This campaign is crazy…I love it!

The Ministry of Health has a drug and alcohol abuse campaign that they have started here in Botswana. One of the ways they publicize this campaign is by rolling out a big truck with a bunch of beer bottles drawn all over it…it's only until you really look at these beer bottles that you can see what the campaign is all about. The bottles say things like: Accidental Lager: Drinking and Driving Kills,

Suicide Lager: 1,903 people committed suicide in Botswana between the year 2000 and 2006. And, my personal favorite:

Rape Spirit: Wild flavor- gives you 80% chance to rape- no means no

The whole campaign is geared towards talking about risky behavior-specifically related to alcohol and what can happen when you get drunk. Some of these slogans may seem a bit harsh but I think to understand them you have to understand the way the youth of Botswana drink. Certainly it's not everyone, but a lot of the youth here tend to drink until they are absolutely blitzed…there's not really a culture of catching a glass of wine after work with your friends or going to a local bar to have some margaritas and then dance the night away…here, it's all about heavy drinking-which leads to risky behavior-which leads to the chance of contracting HIV.