GPS and my Driving Experience in Botswana and South Africa

When I wanted to drive to South Africa (SA) recently, a breath of fresh air from my usual flying, I was naturally concerned about how I would find my way around, until a friend told me to get a GPS device (I wish to assure you this is not a sale's pitch or an advertisement even though it sounds like one; one of the few times when it walks, sounds, quacks and taste, yummy, yummy like a duck but it is not one). Now where was I before that long digression? My trip to SA. So I abandoned the road maps; really, a candidate for the museum in this days of IT.

I shell out two thousand five hundred Pula (about $400) for the device mount it on my dash board and off I go. "Turn left at the rotary and follow A1 for 400 kilometers (Kms)" and similar commands in a female American voice (my preference over and above the stodgy British and Afrikaans laced English accent) until a matter of fact: "You have reached your destination" statement; which, if you ask me, is stating the obvious being on the lookout anyway.

You can't but be impressed with the device as it plots your way to your destination giving the approximate time you would arrive (provided
you are not involved in an accident; my life is in your hands, O Lord). It recalculates the arrival time if there is a traffic jam or other delays. It also gives a clear indication of the road with various twists and turns so you know when to overtake that annoying truck billowing thick, black smoke in front of your car for the past thirty minutes.

Even when you need to drive around a foreign town, you have no need for those annoying persons who tell you "go straight ahead, turn right at the intersection and then left again', instead of admitting that they do not know the street you are looking for. Also, the GPS unit tells you where all the speed traps are so that you drive within the speed limit in those places. You can plot a route that avoids all the SA toll gates; but be ready for some not-too-smooth road for your troubles.

Now, to it's weaknesses. It is not able to inform you of the mobile speed traps like the ones used in Botswana. It tells you to go on even if the road has been temporarily closed. And when you follow the digression, it annoyingly reminds you to "turn around as soon as you can" while the arrow points out that you are going in the wrong direction for the past twenty Kms, for good measure.

And a friendly advice: Don't use it in Botswana if you do not want to get lost. Let me share a personal experience. I was invited to Molepolole and told to use the first Engen Petrol station as a landmark to get my bearings. I dutifully typed in Engen, Molepolole. Guess where the GPS Unit led me to? Engen Petrol station, Mogoditshane. Based on this experience, I limit my use to finding the main road from tricky side roads and then switch it off and follow the road signs. So far, I can tell you, so good.

The manufacturer expects you to go on the Internet to buy more up-to-date road maps so that you can drive with greater peace of mind because as they say "7% of the road has since changed". "Tell me something new",I quip. I will make do with the road as it is until it hit the 50% mark. I mean, the world is just coming out of recession and every thebe, kobo, shilling and cent counts!

The Euphoria of Google in Setswana

Batswana and other Tswana speakers are understandably over the moon with the launch of Google service in Setswana. How to know? Sign into your Gmail account from Botswana and what you encounter first are all the messages and direction that would guide you into Gmail, scholar, search and whatever else you do in Google all in Setswana. As a non-Tswana speaker, I’ve had to grope my way around the site and I consistently miss my Gmail link. I try to remember where the link is from the old days when everything was in English. And because I’ve never had to memorize this placement in the past, this strategy does not seem to work. So, I move on to my back up plan. What sounds very much like mail in (from my little knowledge of) Setswana, Kaedi? Wrong again. (I know, I know, I should have made an effort to learn the language, but let’s drive away the fox first before we blame the chicken for wandering too far afield). So I move from link to link until, thank God for little mercies, I finally happen upon English (that colonial language again) with palpable relief and then proceed to find my way around with renewed confidence.

From my little knowledge of Setswana, Batswana (citizens of Botswana, not Botswanans; take note Asians, Americans, Europeans and non-SADC Africans, especially Nigerians!) prefer the spoken to the written version of the language. My research assistant in a survey research I did in Botswana some time back insisted that we print fewer copies of the Setswana version of the study instrument because Batswana characterize the written version as difficult to read. And he did return most of the Setswana copies unfilled unlike the English version. It seems people prefer to be read the questionnaire items than reading and reacting to same. If this experience is anything to go, it may well be that after the initial feeling of national pride, at this Google’s public relations and marketing coup, Batswana may well want their (English) Google page back. Out of curiosity though, which (Setswana) spelling version does Google favour (Dumela, Dumelang)? Over to you Tswana speakers!

I have always maintained that the Tower of Babel biblical account must have taken place here in the African continent. Look at the multiplicity of languages all around us. While Google must be commended for the Setswana initiative as this is guaranteed to keep the language alive, what of the rest of the languages in the continent that are slowly becoming extinct because they are not Bible, Catechism, UN or official languages etc? May be it is about time we started to deploy IT in the task of preserving African languages and culture. I, for one, would be willing to buy an Ibibio language software package that can teach my children my language. A parental task, I must admit, my wife and I have failed at. I take solace in the fact that older couples from the same ethnic stock living far from home are in the same boat as yours truly. And the way today’s children have embraced IT, it will qualify as cool learning local languages this way.