Gaborone, Botswana

This week 2×2 had a visitor from Gaborone, Botswana. Gaborone is the capital of this southern African nation. We’ve had a number of visitors from Botswana.

Gaborone is a fairly new city, planned to be the capital from the end of its colonial association with Great Britain in the mid-1960s. It was a small town then with about 4000 inhabitants. It was chosen to be capital because of its proximity to fresh water and railroads to Pretoria in neighboring South Africa. The plans called for a pedestrian friendly city that would be home to about 20,000 and the center for government, education and culture. The building projects attracted workers from around the world.  Gabarone surpassed plans within seven years. By 1992, the population was 138,000 and has doubled in size again in the last 14 years.

The southern part of Botwsana constitutes a Roman Catholic diocese. There is a Hindu temple and a number of Muslim mosques. One of our pastors and members had served as a missionary to Botswana.

Many may recognize Gaborone as the home of Precious Ramotswe, the first female private detective in Alexander McCall Smith’s series of novels, The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. Very entertaining reads, by the way.