Happy holidays! Sorry but it’s been awhile since I’ve updated this but it’s been the holidays so I’ve been a bit busy. The last 2 months has been jam-packed with excitement and I’ve been going nonstop.

My busy holiday season started in early November when I was called to go to a District Multisectoral Aids Committee (DMSAC) Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting/retreat in Kasane. At the meeting, we discussed program and budget planning for the upcoming fiscal year in Mahalapye Sub district (what to do with the HIV funds). We reviewed the current years plan and set priorities and targets for the 2008/09 year.

I returned to Mahalapye for the weekend where I did a serious laundry and cleaning weekend (soon you’ll know why) and returned for a 4 day week in the office before leaving Friday (the 24th) for Selebi-Phikwe where I would celebrate the thanksgiving holiday with about 20 of my peace corps friends. We had 3 turkeys, copious amounts of wine and a whole mess a taters. It was a bender of a weekend (we also celebrated my birthday- Monday the 26th) and I hit the quarter century mark in all the glory that I expected I would. Unfortunately all good things (or weekends) must come to an end so I was back to work on Tuesday. I stayed in the office that week and tied up all the loose strings in preparation of my holiday and work plans that would start over the weekend. On Sunday the 2nd of December I got on a bus and went to Gaborone for a camp that would start the 3rd and last 10 days. The camp is called camp glow and it’s a camp that Peace Corps volunteers all over the world put on in a partnership with their local NGOs to work on gender roles and equality. Glow was originally a camp only for girls (GLOW- Girls Leading Our World), but in the Peace Corps Botswana program we have broadened it to introduce a boys camp (GLOW- Guys leading our world, -- BLOW just didn’t seem appropriate) Anyway, we held the camp to educate the boys on leadership, becoming a responsible man, treatment and respect of others-especially women, and decision making and problem solving. We had 27 boys between the ages of 11 and 15 at the camp and it was a great time. In addition to helping lead lessons and discussions, I organized a 3 on 3 football (soccer) tournament as a way for the kids to get some physical activity and it was a big success. We had jerseys, Medals, and 4 game balls and it all was given to the kids at the end of the camp. Mid way through the camp (the 8th-10th), I left the camp to assist another Peace Corps volunteer is Shoshong with a village run for life race. If you’ve read my other blog entries, you know what run for life is (10K race to promote healthy lifestyles and behavior change through exercise). The race went well as 2 villages had teams competing against each other and everyone had a blast. The event was also tied to the Zebras 4 life campaign (the use of national soccer team players as role models to talk to and support the public to test and know their status) and we had a good turnout of community members to get tested. At the end of the weekend I had fully intended to stop at my house in Mahalapye for an hour to switch out bags and return to Gabs where camp GLOW was still underway. My friend Rachel was with me and as soon as we got to my house we just sort of collapsed. She watched about 5 terrible movies while I slept for almost 4 ½ straight. I was exhausted from all the running around I had done and entertaining of a bunch of kids and once I laid down I couldn’t move, so I slept at my house and continued to Gaborone the next day to rejoin camp GLOW the next 2 days went smoothly at the camp and on Wednesday the 13th I was on a 6 am bus that was headed for Lesotho.

Lesotho was Beautiful. I went with Rachel, Hunter, and Erin. Lesotho is referred to as the mountain kingdom and it seems like one. Everyone wears capes and occasional stick fights break out. It’s kind of like the restaurant medieval times. Since it’s so mountainous, cars are less practical for the poorer individuals so they ride horses everywhere (and don’t forget that they wear capes and carry sticks)….awesome. We stayed with 2 Peace Corps volunteers 2 of the nights and the last 3 we went camping in the mountains. We were able to hire a guide and ride horses through the mountains and we rode to Lesotho’s famous water fall “Maletsunyane falls.” Public Transport in Lesotho was a big pain in the butt, but then again public transport is rarely pleasant.

We returned to Botswana on the 20th at 9 pm and on the 21st at 5:30 am I was on a bus to Maun “the gateway to the Okavango Delta”

While I passed through my village and really wanted to get off and go to my house, I couldn’t waste the time. I also didn’t want to give up my seat on the bus. It was a 9 hour bus ride and the only way to get a seat was to get on it at its place of origin which is Gaborone. Standing on these busses sucks. We (me Rachel and Hunter) arrived in Maun in the mid afternoon and met up with one of the volunteers who stays in Maun- Dani. We stayed 2 nights in Maun and on the second day, we met up with another volunteer- Skye. The next day, we rode a bus 4 hours to the village of Gumare which is where Skye stays and we ate dinner with another volunteer in Gumare named Paula and met up with Marni and Chandni. The next day we Hitch-hiked (the 7 of us) the rest of the way to our destination which was the village of Seronga where we met our host Jerry. We were finally at a place where we would remain for a while which was a relief for all, especially those of us who were coming straight off a week of camping in Lesotho. We were joined in Seronga by Zack, Kezia, Andrea, Mike, Stu, Erin and Lark. We spent Christmas in Seronga tent camping. For New Years, we were joined by Sarah, Jason, Emily, Leslie, and Dani. We went deep into the Delta to celebrate New Years. When we got to our camp site there were Lion tracks that were no more than three days old. We set up camp on the 29th and started the countdown to 2008. There were warthogs and hippos that we could hear nearby at night and probably a whole lot more that we didn’t want to know about. New Year’s day, I caught a ride with Sarah who had rented a car down to Maun and the following day, down to Phikwe when we turned the car in. There were battles for who would have to Hitch hike and who would get to ride in the rental. I had priority because in 72 hours, I had to be on a bus to Namibia

I passed through my village once again, now on a bus with Sarah, and again I couldn’t get out because time wouldn’t allow it. I had to get to Gaborone so that I could catch the 6:00am bus to Windhoek, Namibia the next morning. I met Chami in Gabs and we stayed the night at Sonya’s. We got the bus the next morning and took the 13 hour ride to Namibia. The first three nights in Namibia, we stayed at chameleon backpackers. We were in Windhoek so we were able to go to restaurants, bars, malls etc. It was a nice change of pace from the last 35 days, but I was pretty broke so I was spending sparingly. Windhoek, and the rest of Namibia was colonized by Germany so there is still a very German/European feel to it and most tourists are from Germany. I ate dinner one night at Joe’s Beer house which is like a traditional German Beerhouse. The only difference was in the Menu. For dinner I had a kebab with chicken, crocodile, ostrich, zebra, kudu, Oryx, and vegetables on it. It’s the type of thing that you eat to say that you did, not because it’s particularly delicious (especially zebra- tastes like donkey). Nights 4 and 5 were spent camping at Namibia’s world famous sand dunes. I know it’s hot in Botswana, but the Namib Desert is ridiculous (about 120). I spent hours hiking up the Red, orange and purple dunes and seconds running down them. Climbing dunes is tough. The sand is so loose that you exert about 3x more energy to climb up them than if it was just solid land. The views were worth it though. I’ve never seen anything like it (maybe on TV). So we hiked and roasted for 2 days before going to Swakopmund for a night on the town. Swakopmund is very nice (it’s where Pitt and Jolie gave birth to their kid) and we were again able to enjoy a nice restaurant and drinks. From there back to Windhoek for a night, then a day on the bus back to Gaborone, and one more night on the floor in Gabs before returning to my house. FINALLY

While I was away someone broke into my house (at least once), I’m missing DVDs and a DVD player. On one of the occasions someone got caught. There’s a drunk guy with a limp who stays on my compound and he caught a guy breaking in. When the police arrived the thief was going through my refrigerator instead of looking for things of value. Question 1: why would someone who was gone for 6 weeks leave food

Question 2: If I was stupid enough to leave food, do you think it would still be good?

Anyway, I’m lucky that nothing major was taken.

And now, I’m back at work. 4 Months to go

I hope you all had a merry Christmas and happy New Year “mogo moshe”

It’s another Wednesday afternoon and I am in my office looking at Peace Corps blogs from other countries and making fun of them. I figure that it is ok since I whole heartedly believe that people make fun of me behind my back. It’s the 17th of October and my monthly reports are done and I’m preparing feedback for the health facilities. At a meeting last month, the facilities were telling the Ministry of health that they didn’t feel like they were receiving enough feedback, so this month I’m blasting them with so much feedback that…. It’s a lot, so when they make the same mistakes again next month, they won’t have the feedback excuse to lean on. I really do give them ample feedback and they know it.

So it’s been awhile since my last post. The drama competition which was about 2 months ago and it was stunning as most of you read, The weekend after the last blog entry, I went to Ghanzi (about a 12 hour drive in the back of a [covered] truck with everyone’s luggage and some Peace Corps friends) to watch the semifinals. We got there at 2 in the morning and learned the next day that the team representing our sub district wasn’t coming. Yeah seriously. So, we enjoyed some beverages with some volunteers on the west side of the country, ate some spaghetti, shared dance moves, and we were on our way back a day ahead of schedule. It was cool to go out there but our drama group lost serious points with this guy.

September started with a bang, I went down to an optional peace corps training and met the rest of the new group (it wasn’t optional for them) they are a fun group with a refreshing outlook on Peace Corps. So fresh that many volunteers in my group were somewhat nauseated (it coulda been from the beverages too- the water was funny which made the kool-aid really funny). So I got to spend some quality time chit-chatting with the new group and learning about what makes them tick. They are a very cohesive (they got 2 group t-shirts already- professionally done) group, which is great and makes me wonder when my group is going to make a shirt. See, our group is also an interesting group, because we aren’t scared of each other. So we don’t act like a happy family because we aren’t. We’re kind of dysfunctional and lack a lingering since of togetherness (we certainly don’t hug). We work everyday, and if we get to hang out together and we want to hang out together, we do. I’m a big fan of my group because we are so raw, uncut, unedited, and obviously not dressed to impress. If we get shirts, I want them to be Hulkamaniac muscle shirts, because that’s the kind of group we are, and in a moment of fury, we might just tear those shirts off so that all the bystanders know who they’re dealing with- Bots 5. So I went to the training and once again impressed A LOT of people with some rather basic dance moves (for me anyway). Then I returned to Mahalapye for a day before going on my first safari of the season to Khama rhino sanctuary.

We didn’t see much as far as wildlife because it was a bit early in the season, but we camped, cooked, drank, talked, and I serenaded all my friends by singing Jimmy Buffett’s “Songs You Know by Heart” album. Needless to say it knocked their socks off. I took the following weekend off for some light laundry, cleaning, and movies.

The next weekend I went to Semolale to help out with a Run for Life 10 Km race. There were several of us there and the race went very well and was maybe the best organized race that we’ve pulled off to date.

The weekend after that, it was Botswana’s 41st independence so I went down to Molepolole for some birthday parties. Friday night we moved all my friend’s furniture out to the front yard and ate sushi and hotdog pie. We had party hats, and the mood was festive. The next night we celebrated three birthdays for the new group. I was in charge of bbq’n meat along with one other volunteer. The night turned ugly when I got in a ninja dance-off with one of the new volunteers (who really does know karate and really does use it in his dance moves) anyway, he was disqualified for doing an unnecessary and unwarranted cartwheel. Of course it didn’t need to end in DQ because I clearly would have eaten his lunch if I was serious about the dance off. I really do mean this, I was better than him.

And that brings me into October. This past week, I had quite a few guests. Visitors on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and they were all different. On Saturday I had 5 and we made Mexican food and Russian Drinks.

I’m doing well, even though I recently cut back on tuna because a friend told me that it has high mercury content, and that means that my alternative is to eat things like mayonnaise out of the jar or spread it on cheese singles (just kidding mom). Seriously though, I feel good, I look decent and I smell ok, but I really do miss tuna. I’m planning a trip to Lesotho in early December, I’m going to the Delta for the holiday, and I’m going to Namibia at the beginning of January. I love everyone and miss you; I hope to hear from you soon

August 14 2007,

Its Monday afternoon and I’m on top of things for once. The monthly report has been turned in on time, I’ve done the paperwork for my upcoming trip to Ghanzi, and I have nothing to do but write this entry. Actually, there are about 20 things I can and should be doing but I’m gonna take a moment and pretend that I have nothing to do. The last couple weeks have been good. In my last post, I left off with a colorful picture of the new volunteers. They are all still here which is great, and the ones who want to accomplish something have gotten off to a good start. The others? Well, eh. I think I left off about 4 weeks ago and I haven’t been terribly busy since but that will allow you to see the other peace corps experience. Being bored to death. I recently made a great candelabra out of empty Count Pushkin bottles. This comes in handy for about 7 minutes each night when the power goes out (at about 7:15). It turns on and goes out over and over for about 7 minutes then its good for the rest of the night. I’ve also had some water problems recently. There’s no water when I wake up then by 10 o’clock I have enough to have a glass of water then by 12 I have enough to flush the toilet (thank god!). Anyway, Its usually working by about 3 o’clock. Since the new volunteers arrived, I can really feel the transition from first to second year. I’m now being treated like I know something whether I do or not. I’m not a huge fan of this. My attitude is that you can pretty much tell if I know something by the look on my face—and those of you who know me know that look. So July 28 I had some out of town guests. That was fun, we braaied and my friend Rachel lost her shoe without noticing for a good solid 30 minutes at which time you have no choice but to give up on it immediately. I’m also attempting to learn how to cook Indian food. One of the new Mahalapye volunteers’s (Chandni) family is from India and she’s trying to teach me. On August 4 we had a drama competition in Mahalapye. We had 10 drama groups from around the sub district competing for one spot to go to Ghanzi. This is a National competition being sponsored by the ministry of health so all the dramas were about the safe preparation of Infant formula. What is a drama competition without drama though, our district competition was surrounded by scandal, spies, and deceit. I’ll give you a quick rundown of what went wrong and why it is all my fault. Mahalapye Hospital was spied on by Makwate health post’s coach, Makwate should not have participated because they were eliminated by Machaneng clinic in the first round. Machaneng clinic cheated by allowing their coach to be a judge in the first round, Mookane Clinic was cheated on principle, Shoshong clinic was cheated because the judge didn’t like one of the members when he was in school, plus he’s a rasta. Makwate finished second overall even though they had been DQ’d before the competition started. So there you have it. If you though the North Side of Jacksonville was rough think again. When it comes to drama in Africa, we play for keeps. Last week Thursday the Peace Corps Africa director came to visit Mahalapye, and being the senior PCV in the area, it was my job to show him around so I went with the corny-yet-touching route. I had a group of about 25 orphans sing to him when we went to the orphan care center. From there we went to the Young Womens Friendly Center where we had lunch and tried to sell his wife some jewelery. That brings me to this wek (last weekend was just a lot of cleaning and watching movies) I’m going to Ghanzi for the semi-finals of the Drama competition. The group that won on the fourth is from Mahalapye and since I was on the coordinating team for the district competition, I get to go to Ghanzi. It should be fun, especially the riots. Then sometime in the next couple weeks there will be another orphan camp but I’ll keep you all updated on that. Its time to knock off so I gotta go. Until next time, Go Siame -Tots

Wow. Its been somewhat uneventful over the past month, but I figured I should get something up on the blog. I guess the event that has kind of captured my life over the past month would be the arrival of the new PCVs. I have now taken over a new role as a PCV as the big brother of these new, generally clueless volunteers. The idea of it all is actually pretty frightening to me as I like to think of myself as a clueless volunteer still. But it is true, I’m a senior volunteer in the area along with Patricia and Cathy. We have been in country for 15 months with 10 remaining. In the new group, we received 7 new volunteers. A total of 10 volunteers in the sub-district makes us the most populated Peace corps district in Botswana. Through assisting my counterpart in securing housing and furnishings, I was able to get 4 PMTCT volunteers to our district. It is nice to have the fresh new faces with their energy, but it makes me miss the group I spent my first year with learning about being a volunteer. Colman, Anne, and Fallon have only been gone for 1-2 months but they are already faces that I miss seeing around. Our new volunteers are:

Eric- DAC program Mahalapye;

Chandni- NGO Program Mahalapye;

Trish- NGO Program Mahalapye;

Hunter- PMTCT Program Shoshong;

Liz- PMTCT Program Tumasera-Seleka;

Stacy- PMTCT Program Chadibe

Ashlee- PMTCT Program Pilikwe

The only reason I give you the names is that they will probably be part of these posts in the future. They are all happy to be out of training and in their communities. Training (and the first 6 months on Larium) makes you an angry person. Everyone is sick of Peace Corps protocol and rules and is ready to go out and do what they came to do (or what they thought they came to do). ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************ It takes a while to know if you fit here. Our group dipped to under the 50% mark last week meaning that we are now only 21 volunteers (we started with 44). But we’ll see how they do. There are a lot of seemingly capable volunteers and I look forward to seeing the impact that they make on their communities. Right now I just have to emphasize their roles and limits until they gain some trust from their communities. I’d like to add that not all of them seem like train wrecks, but there are some that I don’t see making it to Christmas ‘cause I’m a jerk.

I went to our midservice training two weeks ago. It was just another pc training. We had language, physicals, and sharing of community projects. Language was ok, I’m still scoring novice low on the proficiency exams. God doesn’t want me to know Setswana (I am giving it less than the old college try though). The physical was also ok, I’ve lost 42 lbs, grown 1” and wasn’t tested on blood pressure ‘cause it was broken. I was pretty frustrated with the community projects. My job doesn’t give me the opportunity to do the hand’s-on projects that volunteers at the village level do. In villages, volunteers really get more of a chance to interact at the personal level. They become a key leader of their community and get to spearhead campaigns and implement programs. They have more free time to do their own (secondary) projects and get more gratification from their personal experiences. When you’re the white person in a village of 3,000 you become more of a part of the community that the community looks to and depends on for ideas. In a village of 40,000, your just a white guy that people try to rob. I’m at the district level which means that I’m more of a desk job. I work a lot with putting things on paper and managing statistics, finances, Program planning, and evaluation. It was kind of disappointing to hear all the cool things that other volunteers have the freedom and support to do. PMTCT volunteers get one community that their job is to educate, motivate, and facilitate Aids projects in. When you live in a community that small, your pretty much getting to do all that with your new friends that your living and working with.

So I think that’s about it for this chapter of my optimistic life’s journey. If I told it to you in person I’d probably swear more and have a beverage in hand. I’m thinking about future trips so that planning will probably start soon. Shoot me an E-mail or leave a comment. Go Sharp! Tots

Rachel needed to burn off some leave days and I wanted to go somewhere. After receiving 1,000 Rand in airline vouchers from some peace corps friends who recently closed their service, we decided cape town would be a good trip to go on. We did all the planning in two days and a week later we were in capetown. We left Gaborone at 6 am on the ninth and rode a seven hour bus into Johannesburg . In Johannesburg we jumped on a 2 hour plane to Capetown and we were at the hostel by 8 that night. Throughout the trip we were staying in Hostels. For the first three nights we were at the Big Blue Backpackers about 3 blocks from the Water front to the West and 3 blocks from Long Street to the East. We were pretty exhausted the first night so we hung out at the hostel and met other guests who were also staying there.

The next morning we got up early to hike table mountain. We got up to a cloudy and rainy day to learn that on days like this they close the mountain because there is so no visibility. So we started walking around the Long Street area before realizing that it was Sunday and nothing was open. We headed toward the waterfront to see what was there, and by this time shops were beginning to open. We ate breakfast and checked out the area to see what was happening until we came across a place called the Green Dolphin. This was a blues and Jazz place that had live music every night, and one of my goals on the trip was to see live South African Jazz. A waiter told us who was playing and informed us that they were booked that night because everyone knew the musicians and they were well-known (the concert was sponsored by Jack Daniels and Levi Strauss). We started talking to the waiter and learned that If we come early enough (by 4:00) we could sit in there until the band came on as long as we kept buying. Later that afternoon we were at the restaurant by 3:30 for a late lunch. They were setting up the stage when we got there, so after eating we moved to one of the three couches that were located near the stage. We sat on those couches for about 4 hours before the band came on. We were actually there long enough to sit in couches that would eventually be the center of the VIP section (seriously, velvet ropes). The band finally came on and it was the worst band we had ever heard. It was like a mix of Live and O.A.R, but not as good. We couldn’t help but to get up and leave during the third song. In the end, we were in that restaurant for almost six hours to hear a band that we could no longer handle after the third song. We went back to the hostel and hung out with our new friends for the rest of the night.

I know your disappointed with the conclusion of that day and so was I. We totally should have raised a few more questions when we found out it was sponsored by Jack Daniels and Levi Strauss. –you live and you learn

So we were hoping to bounce back from a disappointing first day and we were going to do it by going to Robbens Island. We were scheduled to go at 1 but when we got up to see that the weather was just as bad as the day before, we went to check to see that the boats would still go out. It was about 9:45 and when we got there we found out that the 10:00 would probably be the last one of the day. On the way to the island I would say that about 60% of the boat got sick from the choppy water. It was pretty funny though because I didn’t get sick and there were people crying when we got to the island. Robbens Island is the prison used to Jail Nelson Mandela and other Apartheid prisoners. We didn’t actually see Mandela’s cell, but we saw everything else. The tours are guided by ex-prisoners of the island, who are surprisingly ok with talking about what was happening there as little as 15 years ago. It was an eye opening experience and it was something that South Africans should be proud of. They’ve made progress in the last 20 years that it took the U.S. about a hundred to accomplish. I still wouldn’t say that prejudice is completely gone, but people’s views and beliefs have taken a major turn. In two generations, they’ve accepted new ideas that it took Americans four generations to adopt. I’m sure a lot of it is geography, but its good to see where they are going with it. We got back to Capetown and decided that we should try a Mexican restaurant on the waterfront. I won’t get too into this meal but they used a lot of barbecue sauce to compensate for a lack of taco seasoning and you should not go there. I went to the Hostel to take a nap and relax.. that night a bunch of people at the hostel decided that we should all go to a bar together. We went with six Americans, one from South Africa, one from England, and two from Ireland. We went to the Dubliner to enjoy a one man band and several drinks. The night ended sloppily with one girl making out with a guy who was trying to rob her, a guy getting slapped, a guy who couldn’t stand, and two pieces of cold pizza.

The next day we ate breakfast on the water front, and went to the train station to catch a train to Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch is the wine region on the outskirts of Cape Town. We stayed at a Hostel called the Stumble Inn. We ate crocodile for lunch and stayed in to hydrate that night.

The next day, we went on a day long wine tour. We went to 5 different wineries and sampled 5-6 wines at each place. There were 6 from America and 2 from Holland on the tour and we all had a great time. The scenery was great and the wine was good too. I’m not much of a wine connoisseur but I do love a good wine. Since its winter here, everything is dead and we didn’t see the grapes growing or watch them make the wine but we toured the facilities and enjoyed the culture. The mountains were awesome too. I bought 3 bottles and we went to the hostel. Rachel and I decided that we would stay classy after the tour and went to some ridiculous restaurant across the street from the hostel. The restaurant had great food and chefs that must have studied chemistry, but we were pretty out of place. Rachel is from long island and has spent the last 6 years growing dreadlocks and I had wine all over me (I had a French looking maroon Kool-aid mustache). After dinner we spent the rest of the night hanging out at the fire pit and drinking wine that everyone had bought earlier. I was asleep in no time.

The next day I had a bit of a headache and felt like hanging out in Cape Town and not doing anything, but we had planned on going to see the penguins in Simon’s Town. Two trains later we were standing next to penguins. The weather was pretty cloudy and windy, and we didn’t have much time so we ate lunch next to the water and hopped back on a train. By this point in the trip I was pretty tired so I went to bed by 10:00 to get ready to catch a plane in the morning.

We left the hostel at 6:00, flew to Johannesburg, got on a bus at 2, crossed the border at 6:00 and were at heather’s house in Gabs by 7:30. Done.

It was a good trip. With the exception of Table Mountain, the trip went perfectly. I believe we each spent about $500-$600 on a week in Cape Town. Next I’m thinking about Namibia.

So I think this thing may work. Ive got my past emails up, and if youre playing catchup just read them in numerical order, not the order which they appear. Im still learning about putting pics up so youll have to be patient with me on that one. This site has inspired me to go home and write about my recent trip to cape town tonight, so that should be on tomorrow. Im Emailing this address to everyone on my list and feel free to give this site to others as I know id love to hear from some people whose addresses i dont have.

January 4, 2007

Happy new years everyone! Its been a trip since my last email, Ive been busy and on the road for almost a month straight. Now im back at home and able to do a bit of typing. In my last email, I was a few days away from a safari weekend.

I went to khama rhino sanctuary for the weekend with Rachel, Fallon, Marni, and Cathy. We camped and did a game drive and returned to Mahalapye 24 hours later. My favorite thing about khama is that it is cheap and very close and easy for me to get to. The more times I go the better I get at timing things perfectly. It takes me 25 hours to catch a bus there, set up camp, prepare and eat lunch, do a sunset game drive, prepare and eat dinner, relax, sleep, eat breakfast, pack up camp, and return home on a bus. My total expense for this trip is about P210.00 (US$40.00). During the course of the weekend, I see a ton of animals and may even have some animals wonder into my campsite. It is still so unbelievable to me that I can do that whenever I feel like it.

When I returned on monday, I went back to work for 1 day instead of the expected 3. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to Gaborone to visit the Peace Corps Office. And drop some reports off at the Ministry of Health Office. I got back on Wednesday night and started getting ready for my Christmas trip to Nata.

I slept at home on Thursday and Friday. Friday night we wanted to take the night train but it left Gabs 5 hours late so we had to wake up at 4:00 AM on Saturday to try to hitch to francistown. In Palapye, Colman and I split up in Palapye because a ride is easier to find if your one rather than two. It was our version of the amazing race. The contestants: Me, Colman, Brian, Heather, Libby, and Rachel and her Mom. We had all planned on meeting on the night train but since it didn’t come through, we all had to either hitch or take the bus and the busses were awful since it was the weekend before Christmas. We all got to Francistown in time to catch the last bus to Nata. I got second place in the contest.

There is a PCV in Nata named Mel who has made friends with the owners of local lodges and parks. Mel is an awesome volunteer who is on her second assignment. She volunteered in Uganda before coming here. Her work in Botswana has been in the clinic, but her peace corps project is a website (www.natavillage.org). If your ever bored, check it out. The money being raised is doing awesome things for the village and I understand that it is getting some recognition Internationally (She was just picked up by the Red campaign). For Christmas, we went to Elephant Sands outside of Nata. It was a beautiful area on the edge of the Makgadikgadi pans. It is now officially rainy season though, and we got dumped on for Christmas. We saw some wildlife, but not much due to rain. The rains that happened the day after Christmas are the ones that you see on the nature documentaries where everything quits dying and the watering holes fill up and all the animals flock to them. It was a monsoon and we were camping in the middle of it. After about an hour of rain, the watering holes were about three feet deep and it continued for an entire day. Over Christmas, a few volunteers Dave and Wendy) that are in Bots 3 ( the group that came in May 2005- Im in Bots 5.) told everyone present that they had received a job offer by the Clinton foundation. They told us that they were going to be leaving for Ethiopia at the beginning of January as Hospital Administrators. They are a married couple who have retired and are doing whatever they feel like. We are sad to see them go but are excited for their opportunity.

After Christmas, I returned to Mahalapye for two nights. Colmans brothers came to visit so we through a party and killed a goat for the occasion. We danced and ate and relaxed to show colmans brothers what a party in Africa felt like. The next day colman went to capetown with his brothers to meet their parents and I got talked into going to Maun for a few days with some other volunteers. Erin and I went to Tonota (outside Francistown)that afternoon and stayed the night with Bo, a volunteer who lives at that site. The next day, Bo and I went the rest of the way to Maun. We left Erin at Bo’s because she had come down with the Flu. In Francistown, bo and I met up with Marnie, Libby, and Suzie. Marnie lives on a family compound like I do. The difference is that Marnie’s family is the second wealthiest in Botswana. They own a lodge and the most popular nightclub in Maun. We were treated to half price rooms and free refreshments for three days.

From Maun, we went back to Nata. Bo went home since erin was sick and staying at her house. Marnie, Libby, Suzie and I would stay at the Nata Lodge for new years. On new years eve, we met Mel and Fallon at the lodge to bring in the new year. Our game drive was cancelled because the Pans were flooded, but at that point I was ready to rest a bit and just hang out. New years day, I returned to Mahalapye where I have been since. My recovery has been extensive cleaning of my house. I have either been gone or had guest 100% of the time since thanksgiving and I really feel like I could use a reset button to get things back to normal. Cleaning my house, washing my clothes, and restocking my kitchen will have to do.

I return to work tomorrow where I will most likely find a copious amount of work to do, so I am now enjoying my sunday night while I can. I have a clean house and clean clothes so I think Im ready to get back to it. I will admit I was kind of afraid to see the holidays coming since it was my first one away from my family, but my friends here as well as the travel opportunities here made it much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I still missed seeing all the friends and family that I ordinarily would see, but I found a lot of comfort in other peace corps volunteers. For those in my group (Bots 5), we have successfully made it through our first holiday season in Botswana. For those in the other groups (Bots 3 &4) they have made it through their second and final Holiday season in Botswana, so we all have reason to celebrate. I managed to do the entire holiday season for less than US$300.00.

Thank you to everyone who sent holiday packages. They were all awesome and gratefully received. I hope everyone was able to celebrate a safe and happy season.

Im now preparing for the upcoming months. Im planning another trip to Khama later this month and passing on a trip to Rustenburg, South Africa to meet another Peace Corps volunteer who stays there.

January 17, 2007

It is Wednesday evening and I am currently planning and preparing for a trip to the rhino sanctuary this weekend. Im cleaning my house and preparing for everyone to meet here before we take off. Tomorrow night I have a second year volunteer (Jen Ott) staying at my house on her way to Gabs. She wants to marry a motswana nurse at her clinic so she has to go fill out paperwork for a background check. Friday night I have some more volunteers staying (Rachel, Patricia, Bonnie, Jen Overly, and Kate). On Saturday Morning were getting up and going on a safari weekend. Colman cant make it because he has a friend who is in cape town in business and is meeting up. The friend is doing well in his job and told colman to book something awesome and he’ll pay. Colman decided that he was going to book a few days at a luxury lodge riding elephants and now Colman is preparing to go on a First class safari for free. If any of my friends have an extra five grand laying around, give me a call. Im rakin’ in $4.60 a day. So were doing a safari weekend then on Monday I’m going to Francistown. Its Fallon’s Birthday and she wants to go hang out up there for a day. I feel bad because she isn’t doing anything big for her birthday so I figure Ill pay for her lunch.

January 22, 2007

It is Monday night and im sitting and listening to music. I believe that I have finally reached the point where everything is no longer new. This equals a certain level of boredom. The trip to the rhino sanctuary over the weekend was great. I saw many of the things that I have already seen and a few new things. To make things more exciting I have decided that I will take a trip in a few weeks to Namibia to hang out on the beach and sandboard on Namibia’s world famous sand dunes. So far it is just myself and Rachel that are planning on making the trip. We are opening the trip up to some others but we don’t expect that many will be able to go since it was just the holidays and many used a lot of leave days and money. We don’t mind this since it is easier to travel around Africa in small groups. It will be my first trip outside of Botswana since coming up from South Africa last April. Im excited to see the beach and get away from the desert for a while. Life in Mahalapye has become slow. I have started looking forward to outings around southern Africa to help me break up my service and give me something to look forward to. I will take a week to Namibia in February then wait for April. My parents will visit from April 12 to May 1. I have started planning with a travel agent for a ten day Safari around the nicer tourist destinations in Botswana. I recently sold my car to pay for my portion of the trip and my parents have taken a hefty load of substitute teaching gigs to pay their parts. We will do the Okavango Delta, Chobe National Park, and Victoria Falls. We will also plan some time to relax and hang out in my Home Village to show them that I really am not on a two year vacation. I am confident that four or five days in Mahalapye will help them to understand what I am doing with my community and what its like to live as a volunteer here. Later in the year (Around July or August), I am planning a trip to Malawi and Mozambique. Then later in the year (December/January) I would like to make a trip to Tanzania and Kenya.Then around April of 2008, Ill take one last big outing before my close of service, Id like to do Lesotho and Swaziland. If I stick to this schedule, I will have five runs of three or four months of hard work at a time broken up by five trips that should be incredible. We don’t have much money as volunteers, but keep in mind that the expensive part of seeing Africa is getting their. Since we are already here, our expenses will be travel from country to country and accommodation. Public transport, although unpleasant, is the cheapest way to get from A to B and camping is super cheap; even in well known parks. I have all the camping equipment I need and I have learned to deal with public transport, so I think Ill be able to swing these trips on volunteer allowances. I think it would be an absolute waste to come all the way to Africa to live and not see as much as possible. I also think that if I didn’t allow my self to get away from seeing the things I do every day, I would probably lose my mind. I love my job, but there is a reason that there is a high level of burn out in AIDS workers in a country like this.

I will apologise now. I started typing things that bother me about my job and ended up going on a page long rant. Feel free to skip the next section of you don’t feel like you want to hear my analysis of why Botswana is in the shape it is. I will admit that it is pretty negative and unpleasant, but true.

For outsiders, we come to see a country who is suffering terribly even though all the resources are there. It is frustrating to see a country who has free healthcare, free access to protective measures, and some of the world’s best prevention programs continue to suffer due to excuses. The excuse that I hear over and over each and every day is that the culture is the reason that the country has this problem. I fully understand that any culture has strong traditions that are not changed over night. But to me there is not even an attempt being made to change the aspects of the culture that contribute to the high rate of HIV transmission When you confront a teacher who is known to have sex with their students, they will hide behind the excuse that it’s the culture. When you ask why a woman has no say as to whether a condom will be used, it is the culture that says that it is the man’s choice. It is the culture which has given the man the power to decide what will happen behind closed doors, and the woman has no voice in decision making about sex and her own health. When you try to discuss topics relating to HIV/AIDS, it is the culture who has decided that it is a subject matter that should not be mentioned above a whisper. HIV/AIDS awareness is nonexistent among the youth because it is viewed as an embarrassing subject to discuss. While schools are too embarrassed to mention the topic, the public presses for HIV Positive individuals to come out with the status to remove the stigma It is things like this that make basic HIV facts unknown to the youth and they are continuing to suffer the same destiny that the two generations before them have already lived and evidently not learned from. A little over a month ago, I listened to a poet read a poem which had the first line translating to “AIDS was brought here by white Americans and the Swedish. Seeing and hearing things like this make you want to rip off your head and throw it. It makes it hard to decide if being here and doing this is even worth the trouble and money that is being spent and the years that people dedicate. Some days you have an extremely positive prospective on things and a lot of hope for the future. You may have three or four of these days in a row. Then you hear or see something that you know is complete BS and you cant even challenge it because it is culturally unacceptable. You may have three or four of these days in a row. Your mood and energy is a rollercoaster from day to day because the signs of encouragement that you are looking for everywhere often may be discouraging. On top of it all you have healthcare workers and nurses who see their job more as a paycheck than an important duty that will prolong the lives and futures of their family, neighbors, and friends. It is common for a nurse to tell someone who wants to test to come back tomorrow because it is the afternoon and they don’t feel like they have enough time to give a ten minute rapid test. Those tend to be the people who don’t even attempt to test ever again. You have to wonder when a culture will recognize that some of its traditions are the root of its biggest problem and that changing times will depend on a culture to adapt in order to survive the change. Im not picking on the Motswana culture because youll find that cultural issues will cause problems in every country in the world including America. It just seems like this one is more of a life or death- in your face- problem. It is also one of the more easily controllable epidemics that history has seen. AIDS is not an airborne illness. It is not extremely contagious. It is a disease that requires extremely close or intimate contact to transmit. Less modern medicine dealt with things like the plague and with the technology that we have today, we can’t beat a disease that is so easily prevented due to individual behaviors and a lack of effort to change. I’m done.

So I just found out today that the Bears are in the Superbowl. I can’t remember the superbowl shuffle and now the year I leave to live in Africa, they have a chance to do it again. It seems like my luck. Ive also been following Illinois basketball from a distance and that looks like something I don’t mind missing this season. I hope this message finds all of you well and happy. This message may not reflect it, but I really do love my job. Im seeing things I never thought Id see and im learning more and more about people every day. This is an experience that I think anyone can benefit from and I consider myself to be lucky to be one of the few who get to experience it. I love you all and miss you. I think about you all every day and I look forward to hearing from you. Until next time, Salang Sentle!

November 8, 2006

Hey, Forget my ever saying anything about being able to send mail more regularly. It is Tuesday the 8th of November and I realize that it has been over a month since my last entry. I forgot that even in the rare instance I get to the internet, I have to have something written to send. Life is good. Hotter en hell but good. We are now experiencing the beginning of summer and the rainy season. In my opinion hot is fine. But when you add periodic downpours lasting 2 hours, you start to get terrible humidity. The rain will last awhile then the sun comes out and sucks all the rain out of the sand and back up into the air. The rains mean that we are starting to get bright green plants and flowers that ive never seen. So it’s a good trade off. A few weeks into October I went to a workshop in Francistown to become a trainer of trainers of a new AIDS test that is being introduced shortly by the Botswana government. The DBS (dried blood sample) is a new test for infants that can be administered at 6 months. The current test for infants is the PCR (polymerase Chain Reaction) which works but isn’t reliable until the infant is 18 months. It isn’t reliable because when an infant is so young, the mothers HIV antibodies can still be in the childs blood. Id like to explain further but it involves a bunch of really big words and even though spellcheck can probably spell them, I don’t like it when the computer thinks its better than me. So Im on the team that’s going to teach the test to all the health workers in the area. The test just won the PEPFAR award for program of the year in Botswana so its cool that Ill get to take part in it. PEPFAR is a major funding source for HIV research and treatment in southern Africa.. In Francistown I also bought a grill and an industrial fan. Two of the best purchases Ive made in my entire life. After returning from the workshop, I spent a day in Mahalapye then went back on the road. This time I was out working with the TB/ IPT program. Computers are rare in the clinics so records are all kept by hand. Our task was to go to every health facility in the district and copy all of their data from 2005 and 2006. We copied day and night, sleeping on the clinic floors, and drove clinic to clinic from Monday to Friday. Some clinics took eight hours straight of copying by hand from their books to ours. Adventures during the week included scorpions, finding food, temporary use of our vehicle as an ambulance( when it returned my seat was completely saturated with blood- It looked like the car from Pulp Fiction that Marvin got shot in), and villages with no water- The flood waters haven’t reached our district yet. I came back to Mahalapye on Friday for two hours- long enough to do a load of laundry, then headed out again. This time I was going for Fun. We took the weekend to Khama Rhino sanctuary. A park that is just about two hours from Mahalapye. This was definitely the coolest thing Ive done so far. We camped two nights and took a guided safari with the entire vehicle to ourselves. Guests on the trip were myself, Patricia- Volunteer in Ramokgonami, Colman, Rachel- Volunteer in Werda and Pete- Volunteer in Thailand. We took our safari at sunset- a perfect time at the watering hole. Since we had the vehicle to ourselves, we were able to take the cooler with us and took a two hour safari. We saw Warthogs, Springbok, Gemsbok, Phuduhudu, Zebras, Impalas, Wild Dogs, Black Foxes, Kudu, Black Rhinos, Wildebeests, Ostriches, Buffalo, and White Rhinos in their Habitat. We also saw hundreds of Bird species. The price of this excursion was about 140 BWP (USD $33) and included park fees, campsite rental, and guided safari. I plan on doing it every chance I get for the next 2 years. After food, drinks,and camping I spent the equivalent of $61.00 for the most incredible weekend of my life. I got home at about 10:00 Sunday night and went to sleep. The next morning I woke up at about 5:30 and packed my pack for another week on the road. It was week two of our TB/IPT records recording marathon. After the end of the second week, we had copied two years worth of data from the books of 37 clinics in the district. We got home on Friday night and I felt like I was going to drop dead. I slept about 16 hours when I got home and got a hot shower and relaxed for the weekend. On Monday, I went into work for about an hour then had to turn around and make the walk back home because I felt sick. My body was just tired and the heat was brutal that day. Tuesday was better and that brings me to today- Wednesday, the day I finally turned on my computer. I feel fine and im glad to be back home. I hope youll all accept my apologies in not emailing more but I have been really busy and time has been going so fast. Pease don’t take this as a sign that you shouldn’t email me. When I finally do get to check and send mail, reading my inbox is a major thing to look forward to. That’s about it in my world, I hope to hear from all of you soon. Oh yeah, and Colman got robbed at knifepoint.- that one’s for you mom!

December 12, 2006

Well, a lot has happened since my last email. Ill apologize ahead of time because this on, like the others, is pretty long. When you go over a month without writing anything, that tends to happen. Im thinking back to my last entry in November and trying to think of where to start. When I left off I was in week two of traveling to each facility in the district to manually record their TB/ IPT information. That was a blast, but Im glad its over. In November I found more of what Ive become used to in Africa. My counterpart was on leave for three weeks and I found myself in the office alone. I spent the long hours in the office trying to figure out what in the world these setswana speaking people wanted as they filed in one at a time for help. Most of them just wanted me to do their jobs for them and couldn’t understand why I was unwilling to do this. Me being a volunteer must mean Im dying to do as much work as possible. The fact that I came so far to work for no pay means that they feel that they are doing me a favor by bringing work in for me to do. Ive learned how to play the cards too though. It doesn’t take long for me to turn on my “insane American in Africa” mode. When I need to get someone to give it up and go back to work I start speaking English as fast as I can and act like theyre nuts for not understanding me. At one time I felt bad doing this but people do it to me ten times a day, so I figure they should be ready to take it since they like to dish it out so much. The request I get most often is to type documents for people. Computer skills are non-existent here and it takes me about 1/20 the time to type a page that it does for a motswana to type the same page. Ive given in plenty, but people continue to get more and more creative with what they ask from me. I have recently had people coming in asking me to type documents that they haven’t even written down on paper. They try to paraphrase it and want me to actually write it (which is funny because they purposely try to paraphrase in Setswana and I give them the get the hell out of my office look). They have learned that I have absolutely no tolerance for this and still continue to try on a daily basis. The second weekend of November I helped Colman with a project to get him into Business school. An essay and assignment for NYU was to come up with a non-media medium to introduce himself to his future classmates. We spent two days turning the game of Life into the game of Colman’s life. At first we thought it would be funny as hell and fun but it ended up being a pain in the neck. The project took about 5x more time than we anticipated and was not nearly as funny as we thought, but the finished product was nice. I think he has a good chance at getting in. Col applied to ten business schools. All of them are the type of schools that I thought only appeared in movies. Apparently Harvard, Columbia, and Oxford are actual schools. And I hear that they have an even better reputation than Eastern Illinois University! Who woulda thought. Anyway, that took one weekend in November, another weekend I tried to teach myself how to make Chinese food. That was an adventure. I generally stink at Chinese so ill just stick to Mexican, Italian, and Irish (baked Potato, Potato Salad, mashed potato, potato pancakes, etc…). The following weekend was my birthday and thanksgiving. Before we started the weekend, we wanted to share what thanksgiving is with our friends and coworkers. Colman, Patricia and I Prepared a surprisingly good Thanksgiving dinner. We had to special order two turkeys a month in advance, which luckily arrived less than a day before our feast (and yes, they were dead when they arrived). They were imported from Brazil and were not the most healthy looking birds, (Im told they were purple—I’m colorblind) they each weighed less than 10 lbs. We celebrated at my house. It was the first time that most of the people had ever had turkey and stuffing. We explained the origin of thanksgiving and The locals were very interested in recreating the original. (their idea was that I feed them, and they take all my stuff- just like the pilgrims did to the Indians) We went around the room and everyone said what they were grateful for. At first it wasn’t working well, but after all the white people went, the locals felt more comfortable discussing what they were grateful for. Thanksgiving was a huge success. It brought us closer to our friends and coworkers. They absolutely loved it and remind me of how great it was everytime I see them. The dinner made them want to have these get togethers more, since then, I have received 3 invitations for dinner (something that does not happen in Botswana) The day after my Thanksgiving Celebration, we started the meat of the weekend by taking a bus down to Gaborone to work as volunteers for half marathon race called the run for life. The race was sponsored by the US Embassy and run by Peace Corps volunteers. Each team consists of 6 runners from the same village who have trained together for two months and attended meetings led usually by Peace Corps volunteers (PCVs) to discuss behavior change and risk reduction in their own lives. They also received HIV/AIDS Education at these meetings. The run for life was an awesome experience and it looks like I will be on a committee to help run it next year. Since PCVs only serve for 27 months, it only allows them to be in country for two of these races. Your first race is kind of a training on what needs to be done and by the second, you’re a veteran who is expected to help lead the project. This year we had over 50 runners and the race went well even though the PCVs in charge didn’t think so. After the race, we went back to the lodge to shower and pack. That night we got on a night train to Francistown. The train left at 7:00 from Gaborone and Arrived at about 5:30 in Francistown. When we arrived in Francistown we had to bust it to the Bus Rank where we had to catch a bus that left before 6:00. This Bus went to Maun (in the Okavango Delta) where we would celebrate Thanksgiving with about 35 other PCVs. Since Thanksgiving doesn’t exist in Botswana, The Americans were sure to get together to eat disgusting amounts of food. I camped in someones yard that night then woke up to start hitching home. At this point I was about 8 hours from home (if I could get a ride directly to Mahalapye which was not likely. This also happened to be my birthday. I was with Patricia and Colman and they had planned a surprise for me We had caught two rides going towards Mahalapye, and we stopped in a village named Xumaga which was about 1 hour North of Orapa and about 6 hours from Mahalapye. Colman disappeared for a while and reappeared with a man who said he would give us a ride. When we got in the back of the truck, we started going the opposite way that we needed to go. Instead of getting back on the paved road, we turned onto adirt road that went even further into the village. After a while, we weren’t even in a village. We were in the middle of nowhere and I started getting ready to ask what the hell was going on when we came to a sign. The sign was for a lodge named Leroo La Tau (Footprint of the Lion). This was my birthday surprise, A luxury lodge. When I went out on the deck of the Main lodge, there was a zebra eating less than five feet away. Eventually, I had the zebra eating out of my hand. An hour later, I was sitting at the lookout point with a gin and tonic in my left hand and a zebra eating grass out of my right hand- now that’s a birthday- and it wasn’t even lunchtime yet. It was incredible. The main lodge was on a cliff that overlooked miles of wilderness. Directly in front of us, there was a watering hole with two elephants drinking. The staff was aware that it was my birthday and we got a discount on a chalet and dinner in the restaurant. There was a pool for us to swim in with a poolside bar, and animals everywhere. We went on a night drive and saw lots of nocturnals as well as stuff that like to stay up late. On the drive, we saw elephants, bushbabies, foxes, springhares, crocodiles, ganettes, and zebras. I have yet to see any of the big cats but hopefully that will come in the next few weeks. Colman and Patricia paid for it all against my wishes (ill have to get them back on their birthdays) The total for everything at leroo la tau was less than US$200.00. So to all of you who are thinking of visiting, the expense is getting here, once you’re here, short weekend trips are extremely cheap. We got up the next morning and hitched the rest of the way back to Mahalapye to wrap up a great holiday weekend. Patricia and colman overdid it but they turned a potentially depressing birthday into one to remember. The Friday of the next week was world AIDS day (December 1). We were very busy with planning the events for the day all week but the day turned out great. We had over 200 attend the march to the main Kgotla (chiefs court). We had drama groups, traditional dancers, and speakers. One poet got up on the podium and started reading the poem he wrote. Colman, Anne, and I had difficulty translating so we asked someone who told us what we were afraid he said. The message in the poem was that Aids comes from white Americans and the Swedish. We were shocked and somewhat entertained at the thought, but the crowd believes that anyone behind the podium must be educated and speaks the truth. So it added to the years and years of work that we must put in to educate on the facts and myths behind HIV/AIDS. I enjoyed the rest of the weekend and prepared for work the following Monday. When I got home from the market on Sunday of that weekend, I arrived about ten minutes before the old man on my compound passed away. I was surprised when I was led to his body minutes after he had passed away. At this point I knew that I better get ready for the week from hell. Funerals are always done on the weekend. Which meant that the old mans body would remain on the compound for a full seven days before it would be buried. It is hot and they don’t use chemicals to preserve the bodies like we do in the states, so we lived with that as well as nightly prayers with occasional singing and dancing. At first it was a neat cultural experience, but after a few days, I just wanted peace and quiet and to not have 30 people right outside the door to my house through the days and nights of an entire week. I went to prayer sessions nightly and offered my help in anything that they needed while hoping they didn’t need too much. I was dismissed of the duties of slaughtering the cows and goats all week. The family feeds everyone that is present during this week and everyone, including the homeless knows this and is sure to get their plate. Families keep livestock for the occasion of weddings and funerals because these are the two occasions where they must feed large amounts of people. The funeral has now passed, so things have calmed down. The old woman of the compound was diagnosed with pneumonia last week during funeral preparations and I hear she is not doing well. I am praying that she gets better because she is the one who brought me in to live. If she passes, I will most likely be forced off the compound and will have to find another place to live. This brings me to today. It is Wedneday and it is a quiet day in the office. Im currently making last minute preparations to go on a camping and safari weekend. Myself, Fallon, Cathy, Marni, and Rachel are going to Khama Rhino sanctuary. This is the place I went on my first safari and I enjoyed it. Last time I went with Rachel, Colman, Patricia, and Pete And we made a decision that wed do it quarterly because it was so nice and cheap. Rachel and I are also both idiots and think it would be funny to become regulars at a discount safari spot. We are looking forward to a weekend of seeing lots of stuff. Last time was incredible and I talked to a PCV that went a few weeks ago and saw 22 rhinos. A goal that every PCV has is to see a leopard (not lepard, we see them all the time). Most PCVs will go two years without seeing one. There are 4 Leopards in Khama but their extremely smart and sneaky. They are the animals that hang carcasses from trees to let them dry and attract other potential food.. If we go to Khama 8 times in two years, we think we’re bound to see them. Preparing for the weekend means that during this week I have to do laundry, clean house, air out the tent, make reservations at the park, contact peace corps and give them my schedule, pack my camping gear, and spray the house. The girls are coming into Mahalapye on Friday evening and we’re leaving early Saturday. We’re hoping to catch the bus between 7 and 9 and we should be at khama by 1.Ill get home Sunday and work three days next week. Starting Thursday, Im officially on leave and will go up to Elephant sands in Nata. A group of about ten volunteers are meeting there to celebrate Christmas. We are camping for three days with a safari each day. Elephant sands is in the salt pans, these are areas that used to be part of the sea, with a very thick layer of salt covers the ground. Camping there is supposed to be great because it is completely flat. At night the stars of the southern hemisphere are visible all the way to the horizon with no lights to spoil the view. After three days there, we will come back to Mahalapyefor a braai (African barbecue). Colmans brothers and sister in law are coming in the next day and we’re throwing a party. We are either going to buy two goats or a cow- Colman is going to the chief tomorrow to negotiate a price on a cow. I will stay in Mahalapye for two days then go up to Nata for new years at Nata lodge. We will camp for two days and go on one safari. Then I will come back to Mahalapye. This is where my plan becomes kind of foggy. I will have a week of leave left so I have to figure out how to spend it. Fallon and I are talking about going down to South Africa for a few days for camping and a wine tour. Im not sure how realistic that is but well see how my funds are. We are expecting that these next three weekends will cost around P2,000 (US$400) but I don’t want to push it in case of some unexpected expense. My next letter should have some interesting stuff because Ill have a lot to talk about. With that ill call it quits on this entry. I want everyone to have a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Congratulations To my EIU friends who have FINALLY graduated. Congatulations to my friend from high school and college Phil Brewer who recently found out that he’ll be a dad soon. To my family, Ill miss seeing you all over the holidays and can’t wait til Christmas 2008. Jacksonville and relocated friends, have a good, safe holiday season. Ex co-workers: enjoy the holiday break. I love and miss you all and can’t wait to hear from you. Andrew

May 28 2007

Hey everyone, its been awhile. So long that I cant even remember where I left off so Im gonna start with March. A lot has happened and there are a lot of details that Im gonna leave off for the sake of keeping this one relatively short. Ive had a busy and hectic couple of months. So Ill type a little on each month and try to keep this message as short as possible. Im sorry cause this message isnt that short, but ive tried to hit the main points for each month

March

• 1st & 2nd Attended a conference On the findings of “The Demographic and and Economic Impact of HIV” Study in Gaborone

• 3rd Organized and ran a Persons Living with HIV and AIDS beauty pageant (Long Story)

• 4th-7th – Attended an Evidence Based Planning Workshop in Gaborone

• 10th Organized and held a Concert and March for Month of Youth against HIV and Aids

• March 17th – Was a counselor at a life skills camp for 50 orphans

• March 18-April- Office

March was very busy. It started with a conference in Gaborone. The conference was to report the findings from a 4 year study on the impact of HIV Financially and demographically. It was a very interesting conference and a useful one to program planners.

I came home the next day to be woken at 7am by a phone call from Colman in Gabs to ask if I would mind running a beauty contest that he had been planning for a few weeks. He had a meeting with the president of Botswana and couldn’t really back out. So, I collected the materials and was the coordinator, cashier, and judge for a charity beauty pageant that started 4 hours late and didn’t make a dime. Thank you Colman, and why were you running a beauty pageant anyway?

I shook that one off quickly and headed back to Gabs the next day to attend a workshop on Evidence Based Planning. Sounds exciting, right? Well, while it was useful and It’s something that theoretically makes since and would work, I don’t know if it is something that can be easily applied to this particular system with the workers we have available.

Our next event was the following weekend In Mahalapye for the Month of youth against HIV/AIDS and Zebras for life test for Life. We had a march and concert for the kids. The march went well and the concert featured Mapetla. Mapetla is a batswana Pop star and he played at halftime of a football game that featured two local clubs who were playing a game to kick off “Zebras for life Test for life” campaign. This is a project spearheaded by peace corp where we get national team soccer players to use their fame to encourage testing. The day went really well and we had almost 2,000 attend.

Then next week we prepared for a camp we wrote a proposal for. Myself, Colman, Patricia, Cathy, Anne, and Rachel wrote a proposal for a camp at Khama Rhino Sanctuary Where we took 50 orphans on a 2 night camping trip and Lifeskills camp. We did one game drive and spent the rest of the time playing games. After the camp I had a few weekends to rest and get ready for my parents to visit. Getting ready meant serious cleaning of my house and getting ready to be out of the office for three weeks. I spent the rest of the month cleaning on the weekends and working in the office during the week.

April

2-5  Facilitate DBS workshop

5-9  Easter weekend

11 Parents visit

My parents visited for most of April. In the beginning of the month I was a trainer at a workshop teaching health workers how to give a new HIV test that’s being introduced to the public for infants. The workshop was fine and I can barely remember it now because it was completely overshadowed by an awesome Easter weekend and my parent’s trip.

For easter I went up to Northwest Botswana to the edge of the delta for camping at Sepopa and Hiking at Tsodilo Hills. It was a long trip up but when we finally got there (splitting up and hitching 4 different lifts each ) we had a blast. We hiked Tsodilo Hills, a small village where some of the oldest cave paintings (30,000 years) are everywhere you just hike through the rocks with a guide who shows you all of them. It was a five hour hike (watch out for snakes) and we had to hitch 100K to get there from the Camp, but it was a cool thing to see.

I got back to the office the next Tuesday and got ready to meet my parents in Gabs on Thursday. It was good to see them and they brought me some much needed clothes and food. We stayed in Mahalapye for 3 nights, then we went to Gabs to start our Safari thrugh the Okavango, Through Chobe, and to Victoria Falls. I could write for days about our trip, but I doubt you want to read all that. So Ill just say it was absolutely incredible. In ten days, My parents saw the entire Big Five, Vic Falls, and The Delta. Most travelers in Africa go years to see what my parents saw in 10 days. The Big Five consists of the Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard, and Rhino. The leopard and rhino are extremely difficult to see but we saw a lot of both. All our camps flew us in light aircraft (there are no roads there) to and from the camps. We worried none about logistics because we were being constantly babysat by the staffs of these camps. Awesome food, open bar, house sized tents, and Elephants eating only feet away at 3:00 am. Instead of continuing talking about it, Ill just say that if that all sounded cool to you, fork out the bucks and do it. I can get you resident rates and I have an awesome travel agent. My parents can tell you more about it but they’re sure to agree that the trip we went on could have very easily cost about five times what we paid. The trip went from the 17th to the 27th then we were back in Mahalapye for the rest of April.

May

1st parents left

3rd – 7th  Peace corps recruit visit

4th Christmas in May

5th  Cinco de Mayo

8th Mural painting Mahalapye Mural

10th  Colman left Mahalapye

11th – 13th  Zebras for life 10K race in Werda

17th & 18th Mural painting in Sojwe

28th The day I wrote and sent this.

May has been another busy one. My parents left the first, then we had Peace Corps shadowing. (A trainee stays with a current volunteer to learn about village life) I wasn’t a huge fan of my trainee but I got through it. Something that Im seeing with this new group is that they come in thinking they know what its gonna be like then they complain when its not. They come in thinking that they want no water and electricity. They say that its not “real Africa” otherwise. They’re idea of “real Africa” is a place where absolutely nothing is developed, people are completely uneducated and incapable of basic business, and there are fiery pits everywhere. I, like most of my friends and coworkers, will take the modern Africa any day over what they wish it was so they could have more impressive things to brag about. It makes me wonder if they came here for the peace corps image or to work. The beautiful thing about the current Africa is that “things could be worse.” In the meantime, these trainees have been here for five minutes and they wish it was worse. Until they get wise to what the situation is and why it’s a good one, Ill be avoiding them all.

We had a few activities happen while the recruits were shadowing. On the 4th we did Christmas in May. Using money we raised, we bought school supplies and wrapped it and presented the gifts to 300 orphans during a Christmas party. The government provides these gifts during Christmas, but this past year when we went down to pick up the gifts for our local orphan care center, there were none there. This is basically because even at the government level, we have selfish jerks who will steal gifts from orphans so that their own children can enjoy new school supplies. It sucks because this country hasn’t been in good shape for long enough that people recognize that sharing is ok. Even when you hand out condoms, everyone will try to take a case for themselves. When you ask them why, they say “for making love” When you ask them why so many, they say that they will use them all this weekend. So now you have one ugly smelly guy with half the condoms in Botswana and all the people who actually need them cant find them because they weren’t distributed properly. People want handouts and when anything is free, they will take as many as possible. Thank god that a government official(who actually has money) was able to give his kids 12 backpacks each for Christmas. And the only price he had to pay was a ruined Christmas for 300 orphans. As you can tell its been 6 months and im still furious about it, so ill say Christmas in May was fun, I was a reindeer, and it went well.

The next day happened to be cinco de mayo so we took our trainees on a pubcrawl around Mahalapye. We hit 5 establishments for the occasion we named El sloppy Pubcrawlo- another Sloppy Mahalapye Production. It was a good time and we ended the day at my house cooking way too much Mexican food and making sombreros out of tortillas.

On the 8th we painted a mural on a clinic in Mahalapye. I am testing this out to see how it works and guage community interest. If it works, my plan is to paint a mural on every health facility in the Subdistrict (46 murals). It was ok but instead of the art club, the school gave us the detention kids and they were lazy and had horrible attitudes, plus they sucked at painting- I too would be pissed at the world if I sucked that bad.

Colman Officially left Mahalapye on the 10th. His 27 months were up and it was time for him to go. I got an email from him last week. He was somewhere in Tanzania on safari with a Murai warrior as his guide. He’ll return to the states in about two weeks and prepare to attend Columbia for his masters in public policy this fall.

The next day I went way down to the southern border of Botswana to help my friend Rachel with her village’s Zebras 4 life test 4 life campaign launch. She incorporated this campaign with the Peace Corps’ Run 4 life campaign. We held a 10K race and had two zebras players talk to the crowd of about 250 about the importance of testing. It was fun and it went well.

The next weekend, I went to Sojwe with some volunteers to paint another mural. This one went better because the students were there on a holiday, so no one was forced to come, instead, we had interested volunteers painting.

That’s about it in my catch-up email.I have workshops in the next few weeks. In 2 weeks im taking a week off to go down to CapeTown with Rachel. We’re doing Stellenbosch(wine safari), Table Mountain, Robbens Island(Mandela’s Jail), penguins, and just enjoying a real city. I heard that like 20 died down there last week because it was so cold. I don’t care though.

At my mother’s request, I am attempting paragraph breaks in this e-mail. What do you think? Oh, and if any of you were thinking about offering me a job when I get back, please understand that I am well versed in the art of spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and effort. These emails do not accurately represernt my love and respect of the English language and I promise you that if you need a flawlessly constructed document on crisp white paper, I am more than capable of that.

September 13

Hey everyone, I just turned on my computer to find that I didn’t save anything that I wrote last night. That pretty much tells me that I have to get a hell of a lot better at this journal thing. Last night I updated you on how my party went over the weekend. It was fun. We all ate too much and had a great time. I saw tequila for the first time in a while and another volunteer brought an Ice block so we made a few batches of Margaritas. I have Lemons, Limes, Oranges, and Pomegranates growing in my yard so we were able to make several flavors. The pomegranates are past ripe so ill have to wait until next year to try them. I have finished reports for last month and work is easy after that’s done. Today the Mahalapye District Health Team and DMSAC Had a meeting with the ministry of Health of Swaziland. We showed them how the HIV/AIDS response in Botswana is organized in the district level. Swaziland is just now feeling the very hard impact from HIV/AIDS. It is now in a tour of Botswana, Lesotho, and Zambia to see how those programs are organized and how well they work. My boss is on her third week of leave, so Im getting a crash course on whatever im doing. She will come back next week and I will leave on Wednesday to go to Kanye for my peace corps group’s first quarter reconnect. It is hard to believe that I have already been in country for five months. Today I learned that the village council had finally found me a house. I went to look at it because I figured I might as well. I’m glad I didn’t wait for them to find housing. Im laughing right now just thinking about how horrible it was. Many people thought that I would be living in a mud hut with thatched roofing. These are called Round vales (ron-da-vulz). This house was the same as a round vale only instead of mud and grass being used to construct it, It was 100% 2ply aluminum. An environment which would be very inviting when the temperature tops 115 degrees. Anyway, Ive been reading what I wrote last night week I feel like I spent seven pages sounding like nothing good ever happens. I love my job, the people Im around and although the previous seven pages don’t reflect it, I have no complaints. I realized that when you set out to do something like this, you just imagine the worst things possible happening. That’s why I feel like not that many people will just decide to move to Africa. It is hard to think of the positive aspects of it but there are plenty. It’s a beautiful place with unbelievable wild life. The overall mind-set of the people is surprisingly easygoing and playful. It is rare to ever go to a place without seeing a majority smiling. To think about the fact that one in three is infected with HIV/AIDS and they are still able to smile is amazing. It says a lot about the strength of there culture. In the Peace Corps Botswana office there is a poster that says: You go to peace Corps Americas, you’ll come back a revolutionary. You go to peace corps Europe/asia, youll come back an alcoholic. You go to Peace Corps Africa, you’ll come back smiling.

October 3

Today is Tuesday and I just returned to Mahalapye on Sunday. The reconnect in Kanye was good. We spent 10 days sharing experiences and doing language training and got several lectures from speakers who had advice for us on our jobs and adapting. The best part was being able to get together to see everyone. We stayed in a pretty rugged lodge and weren’t exactly comfortable for the 10 days. Many had flooded rooms while my room’s shower wouldn’t turn off. So we had hot water running for three days which made our room muggy and sauna-like. Summer is starting here and today was the first day of 100+ degree temperatures. I am also seeing more and more spiders and scorpions lurking inside and outside of my house. I also believe that I am developing a lizard problem that apparently happened while I was in kanye. More experienced volunteers warned that lizards seem to multiply once they get in your house. I now see what they meant. When I turn on a light I often see one or two running across the room. It is good to be back in Mahalapye. Over the weekend (September 30) the country of Botswana celebrated its 40th anniversary of independence so there were many wild parties. I was glad that I have a driver so I didn’t have to rely on public transportation on such a crazy weekend (even the bus drivers are drunk on an occasion like this). Travelling is very dangerous on holidays here. The US embassy gave us a no-travel restriction for the weekend but the peace corps forced us to travel anyway when they scheduled the reconnect to end on the weekend. I was able to use my vehicle to transport five other volunteers back to their site along the way, so I did a lot of favors along the way.

Since I am back in Mahalapye I will have a more structured schedule and anticipate being able to write more. I intended to send the bulk of this journal a few weeks back but have been unable to get to the internet. I depend on Colmans internet connection to send email but he was evacuated to South Africa for two weeks for medical reasons. I left for Kanye the day before he returned. Since its getting late in the year, Im starting to plan for the holidays. There are several options I am weighing. I might make a trip down to Cape Town (The Cancun of Africa) for a week. I might go to Namibia to camp in the desert. I might spend the holidays on a beach in Mozambique. Or I might Travel to Zimbabwe to check it out. My backup plan is to just stay in Botswana and go on a safari. Peace corps volunteers have developed good relationships with safari operators so I could get a pretty good safari in the Okavango delta for cheap. The Okavango is best known in America for its appearance in national geographic. NG makes a trip to the Okavango about 4 times a year for photo opportunities with lions, elephants, hippos, crocs, gazelles, kudu, zebras, springbok, and buffalo. The most recent Okavango pics appeared in either the August or September 2006 issue of National Geographic. I have a peace corps connection with a safari guide that operates in the park where all the photos were taken and it is only about 8 hours north of me, so it would be a very cheap option with a lot to see. That’s all im writing now. So Ill wrap it up. I encourage anyone to call or visit, so I hope to hear from you all soon

With that, I think I have covered all the major feeling and events in my life since I made the move. Since I anticipate having more regular access to the internet from now on, I will try to update you all monthly on how Im doing. Pease return the favor. Opening mail or reading an email from someone in the states is something that has the power to brighten any day. I know that you have missed a lot of things in my life since I left, so I expect that I have probably missed a lot of the going ons back in the states over the same time period. Please shoot me an email to say hi and let me know what’s going on. I apologize for the length of this email but it was my first opportunity to document my experience so far. some of you may be interested in knowing it all, some not. I have extremely slow speed internet so picture attachments weren’t really an option. I am planning on putting everything on CD and hoping it kind of gets passed around. Also, tell people to drop me a quick line so I have their email address. If they wanted to receive this but didn't it is probably because I don’t have their address.

Hey everyone, this is Andrew in Botswana. I am slowly getting myself established and think it may be possible to check and send e-mail more regularly. Since this is the first e-mail many of you are receiving from me, I will start from the beginning and attempt to update you all on the life im living on this side of the world. For those of you who have been staying in contact, much of this may be new since it has been almost 2 months since I was last able to send an email. I will attempt to organize this chronologically but since I have been unsuccessful so far at keeping a regular journal, some of the last four months (it seems like a lifetime) has already become pretty fuzzy.

April

I left Jacksonville at 430 am on the 17th to drive to Springfield where I departed by plane to St. Louis. I connected flights to Philadelphia where I met with the rest of my Peace Corps group. In the beginning, there were 46 volunteers. 2 did not show, and we were immediately reduced to 44 (10 guys and 34 girls). During staging, we learned about what we may expect when we arrive in Botswana. We spent three days doing medical testing, studying coping strategies, and learning about our new colleagues and friends. The people I met and have now become close friends with are really incredible. The immediate support we found in each other was extremely important in becoming comfortable with our new situation. The weeks leading up to leaving were actually quite scary and we could all relate to the feelings of uncertainty that each of us felt about the 27 months ahead. On the 19th we left Philadelphia on a bus to New York. One person was removed from our group hours before departure for medical reasons. From New York, we began the 18 hour plane ride to Johannesburg, South Africa, stopping to refuel once in Senegal. We were very tired when we arrived, (part jet lag, and part free wine and drinks). Even though it was an 18 hour flight, we actually lost 25 hours since we were flying against the sun. April 20 2006 did not exist in my world. We were greeted in Joburg by our Peace Corps directors as well as more free wine and cheese. We stayed the night in joburg and got a good rest before loading onto another bus and finally making the trip into Botswana. At the border, the officials would only let us in if we said we were there as tourist and we were not to mention that we were there as workers. So, we lied. We spent three days in Gaborone at a lodge where current volunteers comforted us and helped us learn the basics of setswana- the local language. We met our language instructors and began lessons; we would meet with these instructors daily for the next 2 months for three hours a day in preparation of an oral exam that we would take the week before swearing in (June). On Sunday the 23rd, we loaded buses once again to go to our villages for home stay. Little did we know, this was going to be the last good meal and group bonding opportunity that we would know for a very long time. Just before leaving the Peace Corps realized a mix-up. I was brought in with the understanding that I would be a District AIDS coordinator, the Peace Corps thought I was there for the PMTCT program. After many discussions, it was settled that I would be in the PMTCT program. This was the event that got me the nickname "peace corps wildcard" No one knew how true that was yet and you’ll see why in the following months. Anytime there would be a mix-up, it involved me and an essential detail to my service. The group was now split into three smaller groups for home stay. My group was stationed in Moshupa, a village of about 5000 about an hour outside Gabs. I got to my home stay to find that my family was extremely religious. My host parents were both in their 70s (rare since life expectancy here is about 40). My host mother named me That- which is setswan meaning "gods love" I had several host siblings but only met two since they were all grown and had moved out long ago. My home stay included no running water and periodic electricity- not very reliable. The temperature was starting to get cool since April is the beginning of winter here. It was around 90 during the day and down to 0 at night. The cool temperatures meant that bucket-bathing in the back yard was done quickly and efficiently. I continued 3 hours of language training a day and added 5 hours of skills training a day in preparation of my job. The days generally started at 7 and ended at 4 with an hour at lunch. This was a period of adjustment for me. I adapted to very interesting cuisine, tea breaks every 2 hours (I never drank tea in the old country) and walking extreme distances- something that I was somewhat used to due to my job prior to this one. The month of April of this year was one of the most memorable of my life as I learned to live life on two completely opposite ends of the spectrum

May

May was off to a rough start. I was learning to adapt to a completely foreign way of life while constantly thinking "what the hell am I doing in Africa?" Things that were so easy in the United States turned into major events. I remember my first attempt at doing laundry and the reactions that were a result. I knew that it was important that I learn how to live here, so I rejected requests from locals to let them do my laundry for a small fee. I had also heard stories of other volunteers paying individuals to do their laundry and then find that the person had taken all their clothes and disappeared never to be seen again. I had four or five neighborhood kids standing over me laughing at everything I did. My host mother was horrified when she came outside to see that I was scrubbing my clothes with a shoe polish brush. She took the clothes away from me and showed me how to clean them. I'm not sure how, but she was able to clean them using just her knuckles and they were cleaner than they were when I first bought them. The frustrating thing was that I thought it would be a good idea to take light colored clothes to help deal with the heat. I failed to realize that the sweat that would saturate them along with the dust in the Kalahari air would create a nasty red tint in all my clothes that would (to an American who loves washing machines) be impossible to clean. I took note of my mother's cleaning technique and I now wash my clothes the same way. The difference between her and I is that she has cleaned this way for over sixty years and her knuckles are well-callused; while mine are soft and even today, break open every time I do laundry (which leads to blood and more laundry). Another aspect that I was adapting to was the cuisine. It was not rare for me to come to dinner to find boiled leaves (Morogo) and a hearty serving of seswaa (smoked goat meat). I would also sometimes find a bowl of beans to accompany a hearty serving of palache. Palache is corn starch added to boiling water and stirred briskly until it is the consistency of mashed potatoes-- this is completely flavorless and is used only as stomach filler. In any motswana meal, you will find that 3/4 of it is a starch that will fill the stomach quickly and make you feel full. Another tool that the batswana will use is extremely hot spices. When you eat very spicy things, you eat much less. The main spice used here is called peri-peri. It is about twice as spicy as cayenne pepper and about half as expensive. another favorite is the innards of any animal you can imagine. These innards usually sit out (we had no refrigeration) for several days. Tripe is a favorite and one of the most appetizing of this food group. I learned to deal with often terrible food by scalding the inside of my mouth (mainly taste buds) with hot tea. The people here love tea and this is one of the countries in the world where tea-breaks are not optional. In fact, everyone breaks from work at 10:00 and 3:00 for tea. If you hold a meeting and don't serve tea, people get very upset and will probably not attend the next meeting you call. In the second week of May, we lost two more members of our group. One for medical reasons, and one because he was having a hard time dealing with the changes in life. We were now down to 41. It was and still is very disappointing to lose a member of the group. Our group, even though there are so many, is a very tight-knit group. Every time we lose someone, everyone is affected and saddened.

One night in May, The bus dropped me off in an unfamiliar part of the village. For those of you who haven’t experienced it, being white and lost after dark in a village where crime is common in Africa is not a good thing. There are no street lights and my shiny white skin reflected the moonlight well, so I was a sitting duck who was waiting to be robbed. I knew I could rely on young kids since they are always the most interested in a white guy to lead me home. I started out with a group of three and before long, I was leading a pack of around twenty kids between the age of 8 and 12. as they joined, I would ask if they knew where the Sefanyetso family lived(that was my new surname). Finally , at around the 18th kid who joined my group, the kid knew where to take me. On the way down the path to my house, I saw another white guy walking with a local. As I got close, I realized that it was Ed. Ed was another peace corps trainee that lived about ten minutes by foot from me. Ed was walking with my host dad. When I didn’t come home before dark, my host mother started to worry and sent my dad out to look for me. My dad found Ed and naturally thought it was me (all us white guys look the same) when my dad brought ed home, my mom started screaming at my dad that he brought home the wrong lecquoa (slang term for white person which translates to "vomited from the sea"). we walked ed home where his parents were hysterically worried that he had been mugged and killed. My dad and I then walked back home. as I got closer to the house I saw a fire and heard singing. I walked up to the house to find my entire neighborhood holding a prayer vigil for my safe return. I had been lost now for over 3 hours and for the record, Ed and I look nothing alike.

Around the middle of May, I was starting to settle in to the new environment. I was now able to finish my plate of food at dinner. I was also becoming capable of basic conversation in setswana. On most nights, I would have 3 to 5 children come watch me eat dinner and quiz me on setswana. I was not fond of this practice but it helped me learn the language and I got my bonding with the kids done so I could relax and have time to myself after dinner. May was the hardest month in terms of being homesick. Some nights I would lie awake and think about how much easier my life would be if I just went back home. I can say that I did consider it many nights but every morning when I woke up I was just glad to be in Africa. Not many people have this opportunity so throwing it away would be a mistake that would be very hard to live with. Besides, at that point I hadn’t even been in country for a month. I had heard threat training was the most trying time of service and looking back, it was. I made a commitment to live and work in Botswana for two years. Abandoning that commitment would cause me to question my ability to live as a responsible adult no matter where I called home. Training was going well and language was going well. It was the urge to see my family and friends that made me consider going home, staying confident in my decision and sticking it out was important to me. Looking back, the decision to stay allowed me to prove to myself that I was mature and strong and unwilling to run away when my life became unfamiliar

In May, I learned a lot about myself. My life had become something that I had never imagined. While I had many questions about my commitment, my strengths and weaknesses, and my ability to cope with difficult situations, I found answers in staying positive and keeping a perspective of my life in relation with the lives of others. Looking back, Im glad that I am still here and that I have the opportunity to help others while learning so much.

June

June was off to a rolling start. I was over half way through training and feeling good. My biggest problems in June were related to a medicine I was taking. Larium is a Malaria prophylaxis that I take once a week to prevent me from getting malaria. Larium has some very interesting side effects. During the day, Larium affects your mood. You can be the happiest guy in the world one minute and then be at someone’s throat the next. When a group of forty is on this medicine and around each other all the time, people get very testy. The general personality of your typical peace corps volunteer is a very optimistic, helping person who is often willing to forgive and forget. Many people felt like they were turning into animals as arguments and conflicts got very personal and many people were hurt. In our group, it was hard to believe some of the people who were lashing out at peace corps officials about things like insurance, mosquito nets, varieties of tea that were being offered at tea break, and oddest of all haircuts. I was generally ok during the day, but Larium was definitely in my system at night. The nighttime side effects of Larium include hallucinations, very vivid dreams, sleeplessness and sleepwalking. I would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night to see a man standing right next to my bed. I soon learned that a good way to test if he was real was to talk to him. After time I realized that even if a man was standing there, I wouldn’t see him. there are no streetlights and night is completely dark with the exception of the moon. I usually can’t see my hand when it is five inches from my face at night, so how would I be able to see a man standing in the corner of my room if I can’t see anything else? You also have very real dreams at night. Depending on the dream, this is either very good or very bad. On the good side, you get to see everyone that you miss when you go to sleep. On the bad side, some terrible things can happen to those people and you wake up convinced that they really happened. A girl in my group woke up and called home at 4 in the morning (which was actually 8 pm in California) because she thought that her parents had been killed in an accident. Her parents were fine and the next day she switched to doxycycline- another malaria prophylaxis. Most of our group has switched to doxy, I think there are maybe 10 of us still on Larium. The side effect of doxy is sensitivity to the sun, something that my delicate Irish skin can't handle. Other than that things were good for me.

One night some girls in my group were walking home at around 10:00 pm. Peace corps orders us not to be out after dark for safety and security reasons. The girls were attacked by a group of men. Being strong American women, they fought the men and were eventually left alone. After the attack, one girl looked down to realize that she had been stabbed in the stomach and was in need of medical attention. The girl was treated and then administratively separated from peace corps for breaking the rules. The same weekend, I went to Gaborone to check email. It just so happened that Botswana was playing South Africa for the COSAFA cup final and gabs was not a great place to be that day. A friend got me a ticket to the game and I unfortunately had to turn it down. I had come to Gabs with a couple of girls in my group and they did not have tickets. Leaving them to deal with the hooligans and soccer fanatics was sure to end in disaster so I stayed with them for the day. Botswana won and it was complete madness. We were supposed to be back in Moshupa and at home before dark but it was impossible for the bus that we were on to move due to fans celebrating in the street. The scariest thing was the fact that everyone thought we were South African because we were white. We all had Botswana flag bandanas on and I had a Botswana jersey on but we were still getting threatened by everyone. People saw us through the window of the bus and started punching the glass and trying to get on the bus. We finally got home unharmed at around 11:00- five hours after dark. In the future I will remember that the celebrations always start out fun with dancing and singing in the street but will ultimately end with fires and overturned cars.

June 21st was our swearing in as Peace Corps volunteers. We were no longer trainees and swearing in is always a big event. There were five Newspapers there as well as Botswana television. The American Ambassador gave a speech as was the President of Botswana- Festus Mogae who had to cancel at the last minute. Just before the swearing in, A girl in our group decided to go home this lowered our group to 39 volunteers. I had learned the week before that my site placement was Mahalapye. Mahalapye is well known in Botswana for having a high crime rate. It is the third largest village in Botswana behind Molepolole and Selebi-Phikwe. Gaborone and Francistown are the only two cities in Botswana, followed by Maun, the only town. I learned that there are already two volunteers in Mahalapye: Colman from Boston has been here for a year and Anne from Cleveland has been here for two years and decided to extend for a third year. I had already met Colman because he was on the Volunteer Action Committee (the group who greeted us in Gabs when we arrived). We were going to move to our new villages the next day. The next morning I showed up to find out that I did not have a home in Mahalapye. I immediately called Colman and made an arrangement to sleep on his couch that night, hoping that I would have a house the next day. It turned out that there was no government housing in Mahalapye so my name would go on a list for housing with no clue as to when I would have a house. Most Peace Corps volunteers go to site and replace a volunteer that was already working in the community. My position was created only a few weeks before I was places so there was no preparation for my arrival. Other volunteers went to their sites before moving and found a furnished house with curtains, beds, and everything that they needed to live. In my case there was nothing. No house, no bed, and no clues on how to acquire a place to live started what would end up being a long wait for housing and my suitcases remained packed. I was also being introduced to my new job during this period. I knew before arrival that I would work as the district PMTCT coordinator. PMTCT stands for prevention of mother to child transmission. The PMTCT program is designed for expectant mothers who are HIV positive. 38.6% of delivering mothers are HIV positive in Botswana. If mothers start ARVs (anti-retro-viral drugs) while they are still pregnant there is a less than a 1% chance that the baby will be infected. The PMTCT program gives mothers access to ARVs while providing education on how to reduce risks (e.g. bottle feeding, bottle cleaning, and birthing options) of infecting their child. The PMTCT program, like all healthcare in Botswana is free. A major battle that is being fought is the stigma around western medicine. Traditional healers are still more trusted than certified professionals. Traditional healers can make a lot of money by keeping patients. The longer a patient goes to a traditional healer, the more diseases progress and the more need there is for additional treatment. traditional healers are capable of treating minor aches and pains but things such as HIV and cancer can go undetected and untreated for years until the patient dies if not screened by a professional healthcare worker. So I was expecting to run the PMTCT program, but the surprise was that I would be coordinating programs for routine testing of HIV, Tuberculosis programs, and IPT (Isoniazid Preventative Therapy). IPT is a program for HIV positive individuals that provides education and monitors tuberculosis in enrolled individuals. HIV positive individuals don’t die from HIV/AIDS, the disease weakens the immune system so another illness can take over. Most of the deaths of AIDS cases in Botswana are the result of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis and routine testing are self-explanatory programs. I came to site and found that I was going to do a job which is designed for three people. I take statistics on all these programs from the 45 clinics that are in my district (it is the second largest district in the country) and prepare reports for the Botswana Ministry of Health. This job is exhausting and tedious but I am well qualified for it-- I am the only person in my group with a degree in community health administration and program planning. I have since learned that this is why the position was created and I was placed in it. The learning curve was extremely steep in the month of June as far as my job was concerned, and I was continuing to struggle with being homeless. In the month of June, I spent 10 days sleeping on couches and living out a duffle bag. Looking back, Im really surprised at how calm and unaffected I seemed at the situation. I was still in shock from the new environment and nothing could shake it. To make things worse, my debit card from America expired and I had not yet received a bank card from my bank in Botswana yet; if that wasn't bad enough, American express travelers checks are about as useful as toilet paper in Africa . So to sum things up, I had no house, no money, and still no clue what the hell I was doing in Africa.

July

July was my first full month at site. the fourth of July can be a depressing day when your oversees and missing friends, so my host, Colman, and I decided that it was an occasion to throw a big party. We called the party the fourth of ja-braai the word "ja" is setswana for food and a braai (sounds like brye) is an African barbecue. We invited locals along with peace corps volunteers from all over the country and celebrated the 4th the way our forefathers would have expected. We had patriot punch, potato salad, hot dogs, burgers, beer, music, dancing, and even a make your own tie-dye stand. It was great. It gave the volunteers a chance to get together and share our peace corps experiences thus far over drinks, food, and a mostly American environment. In July, I got a chance to settle in to my new job and meet more of the people that I would be interacting with on a regular basis. I still had no access to money so the peace corps helped me out with accessing money directly from the bank. your typical visit to the bank in Africa lasts around three hours and it is a very frustrating experience. most of July was a settling in period. I got into the routine of day to day life while enjoying the newness of everyday. I am lucky that I was placed in Mahalapye because I don’t think I could have crashed long term with many of the volunteers. Colman was very hospitable and willing to listen to my frustrations of not having my own place. Im sure my presence on his couch for such a long period was wearing on him also but he did a good job of hiding it. Colman’s house is a one bedroom with a sitting room and a bathroom. My luggage remained in the corner of his sitting room unpacked and I shared the couch with his dog. On top of living with him, his office was right next to mine in the Rural administration center. He is the District Aids Coordinator and we work together daily in planning programs and assisting community groups with project implementation. I owe Colman big time, Im not sure I would still be here if he wasn’t willing to give me quarters while I was waiting for housing. There was nothing to keep him from giving me the boot and I am eternally grateful that he didn’t. Due to the situation, Colman and I were forced to become instant brothers. It wasn’t long before the politeness was gone and neither of us were afraid to tell the other off without hesitation. This was important because it gave us the freedom to communicate about problems (and there were many) and clear them up before they turned into major deals. We still were able to remain on good terms even though the situation was difficult and out of my or his control. I learned during July that it would probably be the end of October before government housing was available and I was far from the top of the list. This meant that it was time for me to start looking for my own housing. I started looking everywhere for available nongovernmental housing, and there wasn’t much of that available either. at the end of July, I was still sleeping on a couch and living out of a duffle bag. By the 31st of July, I had been living on a couch for 41 days and it was getting old. The valuable lesson I learned in July was the importance of patience. I feel like I was a patient person before joining peace corps but July tested that patience and I learned about another level of patience in me that I never knew existed.

August

In august, things really began to happen for me. Work was going well and I felt like I was making important progress on finding a house. After the great success of the fourth of Ja-braai, Colman and I decided that we should throw one party a month to make sure all our friends in the peace corps had a reason to get together and have a good time. reunions are something that we feel is important for the mental health of the group. People can really go for long spells of feeling bad or feeling like they are not accomplishing what they set out to accomplish when they joined peace corps. When people get in a funk like this, they start exploring the possibility of closing their service early and going home. You tend to see some pretty depressing stuff day-to-day here, (Funerals, Death, Malnutrition, etc.) These "get togethers" allow us to comfort each other and gives us interaction with other Americans. In some of the villages, people are living so rustically and secluded that they may forget what white people look like. Colman and I realize that three volunteers living in the same village is unheard of, so we decided that we would create an oasis of fun in Mahalapye. Our party for August was celebrated on the 6th of August. It was called "Cinco de Augusto" (since studying setswana, my Spanish translations have become pretty ugly). It just so happened that the same weekend, a group of about 20 Habitat for Humanity volunteers were in Mahalapye. There were also 3 United Nations volunteers in Mahalapye so we prepared a Mexican feast complete with homemade piñatas. we served all the Mexican fixins and even put lime in the beer. We attempted to speak Spanish but most of us are barely capable of English anymore so we kept communication basic. On the 13th of August I finally moved off the couch and into my own house. My house is a very spacious one bedroom with electricity and running water. It is located in the Herero ward of Mahalapye. The Herero ward is a Namibian settlement on the outskirts of the village. It is about a 55 minute walk to my office from home but I don’t mind because the area was what I imagined Africa to be. It is a poorer part of the village and many people still live traditionally. My house is on a family's compound and is guarded by a huge dog as well as a rat-size dog. The first week that I lived in the house, the electricity wasn’t functioning properly. There also was no sink in the kitchen, so I had to wash dishes in the tub. Washing dishes in the tub was nice because it was multitasking at its finest (just kidding). After a week the electricity was fixed and then a week later, The owner of the house was kind enough to have a kitchen sink installed. I was now able to live very comfortable by peace corps standards and feeling good. I was starting to get peace corps visitors from nearby coming in to visit and relax. A few girls in villages nearby started to come to Mahalapye frequently to enjoy the luxuries of my new home. they live less than an hour away and live without electricity or running water. They have to haul water by hand daily to do their washing and food preparation. Many would say that I am not in your typical peace corps living situation but I fail to find a reason to apologize for that. I didn’t join the peace corps because the idea of no electricity or running water was appealing to me. I joined to help people and learn, running water and a light switch don't stand in the way of me doing that. I finally had a space to call my home and I was most excited to be able to unpack my suitcase and find all the things that I had forgotten about. Many of the things in my suitcase had not seen the light of day since I left Jacksonville in April. I could finally spread everything out and see what I expected to need before leaving compared to what I actually need. I found that the things I packed in my duffle were the essentials but the things in my suitcase were nice additions to my limited wardrobe. Most of the things in my suitcase are way too big for me now since I am now down to my Africa weight. I could also stretch out in my own bed and enjoyed not spooning with a dog for the first time in 54 days. Near the end of August, I went up to Tsetsebjwe for the birthday party of a girl that was in Colman’s group. Tsetsebjwe was fun because it was my first trip out of Mahalapye since I had arrived at site. Colman and I pooled our resources and decided that we would give Jen a tie-dyed t-shirt for her birthday. She loved it and we weren't surprised. We're pretty good at tie-dying things. I came back to Mahalapye for a few days and then headed to Gabs to attend a workshop for a few days to be trained on a new tuberculosis program that the government is implementing. Gabs was good, I ate some good meals and stayed in a nice lodge (all paid for by the government).When I returned to Mahalapye August was about over and I was in much higher spirits that I had been in the previous four months. In August I feel like my patience was well rewarded. When I contacted the peace corps office, they were not afraid to tell me that they had expected me to quit and go home after a month of being homeless. My staying in country and staying positive helped to give me a good reputation in the peace corps office which will help me in the future when I need assistance from them.

September

Today is the 6th of September and I am feeling great. Currently I am undertaking several projects aside from my normal work responsibilities. First, I am days away from finishing my first issue of a quarterly newsletter that I have become the chief editor of. the newsletter is around 12 pages an issue and discusses AIDS news in the district. In the newsletter, there is a kids section complete with a new comic that myself and Anne, another peace corps volunteer wrote and illustrated. the comic is about a zebra named Thato (the character is based off of me) we talk about HIV support groups, do interviews with community leaders, and allow requests for articles from the leaders. I have been working on the newsletter for about a month and a half and will be happy to have it done. I also have began working with a local kid to start a nationally registered football (soccer) club for the village of Mahalapye. The kid is certain that since I am white, I have the ability to set up meetings with the president of Botswana and arrange meetings with the National team coach and players. I am not capable of all that but I have made it clear that I am willing to assist him in any way I can with his project. In the peace corps, you have to be very careful not to do work for people but to assist them. Otherwise, the day I go back to the US, all the projects I have created will crash. My third current project is to create a youth football league. The league will target kids between the ages of 10 and 14 and will provide them with HIV/AIDS education while organizing 1 game per week for them against a team from another ward in Mahalapye. Mahalapye consists of 9 different wards. I live in Herero while Colman lives in Flowertown each ward will have a team that is coached by volunteers. Games will also be refereed by volunteers. I am excited about this project because it gives me a chance to integrate two highly needed programs in the village: youth aids education, and a youth football league. Aids is of particular importance in my life right now and soccer has always been a love of mine, so this will be a constructive use of my time integrating my work and my main interest.

Our party for September is fast approaching and Colman and I decided that we would make this one a housewarming in my new place. When I moved in, I found that there was already a stove and fridge that belonged to the landlord and the government had already purchased one of each for me. So this weekend we are going to face off in an Iron Chef Mexican Challenge Last weekend we received RSVPs and based on the guests that are coming we had a draft for teams. We will have a 9 on 9 no holds barred cook off. Colman and I are captains of opposing teams and tempers are running high this week. There will also be a best of seven rock paper scissors tournament and a potato carving contest.

Hey everyone, I dont know if this will be easier for me to keep this updated but with more internet access, Ill give it the old college try.