Last minute we were asked to write a vignette for PC Botswana to present to DC. These vignettes were to push congress to continue with programs and give more funds to the PC. Not many volunteers turned in vignettes and I am not one to go above and beyond like that so of course I did not do one either. However, they know I am a sucker and can not say no- so they called me and of course I complied. I thought I would share it on the blog since I am not inspired to write much lately. Sorry for the typos and misuse of rammer- like I said this was very last minute. And don’t worry PC office here is editing it for me!!!!

Being a Peace Corps Volunteer offers many ups and downs professionally and personally. Matt and I have been serving in Molepolole, Botswana for 19 months.

Early on in our service we worked really hard to get to know the community members that we lived amoungst. This entailed going to weekly kgotla meetings (meetings held at the chief’s work place), going door to door to introduce ourselves, and being patient while waiting for the community to trust us. After talking to the community elders and many women in our ward, collectively we decided that the ward needed something to help educate and engage the out of school youth; thus, we started an out of school youth group, Bright Future, Lekwapheng Leaders of Tomorrow.

Day one of our meetings, 30 women came to the meeting and we were thrilled that this was truly something the community wanted and participated in. We started with very little to no funding. We brought the group together weekly, taught Life Skills, English and we even showed videos to start discussion about HIV/AIDS. Watching these youth leave their compounds for a few hours, become part of group and become more open and free has been poignant.

About five months ago, we were approached by a local NGO called Kagisano Women’s Shelter, they wanted our out of school youth group to apply for funding using them as our umbrella organization. They had heard about our group and told us we were eligible for a grant that the Ministry of Youth was giving out. We said sure, we would love this, as we were constantly thinking about how to raise money locally to start a chicken farm, get more supplies and register our group. Together, Matt and Kagisano wrote the grant; however, Kagisno did the final budget part on their own. Months passed, we were still meeting with the group and we did not think much about the grant, we kinda just assumed we were not selected and thought about beginning the Peace Corps Partnership Grant Process.

Then, three months ago, the big news arrived. We had won the grant and the contract was in the mail to be signed. Matt and I were overjoyed and sat down to look at what was given to us. OH MY GOD- 1.4 million pula ($175k) was given to our amazing youth group. We got all the money that we had ask for and not only were we going to be starting a poultry farm, we were going to get to send 14 girls back to high school to get their diplomas all expense paid. Women empowerment at it’s finest. The most exciting part of this grant is that we get to hire and train two life skills facilitators to take our place when we leave. This project and weekly session will continue and these youth will continue to be served. We both talk about how wonderful it is that this group will go on after us, I mean this is one of the hardest task that is put before us in our two years- and now it is not only possible, it is inevitable.

Over time, the group has become a project that has taught Matt and I so much. These women and few brave men have been our source of hope and direction, working in a foreign country when the taboo topic of HIV/AIDS becomes too much. They have opened our eyes to the disconnect between what we think is going on in this country and what really happens at a local community level even compound level.

Life here has been a serious of missteps, hard lessons and experiences that have changed our lives forever, whether for good or bad. If, when we signed up for the Peace Corps some one would have told me, a teacher, and Matt, a cancer researcher, that we would leave here quieter, calmer and more unsure about the future, I would not have believed them. The one thing we know for sure is that we have lived and claimed Africa as our home for a while and with this project our lives have been enhanced and changed. And yes, all of it, Botswana, Bright Future’s and Africa have left an imprint on Matt and I that will have forever changed our life and perspective.

Getting ready for South Africa trip. Can't wait to go to the beach. Going to do some diving and finally running in sand that is on the ocean not just the desert!

-laura

One of the first times I have seen Botswana written about in the international news...... thought I would share.

here is the link (you have to cut and paste):

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/05/world/africa/05bushmen.html?_r=1&hp

What we see as rubbish- has become a pretty cool guitar for someone to pass the day away with....

This past week Kristof had an article in the NYT Magazine praising Do-It- Yourself (D.I.Y) development projects around the world. You must read the article to understand some of this blog. The web address-

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/magazine/24volunteerism-t.html?ref=magazine

The article was excellent and caused a great debate between Matt and I as we sat, prisoners in our house, held up by the 105 degree heat.

At first, Matt and I disagreed about what we thought. Matt agreed with Kristof and I, for the most part, disagreed with Kristof. I was under the impresson that by allowing D.I.Yers in the field we were taking away from the professionalism of the field. However, after many days of thinking about this idea, then reading many blogs by people working around the world in the field of development, who also received Masters, through university programs, I realized I was being selfish. I was trying to hold on to the field as something only us trained in the field could do successfully. I have totally changed my point of view and written this in response to the following blogs:

http://findwhatworks.wordpress.com/2010/10/30/diy-follow-up-part-2-of-5-questions-of-elitism-or-just-what-is-a-%E2%80%9Cprofessional%E2%80%9D/

http://talesfromethehood.wordpress.com/

http://findwhatworks.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/diy-follow-up-part-1-of-5-how-complicated-can-things-really-be/

My response:

As a graduate of NYU's International Education program with a focus on Development Education and a current Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana, I am perplexed at how to respond to your recent post.

You have valid points. However, you over estimate what a graduate degree prepares you for. If someone does not already know the importance of knowing your community or audience, involving the community and the important members of the community, and using past lessons as guiding principles, then I suppose they do need graduate school.

However, I think these principles are common sense. This is how we should live our lives in general; learning from past relationships and adjusting accordingly, learning about the culture we are trying to be apart of, learning from past mistakes in any professional field and correcting them for the future and learning how to interact with others effectively are all the same principles on a different scale. Why would we act differently in the field of international development?

If you have successfully volunteered at a soup kitchen, worked at an inner city school, worked in volatile communities anywhere and formed relationships there and become an agent of change with that organization, then you know the guiding principles and what it takes to enter into a place you do not naturally belong. If you have ever earned the respect of those you work with thus enabling true dialogue about how to move forward between all involved then what more can you learn in grad school?

I agree with you that what it takes to be successful is a commitment. But, I also think what it takes is cultural humility and I think sometimes grad school strips us of this notion. We think we know so much, theory, lessons learned etc, yet we know nothing until we are on the ground and we hear, feel, smell and see what is all around us in that certain situation. D.I.Yers are in the field, on the ground, learning the theory while doing the practical work that is so desperately needed. Me, I sat in classes in NYC in a controlled environment so far removed from the reality and learned the theory, so excited to have the background that everyone told me was so necessary. To then go into the field and throw theories out the window because any good development worker knows the two do not always go hand and hand, when the problems and reality hit you so bluntly in the face.

When I get furious, seeing so much money squandered away, while the orphaned kids in my village are scavenging for food on a daily basis, I constantly remind myself the field is learning and evolving. I also remind myself of the development theorist Samuel Huntington and Immanuel Wallerstein and how Botswana is a young country growing and learning. This is what keeps me going, hoping for the best while aware of all the shortcomings of this field and I try to remember development is an evolving process that is natural, as well as forced.

There is not one organization that I see working perfectly; there is more, of what you call ‘professional organizations’, that need to be shut down that I can count. Moreover, I find that more professional organizations have no real incentive to succeed. I mean if they succeed and reach their goals, there is no need for funding or the organization any longer, thus making them obsolete. Why implement your programs and reach the desired outcomes, if you are no longer going to be needed and thus left without a job?

The closest parallel I can think of is looking at the education system in America. It, too, is broken like the field of aid and development. So, Charter schools have been created, many times run by people how know nothing or very little bit about education. At first, as an educator I was insulted or reluctant to believe that this was the best solution. I still do not even know where I stand on this idea of creating a new system without fixing the old. But, after years of watching charters and a true investment in fixing the system and seeing public school perform better to keep up with the competition, who am I to judge this? What if one succeeds and we can learn from it, wasn’t it worth the investment, wasn’t it worth the unknown or the possibility of failure to help secure a better future for those kids that we involved and that will be involved in the future?

With all the money that is wasted on moving development workers in to their field assignment, for their kids to go to private schools, cars for their organizations, flights home, lunches and workshops, I think the money invested in D.I.Y is a drop in the bucket comparatively.

Doctors are known for being elite and for that I am thankful. Doctors hold our lives in their hands sometimes and for that we need the elite and the best. Similarly, we as development workers hold the lives of many in our hands and we are still not completely working at 100 % and are not seen as elite, much less effective, amongst members of other professions, even if we were educated at the top schools. We flounder and do not always know how to approach the problems that plague so much of the developing world. Therefore, since we, as aid workers, do not have the answers/results nor are we even close to coming up with one, until I see the perfect solution that we in the development field have come up with, I am willing to look at, learn from and accept D.I.Y approaches that are not so caught up in the bureaucracy but rather on the ground trying to do what they can.

Here is Kristof’s response to the Find What Works blog critical response:

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/a-postscript-on-diy-aid/

If for some reason you are interested in the field of aid and development I have found some great blogs from people working in various sectors of the development field:

http://www.aviewfromthecave.com/

http://goodintents.org/blog

http://africasacountry.com/

http://lessonsilearned.org/

http://onmotherhoodandsanity.blogspot.com/

http://penelopemc.wordpress.com/about/

http://www.owen.org/blog

http://texasinafrica.blogspot.com/

http://bloodandmilk.org/

-laura

Coming Together

Its been some time, I know but thought I would tell you all about the sponsored walk we did today with our youth group, Bright Future. As most of you know, Laura and I both spend a lot of our time working with this group and trying to develop them to be more productive, responsible, empowered individuals. We have been meeting for about 10 months and developing wonderful relationships with many of them. After all, they keep coming back so something is working!!!

Anyways, we had some t-shirts designed by a good friend and Peace Corps volunteer here, Ryan Mannion and then sent the logo to Jim Pike in Indy. Jim printed and donated all 35 shirts to our group and we brought them back from our trip home. Thanks Jim, means a lot and they are the hit of the village, everyone wants one. We told the group that the shirts were done and they needed to raise 300 pula for shipping (they didn’t know we brought them back), so we decided to do a sponsored walk on Youth Day in our district.

Three hundred pula should not be that hard for 25 people to come up with but the reality is that not one of these members have a job and a source for income other than boyfriends and an occasional family member. Most sit around day after day craving something to do, wishing they could find a job, and realizing the possibilities are very minimal with their educational background. While lack of motivation and laziness is inherited within the culture and greatly affects the youth often and early, I truly believe many of these kids (I call them kids but youth here is 15-29 years old) want to succeed in one way or another.

We met at the kgotla this morning and starting collecting sponsor sheets and money in hopes our goal of 300 pula was reached so that everyone could get their t-shirts. After collecting 660 pula the shirts, yeah we more than doubled the money, were handed out. It was awesome as each and every person made sure it looked nice and was the right size. After some decided it necessary to apply colored eye make-up, we had a photo-op and were off.

It really was a nice opportunity for them to show off to everyone that they are a part of something and trying to move forward. We strolled very leisurely through the village, singing and dancing at times while passerby’s looked on. Some asked what we were doing and the common response was “raising funds and awareness for our group and youth activities.” We walked for about and hour and a half, ending at the Kagisano Women’s Shelter, an organization that has taught our girls about gender based violence and currently is receiving a grant from the Ministry for our Youth group.

Yeah we wrote a grant through the Women’s Shelter many months back to the Ministry of Youth here. We got the entire grant, 1.2 million pula over two years to continue life skills trainings, going back to school, and learning business skills through a poultry farm. That is basically the equivalent of 150,000 US dollars. It is crazy; we have been operating this group with NO money and all the sudden the Ministry wants to use our group as a pilot project. GREAT – lets do this. We constantly see money thrown away here, but now we get to send 14 girls back to Form 4 and Form 5, basically high school, FOR FREE. Everything is paid, EVERYTHING. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for them to finish these all-important educational years. We will start the interview process very soon and select a final 14 to start in January. I wish the funding were for 18 so that everyone could go, as telling some they didn’t make the cut wont be easy.

I really can’t believe that is happening. I shouldn’t get too excited until I see them in their uniforms on the combi going that first day.

So from NO money, to a lot of money, we will be spending most of the time remaining in Botswana training new facilitators for life skills and continuing trying to empower this group. We have become very close to many of them and only hope that their futures will be brighter and filled with more opportunities.

Pike, thanks again for the shirts, I cant wait to see how many people come to the next meeting wondering if we have more. While the group is open to anyone, the shirts solidified Bright Future’s spot in the community, hopefully for years to come…………

Where is the rain? Yeah summer is approaching and approaching rather quickly this year. It has consistently already been in the 90’s and the Kalahari is as dry as it can get, I believe. Technically speaking, its not even summer here yet. We are waiting for the rain to come, when it will happen? Nobody knows. Traditionally speaking, we were told it will rain on Sept. 30th, “it always does” but this year the ancestors were wrong.

Living in the desert is quite a challenge at times and this year seems to be no different. Laura and I constantly talk about spending most of our day thinking of water, whether it being downing liters at a time or trying to find a swimming pool for relief. Thankfully our water at home has not gone out; although we do know people that have now gone two months with nothing from the tap. It is only a matter of time if the rains don’t come.

One very interesting thing this spring compared to last is that everything is still blooming, the trees, flowers and fruits. Last year we had ample rain to get these very things sprouting and going, but even this year with NO rain, everything is blooming. It’s such as weird phenomenon that the desert can still flourish for some time without any water and some species obviously don’t need anything. I know, they have adapted over time, year after year with no water, but its still a bit bizarre to think about......

This past weekend was Botswana Independence and allowed for a four day weekend so we decided to visit a few friends up north. It was so nice, we spend the entire day at the Ntimbale Dam, a man made dam to supply water to many villages up there. We were able to swim the entire day in nice clean water, what a relief and so fun considering it’s a rarity here in Botswana. The only option we have near us in to go to the capital and raid one of the nice hotels there, but can get expensive and you still have to travel to get there. By the time you get home on the bus, you feel like going straight back.

Furthermore, the weekend was capped by attending the Kalanga festival at Domboshamba. The Kalanga are the predominant tribe up north and it was nice to around different people, experience traditional food, music and dance. Although the festival was still a typical Botswana event, it was nice to be in a different part of the country. When I say typical event, I mean most people sit outside next to their cars with house/pop/techno music bumping between cars in a drunken stupor. It’s quite entertaining and can be as fun as you want to make it really. It’s the thing to do when you go out as there really isn’t anything else to do here. It is too expensive to sit in bars so most people hangout outside and chill. In fact, some will call it a “chillaz” session if you can imagine.

So, hope all is well with you all and your enjoying the nice cool autumn air, baseball playoffs starting, a new NFL season (Colts need to get it together), and whatever rain you can send our way, please do. Its no wonder the word “pula” or water is so dominant here, including the currency.

-matt aka thuso

Makgadikgadi Pans Walk

This past winter (July) we got to do one of the coolest, most challenging things we have ever done. We got invited to participate in a charity walk across the Mkgadikgadi Pans in northern Botswana. We walked on the Curry Pot team, which is a local restaurant here in Botswana. All of the money that was raised was used to help HIV/AIDS NGOs (Non-governmental Organizations) with small funding issues that come up throughout the year.

The challenge- to walk 40 kilometers a day (26 miles) over three days across the pans where there is no shade and the hot sun beats down you for the entire 7-8 hours you are walking. Basically we did three (walking) marathons in three days. And I would have to say it was absolutely brilliant and we both agree that we would do again in minute.

We packed up our tent and our belongings and loaded them onto the truck and trailer that would be leading us for the three days. We were instructed to follow the tracks created from the four- wheeler and just keep walking. So, we started walking. Every 6 k or so there was a four-wheeler and trailer stopped so that we could have some water, PowerAde and/or oranges. These stops also served as a way to relieve ourselves with a little protection while hiding behind the four wheeler.

The first four segments proved to be fairly easy; so we kept our fast pace and did not think the rest of the day would be that difficult. However, after walking in the desert for 6 hours the last segments of this day seemed almost impossible. However, we reached the campsite, ate dinner watched the stars in this incredible setting and where fast asleep, our bodies needed the rest. We actually got to watch the moon set over the horizon- SO COOL!

Day two, we reached this strange island of grass and trees in the middle of the saltpans. IT was so amazing. We were walking through the salt pans for two entire days, seeing no life and anything that was living and tried to survive the pans was petrified and bleached white by the sun. Then out of nowhere, there is this island of land with living things. It was a pretty cool experience and something that I have never seen. At the end of this day many of the walkers had to drop out and ride on the four-wheelers to the campsite. They had blisters (and honestly if I had them I would have stopped too- OUCH!), were simply tired after 80 k of walking and needed a little extra help. Knowing how difficult day two was and the thought of day three on the horizon- I pass no judgment on these people. This day was truly the hardest for me.

Day three- going back the way came, knowing what to expect, and the aches and pains in my body really did not have me to excited. However, our team of four made it the entire way on our own. The last 6 k- was the most challenging thing I have done. Honestly it was the thought of completing this on my own that got me through. And Paul Simon- Under African Skies- on my Ipod. At one point, Matt and I just started running so that we could feel different muscles and give the walking parts of our feet a break.

We reached the camp/lodge, showered for the first time in three days and ate a feast. Walking around that night was virtually impossible considering all the aches and pains we had and I went to bed around 8- dead to the world.

It was really awe-inspiring being in the middle of nowhere with nothing to block the morning sunrise or the shine of the many stars at night, looking out and seeing these crazy mirages in the horizon that were created by the sun and the heat, and completing this great feat.

And once again, while living or traveling in Africa, I am astounded by all that mother earth has to offer us, teach us and awaken in us.

If you are interested in learning about the pans-

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makgadikgadi_Pan )

Pictures are posted in Picasa-

http://picasaweb.google.com/mattandlaurabots

laura

So it has been over 9 months since we have written and told you anything about our lives. A lot has happened and actually nothing as happened. Our life in Botswana and the Peace Corps is very complicated and hard to explain. We think of something we want to talk about and then decide it sounds too negative or that the real truth lies so much in the gray area we can’t even put it into words. I will have to say having a little over 50 other Americans to share our thoughts and frustrations with has been our saving grace. It’s like our own secret world we live in, that you truly have to experience for a good amount of time to understand. Our decision to continue this blog (or our service for that matter) is one that we have tossed around a lot. We have decided to continue this blog with a more lighthearted approach that just keeps us in touch with you, our family and friends.

Here is a recap of what has been going on:

Visitors:

We have been lucky enough to have many visitors over the last few months. Our first visitors were Matt’s mom and his brother. We went to the airport thinking we were just meeting Matt’s mom and to our surprise Andy, Matt’s brother, walked out of customs. I cannot even explain the excitement of having Matt’s mom make it all the way to Botswana, but to see his brother, who said he would never come to Africa was a shock. We had a great time and it was great to show them around Botswana. We went to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, Thuli Block and Maun. We got to do a Mokoro ride on the delta, which Cathie, still says is one of the worst things she has ever done. You must ask her about her fear of snakes!

My aunt Renie and cousin Maddie came over the Easter holiday. I would not be lying if I said that the desert decided to rain buckets of water the entire time they were in my village. And when it rains on our tin roof, it is painful. We had such a great time, caught up and played some great euchre! We went on a safari in the north of Botswana. We did a five-day camping safari- Renie said it was the first time she had camped since girl scouts. Considering that neither Renie nor Maddie are much of campers, they were great sports and we had a great time. We saw the Delta and all the animals you could have wanted to see. The guides were great and northern Botswana is really an amazing place on this planet.

Emily Caito came to visit. Two Peace Corps friends and me met her in Cape Town. It was awesome. We went shopping, ate at great food markets, went to a museum, ate great food and completely enjoyed ourselves. We went to this winery right out side of Cape Town in Constantia Valley, called Constantia Uitsig. (http://www.constantiavalley.com/vineyards/constantia_uitsig/) The restaurant was called La Colombe and is rated one of the best in Africa. (http://www.constantia-uitsig.com/pages/gallery/la-colombe.php) We had a seven-course wine tasting meal. It was amazing, lived up to it’s reputation and we knew we were over served EVERYTHING, when we started ordering shots of Coffee flavored Petron!!!

After Cape Town, Matt, Emily Caito and I met my parents in Johannesburg. I still cannot believe my parents made it to Africa. It was great being back together with members of my family. We had the day in Jo’burg, so we decided we would go to the Apartheid Museum. It is an marvelous museum. The museum was moving and well done. I was very impressed and once again in South Africa overwhelmed by their history and how far they have come in such a short time.

On a side note, I cannot tell you how much Matt and I have fallen in love with South Africa, Jo’burg included. IT is such an amazing country. Moving to Africa we are not all that excited to be in the southern region. We had heard that it was unsafe and knew that it was not the Africa we had signed up to move to (more developed than we had wanted). Even though it is not what we initially wanted, it is not dangerous and it is truly one of the most beautiful countries (people included) I have ever seen. Great cities, mountains, vineyards, game parks with many animals and coast lines that are truly spectacular. I am really glad that I have gotten to see many parts of South Africa and I am excited to explore more of it before we leave. I can see why it is one of the top tourist destinations in the world for sheer beauty alone not to mention the amazing culture, art and people we have met there.

The rest of the trip with my parents was spent on safari and a few days in our village. It was awesome. The lodge that we went to was called Londolozi - Tree Camp. It was definitely probably one of the nicest palaces we will ever stay at in our lives. The place is known for their leopards. So for three days we tracked leopards; we watched them hunt, play with their young and take down impalas! It was great and the scenery was amazing. From there we went to Sabi and stayed at this great lodge in the middle of the mountains. We did a day drive and saw the panoramic views of the mountains and many waterfalls. It was awesome to be with my father, who has sold produce and bananas his whole life, when he got to see banana plantations for the first time in his life. So glad that my family came to visit, what a great memory.

Scott Dillinger and Pugh are coming in November- pretty excited about this trip.

Bryn and Mauro say they are coming as well. Hey Mauro I heard phish is touring in South Africa!!!!!!

The World Cup

I am sure many of you have seen the pictures on our Picasa website ( http://picasaweb.google.com/mattandlaurabots ) from this trip- so I will not go into much detail. It was an incredible experience. I am not a sports fan but I have to tell you international live soccer events are truly unbelievable. Everything about it was so much fun. Budweiser for the first time in a year (written for Matt), international banter amongst all the cultures, and being able to cheer America onto what I call a victory over England!!! The South Africans were the most gracious of host. They were so excited to be able to host this event and share their county with the world. Congrats to them on a successful world cup and I look forward to Brazil in four years. We are hooked and we are definitely planning our trip to Brazil!!!!

Mozambique

Amazing, Awesome, Fantastic, Would Go back tomorrow!!!! It is such a cool place. We went to Maputo, Tofo and Vilanculos. Such a great place to travel to and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great African trip to the beach. Awesome coastline, diving, and food was incredible. So great to get out the desert for a bit! Pictures of this trip are up on our Picasa site http://picasaweb.google.com/mattandlaurabots

Trip to the States

It was so nice to be off the African continent for a bit and we loved seeing everyone we missed so much over the last year. Indy was great. It was wonderful to hangout at the lake, catch up with our growing nieces and nephews and spend time talking with my sisters, mom and dad. Thank you so much everyone in Indy that threw his or her schedule out the door for a quick visit. And Gill thanks so much for coming to Indy. Kelly family- thanks for making the trek up to Indy as well. It was great to see you for at least a little bit. Also, Suanne, Dave, Jacqui and Anthony- great to see you as well, thank you for making time for me!!!! It really meant a lot. Carrie Maniaci, Jason, quickdraw, busby and danmeyer and Jane- so good to see you both.

New York was great. Misha thanks for taking us right to Coney Island and feeding us amazing pizza. Bryn and Mauro you gave us the greatest excuse to come back to the states. Such a splendid wedding and it was so great to get to spend time with you guys. Also thanks everyone, too, for throwing your real lives away for the week to hang out. Never enough time to spend as much time as we would like with everyone. However, we had a blast and look forward to being back in the city in 2011.

Women’s Group and Other Projects

As you can tell, travel is a big part of our life her in Africa. I mean since we are here and not going to live here forever, we might as well make the most of our time and geography. But there is some work that is going on I promise!!

About 8 months ago, Matt and I with the help our local chief, started a women’s empowerment group. It is the project that we like the most and feel like is doing to most to better our community. We have about 20 women and we get together weekly. We teach them life skills and have guest speakers come and talk to them about prevention, death and grieving. WE applied for a large grant about four months ago and had not heard anything, so we assumed that nothing was going to come of it. Last week, we heard we have been accepted for the grant given from the government of Botswana. The grant is for two years (the women’s group can continue after we are gone- Yeah! - as this in one of the hardest things to accomplish – sustainability) and in the amount of 1.4 million pula or $157k. The money is to pay for a local person to help facilitate, so that we can do our life skills work in the local language and then expand the group to more women that do not speak any English, to help start a small poultry farm co-op with the girls, and to get 15 of them back into school to finish their high school equivalency. Matt actually wrote the grant, so hats off to him. But, now that we have the money, this is what most of our time will focus on. As soon as the actual money comes through, the hard work begins with clearing the land and starting the farm. This is exactly what we moved to Africa to do and we have grown very fond of our girls. They are going to be very hard to say goodbye to!

Side note- Jim Pike, a friend from Indiana, donated shirts to our girls. They love them and are in the process of raising money to pay for the shipping. Thanks Jim!!!!!

We will try to be better- so the next one is not so long.

Stay Well,

laura

Before coming to Botswana, I really knew very little about gardening. Sure I could use some knowledge from caring for houseplants for so many years but gardening in the desert is a whole different story. We really lucked out because the compound we live on is rather big and when we moved in there was a perfect place to try and garden.

At first, the ground was hard as rock, a 6 inch layer of solid, compacted sand. I took a pick ax and basically just starting tilling the dirt for about three weeks on end just to soften it up a little. I knew I would need some kind of fertilizer because of all the sand so I made endless trips to a donkey krall and gathered many wheel barrows of donkey doo to mix in with the dirt. I learned my lesson with donkey shit though. While it worked, the weeds became out of control at times so now I use chicken or goat dung which works much better. In any case, I bought some chicken mesh to fence the entire garden and starting making plots within.

Originally, I made four plots and cut them in a half, making 8 beds about 4.5 feet x 4.5 feet. The first bed is all herbs, four kinds in fact (cilantro, chives, oregano, and basil). They grow so well that I end up composting half of it because the locals wont eat it, while we use it all on a regular basis. One quick thing if you are trying cilantro. I didn’t know if it flowers the plant will no longer produce, so trim it often. I recently replanted because of this. Same goes for basil but I have that tamed for now.

The second bed we started with carrots and some arugula. Most of the carrots are pretty much done so when we want carrots for something we just go and pluck them. Ah they are tasty. There are a few photos of some of the carrots we recently harvested to make carrot cake, which turned out pretty nice. Tomorrow is carrot burgers, whatever you can do with carrots we will probably try. By the way, they have taken around 3.5 months from start to finish.

The third bed has red onions and tomatoes. The onions take quite some time, like 7 months but are coming along. Actually, I think the heat may be a bit much as some are wilting even with good watering. The tomatoes are out of control. I tried to start them in seed containers, which is recommended but it didn’t work so I just planted straight in the ground. They are up, 5 feet some of them and producing so I hope they come out, should be soon with some of the plants. So excited to have fresh tomatoes. They are called Big Ox in fact. I have also started some romas, romas as well as the tomatoes love the heat so it’s the perfect time of year.

The fourth bed has green/red peppers, which are flowering and freshly harvesting beet root. The beets were great, shared them with the family here and Peace Corps friends at Thanksgiving dinner.

Lastly, I recently extended the garden to make room for corn. Believe it or not, my wonderful mother mailed some Hoosier sweet corn seeds from a farmer and now they are about 4 inches tall. They should be knee high by the 4th of January, sounds weird to my fellow Hoosiers huh? I really hope it goes well because I missed the sweet corn so much this year. The maize in Botswana is fine for eating but not the same at all.

So, that’s what in the garden and honestly I cannot believe how successful we have been with it all. The only thing we have lost is the watermelon as the birds went to town on the leaves. Hopefully, now my ‘scarecrows’ are a little scarier. It is not easy but it surely helps that I can water them everyday, with a hose for that matter. You will also notice that I have covered some of the beds with shade mesh to help from wilting. Its hot as hell right now so anything can help.

Yeah, it is a lot of work, but really fun and quite relaxing for me. It gives me something else to do and learn about as times goes by. It is something other than the constant thought of HIV/AIDS and what needs to be done here in Botswana. Although when I am gardening, I find myself thinking about different things and projects that may or may not work. Surprisingly, with a lot of tilling, some animal manure, and a variety of seeds, we will be able to eat a full salad from our garden very soon.

Check out the pictures and I will keep you updated on future harvests. I enjoy it so much; I was thinking what I will do when we leave Botswana? I think a rooftop garden in NYC will be suitable.

Pictures posted......

Having just returned from Cape Town to Molepolole is a lot easier than we anticipated, even though Cape Town was one of the most brilliant places we have ever traveled to.

We started our travels by spending the night in Gabs. We stayed with Sana and her husband, the daughter of our original host mother. They welcomed us as if we were truly family. They gave us a local’s tour to our capital and made sure we made it safely to our bus at 6.00 in the morning.

Boarding the bus to Johannesburg was so exciting. We were so eager to leave Botswana and the desert and finally get back to city living, which we miss so dearly. The bus drove on a small highway the entire way. The landscape of northern South Africa was very similar to that of Botswana- dry, bush and desert. And then all the sudden the landscape changed- it suddenly became what we had not even realized we missed. Huge trees, fields of grass and farms as far you could see. I mean really just even seeing the rolling green hills filled with produce and flowers were enough to enjoy the 5-hour ride.

Joburg or Jozzie, as the locals refer to it, was interesting. The first thing you hear from people around the bus station is to get directly in a taxi because the city center is almost a lawless area. We did as we were told, since we prefer to play it safe and headed straight to a trendy neighborhood called, Melville. Talk about culture shock. Surrounded by cafes, boutiques and white people we literally were walking around speechless for the first ten minutes. Then we spotted the only black people in the area and went directly to them to ask where we were and what we should do. They laughed at our culture shock, we exchanged a few Setswana words and then we begin to feel ready to take on the new atmosphere.

We found a decent café, laid down our bags and begin drinking to celebrate being on vacation and in an anonymous state of being. Matt kept drinking while Annie Rose and I scoped out the scene to shop and find a good place for dinner. By the time we got back Matt had already made friends, of course and we sat down to enjoy the new company and learn more about South Africa. These guys were super nice. They were all journalist so there stories about pre and post Apartheid, were raw and fascinating. They told us about which neighborhoods not to go to, what the change was like, how they see the future of South Africa, and what they find to be irritating since the New South Africa is now more dependent on the international world. It was a great way to spend the afternoon into the evening. On our way out one of the guys gave us his number and told us to call when we were back in town. He offered us his flat and tried to give us R150. We said we do not want your money but we will definitely call when we are back in town. He insisted on giving us the money, because he said we are visitors in his countries and he wanted to take us to our hotel but now he was to drunk. Great start to the trip.

We headed out to the hotel and found out we booked at the wrong place and the wrong night. Oh the joys of travel. We finally managed to get to the hotel and found a guy that was willing to drive us after listening to our sob story. He not only drove us he was willing to stop at the golden arches when he heard us yelling in the back when we spotted them. Oh my god- McDonald’s French fries – the sweet smell and taste. You can take the American out of America but you can’t take the fast food junkie America out of Americans.

Arriving in Cape Town truly reminded us a lot of our year living in Hawaii except instead of small town Lahaina throw a city similar to San Francisco in the middle of a mountain range with a crystal clear blue ocean. Wow, it was truly one of the most beautiful cities we have ever seen.

I would have to say the first day we were little disappointed because we toured the touristy areas. Long Street and the Waterfront. Something you always do and truly have to do but that was not what we were looking for. They were nice and you could see the appeal but we were looking for the up and coming parts of town, where the locals hang out. That night though we got to eat at a proper restaurant, something we had not done in six months and we enjoyed every minute of it. Fresh seafood from the coastline you could see seemed so decadent. God, we did not realize how much we missed fish. We walked in and out of cafes and delis. Delis that had Italian meats hanging, fresh bread and all the things we missed about of NYC delis. We knew from this night on that this trip was going to be about enjoying the food, neighborhoods and views.

We went on the double decker tour bus like any good tourist would do. It was nice to get a grasp of the geography and it was the best way to get around since the neighborhood and sites are spread out and taxis are quite expensive. The tour and it’s commentary was very euro centric which was very disappointing but still the views of the mountains, sea and flora was enough to make it worthwhile. More about the Euro centric view later!

Protea, which are my favorite flowers, discovered during our year in Hawaii, grew wild in Cape Town. Everywhere you looked you saw wild protea bushes in full bloom, it was a dream come true. The botanical gardens were amazing. They were situated on the backside of the mountain. The weather and trees were completely different on this side of the city. I swear every section of Cape Town has it’s own weather pattern.

One day we did a wine tour. It was great to have a 10.00 A.M. buzz and walk around these cute little wine towns laughing and seeking out the next bottle of wine. Mauro you would be proud we are learned a little more about wine and we starting to get it. Three mornings Matt got up at 4.00 A.M. to go fishing. However, every day he had to turn back as the seas we too rough, a condition that happens often when two oceans meet and winds whip wildly around the Cape.

We went up to the top of Table Mountain, the lazy way, cable car, as we had so much to see and time would not permit a five-hour hike. The last days Matt, Annie Rose, Nora (great addition, a Berliner we met in Cape Town and traveled with for the last two days- actually sent a bush note with her to my friend Jason in Berlin, hopefully he gets it) and I traveled by car to the Cape Point. The most southern point in Africa. We got to see penguins in their natural habitat, this was a first for us, pretty cool. It was beautiful. Two oceans meeting, fields of protea, ostrich and a coastline that is unmatched, proved to be a great few days. We stayed in tiny little beach surfing towns and watched the fisherman go out to sea and wasted the days eating delicious seafood and enjoying being on the ocean. Neither good nor bad, for these 7 days we did not even feel like we were in Africa.

We did not get to the District 6 Museum, which was a huge disappointment. When we arrived they had just closed. From my understanding District 6 was a part of town that all races and ethnicity of people lived and settled in before apartheid. When the government enforced apartheid District 6 become illegal, since it was illegal to live or be around people of other races. They demolished the area. So truly in the middle of this large city, there are just fields of grass were this neighborhood once stood. The whites obviously got relocated and the coloreds and blacks were left to fend for them selves. That ultimately meant being resettled to what they called townships.

So the whole time you are in this beautiful city and surrounded by mostly white affluent people, 2 kilometers outside the city there are townships and shanties as far as the eye can see. The townships are how you picture them. Tin houses with no amenities and poverty that is shocking. Life does not seem to have gotten that much better for the blacks and the colored.

Striking up conversations with the whites of South Africa, you must listen very carefully. The way things are worded or phrased shows how very little has changed. They are still part of an older generation that was brain washed to think that people of different races are different and that things have only gotten worse post- apartheid. At one point we actually asked a cab drive what the population of South Africa was and he could not just say the number as a whole. He broke it down by race. He said, “40 million blacks, 7 million whites, and 1 million colored. Oh things were better before.” Matt, Annie Rose and I were shocked in the back of the car and all we could talk about all night was this comment. How in the world did this white minority rule for so long?

The commentary on the tour bus was also very hard to stomach and very shallow. The announcer on the bus was talking about how Africans love soaking up the sun. As this was being said on the beach all you could see were white Africans on the beach and all the Native Africans hiding in the shade of the trees. Driving through the town there was a statue of some Portuguese sailor who first saw Cape Town. The announcer commented on how different life would have been for the Dutch and English (Afrikaners and Boers) if the Portuguese actually landed there first. No mention of the dramatic changes that took place for the 40 million blacks of South Africa when the British and Dutch landed.

With all of this said, our wine tour guide was a colored (South African term for someone of mixed race) and was truly inspiring and brought to life all of the positives that are happening. He could not talk enough about Nelson Mandela and how he managed to save this country from pure chaos. Madiba (as Nelson Mandela is referred) was able to forgive, so too are we, so said the tour guide. He just kept talking about how he has hope for his country and with enough time and after many generations of kids being born knowing that all are equal, South Africa will become a free more just state. He clearly said, that the future is bright; the youth will help correct our mistakes. He had such hope and meeting him, Basil, was a highlight of our trip.

We did not get to see District 6, Robbins Island, explore enough of the wine country or hike as much as we like. This trip was truly an escape from rural life and a way to be back in the city wondering around aimlessly. So, if anyone is interested in seeing on of the most beautiful cities on the planet, we have much more to see and explore and we would love to join you. Annie Rose is also part of this package deal as she is a great travel companion.

Any good trip or travel experience hopefully causes travelers to reflect upon their own culture and look critically at ourselves in response to the other culture. Matt, Annie Rose and I both walked away from this trip knowing deep in our hearts that we as Americans, with a history of slaughtering the Native Americans, slavery, lack of civil rights for minorities, the suffrage movement and still no equal rights for gays, have very little room to pass judgment. As long as nations are moving forward and civil societies demand change there is still hope. God, we love traveling and learning.

Pictures are posted on Picassa…

I have always loved the idea of community. All of us live in one whether we acknowledge it or not. This week I have had the opportunity to try and mobilize our community for the Vitamin A and Measles campaign taking place next week (11/16-11/22) here in Botswana. It is a campaign to have all children aged 9 months to 5 years receive a measles vaccination: while those aged 6 months to 5 years an oral dose of Vitamin A countrywide.

The importance of this campaign should not be overlooked. There are some cases of measles in the country and as most of you know, it can spread quite rapidly. Vitamin A is often overlooked in developed countries, because we get enough in our diet; whereas in Botswana, many children have Vitamin A deficiency and need the dose to assist in sight and bone development.

Many public health issues often get overlooked due to the impact of HIV/AIDS. While we are here to work on HIV/AIDS, it has been nice to try and mobilize my community and bring awareness to this particular campaign. The Ministry of Health, after changing the date two times, finally decided to roll it out and gave the districts basically a week to prepare. In knowing this, I decided to start spreading the word.

First, I went to the kgotla to meet the chief, a standard and necessary procedure in Botswana. My intent was to try and get the kgosi to contact the councilman/women (I have never met this person) to drive around with the loud speaker to promote the campaign. Much like they had been doing prior to elections here last month. He was open to the idea and said he would contact the right person. We could reach a large number of people very quickly. I have yet to hear back.

The Ministry finally delivered the posters, brochures, and information for the community. I grabbed as much as I could and set foot. First I went back to the kgotla and hung posters and gave them brochures to pass around. Then I went to the clinic (actually a health post) and plastered posters and flyers there with the head nurse. If you pass the clinic there is no way you wouldn’t know about the campaign. I will be working here during the campaign a few days doing whatever is needed.

Now, I am going door to door talking to people about the campaign, giving them information and explaining the importance when I can. A lot of people only speak Setswana so I do my level best. The reaction is generally really good. Most everyone is very thankful and say they will go, whether they know the importance or not. It has helped that Radio Botswana is promoting it now, hopefully the television news will as well. The radio and/or news is a great means of communication.

It has been good. I hope in the long run I have been able to mobilize the community a little. I will probably never really know if it was effective. I could go back and look at the last Vitamin A campaign and see how many showed comparatively, but it isn’t so much how I did, but how long the lines are at the clinic. All I did was meet more of my community and you should do the same………………..

Dumelang

It has been some time since I have written anything on the blog; sorry to those of you that has been trying to keep up with our lives here in Botswana. For one, can you believe that we have been gone for 6 months already, where has the time gone? Its funny because the days seem very long at times but weeks and then months go by faster than the spiders around our house.

In any case, things are good. Work has been slower than I originally thought because I have been mainly in the office trying to understand everything that takes place at the district level. Now that I understand the ropes and some of the challenges that go along with working on HIV/AIDS in Botswana, I am starting to meander out to some of the nearby clinics in hopes of gaining a further understanding to clinic level successes and complexities. I have gained the trust with some people, which is quite a challenge in itself, but now I am hoping to combine the office knowledge gained with on the ground clinical issues and try and implement some things in the community. All too often, many activities are planned and talked about regularly but are simply not implemented for a number of reasons. My main goal for now is to get people to start talking opening about the disease (which includes talking about the very taboo subject of SEX) and recognize the importance of prevention.

The vast majority of aid money that has come pouring into Botswana has been allocated for treatment alone, which is great because people are living much longer. On a side note, I could not imagine working in a country that still does not provide ARVs to their citizen, mostly due to American pharmaceutical patent laws. It would be truly devastating to see people die on a daily basis, knowing that there is a medicine out there to help people survive longer. Working in Botswana would almost be unbearable if their where no ARVs. In the 90s weekends were filled with funerals and it is truly unbelievable there still countries out there that have to just accept this fate. In fact, Botswana supplies anyone positive with a CD4 count less than 250 free ARV’s, the first country in the world to do so. This is possible because of the limited number of Batswana (population 1.7 million). Moreover, in focusing all efforts on treatment, prevention measures have been forgotten until now. The government has new priorities and has established prevention as the key to success.

More to come on specific projects as they develop but things are slowly getting into the pipeline and hopefully we can make a difference with a select few. Changing one’s behavior in any country takes ample time, and in a country with rich cultural traditions like Botswana, it will take a whole generation.

Speaking of generations, there is a whole sub-set of the population, children, growing up with no parents because of the impact HIV/AIDS has had on Botswana. Most of these children end up with one relative or another and generally, because they are orphaned, are not treated equally amongst the family. The government does offer some assistance with food baskets (they are lucky if they get the food) but overall, these 10 year olds are not loved and care for themselves and their younger siblings if they have any. Imagine collecting water, hand-washing clothes, cooking if you have food, and caring for yourself at 10 years old. There is no time to play make believe house, like so many of us enjoyed as children. Furthermore, many have no clothes or shoes; therefore can’t go to school, which compounds the problem. It really hit home a few weeks ago when our neighbor invited us over to see her house. Here’s the reality and her story.

Her name is Ellen, a stocky 10 year old, with a shaved head and a beautiful voice. She always comes by the house collecting water and we have gotten quite close with her. At first she was shy and just curious about us, saying dumela and asking for the occasional sweet or lemon growing on the tree. As she became more comfortable we started asking more and more questions to figure out her story because some days she would go to school, some days not. We would see her one-day then she would be gone for weeks at a time. Basically a sweet, innocent little girl but you could tell she was strong beyond her years and there was something more to her short life. It is evident if you could see her biceps and thighs from collecting water a few times a day. Three five-gallon jugs at a time in a wheelbarrow, truly amazing.

She lives on a family compound directly next to us. We still do not know who’s compound it is as she says her mom is gone at the lands and hasn’t returned since august and her dad is apparently in Gaborone. I think it is a cousin’s compound, fit with one house and one roundavol (traditional thatched round house). She doesn’t stay inside the house with everyone, she stays in the roundie by herself. It consists on a foam mattress and a few boxes. The people that stay in the house rarely give her food so she scrapes what she can get and hopefully goes to school to get a meal there. I asked her how she eats and all she can say is “ they spend the money on alcohol!”

One day last week she came by while I was watering my garden, damn it’s tough to have a hose out while this little girl carts water back home, but there is fortunately water on our compound. She came by like she does everyday but this time something was obviously wrong, no smile, no singing at the top her lungs and no Dumela. She had a fat lip because someone on the compound beat her for who knows what.

You probably get the story but in any case, this circumstance is all too familiar in Botswana. Many of the children are being helped but too many are not or the efforts fall short. We are trying to get her assistance from the government and have found a used pair of shoes from Laura’s school that are a bit too big but hopefully it will allow her to go to school freely where she can continue to learn and grow and simply eat. She was so delighted today when I gave her the shoes; hopefully this will allow her to go to school everyday and not care for the counsin’s new born while she is out at the local shabeen (compounds that sell traditional beer).

Ellen is resilient, like many children in Botswana and Africa as a whole. Most days she has a wide smile and can sing with the best of them. You always know when she is around because she belts local songs out as loud as the radio next door. While many Botswana lack compassion for the destitutes, they are perhaps the one’s that can change Botswana once and for all. A country free of HIV, a generation with the knowledge and skills to eliminate such a disease means the next generation, their kids, will have someone to put food on the table and someone to tuck them in at night.

I feel like to often I hear from people that we are not happy and that we are struggling here. I really want to set this straight and talk about it.

Is life here an effort and it is it hard for us to adjust, accept and understand what is going on in around us- yes, without a doubt. But traveling for 6 weeks at a time, like we do every summer is also a challenge, and we still have chosen to make it a huge part of our life. It is nice to actually look deeper into a place rather than just a romanticized view through a month long journey. We are happy and at this point, this is where we are in life and this is what we are meant to be doing. We are surrounded by amazing people, both PCV’s and Batswana, that look out for us and care deeply about whether or not we like their country and that we learn more about their country. We knew what we were signing up for when we joined the Peace Corps. Is it exactly what we expected or wanted- no. But we should have known better than to have expectations. However, we are happy and we love what we are doing.

In all reality, this is no more challenging than what I did in the South Bronx for ten years. I have not seen anything worse or more devastating here, this is just compounded by the fact that I have stepped completely out my norms and I am trying to navigate in a completely foreign world.

I need people to understand that when we vent in this blog, we are venting, as we hope we can confide in you as we would an email. This is just an easier way for us to communicate with mass people and not have to write many emails. These are truly just our opinions based on our very minimal interactions and they are purely anecdotal and should be taken as such. We do not want you to only communicate negative stories to your friends. We would love for you to extract the good that you are reading and communicate those stories. Africa and her people are amazing and we are happy to be welcomed here and able to learn and grow from this country. I would hate to think that we are contributing to all the negatives images that already flood the media about Africa.

So enough rambling but please help us in succeeding in one of our biggest goals: that by living here and learning about Botswana and Africa, we will show Americans that Africa is more then the negative images we see and hear about. It is a beautiful, magnificent and rich place both environmentally and spiritually but also culturally.

Botswana is often considered a success story in Africa, with a functioning democracy and an infrastructure capable of caring for the 1.7 million people that live in this vast country. Despite HIV/AIDS sweeping through and threatening to destroy the entire country, Botswana has remained peaceful in its’ 43 years of independence. With the proximity to South Africa and its’ rich mineral and diamond deposits, the country has grown from a developing country to middle income in a relative short amount of time. Has this hurt or helped the country? I still cant get my head around it as the disparity between rich and poor is tremendous, or should I just say money or NO money in this case.

A few days ago I went to one of the five hardware stores in our village to buy some chicken mesh to protect my garden from the hens and roosters on our compound. I wish I had my camera because as I walked up there was a donkey cart with four donkeys parked next to a Mercedes Benz, a 500 series at that. It is a striking contrast and one seen quite often unless you live in a very rural village.

There are loads of donkey carts all over Botswana. They are used mainly for collecting water and firewood, the two most important items for much of the population. Hence, there is generally no power or water on many compounds either because it is too expensive or simply no means. We have both, and hot water as well, but many neighbors and surrounding places survive with the bare minimum, a single hut with a clothesline in some cases. Working to live is a common practice for much of the Batswana.

While some work to live, and work extremely hard, others hardly work or have cushy government office jobs and have the fancy accessories in life- a nice car, nice clothes, and they get to send their kids to fancy private schools.

If you have a ‘real’ job in Botswana, most likely you are working for the government in one fashion or another. At my workplace, the District Health Team, the Ministry of Local Government employs everyone, while teachers are with the Ministry of Education and so on. There are Ministries for every sector. Don’t ask me why the health team is not under the Ministry of Health instead associated with Local Government, I may never know that answer, but in any case, you work for the government. In most cases, they even supply your house, different colors depending on which sector you work for. At my office, even toilet paper is passed around once or twice a month for people to take home.

Let me touch on the workplace just a little. First, I don’t want it sound like NO ONE is working. In fact, my counterpart and countless others produce monthly reports and maintain a busy district office. There are people, both up top and on the ground doing great things, or else the country would crash, but a many of the working peeps simply don’t produce work.

I have witnessed people leave meetings regularly if they show, say they did things when they actually haven’t, and falsified data simply because a report was due. I don’t know if the latter is a common practice but once was enough for me. Moreover, there is no accountability for doing these things. The culture isn’t one to reprimand and demand things, therefore; it is easy to be unmotivated and laissez-faire. We literally find ourselves staring and uncomfortable when we see someone raise their voice. Quite a change from loud, vocal NYC. If you accomplish one thing per week and are around the workplace from 7:30 – 4:30 all is well.

Coming from a country, in which I would argue we work too much, it is still very difficult getting used to this work environment. It is important as a foreigner to understand that things will take longer regardless of the situation. On top of an already relaxed work environment, you’re bound to come up against obstacles that are out of your control. There may be no transport one day, computers are down (if you have them at all), or crash from the viruses inundated on every computer, or another meeting or workshop is taking place at last minute. Weeks are filled with workshop after workshops and you never really know if they are useful because people don’t necessarily report about them.

Anyways, these are a few complexities that all volunteers must deal with and hopefully figure out a way to motivate themselves and the ones that need it, regardless of the obstacles.

A workshop on organization skills and/or team building is necessary and needed, even if they have previously tried. A refresher of sorts because it doesn’t matter if you are working with HIVAIDS, TB, and environmental health; as health inspectors, nurses, doctors, health educators, administrators, typists, cleaners and drivers, noticeable change starts from within.

The learning curve for me personally and of the country as a whole has been slow but very good considering the age of this nation. My co-workers have been nothing but welcoming and great. I am learning a lot just being there and finding my place from within. I constantly think of new things that could be done and how to accomplish them and the list is quite long. Over time, I am sure it will narrow down and I will be able to focus on several particular issues.

The above was written some time ago (over a month) but never posted and as the list is ever growing, both Laura and I have started to focus on some key issues both at the clinics and in the schools. Also, we are working on some things to start in our ward with out- of- school youths, as there are way too many children not in school for one reason or another. I will elaborate more on this as things develop as I am sure some of you would like to know specifics as to what we are doing but for now, I need to get to work. My ride is here, I think I will take the donkey cart!

Written on 29/09/09

Posted many days after - so our next blog will be about this amazing trip.

Matt killed and defeathered his first chicken. We ate it last night. It was pretty good. It was a little tough but overall I would have to say it is pretty amazing knowing everything about what you are ingesting in a night.

This Tuesday is Botswana independence day. We are headed to the Sowa Salt Pans. We are visiting a PC friend who lives up there. There are like 15 of us going. Definitely too big of a crowd but I am SOOO excited to get out of our village. Jillian, our friend, lives near these salt pans and we are hoping to go out there and camp for a night. They are supposed to be really cool especially since they are waterless now. She also lives within a few kilometers of a Refugee Camp so we are going there for sure.

I guess it is the rainy season. I can never get a straight answer from anyone. However, it is storming every night. Huge, noisy, cuts your electricity out for hours storms. They are awesome. We have a tin roof, so it is literally so loud you can not hear each other. It is amazing last night; it rained for hours and I woke up this morning and I could not even tell. Funny how you know you are in the desert no matter how much rain we get.

Last Friday was a huge event at our school, called Prize Giving. They honor the best students throughout the school. I cut cabbage for three hours. It was terrible. However, while cutting I got to hangout with students. We laughed alot, sang a little Akon and practiced my Setswana. The kids really enjoyed the day; it was really nice to see kids being kids.

A child got really sick during the activities. She fell to the ground and from her waist down she started shaking like she was having a seizure. It was so weird and when I asked her if she had talked to a teacher she said no. So of course, I took over. We tried to calm her down. It was one of the weirdest things I have ever seen while working with kids. She was shaking uncontrollably but only from the waist down. We got transport to the clinic and they immediately put us in an ambulance to the larger clinic with a doctor. The doctor said she thinks it is an emotional response to something that is going on in her life. Who knows. She gave her anxiety pills and sent us away. So many unanswered questions. And this is the second child I have seen that has done this.

Today the girl was back in my office with the shakes again. I treated it as if it was a neurological reaction to a trauma in her life. I had her count her breaths and when ever the shaking started again i told her to focus on the tree we were sitting under. I am going to figure this out. The girl is coming to my house next week and we are going to talk. This culture does not allow children to talk to adults and you are not allowed to air your problems in public. I hope by being at my house she will open up and we can get to the problem. But, shit, who knows if that will even help. I am still not totally convinced that what the doctor said is right. But for now I will listen to the doctor and will try talking to this girl.

It is so weird that I am here to teach children about self- awareness, being assertive, and about gender roles all to help prevent future HIV/AIDS infections. Yet, we are still in a country in which children are not free to express themselves. Their stressful situations manifest themselves through these strange illnesses. I wonder if by teaching these children these things we are creating too big of an imbalance and we are the reason that they are having these 'panic attacks'.

Posted some more pictures from the prize giving

http://picasaweb.google.com/mattandlaurabots

have a great week.

love

laura

Hey we have posted more pictures on Picassa. Some explanation- the two girls posing are our sisters that live on our compound. Some are from our our garden. The big rocks are from a village nearby that we went hiking in one day. The kids with their drawings are from last Saturday night. They go over to our friends house on Saturdays and have craft days. The kids walking with Annie Rose are from our English class on Saturday. The girl in the green is our friend Annie Rose. We are taking her to Cape Town with us. She reminds me alot of Emily Caito.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mattandlaurabots

So I taught my first class this week, it was so much fun. I taught a Form 1 (equivalent to grade 7) Guidance and Counseling class. Their spoken English is limited, they can read well but do not comprehend much of what they read. These were problems that I was aware and fairly sure I could apply my knowledge to successfully. I was all prepared to teach a great lesson on what domestic violence was, how to be safe and what you can do to get help. I was armed with role-plays (I can not believe I force kids to do activities that I personally hate doing myself- such a hypocrite) and group work. People who I have taught with will also appreciate how I was ready to tell a story about my personal experience with domestic violence in order to make personal connections- I mean NYC youth think I have a gay brother so they stop saying gay slurs! ( I am from a family of all girls and my dad.)

Anyhow, the lesson started well, I explained all the definitions, and they listened and looked interested. Then when it came time for the interactive part, the whole lesson fell apart. Getting these kids to talk, work in groups and then present to the class was a complete disaster. They are shy and have no experience learning in this manner. Lack of English and especially my American accent can account for some of the problems, but as teacher I knew it was more about the lesson simply falling on it’s face due to this very American teaching method.

This is the second time this happened to me in a week. We were teaching an English class this Saturday and they were great when were sitting and talking about the rules of English but once they had to get up and practice, the shyness over took and the lesson flopped.

Even though we, too, introduced this new style of learning in the South Bronx, it went very well because in the USA we create a space in which children are allowed to freely express themselves and learn through making mistakes. Here, children are so scared of failure and expressing themselves; however, there is a sense of discipline that we lack in States.

So from this past weeks experience, I am challenged and excited to find the delicate balance between what have done so well in the states, create places were children can freely express themselves; and here where they have a level of discipline that I yearned for so often in the States. (I will not get into all the inherent problems with how discipline is achieved here- but it has to be more then a stick that creates this kind of discipline and self control in youth.) I am eager to work more in the classroom and see what I can do to help these children become more expressive and to see what I can learn from the Batswana children to take back to my classroom in NYC. It feels really good to be challenged by teaching again. It has been a while. What would John Dewey say about this Mish?

The Wisdom of Whores

by Elizabeth Pisani

After not reading for a long time I am back on the wagon and it feels good. Today I actually stayed home all day to read 150 pages of this great book. Also, because workmen busted our toilet pipe and I need to supervise by flushing the toilet every so often. I love valid excuses to stay in all day and read. This is book is for anyone that wants to learn about the HIV/AIDS epidemic worldwide. It is very honest and entertaining look at the development world and all declarations that come from years of research and are never acted upon at the expense of many lives. She does an incredible job of unraveling the layers upon layers of complicated issues associated with treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS. Though I do not always agree with her, she is one of the few that is willing to speak her mind regardless of who she offends. This book has some of my favorite qualities of any book, leaves you with a lot to think about and gives you even more to talk about. HIV/AIDS is complicated shit.

God I wish we could order in tonight. No breaks from cooking ever, if you want dinner. Eish!!!!

Props to School Specialty Science who works with FOSS science kits. We wrote to have them donate science kits here in Botswana. We did this on a whim and they are willing to donate. They are awesome. Now we just need to find a donor to help ship them over. Does anyone know a good rotary club?

Catch a Fire

We don’t even know if it was really good or just interesting to us because we are living in Southern Africa. Being neighbors to South Africa and learning first hands about events they have gone through in our lifetime is a fascinating new thing to study. It was a movie that showed the importance and need for a strong civil society that makes a stand and demands change. Even though, we don’t agree with non-peaceful ways of demanding change, South Africa is case and point of the need for people to stand up and fight for their rights. Civil society is an even more essential element of fighting injustice, when the powers that be do not care enough about the plight of the oppressed. Net Flix it.

Dumelang Borra le Bomma

I hope that you all are doing well and enjoying the summer in the northern hemisphere. We are still in winter here in southern Africa but things are bound to change and the heat from the Kalahari will be upon us sooner than we expect, but things are gradually moving along and we are adjusting to life as Peace Corps volunteers here in Molepolole.

The first few months as official volunteers involves fully integrating into your community. This means spending ample time both at work and in your respected community getting to understand and know the people, the layout, and overall way of life in the village, a thorough community assessment. The importance of this transition cannot be stated enough. Without a solid effort, things could become tougher as we tend to have many different values, norms and cultural beliefs compared to the Batswana. Personally, thus far I think that we have laid a solid foundation both at work and in our community. It does help having traveled to many different places and submersing ourselves in very different cultures previously, but realizing the length of time we are here and the fact that Botswana is unique in itself provides its own challenges and interesting opportunities.

Being with the District Health Team for six weeks now has been a unique experience. I am placed with the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) Coordinator at the district level. The office looks over the program in 48 health facilities throughout Kweneng East. The health facilities consists of 2 hospitals, 23 clinics, and 22 or so health posts, so it is definitely functioning with consistent action. My counterpart, Mma Simane, is super nice and I am certain our relationship will only grow. She has been away at various workshops for the program since I have been there. At first I had an assistant to show me around and help with understanding how things work. Now, I have been running the office this week, basically doing administration work while looking at clinical reports on antenatal, post-natal maternal and child health, infant feeding and testing rates while my counterpart is away.

It is office work, sometimes busy work, but all work that needs to be done. Some of my day is spent teaching people computer skills as they are lacking greatly while others are spent grappling through unorganized data and files. A workshop in organizational skills is definitely something we need to think about, it would help in all facets. Furthermore, I spend a lot of time getting to know co-workers and their roles in the overall district health plan. It is a slow process and some things are coming together, while collecting different ideas and thoughts on developing overall capacity.

I have yet to get to the clinics like I hoped for at this time but in actuality, it is totally fine. I have two years and being in the office has allowed me to understand some of the complexities at the district level before getting to the clinics. After all, I requested the district level assignment to have the opportunity for both, while most volunteers are assigned to a specific clinic. Both have their adantages and disadvantages. Moreover, I am able to meet people, mostly nurses and lay councelors that come to the offices for various things, all the while developing relationships with my colleagues. Most everyone have been really really nice, helpful and accepting of me being there. It is really working out and I truly think my integration into the DHT office and Moleps has started well.

The first thing I wanted to do once training was over is develop relationships with people, both at work and in the community. I can’t go anywhere without seeing someone I have met or who has met me in one fashion or another. It is pretty funny and really shows you how small a 60,000-person community is. There are a few volunteers from the last group and three from our group in Moleps, plus Batswana are used to seeing white people, but you still stick out wherever you go and everyone remembers your name. For me, trying to remember names is really tough because of the amount of people you meet in one day and trying to train your brain to remember the Setswana name is tricky. The names are tough I tell you. Try to pronounce our (two) surnames, Mothlobogwe and Mogotlwane. It’s cool though because we are meeting people in different sectors, from the barber to the chief, and really trying to fit in with the Moleps community, regardless if I have to ask them three times for their name. It can only make the entire experience better and more helpful with the work to be done. Developing important relationships is probably the most important thing if you want to get a lot accomplished in a short amount of time, and we are trying.

Moreover, this last 6 weeks has given me a glimpse to the realities of life in Botswana, both positive and negative. On the surface and on paper, things look very promising for the most part. At the workplace and in the community, we are slowly digging a niche and trying to find where best we will fit, what kind of projects we will work on and what groups we will target. There are many gaps and broken chains in all sectors, but I keep telling myself that Botswana is only 43 years young and things are getting better, compared to the late 90’s when everyone was dying. HIV/AIDS has become a chronic illness here and the focus has turned from treatment to prevention. Changing cultural beliefs and habits is not easy and not possible overnight, or even generations.

There are a lot of things to be done. A former volunteer once told me that you could make a list of 100 things you wanted to do and be lucky to get to three. It is so important to step back every so often and realize where you are and what you are doing. Some days can be very frustrating while others are great. You have to have both good and bad days to understand the true complexities and existence here in hopes of doing more than those three things.

For those of you that have written, sent packages, called, emailed, etc. thanks so much. It is such a treat to get when the phone rings or a letter arrives. It means a lot. I can’t tell you how much I miss my family and friends. CONGRATS to the Frizzells on the new edition Joseph Laurance Frizzell, so happy for you guys. Makes it tough knowing we wont meet him for some time.

Hope all is well for now, I will try to keep writing as much as possible. Also, we are trying to post more pictures on picassa now as we got a few things up and running at the internet café. There should be a link on the blog so it is easily accessible.

Enjoy the rest of your summer as ours is just beginning…………………………on our way to post office to get new packages………the excitement is killing me.

Matthew

a.k.a Thuso

if you go to the following link you can view pictures that we have finally posted.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mattandlaurabots

This link is also on the left side bar of this blog so you can check to see if we uploaded pictures whenever you check the blog.

-GREETINGS, GREETINGS, GREETINGS, in Botswana they are definitely the most important part of seeing ANYONE. It is such a pleasure for everyone to say hello and ask how you are doing. In America, all too often you don’t know your neighbours and go through your day without saying hello to any strangers. Here it is the exact opposite. Go say Hi to your neighbour!

-Waking up this morning, the first thing I said to Matt was I can’t hear the chickens, it is dawn, why is it so quiet. I was actually scared I would over sleep since the chickens, which are our natural alarm, where not crowing as loud as they possibly could outside our window. Most compounds, including ours, have plenty of them and you definitely know when the sun is going to rise. Your sleep schedule pretty much revolves around the sun here so the natural alarm clock is quite a treat.

-Being in an environment in which time is not of the essence and moves very slowly. While there are inherent frustrations that come along with people always being late and waiting for a ride while looking at your watch and realising only ten minutes have passed when it seems like hours, there is something magical about being able to enjoy these moments and truly reflect. Living in NYC time was never on your side, you had to find a space and place to reflect and process everything that was always going on around you. We began to enjoy longer walks just because you had more time to think and be alone in your head. Here, I have more time to think and be alone in my head then I ever have (minus hours spent on the beach in Hawaii) and I have to say there is something captivating, addictive and to be learned from this. Inspecting the small minor happenings that become all the more interesting because you have time. Letting go of the frustration that arises by all that you should be doing and can’t because electricity is out or there is not transport. And instead, learning, due to the slow click of the man made minute hand, to enjoy what you can do with what is working or have witnessed throughout the day.

-Little Kitty, Kgosi (chief in Setswana). We have this adorable kitty that is growing all to fast. He is now, thankfully, flea free thanks to my sister Emily and mom. I love that he sleeps on my head and jumps right in front of the computer as I type, just like Nubs. I get such joy giving him our chicken bones. Especially since after watching Batswana devour chicken bones almost entirely, I feel less wasteful knowing I get to feed the cat. Whoever said you cannot feed cat chicken bones, even though I would not try this with American cats. Is this racist?

-Walking out of the school computer lab, into the lobby to see chickens scurry at the site of me and five cows and an uncountable amount of goats all around the school grounds.

-Being in Gaborone (the capital) yesterday and realising that the blank stare on commuters’ faces is a universal. I swear wherever you go and see people on public transit there is the same dull, get me out of here look. Ha, it is not just grumpy New Yorkers! I love universals that show how much we are all alike, no matter how different we might be. Would be interested in anyone that finds a country or city that challenges this theory we have.

-Batswana, and I would have to say most African countries that I have seen, have this ability to develop the best route to anywhere. Just when you think you have found the quickest dirt path, you come across another even quicker path. So while time seems to move slowly, there is always a quicker more time efficient path. I love the co-existence of opposites.

-Waking up to VOA and BBC on our little hand held radio. For a brief ten minutes, we are transported back to the world of news and media that we miss so much.

Thinking about all the places we are going to travel to in the southern part of Africa and all the visitors that are going to come.

-Having traditional lunch from Mma B outside the council offices. She cooks loads of food in a tiny tin shack. Laura isn’t much of a fan of the local food so I get the chance to fill up on either goat or beef with a healthy serving of rice, beans, or paleche (mashed up corn meal). It also gives me the opportunity to practice my Setswana.

-When people speak slow enough that I can actually understand what they are saying. Even though Setswana is kind of like Latin (the dead language) in the international world of communication, we are enjoying learning another language and practising when we can. I feel like I know the basics but have hit a road block although people constantly tell me I am doing very well. I think a tutor would be good so that I study more often. Re a leka!

-Donkey cart jams in our ward.

-Donkey noises.

-Baby donkeys and goats. I wish they would let you pet them. Maybe we should open a petting zoo. Yelling at kids that harass the dogs by throwing rocks. A teacher is always a teacher.

-The thought of staying in a hotel and taking a real shower.

-Starting the garden. We have developed a small plot on the compound and should be ready for planting in the coming weeks, once I get some chicken mesh to protect the feisty little birds from digging it up. Oh I am using chicken manure to make quality dirt to start the seeds as the ground has about 6 inches of straight sand on top. Damn chicken shit stinks.

-Every morning hearing the students sing beautiful songs at the assembly. I love hearing six hundred voices together with such spirit and cadence. Thank god I cannot understand what they are saying. I am sure it some religious preaching that I would not be happy about. No separation of church and state is still a little hard to digest. Oops, this is supposed to be only happy thoughts.

-Being able to finally talk practically about development and all it’s complexities. NO longer just talking theory. It so good to finally be working in the field of development.

-THE ENDLESS SKY! Sunrises and sunsets are worth the trip in itself.

-The fullness and brightness of the moon.

-The darkness of no moon as you feel as if you can touch the stars.

-LASTLY, LETTERS AND PACKAGES ARE AWESOME!

So, I am complete dumbass and decided not to pack cookbooks. So I am asking for a big favor. Could people email us recipes. Anything. We have alot of chicken, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers. We have all the basics. We are lacking alot of fruits but we can get almost any vegetable. Please help us cook good and satisfying meals.

Email the recipes to either matt's or my personal address. not going to publish that- way to much info. or you can post as a comment.

thanks and love

laura

Matt Thuso Jefferson

DHT OFfice

Private Bag 005

Molepolole

Botswana

We were sworn in as official Peace Corps volunteers on June 18th, yes training is over. We got placed here in Molepolole, the same village we have been in since day 1. At first it was fairly uneventful as it would be nice to see some other parts of the country, but we are very happy. The rest of the country can wait as we will have plenty of time to travel in the coming years. I got placed at the District Health Team office with the PMTCT (Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission) coordinator and Laura at a Junior Secondary school developing a life skills curriculum.

Molepolole (Moleps) is a very large village, somewhere around 60,000 people with most every convenience you could want in Botswana. The grocery stores are filled with many things. I never thought all of these choices would be possible before arriving. Having spent some time in West and East Africa with really no options, I would have to say it is pretty nice to have some things available. Batswana (people from Botswana are called Batswana) call it a village but I consider it more of a town compared to some of the other villages. Nonetheless, it is the village we will be living in for the next two years and since it really is the only place we have been since we arrived, we have grown to like it very much, especially now that we have our own house.

About the house and ward! Moleps consists of many wards, or neighborhoods, and is very spread out. Many volunteers get placed in government housing, which all look the same and are surrounded by other government employees that usually are not from the community. We really lucked out because we are on a family compound in the community, more specifically the Lekwapheng ward. It is exactly what we hoped for as far as living in a locally. More importantly, it gives us a chance to fully integrate into the culture and community as a whole. It is definitely on the outskirts of town but only a 10-15 minute walk for Laura to get to school, which is quite nice. Being on the outskirts, it gets a bad rap as one of the more dangerous and impoverished areas of Moleps but we could not be happier about our location and house. The landlady, whose front door is about 30 feet from ours is super nice and maintains a nice compound. There are about 20 chickens running around and a “guard” dog named Lion. He isn’t much of a gurad dog but still tours the grounds like he owns it. She really wants us to be comfortable and feel at home and loves to call us her children. I guess we kind of are considering we are sharing her plot for quite some time.

Our house is brand new, just finished being built and is bigger than any apartment we have had in NYC. We have two bedrooms, yeah I said two bedrooms which means there is plenty of room for those of you that want the Botswana experience. We have a huge sitting room, full kitchen, and a nice bathroom. Moreover, we will hopefully have hot water and yes electricity is here as well. So here, you wont feel too far away from home other than the fact there are no ceilings in the house. Just rafters and a tin roof, which makes for very very cold nights right now. Seriously, it sounds crazy but right now there is frost on the ground in the mornings and it basically feels like you are sleeping outside with no insulation and/or heat. Our tent would be warmer. We were typical volunteers that really didn’t believe anyone that it gets really cold, simply because they were telling us this when it was snowing in NYC last year, but its COLD. Things should get really interesting when the temp reaches 115 F and radiating through the aluminum roof. In any case, the place is nice and as volunteers we are super lucky as many of our friends don’t have anything and they are getting the true Peace Corps experience , no electricity or running water.

The ward we live in is really interesting. Walking through the ward you definitely realize you are in Africa. Dirt paths, chickens, goats and of course our neighbors have the nicest donkey cart in town. It is strange that our house is so nice because most of the compounds in our ward consist of dirt round houses or very modest cinder block homes with a water spicket if they are lucky. Most of the compounds probably don’t have electricity.

In Botswana there are many cars, and some very nice, but in Lekwapheng there are many donkey carts cruising around getting the job done. We have yet to cruise the ward via donkey cart yet but we are slowly learning which dirt path takes us where.

We have a kitten. Definitely does not take the place of Nubs but he is sure nice to come home to. His name is Kgosi (chief in Setswana). I know that him and Nubs will get along famously. For all of you who are wondering- of course we are bringing the little flea bag home, we have very different ideas about how pets should be treated than the Batswana.

Our jobs are slowly coming along. We are meeting people in the office and trying to get their very difficult names down. It is challenging adjusting to a very different work environment and work ethic but we will find our roles soon enough. The school I am in is great. It is sooo good to be back in a school. No matter what crazy things happen or how frustrating a day is, I am always guaranteed to have some beautiful African teenager smile and make my whole day better. There is a lot of work to be done there and I look forward to two years of enhancing the already strong foundation at the school.

With that said, we still have great days and days when we question what we are doing here. This country is fairly developed and sometimes we both don’t know if Americans need to be here at all. There is an estimated HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 25% (depending on whose research you read). It seems like much of the countries economy is based on such a high prevalence rate. So many people are employed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It also seems like they have all correct programs on paper and are doing what they should be doing yet somehow the prevalence rate continues to rise. At this point behavior change is key, and we constantly ask ourselves if this a role that we as Americans can partake in without being to patronizing.

Overall, after being here almost three months, we are so happy and firm in our decision to see this thing through and learn as much as we can. We love living in Africa and waking up to the roosters crow and a magnificent sunrise that fills the horizon. We are so excited to have this to experience and learn all there is to learn from this crazy little place called, Botswana.

Miss you all more than you know....

- written jointly by matt and laura

Finally!

Dumelang borra le bomma. Le Tsogile Jang? Re tsogile sentle. (Hello Ladies and Gentlemen. How are you? We are fine.)

Yes, we are alive and well. First, I want to apologize to all of you that have been gracious in sharing about your lives while we have not given any visuals or information about our lives here in Botswana. Sorry. It is not as easy as heading to the coffee shop for a few hours and wirelessly sending you some information.

I do not want to elaborate and bore you too much with how training was but overall it went fairly well. 60 Peace Corps trainees, including Laura and myself, arrived in Botswana sometime in mid April, moved into a local families house, and went through Peace Corps training for two months. Our days consisted of language training in the mornings, followed by HIV/AIDS sessions and cultural adjustment so to speak. It was fairly taxing considering we sat through session after session from roughly 8:00 to 17:00. Overall, it was necessary and gave us valuable insight to the complexities, challenges, and way of life here in Botswana.

On the whole, the other volunteers are great. We have all made it through training and we have had no one drop out. This is quite a feat considering on average 10-15% leave during training worldwide. Reflecting on our two months together and now that we have our freedom back, I would have to say that we really like and admire most of the people that we are serving with and look forward to working together over the next two years. Now, we are placed all over the country.

I do want to talk about a few experiences during our home stay with Mma and Rra Poloko Mothlobogwa. They are awesome. He is around 82 and she is around 75 years of age. She does not look a day over 60 and still works like she is a 40 year old woman. I guess one might say that all those years of hard work have actually benefitted her.

They have 9 grown children, most working at professional jobs in various parts of the country. Rra knows NO English and Mma gets by due to the fact she had a Peace Corp volunteer in the past. We learned so much from them culturally as they are old fashioned. It was fascinating how traditional Mma and Rra are; while their children are much more modern. This one family was such a prime example of how this country is in transition from old world to the modern world.

The newborn in the house was a prime example of how the traditional life and modern wonders were constantly at odds. Their daughter, Dolly, had a newborn. The baby was 2 months old when we arrived. Dolly used nappies (diapers) and let anyone hold the baby and care for her. On the other hand, Mma would not let her burn the soiled nappies as she thought it would bring bad luck to the baby, and she did not let me handle the baby at first since there is the two month confinement tradition. Before the baby was allowed to be handled by me, according to Mma, the traditional healer had to come and give her traditional medicines to protect her from evil spirits. All the while, Dolly was handing the baby to me to help and secretly burning the nappies in the yard. Dolly, obviously was not present for the traditional healers ceremony. This was a great introduction to all the changes that are happening between generations in this small country of 1.8 million.

Laura was required to do the household work. Mma put her to work the minute we would walk in. And since there is not really a word in Setswana for please, getting used to the orders took some time. We cooked traditional foods, outside by the fire as well as in the kitchen. A great welcoming to Botswana and a family we will see often since we have been posted here in Moleps.

After all, she has given us our Setswana names and considers us her children. My name is Thusoetsile, meaning ‘help has arrived’ and Laura’s is Kelebogile meaning ‘gift from God’. The village knows me by Thuso.

The first weekend we arrived their last born had a wedding at the house. What an event. It is much different than our traditions back in the States. (Who knows what those are as we all know about Matt and I’s wedding tradition.) First of all, the groom is required to give the brides family her worth in cattle. Yes, Botswana is cow country. Sana, the last born, and most brides in Botswana, are worth 8 cows! What a cheap price since Joe and Kathy would have received at least 15 cows…..

Meanwhile, the wedding is open to really anyone that wants to come, it is a community affair and everyone chips in to do their part. The women are cooking endlessly in huge pots in the backyard while the men are in charge of the meat. Sounds similar huh? Not really, there is a striking difference.

The day before the wedding we arrived home from training a bit early and noticed a group of men, from both families, sitting next to the krall (a place to store cattle in the community). There were 5 cows or beasts, as they are called here, in the krall ready for slaughter. I rushed inside to get a sport coat on and to witness the action. When you are with elders at such an event a sport coat is a sign of respect and much needed. Anyways, a registered local man pulls a rifle from the box, and boom, the cows dies right through the eyes from about 25 feet. Yeah, it was crazy. Next, he gives the gun to one of the groom’s family members and boom, #2. It proceeds until all 5, with only a single shot each, fall to the ground. I really couldn’t believe it. As you might have assumed, the women are not allowed to witness this event. They only hear the shots and after each one, they make this crazy sound with their mouth. I can’t explain the sound on paper. The women are also sitting around, in traditional attire, telling the bride what is expected of her as a wife and what she can expect as a married woman.

Meanwhile in the men’s department, I was told you don’t enter the krall unless you have your own knife, so I rushed back inside, changed from my sport coat to a t-shirt and grabbed my blade. All the men in the community began skinning and butchering all 5 cows. I was so amazed as I had never seen this procedure. I started in with a group of 4 guys and one beast. I grabbed a camera but some of you all may not enjoy the photos. (Not sure I can find a computer that will upload photos on this blog but I will try soon.) By the end of the night the cows were butchered, not a single piece of the beasts were wasted, and I really mean not a single part. In Botswana their favorite part is the intestines and were cooked immediately because the men couldn’t wait to get their fair share. It was all brought to the storage house in back, ready for preparation the next day. (Not to mention that these same carcasses were laying around the house for weeks, could possibly even be random parts around the compound as we write this six weeks later.) What an event. The best part was that everyone that helped with butchering got a nice portion to take home for their families to enjoy. Even after the wedding we had beef around for a month and people would come over everyday with empty plates to get some dinner. What an event, we got to witness a traditional wedding right away.

Ke a leboga (thank you) to the entire Poloko family for all they did for us, you are a part of us forever……………….. (Hopefully some of the nine children are reading this.)

hey right now it is very hard to email and talk on the phone from our homestay. on june 21st life goes back to normal so expect to hear from us more often and know that you can call anytime you want as of june 21st. be patient. we are very excited for this freedom come june 21st....

if anyone has time to do some internet research for us and print out what you find that would be splendid. you can send it via air mail to the address listed in a previous post. and it goes without saying jolly ranchers are always needed!!!!!

Topics of Interest:

1. with all of the chickens running around we really want our own chickens. I try to get info but with limited language skills, i can only understand so much of what is said. so if anyone can research the following topic it would help greatly- how to raise and take care of chickens so that they produce eggs.

2. any info about the millennium development villages. i would love to visit one and hopefully get the funding to travel to one as part of training- so i need all the information you can get.

all is well. glad it is the weekend. getting my haircut from a fellow PCT ( peace corps trainee) tomorrow. we will see how short it is- i am giving him creative freedom....

have a good weekend.

laura

Hello Everyone. Just a short note to catch you up on our lives. We are starting to get the feel of how things are going to be in Botswana over the next two years. Slowly, slowly is what we have to come to realize. The projects are going to be exciting and the work is going to fulfilling. All of this will come at the cost of great patience and learning to following the protocol of this country, that is so different then ours.

This past weekend we got to go camping in the great Kalahari desert. It was great and truly in the middle of no where. We got to hang out with some friends, the incredible full moon, and or course a baby giraffe. Oh did i forget to mention all the impala and crazy wildlife that i do not even know the name of.....

The weather is absolutely amazing. The day is sunny and warm and the night cools down to about 60. The lack of humidity is so great. The sun is warm but not hot. If you ever feel to hot the comfort of the shade is amazing. We hear summer is terrible here (Jan) but it is hard for me to believe considering that they do not even have the least bit of water in the air. It definitely will not be the swamp like feel you get in Indiana or say NYC.

We have obviously made many cultural observations up until this point- yet we are going to wait to comment until we have more time to fully analyze what we think. The other Peace Corps volunteers are great. WE live near three people that bring laughter to our long training days. One of the volunteer is 72 years old and I absolutely adore her. I keep telling her I want to be her when I grow up. Every Sunday we meet at this lodge down the street to take back some beers and vent about the boring aspects of training. We also get to reflect together and talk about what we all think the inherent problems are associated with development. It always makes for a very passionate conversation, considering many of us have studied development theories in school. That is all for today. I am heading to the grocery store- this is always one of the big excitements here for the day. I hear they have feta in the store today. YEAH!!! Matt is off to play basketball with all the local Batswana ballers!!! Hope you are well and would love to hear what is going on in your lives. don't forget to update us on your lives. Hearing about you guys and your lives is truly the only reason to come to internet at this point- since are lives are not yet fascinating. If you email me , Laura, send to the hotmail account it has an easier time loading. Robert happy birthday! Bryn thank you for the pictures- it was so good to see nubs. jamie- thanks for the email. first one i have gotten from anyone in a while. It was magical being transported back to carlton ave and malik.

Can’t wait to get all the surprises everyone is talking about. I can’t wait to make everyone jealous on mail day. I love you all- my friends and family!!!! For all of you that have questions of what to send- wait until we move into our own house. It is not easy thinking about what we want, when we do not have any of our own stuff or freedom for that matter. Also, I have gotten reports of tons of people sending magazines. This is great, considering the only news we get here is WWF. I hope you keep sending them throughout the two years here. A Sunday edition of the NY Times would be a dream come true!!!! We love you and think of you often. Laura

Hello to all of you out there. This is going to be short due to time restrictions yet I finally have some information to share and something positive to say. Training is long and somewhat tedious. We are living in with this lovely family in Molepoloe. They are very old and it is refreshing to hear about their life and the changes that have taken place in their life time. I am still learning to deal with my role in the house as a women. But overall no complaints about them and our living situation.

We have met same great people and they have really been helpful with the processing and reflecting of our new life and surroundings. I am traveling with my friend, Jillian, this weekend to another volunteers site and home. It is really nice to see what our future home might be like and what a typical work day is like. As much we like our host mom and dad, it will be great to live and cook on our own.

There is so many stories and insights to share but all of this will have to wait- as the Internet time is running out. When we get our computer back from the PC headquarters- we will definitely be able to write things at home and them upload at the archaic Internet station in Molepoloe.

Miss you all and would love to hear from you. any news is welcome as there are days when the missing home is worse then others.

Matt's Number- 011.267.729.455.36

Lauras Number- 011.267.729.455.34

Our Address for the next six weeks- we sent our selves a packages and it only took two weeks. So the packages can start coming.

Matt Jefferson/Laura Caito

Peace Corps

Private Bag 00243

Gaborone

Botswana

* these phone numbers and address are not going to be posted for long. I need to maintain some privacy.

We will definlty send a more secific list of things we need sent when we get settled into our new home.

matt is at another site and we are hoping to meet up this weekend.

miss you all and kisses from bots

laura

As Matt and I were walking home from a wonderful spring day Mexican lunch at our local favorite, called Bonita, we passed the local South African restaurant,called Madiba. We decided to pop in and see if there were any people from Botswana there to talk to and get as much information as we could from them. The two bar keepers, who are Batswana, were not working, so we left a little discouraged that we would not meet any Batswana before arriving in Africa. Sitting outside the restaurant these to men were talking a funny language and sure enough, after interrupting their lunch, we realized they were from Botswana. They asked us to join them. We were happy to sit down with them and drill them with thousands of questions. They reassured us over and over again about how much we would love their country and the people. Of course, I repeatedly asked about bugs and snakes. They said the snakes are there but you will not see them and we should not worry. They suggested for us to live up north were it is more beautiful. They gave us a fantastic history lesson as to why they did not suffer the same fate as South Africa and Zimbabwe. They told us many hidden gems of the region and many tales of their life in Africa. All of this information and finally meeting a Batswana (a person from Botswana is called a Batswana) left Matt and I utterly giddy with excitement. All this on a simple walk home from a wonderful spring day lunch.

I love NY.

Leaving is a bit overwhelming. We will truly miss our friends, who have become our NY family. Who are we going to have 34 bottles of wine with at Thanksgiving? Who are we going to stay up with late into the night, when we all know we should be in bed? Who is going to accept our inappropriate jokes as well as we all can for each other. You will be greatly missed and thought of often. Have a great two years and we can not wait to hear about all your adventures over the next two years. Can't wait 'till we are all back in NYC together. We love you and NYC!

laura.