Monday, November 18, 2013

23 Sep 13: Repost: Sarah Celebrates One Year In Botswana!

Note: This is a repost. If you commented on the first post, I apologize that I had to delete it. As often happens, I got in trouble with Peace Corps for what I said about my shadowing experience. So here's the original post, minus any details about that.

In my last email, I told you that you aren't a real Peace Corps Volunteer until you've pooped yourself. I've broadened my definition to include the following:

You aren't a real Peace Corps Volunteer until you've...

-hitchhiked 6 hours with a Namibian trucker to get to the only swimming hole in the country that won't give you Shistosomiasis (Google it-it's nasty)

-spent two months arranging to teach a workshop at a bushman settlement--then on the day of the workshop you get all dolled up and don your finest dress only to spend two hours riding in the bed of a truck in deep sand to get to said workshop, thus showing up COVERED from head to toe in dirt
Transport in Botswana is...sketchy.

-taught your pubescent girl students about menstruation and accidentally horrified them by describing the mechanics of a tampon (apparently tampons aren't prevalent here)

-had to spend the morning sitting at the village health post because you drank too much wine and gave yourself a full-thickness burn trying to make apple fritters

-used your own pee as a fertilizer for your garden
Trailblazers Backpackers!
I've been here for a year folks! Whoa! To celebrate, some volunteers and I decided to get together for some bonding over booze and braii. The weekend after shadowing, me and about 8 other PCV's met up in Ganzi for a few days of fun in the sun (with water.) We stayed at Trailblazers Backpackers for the low price of 65 pula per night (about $7.) The first night we met some tourists from England. The one guy in particular I talked to/played cards with all night was awesome. His name is John Moss, he's a PhD math student, and he is from a tiny village of 60 people that is owned by a Lord and Lady Beckett. How freakin' cool is that? I've gotta visit him someday. He promised me that we'd go fox huntin on Lord and Lady Beckett's horses and then he left for Namibia. 
Happy One Year Bots 13!
The Gat

On Saturday morning, me and my peeps packed up our swimmin stuff and went to The Gat (pronounce haht.) The Gat used to be a granite quarry, a very small but deep one. The diggers didn't realize that they were digging so close to the water table and when they hit it the quarry filled up with water! They abandoned their digging and sold the quarry to the lady who owns Trailblazers. She built restrooms, camping areas, and bbq stands. She drove us there and let us spend the whole day swimming for free! Because it was a quarry, it has a steep drop down into the water and it's very deep. Animals can't use it as a water source so it is unpolluted. It is the only place to swim in the whole country that won't give you Shistosomiasis. We spent the day layin on the dock, swimming in the deep crystal-clear water, and bbqing!

No parasites = happy swimming!



It was by far one the nicest days I've had here. Most of our group refused to come complaining that it was too far from their sites (EVERYWHERE is far for me and Ashley-we had no sympathy) but the group that did come was just good, quality folks. On Sunday, Ashley and I bought groceries and headed home.




Last week was CRAZY. Me and Ashley scrambled to prepare for the workshop that we were scheduled to do on Friday. It wasn't even certain if it was still on until Thursday morning when we found out that the Ministry of Ed had done their part in providing food and transportation, a pre-Christmas miracle.

On Monday, I noticed that my 6th graders didn't have a teacher. She was on leave for the whole week. They were just sitting in their classroom, unsupervised, acting a fool. So Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I taught them for the first half of the day. We watched several educational films, played a card game called Safari of Life that teaches sexual health, and then played sexual health Jeopardy for prizes. On top of adopting 34 12-year olds I also did my regular activities: PACT Club, Yoga at Prison, and a staff meeting.
Final Destination Go!
On Wednesday, the wind was ridiculous. I thought the roof was going to blow off my house. I didn't get any sleep that night and to make matters worse, the wind blew down the electrical poles 100km north of my village. The power was out for over a day, which isn't that big a deal unless you're trying to prepare for a workshop and make lots of photocopies. In the middle of the night Thursday, the power finally came back on. Ashley and I ran around like chickens with our heads cut off on Friday morning, trying to print and copy the materials. When we were finally ready, we found out that our ride to Monong (a bushman settlement an hour down a deep sand road) was going to be in the back of a truck. We chucked it up to TIA (This.Is.Africa.) and made the best of it by taking funny pictures. We also entertained ourselves with our most successful round of "Final Destination Go" ever. Final Destination Go is a game I developed based off of the Final Destination movies. When someone says "Final Destination Go!" you have to list all of the ridiculous ways that you could be killed right then. In the back of the truck some of ours included: the driver (who was driving like a bat outta hell) hits a rut and a plate from the workshop dishware flies at you separating your head from your body; the welding on the jinky truck comes apart and the back end detaches from the cab ejecting us, and then our bodies are eaten by hungry lions. Final Destination Go = hours of fun for the whole family.
A workshop well done!

Although we arrived an hour and a half late, the workshop went really well. We were able to teach the teachers of Monong Primary School how to teach life skills using Botswana's Living Curriculum, which is our real job here. We got back Friday afternoon earlier than we expected, dirty and tired. I started unpacking my bag and realized that I had left my wallet in the back of the truck. I frantically called every contact I had at the Ministry office asking them to please get ahold of the truck driver. My wallet had my American credit cards, my ID, my visa, and my credit card linked to the bank account where I get my allowance. I was so tired and frustrated that I just started bawling. Fortunately, they were able to get ahold of the driver and he returned my wallet that evening. I felt bad for making him come all the way back out to my village so I compensated him the best way I could: with a tin of instant coffee and a bar of lavender scented soap.

This weekend I was feeling lazy. On Saturday, I read/napped for most of the day, drank wine, and then accidentally burnt the crap out of the inside of my arm frying apple fritters. On Sunday, I was mad at myself for being so careless so I read for the whole morning to get my mind off things. Then I got a burst of motivation and spent the rest of the day in my gardens. I have my big main garden and also Millie's former chicken house, which is now the Millie M. Stewart Memorial Herb Garden. I reshaped the beds, tilled in the manure, and planted all my seeds: peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, sage, cilantro, spearmint, dill, fennel, and basil. We had a drizzle of rain one night last week but it didn't do anything to replenish my JoJo. I'm still watering with dishwater which is a pain but it's ok. It feels good to recycle water!

Summer is here in full force. The sky is dark in the late afternoon tempting us with rain that doesn't come. It has been at least 6 months since we had rain. They are forecasting that there might be rain next week. The cows and donkeys are dying because there is no water for them and even less food. When you drive down the road to my village you can see dead cows rotting beside the road in the sun. Really sad.

Ruby sittin on her eggs.
The good news on the animal front is that Ruby the chicken has been sitting on her 12 eggs in my yard for a week now. She just sits there and sits there and occasionally gets up to look for bugs. Me and the girls next door have decided that she must be bored, which has led us to the the timeless questions: What is the best way to entertain a chicken? Millie loved to watch movies but I can't very well set my computer out in the sand for Ruby. I'm about to start the third Game of Thrones book and I'm thinkin that maybe I should try reading to her. I bet Ruby would love an adventure story chock full of murder, deceit, and incest. Who doesn't? I'll have to fill her in on what happened in the first two books so she doesn't get confused. We also tried to shade her from the hot sun with an umbrella but the wind blew it away. She is a tough chicken. I also have a new best friend named Jethrow. She is a black and white goat and she comes to my yard every afternoon for scraps. She has a tiny black baby goat named Elmer.
Jethrow and Elmer
Look at that precious face!
This week looks to be only a little less busy than last week. I've prepared my reports about the workshop in Monong which I'm going to deliver in Hukuntsi tomorrow. I've got PACT Club, yoga at prison, and a health talk at prison. I didn't get much accomplished today as I spent the entire morning waiting to get my burn dressed at the clinic. Normally I would just tend it myself but I'm not trying to get gangrene in Africa. Florence, my favorite nurse, is on leave in Zambia so I was seen by a young male nurse named Pakati. He's funny and seems to know what he's doing! He gave me antibiotics because everything gets infected here and I'm going to go back every other day to have the dressing changed. Maybe I'll see if Pakati wants to hang out sometime.

Ashley is leaving tomorrow for America. She will be gone for two weeks. As she is my constant companion and closest neighbor, I think I'm gonna miss her a bunch. Let's hope she brings me some candy. In October, there will be two new PCV's coming to live in Hukuntsi. They are an older married couple, rumored to be very down to Earth and fun. I'm looking forward to getting some new blood around here!

My next closest PCV, Pam in Hukuntsi, has planned a trip to Namibia for me, her, and several other volunteers late next month. We are going to tour the country and then go to the famous Oktoberfest in Windhoek. I'm hesitant to spend the little bit of money I have saved but then again I'm not coming back here. Might as well do all the traveling I can before I go!

A year and two weeks in country have made me into a person that I wouldn't have recognized. Having so much time on my hands and the drive to self-improve, I find myself more accepting of people and their situations, more accepting of myself and my situation, and best of all- confident that I can do anything! I am hoping to funnel this confidence into a Women's Empowerment Workshop at the end of this year. Pam, Ashley, myself, and another volunteer named Tate have busted our butts for three months to get our grant proposal published on the Peace Corps website. You all probably received an email from "Ashley Rice" with a link to donate to our cause. Unfortunately, Peace Corps didn't put anybody else's name on the dang email.
Toilet paper roll art. I have a lot of free time.

This workshop is going to be all about empowering 40 women, chosen by us from our villages. These women will be taught about gender-based violence (some women still don't know that rape is illegal!), yoga, meditation, how to talk to their kids about sex, financial planning, and a handful of other essential life skills. We are trying to raise a little over $2,000 to cover the cost of transporting the ladies to the workshop and feeding them. At the end, the ladies will be responsible for planning and implementing an empowerment camp for young girls. The Peace Corps staff is so impressed with our effort that they have gotten the US Embassy and USAID involved. We might just put on this women's camp and become famous! If you feel like contributing to our effort, you can donate directly to us (when the money is raised it is directly deposited into our bank account) at the link:

[Thanks to everyone who has donated! Since I wrote this, our grant has been fully funded!]

Thank you guys for your continuing support. I wouldn't be here without the help of all of my family and friends and the constant stream of loving cards, emails, and texts.

From Africa with Love!

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

2 Sept 13: Sarah Meets the VP of Botswana and Hugs Kids at the Special Olympics

There's a saying in Peace Corps: "You're not a real Peace Corps Volunteer until you've pooped yourself." Well, folks, I am pleased to tell you that I ALMOST became a real Peace Corps Volunteer on Saturday. Almost. There's still time, another year in fact. Before I tell you the story let me back up...
Last we left off I was preparing for the national Vision 2016 event at the end of the month, getting ready to start PACT Club at school, looking forward to my trip to Maun for the Special Olympics, and musing on being in country for nearly a year.

I started PACT club the second week of August and it has been a huge success. The 5th and 6th grade teachers hand picked 16 kids who they thought would be best suited for PACT Club. To remind you, PACT stands for Peer Approach to Counseling Teens. I was worried that the club would be boring because, to be honest, it is really boring teaching kids how to be counselors for their friends. We are on week 4 and so far we have discussed communication skills and leadership. I'm falling asleep just talking about it. Of course the kids are thrilled to come each week no matter what we do. They feel extra special because they are the chosen few! I decided that to keep them motivated I would implement a badge system similar to the Girl/Boy Scouts system. At the end of each meeting I give everyone a paper "badge" that reflects what we learned that week, i.e. "I am a good leader!" They are given colored pencils and encouraged to decorate their badge. When they're finished, they get to paste it to their very own poster board with their name on it. At the end of the club, each child will have a poster full of these colorful badges to take home with them. I try to teach them through games and "dramas" and they seem to enjoy it.

Yoga and health talks at prison are still going strong! Today I said goodbye to one of my favorite guys, a former college teacher who has been in prison for many years. He is being released tomorrow and I couldn't be more thrilled for him. The last few years he has been taking more college courses and he is graduating with another degree at the end of November. He invited me to his graduation so it looks like I'll be taking a trip to Gabs at the end of November to attend! Lots of my guys have been released lately and the local ones love to stop by my house and visit. I have no idea what they were incarcerated for and I don't ask. I enjoy seeing them around the village free as birds. It occurred to me the other day that through this process I have become the least judgmental version of myself that I've ever been. That's a testament to the power of yoga and meditation!
demonstrating yoga at the Special Olympics health fair

Becky does the best condom demonstrations!


The Crew! Unfortunately, I missed the photo because
I was busy poopin and pukin my brains out.

At the end of August, Ashley, Pam, and I hitchhiked up to Maun to help with the Special Olympics. One of the PCV's in Maun works at a rehabilitation facility for people with intellectual and physical challenges. She single-handedly organized a sporting competition for kids from all over her region. What a feat! Me, Pam, Ashley, and another PCV named Nyako taught yoga at the event's health fair! By far the best part of participating in the two-day event was the chance to give free hugs to all the kids who were competing. At the end of each race, every kid got a hug. All of the PCV's (there were like 12 of us) stood at the finish line cheering the kids on and when they'd cross it was hugs all around!!
Hugs for everybody!
The first night of the event I got sick. Imagine: I'm trying to make a good impression and fellowship with all these PCV's who live up north, who I've never met, and fate decides to smack me in the gut with some diarrhea and vomiting. By the following morning, I had a fever and ended up in a private doctor's office on a Saturday trying to get seen. After waiting two hours to see him, all the while having my eardrums assaulted by Botswana's Christian evangelism channel blaring, the doctor diagnosed me with an intestinal infection of unknown origin, pumped me full of antibiotics, and sent me on my way. I picked up a 2 liter box of guava juice, some banana sorghum porridge, and went back to the event. By the time I arrived, I had missed the whole second day of the competition. We went back to the PCV's house and I went to bed. Everybody else went to a party while I recovered. The next day, me and Pam hitch hiked back to our villages and that was that.

So after seeing all of these beautiful children, completely uninhibited by their disabilities, I got to thinkin about how people tend to live in their victim mentalities. Especially Americans. Don't we all have some kind of victim complex? "I can't have normal relationships because I didn't have a good relationship with my parents as a child...I have trust issues because my husband cheated on me...blah blah blah." If a child born in Africa with Downe Syndrome with parents that can't even be bothered to attend a sports competition in which he is participating...if he doesn't act like a victim then who are we to act like victims? Who are we to act like the world owes us anything when we've already been given the potential to do anything we want to do? Continuing to stew in our victim mentality is easier than getting over it I guess but who wants to live in a stew forever? Simmering all the time? Ludacris had it right when he said "drink some prune juice and let the shit go!"
Pam and I demonstrating yoga!

Setting up giant tents takes 1) forever, and 2) a lot of people.
It's really fun until...

...they fall down and you have to do it all over again.
So after I got back from Maun, I started preparing for the Vision 2016 event. Me, Pam, and Ashley decided that we would have a booth focusing on yoga, stress management, and Peace Corps. Pam went to Gabs and picked up a Peace Corps banner with JFK's picture on it. Ooh la la! Ashley and I made book marks and signs about yoga/stress management. My village was buzzing all week with people from all over the country. On Friday, the event officially started. We set up our table in the Ministry of Health's tent, fully equipped with handouts and a "Free Hugs" sign! Over the two days the event lasted, we demonstrated yoga, talked about the mission of Peace Corps in Botswana, and gave out lots and lots of hugs. My kids from school came to the event and were given free pencils, hats, and other school supplies. The Botswana Defense Force Medical Corps performed safe male circumcisions and dental cleanings free of charge! It was quite a sight! Best of all, I got to meet the vice president of Botswana! He came to my booth wanting information about yoga. In that moment, shaking the hand of the VP of the country, I was so proud to be a PCV! I was also a little tempted to ask him what he could do about my furniture situation but I took the high road...

Vision 2016 booth! Free HUGS!
Pam and I at the Vision 2016 march
On the second day of the event (Saturday), I woke up early, ate two eggs and drank coffee like I do every morning. Then my stomach started gurgling. I thought I had heartburn so I popped a Gaviscon and went on with my day. I met a bunch of people at the kgotla at 6:45am to participate in a march to the show grounds. People here just loooove them a march. I was glad when Pam showed up; I wouldn't be the only PCV in the march. The VP showed up but he didn't have to walk. As the guest of honor, he got to ride in a horse-drawn cart. At least they had horses and not donkeys! After we got to the show grounds, stomach bubbling, I ran to the booth to setup quickly in case the VP came by. He did indeed show up and not a moment too soon! As soon as he left, I took off in search of a pit latrine. After finding one and doing my business, I decided that I needed to go home for a little while to get my diarrhea situation under control. I took off walking to the house. Fortunately, somebody picked me up just in time to keep me from becoming a real PCV. I stayed home for a little while until I felt sure that I wouldn't need a change of underwear and then I went back to the event. I felt fine for the rest of the day. In the late afternoon, we called it a day and I walked home. I spent Saturday evening and most of Sunday sleeping off the effects of all my recent digestive distress.

the Vice-President of Botswana actually asked for yoga information!

Always leave em with a joke!

my guys from prison doing traditional dancing

I have no idea what's up with my guts lately. I thought maybe I had become gluten intolerant so I stopped eating gluten, a feat of epic proportion in this country. But continuing to have problems after the fact, I have no freakin clue. Pam suggested that I might have giardia, which is quite common here. Unfortunately, as long as the new volunteers are in training, the Peace Corps Medical Office refuses to give current PCV's medical appointments. Bullshit right? Right. So I might be able to get an appointment some time at the end of October. Nonsense!
teaching ladies to bake cupcakes


Oh oh! I forgot something. There are two ladies in my village who make rolls and fatcakes (fried rolls) and sell them around the village. That is their livelihood. I told them a couple of months ago that if they wanted to learn how to bake cupcakes to sell, that I'd be more than happy to teach them. On Thursday morning, they showed up at my house asking if I'd teach them to make some cupcakes to sell at the Vision 2016 event. I sent them on their way with a list of ingredients to make carrot cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes. That evening, me and Ashley went to their "bakery" and taught them the ins and outs of cupcaking. I gotta admit: I was more than a little nervous about how the community would react to vegetables in a cake. The next day, taking a break from teaching yoga, I went to their booth to see how things were going. They had stayed up all night baking cakes and bread. By the time I got to their stall they had SOLD OUT. Not only were they able to sell all the cupcakes they had made, but they were able to charge a lot for them. They did the same thing on Saturday, selling completely out. I am so so so happy that I was able to help them diversify their business. I hope that they keep learning new recipes and become the best bakers in Botswana.

making money!!!
So that was August. September promises to be just as exciting. Tomorrow I'm going to find out who will be coming to shadow me next week. Fingers crossed that it's my friend and mentee, Marshall, aka Tshireletso in Setswana. We have big plans to put on our bathing suits, sit in the bathtub, and drink wine like we're at a pool. Also, we're supposed to search for the cave that's guarded by a magical snake that supposedly exists somewhere in the salt pan. So yeah, I need him to come for shadowing. After shadowing, most of the people from my group will travel up north to camp/swim in a watering hole to celebrate our anniversary. One year in country in less than two weeks! Woot woot! After that, Ashley and I are doing workshops at various primary schools throughout the region. Busy busy!

Apparently it's still winter here. We had some really nice days last week and I was genuinely convinced that we had made it out of winter. But when I woke up on the day of the march and it was 45 degrees in my house and I could see my breath, winter bursted my bubble again. I had put up my sleeping bag and everything! Dang it! It still feels like I'm living inside a tornado too. As soon as it warms up and the wind dies down, I'm gonna plant lettuce, herbs, onions, tomatoes, and peppers in my garden. Can't wait!

Expect my next post to be deep and anecdotal, as I wax philosophical on my first year in country. For now, I'm going to whip up some lentils for dinner. Eating gluten-free has made me feel pretty darn good but I'm not sure how long I can live without bread. Thanks to my healthy diet and daily yoga/meditation sessions I am down 20 pounds from when I came here. I can't encourage people enough to give yoga a try. It changes your brain folks! It is also said in the ancient yoga texts that enlightenment gives you mystical powers. Who doesn't want to be able to shape shift or become invisible? I hope that fall finds you comfortable, happy, and well-fed.

Namaste,

PS-Yesterday I discovered that one of the chicken ladies from next door has made a little nest in my yard. There were 3 eggs in it, then 4, and now there's 5. I'm waiting to see which lady is the mother of the eggs: is it Wynona with her crazy hairdo? Wanda, Millie's mother? Ruby the white and black speckled lady? Or Donald, the lady that I thought was a rooster? I can't wait for her to start sittin on em so we can have some babies around here! Very excited!

PSS-You can see that I don't have any drama in my life now. Good and bad. My daily excitement revolves around the comings and goings of the neighborhood chicken flock. This.Is.Africa.

11 Aug 13: Sarah Washes Her Blanket and Gives Away 100 Teddy Bears

Hello everybody! One month from today I will have lived in Botswana for a whole year. Hard to believe huh? Seems like only yesterday I was donating money to the "Super Jackpot Party" penny slot at Belterra casino with my mama on my last weekend in America. Everyone who has been a PCV for over a year will tell you that you really don't get busy until your second year of service. People start to believe that you're here to help, that you're not trying to replace them and they start wanting to work with you! I'm so glad to say that I am experiencing that RIGHT MEOW!
a little girl with her new teddy bear!

It's been a while since I wrote because, to be honest, the month of July was pretty boring. School was out from June 28th until August 6th so I wasn't doing anything there. Yoga and health talks at prison were the only activities I had going on. So what did I do for a month and a half? I cleaned my house. A lot. At some point before I moved in, my house was sprayed for roaches. The spray looks like Coca Cola and it just drips down the walls. Disgusting. I took on the task of washing the walls in my house, which took a couple of weeks. I scrubbed the floors, organized the closets, etc. Diane graced me with her presence for a whole week! We ate lots of good food, as usual, played cards, and acted a fool. We had a picnic and we washed my blanket. Yes, it takes two people to wash the huge blanket that we were given when we first arrived in Botswana. You shoulda seen it. I put the blanket in the tub, filled it up with water and soap, rolled up my pants, and got all up in that blanket's business. I stomped all over it, just like Lucy squishin grapes, until we decided that it was clean. Then we each took one end and twisted. We got about half the water out before our arms gave up. We hung it out to dry and voila! The blanket got its annual wash.
my neighbors: Lesego and Tsotso
I know that people wonder what I do with all my free time. Everything is hard here. Everything takes forever. Laundry is an all morning job. Preparing a meal takes at least an hour. There is nothing instant. Bathing...lord. If I have to wash my hair AND my body it's an hour and a half commitment.
1st graders after receiving their teddy bears!

School started back last Tuesday (August 6th.) I spent the first two days of the term giving out the hundred knitted teddy bears that were sent to me by the Mother Bear Project in America. The preschoolers, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders all got bears and what a hit they were! Seeing all those little ones who go home and play with dirt or rocks, seeing them smile when they got a bear made my week. On Thursday, I met Ashley and the other local PCV, Pam, in Hukuntsi to discuss our upcoming women's empowerment camp. We are doing two camps to teach local women about financial planning, gender based violence, goal setting, and communication. I am sooooo excited about this! It's gonna take place between November and January.
my neighbors: Lesego and Phoebe
Ashley and I have planned 9 workshops for teachers in settlements throughout the region to teach them to better use the Living curriculum. The Living curriculum is the material they are supposed to use to teach life skills. Unfortunately, most of them don't use it. Because it is our official job here and because we will look like absolute bad asses if we manage to workshop every village in our region, we're gonna tackle it! The government has agreed to provide transport and funding. Fingers crossed it all works out!
this little monster LOVES his bear!

On Saturday, Ashley and I led a workshop at her junior secondary school (it's like a middle school.) Her school is a boarding school for kids from the settlements. A good portion of the time the school doesn't have any food. RIDICULOUS. The kids aren't allowed to leave the grounds. The best way to describe it is "concentration camp"-esque. We spent all of Friday night making cookies, treat bags, and planning our presentation. Saturday morning we were greeted by 30 boys aged 14-19. We talked about gender-based violence, sexually transmitted infections, gender norms, showed a movie, and did a male/female condom demonstration. My friend, Marshall (future PCV who is actually en route to Botswana right NOW) sent me a care package containing a condom demostration kit. The kit came with a giant wooden penis, which I named Jimothy. Jimothy was a big (no pun intended) hit with the kids and we were able to actually demonstrate how to put on a condom! The workshop was a huge success! Yay for productivity!
so sweet!
At the end of the month there will be a nationwide event to promote the goals of 1)no new HIV infections, 2)no AIDS-related deaths, and 3)no stigma/discrimination that Botswana is trying to reach by 2016. They have chosen my village to host the event. They are predicting that we will have over 2,000 visitors, which is almost 3 times the population of the village! Me, Ashley, and Pam are hoping to have a stall to promote Peace Corps and teach stress management techniques (meditation, journaling, yoga, etc.) It's a 3 day event and it should be very exciting!

The week before the event I'm going up to Maun to volunteer for the Special Olympics. Me, Ashley, and Pam are going to set up a yoga booth! We don't really have all the details nailed down but what I do know is that we will take any opportunity to go up to Maun!
happiest kid in the world!

Next week, I'm hoping to start a PACT club at school. PACT stands for Peer Approach to Counseling Teens. The goal of the club is to teach kids stuff that they can then teach their peers. The lessons range from respect to puberty topics. Pretty much anything life skills. To keep them motivated, I've decided to do a kind of girl/boy scouts badge system. They'll probably be paper badges that the kids can paste onto a larger piece of cardboard or something. I'm still figuring it out. TIA (this is Africa) so it's not gonna be too fancy. The good news is that no matter what the kids will be excited anyway!

I also had a meeting last week with my village's social worker. We have planned some activities for orphans and their guardians. I was approached by some people from Hukuntsi who want me to teach aerobics there twice a week. It's still in the planning stages so who knows. Didn't I tell you I just got busy?!?! And it feels soooo good! People are seeking me out to work with them. It's about damn time!

In other news, winter sucks. Me and Ashley were talkin about how mild the winter has been ("Aww this isn't that bad!") We shoulda knocked on wood because we woke up the next morning and the thermometer in her house barely registered 40 degrees. You know what it feels like to get out of bed and see your breath in the house? NOT FUN. You think your toilet seat's cold? You ain't felt cold! All year long we complain about the wind out here. You hang your clothes out to dry and you bring em in all stretched out and dusty. Apparently August is the "windy" month. What? How can it get any windier than it already is?? I'll tell you how. It's called dust.storm.all.day. I was washing my clothes this morning and I looked out the window and thought "dang it's foggy!" Then I remembered that we don't have fog in the desert. NOT FOG. Dust. Not only could I not hang my clothes outside but I couldn't even go out there. When I walked to the prison last week for yoga, I had to clean the sand out of my nose and ears. And then I dropped my apple in the dirt. But since I'm used to living in Africa, I just picked it up and ate it anyway. You think I'm gonna waste an apple that I had to ride the bus for four hours to buy? Not hardly! Oh yeah, word on the street is that the windy month is when the scorpions and poisonous snakes come out of the sand. WONDERFUL! And then next month we can look forward to the return of the bird-sized bugs. Dang Africa, anything else?

As I approach the one year mark and I get busier, I've noticed that I feel different. Things are easier emotionally. Why is that? Is it that I'm accustomed to my new lifestyle? Or that I'm used to nothing working out like I plan it? Or that I'm adapted to the life of a leper? Being here for a year means that I haven't had any kind of intimacy with another person for that long. That's hard folks. Really hard. Everyone in my village knows me. No one asks me for money anymore. When I turn on the faucet and nothing comes out I don't even worry about it. The water will come back eventually. When I set out hitch hiking to get to the next village I don't stress. Somebody will pick me up sooner or later. When none of the teachers at my school want to help me with my club...oh well. Nothing bothers me anymore. I don't think it's apathy. I think it's adapting. I am living, breathing proof that humans can adapt to anything. If you stay strong, hold on to your motivation, and remind yourself every damn day why you chose to put yourself through this...you'll make it. I do miss America, my family, Target, and microwaves everyday but, at this point, Tshane is home. Here's to another year!

Sarah
poor people art

PS- My latest craft project: toilet paper roll art. Home decor for us poor folks!

14 July 13: Sarah Has Sexy Talk with the Wrong Man and Gets PC Trail Magic

I was planning to write this post about the kindness of strangers, and I still intend to do that, but something just happened that I can't not write about first.

My best friend in the whole world and soul mate, Amber, used to joke with me that I was like a modern day Lucy Ricardo because of the outrageous and hilarious situations I'd get myself into. It's no coincidence that my blog used to be lifelikelucy before it became lifelikesarah, and maybe I should even change it back. I mean, really, the two are synonymous. I'll tell you the whole story later but for now I'll shorten it. So...I have been expecting a phone call from my new lust interest, a man I call "SJ" but whose real name is Mothusi. He works for the government and lives in Gabs. He was visiting the area for a few days and on Friday morning he went home having promised to call me when he got to Gabs. Friday passes and most of Saturday and I accept the fact that this guy isn't gonna call. At 11 p.m. my phone rings- I don't know the number. I answer it and it was him! I immediately recognize his voice and his crazy laugh. He asks "Do you know who this is?" My response "Of course I do!" We leave it at that. First mistake.

We have some romantic talk and he tells me that he misses me. Goodnight. This morning he calls me and asks if I'm going to church. Odd question. Whatever. I asked him if he was going to be off work for the next few days for the public holiday. He is. I invite him to come visit during the holiday. To be more specific, I tell him that he can come visit whenever he wants. Second mistake. He says "Well, I gotta drop some chicken at the prison, but then I'll come over."

HOLD UP. WAIT A SEC. Drop some chicken at the prison? Who is this????? This whole time I have been exchanging sexy talk and inviting over some RANDOM VILLAGE GUY THAT GAVE ME A RIDE ONE TIME. Really Sarah? I immediately try to explain that I had mistaken him for someone else. No, I don't want you to come over. No, I don't miss you. So sorry.

Now I can't even be disappointed about the fact that my new dude never called because I'm MORTIFIED that I just invited some random weirdo from the village to come stay with me for three days. How do I get myself into these situations? Moral of the story: just because somebody calls you "baby," don't assume that you know them. EPIC ROMANCE FAIL.

Now that I have put my shame into writing for all the world to read, back to the topic at hand. When I last wrote, I was sitting in Gaborone ready to enjoy some relaxing days, hot showers, good company, and great food. And I did! I stayed in Gabs for a while, downloaded lots of podcasts, met up with Diane, and slept in a real bed. On July 4th, we met up with some other PCV's and made the journey to the tiny village of Ranaka for an Independence Day party! We arrived at Lisa's house in the late afternoon and were greeted by at least 10 other volunteers! By the end of the day, there were probably 15 of us celebrating America's birthday with wine, the most competitive game of UNO ever, and a dance party (of course.) I spent two days enjoying the company of awesome PCV's. We watched The Sound of Music, played cards, and snacked.
Oakley

After spending four awesome days in civilization with Americans, I wasn't ready to go home. Just then, my friend Herb, whom I met in Maun and lives in Gabs, invited me to come and stay at his house Saturday night and have a bbq! YESSS!!!! Saturday morning, I took the bus back to Gabs and waited for Herb to pick me up. He and his girlfriend took me out for cocktails, and then we went back to their mansion, which he calls The Ritz. Not only was I able to take a shower in their glass shower-you can see the mountains while you're in the shower-but I got to meet their two parrots and iguana, eat RIBS!!!!!!, and watch a movie on their 3D TV. Let me be clear that I didn't do anything to earn this treatment. It was all out of the goodness of Herb and Elaine's hearts!!! As I lay in their cushy bed (one of their many guest bedrooms with its own bathroom!) I spent a long time thinking about the kindness of strangers.
Me and Oakley
Most of you probably don't know that when I come home, I'm going to hike the Appalachian Trail. There is something that exists on the trail called Trail Magic. Trail Magic is when a hiker receives random kindness from someone in the form of food, a ride, or anything else like that. People that perform these random acts of kindness are called Trail Angels.
Banjo loves him a shoulder sit!

Herb and Elaine showered me in the Peace Corps version of trail magic even into the next day. I woke up on Sunday to the smell of bacon and sausages. BACON!!!!! MEAT!!! PROTEIN!!! I haven't had bacon since I left the good ol US of A! Elaine packed up a picnic breakfast complete with cappucinnos and juice and we set our in their Land Cruiser on a game drive in the nearby game reserve! We saw lots and lots of wart hogs, impala, zebras, and some tiny little deer lookin things called dykeir? Afterwards, they took me to buy groceries and then dropped me off at the bus. Not at the bus rank. AT THE BUS. They took me literally to the bus. Elaine, who runs a charity that teaches financial management skills, gave me 50 budgeting books to use for workshops in my village.

I am still amazed at how Herb and Elaine just swooped me up, without even really knowing me, and showered me with generosity! How many people do you know would pick up a dirty stranger (I was dirty-there is no water in Ranaka so none of us PCV's had bathed for two days,) feed her, let her stay in their house, and then take her on a safari! They didn't ask me for anything. I didn't pay for my cocktail. I didn't contribute money for all the food. Nothing! And on top of that I got to snuggle with their parrot, Oakley, all evening! Herb and Elaine are truly Peace Corps Trail Angels.
Warthogs!!! Mokgalodi Game Reserve
After spending time with my peeps and experiencing Trail Magic, I was NOT thrilled to get back to the village. I was in a bad mood for a couple of days, which included a lot of sleeping and moping around the house. On Wednesday, I went to the prison to teach yoga and got turned away because they were doing a "random search for contraband." Uggh. I walked back to my house feeling discouraged and took a nap. As usually happens when you try to take a nap, somebody woke me up. Three somebodies actually.
I heard "Koko!" That's "knock knock" in Setswana. I looked out the window and there were three random guys standing in my yard. I threw on some pants and went outside to find out what was so important that they had to wake me up from my nap! They introduced themselves, told me that they were from the Botswana version of the FCC (called BOCRA), and said that they had come to Tshane to help plan the event that is taking place in August. Apparently there is going to be a 3-day event in my village to commemorate Vision 2016. Vision 2016 is Botswana's goal that by 2016 they will have zero new HIV infections, zero AIDS-related deaths, and zero stigma and discrimination. The gentleman wanted to know if I wanted to help them build a knowledge center! Well sure! We spent the next couple of hours getting to know each other, which was really a bunch of laughing and joking around. They invited me to accompany them on a trip to visit the surrounding Basaarwa (Bushmen) settlements the following day. Yes!

When people introduce themselves to me here I can't remember their names. Who can wrap their mind around a name like Tisoyaone Morongwakgotla? Too complicated. So I gave all three of them nicknames: Skinny Jeans (because he was rockin skinny jeans), Jelly Bean (because he reminded me of a jelly bean), and Cabernet (because he likes to drink Cab.) SJ (short for Skinny Jeans) is a 25 year old communications graduate, Gemini, funny as hell. Jelly Bean is an older guy, world traveler, and boss of the operation. Cabernet is a Kalanga man from up north, sweet as can be. And they are hilarious. Back to the story... SJ, Jelly Bean, and Cabernet picked me up at 7:30 on Thursday morning and we set out on our adventure. We had planned to return to the lodge where they were staying in Hukuntsi, eat dinner, and have drinks at the end of the day. We visited Monong, Ncaang (took me all day to learn how to say because it has a click,) Hunhukwe, and Ukhwi. At each village, we met with the chief and then toured the local school. I was really just tagging along but the guys were assessing the villages to see how they could help in terms of computers, communication, etc. We went to a RADS (Remote Area Dweller) hostel, which is a place where Basaarwa children from deep in the bush are brought to attend school. I couldn't talk to the kids because I don't speak Sesaarwa (too many clicks!) so we just played together. It was amazing. Ukhwi, the last village we visited, was so remote that it took us two hours on a deep sand "road" to get there. By the time we finished and headed back to Hukuntsi it was 6:30 and we were beat.
deep sand road to Ukhwi

Cabernet and Jelly Bean decided that we should take a "shortcut." The shortcut landed us on a barely used, I wouldn't call it more than a path, through high grass. Three hours and much talk about getting eaten by lions, starving to death, etc., we came out of the high grass onto a tarred road. We had made it to Hukuntsi, barely. We went to the lodge, ate a late dinner, drank some beer, and passed out.
The whole day, I rode in the back seat with SJ. At one point we were actually piled on top of each other in the trunk because the village chief was taking up the back seat. Needless to say, we really hit if off. Maybe because he is a Gemini and I'm a Sag. Who knows. But it was fun. We talked about the possibility of romantic involvement and he told me he would call me when he got back to Gabs. And that is how I got into the situation of expecting a phone call and blah blah blah that I told you about at the beginning of this post. SJ, Jelly Bean, and Cabernet are coming back here in a few weeks to do some more work for the event. Having spent 15 hours driving through the bush with these guys, I consider them my friends. I also consider them Peace Corps Trail Angels because they swooped me out of my village just in time to avoid an emotional breakdown. They are all educated, speak English, and of course-a good time! I am looking forward to seeing them again as we are planning a bbq at my house. They are talking about staying with me- who knows what kind of shenanigans we will get into!

School is out until August 6th so I'm doing a lot of nothing. I am still teaching yoga and doing health talks, but that's about it. I've tried to motivate the police officers to let me do a workshop with my new financial planning materials. We will see. I'm reading A LOT. I've almost finished The Bhagavad Gita. Highly recommend it. Also doing a lot of gardening. And making plans for my kids when school starts. This week I received a hundred handmade teddy bears from the Motherbear Project, a charity in America. When school starts, I'm going to pass out bears to the preschoolers, first, second, and third graders. I CAN'T WAIT. Diane might come out here for a visit later this month, which will be awesome. She is in America right now for her best friend's wedding and I am extremely jealous.

So to wrap it all up what have I learned from the last few CRAZY weeks? 1. Apparently I am a pro at networking. Two hours into the bush, I saw somebody I knew. What are the chances? 2. Just when you feel like you are alone in the world and you are down and out, someone will lift you up out of the muck that is your emotional state and shower you with kindness. I received more trail magic in the last two weeks than I have in the whole year that I've lived here. Why? BECAUSE I NEEDED IT. My job now is to pass on the karma to someone else who needs it. Or maybe, as Marshall suggested, I was passing out karma for 9 months and then somebody else passed it back to me. Who knows? But one thing is for sure: if I can keep this is up for another 1 year, 4 months I just might make it out of Peace Corps with my sanity (as least not any crazier than before I came here) and my heart! So for all of you who are still reading these posts, to the people who have sent me care packages, thank you! You all are my Trail Angels and I love you!

Namaste!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

2 July 13: Sarah Buries Millie :(


I know, I know. I didn't succeed at my goal of writing more. I think it's been 3 weeks-ish since my last update. I don't really have an excuse so I'll just jump into what I haven't been writing about...

As I type this I'm sitting at Wimpy, a fast food chain in Gaborone (the capital city of Botswana.) I'm fixin to drink me a frozen lemonade and wait for 6 o'clock to roll around. What happens at 6? EMBASSY INDIAN RESTAURANT AKA HEAVEN OPENS!!!!! Chicken tikka masala: you ain't ready for me!

So the last few weeks have been ROUGH and GREAT. Both. At the same time. A couple of weeks ago, my neighbor/GrassRootSoccer student told me she thought she had seen Millie hanging out in the school head's yard. At this point, Millie had been missing for weeks so I was excited to hear a tip. I went to my school head's house and there was Millie, happiest chicken in the world, hanging out with the school head's flock. Her tail feathers were missing but I just assumed she was molting. I decided to let her stay there because if I brought her home 1)she would be unhappy, and 2)she would just go back. A few days later, all hell broke loose.

As you know, my relationship with my school head is rocky to say the least. I'm not particularly fond of the woman and here lately she has taken to trying to "provoke" me. I don't know if she wants me to say something so that she can get me in trouble with PC or what. But anywho, a few days after I found Millie in her yard, she came up to me and told me that since Millie lives in her yard now, she can kill her if she wants to. She kept on running her mouth until I marched over to her house and called Millie home. Millie, being the smartest chicken in the whole world, followed me home when I called her name. But she didn't look right. Not only were her tail feathers missing but she was covered in poop. Even her beak had poop on it. I picked her up to look at her and realized that the reason her tail was missing was because she had been mauled. A dog or a wild animal or something attacked her and, literally, bit off the back quarter of her body. Of course, I just started bawling (it doesn't take much.) How could I have let something so terrible happen to my precious Millie? I called my chicken expert neighbor to come over and take a look at her. He confirmed what I already knew. There was no way she was going to be able to recover from her injury and she was suffering.
Millie's grave :(
I fed her some of her favorite seeds, corn and sunflowers, and held her for a little bit. Then, a crying, snotty mess I walked over to my neighbor's house, handed Millie over, and ran back to my house. Ten minutes later, my neighbor and his sister brought Millie home. I dug a grave for her right in front of her chicken house and buried my best friend. I made a grave marker, a sparkly heart with a big "M." It was the most awful, hardest thing I've had to do here but I couldn't allow my little lady to suffer any more than she already had.
So let me tell ya. That fuc*ing sucked. The next day Ashley came over and we ate bread stuffed with butter and cheese. I don't think I've never  needed comfort food so badly in my life.
Snacks!

Thing improved last week when I became totally consumed with planning my kids' GrassRootSoccer Graduation parties! I am the proud "mom" to 45 GrassRootSoccer Graduates! Before GRS started, I gave the kids a pre-test to gauge their knowledge on all things HIV. After the last practice, I gave them the same test to see if they had learned anything. 21 of them got a perfect score on the post-test. 32 of them improved. The kids whose score remained the same had already performed well on the pre-test. I am soooooo proud of them. For their parties, I made each kid a snack back, a banana cupcake, and a certificate. I made a big ol' deal about it and made signs! We watched Despicable Me and pigged out. It.Was.Amazing.
Certificates!
Party tiiimmmeee!!
Look at these precious faces!!
Prison yoga and health talks are still going well. Last week, we played the "High Risk, Low Risk, or No Risk" game. I divided the guys into teams of 5 and then read them various activities (e.g. an HIV+ mother breast feeding her child, sex without a condom, etc.) and they had to decide if the risk of contracting HIV would be high, low, or none. It was a lot of fun! Yoga is still my favorite activity of all time. My most dedicated student came up to me after class and said, "Maduo. This is helping my stress so much." :)
My decision to come to Gabs was made on Saturday night after I saw some teenagers beating a donkey with a tree branch as big around as my arm. Picture it: I'm watering my garden all zen and shit. Then, some teenage assholes ride by beating their donkey about the head and neck. Unfortunately for these boys, I don't have a single fu*k left to give when it comes to cultural sensitivity. Also, I had just watched a Madea movie the night before.

Boys: [riding by beating donkey]

Me: [sees the nonsense and stands up] "OOHHHH NOOO! I KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOT BEATING THAT DONKEY IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE. YOU DO NOT BEAT THAT DONKEY IN FRONT OF MY HOUSE. I WILL COME UP OUT OF THIS GARDEN, GO OVER THAT FENCE, AND BEAT YOU. I WILL BEAT YOU!"

Boys: [awkward moment so one of them starts giggling]

Me: [sees boy laughing] "OOHHHH NOOOO! IS IT FUNNY? IS SOMETHING FUNNY TO YOU? I WILL COME UP OUT THIS YARD AND BEAT YOU!!!!"

Boys: [shocked, continued riding along but didn't beat the donkey until they were out of sight.]

So after that, I was HEATED. I have never met a group of people that so thoroughly enjoy hurting animals. IT MAKES ME SICK. So after Millie, and dealing with my school head, and then the donkey incident I needed a beer. Not I wanted a beer. I NEEDED a beer. My nurse friend, Florence, had promised to pay me back the hundred pula she owed me that night. I went to her house, told her what happened, and asked for the money so I could go buy myself a couple of beers. Florence, all of a sudden, decided that she didn't approve of me dealing with my stress via booze and REFUSED TO GIVE ME MY MONEY. Seriously Florence? SERIOUSLY? Then when I explained to her that it wasn't her business what I spent my money on, she suddenly didn't have the money anymore. Then I find out that the teachers at my school have decided that I am to blame for a kid falling and breaking his hip playing soccer. Because the ball he was playing with was the GRS ball. They also beat all of my kids for good measure. WTF? So I left Florence's house, penniless and royally pissed, and went home and cried myself to sleep.


Before I feel asleep I decided that for my mental health and the lives of the teenage boys in my village, I needed to get away. I had cancelled my trip to Victoria Falls in order to go with Diane at a later time, so I resolved to go to Gabs on Tuesday (today) for a couple of nights. On Thursday, me and a bunch of volunteers are getting together in Ranaka, a village about an hour from the capital, for a 4th of July shindig. I CAN'T WAIT. PCV shindig = booze, dance party, and a rowdy game of UNO.

This morning, I left my house at 5 am, walked 5 km to the bus stop wearing a sleeping bag, and then rode the bus for 6 hours. Don't care. Happy as a clam. I then pampered myself with cheese cake, gourmet coffee, and ridiculously expensive body care products. There is a Body Shop here. Boom! Lotion, body spray, body scrub, and some other goodies too. If I can't be clean at home at least I can mask my funk with the sweet scent of Indian Night Jasmine.

So yeah, I'm taking a hot shower tonight. It's going to be amazing. Then I'm going to sleep in a real bed. And then I'm going to do it all again tomorrow. Heaven.

Now for some random old pictures that I didn't get a chance to post:

I realize this picture isn't relevant to this post but it's from when Me and Diane went  to Gabs!!
Also late: Me, Herb, and Greg. Met these awesome dudes while I was in Maun!!
Birthday cupcakes for some of the police officers in my village. I call them "Death by Chocolate."
It's winter here now, which means sleeping bags and hats and gloves and layers. It's cold cold cold at night and in the morning but it warms up to a pleasant 70 degrees or so during the day. I only bathe twice a week (you wouldn't judge if you had to bathe in a house without heat and without hot water!) I haven't been doing much working out because, honestly, I don't want to sweat and then have to bathe. My garden is still flourishing, lettuce growing like crazy, cherry tomatoes finally ripening! I have transformed Millie's house into the Millie M. Stewart Memorial Garden. I'm going to plant something special in there when it warms up. The weeks are flying by, as they do, and its only 40-something days until the new group of victims, I mean volunteers, arrives. I'm looking forward to some new faces and finally meeting my friend and mentee, Marshy Marshy Marshmallow Face.

I'm reading the Bhagavad Gita, a  Hindu spiritual text, and one of the lines has rooted itself firmly in my brain. "No one who does good work will ever come to a bad end..." I am holding on to this with every fiber of my being right now. I have to think that the sacrifice and the emotional suffering is worth it. And when I see my kids smiling and showing me how they would say no to someone who offers them a cell phone for sex, it feels worth it. But for today, I'm going to pig out on Indian food, get wet from head to toe AT THE SAME TIME, slap some clay on my face, and pretend like I'm back in America, land of the free, home of the brave! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!!!

Namaste from the newly neurotic.

PS-Just for the record. My school head is still kickin' which means that killing someone with kindness doesn't work (plan A.) Sorry, Granny :) Now I'm gonna try a slow, painful death from hundreds of tiny word wounds inflicted by my very own sharp tongue (plan B.)