Botswana-Somerelang Tikologo!!

Posted by Erin Hall on December 1st, 2008

I am a 5th year Bachelor of Arts candidate at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C. I’m majoring in Communication and also completing a French language certificate. As a co-op student, completing my B.A. is taking a bit longer than usual but I’m really enjoying all of the opportunities I’ve had since joining the co-op program. The SWB program is by far the most exiting of them all.
Both of my previous co-op placements have been with outdoor theatre organizations in Vancouver, which I have thoroughly enjoyed, but I am ready to diversify and internationalize my skill set in Botswana.
My reasoning for having chosen to take part in a Students Without Borders placement in Botswana is that I absolutely love this area of the world and I love travel but don’t really like being a tourist. I was in South Africa in April of this year and I felt I wasn’t there long enough to get a real feel for the daily life there. This is why I am so excited for my placement with Somarelang Tikologo (ST). Not only will I be helping advance the mandate of an extremely worthy organization, but I will be able to build working relationships with people from the WUSC team as well as those who are living in Gaborone!
I will be volunteering in the Public Relations and Fundraising sector of ST. From what I understand this will entail writing grant proposals and researching possible funding options, as well as creating communications material and planning events. When I return to Canada I will be pursuing a career in this area, making the ST placement a perfect fit for my goals.
My hopes are that I can make a visible difference for ST either by producing significant funding increases, be they corporate or individual donations as well as to use the skill set I have gained through my communication courses in order to produce effect public relations products.
I assume that my first task will be to educate myself on everything that ST does. I have already started this process by thoroughly researching the website. There is so much to learn and I’m hoping that this will give me a head start.
This is so exciting for me. I’m also holding an event prior to departure in order to raise funds for my placement. The planning of the event itself has been a learning experience and I am gaining so much practice in the area of event planning. I can’t wait to apply it in Botswana.
Finally I thought I should add that I have been listening to a lot of South African music lately (Kwaito, Gospel, Traditional etc.), and I know I’m going to find so many more good tunes in Botswana. Sweet!

-Erin

Posted in Botswana, Pre-departure