27 Oct 12:10 Baby Chickens, Sarah meets Frank, Jensen kills a spider and saves the day

That red dot is Tshane, my permanent site

27 Oct 12

Good afternoon, everyone! I am writing this from the lawn of the Kanye Public Library. After school today, my friends and I purchased some meat pies and had a little picnic. The library does not password protect their wifi so I thought I'd have a picnic and steal a little internet.

This week has proved to be the most stressful week I have had in Botswana so far. I had to travel to the capital, Gaborone, on Monday and Tuesday for a supervisors workshop. The workshop was held at the Big Five lodge, the same lodge I stayed in when I first arrived to Bots. I met the woman who will serve as my supervisor for the next two years, the head master at Tshane Primary School. She is a kind, older lady and I like her very much. The last session of the two day workshop was about housing and transport to site. The supervisors had not been told that they would have to arrange transportation for the volunteers. Many expressed that they were not given enough time to arrange transport or that the resources weren't available. Some trainees do not even have a house arranged, so I guess I am lucky in that regard.

I found out for my supervisor that I have a government-owned house in the teachers' quarters. The Ministry of Education is required to provide furniture and as of Tuesday, they had not delivered it. Despite the MoEd's promise to have our furniture delivered by the time we arrive at site, it is not uncommon for volunteers to arrive at site and they don't have a bed (or any other furniture for that matter.) So, I'm a little bit stressed out about getting to Tshane and what I will find in my house once I get there.

This is what I see on my way to school everyday! 

I spent the remainder of the week in training sessions, including bystander intervention, how to fill out MoEd forms, and alcohol abuse awareness. Alcohol abuse is a huge problem in Botswana. To reduce the prevalence of alcoholism, the government introduced a 45% tax levy on alcohol sales. 45%!!! Can you imagine paying a 45% tax on your Budweiser?

Proud mama with her chicks

Good news! At the beginning of October, one of my 2 remaining lady chickens (someone stole the other one) was not coming home for meal time. I thought she had been stolen so I asked Lizzy if she had seen her. As it turns out, she was in the neighbor's yard under a bush sitting on her eggs. Lizzy carefully moved the mama chicken and her eggs into our yard so they would not be taken. As of a few days ago, we have 10 little baby chickens running around. They are so cute and fuzzy. The mama chicken digs holes with her feet and then the chicks search in the dirt for bugs to eat.

tiny baby chickens

"Wait for me, Mama!"

You all know about what kind of bugs we have around here, but I killed one this week that takes the cake. I was watching Rome on my computer (watching tv on my computer has become my new favorite pasttime), when Jensen comes running into my room asking me for a can of Doom. I realized that for Jensen to ask for bug spray there must be a pretty amazing bug that needed killing. I followed him down the hall to the door of the closet where we store food. Beside the door was an 8-legged creature the size of a small cat. Ok, I'm exaggerating, but it was a HUGE spider. It had furry, spiked legs and fangs the size of my pinky nail. Legs and all, it was about the size of my palm. Jensen sprayed that spider with Doom and then I sprayed it with Doom, for good measure. The spider was so fierce that even the Doom couldn't touch it. Jensen went and got plan B, roach spray made to kill the 2+ inch long cockroaches that are all over this country. Jensen sprayed the spider and it immediately started doing back flips. By this time, Lizzy had joined us. We all stood there watching the spider acrobatics. After about 3 minutes, the spider curled up into a ball and went on to his next life. It was by far the most intense bug killing I have ever been part of. Welcome to Africa!

Botswana turns green after the rainy season! PULA!

The water came back on this week...for one day! Before that, Lizzy and I had been carrying jugs of water from the communal water tank. The jugs are so heavy that we are only able to carry one at a time. On Tuesday, we were hefting our jugs home when a tall, young man came out of his house, walked up to us, picked up a jug in each hand, and carried our water all the way home for us. I was so impressed by his gentlemanly nature, that I persuaded Lizzy to help me make some fatcakes for him. Later that evening, I took him the fatcakes and asked him if he wouldn't mind to come over the following day and fix the broken light fixture in Lizzy's room. He just couldn't say "no" after I had give him 3 magwinya (fatcakes.) He came and fixed the light as he had promised and we talked for about an hour afterwards. The next day he had to come back to fix another light and we talked for about two hours. I made him tea and gave him some more fatcakes. His name is 29 years old, he has no kids, and he is a heavy equipment mechanic at the diamond mine in Jwaneng. He commutes from Kanye everyday to Jwaneng and back. When I move to Tshane, Jwaneng will be my shopping village (coincidence?!?) He is from a village in the Tuli Block to the north west. My name is Sarah and I have a crush on a Motswana man.

How could Frank resist?

Lizzy and I sat down to talk about how we can get Frank to take me on a date. Her idea was that she would go to his house and say "Sarah is a good girl. I want you to marry my girl!" I was able to persuade her to give him my phone number instead. She went by his house last night and he wasn't there, so she has enlisted a neighborhood child to go to his house every couple of hours and to run and tell her when he gets home.

Two weeks of training left and I'm off to Tshane!

20 Oct 12

20 Oct 12

Le kae, rothle? How are you, everyone? I am very excited to share this weekly update for several reasons:

Grinding Sorghum!

1. I am typing this on my new laptop I purchased while on my shadowing trip! Not only am I typing this email (actually a document that I will send tomorrow when I have internet access), but I am watching The Shining! Volunteers here have an amazing amount of media, especially movies and TV shows. In the evenings, many volunteers enjoy relaxing with some Modern Family, aka the funniest show I've ever seen, or some Downton Abbey. I've been hoarding media files, saving them up for when I go to site.

2. I can finally tell you where I'm going to be spending the next two years of my life! The Site Placement Announcement Ceremony was today so read on to find out...

Site announcement was by far the highlight of my week, so I will save that for last. My last update was sent on Wednesday (I think) last week while I was at shadowing. On Friday, Dan and I made the trip to Francistown, the second largest town in Botswana. We spent the day shopping for a computer for me and then met up with a volunteer named Stacy who lives in Francistown. A friend of hers had invited the three of us to a traditional Setswana barbecue called a braii. That evening we went to the braii and had a great time, eating lots of good food and playing a game similar to charades. Early the next morning, Saturday, I made the long trip home to Kanye. I was able to stop in the capital and meet up with some other trainees to finish the journey together. I also met a volunteer named Patrick who attended the same high school as I did. Small world! I arrived home safe and sound Saturday evening and spent Sunday resting up. For those that are wondering, it took me about a week but I seem to have fully recovered from my food poisoning episode.

I spent this whole week in training sessions. Most of the sessions were language. Setswana, Setswana, Setswana. I have little excitement to report there other than I have been placed in the most advanced language group and I am really being challenged.

Trees with thorns for leaves? Welcome to Africa!

Just when I feel like I'm getting used to the idea that I live in Africa, something happens that makes me think "Welcome to Africa!" I have a "Welcome to Africa!" moment at least once a day, but I had some this week that are really worth mentioning. The rainy season came and went this week in Botswana. For about 3 days, we had lots of lightning storms and rain. On Tuesday night, my brother and I were sitting together in the living room, he playing a game and me reading a book. I think it started with the story of the three-headed snake in the Kanye dam, but over the course of about two hours my brother gave me a comprehensive lesson on witchcraft/demonology/satanism/all other scary things that people believe in Botswana. Keep in mind that my brother hardly talks to me at all (partly out of respect, partly because he is 15 and thinks I'm old.) This conversation was more than he has said to me in the last 6 weeks. While you read this summary of the things he told me, remind yourself that this is what the people here really really really believe (and also that this was all told to me during a thunderstorm with occasional losses of power = flickering lights=scary!):

-Witches are real.

-Witches can open your windows by magic, come in your house, leave some of their "medicine" around, and when you walk by it you will die.

-Witches can create zombie slaves. They kill a person, reanimate them, and then the person becomes a zombie that plows their fields, does their laundry, and cooks for them. No one other than the witch can see the zombie. So when your friend comes over for the dinner that they think that you have spent all day preparing, they are really eating food prepared by the invisible zombie in the kitchen slaving over the stove.

-There exists in Botswana a  cult of people who worship the devil. They are called Satanists, of course. In each Satanist lives a demon that must be fed human blood or flesh. After a person is buried in the cemetery, the satanists will go in at night, dig up the body, and eat the dead person's flesh. They call this "meat of the dead." If a satanist approaches you in an attempt to convert you and you decline, the demon inside will strike you dead.

-There is a demonic, monkey-type creature that can be sent by witches to do their bidding. The monkeys can kill people and rob banks. They can not be harmed and are unstoppable. I actually heard a story about one of these monkies when I went to church on Independence Day. A man was giving a testament of how he had been saved from a demon monkey by the grace of God. I didn't know what I was hearing at the time, but now I realize that he was speaking of these demonic monkeys.

-I also heard about various magical, satanic animals that can kill you, i.e. the 3-headed snake of the Kanye dam that can change into other animals or even people.

Interestingly, my brother said that the only thing that can protect you from witches, satanists, and other evil creatures is being a Christian. I'll let you make your own conclusions about the significance of that. Needless to say, after that conversation I couldn't help but think "Welcome to Africa!"

Thorns the size of my hand? Welcome to Africa!

I saw a beautiful bright green bird at the education center this week. It had lovely orange wings and a black and white striped belly. It was about the size of my fist and it was flying right past me. Just as I mentioned to my friend "look at that beautiful bird!", it landed right at my feet. You can imagine my shock when I realized that my beautiful bird was no bird at all! It was a BUG! One of the huge grasshopper looking things! Yes, the bugs in Africa are so large that you could mistake one for a bird. Welcome to Africa!

Me, before site placement

Now for the most important part of this update: SITE PLACEMENT!!!
I've waited 6 long, hard weeks to find out where in Botswana I will be spending the next two years of my life. Unfortunately for me, I had to wait another 6 hours to find out today, until the country director was able to make it to the education center. All the trainees were sent from our usual training room in the morning and the doors were shut and locked to prevent our entrance. When we were finally allowed back in around 2 pm, we realized why we had been shut out. The Peace Corps staff had decorated the room with balloons and had organized the chairs in a large circle. They had laid out cookies, monster pops (lollipops), and sodas. In the front of the room was a map of Botswana with pins indicating the location of all 34 sites. Reluctantly, we took our seats so the ceremony could begin. Under each seat, a number had been taped. The numbers corresponded with the order in which each trainee would come up and find out the name of their village. I was dismayed when I reached under my seat and came up with number 16. I wasn't sure if I could make it through 15 people finding out their sites before me.

When I had my placement interview 3 weeks ago, I asked to be placed in a small, rural village. I indicated that it would be ok if I didn't have electricity or running water, but that I just wanted a small village. I also asked to have my own yard, as opposed to living in a house on a family compound. When I walked in the room and saw the map with the pins on it, my heart dropped. There were only 3 pins out in the western part of the country, the Kgalagadi district, the real bush, the most remote and rural part of the country. All of the other pins were crowded together near the capital of Gaborone, with a couple stragglers further south. I thought to myself "I have a 3 in 34 chance of getting the rural site I asked for." I was so disappointed. I knew that one of those sites would belong to a girl named Emma, who would be chosen because of her language proficiency, so that left only a 2 out of 34 chance for me.

"My site is Tshane and I'm going to Tshane Primary School!"

So...all 15 people before me, including that girl, went up, got their piece of paper with their name and village, announced it to everyone, looked for their pin on the map, shook the country director's hand, and collected their cookie/monster pop/cup of soda. When number 16 was called, even though I was about to vomit from nerves, I went up to the table and got the paper with the name of my site. I said, "My site is Tshane and I'm going to Tshane Primary School." I walked up to the map and when the PC staffer pointed to my pin, I about died. There would be three people going to the Kgalagadi district and I was one of them!!! My hands were shaking so badly that I could hardly pin my name to the map. In my joy/relief I even forgot all about the country director and went right for the cookie! I heard "Sarah! Sarah! Country director!" and I rushed over to shake his hand. He was so amused that he actually bypassed the hand shake and gave me a hug instead. I sat down, ate my cookie (which was amazing) and my monster pop, and drank my cup of orange soda. After all 34 people had found out their new sites, most of us spent the afternoon celebrating at the local cafe/hangout spot.

me, my half-eaten cookie, and Lui the Photobomber

In conclusion, I got exactly what I was hoping for. I'm not sure how much my language proficiency in Setswana played a part. I am going to Tshane (pronounced tsa-neh.) The tsa is all one sound, think the last three letters of the word "mats" with an neh at the end. Tshane. You can look it up on a map of Botswana and see that it is in the south western part of the country in the Kgalagadi district. I will have to learn another language, Sekgalagadi, which is a kind of dialect of Setswana. I wonder if I will get yet another name!? I will find out more details when I meet my supervisor on Monday, but for now I know that I will be living in a government house, supposedly two bedrooms with electricity. The water situation there sucks because it is in the middle of the Kalahari desert. I will probably have to store water because there will not be consistent access. Tshane is about two hours away from the nearest grocery store, so I will be commuting every other weekend or so to buy food. The people there are of the ethnic group Bakgalagadi. From what I've heard the people are amazing, I will be surrounded by sand dunes, and I will love it. The main challenges of my school, per the pamphlet I was given, are HIV/AIDS, bullying, lack of respect, and needy children. I'm very excited and can't wait to move there mid-November!

I received several packages this week and would like to offically thank the people that sent them to me. I am currently hoarding American snacks and candy to take to site with me!

Thank you, everybody, for reading these posts and for your feedback! It really makes me feel great to know that somebody is interested in this amazing adventure I'm having out here! I hope that this post finds everyone well, and feel free to email me one on one if you have any questions!

Ke a leboga le tsamayang sentle,
(Thank you and stay well)

11 Oct 12

11 Oct 12

Hi, Everybody!!

Tutume, Botswana

I’m writing you from the village of Tutume, Botswana! I made the 8ish hour journey on Tuesday and I’ve gotta say, it wasn’t as bad as I anticipated!!! PC provided us with a van and a driver to take those of us going north up to the capital of Gaborone. From there I caught a bus to Francistown, the 2nd largest village in Botswana. I was  fortunate to sit next to a good looking college student who was eager to help me and chat. It was a cool morning, thank goodness, because the buses are not air conditioned. People in Bots have some kind of superstition with opening windows on transport vehicles. They believe that the air blowing in your face can give you the flu. You can imagine what a 5.5 hour bus ride could be like on a hot day. The bus was full, with several people making the journey standing in the aisle. When I arrived in Francistown, I was met by the volunteer I would be staying with, Leah. We purchased some groceries and got on a combi (a van-type vehicle) for the hour and a half ride to Tutume. The combi dropped us off at the local grocery store and we took a 10 minute taxi ride to the home of Leah and her husband, Dan.

I have really enjoyed my stay in Tutume so far. Leah and Dan are feeding me the best food that I’ve had since I arrived in Bots. Tuesday night we had tacos with homemade tortillas. Last night we had spaghetti with spinach, garlic, onion, and tomatoes, topped with Feta cheese. She is an amazing cook. She even made cookies yesterday! The first American-style cookies I’ve had here!

I have visited both of their job sites so far. Leah works at the District Health Management Team office. Dan works at a local clinic, his primary function being weighing children every morning for the child welfare program. Unfortunately, they see a lot of severely malnourished children and it can be emotionally taxing for them. Malnourished children are given rations from the clinic, but sometimes the food is fed to other family members, given away, or even sold. Both Dan and Leah have been working with a mother who is not producing enough breast milk to feed her baby. Because of Botswana’s policy of strictly breast feeding, the hospital will not give her formula to feed her baby and she cannot afford to buy it. Dan and Leah managed to get their hands on some formula for her baby, who was actively dying of starvation, and he is now gaining weight!

This morning we awoke bright and early and set out walking for the ward of Manjani. Villages in Botswana are broken up into neighborhoods called wards. Manjani is the area of the village where the Basarwaa live. Those are people of non-Tswana descent who have been relocated under the government’s rural development program (like what was done to the Native Americans in the US.) Most of the people are destitute and on government assistance. You can definitely tell the difference between Manjani and the
other wards of Tutume. The primary dwellings are mud brick huts, they use trash to build fences, and you see more donkey-drawn carts. Social stigma and discrimination make it difficult for the Basarwaa as there are little to no economic opportunities availble to them.

We were walking through Manjani to find some rock paintings that the Kgosi (chief) of Manjani had shown Dan and Leah. On our way, we saw an unfinished house (no roof or glass in the windows) that was full of pre-school age children. The kgosi’s elderly wife was leading them in some kind of English lesson. Upon seeing us she waved us over to show off her kids. She is teaching the children English by having them repeat random phrases. We heard “Up and Down! If you do! Under the table! When he runs!” The woman had organized a kind of preschool for the children. The kids were absolutely precious and it made me sad to think that most of them will have no opportunities in adulthood because of their ethnic group. The Basarwaa speak several impressive click languages, one being nothing but clicks and whistles, but I wasn’t able to hear any of those today.

Leah and Dan with rock paintings

Anyway, we walked through Manjani and back into the bush. We had been walking for about an hour, crossing dry river beds and admiring Baobab and Mophani trees. In December, the worms that live inside the Mophani trees will be harvested, deep fried, and sold as a delicious snack that the local people really look forward to. I digress… We came upon a huge rock, not just any old rock, it was a rock covered in paintings of animals. The Kgosi of Manjani had shown Dan and Leah the rock when they met him doing their community assessment. The Kgosi is one of the few remaining people who know about the paintings and even he doesn’t know how old they are. They may be hundreds of years old, they may be thousands of years old. The coolest thing? I am only the third white person to have ever laid eyes on the paintings (Dan and Leah being the first and second.) How awesome is that?

river in Tutume, without the river

Tomorrow, Leah is heading to a village in S. Bots to watch an important soccer game. Dan and I are going to Francistown to buy me a computer! Then we will spend the evening at a BBQ with some other volunteers. I will make the long journey back to Kanye on Saturday. Then, next week I will find out my permanent site placement!

Some other things that happened this week:

Sunday last weekend, my friends and I had lunch at the Ko Gae (pronounced co-hi) Café. We were the first customers of the day and I was apparently served food that had been cooked the previous day. It is 105 degrees IN THE SHADE right now so you can imagine that food begins to spoil the minute you take it out of the pan. Sunday night, I began feeling ill and I was sick with my first food poisoning episode of Africa for the following two days. I missed most of training on Monday because I was stuck in bed with horrible abdominal pain. Luckily, by Tuesday morning I was mostly recovered and I was able to
travel.

I mentioned in my last email that I had my first Setswana Language Proficiency Interview last week. I received my results via text message yesterday and I scored Intermediate Low, which is actually higher than I need to graduate from training. I’m pretty proud of myself because I am half way through training and have already scored higher than most of my classmates. I attribute this to the fact that my host mom refuses to talk to me in English when she thinks I can understand her in Setswana, and I talk to people in the community in Setswana.

The language spoken in Tutume is Kalanga, a non Bantu language. It is very different from Setswana but it is has no clicks or funny tongue sounds. Of course, I have been given a Kalanga name, Chipo. It is pronounced, much to my dismay, like cheap-o. It means gift. Everytime I go somewhere I get another name!!

In conclusion, shadowing is giving me a good idea of what the life of a volunteer is really like. The volunteers I am shadowing have nice accommodations, definitely nicer than I will have. They have electricity, running water, and a shower nozzle attached to their tub faucet so you don’t have to use a cup to wash yourself. We have spent each night sitting outside talking about the frustrations, setbacks, joys, and triumphs of being a Peace Corps Volunteer. I’m looking forward to finding out where I will be spending the next two years of my life!

Ke a leboga, bagaetshe, le salang sentle! (thank you, my people, and stay well!)

Sarah Maduo Chipo Kabotho Rachelle Stewart

5 Oct 12

5 Oct 12

So...next week is shadowing week, the week that all trainees get to spend a week with a current volunteer getting the in's and out's of real volunteer service. In a very dramatic unveiling ceremony, I found out that I am going to Tutume. Google it! It's a larger village up north, past Francistown. I am staying with a married couple (I think) and I am very excited. They are also planning a little party for me in Francistown before I leave. I am going to Tutume on Tuesday and will return to Kanye on Sunday. It is about a 6 hour bus ride to Tutume. Unfortunately, it is above the malaria endemic line. Beginning this afternoon (I'm waiting for the nurse to arrive now), I will have to take Mefloquin, an anti-malaria prophylaxis, and it has some pretty thrilling side effects.

Some exciting things that happened this week:

Traditional Dancing! 

-I took a field trip to a "cultural village." The trainees were welcomed by traditional dancers in traditional dancing regalia. They are absolutely amazing. Not only do they dance but as they are dancing they provide their own music with their mouths! Singing, clapping, dancing. Then we got to watch a mock wedding. I learned about the duties of woman after marriage, including grinding sorghum.

-I had another "real african bug" experience. I was laying in bed in the dark sending a text message to another trainee. All of a sudden a huge grasshopper thing, about 2 inches long, jumped right up on my face. I screamed, threw off the covers, and switched on the light. I noticed the little monster climbing up the wall, heading for the ceiling. Immediately I grabbed my Peace Corps issued bug spray, DOOM, which is banned in the US because it is soooo toxic. I sprayed that bug with the Doom and of course, it fell onto my bed still kicking. Without concern for the poisonous nature of the bug spray, I sprayed that bad boy and the sheets along with it. I scooped up the bug and threw it to the floor where I doused it in more bug spray. It died. I turned my covers so that the area I had sprayed was near the foot of the bed and reluctantly climbed back in. Scary.

Grinding sorghum. They will add water to the ground sorghum and cook to make a porridge.

-I have sustained my first "real african injury." I wore flip flops to the shops on Saturday and Lui and Diane decided that we should walk the several miles home. I agreed just to be agreeable and hoofed it in my flops. When I got home I noticed a very small blister deep under the skin on the ball of my foot. I ignored it. Over the course of several days the blister developed into a two inch long, one inch wide blister that required several lancings. The night before last I was in quite a lot of pain because there was no way for me to keep dirt and gravel from getting under the skin. Please note that there is absolutely no way for me to keep my feet clean here. They are always dirty. Walking around my house turns my feet black. Dirt was accumulating in between the skin of the blister and the meaty flesh underneath it. I took a tiny pair of scissors and cut away the skin over the blister so that I could keep it clean. I am walking with a distinct limp right now but the raw skin is becoming regular foot skin and I think it will be ok in no time.

-We had lots of sessions this week, including the much anticipated one coming up in half an hour: all the nasty things that you can catch in Africa, bug bites, snake bites, diarrhea, and STDS. Yesterday, we visited a school to see what it was like. There were no students around because they are on holiday all week (good planning Peace Corps!) but we were able to take a tour. Corporal punishment is practiced in schools here, which is probably one of the most distinct differences between US and Bots schools.

-I mentioned in my last email that last weekend was the start of the Independence Day celebration, which lasts all week. I agreed to go to church with my family on Sunday, the first and last time I will go. It was an interesting experience to say the least. The church was a large room, decorated in the colors of Botswana's flag. It was really quite beautiful. The service started with singing with accompaniment from a keyboard and drums. People in Bots have a natural ability to harmonize without any kind of practice whatsoever so you can imagine that their hymns are absolutely beautiful to hear. There was also lots of clapping and ululating, a talent that I'm working on with my sister. Once the pastor started talking he kept talking and talking and then when he was finished talking he talked some more. The service lasted a brief 3 hours and 15 minutes. Many people stayed after for lunch but me and my 16 year old sister, Casey, and I high-tailed it home.

My 16 year old sister, Casey. Isn't she beautiful?

-I have gotten to be pretty good friends with  Casey. She is the most amazing girl and she treats me like I am the queen of the world. She serves me and packs my lunch and tries to wash my laundry for me and asks if she can make me breakfast. I think she really looks up to me. I feel very blessed to know her and I'm going to be very sad when she has to go back to boarding school on Sunday.

-This week I had the privilege of meeting two female community activists who are HIV+. They did a presentation on the stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV/AIDS. One of the ladies, Francine, learned that she was HIV + when she was pregnant in the early 2000's. "Through the Grace of God", as she put it, and also through ARV drugs, she was able to deliver a child that is HIV- and another one a few years later. She was married to a Muslim man who was a denialist, meaning he denied the existence of HIV and did not believe in taking ARV drugs or using condoms. He would make her home remedies and insist that she drink them while he would throw her medication (the medication keeping her alive) in the latrine. She suffered in her marriage and her husband died a couple of years ago, from the disease caused by the virus that he denied. The other lady, Agnes, was motivated to get tested in the late 90's when she drove by a billboard that said "60,000 people living with AIDS." She thought to herself 'Where are all these people with HIV?' She got tested and found out that she was one of them. Her husband, also HIV+, was very supportive and they took care of each other until he passed away last year. Through the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission Program, she was able to deliver several babies that are HIV-. Because of her status, she has been unemployed for the past 10 years, as no one will hire her. She spends her time in the community facilitating support groups and educating people about HIV. Both of these women are an amazing inspiration for everyone, HIV+ and HIV-.

Botswana is getting hotter and hotter everyday. We have not had another rain since the one last week that knocked out the power. We are all perpetually sweaty and covered in the reddish brown dust of Botswana. I was very glad to see that a package had arrived for me yesterday. It was full of all the stuff that I couldn't take in my suitcase: lots of spices, soap, some clothes, and a can opener. I walked into my house after school yesterday and found my cousin, Neal, opening a can of jam with a steak knife. He was pretty excited when I opened my package and there was my can opener! Life is easier with a can opener!

cactus flower

I had my first language interview this week and I think I did very well. I have gotten good at having basic conversations with people that I meet while I'm walking to school. A lot of people just laugh at me but they seem to appreciate my effort.

One thing I always took for granted in America: hand towels. Many people in Bots don't wash their hands as frequently as Americans (it's quite impossible without running water) so they have little use for hand towels. My friend, Diane, purchased some hand soap at the grocery store and the clerk actually asked her "What is that for?" Hello, Africa.

This was a good week, things are progressing, and I am one week closer  to swearing in and heading for my permanent site. Thank you for all the love I got this week. I think about all of you all the time and hope that everyone is well and happy.

All my love,

Salang sentle! Stay well!

29 Sept 12

29 Sept 12

Dummale Borra le Bomma! (Hello Ladies and Gentleman!)

A quick recap for those just starting to follow along: I am living with a family in Kanye Botswana for the next 1.5 months. Me and my fellow Peace Corps (PC) trainees go to training from 8:30-5ish M-F and Sat 8:30-noonish. I have electricity, no running water (we have plumbing but no water), no tv, no refrigerator. I have a new mom, my host mom, whose name is Lizzy. I have 2 brothers, a dad, a cousin, and a sister who live throughout Botswana. The permanent members that I live with are Lizzy and my 15 year old brother Tshepang, but I call him Jensen.

My 15 year old brother, Jensen

Lots of exciting things happened this week. We had our first rain of the rainy "season" that lasts just a few weeks in early October. Botswana is the lightning capital of the world so you can imagine what kind of storm it was. The lightning was amazing and I wanted to look at it and look at it but I quickly remembered that Bots is also the lightning strike capital of the world. We lost power, of course, around 4:30 so that was an early night for me. It gets dark here every night at 6:30 so I went to bed around 7. If you tried to call me that night you wouldn't have been able to get through because the cell phone towers were also knocked out. That was the first rain since winter and it was very exciting! The next morning I could see little shoots of grass coming up out of the dust.

The Kabotho House (my homestay)

One of the goals of being a PC volunteer is exposing Americans to the culture of other countries, so I think it is important that I mention what life in Bots is really like. The first day I spent with my homestay family we had running water. I could go in the bathroom, which has a sink, and turn it on and wash my hands. We have not had reliable running water since that day. Our water will come back on for 15 minutes at midnight once or twice per week. I have stopped checking the taps because we have not had water for a week. So at night, Jensen, Lizzy and myself haul huge plastic containers to the communal water tank, which the government fills up occasionally, and fill them up and drag them home. Most of the time the tank is empty. THIS IS WHY WE LIVE WITH A HOST FAMILY FOR 2 MONTHS. How would I survive if I didn't know that you always save every single plastic bottle or container and you fill it up with water and store it away? We have plastic bins and buckets and trash cans full of water everywhere for such occasions. Lizzy, who works as a cook at the place where I go to school, brings home dirty dish water everynight so that we can "flush" our toilet. I'm getting used to it. As an American who is used to first-world conveniences. ask yourself: what would I do if I turned on the faucet and there was no water, day in and day out? No water. It's a little jarring.

This is where we make a fire to heat large volumes of water for bathing

Anywho. Tomorrow is Independence Day in Botswana. There is no school for all of next week and everyone has come home for the weekend. Lizzy's husband, technically my "dad," came home from Gaborone yesterday. This is the second time I have met him. He picked up my sister, Casey as she prefers to be called, and my cousin, Neal as he prefers to be called, from boarding school near Gaborone. They are both 16ish and I was so happy to meet them. For the new readers, I have been adopted by a family here in Kanye. I have a new name, Maduo Kabotho, which I will identify as while I am here in Botswana. When I tell people my name they will know that I belong to the Kabotho clan. I will always have a family here in Botswana and I can always come back to them. Family ties are incredibly strong and you never turn a relative away no matter how distant they may be. Anyway, Casey and I cooked dinner together last night as is customary- women cook for men. She is a delightful young lady who loves to listen to music and read. I was also able to drill her on school and clubs she would be interested in participating in. When we finished cooking, she dished out the portions and served me. I am usually the one to serve but as she was now the youngest female, she served me. She extended my plate on one hand, with her other hand one her elbow, with bended knee. It was the formal, respectful way of serving someone and I was truly honored.

My whole family will be at my house for most of the week for the holiday. I was formally invited to an Independence Day church service tomorrow and I agreed to go out of respect for my family. The invitation was addressed to "Maduo and Family." How special is that? School starts back on Monday for trainees. No holidays for us!

I learned a whole lot this week including several days of HIV/AIDS sessions, permagardening this morning (growing your own vegetables is crucial for volunteers who live in rural areas, which is where I will be), Malaria, Setswana language, and sessions about the PC's approach to development. We are slowly learning more and more about what our jobs will be like. We are responsible for teaching the government's Life Skills curriculum, teaching about sex, doing condom demonstrations, and facilitating clubs of all sorts. After talking to Casey, I will definitely be starting a girls only club. It is not culturally appropriate in Botswana to ask your mother/father about sex so all that these kids know is what they have learned from talking to each other. Their teachers are supposed to teach them about sex but many of them refuse because it is a taboo topic. The average age of sexual debut here is around 13, which is actually better than in America but they don't have the sex ed that American kids have. Most Life Skills volunteers become the person that young people feel they can ask anything to and I definitely want to be that person for them.

We also learned that in some parts of the country, more than 50% of pregnant women are HIV+. That is startling. Everyone who is HIV+ in Botswana can receive free antiretroviral drugs and support. There is still a lot of social stigma and even fear of testing, so we are going to be walking billboards for condom use and frequent testing.

If you talked to me on Sunday, you might have sensed that I was really frustrated last weekend, which appears to be a common theme for volunteers. It is incredibly frustrating living with a family that you don't really know when you have lived alone for many years. It is also frustrating to be considered insignificant because you are a young woman. We had an amazing session yesterday about maintaining mental and emotional health during PC service and resiliency. They don't call it "the toughest job you'll ever love" for nothing. It really is and the hard part begins as soon as you walk off the plane. Everyone was on edge around mid-week and it ended in a big fight with my best friend here, Lui.

On Wednesday, we went to the capital to set up bank accounts. We also got to do a couple of hours of shopping because there are many things that can only be purchased in the capital. It was a disorganized, poorly planned session on the part of the PC. Everyone was mad because things weren't going smoothly and on the way we really felt it. Lui, a Puerto-Rican American from NY, and I got in an argument that ended with the two of us not speaking for the remainder of the day. We made up that evening of course but it really goes to show that us trainees have bad days as well as good days.

Me, Diane, and Lui

On a high note, I have made some good friends here. I don't really get the chance to be lonely YET because we are together all day and we text in the evenings. My two closest friends, Lui and Diane, have really become my rocks here. We spend the day at school together and then after school we walk to the "tuck shop" which is like a little convenience store in a shack. We buy a suckers there like little kids. Then they walk me home before walking home themselves. We are like the three musketeers and I pray that we get placed somewhat near each other. Diane is the only Asian American in our training group. We are quite a diverse trio!

In a week and a few days, we will be dispersing for 5 days of shadowing. We will each go live with a current volunteer to see what service is really like. Some of us will be going up north and will have to take the anti-malaria prophylaxis. From what we've learned in our malaria session, the drug can cause some psychosis as well as crazy crazy dreams. I'm hoping that I'm not going north, but wouldn't that be exciting?!? As of last year, the line of demarcation for the malaria endemic zone was changed so that people in southern Botswana no longer have to take the antimalarial drug. Luckily, all of us life skills volunteers will be placed at permanent sites in the southern part of the country so we will only have to take them when traveling and possibly during shadowing. It's interesting actually. Malaria is such a health concern here that we are actually given the treatment drugs in our medical kits to take to site so that if we have symptoms of malaria, we can be treated immediately and with no delay.

On being an American: we had several sessions this week about what it is to be American in Africa. Let me say that I was expecting to be welcomed as a savior when I got to Botswana. That was not the case. Most people are excited to know me and want to talk to me and ask questions but there are some that give me dirty looks. I had a woman on the street curse me out this week. I greeted her and asked her how she rose in respectful, typical fashion and she started hurtling insults at me and continued until she was well down the road. Growing up in America I never felt "American." A real, real sense of what it is to be American did not hit me until I got here. Now I know what it is like to be the minority, an outsider, and be judged because I am AMERICAN. People assume that I am rich, promiscuous, and morally superior. As a former British colony, people here are conditioned to believe that white is beautiful. They think that their own dark skin is ugly. So I do get many people that tell me that I am beautiful, which is hard. I know that while they are telling me how pretty I am, they are thinking about how ugly they are.

Oh yeah, I wanted to talk about my chickens. You guys have heard about the rooster that likes to stand under my window and cockadoodledoo all night. We also have 3 lady chickens. I think two of them have been stolen because I only see the one and the rooster nowadays. The lady chicken has a messed up foot and she looks like she is walking on a peg leg. I made the mistake of giving those two chickens some corn one day. Every morning, when I leave the house they come running on their tiny little legs thinking that I have corn for them. So they are my pet chickens now. Hopefully, Lizzy doesn't decide to prepare a chicken feast for my going away and I end up eating one of my little friends.

My chickens! The lady chicken has a peg leg! 

FOOD. AMERICAN FOOD. I miss it so much. Two nights this week I just decided that I wasn't eating dinner. All we eat is gristly red meat, some kind of starch, and maybe a vegetable. I have purchased some high fiber cereal at the grocery store and I'm having that for dinner sometimes. Enjoy your American food!

22 Sept 2012

22 Sept 2012

Eitha Everyone!! That means, "Hi Everyone" in Setswana!!!! I have just completed my first full week in Kanye, Botswana in Pre-service Training! I can't wait to share with you all of the crazy/exciting things that have happened!

The view from my street in Kanye. Lots of animals and trees! Isn't is beautiful?

First, I thought I'd describe a typical day for me since me and my host family have developed a daily routine. I have training at the education center (a government building) M-F, 8:30am-4:30pm and Saturday mornings. My day starts at 5:50 am as the sun is coming up in Botswana. I allow myself two hours to get ready for school, which you will see is necessary after reading this. I take out my ear plugs-a necessity in Botswana as they frequently have all night church singing sessions and THE ROOSTERS ARE SO LOUD HERE- and climb out of bed. I put on some clothes and head to the kitchen. There is usually water boiling for tea when I get up because my host mom, Lizzy, and my brother have already been up for a bit. I make myself some tea and some sort of bread (i.e. a slice of bread w/ peanut butter) and eat it while my brother baths. Yeah, baths. That's what they call it. While he is bathing, I heat up my water on the stove. When he finishes, I head to the bathroom and wash myself including my hair and maybe shave with just the amount of water that fills up a bucket smaller than a standard mop bucket in the US. I'm getting pretty good at it. Then I make my bed, get dressed, put on my face, get my lunch together. Since we do not have a fridge, Lizzy freezes leftovers overnight and I take them to the school the next day. She unplugs the freezer at night so that it acts almost like a fridge. After I get all ready, I set out around 7:50 with my book and walk the mile or so to school or the house where we have language, depending on the day. We have training until 10:30 and then we have a tea break, which I LOVE. Then we continue and have lunch at 12:30. We have an hour for lunch and then continue until 4:30. This week, Lizzy has been getting off work at 2 so she usually has dinner ready when I get home. Sometimes before dinner, we have to go visit someone but we always return by 6:30. People, especially women, stay in after dark because it's dangerous at night. Botswana has a real problem with drunk driving at night so you just stay home. After we eat, I talk to Lizzy for a bit and then retire to my room around 7. I work on homework, read, and text other volunteers until about 8 and then it's time for bed. You have to go to bed early in Botswana because you get up so early. PST is by far the most exhausting thing I have ever experienced.

This week was especially tiring because we had to attend two wakes, as they may be called in the US. Wed and Thurs nights we had to put on dresses, cover our hair with scarves and walk to the home of a community member who had lost a family member. When we arrived, we found the men sitting in the yard away from all of the women. Gender roles in Botswana are very clearly defined and women and men are always separate at weddings, funerals, etc. There were at least 60 women sitting on the ground, in chairs, and standing on the small patio of the house. One at a time, a woman would enter the house (the door remained open) and say some words to the wife of the deceased man. Then, the woman would start singing and everyone would join in. Even in church in America, I have never ever experienced so much emotion and feeling in song. Each woman would sing a different song and there was no one (except myself) who did not sing along. It was the most melodic, harmonious, emotional noise coming from people that I have heard in my life. You could feel the sorrow in their songs, yet there was not a tear to be seen on any face. The Batswana (that's what the people here are called) do not openly and publicly cry or show extreme emotion. It was quite an experience. Then on Thursday, we did it again at another house. Funerals are a village event. Everyone attends not just family members.

Kgotla Nyorosi West

On Monday, all of us trainees went to the Kgotla, pronounced "coat-luh", which is like a neighborhood meeting place where the kgosi, a chief's representative if you will, and members of the community meet to make decisions. There are 10 kgotlas in this village, so the trainess went to the kgotla in their own neighborhood. The kgotla is a very traditional and respected place. Women do not wear pants to the kgotla and men must wear a jacket. There were probably 15 of us going to the same kgotla along with several members of the community and the Kgosi. They called a special meeting just to introduce us to the Kgosi. We walked into the Kgotla and sat down in the plastic chairs that had been set up for our arrival. I sat down and the chair felt kind of sketchy and wobbly. I raised my hand and called over the Peace Corps lady who had accompanied us. No sooner had I began to say "I think this chair might break..." than the chair broke beneath me and I tumbled onto the floor. IN THE KGOTLA. Everyone screamed and I was so embarrassed I almost died. So yeah, I think my community knows me know as "the girl who broke the chair in the Kgotla."

I also saw my first "real African" bug this week. There are animals everywhere here. They just walk around: chickens, goats, cattle, donkeys. They don't care. They go anywhere. People will throw leftover food (if they have any which they usually don't) out into their backyard for their chickens or whatever. I was walking to get a fat cake at lunch, which is a delicious fried dough, and I saw a grasshopper munching on an apple core. The only thing was that the grasshopper was the SAME size as the apple core. That bad boy was at least a good 4 inches long. HUGE. I could actually see his little grasshopper teeth biting the apple. Scary! Word is that when the rains come, the really scary bugs will come out, e.g. 8 inch long millipedes and flying cockroaches. I'm not excited about that.

The bugs are so big that a huge bug hitches a ride with a huger bug.

We had lots of sessions this week as Peace Corps is filling us up with knowledge. We learned about the PC approach to human development, sexual assault awareness, diversity, and lots of cross cultural stuff. Setswana culture is very different from American culture. Like I said, gender roles here are very different. We had a session this morning about the kind of problems we will have when we go to our sites. Young, white volunteers (ME) have a hard time convincing people that they have any credibility whatsoever. Frequently, you will be ignored by the people you are trying to work with or treated like an "errand" girl. Starting up projects from the grassroots level is the way you have to do things and it can be incredibly frustrating. I'm ready, though.

I had my site placement interview yesterday. Because we are all life skills volunteers, we will all be placed in rural villages. I met a volunteer from Kentucky who lives in a tiny village. It takes him 8 hours to get to the nearest grocery store. Once per month, he leaves for the weekend to do his shopping. Hopefully, I won't be that rural but who knows! They teach us how to grow a garden so that we can have access to fresh vegetables for those of us who are in the middle of nowhere. I'm getting pretty good at Setswana language. We have interviews in a couple weeks to assess our Setswana skills. Some of us will be going to villages where a different language, based out of the Kalihari desert, is spoken. Some of us will be learning that language in addition to Setswana. I feel like people who are good language learners will be chosen for those villages so I think there is a good chance that I will be learning a third language.

I will hopefully have more internet access when I get to my site. I will probably purchase a net book and a dongle that gives me internet access all the time. For now, though, I can only email on Saturday afternoons. If you were planning to call, Sunday would be the best day for that. I have all day Sundays the do laundry and other stuff around the house. I would love to have a phone calls from home!!!!!!

Lizzy is working 2nd shift all week so I will be making dinner for myself and my brother. Mostly we eat meat and a starch. Sometimes there's a veggie in there. I made a fried apple this week and he said it was "delicious!" He is 15 years old and has little interest in socializing with me (probably because it is rude to address an elder in a casual way) but I think he is beginning to get more comfortable with me. To him, I am a mosadi mogolo, an old lady!

My host mom, Lizzy, in a traditional Setswana dress.

In closing, I love it here in Botswana. Not having access to social media is the best thing ever. I don't have to worry about facebook or unwanted text messages. Life is slower here. There is always something to do and everything is an accomplishment. Laundry takes hours. Making dinner takes hours. Life here is about celebrating the small accomplishments like successfully washing my underwear and putting it on the line to dry or washing my whole body with only a gallon of water. It is refreshing and renewing. Although I do miss home, my friends, green trees, and grass, I am soo soo happy here. Although I'm busy, I have time to spend with my own thoughts. I haven't seen TV since I left the states and it has been a blessing. Start saving up because you have to come experience Botswana and "African Time."

All my love! Salang sentle (stay well)!

14 Sept 2012

14 Sept 2012

[NOTE: This email was written the day after I arrived in Botswana. I stayed the first night at the Big Five Lodge in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. I was able to type this email to my family from my friend’s iPad.]

Our flight was long but not too bad! The food here is great. Lots of fresh, delicious meat. Plenty of fruits and veggies imported from S. Africa. All of the volunteers are really smart and special and deserving. I have bonded with several and we get along great. My closest new friend, Liz, who was my roommate at the lodge for the first night is going to be in the same ward as me in Kanye for the next eight weeks. A ward is like a neighborhood. We are having a huge ceremony this afternoon to meet our new families. These people take good care of you. Your new host mom pretty much adopts you. We spend all weekend with them and then start the very intense training process on Monday.

My room at Big Five lodge. Very fancy!

I'm sooo excited to start training and meet my new mom. Please don't worry about me. I am being well taken care of. PC Botswana is one of the best branches. They give us everything we need and more, including spending money.

I am also the only southerner in the group of 35 which has been interesting!