This team is formed from the beautiful land of Botswana whose climatic conditions are described as semi-arid, it stretches from the Kalahari desert southwest going all the way to the Okavango Delta (The world’s largest inland delta). Where wildlife is still found in its natural habitat and 40% of the country’s land is reserved for wildlife conservation in national parks and game reserves. It is one of the top tourist destinations. The country’s democracy and lack of corruption is envied by many nations although the same cannot be said about STEM development.

FIRST global team Botswana 2018 is made up of 5 students and 2 Mentors. The Mentors are Mrs Gaone Karabo works as a Senior teacher of Computer Studies in Kagiso Senior Secondary School in Ramotswa, Botswana. She started coaching Robotics in 2017 for the FIRST global challenge. Mr Kamogelo Nakedi who was the Team Spokesperson in last year’s challenge. After FIRST Global, together with his team they formed Robotic clubs in Junior Secondary Schools and helped to mentor younger students. They have also formed an organization geared towards fundraising for Robotics in Botswana called Enhancing Robotics Through Innovation(ERTI). Please like their facebook page.

The team members are students in Kagiso Secondary school and their Names are: Ivan Tlhoiwa (Form 5), Bianca Phatsimo Bogorogile (Form 4), Wame Patience Kgano (Form 4), Oarabile Diseko (Form 4) as well as Melinda Galeboe (Form 4). The team was set up in March 2018. All these students are members of the Kagiso Robotics club and were selected based on their commitment and good ideas presented during the club meetings. They have been able to re-engineer’s last year’s project and made it better before working on their own.

None of the team members had any previous experience in Robotics, hence we not only see this as an opportunity to compete, collaborate with, and meet students from other countries, but we see it also as an opportunity to learn and encourage STEM development, especially Robotics, in our country. We have seen how passionate young people are when given a challenge and also the level of innovation that comes about as a result. Since the team started working together, they have started specialising in different areas based on interest and ability. There are those who are good at talking, they can explain themselves articulately, some are good at conceptualizing ideas while others are good in programming. When people with different ideas, who can think critically, and who can communicate their ideas well, collaborate together, great things happen. Mexico City, here we come. We are ready for you. We refuse to give up, even if there are challenges.