Back in October, 2008, when I was working as a new life skills Peace Corps volunteer in Molepolole, I joined a group of volunteers to organize a Baylor teen club in the village without actually knowing much about it. But eventually we found Hope World Wide Botswana, a local NGO (nongovernmental organization) to sponsor the club. In November, 2008, we started the teen club meetings with about five HIV positive students, referred by the Baylor doctors and a local nurse working in at the local hospital. Now in May, 2010, we have up to 25 members with the numbers still rising. So as myself and other volunteers leave, we decided to have a meeting with the Hope and the new and old volunteers.

We began by discussing our many accomplishments. Two male and female teen leaders were elected and participated in planning and implementing the monthly meetings on the first Saturday of every month between 10:30am and 2:30pm. With the adult facilitators and the teen leaders we learned how to work together as a team to meet the needs of the teen members. We planned a day at a swimming pool to teach members to swim. Another time we invited a hip hop artist to teach us to dance. One weekend a year ago, we went to a local game reserve to learn about the animals to create team work in our club, and planned many life skill activities. We learned about self-awareness by drawing an outline of each teen on the floor, floored by writing and discussing the individual’s personal qualities. Barclay’s Bank sent representatives to teach how to handle money through projects involving budgeting. We have had sessions on dating, medication adherence and ARV medication, etc. More recently we have watched and discussed videos in Setswana and English about the discrimination against those living with HIV as well as how to live positively with HIV, And with all this we have include energizers, sporting activities, lunch and crafts.

At the handover meeting, we suggested some challenges for the future as well as the way forward. For examples, in the past it has been difficult to fine time for the adults and teen leaders to meet in a timely manner to plan. We also have to work to make a smooth flow for implementing the monthly activities, knowing exactly which person is responsible to present each part of the program. In the future, it is hoped that there will be a meeting of the parents to inform them about the clubs various programs.

So as I leave Botswana in June 2010, I feel assured that the teen club will be in capable hands and continue in the near future to fill the gap that our teen members have in terms of living with HIV/AIDS and learning how to be future leaders. Both the teen leaders and the adults have a passion and commitment to lead the club forward. So I can feel assured that the group we started over a year ago will be in good hands. For more information on the Baylor teen club.

Molly Waite Peace Corps Volunteer

Since February when I last posted, I have been busy both having fun and working. I was able to spend a weekend at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary in Serowe, only hours away from my village. No only did I see rhinos and other game, but saw the royal burial ground of the Khama family, that has two of the Botswana presidents. My fellow Peace Corps volunteer and I also visited a wonderful prekindergarten school program for about 60 orphans and vulnerable children run by an interesting "colored" family who lost a son to HIV/AIDS. I also heard how coloreds were discriminated against prior to independence.

Then next trip was a fascinating trip to see the very diverse city of Cape Town in South Africa, where the world cup will be held starting June 11 and the following two weeks.(An Africa country is not expected to win the cup, but I wish I were going to be in Botswana to watch it.) Besides having a huge working and retail waterfront complex, Robben Island where Mandela was jailed, and an old slave quarters in the city, there are beautiful gardens and beaches around. For those who know the film critic, Roger Ebert, he evidently went to university here.

Besides playing, I have been organizing some primary school visits with my PACT club and coordinating a training with other volunteers for a leadership training during March,the month of Youth Against AIDS.

Peace Corps has also given us lots reports to write up before we leave. So as we work on that, this very day, 57 new Peace Corps volunteers have arrived in Molepolole for two months of language, cultural and technical training. And so the cycle continues. When they finish training, they will take our places at schools, nongovernmental organizations, clinics and HIV/AIDS prevention councils.

And as I close, I am getting ready to go to Gaborone to assist the organizers with

Botswana's first major world class marathon on Sunday, April 18th. It should be a fun event. Some Peace Corps are running and others are helping.

So enough for now. I hope to post some photos at some point! Do post comments and questions if you like.

For the past two years I have been living with three generations of a family. And now there is actually a fourth generation, age three toddling around here for the past three months. The grandfather, age 79, Rra Evelyn, had been treated for cancer of the liver for the past year until November when the family was told the treatment was no longer effective at stopping the spread of the disease. The alternative medications were very toxic, so the family decided to put his life in God’s hands. He was tall and lanky with a kindly face. Being retired, he enjoyed visits to his “lands” where he had some cattle and grew some corn and other vegetables. He had slowed down over time as the cancer took its toll. On Monday, the day after Easter, he stopped breathing, after weeks of being bedridden with lots of visitors coming to say farewell and saying prayers. I was home in my small house, since it was a public holiday. The grandmother, Mma Evelyn, had her grandson summoned me. I entered the bedroom and sat there to say my goodbyes as news spread and people began arriving to say their goodbyes.

The preparations for the funeral began immediately. My day room was transformed into storage for their living room furniture to make room for friends and relatives to visit and also a sleeping room for the family overflow. Large numbers of plastic chairs began arriving that afternoon. Cell phones were busy. People who had visited on Easter began returning. Later in the afternoon a covered pickup truck arrived. Rra Evelyn was carried out in blankets to go first to the hospital to be officially pronounced dead and then off to the local mortuary.

I left for Peace Corps business in the capital for several days, returning on Friday to find two two large tents erected in the front yard for evening prayers and services and another tent in the back to house the carcasses of numerous cows. These tents were very useful for the unusual rain we have been having in April as well as the hot sun during the day. As I wrote they were being disassembled on Sunday having served their purpose for many services throughout the week.

When I arrived home on Friday, there were people collecting all over the family compound. Large cast iron pots were cooking on different fires cooking for the up-coming events. I changed into my Setswana traditional dress to head of the local church for a final service as his coffin would be stopping there on its way back home. About 5pm the hearse was met by church members and friends. Friends carried the large wooden coffin into the front of the church where it was draped with a cloth bearing the church’s name. About 40 people attended with the men seated in one area and the women in others. An older minister assisted by some younger ones conducted the service, saying prayers and reading passages in Setswana from the Bible. By Botstwana standards it was short, less than an hour, before the coffin was opened and closed briefly before being carried out. I rode with some family members behind the hearse. It was a small cortege. It stopped by his old family home where he grew up. A long line of older men were lined up and seated in front of the local kgotla (traditional meeting place). The coffin was carried out for a final visit and prayers. Then we proceeded back to the family compound. We were greeted by a large gathering of close to 75 for a final welcome. As the coffin was carried into the house, his fifteen year old granddaughter and twenty year old grandson broke down into uncontrollable sobs. The finality of his death had hit home.

While people gathered in front yard, others were cooking in the back. The prayers were given by both men and women. Women again were seated separately from the men. Hymns from the church were called out by page number. There was no music, just the words were written. About 12 ladies in the choir came from the church dressed in white hats and jackets. The songs, all in Setswana and sung a cappella, were sung by all at times one person leading with the words of the lesser known hymns. After the prayers, a thick, sorghum porridge was served with a stew of beef intestines. Plates were passed in a human chain of women from the back to those seated in the front. As people finished their plates were taken, washed and reused. I eyed some phaphathas, a traditional kind of English muffin cooking on the open fire. A woman asked for one, so I scooped some up to serve, but was told to put them down. They were not to be served now.

Custom has it that friends and relatives stay up all night to keep vigil and pay their last respects. I was exhausted from my travels and after helping with drying dishes, opted for sleeping. Yet about midnight I was awakened by what seemed like a long spontaneous service of heartfelt prayers said with passion and grief by men and women. These prayers were alternated with lots of well know hymns sung by all. It followed the practice of traditional choirs in Botswana. Both men and women sing low rhythmic religious songs while standing and stepping using several small shuffling motions with their bodies! At times these informal and formal services dip into the deeply spiritual and mystical veins of the Setswana culture. Since the session was taking places just a few yards from my house, I dosed in and out of sleep with this beautiful music in the background.

I woke early as the plastic chairs were reorganized into rows for the morning service. As I rolled out the door I was handed a colored program with pictures of Rra Evelyn, his background, and the day’s events. I shivered wishing I had a traditional blanket that most of the older women have been wearing throughout the night as they sat around the various fires. About sunrise, the casket was carried out of the house. Male family members and friends talked about his life. Then women in the family got up to read the notes on the flower arrangement. The casket was loaded into the hearse to wind through the neighborhood to a nearby graveyard. Here the service was conducted by the church with the choir leading the call and response hymns. We all watched as the casket is lowered. The family threw dirt on the coffin. Then men took turns shoveling the dirt into the grave until an iron fence was put on top to cover the grave. The last talk was by the local chief, called a kgosi, who happens to be the father of the host family I stayed with when I arrived two years ago.

Back at the family compound, all guests are fed a meal of well cooked shredded meat, a local favorite dish, well cooked corn, and a small amount gravy and cabbage salad. There were over hundred people, but the serving goes quickly. These traditions were the same everywhere. Families and friends helped each other with the costs, cooking and dishes. Everyone had a role. People then drifted away during the rest of the day. I assumed the event was over, but the next day there was another smaller and informal morning service followed by tea and again in the afternoon a similar event followed by a full meal. The cow, which was standing in the trailer out back, was no longer there. In total, four cows and several goats gave their lives for the feasts.

As the tent came down and the chairs were stacked for the last time, I remember the day almost two years ago when I first met the family after a ceremony in which they placed a permanent gravestone on their only son’s grave. He also had died after a long illness at home as the result of HIV/AIDS.

February, 2010

I started the first term of the school year in January with the determination of pursuing a number of initiatives before I leave Botswana. The development of a program to empower students with live long skills has been the primary focus of my job at my senior secondary school. The teachers agreed to hold the final life skills workshop for teachers on January 28th. To hold the workshop, we needed food. The school needed to train about 50 teachers. They only had money to buy them a drink at most, so I was fortunate to find PEPFAR(US HIV/AIDS) funds to pay for a lunch. We then organized the teacher trainers to help present the final workshop. With planning and preparation we pulled off our final training on schedule. This completes the number of teaching staff ready to implement the life skill books. So within the next month we hope to distribute the 1000 of student life skill books(were paid for by the US government and have been in my office for over a year. Just numbering the books has been a real task so that students will return them for others to use in the years to come. So if all goes well the new program will be rolled at least partially soon.

I have also suggested that the PACT club mentor the 900 plus new form 4 students that arrived campus at the beginning of February. This task is challenging since despite numerous formal greetings in Setswana, students have trouble approaching students they do not know. We are using role plays to overcome this with some success. My school within the school consists of several hundred students. At my suggestion they have committed to mentoring the new form fours. Again, role play and some unusual logistics are being used to meet and greet the new form 4’s in our mini school house. None of this is without a degree of angst on my part, since without an adequate knowledge of Setswana, it is difficult to convey the concept of mentoring.

As part of the orientation of the new class, I am working to organize the drama group of men to dramatize some of the messages to be conveyed to the new students. The drama will be followed by a interactive discussion of behaviors dealing with teenage pregnancy, sexually related diseases, alcohol and domestic violence in the home. This is a change from the lecture style don’ts and shoulds lectures that comprise days of on-going orientation. Wish me luck!!

If all goes well, with transport and other logistics, my students will visit a few primary schools to mentor the children and participate with seven other schools in presenting and receiving training to learn about health related issues. We shall see….

All these activities will be accomplished under the leadership of students who have been elected as the result of campaign speeches and campaigning by members for votes among their fellow students. The election was a great success with lots of campaign promises, but now the problem is training the new leader to lead on a weekly basis????? Skills that many take for granted are not easy in an environment where students are usually told what to do. Training is mainly trial and error with a considerable amount of coaching. But my students crave the power and now need to realize the responsibility. All they need is the experience, which takes time. Since the concept of student government does not exist at my school, it is more of a challenge. (Who would have thought my days of student government long ago would come into play???)

And if I am lucky, the Guidance and Counselling Center will have a Resource Center of sorts to help students find out about not only health issues, but also career and options for further study. Nothing is definite. The challenges are great. So we are beginning by putting a sign on the door so students know where the Guidance and Counseling Center is located! And after a year I have located an available bookshelf! I have to make sure it reaches our office before it is snatched up by others. We also are bracing ourselves for hundreds of students who will return to school in March once they know their exam results from last year. They will need counseling on applying for further studies.

Finally, I am planning a trip to Cape Town in March for a week before the World Soccer Cup takes over South Africa on June 11 and Peace Corps’ official lock down or restrictions on travel begins during the last three months of service. So as you can see, I am acutely aware of doing things now or never before I am replaced in June by a new Peace Corps volunteers at my school. And fortunately I have some time for a smooth transition knowing that the next volunteer will have some knowledge of past and the existence of future community resources before I depart.

This past December I have been fortunate to travel first to Lesotho and then later on a Botswana bus tour of Namibia. I have already posted a few photos of the Drakensberg in South Africa and the country of Lesotho where I hiked and pony trekked with a few volunteers. Now I will post a few photos from a trip to Namibia where we spent Xmas. Namibia is a contrasts-sand dunes and ocean coasts, mountains, game reserves, local indigenous groups such as the Herero, Nama and Ovahimba people as well as Germans, Portuguese, English and South Africans. We visited the capital, Windhoek, and two coastal towns of Swapkomund and Walvis Bay, an upcoming port for shipments to Africa. Both trips were fun and I would like to return and see more of each of these parts of Southern Africa. I would hope that you all would have an opportunity to see and explore these and other scenic places in Africa.

Will There Be Transport?

That same afternoon after the fire, my PACT Club is planning a trip to a primary school to ass the challenges of the students. They do this effectively by playing some games initially and them talking to the very shy students in small groups. The process is simple, but getting to the school about fifteen minutes outside of town is not. Transport is always a problem. I failed two weeks ago and do not want to cancel again since both my students and the primary students have been disappointed.

I have checked with the school authorities a few weeks ago and keep reminding them in writing and verbally. Then the previous day the bus we are planning on using no longer starts and a part has to be brought from Gaborone. So I switch to plan B to take a smaller vehicle and few students. When I arrive at school, I see the vehicle but not the person in charge. I am hopeful. I wait until he arrives. I am told the vehicle has been deployed elsewhere without his knowledge. I am out of luck. Even though I had reserved a vehicle in advance does not really matter. This has happened before.

Expecting the worse, I have come up with an alternative plan. I make a call to the District Aids Committee office that is funding us to see if they will provide funds for 17 students to take public transport. In the past, they have said it was the school’s responsibility to provide transport. Today I get a different person and a different answer. They will reimburse for the fares. So the trip is on!

Our large group marches to climb aboard a waiting bus. All goes well. The trip is not far and we are already later than expected. We climb down near the village about one hour late. To reach this rural primary school is another few kilometers. Along the way we meet about 50 young students running down the dusty road. They have come to meet us and escort us to the school.

My older senior secondary students are huge by comparison to the primary youngsters. They idolize my students. As we have trained previously, the students divide into some large groups to begin fun games to loosen up the shy students. The kids love it. Then they break up into small groups of 3-8 students and begin some name games. Despite the town versus small village differences, the students open up. They talk about their problems at home and their challenges with their teachers. While talking, we pass out a snack of juice, a peanut butter sandwich, and a small container of yoghurt to each. Food is always welcomed despite having a lunch after classes at noon. The small groups are then followed by large ones again, often using balls to kick around. We then form a begin closing circle. Some of my students start singing and the kids join it. They are having a good time and do not want us to leave. We promise we will return during the next term and hope they will form a PACT club(Peer Approach to Counseling Teens) to help prevent truancy, teenage pregnancy, and difficult behavior.

For now we need to get back to the road to catch a bus home. The youngsters proceed to escort us back and break off from the dirt road as they head for their own homes. We catch a bus back to Molepolole where my students climb down at different stops along the way to head home. I walk home from my school content with the job my students have done. As I get close to my compound, I see the ashes of the house now burned to the ground. Only rubble remains.

It is now a month later and as I write, I am sitting in the guidance and counseling center/sick bay writing this entry while watching two students take a final math exam. One has one has been vomiting and now feels better as she sits at a table writing her exam. The other has had a minor asthma attach. She is resting and writing her exam on a bed. The weather has been hot, but a few days ago it started raining and the weather has cooled down. The students know have blankets wrapped around them to stay warm as they write.

I still have the gas cylinder next to my stove. I have only the promise of its being move outside. Time moves on. It is the end of the last term. We have a long summer break when most people go back to their home villages I am planning a trip with some younger volunteers to go pony trekking for a few days in Lesotho. Later on I hope to go with a bus load people from Botswana to visit Namibia over the Christmas holidays. In the meantime I celebrated Thanksgiving with 9 other volunteers on the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day. It was a delicious potluck that ended with real pumpkin pie. Yum.... Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Will There Be Transport?

That same afternoon after the fire, my PACT Club is planning a trip to a primary school to assess the challenges of the students in the rural area. My students do this effectively by playing some games initially and them talking to the very shy students n Setswana in small groups. The process is simple, but getting to the school about fifteen minutes outside of town is not. Transport is always a problem. I failed two weeks ago and do not want to cancel again since both my students and the primary students have been disappointed.

I have checked with the school authorities a few weeks ago and keep reminding them in writing and verbally. Then the previous day the bus we are planning on using no longer starts and a part has to be brought from Gaborone. So I switch to plan B to take a smaller vehicle and few students. When I arrive at school, I see the vehicle but not the person in charge. I am hopeful. I wait until he arrives. I am told the vehicle has been deployed elsewhere without his knowledge. I am out of luck. Even though I had reserved a vehicle in advance does not really matter. This has happened before.

Expecting the worse, I have come up with an alternative plan. I make a call to the District Aids Committee office that is funding us to see if they will provide funds for 17 students to take public transport. In the past, they have said it was the school’s responsibility to provide transport. Today I get a different person and a different answer. They will reimburse for the fares. So the trip is on!

Our large group marches to climb aboard a waiting bus. All goes well. The trip is not far and we are already later than expected. We climb down near the village about one hour late. To reach this rural primary school is another few kilometers. Along the way we meet about 50 young students running down the dusty road. They have come to meet us and escort us to the school.

My older senior secondary students are huge by comparison to the primary youngsters. They idolize my students. As we have trained previously, the students divide into some large groups to begin fun games to loosen up the shy students. The kids love it. Then they break up into small groups of 3-8 students and begin some name games. Despite the town versus small village differences, the students open up. They talk about their problems at home and their challenges with their teachers. While talking, we pass out a snack of juice, a peanut butter sandwich, and a small container of yoghurt to each. Food is always welcomed despite having a lunch after classes at noon. The small groups are then followed by large ones again, often using balls to kick around. We then form a begin closing circle. Some of my students start singing and the kids join it. They are having a good time and do not want us to leave. We promise we will return during the next term and hope they will form a PACT club(Peer Approach to Counseling Teens) to help prevent truancy, teenage pregnancy, and difficult behavior.

For now we need to get back to the road to catch a bus home. The youngsters proceed to escort us back and break off from the dirt road as they head for their own homes. We catch a bus back to Molepolole where my students climb down at different stops along the way to head home. I walk home from my school content with the job my students have done. As I get close to my compound, I see the ashes of the house now burned to the ground. Only rubble remains.

It is now a month later and as I write, I am sitting in the guidance and counseling center/sick bay writing this entry while watching two students take a final math exam. One has one has been vomiting and now feels better as she sits at a table writing her exam. The other has had a minor asthma attach. She is resting and writing her exam on a bed. The weather has been hot, but a few days ago it started raining and the weather has cooled down. The students know have blankets wrapped around them to stay warm as they write.

I still have the gas cylinder next to my stove. I have only the promise of its being move outside. Time moves on. It is the end of the last term. We have a long summer break when most people go back to their home villages I am planning a trip with some younger volunteers to go pony trekking for a few days in Lesotho. Later on I hope to go with a bus load from Botswana to visit Namibia over the Christmas holidays. In the meantime I celebrated Thanksgiving with 9 other volunteers on the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day. It was a delicious potluck that ended with real pumpkin pie. Yum....

Holy Smokes!

About sun up on the morning of October 28, I was awakened by the sound of feet running past my house. A strange sound began. It was almost a grinding of an engine or a sucking sound. I went out to see what was happening. My host mother yelled, “Mpho! The house is burning!” I walked around the main house to find the fire. It turned out one of the houses in the compound adjacent to ours was burning, big time. Flames were leaping out of the windows from the cement block house, which no longer had a roof.

A crowd of neighbors came by to watch. The police arrived. No one had been injured in the fire fortunately, but a woman was screaming and had to be assisted by other women to lay down on a blanket. She evidently had high blood pressure ans was taken to the hospital by the police.

The closest fire department happened to be in the capital, Gaborone, about 50 kilometers away. This fire could not be extinguished. The flames continued. The neighbors moved on to prepare for their day. The wind from the day before had died down and now blew in the right directions so the fire did not affect the other houses in the compound or our houses not far away.

I found out that the fire was started by a gas cylinder by the stove. An older woman entered the kitchen early to light the flame under a pan. She returned to see the hose from the cylinder on fire. She called for help and two tired to carry it outside, but if fell. The entire house burned. The old woman and her new intended daughter-in-law escaped, but not the new wardrobe of clothes for the upcoming wedding. Alas, all was lots in a short time.

Then it occurs to m that my huge gas cylinder is less than a foot from my stove, like many of my fellow volunteers. I call Peace Corps. I learn that it is “recommended” that cylinders be place out of doors. To do this I need to have holes drilled and then get a chain and a lock to prevent theft of my large container. These I have requested. In the meantime, I know have cylinder two feet from the stove, which is the length of the hose. As an extra precaution, I have put my fire extinguisher next to the stove, hoping I will not have to use it.

This week has been intense for a number of reasons and has involved as usual a wide variety of activities, both planned and unplanned. It began on Sunday with my having a good Peace Corps friend and her fiancé over to lunch. It was their first invitation as a couple so we took photos to remember the event. Most of the time was spent on planning the wedding. When, where and how were the main issues. How much should be determined by local customs and traditions, who would be invited and where it could occur? Lots of options existed so it was fun considering the many possibilities. The other topic was what Peace Corps requires for one of its volunteers to marry a local person. Security checks, forms, interviews, health check-ups and more were part of the process. So the entire lunch was enlightening in many ways.

The next night I had talked to another fellow Peace Corps volunteer who was under lots of stress. She had a local partner had almost been strangled by her long time boyfriend, who then proceeded to commit suicide which she later discovered. The next afternoon while I was training some students to visit a primary school to communicate with younger students, I received a call from my Peace Corps friend who had burned herself badly while trying to make cookies for her local partner. Peace Corps medical help was on the way, but she was in pain and needed to be distracted as the pain steadily increased even though she was immersing herself in cold water. Fortunately she was soon attended and received pain relief and very professional care both then and in the days afterwards when she was treated and closely monitored.

The following evening I had arranged for two of my favorite teachers to come for dinner. This proved more challenging since I had a planning meeting late in the afternoon and wanted to attend since I convince the group to invite my favorite hip hop teacher to work with our club. Fortunately the meeting went well and ended well in time for me to finish my meal preparations before my guests arrived. One was an Indian whose wife and son were in India and the other had his wife and four children living in different village where his wife worked. Both work so hard to improve the functioning of the school All went well and I learned lots more about my colleagues and the school.

Several challenges were presented at school this same week.. One of my club members was counseling a fellow student who was seven months pregnant and had not told her parents. Her boyfriend was married and already had children. Her friend’s final exams were coming up in a few weeks and she was trying to figure out how to deal with the pregnancy, school, her family and boyfriend. The other issue involved two students witnessing inappropriate behaviour between a male teacher and a fellow student. Fortunately, the school counsellor will be handling both these cases in the future.

On Wednesday we had a meeting of teachers involved in training their peers on teaching life skills. I was delighted we had 14 teachers turn up for the planning. We were able to agree on a date and time in the future for training 50 or more teachers which was progress. However, that said, it was clear that once trained, most teachers did not have time to implement this program since they were so pressed for time helping their low performing students deal with academic subjects.

On Thursday my students were planning to visit a rural primary school. The transportation there had taken considerable planning, but it seemed like we had both a driver and vehicle. However, at the last minute there was a major hitch- no fuel at the government fueling depot. We went through all the alternatives of delaying the visit to finding an alternative vehicle which the school was not using to bus teachers back and forth to their homes in designated location about 45 minutes away. Normally this might not be a problem, but my school has a double shift which requires two shifts for each shift. The only solution was for me to pay for fuel from a private source, which I did to make sure we could follow out our plans as scheduled. The visit went well and my students engaged about 50 students in games and conversation to help them with their issues of parental neglect, strict teachers, and extreme shyness. Energizers and icebreakers were a good beginning as well as a substantial snack for students who had eaten little all day.

The week ended on mixed note. The teen club really enjoyed the wonderful young hip hop dance teacher from Zimbabwe who challenged them in many ways as they went through a number of moves to hip hop, break dance and house music. A few members could follow easily, but others really struggled with the coordination and concentration. However, all had fun. While this was happening, my teen club student who was suffering with an inadvertent disclosure about her HIV status was being counseled by other club members. The local hospital nurse has also become involved and will also check with the family. Although no conclusion has been reached, I am still hopeful that she will return to school to finish this academic year and then find another school to attend next term. Time will tell…

I feel fortunate to be connecting such a variety of people. Yet at the same time I have not been in this country long enough to be able to attend effectively with many of these challenges. Many of these problems arise in the US as well. We may have more resources in place to deal with them, but the US has not always found effective solutions to many of these important issues.

One of the local teen club members seemed pretty content in school, until a few weeks ago. She announced that she wanted to attend a state boarding school, because of family issues at home. I went along and tried to help her find a spot in a boarding school. In the meantime she decided to attend the teen club with me in Gaborone so she could then attend on her own in the future. While traveling, I inquired about school. She said she was upset because the teachers treated her differently ever since she left her back pack in the classroom and someone must have found out she was HIV positive. Now the teachers and students stare at her when they talk about HIV.

When we arrived at the teen club early Saturday morning, we found out the topic for the older teens to discuss was the disclosure of one’s HIV status-how fitting! I attended one of the groups as an adult counselor and she was in another as a student. We began by listening to an excellent panel of adults present how they learned their HIV status and also their decision to go public. The presentation was followed by questions from the students.

We then moved in to small groups to discuss further and plan well designed scenarios for each group to present on different ways disclosure might occur. My group had two volunteers who should us how they would play students returning from gym class when some medication falls out of a bag. The denial and eventual disclosure was very well presented. When we returned to the large group, we saw some amazing acting and convincing school scenarios that everyone could relate to immediately. There was also lots of laughter watching students play the roles of teachers, students, boyfriends and girlfriends. More discussion followed.

I saw my student after the session as asked what she thought. Her reply was “Perfect.” I then inquired if she wanted to see a counselor to discuss her situation at school. She said yes. We arranged for her to see the counselor before lunch at the teen club. With the student’s consent, I then talked to the counselor to find appropriate ways for dealing with the situation. Hence, the student was helped with a very immediate problem and I was given possible strategies

Thanks to teen club, we had a perfect timing so my student’s could deal with her problem in groups, receive individual counseling on an important and connect to the Gaborone teen club where she can feel open about discussing HIV issues with fellow members.

Since that meeting we have had several follow up meetings in our village a social worker from the hospital and the school counselor. Her mother also came to some of the meetings. As of now, our teen club member has great ambivalence about staying in school. However, at our local teen club, members have talked to him about finishing the year and then looking for another school. So we shall see what happens…

September, 2009

The last part of August I spent traveling with my visiting son and daughter in northern Botswana. We experienced the Okavanga Delta via plane and makoro or dug-out canoe. Between the Chobe and Moremi National Game Parks we were delighted to see herds of elephants, wild buffalo, impala, zebra, a lion with cubs, hyenas, warthogs, hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, wildebeests, baboons and lots of amazing birds. It was a welcomed change from the routine of counseling students at my senior secondary school. So after meeting lots of foreign travelers, few Peace Corps volunteers and numerous local people in my home village and around the country, my children returned to their studies and jobs, and I resumed my role as counselor with my with 2000 students. It was quite a jolt to transition so quickly. It turned out events moved quickly.

Soon after school started, a student who had fainted in class after a seizure-like episode was carried in to our guidance center. He was not responding, so I rushed off to get my senior teacher out of a meeting to determine if he needed to go to the hospital. She decided to let him rest because he was a known epileptic and had had a seizure since he had not been taking his medication. So I prepared to work nearby where I could observe him.

Soon after a student from my PACT club came by needing to revise a paper she was writing on domestic violence. We worked on it. While we were working, the sleeping student awoke and wanted to leave. So I retrieved the senior teacher again to assess the situation. She allowed him to leave after having contacted his relatives. Not long after another one of my PACT club students was carried in writhing and mumbling, evidently having been possessed by evil spirits. Once more I sought out the head counselor who called the student’s pastor. He came and proceeded to exorcise the evil spirits. Once the student had calmed down, she and the pastor saw the counselor.

Then I was left to meet with two other students who showed up for counseling and wanted to be seen immediately. I proceeded to learn about an attempted suicide she had witnessed. She was experiencing reoccurring trauma as the result of helping her friend. Not knowing how to deal with the situation, I turned the case over to the head counselor who had just finished with the pastor and our student. As my counterpart dealt with the traumatized student, I interviewed the remaining student. The story unfolded that she was cleaning her mother’s room when she found a card indicating her mother was HIV positive. That had been a year and a half ago. The student had said nothing and waited to hear it from her mother. Then during our school break, her aunt and grandmother inquired her if she knew her mother and sister were HIV positive. She did know about her mother but just had just learned about her sister. She was worried about them both. Her sister seemed unconcerned about the long term consequences. Her mother still had not talked to her directly. My student had not been tested for HIV and it was unclear where the virus had been encountered. The issue was how the student could initiate a conversation with her mother who lives in a different town. She agreed to return in the morning to see my counterpart who had already left for the day.

The following morning, I talked to the guidance head who had counseled two of the students. She was trying to get them seen at the local hospital. She also informed me that she might be having surgery soon and could be on leave for several weeks. Since she is the only trained person at the school, I began anticipating who I could call upon for help in the future. As of now, it is not clear if the surgery will be next week and who will be “covering” for her in her absence. So I have to hope that all goes well when she goes on medical leave. This does not appear to be a good situation since we are on a double shift and all the other teachers and administrators have their hands full. Likewise, my student troubled by the demons has been carried in two more times and the pastor continues to come and exorcise the spirits. Not knowing the language or cultural norms, my role is that of listener.

On a lighter note, the older form five students are busy finishing projects in various subjects before embarking on their important final exam for the senior secondary school. Because I have a camera, I have been summoned on short notice (which is usually the case here) by the home economics department to photograph a speech delivered to a class on teenage pregnancy and cooking students with the various prepared meals as well as the student the taste testers. The purpose is to enclose the photos with their projects so that outside monitors will know they have indeed completed their projects. This also explains why we at the guidance center are suddenly inundated with requests for information on drugs and alcohol abuse, ARVs (Anti Retro Viral medication for HIV), and teenage pregnancy and domestic violence since the projects are due now, now, as they say.

So my re-entry process has become one of total immersion. It also included baking a not so successful cake for the 30 plus PACT club party this Saturday to bid the older students farewell since they will be studying for exams and then leaving the school at the end of November. The event was well attended. Those leaving reflected on the trips and trainings they remembered and gave excellent advice to the new club members, such as be active, make the club fun, act as leaders and practice what you preach in terms of behaviour in and out of school. Everyone devoured all the snacks and treats myself and my counterpart provided. So it was a good parting and showed some results for all the activities we had engaged in for the past year. Now my wonderful club patron is looking forward a maternity leave in the coming months, which means yet another exit.

I was invited to participate in Baylor Clinics’ Camp Hope for children 10-12 years old but hesitated thinking that as a Peace Corps Volunteer with a large senior secondary school in Botswana, I might not be able to attend to the needs of younger children. However, I reconsidered when I saw the excellent camp schedule which included hours of work by doctors, nurses, social workers, a nutritionist, and the great program they put together with care. Activities included scheduled times for learning performance art, nutrition and cooking, arts and crafts, sports, and life skill topics such as feelings and emotions. Even before going to Botswana, I was of the belief that camp, like college, was often wasted on the young and felt that older people were able to appreciate the experience more. So I got very enthusiastic and much to my surprise filled out an application to be a counselor.

When I arrive the day before the campers, I was briefed by the Baylor organizers. We learned from the doctors what we should expect medically and that medicines to be distributed to the campers at breakfast and dinner. Doctors would be present all day and night as well as a Baylor social worker. This was a camp where many needs were anticipated. My briefing book was 20 pages long! It included information on medication as well as a detailed counselor orientation that included how to build relationships to the campers. We also received some background information about our campers and their special needs.

The first day of camp was filled with anticipation. Campers drifted in all day, beginning at 8 am to 7pm, when the last one drifted in. Our yellow team consisted of eight youngsters. Upon arrival they registered, checked in with the doctors and then had extensive interviews before finally going to their dorms and beginning activities. Each team was a different color, as indicated by our bright bandanas. My group was the youngest ranging from 9-12 and consisted of young girls from all over Botswana. In total we had about 50 campers with 7 or 8 on each team, headed by one or two adult counselors or an adult and a teen club leader in the their upper teens who had experience leading activities and building up the capacity among young, shy campers. Most importantly in my case was the fact that my teen leader spoke Setswana. These young teen leaders trained by Baylor had lots of energy and enthusiasm and could teach us all energizers to warm us up on the chilly mornings.

My Favorite Class

For our very first activity, we had a performance arts class taught by a trained hip hop and break dance teacher. Having taken many dance classes including several months of hip hop in the US, this class was one of the best dance classes I have every taken. It was interactive and involved the students every step of the way. It taught more steps than I learned in several months back home and included some very difficult break dance moves on the floor. We learned to balance all our weight on one hand and to spin one leg around on the floor while in a sitting position. Other easier steps included step ball change, the gangster walk and jazz box, all of which the students could execute well with wonderful music. Best of all they could do it and watch themselves in the mirror. They were all stars!!

That evening we had a bon fire Botswana style, Setswana stories, jokes, songs and cheers that each group had created. The participation was 100% plus based on the sound level. This was amazing since earlier the students had been very shy and soft spoken. Each group’s cheer was reward by samores, with different flavors of marsh mellows roasted over the fire by enthusiastic volunteers and then placed on cookies with parts of a chocolate bar. Delicious! That night we had tired campers who fell asleep easily in their dorms, much to the relief of the counselors.

The next day we had a cooking and nutrition class, which involved cooking and decorating cupcakes which could be eaten after class. But while the cup cakes baked we learned from a nutritionist about the various food groups and which ones helped build our bodies, protect them or give them energy. The campers then proceeded to use plastic reproductions of many foods to create plate representing a balanced diet. It was here I learned that the HIV virus was very active in the body making it wise for campers to have snacks in mid mornings and mid afternoons in addition to three regular meals. By the end of camp we wished had students weighed in on the first day and weighed out again on the last day since they devoured all meals and snacks in great quantities. Furthermore at meal time, they identified food groups on their plates.

From this activity we lined up to board a bus to take us to on a safari at the Mokolodi Game Reserve. There the campers boarded game viewing vehicles with guides to answer all the campers questions as they viewed wild animals. Not to be disappointed, we viewed African elephants, whose ears look like a map of Africa, grazing impalas, waddling warthogs, leaf nibbling giraffes, a tired cheetah, highly plumed ostriches, and an assortment of birds.

Later in the day we moved on to arts and crafts where we were all given a stuffed doll to decorate. We had yarn, fabric, buttons, glue, sparkles, beads, and paint. We were all busy cutting, pasting, drawing and decorating our own beautiful dolls. Girls and boys both enjoyed this activity. The products of their creative efforts were magical and something that campers could take home.

That afternoon was filled with sports. We played netball, (a version of basketball without a backboard), soccer and tennis. We played till we dropped. The fields and courts were immense, green and well maintained. What a pleasure! My huge secondary school in Botswana would have loved to practice on any one of these courts.

In the evening we filed into an AV room clutching a cup of marsh mellows and potato chips to see Chicken Run, a delightful clay animation film consisting of talking chickens and other creative characters. The bad guys tried to kill the chickens and the good ones helped them escape in no less than a flying machine! Although one camper fell asleep on my lap, we all cheered as the chickens literally flew the coup to safety away from the chicken pie factory.

Other events on the following days included feelings and emotions with an excellent social worker helping us draw, talk and discuss our feelings in a very safe environment. We learned about character development in terms of trust, caring, respect and responsibility with everyone participating in the discussion. And finally we had a choice of board games, twister (using two legs and two arms in amazingly different locations simultaneously), block building and my favorite a huge puzzle of dinosaurs which a group of us worked on together.

My favorite event!

One evening we had a talent show. My expectations were low. The group was young, shy and seemed rather passive. But there was a DJ playing music and teen leaders cheering us on as each group performed either individually or together. My group did a short hip hop routine complete with a gangster walk and waving yellow scarves in a line. But after that we had karaoke by both young boys and girls singing their hearts out to a cheering crowd. Their gestures were appropriate and sophisticated. Groups did amazing hip hop routines together and individually. Each of them knew some special move that brought the crowded to their feet time and time again. We shouted, clapped and made long rows of waves over and over again. By the end of the evening we were all dancing and moving to the rhythms. It was awesome!

Other memorable events were a Camp Hope Olympics complete with face painting, burlap bag races and relays with eggs on a spoon, basket ball shooting, and a hula-hoop toss. Teams cheered and the counselors enjoyed it so much they had their own version of the various races!

All these events were capture on video or in still shots that were made into a power point photo collage for the parents and campers. They loved seeing themselves and others on the big screen, often for the first time. It was a wonderful, colorful conclusion to a fun filled week and it made the parting all the harder. We all laughed, learned about ourselves both physically and psychologically, played, danced, sang, ran and ate. Leaving was a drastic separation often leading to tears but filled with the prospect of returning to Camp Hope next year.

Postscript

In closing I would like to commend Baylor on putting together this very successful event which not only helped build the campers self esteem but developed their life skills while having fun. This is said out of admiration. I have been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana for over a year. In this country as well as at home in the US, I have put together smaller kinds of events and realize the challenges involved in coordinating such activities. While serving in Botswana I have been to many teen club events as a volunteer. I have enjoyed the well crafted activities both as a participant and leader. But more important I have always learned strategies for my work here both inside and outside of the public schools. Baylor is having an impact on not only its patients, but is also building capacity within the country by providing teaching life skills indirectly to families, friends and all the local and international volunteers. Ed Pettitt and his team of Baylor doctors, nurses, social workers, and staff deserve credit for having gone above and beyond their normal duties to devote time and expertise to this very demanding project. Bravo! A job well done!

I hope to post camp photos in the future, but only certain children have allowed their photos to be taken, so no cameras were allow. This is important to protect the children from the stigma of public disclosure. The photos shown at camp were only for the campers and their families to see. Maybe some day public disclosure for those with HIV/AIDS will be acceptable in Botswana and elsewhere.

August, 2009

The Gift of Food

The weekend started off with my cutting and chopping spinach and greens for my Sikh friends’ preparation of a meal they were donating to their temple on the first Sunday in August as a blessing to honor the birth of two of their three sons. We started preparations Saturday afternoon cutting all the various kinds of spinach that they grew in the garden at their how. The cooking lesson also included cutting up some rather unusaul cauliflower heads and giant white radishes. We continued cooking Sunday morning at the temple. After arriving just in time for a delicious breakfast of dipped fried cauliflower with onions and potatoes, fresh chutney, a fried French toast like bread and a sweet cookie ball, I was honored to be part of a team of fifteen men and women cooking in the very clean kitchen. We cooked for over a hundred people in huge pots about a foot high and yard in diameter. I stirred the yellow roti dough and then the spinach sag which boiled for a total about 5 hours. While stirring, I had a good vantage point for overseeing the frying of the cauliflower, the making of chai or tea with whole cardamom, as well as sweet dough given to everyone after the prayers in the temple.

I was retired from stirring the spinach sag when assembly line started making yellow roti . With trepidation, I began flattening yellow dough balls with my hands. The women I worked with were very fast and helped by giving me partially made roti. Despite my efforts, my “round” dough forms had rough edges and peculiar bulges. But everyone smiled and continued to give me hints. Simultaneously five people cooked them in large flat iron pans before putting them over an open flame and spreading them with butter. The team then switched to brown chapattis that were easier since we had little rolling pins to flatten out dough balls.

Afterwards, everyone in the kitchen went out to sit on the floors in the halls around the main temple, men in one area and women in another. Young men proceeded to serve us the spinach sag, fresh radishes, yellow roti, a sweet rice dessert, fresh bananas and oranges. After this we returned to the kitchen to make more yellow roti, since more were needed. The clean-up routine soon followed. Sweeping, mopping, and a constant stream of dish washing by men using several sinks continued for more than an hour until everything was clean and put back in its original place.

Besides learning how all the dishes were cooked, I was given containers of the delicious food for a week! Now I make my own chapattis, a filling snack at school.

PACT Gives Back

A few days later, over twenty members of our school PACT club (Peer Action Counseling Team) rolled out of school in a large flat back truck. We traveled by a good dirt road about 20 miles to Monwane, a rural primary school. We arrived expecting 30 students and ended up with 60 in total from fifth, six and seventh grades. They were very shy, but my students divided them into groups for icebreakers that involved lots of laughter and running. This helped them to relax and open up to the club members about their issues with parents and studies. Many of the pupils do not understand the teachers because they are taught in English rather than their native Setswana. Because many parents drink excessively and do not care about their children’s education and behavior, the students do poorly at school. The teachers are very strict. These students do not feel they can talk openly in class. The teachers are frustrated with the performance of the students. Students resist participating in class. They also lack sex education and many drop out of school before the seventh grade due to pregnancy and other issues. Now while we contemplate returning to the school during the coming term, we will have to help these students in confronting their challenges.

A Gifted Teacher and Friend

On a personal note, I recently found out a close friend mine and gifted teacher died back in the US. Barber Becker lost her four year war with breast cancer. During her last few years and months she dealt with cancer treatments, their side effects, and her struggle to accept her condition.

She and I met in a yoga class about 20 years ago. We shared a love for yoga, dance, Buddhism, travel, and lots more. Many years ago she took an early retirement after excelling in teaching special education in the Chicago public schools for many years. Only then did she move on to teach English as a second language which enabled her to make many close from Latin America and around the world.

Ultimately, she moved on to train as a yoga therapist. She began teaching classes of adults with and without MS and helped others privately with their physical and mental challenges. I eventually ended up taking her yoga classes all over the Chicago area. From time to time we travelled together. At one point we went to Guatemala to study Spanish and see the country. We also drove to the East Coast to attend sessions at the Kripalu Center in Massachusetts and on another occasion to Omega in New York to learn more about meditation and yoga.

When I departed for Peace Corps in Botswana she presented me with a packet of articles on yoga and meditation. While in Botswana we kept in touch by phone and e-mail. She also sent me care packages filled with more articles and homemade healthy treats, in addition to a magnificent appliquéd tree of life which is hanging on my wall.

I feel adrift here without one of my important anchors. I miss my yoga buddy who taught me so much about how to live. But like all good teachers, she has taught me with her art of living as we moved through life together and even now with her long lasting gifts of thoughtfully clipped articles on yoga and meditation. Barbara has passed but she is not forgotten and her teachings live on in many of us who encountered her as she strived to live life to its fullest.

Filling the Gap July 2009

The last Saturday in July was the monthly teen club meeting in Gaborone. The morning was very cold, even for July in Botswana. Most teenagers I know would not venture out of bed early in morning on a Saturday especially during their mid- term break for any reason, so I was not expecting to see many students when I rose early to catch a bus for the capital to arrive in time for the monthly teen club where I have been volunteering. I too was reluctant to wake up early again since I had been away in the bush on vacation for the week and had to awaken very early to catch a bus to the capital.

When I arrive at teen club about 9am, there were a large number of students already there. As predicted, more members arrived within the next hour or so as the weather warmed up. (This is very understandable since many student s have no heat in their homes and no funds to by warm clothes. Instead they usually rely on standing in the sun whenever possible to keep the warm, as do the rest of us.)

The morning started off with what were appropriately called “ice breakers.” Most students are very shy so these circle activities that are fun and require lots of movement literally to warm everyone up. Then because the teen club has grown to now over 100 students with the numbers growing each month, the members are divided into two groups. This day the younger teens walked over to the very elegant Gaborone Sun Hotel, where a wonderful Kenyan club volunteer plays African and Caribbean music regularly. Momo,as he is known to us,is a real musician in his own right and arranged with the hotel owner for his band to play for the group outside on the lawn where weddings are usually held. He taught them some dance steps while the band played with loud amplifiers, just like they perform in the evenings.

I stayed behind with the older teens to begin a new life skill series on sex, love and dating. To do this, I was teamed with a Setswana speaking Batswana who taught English in the schools. This topic was a personal one and needed to be addressed in Setswana to make students feel at ease. We started off with an introduction of the topic by two well spoken teen leaders who had most of us laughing while introducing this sensitive subject close to their hearts. Then we moved into small groups. My group had both boys and girls. Some were confident teen leaders. Others were shy. One had been suspended from teen club for several months for improper behavior, such as drinking, drugs or not taking his anti-retro-viral medication (ARVs). Nevertheless we all worked together.

First, we were told to map our village and indicate where students hang out. I worked with some students from my village and learned a lot. I had worked at the senior school for the past year, however, I did not know where the boys and girls hung out after school. We discussed the good and bad activities that are engaged in at these places. Both male and female students participated freely which is amazing since in school they are basically taught to listen without questioning what is said because it could be a sign of disrespect.

We then moved on to defining the ideal partner exercise. The boys listed the qualities they wanted in a girlfriend and wife, while the girls listed those for a boyfriend and husband. This part proved easier for me than expected. At school, students talk in Setswana and take notes in English. Then they read the English and translate it into Setswana for the discussion. This process totally amazes me and I cannot see American students doing the same. The teen club students followed the same procedure which helped me understand the discussion.

The girls wanted a boyfriend who was good looking, entertaining, faithful, trustworthy, caring, and would give gifts on special days like Valentines. In terms of a husband they wanted an honest, loyal, loving and caring man who would be a good father. The boys wanted a girlfriend who was sexy, curvy, a good dresser, faithful and fun. For wives they wanted home makers, good mothers, excellent cooks, independent and obedient. We read and discussed these characteristics which were elaborated with examples and many jokes to relieve the tension. We then asked them if they wanted to marry some day. Most said yes, but one girl said no and would not elaborate. A boy said no because he was HIV positive. He did agree, however, he would if he could marry someone else who was HIV positive or someone who accepted his situation without “the disease’ (as it is often speak in terms of HIV/AIDS).

We then moved on to a more difficult task for students. It was called romantic relationships. Students had to decide not only their own position on the issue but move to a given part of the room if they agreed with a statement or another area if the disagreed. The statements were hard. For example, “It is too difficult for youth to abstain from sex.” The students were divided. One or two defended their stance. Another choice was whether “A person should always tell his boyfriend or girlfriend their HIV status.” Most students disagreed because they thought it would end the relationship since the stigma is so great here in Botswana. Furthermore they were convinced that their partner would tell others since there is very little confidentiality here. None of the members have gone public with their status nor have teachers for that matter, because the risks of ostracism are so great. Likewise when someone dies due to the complications of HIV/AIDS, the death is never publicly related to HIV/AIDS. Also teachers do not know the status of students so kids are often beaten when not performing as expected even though it might be for medical reasons. The burden of secrecy is great. Only in teen club where they know they are all positive can they talk freely about their feelings and illness.

Another statement required the teens to decide if boys and girls should follow traditional marriage practices such as paying lobola, the practice of paying a bride price. Most did not want to follow the old practices of having the two families decide on the marriages even though most were willing to pay a lobola. The hardest question was “If two married HIV positive adults want to have a child, is it okay for them to have unprotected sex? “ Most were stumped and went in the middle confused by what they should say. To say the least, these statements and responses had students literally thinking on their feet.

At the end, the groups met back together to report on their group discussions. Both students and adults reported on what they had learned. This gave everyone an opportunity to reflect on what they had been discussing for the last few hours and to speak their minds. Some students echoed the message that the solution was abstinence from drinking, drugs and sex. Others left conflicted about their choices. Everyone seemed to understand that they had to decide for themselves where to go and how to behave given all the peer pressure.

My reaction to the whole process was one of amazement. Although I had taught for many decades, rarely had I seen such a lesson so well designed and implemented to change behavior. The different tasks required student involvement each step of the way. It was not rote learning or moralizing as often practiced in most schools. Classroom teaching in Botswana tends to be one-sided and teacher oriented. Students are rarely given the facts and told to decide for themselves. Nevertheless, students felt safe within the teen club to participate freely with their peers. Some were more outspoken than others as is always the case. Most important, however, the students had ownership of the process and the content. This exercise was designed for and carried out by the teens.

Finally, in the Setswana culture, children are not supposed to talk to their parents about personal relationships and problems. It would be disrespectful. Children can, however, feel free to talk to an uncle or aunt about these matters. This can be a challenge because many family clans no longer live in one area. Many people now are government employees who are transferred all over the country under a policy to insure national unity and defuse tribalism. Likewise, the Setswana culture has traditionally kept young men and young women separated until they were married. Today, schools have usually boys and girls in the same classes. These practices are a total break from the past. As you might expect, teens want the “modern way” and often rebel against the “old way.” Hence, you have a totally new situation created by the education system which treats all students the same in terms of the uniforms, curriculum, classes, language, etc, which confronts traditional practices and authority. So the teen club is helping to fill the gap in so many ways. Not only did I and others have a good time, but in my case I learned some excellent activities which I could implement in guidance classes, school clubs and at our locally sponsored Baylor teen club in the village. Bravo, well done!

The June 21st solstice has just passed. The days are light from 6am to about 6pm, but now will be getting lighter fortunately. The sunsets and sunrises are still dramatic with lots of orange streaks across the horizon. The sun is lower and the shadows as one walks are long and narrow. In the evenings I turn on the oven mostly to stay warm and to bake almost anything to have an excuse to have it on. With weather in the morning in the 30’s and 40’s, I wear lots of layers which I shed when the sun is higher around 10am.

It is also the time of the federation soccer cup to warm up for the up-coming world soccer cup in 2010. A few satellite dishes are popping up as the time gets closer. The news coverage is intense. I was congratulated frequently when the US team upset Spain in the semi-finals. It was disappointing to see the US lose to Brazil when they were up 2-0 at half-time.

Well we are into the fall and winter here. Leaves are falling but not many turn yellow or brown. The grass is turning brown. There are, however,a few flowering trees despite the constant frost. The landscape is changing. Rain has come,which is unusual for this time of year, but always welcomed.

Lots of people have flu like symptoms, coughs and runny noses. Students go to school in the dark or come home in the dark depending whether they are in the morning or evening shift school that week. The early shift starts at 6:40am and the second shift ends just before 6 at night. When school lets out you see a sea of students in dark blue and grey uniforms with only thin jackets in the cool of the evening,streaming down the sides of the street.

With the changing of the seasons, the Peace Corps who came in 07 have departed from Botswana and 60 new ones have arrived in April have completed their two months training and left for posts throughout the country. They were a common sight in town with their backpacks and hiking clothes. This group is older, 20 over the age of 50 and nine married couples. Still concentrating on working with HIV/AIDS, they are working with non-governmental organizations, schools, health clinics and District AIDS Committees. All are very enthusiastic and impatient to get out and tackle the challenges.

In one week my school had a blood drive, hosted the Peace Corps swearing in with lots of Batswanan and American dignitaries including the US Ambassador, and celebrated the Day of the African Child on the 16th of June. That date for the African child began as a commemoration of the school children in South Africa, who were killed by policed in 1976 while demonstrating in the streets. Today it has a theme to remember all children in Africa and emphasize the strides made to meet the challenges for food, shelter, clothing and healthcare. Several students and I went to an official village commemoration in which our school head talked about the challenges as well as the advances in education and healthcare. There was music, dance, drama and lots of speeches.

The next week proved busy as well. A teacher, at the age of 33, went to a clinic with complaints of chest problems. By the end of the week she was in a coma and died due to heart problems. She left a four year old child. The school held a memorial service for her with singing and speeches by students and teachers. In the same week, a group of five college students on winter break from the University of Botswana arrived for a five week stay to teach classes about HIV/AIDS and to counsel students. They teach about abstinence and being faithful, but not condoms. They are now handing out white rubber bracelets for those students how pledge abstinence. The group is supported by the Baptist ministry. They are very religious. There is no separation of church and state here. Prayers are said at all assemblies and at the beginning and end of every meeting.

There was also a PTA meeting where about two hundred or more parents, mainly women, showed up. They represent about ten percent of the parents for the 2000 students. Some teachers and many of the new administrators were in attendance and spoke. As usual, it was all in Setswana making it difficult for me to communicate with any parents. It is said that parents have very little interest in their children’s education since it is basically paid for by the government and many parents have never attended senior secondary school since it was not widely available after the country became independent in 1966.

On Friday I was invited to a Peace Corps volunteer overnight to celebrate our one year of service at our sights. We had some delicious homemade pizzas with chocolate cake for dessert. As usual, we talked nonstop talking about events at our schools. However, we also reflected on the meaning of the year in terms of personal and on the job growth and understanding. We all found many challenges in bringing life skills into the schools and balancing our lives. Some have taken up running to relieve stress. Others are helping to make beads as part of fundraising project. We all enjoy eating, especially in this cold weather.

And this coming week, I am off to a Mid Service Training with Peace Corps to map the way forward for the next year. As part of this we have yet another language skills test, which I am not looking forward to at present. Also all of us will have annual dental and physical medical check-ups. Later on my school will be visited by the Ministry of Education on the development of the life skills program. So I am writing a report for the school along with reports to Peace Corps and the Ministry of Education on my activities in the school and the community for the last quarter. Rest assured there is lots of monitoring and evaluating.

So it goes. I am waiting to see if the school's tennis team has made it into the final tournament. Hope they did. I wish you could see them practice in their bare feet with one ball avoiding the grass growing over the court. Balls get lots both on the court and outside because of the high grass. Challenges are many. But the will is there. I feel on firmer ground coaching tennis than life skills.

Another Day at the Office 27 May 2009

I woke up earlier than normal. Normal is 5:30am. I was pondering ways a math teacher could use positive incentives with his failing math class. He has fortunately decided not to beat the students, which is the normal remedy. Some students say they do not study. Others say they cannot understand the meaning of the questions which are all in English as opposed to Setswana which is used in many classrooms. Exams are very important in determining whether a student can go on for further study. They are all in English which creates an extra barrier. I resolve to ask another Peace Corps volunteer, who deals with positive reinforcement, what to do. I plan to see her at a meeting today in the village. This is the second day without the senior teacher in counseling who was called away with only a few hours notice to attend a three day workshop. (Short notice is common here in Botswana.) She is the only trained counselor at the school with over 200 students. In January of this year she returned from three years training in South Africa and Malaysia, since Botswana does not have advanced degrees in this area at the University of Botswana. (Botswana is really fortunately to have the luxury of guidance teachers and trained counselors, many African countries have no counselors.) Because I do not understand Setswana well, (which is an understatement), I find it hard to handle the office on my own especially with sick students. I do not like making judgment calls not being trained in medicine. Yesterday we had many students coming for pain pills and sanitary napkins. But today I have to leave for a morning meeting to prepare for our teen club. I generally dislike leaving the office uncovered. I phone another guidance teacher to see if she would cover. She is busy marking. About 8 am a distraught student walks into the center with a problem. I explain that the counselor will not be back until Friday. The problem cannot wait. (Most problems cannot wait.) So we talk. It is a problem dealing with teenage pregnancy. Counseling is necessary. I listen and explain that this situation is something that needs a Batswana guidance person. I call the guidance teacher. She will see the student at noon. I go to the meeting where we planned a sporting Olympics for our HIV positive teens. I also talk to another volunteer about some useful solutions to the math class. I return to school for a meeting about taking our PACT (Peer Approach to Counseling Team) club to visit a rural primary school to help them develop their own PACT club to help prevent teenage pregnancy and other problems. Later I see the guidance teacher. She has seen and will continue to help the student in distress sort out the problem. I feel the case is in good hands. Next I leave to print out a memo requesting a bookshelf as part of a plan to set up a resource center in the Guidance Center. I now run into a different math teacher who is interested in having me teach life skills to his class. I have observed his class and we want to organize a plan. But I am called into the Guidance Center. “Mpho(my Setswana name), tla kwano!”(“Mpho, come here!”) Our all purpose guidance room is also our sick bay. A student is on the bed experiencing trouble breathing. Her eyes are rolling back in her head. She acts like she is choking. She is jerking her body frantically. It could be a seizure. A crowd has gathered. A few yards away in the same room is the voter registrar registering voters for the upcoming country-wide election in October, 2009. He and his partner turned up unannounced two weeks ago much to our surprise and has been there every day. Some cleaning women have gathered. A few classmates are there along with their English teacher in whose room the problem began. We search for someone with a vehicle to take her to the hospital. In the meantime, the cleaning women massage her chest to relieve any pain she might be experiencing. We locate a pickup truck. The math teacher picks up her limp body up and carries it to the truck. We take the mattress and blankets since she will be in the back. Two students, the cleaning ladies and I ride with her. She is twisting constantly but her eyes are open. I took a first aid course in the US before I joined the Peace Corps. Little did I know that I would be part of the sick bay for over 2000 students. (My attempts at obtaining a youth friendly clinic in the village for the past six months have been fruitless to date.) I try to remember what to do. She is breathing so I do not want to use CPR. Feeling helpless, I keep her awake and talking. I pat her on the back in case there is something lodged in her throat. I ask the students to talk to her. She says she has a brother. We get to the emergency room. The math teacher then picks her up again and carries her into the hospital. She has not eaten all day so we do not understand how she could be choking. I have been through a similar crisis earlier this year with a student who was having trouble breathing. She emphatically denied having asthma. A teacher and I took her to a local clinic. It turned out she had asthma. She was released after receiving some medication and was walking around smiling the same afternoon. At the hospital our student is given an intravenous drip. We wait in the nearly empty waiting room for her since they say she will be released. Her blood pressure and temperature are normal. Her brother and grandfather arrive at the hospital. We are not told the possible cause, but she is resting and can talk. We leave knowing there is nothing else we can do. It is still not clear about what brought on the incident. In the truck riding back to school, my body is still tense with anxiety and the fear of losing our student before reaching the hospital. I walk home at dusk feeling glad to feel the on-coming evening chill. Another Day at the Office 27 May 2009

I woke up earlier than normal. Normal is 5:30am. I was pondering ways a math teacher could use positive incentives with his failing math class. He has fortunately decided not to beat the students, which is the normal remedy. Some students say they do not study. Others say they cannot understand the meaning of the questions which are all in English as opposed to Setswana which is used in many classrooms. Exams are very important in determining whether a student can go on for further study. They are all in English which creates an extra barrier. I resolve to ask another Peace Corps volunteer, who deals with positive reinforcement, what to do. I plan to see her at a meeting today in the village. This is the second day without the senior teacher in counseling who was called away with only a few hours notice to attend a three day workshop. (Short notice is common here in Botswana.) She is the only trained counselor at the school with over 200 students. In January of this year she returned from three years training in South Africa and Malaysia, since Botswana does not have advanced degrees in this area at the University of Botswana. (Botswana is really fortunately to have the luxury of guidance teachers and trained counselors, many African countries have no counselors.) Because I do not understand Setswana well, (which is an understatement), I find it hard to handle the office on my own especially with sick students. I do not like making judgment calls not being trained in medicine. Yesterday we had many students coming for pain pills and sanitary napkins. But today I have to leave for a morning meeting to prepare for our teen club. I generally dislike leaving the office uncovered. I phone another guidance teacher to see if she would cover. She is busy marking. About 8 am a distraught student walks into the center with a problem. I explain that the counselor will not be back until Friday. The problem cannot wait. (Most problems cannot wait.) So we talk. It is a problem dealing with teenage pregnancy. Counseling is necessary. I listen and explain that this situation is something that needs a Batswana guidance person. I call the guidance teacher. She will see the student at noon. I go to the meeting where we planned a sporting Olympics for our HIV positive teens. I also talk to another volunteer about some useful solutions to the math class. I return to school for a meeting about taking our PACT (Peer Approach to Counseling Team) club to visit a rural primary school to help them develop their own PACT club to help prevent teenage pregnancy and other problems. Later I see the guidance teacher. She has seen and will continue to help the student in distress sort out the problem. I feel the case is in good hands. Next I leave to print out a memo requesting a bookshelf as part of a plan to set up a resource center in the Guidance Center. I now run into a different math teacher who is interested in having me teach life skills to his class. I have observed his class and we want to organize a plan. But I am called into the Guidance Center. “Mpho(my Setswana name), tla kwano!”(“Mpho, come here!”) Our all purpose guidance room is also our sick bay. A student is on the bed experiencing trouble breathing. Her eyes are rolling back in her head. She acts like she is choking. She is jerking her body frantically. It could be a seizure. A crowd has gathered. A few yards away in the same room is the voter registrar registering voters for the upcoming country-wide election in October, 2009. He and his partner turned up unannounced two weeks ago much to our surprise and has been there every day. Some cleaning women have gathered. A few classmates are there along with their English teacher in whose room the problem began. We search for someone with a vehicle to take her to the hospital. In the meantime, the cleaning women massage her chest to relieve any pain she might be experiencing. We locate a pickup truck. The math teacher picks up her limp body up and carries it to the truck. We take the mattress and blankets since she will be in the back. Two students, the cleaning ladies and I ride with her. She is twisting constantly but her eyes are open. I took a first aid course in the US before I joined the Peace Corps. Little did I know that I would be part of the sick bay for over 2000 students. (My attempts at obtaining a youth friendly clinic in the village for the past six months have been fruitless to date.) I try to remember what to do. She is breathing so I do not want to use CPR. Feeling helpless, I keep her awake and talking. I pat her on the back in case there is something lodged in her throat. I ask the students to talk to her. She says she has a brother. We get to the emergency room. The math teacher then picks her up again and carries her into the hospital. She has not eaten all day so we do not understand how she could be choking. I have been through a similar crisis earlier this year with a student who was having trouble breathing. She emphatically denied having asthma. A teacher and I took her to a local clinic. It turned out she had asthma. She was released after receiving some medication and was walking around smiling the same afternoon. At the hospital our student is given an intravenous drip. We wait in the nearly empty waiting room for her since they say she will be released. Her blood pressure and temperature are normal. Her brother and grandfather arrive at the hospital. We are not told the possible cause, but she is resting and can talk. We leave knowing there is nothing else we can do. It is still not clear about what brought on the incident. In the truck riding back to school, my body is still tense with anxiety and the fear of losing our student before reaching the hospital. I walk home at dusk feeling glad to feel the on-coming evening chill. Another Day at the Office 27 May 2009

I woke up earlier than normal. Normal is 5:30am. I was pondering ways a math teacher could use positive incentives with his failing math class. He has fortunately decided not to beat the students, which is the normal remedy. Some students say they do not study. Others say they cannot understand the meaning of the questions which are all in English as opposed to Setswana which is used in many classrooms. Exams are very important in determining whether a student can go on for further study. They are all in English which creates an extra barrier. I resolve to ask another Peace Corps volunteer, who deals with positive reinforcement, what to do. I plan to see her at a meeting today in the village. This is the second day without the senior teacher in counseling who was called away with only a few hours notice to attend a three day workshop. (Short notice is common here in Botswana.) She is the only trained counselor at the school with over 200 students. In January of this year she returned from three years training in South Africa and Malaysia, since Botswana does not have advanced degrees in this area at the University of Botswana. (Botswana is really fortunately to have the luxury of guidance teachers and trained counselors, many African countries have no counselors.) Because I do not understand Setswana well, (which is an understatement), I find it hard to handle the office on my own especially with sick students. I do not like making judgment calls not being trained in medicine. Yesterday we had many students coming for pain pills and sanitary napkins. But today I have to leave for a morning meeting to prepare for our teen club. I generally dislike leaving the office uncovered. I phone another guidance teacher to see if she would cover. She is busy marking. About 8 am a distraught student walks into the center with a problem. I explain that the counselor will not be back until Friday. The problem cannot wait. (Most problems cannot wait.) So we talk. It is a problem dealing with teenage pregnancy. Counseling is necessary. I listen and explain that this situation is something that needs a Batswana guidance person. I call the guidance teacher. She will see the student at noon. I go to the meeting where we planned a sporting Olympics for our HIV positive teens. I also talk to another volunteer about some useful solutions to the math class. I return to school for a meeting about taking our PACT (Peer Approach to Counseling Team) club to visit a rural primary school to help them develop their own PACT club to help prevent teenage pregnancy and other problems. Later I see the guidance teacher. She has seen and will continue to help the student in distress sort out the problem. I feel the case is in good hands. Next I leave to print out a memo requesting a bookshelf as part of a plan to set up a resource center in the Guidance Center. I now run into a different math teacher who is interested in having me teach life skills to his class. I have observed his class and we want to organize a plan. But I am called into the Guidance Center. “Mpho(my Setswana name), tla kwano!”(“Mpho, come here!”) Our all purpose guidance room is also our sick bay. A student is on the bed experiencing trouble breathing. Her eyes are rolling back in her head. She acts like she is choking. She is jerking her body frantically. It could be a seizure. A crowd has gathered. A few yards away in the same room is the voter registrar registering voters for the upcoming country-wide election in October, 2009. He and his partner turned up unannounced two weeks ago much to our surprise and has been there every day. Some cleaning women have gathered. A few classmates are there along with their English teacher in whose room the problem began. We search for someone with a vehicle to take her to the hospital. In the meantime, the cleaning women massage her chest to relieve any pain she might be experiencing. We locate a pickup truck. The math teacher picks up her limp body up and carries it to the truck. We take the mattress and blankets since she will be in the back. Two students, the cleaning ladies and I ride with her. She is twisting constantly but her eyes are open. I took a first aid course in the US before I joined the Peace Corps. Little did I know that I would be part of the sick bay for over 2000 students. (My attempts at obtaining a youth friendly clinic in the village for the past six months have been fruitless to date.) I try to remember what to do. She is breathing so I do not want to use CPR. Feeling helpless, I keep her awake and talking. I pat her on the back in case there is something lodged in her throat. I ask the students to talk to her. She says she has a brother. We get to the emergency room. The math teacher then picks her up again and carries her into the hospital. She has not eaten all day so we do not understand how she could be choking. I have been through a similar crisis earlier this year with a student who was having trouble breathing. She emphatically denied having asthma. A teacher and I took her to a local clinic. It turned out she had asthma. She was released after receiving some medication and was walking around smiling the same afternoon. At the hospital our student is given an intravenous drip. We wait in the nearly empty waiting room for her since they say she will be released. Her blood pressure and temperature are normal. Her brother and grandfather arrive at the hospital. We are not told the possible cause, but she is resting and can talk. We leave knowing there is nothing else we can do. It is still not clear about what brought on the incident. In the truck riding back to school, my body is still tense with anxiety and the fear of losing our student before reaching the hospital. I walk home at dusk feeling glad to feel the on-coming evening chill. Another Day at the Office 27 May 2009

I woke up earlier than normal. Normal is 5:30am. I was pondering ways a math teacher could use positive incentives with his failing math class. He has fortunately decided not to beat the students, which is the normal remedy. Some students say they do not study. Others say they cannot understand the meaning of the questions which are all in English as opposed to Setswana which is used in many classrooms. Exams are very important in determining whether a student can go on for further study. They are all in English which creates an extra barrier. I resolve to ask another Peace Corps volunteer, who deals with positive reinforcement, what to do. I plan to see her at a meeting today in the village. This is the second day without the senior teacher in counseling who was called away with only a few hours notice to attend a three day workshop. (Short notice is common here in Botswana.) She is the only trained counselor at the school with over 200 students. In January of this year she returned from three years training in South Africa and Malaysia, since Botswana does not have advanced degrees in this area at the University of Botswana. (Botswana is really fortunately to have the luxury of guidance teachers and trained counselors, many African countries have no counselors.) Because I do not understand Setswana well, (which is an understatement), I find it hard to handle the office on my own especially with sick students. I do not like making judgment calls not being trained in medicine. Yesterday we had many students coming for pain pills and sanitary napkins. But today I have to leave for a morning meeting to prepare for our teen club. I generally dislike leaving the office uncovered. I phone another guidance teacher to see if she would cover. She is busy marking. About 8 am a distraught student walks into the center with a problem. I explain that the counselor will not be back until Friday. The problem cannot wait. (Most problems cannot wait.) So we talk. It is a problem dealing with teenage pregnancy. Counseling is necessary. I listen and explain that this situation is something that needs a Batswana guidance person. I call the guidance teacher. She will see the student at noon. I go to the meeting where we planned a sporting Olympics for our HIV positive teens. I also talk to another volunteer about some useful solutions to the math class. I return to school for a meeting about taking our PACT (Peer Approach to Counseling Team) club to visit a rural primary school to help them develop their own PACT club to help prevent teenage pregnancy and other problems. Later I see the guidance teacher. She has seen and will continue to help the student in distress sort out the problem. I feel the case is in good hands. Next I leave to print out a memo requesting a bookshelf as part of a plan to set up a resource center in the Guidance Center. I now run into a different math teacher who is interested in having me teach life skills to his class. I have observed his class and we want to organize a plan. But I am called into the Guidance Center. “Mpho(my Setswana name), tla kwano!”(“Mpho, come here!”) Our all purpose guidance room is also our sick bay. A student is on the bed experiencing trouble breathing. Her eyes are rolling back in her head. She acts like she is choking. She is jerking her body frantically. It could be a seizure. A crowd has gathered. A few yards away in the same room is the voter registrar registering voters for the upcoming country-wide election in October, 2009. He and his partner turned up unannounced two weeks ago much to our surprise and has been there every day. Some cleaning women have gathered. A few classmates are there along with their English teacher in whose room the problem began. We search for someone with a vehicle to take her to the hospital. In the meantime, the cleaning women massage her chest to relieve any pain she might be experiencing. We locate a pickup truck. The math teacher picks up her limp body up and carries it to the truck. We take the mattress and blankets since she will be in the back. Two students, the cleaning ladies and I ride with her. She is twisting constantly but her eyes are open. I took a first aid course in the US before I joined the Peace Corps. Little did I know that I would be part of the sick bay for over 2000 students. (My attempts at obtaining a youth friendly clinic in the village for the past six months have been fruitless to date.) I try to remember what to do. She is breathing so I do not want to use CPR. Feeling helpless, I keep her awake and talking. I pat her on the back in case there is something lodged in her throat. I ask the students to talk to her. She says she has a brother. We get to the emergency room. The math teacher then picks her up again and carries her into the hospital. She has not eaten all day so we do not understand how she could be choking. I have been through a similar crisis earlier this year with a student who was having trouble breathing. She emphatically denied having asthma. A teacher and I took her to a local clinic. It turned out she had asthma. She was released after receiving some medication and was walking around smiling the same afternoon. At the hospital our student is given an intravenous drip. We wait in the nearly empty waiting room for her since they say she will be released. Her blood pressure and temperature are normal. Her brother and grandfather arrive at the hospital. We are not told the possible cause, but she is resting and can talk. We leave knowing there is nothing else we can do. It is still not clear about what brought on the incident. In the truck riding back to school, my body is still tense with anxiety and the fear of losing our student before reaching the hospital. I walk home at dusk feeling glad to feel the on-coming evening chill. Another Day at the Office 27 May 2009

I woke up earlier than normal. Normal is 5:30am. I was pondering ways a math teacher could use positive incentives with his failing math class. He has fortunately decided not to beat the students, which is the normal remedy. Some students say they do not study. Others say they cannot understand the meaning of the questions which are all in English as opposed to Setswana which is used in many classrooms. Exams are very important in determining whether a student can go on for further study. They are all in English which creates an extra barrier. I resolve to ask another Peace Corps volunteer, who deals with positive reinforcement, what to do. I plan to see her at a meeting today in the village. This is the second day without the senior teacher in counseling who was called away with only a few hours notice to attend a three day workshop. (Short notice is common here in Botswana.) She is the only trained counselor at the school with over 200 students. In January of this year she returned from three years training in South Africa and Malaysia, since Botswana does not have advanced degrees in this area at the University of Botswana. (Botswana is really fortunately to have the luxury of guidance teachers and trained counselors, many African countries have no counselors.) Because I do not understand Setswana well, (which is an understatement), I find it hard to handle the office on my own especially with sick students. I do not like making judgment calls not being trained in medicine. Yesterday we had many students coming for pain pills and sanitary napkins. But today I have to leave for a morning meeting to prepare for our teen club. I generally dislike leaving the office uncovered. I phone another guidance teacher to see if she would cover. She is busy marking. About 8 am a distraught student walks into the center with a problem. I explain that the counselor will not be back until Friday. The problem cannot wait. (Most problems cannot wait.) So we talk. It is a problem dealing with teenage pregnancy. Counseling is necessary. I listen and explain that this situation is something that needs a Batswana guidance person. I call the guidance teacher. She will see the student at noon. I go to the meeting where we planned a sporting Olympics for our HIV positive teens. I also talk to another volunteer about some useful solutions to the math class. I return to school for a meeting about taking our PACT (Peer Approach to Counseling Team) club to visit a rural primary school to help them develop their own PACT club to help prevent teenage pregnancy and other problems. Later I see the guidance teacher. She has seen and will continue to help the student in distress sort out the problem. I feel the case is in good hands. Next I leave to print out a memo requesting a bookshelf as part of a plan to set up a resource center in the Guidance Center. I now run into a different math teacher who is interested in having me teach life skills to his class. I have observed his class and we want to organize a plan. But I am called into the Guidance Center. “Mpho(my Setswana name), tla kwano!”(“Mpho, come here!”) Our all purpose guidance room is also our sick bay. A student is on the bed experiencing trouble breathing. Her eyes are rolling back in her head. She acts like she is choking. She is jerking her body frantically. It could be a seizure. A crowd has gathered. A few yards away in the same room is the voter registrar registering voters for the upcoming country-wide election in October, 2009. He and his partner turned up unannounced two weeks ago much to our surprise and has been there every day. Some cleaning women have gathered. A few classmates are there along with their English teacher in whose room the problem began. We search for someone with a vehicle to take her to the hospital. In the meantime, the cleaning women massage her chest to relieve any pain she might be experiencing. We locate a pickup truck. The math teacher picks up her limp body up and carries it to the truck. We take the mattress and blankets since she will be in the back. Two students, the cleaning ladies and I ride with her. She is twisting constantly but her eyes are open. I took a first aid course in the US before I joined the Peace Corps. Little did I know that I would be part of the sick bay for over 2000 students. (My attempts at obtaining a youth friendly clinic in the village for the past six months have been fruitless to date.) I try to remember what to do. She is breathing so I do not want to use CPR. Feeling helpless, I keep her awake and talking. I pat her on the back in case there is something lodged in her throat. I ask the students to talk to her. She says she has a brother. We get to the emergency room. The math teacher then picks her up again and carries her into the hospital. She has not eaten all day so we do not understand how she could be choking. I have been through a similar crisis earlier this year with a student who was having trouble breathing. She emphatically denied having asthma. A teacher and I took her to a local clinic. It turned out she had asthma. She was released after receiving some medication and was walking around smiling the same afternoon. At the hospital our student is given an intravenous drip. We wait in the nearly empty waiting room for her since they say she will be released. Her blood pressure and temperature are normal. Her brother and grandfather arrive at the hospital. We are not told the possible cause, but she is resting and can talk. We leave knowing there is nothing else we can do. It is still not clear about what brought on the incident. In the truck riding back to school, my body is still tense with anxiety and the fear of losing our student before reaching the hospital. I walk home at dusk feeling glad to feel the on-coming evening chill. Another Day at the Office 27 May 2009

I woke up earlier than normal. Normal is 5:30am. I was pondering ways a math teacher could use positive incentives with his failing math class. He has fortunately decided not to beat the students, which is the normal remedy. Some students say they do not study. Others say they cannot understand the meaning of the questions which are all in English as opposed to Setswana which is used in many classrooms. Exams are very important in determining whether a student can go on for further study. They are all in English which creates an extra barrier. I resolve to ask another Peace Corps volunteer, who deals with positive reinforcement, what to do. I plan to see her at a meeting today in the village. This is the second day without the senior teacher in counseling who was called away with only a few hours notice to attend a three day workshop. (Short notice is common here in Botswana.) She is the only trained counselor at the school with over 200 students. In January of this year she returned from three years training in South Africa and Malaysia, since Botswana does not have advanced degrees in this area at the University of Botswana. (Botswana is really fortunately to have the luxury of guidance teachers and trained counselors, many African countries have no counselors.) Because I do not understand Setswana well, (which is an understatement), I find it hard to handle the office on my own especially with sick students. I do not like making judgment calls not being trained in medicine. Yesterday we had many students coming for pain pills and sanitary napkins. But today I have to leave for a morning meeting to prepare for our teen club. I generally dislike leaving the office uncovered. I phone another guidance teacher to see if she would cover. She is busy marking. About 8 am a distraught student walks into the center with a problem. I explain that the counselor will not be back until Friday. The problem cannot wait. (Most problems cannot wait.) So we talk. It is a problem dealing with teenage pregnancy. Counseling is necessary. I listen and explain that this situation is something that needs a Batswana guidance person. I call the guidance teacher. She will see the student at noon. I go to the meeting where we planned a sporting Olympics for our HIV positive teens. I also talk to another volunteer about some useful solutions to the math class. I return to school for a meeting about taking our PACT (Peer Approach to Counseling Team) club to visit a rural primary school to help them develop their own PACT club to help prevent teenage pregnancy and other problems. Later I see the guidance teacher. She has seen and will continue to help the student in distress sort out the problem. I feel the case is in good hands. Next I leave to print out a memo requesting a bookshelf as part of a plan to set up a resource center in the Guidance Center. I now run into a different math teacher who is interested in having me teach life skills to his class. I have observed his class and we want to organize a plan. But I am called into the Guidance Center. “Mpho(my Setswana name), tla kwano!”(“Mpho, come here!”) Our all purpose guidance room is also our sick bay. A student is on the bed experiencing trouble breathing. Her eyes are rolling back in her head. She acts like she is choking. She is jerking her body frantically. It could be a seizure. A crowd has gathered. A few yards away in the same room is the voter registrar registering voters for the upcoming country-wide election in October, 2009. He and his partner turned up unannounced two weeks ago much to our surprise and has been there every day. Some cleaning women have gathered. A few classmates are there along with their English teacher in whose room the problem began. We search for someone with a vehicle to take her to the hospital. In the meantime, the cleaning women massage her chest to relieve any pain she might be experiencing. We locate a pickup truck. The math teacher picks up her limp body up and carries it to the truck. We take the mattress and blankets since she will be in the back. Two students, the cleaning ladies and I ride with her. She is twisting constantly but her eyes are open. I took a first aid course in the US before I joined the Peace Corps. Little did I know that I would be part of the sick bay for over 2000 students. (My attempts at obtaining a youth friendly clinic in the village for the past six months have been fruitless to date.) I try to remember what to do. She is breathing so I do not want to use CPR. Feeling helpless, I keep her awake and talking. I pat her on the back in case there is something lodged in her throat. I ask the students to talk to her. She says she has a brother. We get to the emergency room. The math teacher then picks her up again and carries her into the hospital. She has not eaten all day so we do not understand how she could be choking. I have been through a similar crisis earlier this year with a student who was having trouble breathing. She emphatically denied having asthma. A teacher and I took her to a local clinic. It turned out she had asthma. She was released after receiving some medication and was walking around smiling the same afternoon. At the hospital our student is given an intravenous drip. We wait in the nearly empty waiting room for her since they say she will be released. Her blood pressure and temperature are normal. Her brother and grandfather arrive at the hospital. We are not told the possible cause, but she is resting and can talk. We leave knowing there is nothing else we can do. It is still not clear about what brought on the incident. In the truck riding back to school, my body is still tense with anxiety and the fear of losing our student before reaching the hospital. I walk home at dusk feeling glad to feel the on-coming evening chill.

Since writing this blog, we have had several other students with breathing problems. We had two one day. One went to the hospital in the morning. The student in the afternoon recovered by own. Some have asthma. Perhaps it is the fact that it is now winter here when it gets as low as freezing at night and the early morning.

On a lighter note I have also started "coaching tennis." The first time at our teen club, there were about 20 students, 6 "racquets" and two balls. They all did well. At our local teen club with had about 6 racquets and 6 balls. We had trouble keeping the balls in the court but the kids had fun hitting. I now coach half of m senior schools' team. (We are double shift, so I do one week and another teacher on a different shift does the other. There are about 10 students, 5 racquets and as usual well worn balls, but only two. They are keen to learn. They play well. None have had lessons. I am learning lots about coaching young males and females on serve, volleying, court positions, etc. We always do not agree, but they are very polite so I do not always know what they think. So it goes... My days are always a surprise. I never know what will happen! Do feel free to post suggestions and comments. Go siame.

It is May 1, 2009 and May Day a holiday in Botswana. A 100 plus workers from different places in the village have gathered at my school to celebrate by walking, singing and meeting together. I do not recognize any from my school in the group but I know the staff workers, cleaners, cooks and grounds people have a union and laws that protect them. I am at my school on the holiday because I have no electricity. I need to charge my phone, computer and camera since they are all drained and I want to post a blog today while the memories are fresh. For the last 6 months, we have been trying to organize a life skills workshop for all 160 teachers and administrators. The intent is to instruct teachers how to impart skills such as goal setting, decision making, communication and information on HIV/AIDS. We have tried in the past, but the timing has never been right or the resources have not been available. We were able to have a mini workshop for 25 teachers to act as life skills facilitators for the school and all the teachers. Now we are finally trying to train everyone. There are many challenges. The workshop has been scheduled for two days before teachers have to return to school and before a long three day weekend. Teachers are reluctant to come back early from their four week Easter break. The workshop depends on our committees performing all the preparation. Materials need to be duplicated, name tags made, facilitators chosen each part of the two day program, venues selected, a doctor requested formally from the local hospital to answer questions on HIV, and food needs to be provided. I return from a trip north seeing wildlife a few days before the event. I discover that nobody was available at the ministry of education to sign our government purchase order for the food. It is a day before our planning meeting and two days before the two day workshop begins. I call the ministry again on Monday to determine when I can pick up the GPO to purchase the food for the entire two days. The GPO has been signed and it is with the book keeper in the accounting office. My Setswana is not good but I tell them I am coming in the afternoon to collect it. I arrive after long delays and tell them I have came“ka dinao” by foot for the GPO. It is three pm. The gentleman has pages of figures to imput into the computer. I sit in the office until 5. The GPO is finished by the person needing to sign it has left for the day. I am told that he will get it signed in the morning and find transport deliver it the next day. I return home in the dark by 8pm empty handed. The following morning I am on the phone. We need to shop for the food so the kitchen can cook it. We have a planning meet at 2 pm. After a few calls, I am told they are coming! I am surprised but hopeful. At ll am Rra Leburu shows up with a pickup truck and says we will go shopping. The staff development coordinator and I quickly accept his offer. We head off to the store. We find the store will not take our GPO (government purchase order)because the government has bills that are unpaid after 5 years. Our bookkeeper says we are from the education ministry with is different. We are allowed to shop. We divide up the pages of items and set off with our shopping carts. I pick up 10 dozen eggs, but they are out of the ones we ordered so the new ones are more expensive. We purchase 15 kilos of tomatoes, 10 kilos of green pepper, 10 kilos of rice, 20 kilos of maize, spices but not the ones on the listed since they are out of what is on the list, 5 kilos of bologne, 5 kilos of butter, 15 bottles of cooking oil, 80 loaves of bread and so it goes… hunting brands listed, the price and the quantity. All the time I am doing division with the price to get the amount we can afford. My colleague is getting the chicken, meat, potatoes, cases of cabbages, etc. We have 10 shopping carts. The store manager comes over to assess our individual items. He is haggling with the bookkeeper over quantity and prices. It is 1:30. Our planning meeting starts at two. I depart to open my office with the agenda and text books to be distributed. The planning meeting goes for hours. Rooms are cleaned and set up for the next day. My colleague has returned with the food. But in the morning he will have to go get our 80 loaves of bread sliced at a nearby school and we have no plates, forks or cups? How will we eat? I suggest eating with our hands. That is rejected. I mention we have no napkins. They think I am talking about nappies or diapers and people are puzzled. We agree I mean serviettes. We also learn there is no transport for 35 or more of our teachers who live in Gaborone and commute….. That evening I type up the new agenda complete with misspelled names and omission of certain room numbers. I duplicate a few copies and tell people the rest will come after tea. We begin almost on time. Our new headmaster attends. I sit in the back and watch. Our facilitators do a good job of presenting the history of life skills and lead a discussion on the status of HIV in our school. Those present participate. We break into small groups to share our experiences with risk taking. Lunch goes well. There is plenty of food since not all teachers have chosen to attend. Yes, we do have plates, forks, and cups from the school. We break into groups to discuss how to infuse life skill lessons into the curriculum. We are met with skepticism about time and content for one more item in the curriculum but when we reconvene in the large group we have hilarious examples. In teaching goal setting, a physical education teacher uses the names of administrators as targets for serving the volleyball. A Setswana teacher demonstrates how to teach students to give speeches on HIV prevention with all the teachers joining in with great humor and jest. The next day teachers participate in presenting bystander scenarios about domestic violence, lack of confidentiality and stigma on HIV/AIDS , and the role of sugar daddies giving students sweets in exchange of sex. The acting is wonderful. We are all involved. We have felt and seen the roles of our colleagues in different contexts. We finish of the workshop with a panel of nurses from the hospital answering questions previously written by the participants. Everyone has stayed to listen despite wanting to leave early to travel for the holiday. We finish. The job has been done! We may not have trained all the teachers, but those who attended were involved. I am relieved.