Botswana is made up of mainly black people, I'm not being racist, that's just what it is. The international students here make up maybe <1% of white people. Because of this we attract a lot of attention. I'm going to tell you some of the things that have happened to me, and to my fellow white girls.
I was doing laundry one day and decided that while I was waiting I was going to paint my toenails. A guy saw what I was doing and asked me if he could paint my toenails for me. Now while this isn't a creepy sexual story or anything, having a random guy ask me if he could touch my feet is kind of creepy.
My friend M has the unfortunate pleasure of having blond hair here. Because of this she attracts more attention than I would. One time she was at the station (where all the combis gather) while walking a guy from across the street continued to yell " Yo blondie! Yo English! Blondie! Blondie! I don't speak English very well but you are beautiful!" In a crowded place surrounded by strangers the one thing you don't want is someone to be yelling to you and drawing attention to you.
My friends M H and I went to the bar on campus (not one of the best ideas in my opinion) and got some drinks. We decided that we would sit at a table across the road from it (because you're not allowed to drink anywhere else except that everyone does!) and play cards. After a few minutes people began to notice us. We would get groups of guys coming up and asking if they could play cards with us. My friend H would tell them it was a girls night and that boys weren't allowed. Oddly enough a bunch of them insisted that they were gay (which is illegal here) or transsexual (which is also illegal) and because of that we should let them join. We would just laugh and tell them to go away. I decided that I would keep a running tally of how many guys came and hit on us (just hit on us, not being friendly and talking). After 2 hours we were up to 20 guys!
One other night my friends M G A and I were drinking in A's room. We decided to go to Bimbo's (the only fast food restaurant open at midnight). We saw that one of our fellow international students Peter was also going to Bimbo's and we bummed a ride off of him and his 3 friends that we didn't know. This was not one of our finest ideas. We got to Bimbos and found out that 2 out of 3 of his friends were drunk. One of them kept talking to me asking if he could talk to me alone. I mean no! Why would I walk away from my friends in the dark to talk to you alone. I kept responding that whatever he had to say to me he could say in front of my friends. He continued to try and lure me away. I continued to beguile him and reject him. At one point he took a hold of wrist looked me in the eyes and said "You shouldn't talk to African men like that" I then responded " I will talk to men anyway that I want to". Just because they treat women like their dirt here does not mean they can expect me to be submissive as well. He then asked my friends if they could "release me so that he could talk to me alone". I responded stating the fact that I was not some dog that could be let off it's leash. Eventually we got away from them and went to a gas station to wait for a taxi. There 2 more guys decided they could try their luck with us. By that point we were in mood to talk to guys so after a few minutes of intense hatred they went away.
These are just some stories. Usually a guy will just come up to me talk to me for a few minutes, ask if i have a boyfriend (you always say yes, or that you're married) and then once I rejected him he would walk away. We do get a lot of honks directed our way when we walk which is quite obnoxious. The attention was nice at first, but now I'm kind of tired of it.
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