Justin Crowe, 4-H Director and State Program Leader

Greetings from Kasane, Botswana in the southern part of Africa. I’ve spent the last week with educators from Tennessee, including public schools and the university as well as UT collegiate 4-H/FFA members who have been participating in a program led by the DREAM Academy, a non-profit organization developed to help serve underserved youth.

We spent several days in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana in remote villages around the city, going into classrooms and teaching youth about STEM and agriculture and also educating teachers and others about the 4-H program. Botswana, at one time, did have a strong program called 4-B, just like our 4-H club here in the United States.

For the last day or so we have been in the Kasane region, exploring and learning about African culture. We had a chance to do a game drive this morning where we saw lots of animals including giraffes, elephants, lions, impalas, and warthogs. We had a wonderful time this morning and in fact even ran into our own University of Tennessee President, Randy Boyd who was here with his wife and friends.

It’s amazing no matter where you go in the world you see similarities, though we may have differences there are so many similarities that we should celebrate. A love for a country, a love for education, a love for young people,   This past week in Africa has been wonderful and while I’ll be excited to be home, I will be bringing back lots of ideas in ways that Tennessee 4-H can be a strong partner with Botswana in helping them as they work to develop their 4-B program here in this country. International work is important and while we have many many opportunities on the home front, it is still important that we think about global citizenship and international work as we think about helping all young people and their families.  So, hello again from Africa.  Have a great week and thanks for what you do!

Have a great week, Thanks for what you do.