A taxi drives me to my hotel : the Gaborone Sun

A taxi drives me to my hotel : the Gaborone Sun Hotel. It is a occasion for me to catch a glimpse of the city of Gaborone. The gap between rich and poor is striking there. As we pass along the Central Business District of the city, where I notice many luxurious buildings, the taxidriver explains me that the Botswanian people have managed to raise their standard of living, thanks to a good repartition of the money made by the diamond industry, and a low level of political corruption. I am struck by the number of building sites there : Gaborone is a very fast growing city, and very modern architecture mix with quickly-built houses which make me think of a shanty town. It so different from the organisation of our french cities !

« Aids is a disaster for our country » the taxidriver tells me. « In some city, up to the half of the adult population is contaminated ». I’m struck by these words. I begin to realise how different the life in Botswana is. There, precarity, and even death, are common events, living rather than surviving is still the major preoccupation for many Botswanian.