A 29-year-old, Oteng Pule, is hoping to tap into the country’s 2016 independence golden jubilee excitement by hosting a birthday party for all people turning 30 next year. He believes turning 30 is one threshold that should not be ignored. Although when the time hits midnight at the end of one’s 29th birth year they do not necessarily metamorphoses into a completely different being, Pule believes this is the time when life really begins. “This is the time when the party stops and one has to reflect on what is more important,” Pule says.
“Your career might have just kick-started. If you started your own company now would be the time, when it would have started making profits. If not, then you might have needed to shut down and join a company which is already doing well. If you are an academician, you must be done with your higher studies and might have finally got a stable job,” says one Nitin Gangahar. He believes thirty is basically the time when one is expected to be stable in their job. “But stability comes at a price, because now you will need to settle down and probably think about dealing with co-workers and people around you as you will end up being in a long term relationship with these people,” Gangahar says.
He says by this age your views about life must be fixed. “You would have answered things like – whether God exists or not, whether life is about career or is having a partner you’re in love with more important over career.” Some, he says, would be considering marriage or married already and thinking about having children. They might even have had children for a few years. “You might have lost touch with most of your hobbies and things which are mostly seen as things which are good as past times. Most of your time, from this age onwards would go in building things which are really important – like being a good spouse, being a hard worker, and being a good parent.” Gangahar says by this time people will start depending on you and you will have many more responsibilities as compared to your partying self in your twenties.
It is perhaps for these reasons that Pule feels the need to make a big deal about changing that age digit on the left hand sight to ‘3′. “Birthdays provide us with an opportunity to reflect on the life journey and also celebrate our achievements,” Pule says. Dubbed #TheCrossOver, Pule says the event will bring all 1986 ‘babies’ together to celebrate their turning 30. “2016 also comes as a special year as Botswana will be celebrating its 50th year of independence since 1966. As the nation prepares to celebrate Vision 2016 next year we also want to host the biggest birthday celebration for all Batswana and residents turning 30 in next year. He says the event will be hosted in Gaborone, at a venue to be announced, in September 2016.
