Doreen Nteta (1939-2014)

Abstract

The Botswana Society (TBS) has lost one of its founding members and major contributors over its more than forty years of existence. ‘Doreen’ as we always knew her, was present at the creation of our Society in 1968 and went on to serve in many capacities. For nearly three decades she served on the TBS board and as Chief Editor, she edited (often with close friend, the late Janet Hermans) the Society’s major publications, including Botswana Notes and Records and several conference proceedings. These efforts were entirely voluntary and carried out while in the full employment of the Botswana government, as curator and director of the National Museum and Art Gallery (1968-1981) and undersecretary of the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs (1981-1996), as well as raising a family of three with her husband Phophi. She was, in other words, the embodiment of volunteerism, one who devoted much of her spare time without the expectation of a financial return.