People of Point: James Witham

About 8,400 miles away from Stevens Point, in the hot and scorching land of the Kalahari Desert, a country about the size of Texas called Botswana is situated under the hot desert sun of southern Africa.

Something other than the desert sand sparkles in Botswana: diamonds. Mines full of diamonds.

It was there in a diamond mine town on the Orapa Diamond Mine where 55-year-old James Witham, Director of the CPS Cafe, found his love of cooking.

Witham and his team arrive early to the kitchen of the CPS Cafe every weekday. The cafe offers beverages, muffins, salads, to-go food, baked goods, lunch soup and entrees. A lot of the food produced is sourced from local suppliers or local producers.

“I wake up early because I’m excited to be here,” Witham said.

Witham is a director and an educator. The CPS Cafe is both a business and a place to learn. Practicum students and paid employees gain hands-on learning experience in the space.

Witham’s love of cooking started when he was in junior school (the equivalent of elementary school in the United States). His school offered two elective classes: woodworking for boys and cooking for girls.

He was the only boy to join the cooking class.

After he finished school at a boarding high school in South Africa, Witham got a work apprenticeship in the catering department on the Jwaneng Diamond Mine, one of the largest and richest in Botswana. He worked in food and beverage service.

This was where he started to gain his culinary skills.

Because Witham did well in the apprenticeship, his company sponsored him to study in the U.K. He went to the United Kingdom in 1991 to start his coursework.

“It was a cultural shock,” Witham said. “The pace was faster, the people worked harder. It was cold, cold and wet. The sun would shine up in the sky, but it was more like a flashlight; it had no heat to it.”

The sun no longer scorched him like it did in Botswana.

After 4 years Witham received his degree in institutional management and hotel management. By then, he was excited to move back home.

In 2003, Witham was managing a safari lodge in northern Botswana, an area with the largest elephant population in the world. There, he met a woman named Sue from Stevens Point.

“It was on the last day of our meeting that I said to her that I would be in Portugal in three weeks time,” he said.

They had known each other for only a few hours.

Three weeks later, the couple reunited in Portugal where they got engaged. They have been married for 21 years.

Witham and his wife lived in Stevens Point for 8 years. He worked at a jeweler downtown and coached the UWSP men’s rugby team.

The couple then bought a restaurant in Botswana. They packed two suitcases and left their home in Stevens Point intending to be gone for only two or three years.

“We stayed way longer,” Witham said. “We were enjoying it. We really enjoyed our business.”

After ten years, they moved back to their home in Stevens Point in 2021. They had left with two suitcases and returned with 54 boxes of belongings.

Today, in addition to being director of the CPS Cafe, Witham helps coach the women’s rugby team at UWSP. He said that he has a great team at the CPS Cafe and that being a coach has helped him bring people together and achieve their best.

“My biggest wish is to help people and to give them some direction. Whether they find that the cafe is for them or it’s not their cup of tea, they have this opportunity,” Witham said.

While diamonds reflect their light in the desert sun of Botswana, James Witham’s ways of teaching and leading others reflect his dedication to his team and to UWSP.

Jack Orlando

Editor-in-Chief

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