle encouraging immorality, promiscuity… but whatever you views are, if you are watching (like I am), it means you asked for what you are getting.

“Isnt homosexuality the issue anymore?,”Kenyan Gay Man asks:

The Kenyan representative in BBA stated that she is bisexual and her strategy would be to sleep with all the women first then go for the dudes. This was even reported in The Standard friday magazine.

I was expecting the usual Kenyan reaction with politicians leading the way about morals and homosexuality etc. However, except for Hot 96 fm digress Am I the only one who listens to this station and really love the music? end of digress..erm where was I, oh yes, except for Hot 96fm, I have not heard anyone else comment about this declaration.

Imagine if the contestant was a man and he declared that he would first seduce all the dudes before he takes on the chiles! Now that would be something but that aside, the reaction would be swift and take the Kenya headlines.

Bella Naija does not think the Nigerian contestant, Uti, will win:

I still have a big question mark as per the Nigerian rep. Sorry but off the bat, dont think he will win…Hope I am proven wrong tho but as per first impressions…hmmmm

BTW, the Angolan guy (Ricco) and Latoya (TZ) have already had a mini hookup! within 12 hours of being in the house!

“The guys are kinda cute,” writes Linda Ikeji:

Big Brother Africa is back and I'm so so delighted with their selection this time around. The guys are kinda cute…
I just finished watching shower hour…hmmm…I repeat, the guys are kinda cute…well packed. lol

Sheila, the Kenyan contestant seem to attract a lot of attention from viewers. Is she a bully?:

Oh yes Sheila Kwamboka is a bully in the house. She has bright ideas and feels frustrated if nobody listens to her so she turns to bullying. But she's a friendly bully.

Sheila also led a group so desperate to gossip that they locked themselves in the toilet. They could not leave even when another housemate wanted to use it. That was a shame!

Vybez says that the prize is hers:

She is 23 years old , wild and keeping it real 24/7. This time all eyes are on her coz if the other contestants don’t watch it, the prize money is hers. The only forminadable threat or compe is from Mimi the Ghanaian chiq and Towana the Botwasana chiq. Go gal that prize money is ours…lol.

Wanjiku writes about the fake nominations, which took place at the beginning of the week:

The honeymoon is over for the housemates as the inevitable nominations began. They’ve no clue that the nominations are fake and eviction on Sunday will be fake too.
So who nominated who? And why?

Africancorp posts photos of the contestants. Times Multimedia has a video.

The Evil Ship

KOGY calls the Chinese ship carrying weapons destined for Zimbabwe “the evil ship”:

As the evil ship carrying weapons of mass destruction is stranded in the South African coast, there are cries for ‘freedom' everywhere in Zimbabwe today. The once prosperous country full of happy people has now turned into an unwanted hunger and disease stricken country. The economy is in shambles, the country is in crisis because the ruling party does not want to release the results of the elections which everyone else besides Zanu PF believe Mugabe lost. The Zimbabwe government has now turned to acquiring weapons of mass destruction, to destroyed the same people whom they want us to believe they voted for Mugabe to remain in power.

Hope questions the logic of buying weapons during “abnormal times”:

Can a transaction in arms ever be considered ‘normal’ during abnormal times?
I’m nothing more than a confused Zimbabwean, but I want to know what happens when the postman arrives at the door of Zimbabwe’s State House asking for the President to sign for the delivery… who signs for it?

Who will come to Zimbabwes aid?:

Already the illegal government is busy buying arms from China either using aid money meant for ordinary Zimbabweans or mortgaging the country's natural resources for the exchange of arms that it intends to use on ordinary unarmed civilians whose sole crime is vote Mugabe and Zanu PF out of power. The Chinese vessel failed to offload its cargo in South Africa thanks to the members of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) who refused to offload the weapons and is said to be heading towards Angola or Namibia and we know Angola sides with Mugabe so as does Namibia and the world's superpowers should halt that consignment reaching a blood thirst dictator. If the world does not act now there will be catastrophe in Zimbabwe.

Sokwanele calls for action:
Send a Portuguese email to stop the ‘An Yue Jiang':

This relates to our action post (at this link), where we are collating efforts and ideas to stop the An Yue Jiang from delivering Chinese weapons to Zimbabwe.
Feel free to copy and paste the text below to send emails to Portuguese speaking recipients. We’ve kept the wording non-specific so you can use it for a variety of organisations. Include a personal English comment underneath this text if you would like to do so.
A very big thank-you to CC for the Brazilian-Portugese translation.

Stop the An Yue Jiang from delivering Chinese weapons to Zimbabwe.

They have posted a petition by Avaaz, a gobal web movement, and have also developed an ‘Action Contact Database':

The response from everyone to the campaign to stop weapons on board the An Yue Jiang from reaching Zimbabwe has been phenomenal. A wealth of information and contacts poured in to us, but finding all the contributions amongst all the comments was a little overwhelming.

In response, we have developed an ‘Action Contact Database‘.

Morgan Tsvangirai

Following the reports that the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is not planning to go back to Zimbabwe soon from Botswana, Bev Clark writes, “If I had my way I’d put him on a shuttle and send him straight to Mars.”:

I’ve read that Morgan Tsvangirai believes that shuttle diplomacy is the way to go right now. If I had my way I’d put him on a shuttle and send him straight to Mars. I read in the Zimbabwe Independent that Tsvangirai, his family and his advisers have set up camp in Botswana because Zimbabwe is too dangerous. I’m not sure how much more insulting one can get but Tsvangirai certainly takes the cake.
I was at a lunch on Saturday and I just wish Tsvangirai could have been there because the derision with which his name was uttered would surely have made him sit up and take note. I wrote recently about finding these ridiculous stickers in Newlands in Harare likening Tsvangirai to Mandela . . . yeah right.

Kubatana asked Zimbabweans to send their views about Tsvangirai's decision to stay in Botswana. They texted their views to Kubatana:

He has to come back & instill confidence in the electorate but obviously he has to be security conscious lest he runs into a booby trap.

—–

He should come back so that we face this war together he is our man.

—–

Tell Tsvangirai to come back. Lets fight together they can arrest him yes but the revolution spirit will never die.

—–

Tsvangirai should not take refuge in a foreign country. He must come back home and face the reality. He should be like a Kalilombe which sacrifices itself up to death.

—–

What would u do if there is no one to protect you? He is right.

Post-Election Violence

We are going back to war:

The same person who sent us this message also advised us that someone he knows in the Macheke area saw two youngsters walking down the road with AKs slung over their shoulders. He asked another person - a war vet he had a friendly relationship with - what it was about:
The answer was, “Yes we are all being armed; we are going back to war”.

There are torture camps set by Mugabe supporters:

In the Thursday edition of The Zimbabwean there were revelations that, “Militant supporters of President Robert have set up torture camps in parts of Mashonaland East province and stepped up a terror campaign against opposition activists in the province”.
The reason for their deployment is to ensure a victory for Mugabe in their planned run-off election.
Sokwanele is able to report that we are able to verify and endorse this information with a report leaked to us by a member of the defence forces. This was received yesterday.
There are a variety of strategies being employed to hoodwink Zimbabweans, particularly those in the rural areas. What follows is a breakdown of the information we have received.

Coordinated state violence against innocent civilians:

It looks like a coordinated phase of Mugabe’s crackdown against human rights and opposition activists.
In addition to the news of the arrests, we have received further information from a trusted source who says that the awful Obert Mpofu is up to his dirty tricks and thuggery and violence in Umguza. This is what our source sent us:
Obert Mpofu, the ‘former’ Minister of International trade and Industry controls all the intimidation and violence in Matabeleland North. He was also indirectly implicated in the violent murder of Martin Olds on Independence Day in 2000.
One of Mpofu’s main henchmen is Richard Moyo, the Zanu PF Chairman for Ward 8, Umguza.
Moyo runs a store and beerhall on Cranmore farm, Umguza. He drives a new white Nissan King Cab with Zanu PF Umgusa District on the door.
Moyo is very dangerous and has been known to murder anyone getting in his way. He has a murder charge pending on him since 2005 when he beat-up and then burned to death a guy called Zenzo, who had spoken to one of his girl friends.

Hand amputations:

You may remember that I wrote a post ten days ago about information that had been sent to us about hands being cut off. I relayed the information from my contact like this:

he said a contact of his had phoned him and told him that people in the Musana Communal Lands, in the Bindura / Shamva area (Mashonaland Central), have had their hands cut off.

Read the statement concerning violence and torture from the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights and visit Kubatana's Special Post-Election Violence 2008 Page.

Protests and Riots
Students at Bindura University of Science Education protested last week:

There was mayhem in Bindura yesterday the 22nd of April 2008 when Bindura University of Science Education BUSE students joined other students at tertiary institutions countrywide in protesting against the illegal regime’s efforts to cling onto power despite losing the March 29 harmonised elections. The angry students stormed the streets at around 10am and marched from the new to the old campus site chanting protest songs. The march was disrupted by ruthless and brutal armed soldiers who forced the students to stop the protest and assaulted several students in the melee. This led to the arrest of three student leaders who were quickly whisked away and are to appear in court today charged under the notorious Public Order and Security Act (POSA).
Last week saw the opening of tertiary institutions nationwide mounted by massive protests by aggrieved students who could not take lightly the exorbitant fee hikes and the illegal delay in releasing the just ended Presidential poll results. The students vowed to continue protesting until the illegal Government of Robert Mugabe swallows its pride, accept defeat and leave office.

And there was a riot at the National University of Science and Technology:

There was a riot at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) yesterday (16 April).
We heard that several activist students called all the students from their lessons to start a boycott of classes until the Presidential results were released.
There was a slow trickle of curious students out of their classes to see what was going on, and at about this point the riot police were called in.
Things turned aggressive and the university was locked down. We believe that the activists have been arrested, but this fact has not yet been confirmed. The whereabouts of the student activists is unknown.
The student situation in Zimbabwe has been very under-reported.

Simon “Dreadman” Mudekwa, the President of the Zimbabwe Revolutionary Youth Movement was arrested while protesting outside the Chinese Embassy in South Africa. Hope would like people to show support by calling him on his mobile phone:

I just had word that Simon “Dreadman” Mudekwa, the President of the Zimbabwe Revolutionary Youth Movement, was arrested in South Africa while protesting outside the Chinese Embassy.

He is apparently, as we speak, locked up in Sunnyside Police Station - with his cell phone.

Give him a call (we can’t) and let us know in the comments what’s up. Please give him a big cheer from all who love Zimbabwe and stand with him in Solidarity.

Cell phone number: + 27 (0)79 619 2955.

South Africa is about to do the unthinkable:

But after the arrests resulting from a protest outside the Chinese embassy in South Africa, I was alerted to this via 702:

Zimbabwean exiles to be deported after illegal protest

Pretoria police say over a hundred of the Zimbabwean exiles arrested during an illegal protest outside the Chinese embassy today will be deported.

Anti-Zanu PF Tactics
Kubatana blog received tips to counter Zanu PF tactics:

Here are some useful tips sent to us by a passionate man committed to Zimbabwe’s restoration. More than take note - take some of them on!
We need to counter Zanu PF tactics
Communication 
Fliers, newspapers, rallies, SMS, emails, international media
Violence and Intimidation
Build while they burn
Support teams of activists to stand up to the bullies
We must document the violence, get it into the media and expose the perpetrators
Civil Disobedience
Create doubt among Zanu PF
Name and Shame
Expose them, assets, deals etc.
In the event of a Run-off 
Pre-election Strategies
Election Day Strategies
The ordinary person can - at no personal exposure
* Forward SMS messages of encouragement to friends and colleagues every day
* Drive with their headlights on and encourage others to do the same
* Give people lifts - especially the police and army personnel - let them do the talking
* Talk to friends about the situation - keeping positive, encouraging and creating awareness
The next steps (as people become braver) could be:
* Open palm salutes to everyone throughout the day
* More open discussion and encouragement
* The distribution of newspaper articles and fliers
From most of you we expect a lot more - we expect you to take charge, LEAD

Government of National Unity

Is there a need for a government of National Unity?:

Now we hear that they want a government of national unity, based on what? They called the elections and lost what needs to be negotiated is the smooth transition of power to MDC the choice of the people. Even Zuma the South African Presidential hopeful's ideas of a negotiation between MDC and Zanu PF should be mooted, there is nothing to negotiate, we won the election, we are ready to govern. This whole idea of that Mugabe will steal this election and declare himself a victor rule for 18 months and then hand over power to Emmerson Mnangagwa who in turn will then instigate negotiations with MDC to resume the flow of international aid and perpetuate Zanu PF's stranglehold on Zimbabwe will be rejected by people of Zimbabwe and if needs be we will defend our vote violently. 
 If I read carefully between the lines of the propaganda mouthpiece the Herald is that Mugabe and his military junta surely know that they cannot revive the economy of Zimbabwe, there want to give MDC piecemeal positions within their illegal government ignoring the outcome of the election.

Hope asks, “Is this a sign that Zanu PF are recognising they cannot simply steal the elections and get away with it?”:

The state controlled Herald (aka The Horrid) has an article today which proposes a government of National Unity lead by Robert Mugabe and outlines what they (read Zanu PF because The Herald is their mouthpiece) want SADC to do:
The Zimbabwe Government and independent international observers are agreed that the just-ended harmonised elections did not produce an outright winner in the presidential race. It is unlikely that the on-going recount will substantively alter that position.
Accordingly, it stands to reason that, the transitional government of national unity, negotiated by the two leading contending parties, under the mediation of Sadc, supported by the international community, should be led by the incumbent president.

Confusing Collage of Symbols and Slogans

Finally, Comrade Fatso describes the streets of Zimbabwe:

The streets are empty. The state has retreated. So has the opposition. All we are left with are their torn posters, pasted over each other in a confusing collage of symbols and slogans.

We also have their space-fillers. Riot police aimlessly walk the streets, batons in belts like forgotten cellphones. Or sometimes unconsciously swung in the air like a stick-picked-up-on-a-path. They walk the streets like the thousands of unemployed H-town youths. Space-fillers. Like the pothole-filling youths who have taken over the suburban streets. Stopping traffic, asking for donations, filling potholes. Unhindered.

Unfortunately, HIV/AIDS is having a devastating effect on the people of this small village. Botswana has the second highest HIV infection rate in Africa. The current rate of infection is 37% nationally and Nata's rate of infection is even higher. The pandemic has left Nata with over 400 orphans. Currently, nearly 50% of all pregnant women in Nata are HIV positive. Thankfully, Botswana has free Anti-Retroviral Therapy available for those with low CD4 (t-cell) counts. We also have a Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission program that has reduced the rate of infection from mother to child to about 5%. This website is dedicated to the people of Nata who despite enormous losses and challenges still have the courage and determination to fight the ravages of this pandemic.

In the beginning Nata village had no blog, until…:

The Nata Blog was born as a result of a world traveler, Jon Rawlinson, passing through Nata on the way to the Okavango Delta. The tour books referred to Nata as nothing more than a dust hole and he had no intention of spending any time there. But, as coincidence would have it, he met a Peace Corps Volunteer named Melody Jenkins who is working as an HIV/AIDS educator and community capacity builder. Jon was interested in seeing more than the tourist destinations of Africa and wanted to learn more about the impact of HIV/AIDS on Botswana. After just one night of meeting the locals and hearing first hand accounts of the struggle to control the spread of the disease, Jon was hooked and wanted to help. He has since been back to Nata twice and has been introduced to the Kgosi (chief) and most of the professionals working to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Nata will benefit from the fact that our world traveler is also a professional producer and editor as well as a website designer. Jon and Melody worked on a documentary about HIV/AIDS in Nata in hopes of bringing the story of Nata to the world. Jon discovered an incredible village filled with the beautiful Mokolane Palm trees lining the Nata River. Unlike most tourists, Jon wanted to do more than just snap a few photos of elephants and giraffes and return home. He wanted to make a difference and offered to design and administer this website.
After much discussion and the frustration of donations going to large organizations that rarely get to those that really need it, Jon and Melody decided to try and help the people of Nata with this website

The posts on the blog are written by Melody Jenkins, a U.S. peace corps volunteer, Martha Ramaditse, a native of Nata and Mr. Seloma Tiro, the Chairman of the Nata AIDS and Orphan Trust which manages the funds generated from this website.

Mr. Tiro has played a critical role in the success on the blog:

This website would not have been possible without his generosity. Since the inception of the website, Mr. Tiro has loaned Martha and Melody his laptop computer for blogging, paid for all calls to access the internet and allowed us to use his server. He has all but turned over his own private office to us. At the birth of this website there were only 3 people in the village with internet access. Mr. Tiro became a co-founder of this website as it would not have been possible without him. Mr. Tiro is a co-owner of the natavillage.org domain and Nata village blog.

The blog was designed and is administered by John Rawlinson.

Recently, the Nata Village blog won the Peace Corps Information and Technology Contest:

Back in January, we entered the Peace Corps Information and Technology Contest. We learned in June that we were one of 9 finalists. It was just announced that we are one of the top three winners named in the contest. The three winners will be featured in the December issue of Worldview Magazine and the projects will be featured in Peace Corps internal and external publications. We've been told that we will also be featured in the Peace Corps Times. We want to congratulate the other winners Heidi Joseph in Zambia and Nicholas Cabiati and Daniel Schier in Senegal. We think it's pretty cool that all three winners are working on the African continent. It just shows that technology is available here and growing everyday. Thanks to Anthony Bloome of Peace Corps for organizing the contest along with all the judges. We need to once again thank Jon Rawlinson of Canada for his gift of this website to Nata village and Mr. Seloma Tiro for his continued financial support of this project. We also want to thank our chief Kgosi Makgesi for taking a chance and allowing his village to be the first in Botswana with a website.

As a result of winning the Peace Corps ICT Contest, the Nata Village Blog got a scholarship to attend the Global Conference on ICT and Youth for Development in Geneva, Switzerland. The conference was organized by The Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU):

To go from elephants in the bush near Nata to Geneva, Switzerland is a big leap. The Peace Corps Volunteers involved with the three winning projects in the Peace Corps ICT contest have been given a scholarship to attend the Global Forum on Youth and ICT for Development in Geveva, Switzerland. Special thanks to Mr. Paul Jhin, Director of Special Inititatives at Peace Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C. as he is responsible for securing the scholarships from the United Nations on behalf of the volunteers who will be presenting their projects at the International Conference Center in Geneva. The conference begins on September 24th and the volunteers will present on the 26th. This is an excellent opportunity to share the strengths and needs of Nata village at an international setting. The opportunity presented itself on a VERY short notice. It is amazing at which the speed of Peace Corps and the United Nations Development Program arranged for the tickets for us to travel to Geneva. Plenty of photos will be taken so we can share the experience with all of you. A heartfelt congratulations to Jon Rawlinson and Seloma Tiro who are partners in this project. Way to go guys!! By the way, Jon compiled the previous post so it's apparent who the real technical expert is. Jon, thanks for being our technical guru. We hope this opportunity brings more resources to Nata village. This post is being sent from Jo-Berg, South Africa as I patiently wait my 5 hour layover.

During the conference, Google’s interactive presentation included the story of the Nata village blog:

Mr. Delany [from Google] is pictured above showing a part of the Nata video, a village of hope. It's a little hard to see but on the screen is the Nata river. You will never know what pride I felt as I saw our tiny village getting a voice in this arena. Mr. Delany continued to encourage users to use all the technology available to them.

After the conference, Melody wrote “Back to Reality”:

What a great experience it was to represent Nata village in Geneva, Switzerland. We hope the experience will bring more attention to the website and more help to the people of Nata. There were many people from different African countries at our seminar and we hope that additional villages will start their own websites and help more people in remote areas. It's just such a contrast to go from Geneva to Nata. The woman pictured above is eeking out a living selling bananas for 20 cents at the Francistown bus rank. A cup of coffee in Geneva is equal to a days wage for many people in Nata. So, it's back to work for all of us here.

Donations from supporters are used to help people with HIV, orphans, the village clinic, Mabogo Arts and Culture Productions, etc. Currently, they sponsored an essay contest:

With your donations we are currently sponsoring and essay contest for grades 6 and 7 at Nata primary school. The essay topic is: How HIV/AIDS has affected or could affect my life. We will pay $60 for 1st place, $36 for 2nd place, $18 for 3rd place, $9 for 4th place and $5 for 5th place. Certificates will be given to those coming in 6th through 10th place. This is alot of money for a child to win so we hope this encourages them to think about the topic and do their best to avoid contracting the virus. We have nearly 100 essays to read and we will announce the winners at the Standard 7 farewell party at the end of this month. We will post the winning essay with the students photo on this website so you can read how the young people of Nata are thinking about this disease. We try to think of ways to make YOUR donations have the greatest impact. For $127 we have mobilized an entire school to focus on the issue of HIV/AIDS and in the process have rewarded students for their academic efforts. Thanks to all of our donors!! By the way, it took four days to post this!! We really miss high speed internet and a decent server.

Last year, the Nata Village Blog was featured on Typepad:

The resulting Nata Village Blog is a moving effort, with photographs, stories, and amazing videoblog entries. The blog documents both the challenges and the successes of the residents, clinic workers, and educators facing the HIV/AIDS pandemic…Please, just go visit the blog. It offers its authors and its readers alike a chance to do something profound.

The latest post on the blog is about Internet access at Nata Clinic:

Woo hoo! After what seemed like an endless wait, we finally have internet access at Nata Clinic. Pictured above is Nurse Midwife Charity (from Zimbabwe) looking up something on the internet. Officially only the Sr. Nurse, Doctor, and Pharmacist have log in privileges but we hope that privilege will soon extend to other staff members. We're told it's just a matter of registering at our sub-ditrict. It's such a great way for staff to update themselves on medical conditions and treatments. Key personnel are now able to email reports and requests to our sub-district which is 120 miles away in Tutume.