A Dream for Botswana

Below is a copy of the address of one of the secondary school students who won the US Embassy essay competition honoring Martin Luther King Day in Gaborone, Botswana. Winners were chosen for their essay’s originality and were awarded certificates, a book about Martin Luther King and about USD 100. As you read Benson’s dreams for his country, keep in mind that Botswana is one of the wealthiest African countries with an economy considered a safer investment than even that of South Africa.


A Dream for Botswana
Benson Serara Motswetla, age 17

Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. Today I have a dream for my country, Botswana. A dream that I will wake up tomorrow and there will be not AIDS for even as I write this severely dreaded acronym, agony strikes my face. I have a dream that Botswana one day will be free from the bondage of poverty and my countrymen will not be so bitter. I dream that my motherland will be brought back to its origins, when harmony reigned and peace and stability prevailed. A place to work and rest. These are my dreams.

The horizon is set out in blue and black hues, a typical dawn in Francistown. My friend Kabo vacates his old dilapidated compound, leaving behind his sister with his aged grandmother, who is supposed to be their guardian. His parents were swallowed by the so called “Radio disease” [AIDS]. I catch up with him as he is about to close his mesh wire gate. I sense something really obnoxious as I face him. His face is pale and disheveled like he had been swallowed by a crocodile. As I try to release what might be haunting him, I remember that his grandmother has been in bad shape recently, perhaps because of old age but mainly because of hunger.

The little food they get from the government only lasts them two weeks. I am profoundly saddened because he is not the only fifteen year old who becomes a student and cares for the family at the same time. Many children have been forced to drop out of school because of this poverty. It has denied many a chance to become future leaders, doctors, ambassadors, and stars of tomorrow. Thought I dream that all Batswana [people of Botswana] may hold his hands so as to eradicate poverty I still my heart not to hope too much lest I jinx my hope, for poverty is sabotaging us children.

I read a newspaper article which read. “School Fees”- a chance for Botswana to take part in their children’s education? The irony of this article makes me sad. When I think of my neighbors, whose mother only earns 400 pula [about USD80] per month. I just cannot imagine how much of a burden school fees will be to then when they cannot even afford supper or lunch sometimes. I wonder if their chance of pursuing university is going to be abruptly halted. Their parent dropped out from school because of school fees. Now if they do not go to university their poverty is going to perpetuate I their own generation as well. I dream that Botswana may get rid of all of these school fees, so children may be given a chance to break this perpetual poverty. Not only are school fees a financial constraint to Batswana families but also set many children on an emotional rollercoaster.

So many dreams and so many years we have lost to AIDS. I dream that Botswana will be an AIDS free society. As a young motswana [singular for person of Botswana], I am fear struck for there are a lot of deaths that we teenagers, children and adults face because of this deadly AIDS. In our neighborhood there are a lot of deaths, when one inquires to know about the cause, AIDS is always the answer. The people who are mainly consumed by AIDS are merely children and teenagers. This not only brings agony and shame to my heart but it profoundly frightens me. I wonder if I am going to fall victim to AIDS. The books [statistics] say I am not going to reach half a century [in age] because of AIDS. My future is suddenly made bleak by this.

I try to speak out what I dream but my voice is not heard, like I am in a cave searching for help and nobody rescues me. Still this does not stop me from dreaming for it is not a crime to dream. I hope that my dreams will be realized; if they are not, they will remain as unfulfilled as an illusion.

Benson Serara Motswelta, age 17
Mater Spel College, Francistown

The statistics say that I will reach at least three score and ten; that I will have 2.2 healthy children who will attend university; that I will reach one of the highest tax brackets and that less than 1% of that tax money will be used in humanitarian efforts across the globe to help people like Benson. What a dream for America.