We've just received some beautiful pictures from Botswana. In her letter Alah said "The meet-up was very exciting and nice". We've managed to hold it, I want to believe it was wonderful. We shared the power point presentation from Quantum Leap Inc and their video. It was wonderful. I will be able to share with you the video(gone for editing) and more photos next week, Tuesday."

Tomorrow, on 8th of February will take place the first Bitcoin meet-up in Botswana

Dear girls and guys, there are places in the world where people have bigger problems than smartphone manufacturer disabling Blockchain app, so stop crying, read the story and donate!

LET'S SUPPORT BOTSWANA BITCOIN CAMPAIGN WITH DONATIONS!!!!

This is the adress we received yesterday from Alakanani Itireleng from Botswana, just to clarify BITCOINWOMANmag does not intermediate in this case,

Your donations go directly to Botswana!

Founders of BitcoinWomanmag

 

WHO AM I AND WHAT MY MISSION IS: my name is Alakanani Itireleng I am a strong believer and convert of Bitcoin,to me Bitcoin is not just another computer internet hype but a reality that can bring a change to many lives of people in my country including mine. Bitcoin to me reached to the depth of my heart, it felt so much a reality thananything I have ever read or experience. It’s not a currency-it has a greater value than currency, when you experience Bitcoin you feelinner freedom and peace.i have never felt like this with my money,I have not felt such a relationship either with my bank.

HOW MY REALTIONSHIP WITH BITCOIN STARTED
Having struggled a lot many times to find ways to help me cope with thelife’s situation I was in at that moment drew me to the life of technology and the possibility of making a life worth for my family and especially for my son who needed special care because of his life threatening disease.He had a cardiac problem and I couldn’t find the help I needed for his survival, I would read an advertisement on the internet on how joining a certain program will make me earn $1000 a
week and will take my money and invest into it with the hope that one day I will make enough and take my son to one of the hospitals I always see on TV,That was never to be the case,I never earned anything but instead I lost a lot and my family money troubles grow deeper and even more deeper. For survival and that of my child,we had to live from one loan to the other and had to live like that to live well and care for my boy.We are not bad financial planners,no,
like many people in my country westruggle to survive and the cost of living is too high and for some like me who work for the government lived on the same salary without any increment for five years, and when the situation is like this plus that of a child who need special care, life becomes nothing but a living hell. I wanted something that had hope, something that could
say am here. lean on me but at the end of it I lost both my money andmy son. on the 12 of April 2012,I watched my son pass on right in front of my eyes.

WHY BITCOIN
Many of my country’s people have fallen victim of one scam after another, one pyramid after the other in a quest to supplement whatever they are earning. Some have been cheated out of their
hard work and are been paid peanuts from the hard labour they do.The problem is there are not in control,my thought is what if they were to have something they will be able to be in full control of,use it when and how they want to(legally of course)and this is where Bitcoin will play a role.To cut the long story short, I had hope that one day a miracle that can change all this will come and surely it did. I first learnt about Bitcoin in 2013,the idea of a decentralized currency and the freedom it brought fascinated me. I am a RELIGIOUS EDUCATION teacher by profession butthis seemingly computer generated currency made sense and I was
infected with the Bitcoin fever, when I caught the Bitcoin fever it was so strong I felt I had no choice but to spread it to others. The prospect of owning a currency that one virtually own personally and no one can come and say why do you own such amount, one can work hard to earn their coins at their own time and not have someone control as to how much money they are supposed to earn. They can be millionaires created through Bitcoins in my country. How many in my country live in poverty and depend on poverty eradication programs to survive because the money is limited to meet their needs.I began to study as much as I can and the more
I did the more I wanted to share the knowledge I have gained, that is when I created the facebook group,as a platform to educated people especially the youth who are the most affected by lack of unemployment and are just idling and doing nothing constructive with their lives.
Tourists always come to my country in large numbers because they are drawn by the beauty this country is, In my heart am thinking people in Botswana can be taught on Bitcoin,they can be taught how to create a Bitcoin wallet and maybe find a way in which tourists can buy some of
these beautiful artifacts using Bitcoin. How will it be like if the lodges in thisareas could accept Bitcoin.I need to teach them and reach out to them.There is so much talent here, can help them make a life for themselves through Bitcoin, what about in the future they can have a platform where they can set their own Bitcoin price and earn the money they deserve
without losing some to pay for all these government levy’s.It makes me sad to see how sometimes people who could be making a better life out of their talents end up earning peanuts because of these charges that are controlled by someone. I love the idea of Bitcoin been cheaper and
bordeless to use.Most of Batswana buy their goods in South Africa sometimes the expenses they incur are so much higher depending on the process they are using,if you are using a credit card obviously you have to pay a certain percentage to these processors as sellers make sure that
they don’t pay these buy incorporating all these charges in their prices.Bitcoin to me is better than credit card,far much better, with its anonymity and all. We have cellphone Banking in our country which is service that is offered by almost all the Banks in Botswana but whilst many have
cellphones including those in the remote areas how many people have bank accounts and again.With Bitcoin we are able to give people a chance to be able to receive and send money at the comfort
of their homes without a need to go queue at the bank and all these you do without exposing your identity and anyone knowing how much you have sent to someone. Banks although we have trusted themand used them for time memorial our security and identity is always breached,the teller you give money to as you deposit knows how much you have and knows your identity and anything can happen.

HOW DO I INTEND TO BRING BITCOIN TO BOTSWANA
As a teacher I believe that knowledge is power,as much as we have accepted and appreciated many western cultures and digital changes and incorporated them into our daily culture and lives(despite some disadvantages of such) it is time that Batswana are educated andinformed of the prospects and good things that Bitcoins can bring into their lives. The first thing that need to be done is education,I have tried to bring the information of Bitcoin through social media and that is through the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/bitcrazy/, the soial site is able to reach a lot of urban youth who are very keen to learn and know more. I am of the believe that for a change to be fully effected one has to reach out to the majority of the population who
have some kind of influence on how things run and for the Bitcoin situation the youth are my greatest target. The challenge here is that I might not be able to reach out to others who are not into social media and that’s where workshops and travelling campaigns will come into play.
I fully intend to represent Bitcoin in all aspects of my life and for people to see that I live what iam teaching them. I spend a lot of time reading, following Bitcoin blogs,Bitcoin news so that if questions are thrown at meam in a good position to answer them. I have joined a lot of Bitcoin campaigns on facebook,e.g. BitcoinNY,BitcoinMiami,Bitcoin Tokyo,BitcoinSA to name just a few so I can learn as much as I can so that if Bitcoin was to start operating and be accepted by my people ,I be at the forefront of implementing this exercise.I have been able to talk to a lot of people in the Bitcoin community who are willing to help me succeed in this endevour.I have communicated with Steven gardener from Quntam Leap foundation,Jonathan Mohan from Bitcoin NYC,Charles Evans from Miami International Bitcoi,Tristan Winters from cie3x in South Africa and I want to learn from them so that with the knowledge I gain I can share with my country
When my story ; http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/one-womans-quest-to-bring-bitcoin-to-botswana was published,I began to seriously consider myself the Bitcoin missionary to Batswana ,and with the support of my husband I will spend sleepless nights updating my facebook page with knowledge,videos and responding to their inboxes.The group has now more than 100 members with some very active members from Botswana who are keen to see Bitcoin been used and trade in this country. When Alec Liu from Motherboard responded to the Email I sent him on Bitcoins I never thought I will receive donations,I received 4.27768147 BTC and I gave up some as
donations to active members of the group who are prepared to see my dream being turned into reality to give them moral support and make them see what I was talking about.I have 2.77738147 BTC left in my wallet and I am prepared to use some to help me in my campaign,I have to buy T-shirts,Brand them with Bitcoin,caps,pamphlets so that when I meet with the group we fully represent what we are campaigning for. Through workshops I can be able to solicit help from countries where there are establish Bitcoin campaigners like BitcoinNY,BitcoinMiami and BitcoinSouth Africa. I will be holding our first meetup on the 8 th of February and I have
sponsored the event to be a memorable one in the hearts of Botswana. I want to show them that Bitcoin is about love,caring and sharing. The first 10 people I will dress them in a Bitcoin Botswana Branded t-shirt,to make them feel the part.I am dreaming of the day Bitcoin will be used to pay for hotel accommodation, the tourist will be paying with Bitcoins helping them
spread in my country, all these are possible if there is determination and dedication.
I want to be able to develop a website (like a digital library) where people in Botswana can at the comfort of their homes be able to learn more about Bitcoin-this digital library will have information ranging from :
Bitcoin tutorials(videos,ebooks and pdf downloads),
Articles from the group,
Information on any scheduled meetups,
Where to buy and exchange Bitcoins etc.
We should also be able to have a place where people can contact us in person if they need help on how they can sell their goods online in exchange of Bitcoins and all this should reflect on that website. People should be able to reach me and an office dedicated solely toBitcoin can come in handy. All these are dreams which I hope if I can find support they will be turned into reality. It will not be enough for people to have information or even own Bitcoins and yet struggle to find a place where they can exchange them for cash,my dream is to see Botswana have its first Bitcoin exchange online and even an office in town like we have western union in
Botswana. All these will be done step by step until now we will be seeing stores accepting
Bitcoins in my country. As a resource person and pioneerof this exercise I also need to do a lot of benchmarking from others like attending one of the meetups just to see how things are done so
that I know how to do the same for my group,it is a challenge for me at the moment to say I can be able to travel anywhere with my current financial status. I am still struggling to recuperate from all the financial woes I fell into in an effort to save our child but I am not oneto give up easily, I will be able to put a little bit of what we have in the family in this campaign, it’s not about changing my life but the lives of many who are know will need to know about Bitcoin and find ways to use their skills, sell what they can in order to earn Bitcoin.
Above all in memory of my son,I want o see a BITCOIN fully funded children’s with Heart disease center to assist those parents with children that have heart diseases of any kind, we don’t have such in Botswana whereas I always hear stories of children with holes in theirhearts and many others, I know from experience that raising a child with a heart especially complicated ones can be taxing to the family,and this will be one ways of relieving pressure from the parents and
saving the lives of future generation through Bitcoins. When countries condemn Bitcoin and associate it with all the negative things like money laundering, drugs, and many bad things, I only envision a coin that can save the lives of many who can come into contact with it.

CHALLENGES FOR THIS EXERCISE.
1. TIME: As I have already mentioned that I work as a teacher and in a government school, I only have time to work on my campaign after 4:30pm and will be a challenge to find time to travel and reach other people in other areas outside Gaborone,these are the people I need to reach in person as some don’t have access to facebook.May be one day I will settle for working 100% or Bitcoin if an opportunity is given.
2. FEAR: I believe in Bitcoin and would like to see its usage spread in this country and maybe one day be accepted by thecountry as a legal tender but though I do all this, I do with fear. As a government worker we have strict warnings not to do any other work beside what you have been hired to do, I took a risk ,took a leap of faith to see that people are well informed about what is happening in the global economy as far as Bitcoin is concerned. Although very proud of this and prepared to go all the way to see this campaign spread like wildfire, at the back of my mind there is fear that I might lose my job as a teacher and be found homeless with my family but I
believe so much in bitcoin I feel like a Bitcoin Messiah to my people
I don’t want this fear cloud my mission and I know I might be a sacrificial lamb in this exercise and be kicked out of my job, and Iwant this campaign to succeed so that if this were to happen I will beable to stand tall and say Bitcoin in Botswana was established with my help and I gave my people freedom
3. RESOURCES: at the moment whatever that I do I do without any sponsor or assistance and this is a challenge.
4. LACK OF TRAINING ON MY PART:What I dream at the moment is to attend atleast one meetup or conference on Bitcoin so I can be more intelligent and well equipped on going through the whole
exercise.I have already shared my sentiments on SA’s Cie3x group of them inviting me to one of their sessions so I can benchmark.

Thank you for taking time to read this document.
Yours Forever
Bitcoin Missionary to Botswana
MRS.ALAKANANI ITIRELENG
LONG LIVE BITCOIN LONG LIVE. BOTSWANA ON THE WAY TO BE
BITCOINED