On a Saturday morning in a drugstore at a local shopping center of Gaborone, Botswana, I had the pleasure to literally bump into the Honorable Ian Khama, Vice President of Botswana.

I said to him, “Excuse me sir, but you look very much like the Vice President of Botswana.” He smiled as he responded, “some say that I do, as I am.” We exchanged pleasantries about Botswana and its people for about 15 minutes as I advised him of my visiting professorship as a Fulbrighter from the US teaching chemistry at the University of Botswana. It was only after we parted ways that I noticed three gentlemen unobtrusively standing close-by, carefully observing our interaction as I thought that such a wonderful conversation would have been impossible in our own capital: Washington, D.C. Vice President Khama subsequently became President of Botswana in a peaceful transfer of power much like that we have enjoyed in the United States.

Botswana today remains as one of the most, if not the most peaceful, stable democracy in Africa.

Edwin Michael Kaiser – Fulbright to Botswana 2003