the tuck shop and Maura's boyfriend

Today I walked around the Maruaplua neighborhood of Gaborone and took photos of some of the local "tuck" shops... I have been asked to do another painting at Northside school and was going around town to get some ideas.. They want me to recreate Northside's tuck shop into an authentic Botswana tuck shop...

Tuck shops are everywhere... They are awesome.. They are these beautiful(i use that word loosely) rugged structures that are at times very colorful and full of character..

Basically they are these neighborhood stands, usually run from the property of a home and they carry phone cards, snacks, drinks and sometimes canned groceries... They are usually run by women, and are just cool hangouts... They are unlike shebeens, which are makeshift bars that are run in the back of people's homes....tuck shops are simple, run down and probably very hot during the summer.... One of my first photos was of a tuck shop near the hospital and since then have been wanting to take more... So here you go.. I parked my car at a local car wash stand, where Raster spent an hour and half cleaning it top to bottom. they charged me 40 pula, and did a hell of a job.. I'll go back.

Today i met Scabs, Tebo, George, Masego, James and a young man named Trust. Here's some of the images .

Maura officially has a boyfriend named Tumi... He's Motswana and

from what the women here tell us, you should never get involved with a man from Botswana... She says goodbye to him everyday, and yesterday, they were going on the slide together.... I just hope he doesn't break her heart