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Salibonani! My name is Shibayama Kaori and I was previously working in Jackalas II as a primary school teacher. My Setswana name is "Serati", it means a person who is loved. Now I came back to Japan because of COVID-19, however I hope to go back to Jackalas IIin the near future and work together with the villagers since my work was cut short. I would like to share my experience of working and staying in the village.

As the cohort of Japanese primary school teachers dispatched to Botswana, we did our best to improve children's basic scholastic abilities through mathematic teaching. In Jackalas Primary School, I taught children with my Batswana coworkers because I wanted to support not only children, but also Batswana teachers. In the beginning, they would often observe my teaching methods in order to try by themselves. Few months later, they tried to teach by themselves little by little and I was really impressed that Batswana teachers taught with confidence and students enjoyed their lessons.

Multiplication lesson by Batswana teacher

Teaching how to read numbers with a coworker

In addition to teaching mathematics, I read picture books to students every morning. Students had no chance to read books except textbooks, so I arranged the library so that they could read books at any time. After school I held sport clubs, Japanese cultural classes, book events, a recycle event and so on.

Reading Japanese folk tale

Skip rope club

Recycle event, making plastic bottle toys

It takes about 7 hours to go Jackalas II, from the capital city Gaborone by bus and combi, which is located near the border of Zimbabwe. Most of the villagers including coworkers and students were kind and friendly to me, and they always treated me as if I were a part of their family members. The villagers often invited me to their traditional events, including the Independence Day Celebrations, Weddings, funerals, church and the New Year's parties. After working, I went to BDF military camp with my Batswana friends, and we enjoyed playing volleyball with soldiers. I also made very good friendships with the village Kgosi and would often have a long chats with him, the court clerk and police officers whenever I visited Kgotla. The villagers enjoyed coming to my house, so I indulged them in Japanese food, taught calligraphy and played with Japanese folding paper. I really liked to introduce them to Japanese culture through such activities and many others. My neighbors were also so helpful and caring so much that if a bat suddenly came to my house, I asked one of them and her daughter to get rid of it. They are wonderful friends to me. Sometimes I missed my family and friends in Japan, but I never felt loneliness thanks to my friends in Jackalas II.

Baking with my friend

Making heart by folding paper

In Jackalas II, you can enjoy some of Botswana's indigenous foods. Morula trees, are widely distributed and spread indigenous fruit-bearing tree species throughout much of Sub-Sahara Africa, it is also found in Jackalas II. Children love the fruits which ripeness into butter-yellow for snacks, and adults also love Morula beer which is made by fermenting the fruits. I picked a lot of the fruits and tried making Morula beer following the villager's advice, however it fell through.

I also had the opportunity to enjoy different traditional cuisine, one particular one being a vegetable called Delele which is simply cooked by boiling in sodium bicarbonate and a bit of salt. It is so delicious, rich in nutrition and a delicacy to the villagers.

Mophane worms are another of the most interesting ingredients in Jackalas IIand they are native to the warmer parts of Southern Africa. The villagers go to the bush with a big basket, and harvest Mophane worms until the basket in full. Harvesting mophane worms with children was one of my pleasure in the village.

Finally, I would like to recommend beautiful skies that can be seen at Jackalas II. After the sun sets, one can see stars twinkling in the sky. Even though I could not stay in Jackalas II for the entire duration of my volunteer work, I had memorable experiences thanks to the villagers. I am looking forward to seeing the villagers again in Jackalas II. Ngiza ku bona futi ko Jackalas II!!

Making Morula beer

My first time harvesting Mophane worms

Harvesting Delele with children

A beautiful sky in Jackalas II