Just so people don't think I've fallen off the face of the planet... I'm going on annual leave this week and will be back in my office March 19 and will have limited internet and phone access until then.

I'll be renting a car and road tripping to Namibia. After studying abroad in Maastricht, next to the Belgian & German borders, and not spending any proper time in either country, I've learned my lesson. Before lock down (after March 12, where Peace Corps Volunteers are not allowed to leave the country, and thus must stay local to close down their projects), I'll be heading to Namibia, which is too close by to pass up.

The first night I drive to Windhoek to have some German Eisbein and good beer. The second day, I go to Sossusvlei to camp at Sesriem, where early the next morning, I'll go hiking along the sand dunes, one of the most remote places on earth. The third day, I'll head to Swakopmund, the town along the west coast of Namibia, where to the north is the skeleton coast, and the south, the national park. There, I'll be enjoying Swakopmund's cold beaches, cold beers, and cold sushi.

After heading back to Maun, I'll be going down to Johannesburg, to fly out to Kilimanjaro International Airport. We spend 1 day/night on the ground to finish up payment and try on hiking gear. The 2nd day, we start the ascent up to Uhuru Peak. After 6 days of hiking and staying in huts, we'll come back to Moshi to spend a night relaxing our sore muscles and sleeping in beds.

After Tanzania, I return to Gaborone, Botswana, where we will have out Close of Service Conference for Peace Corps. Here, we prepare our selves for the last 3 months of service, have a ceremonial lunch with the ambassador celebrating our 2 years of service, spend time with our friends, and take extra time to complete medical exams and produce 3 consecutive stool samples to ensure I am worm and parasite free. If all goes well, I'll be back in Maun March 16. Almost a solid month from now.

Ta ta for now.

Planning ahead in Africa works like this: Even when you make Plan B and Plan C, you will find out that you will need to resort to Plan D. Even when you make Plans B, C, and D, you will end up with Plan F, because something out of left field was lobbed into the game play.

Of course, last minute planning is not advisable, but with all development work, plans need to have a level of flexibility. With Child Welfare Day tomorrow, I went to Dorcas's office to print the Child Welfare Day Agenda and the Children's Right's Flyer. From past experience of making Plans B, C, D... I decided not to do any of those, just knowing that I'll tackle whatever comes up - I had devoted my whole day to just these 2 tasks.

This morning, I called up Dorcas to see when I could come to her office, knowing we're all busy and I was subject to her schedule. She said come by as soon as possible. However, I was waiting for editing from one last committee member to the agenda.

An hour later, of not going to Dorcas's office, she asks when I'm coming. And that there's a problem with the toner. (Usually Plan B planning would begin here in the U.S.) In Africa, it's more like, "come here now so we can trouble shoot this now."

Dorcas runs across town to get another toner cartridge.

I finally get to her office and start printing.

The hugest lightning storm starts after printing page 132. Power goes out.

Luckily, today was not like yesterday when the power went out the whole day (of course, also a cause of last minute things).

Of course, it's advised that printing should not be left to last minute. But, when working with many many people and stakeholders and having to get more than 5 OKs on 1 document... with intermittent power outages... it's a necessary evil.

There was a hilarious article up on Peace Corps.

http://www.peacecorpsconnect.org/2012/02/12-reasons-to-date-a-returned-peace-corps-volunteer/

12 Reasons to Date a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer By Erica Burman on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 (credit: http://laurapruittdesign.blogspot.com) It’s Valentine’s Day! A day when we celebrate friendship, love, and romance. Through the years here at the National Peace Corps Association, we’ve heard countless stories of Peace Corps romance. The couples that met at the airport on the way to training. The couples that met while serving. The Peace Corps Volunteers that fell in love with a host country national. And the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers that connected back here in the States, discovering that the shared bond of Peace Corps service was the spark that led to a relationship. Peace Corps is a life-changing experience that develops a unique set of skills and attributes. So it goes without saying: Returned Peace Corps Volunteers make GREAT dates. And just to prove it, we’ve started a list. 12 reasons to date a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer: We can woo you in multiple languages. Who else is going to whisper sweet nothings to you in everything from Albanian to Hausa to Quechua to Xhosa? That’s right. Only a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer.We’re pretty good dancers. Yeah, we don’t like to brag, but after 27 months in Latin America or Africa we know how to move it.We’ll eat anything. Seriously. No matter how bad your cooking, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers have had worse and will eat it with nary a blink. Sheep’s eyeball? Water buffalo gall bladder? Grasshoppers? Bush rat? Bring it.We know all about safe sex, thanks to our very thorough Peace Corps health training. In fact, there’s a chance that we’ve stood unblushingly in front of hundreds of villagers and demonstrated good condom technique with a large wooden phallus.We’ll kill spiders for you. Well, actually, we’ll nonchalantly scoop them up and put them out of sight. Same goes for mice, geckos, frogs, snakes. Critters don’t faze Returned Volunteers.We have great date ideas: wandering a street market, checking out a foreign film, taking in a world music concert, volunteering…. Romantic getaway? Our passport is updated and our suitcase is packed. With us, life is always an adventure.We like you for “you”… not your paycheck. Especially if we are freshly back from service, a local joint with “character” will win out over a pretentious eatery. Living in a group house? No problem. Does it have running hot water? What luxury!You won’t get lost when you’re with a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. Navigating local markets on four continents, we’ve honed an uncanny sense of direction. Or else we’ll ask for directions. We’re not afraid to talk to “strangers.”Waiting for a late train or bus? Don’t worry, we’ve been there, done that. We can share lots of funny stories about “the bus ride from hell” that will make the time go quickly and put it all into perspective.Our low-maintenance fashion style. Returned Peace Corps Volunteer guys are secure in their manhood and don’t mind rocking a sarong. Women often prefer flip flops to high heels. We don’t spend hours in front of a mirror getting ready to go out.Marry us, and you won’t just get one family — you’ll get two! When we refer to our “brother” or “mom,” you’ll want to be certain we’re talking about our American one or our Peace Corps one. You might even get two wedding ceremonies, one in the U.S. and one back in our Peace Corps country.And last but not least, we aren’t afraid to get dirty.

20 Days left til Kilimanjaro and counting.

For the last 4 weeks, I've been working out at least 4 days a week with a mix of running, P90X, Insanity, Jillian Michaels, parkour and yoga. The last 4 Saturdays, I've gone to the stadium in the morning to climb stairs for a solid 60 minutes. The stairs and yoga mix have been important since I'm still recovering from a knee injury in October which I'm currently taking anti-inflammatory meds for and to prep my calves in preparation for the 5 day ascent. My hope is that I acclimatise well since altitude sickness is the main reason that cause people not to reach Uhuru Peak. It's estimated that only 30% of trekkers make it to Uhuru Peak.

I've started packing for Kilimanjaro, digging all my cold weather clothes back out. The hike up Kilimanjaro is best described as a hike from the Equator to Antarctica in a matter of days. When we start the hike at the bottom, it will be hot and damp with rainforest, but when we get to the top of the peak, Kili is covered in glacier.

I'll be packing layers to put on and peel off, lots and lots of socks and lots of cotton underwear. We won't have access to showers until the end of day 6, so good deodorant. I'll be going directly to Close of Service in Gaborone where we'll have dinner with the U.S. Ambassador, so a dress for that.

Imagine pulling up to your local grocery store, Vons, Safeway, Trader Joes, whatever. And as soon as you get out of your car and head into the store, you see 10-15 people in bright yellow shirts and a guy announces in a large booming voice on loud speaker “Get Circumcised!” That was my day yesterday. As I was walking home from work, I did my usual walk to new mall and peered around the corner to Choppies (grocery store) and a bright yellow tent with an accompanying street team of 15 people in bright yellow shirts, were all donned with “Get Circumcized!” Behind them is a truck with loud speakers and a guy on stage with the same yellow shirt barking hurried Setswana. These types of events are everyday occurrences in and HIV/AIDS ravaged country. In Botswana, 17.9% have HIV and in Maun, women my age (25-30) have a 40% likelihood of having HIV. Getting circumcised is one way to curtail a man’s chance of contracting HIV, but in no way (or remotely close), completely protects a person from contracting it. One would think that a campaign like “Get Circumcized” blaring in a bustling high traffic town centre would gain a lot of attention. However, I did not see many bystanders showing interest. I recall a friend in LA whose job was to call men who had opted to be contacted to hear about hair replacements. These calls were designed to be stealthy, because men are often too shy to talk about their hair (lack thereof) even to their wives. This sometimes resulted in their wives thinking that their husbands were sneaking around behind their backs – why would a young girl be calling you about an inquiry of a matter that she won’t state? Anyway. If men are too shy to talk about their shiny balding heads to their wives, then why would any men want to talk about the head in their pants publically in the Vons parking lot and that they would like to get it trimmed?

There was one other time I've seen the SuperBowl in another country - when I was studying in the Netherlands. We watched the Superbowl at 4 AM, at a bar I think was called The Highlander. They blacked out the front window b/c it wasn't allowed to be open that late. There were a bunch of us American study Abroad students who went to watch the game.

This year, I traded for some Satellite TV airtime for Mexican food to watch the kick off at 1:30AM this Monday morning at my friend Gary's House. Gary is a pastor and Coordinator for Love Botswana Outreach Mission, started by a couple from Texas more than 20 years ago. He's also the only other person in Maun that I know who is a Lakers Fan.

For the first time, Botswana has a flyer to distribute to the public to inform them of Children's Rights.

Botswana adopted the UN Convention on a Rights of Children and then passed its own legislation called the Child Act in 2009. Imagine, Children have "modern" rights legally since 2009 in Botswana. Most citizens of Botswana still don't know what's in the Child Act, hence, the District Child Welfare Committee, of which I'm the Vice-Chair of, will be holding Child Welfare Day on February 16.

As part of the Committee, I've created a flyer, drafted directly from the Child's Act that can be distributed to the public. With globalization, and Botswana trying to be a forward thinking country, the Child Act was written in English. Also keep in mind, that the Act was passed in 2009, yet copies of it didn't start circulating until late last year, 2011 to Police, Social Welfare Officers etc. The flyer is meant to be easy to understand, hence, while working with various people in my office and the Social and Community Development Office with Local Government here, we were able to translate the flyer into Setswana.

We will be distributing the flyer to the public at Child Welfare Day.

Of course, this does not go without challenges. Literacy Rates in Maun are about 85%, further up in the delta, only 60%. However, hopefully this will be a breakthrough, that can be replicated across the Nation and form a benchmark for other districts.

Last night I was woken up by unusual sounds, which I was pretty sure were baboons. Not as if they were outside my window, but out in the distance. Normal sounds of my every day life in Maun typically consists of cows moo-ing, dogs barking, roosters calling (well before dawn), donkeys (hee-haw-ing quite often as if coughing up a hair ball) and sometimes a gobble from the turkey and quacks from the ducks next door. So the sound of baboons caught my attention.

My flat is across the river from the Maun Educational Park, home of lots of plant eating animals, no elephants of course. Occasionally, I'll take a walk around the block by the river and see a giraffe eating the acacia along the opposite bank. When the floods were high, the baboons would escape the park (though i'm surprised most animals stay within it and it's not so high fence), and run around by the road and bridge just outside of the park. I would never see them in the centre of town - I think they know it's not safe for them there.

But having been to the educational park, and seeing the dozens and dozens of baboons, it's a surprise that I didn't hear them calling earlier. Until, just last night, I heard a chorus of baboons calling to each other.

The Mopane worms are back! And in full force.

My office was full of them when we came in on Monday. Tiny little worms, inching around the floor of the entire office, hundreds of them. The just crawled under the crack in the door, with thousands more outside on the sidewalk inching around.

The mopane worms come with the rainy season. And this year, there were so many, that as I walked with my umbrella, I could hear them falling from the trees onto my umbrella. What's amazing are the worms look like any other meal worms, 1 inch long, brown, inching around - then they grow into beautiful 4 inch long caterpillars, black body with blue, green, white, spots.

I've just started seeing full grown caterpillars scurrying around on my way to work today. They blend right into the asphalt until you walk up and notice a 4 inch long green thing scurrying by. They can be picked up just as they are and boiled into a stew. They're high in protein and are free!

Most mopane worms end up dried with their innards squeezed out. Then they're rehydrated and cooked in a stew/sauce of tomato, onion, and green peppers. I haven't tried it myself, but may be I will soon. A small handful of dried Mopane worms costs 5P at the store. I'm thinking of sending some home to people.... :)

The flights are booked and the guides are hired. I'm counting down the days to my trip to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. The hike will be 6 days up the Marangu Route to Uhuru Peak at the top of Kilimanjaro. The Marangu Route, smartly and aptly named the "Coca Cola Route" is the "easiest" route to the top of Kilimanjaro.

The itinerary goes:

DAY 1 - To Mandara Hut

5500ft to 9000ft, 7 km, 4-5 hours, Montane Forest Walk through the rainforest to the Mandara encampment located at 9000 ft

DAY 2 - To Horombo Camp

9000ft to 12,100ft, 11 km, 6-8 hours, Heathland After about 1 hour, you will leave the glades of the rainforest and follow an ascending path on the open moorlands to the Horombo encampment. DAY 3 - Horombo Camp

9000ft to 12,100ft, Extra day resting at Horombo and climbing the small peak of Mawenzi. DAY 4 - To Kibo Camp

12,100ft to 15,400ft, 10 km, 6-8 hours, Alpine Desert Ascending, we now pass the last watering point, walking onto the saddle of Kilimanjaro between the peaks of Kibo and Mawenzi. Vegetation begins with upper heathland but then disappears into "moonscape". Dinner, rest, and prepare for summit climb. DAY 5 - To Summit and Horombo

15,400ft to 19,300ft, (and down to 12,100ft), 4 km up / 14 km down

10-15 hours, Alpine Desert Very early in the morning (midnight to 2am), commence the climb to the summit on steep and heavy scree or snow up to Gilman's point located on the crater rim at 18640 ft (4-7 hours). Continuing, we now ascend to Uhuru Peak, which is the highest point in Africa: 19340 ft (1-2 hours). From here, we now descend, stopping for lunch and a rest at Kibo before continuing on to the Horombo encampment for dinner and a tired but happy overnight (1-2 hours).

DAY 6 - To Moshi

12,100ft to 5500ft, 18km, 5-7 hours After breakfast, A steady descent takes us down through moorland to Mandara Hut (8858 ft), the first stopping place at the Marangu route. Continue descending through lovely lush forest on a good path to the National Park gate at Marangu (6004 ft).

So far, I've been doing some cardio vascular training and lots of stairs to get ready for the hike.

And counting down the days.

Since I was away from my family this Chinese New Year, I had to look up some Chinese Traditions for Chinese New Year online. In my family, we don't observe the 15+ days of new year traditions and rarely do we find fireworks in LA. So from the info I gathered with the help of wikipedia, I decided to do Chinese New Year with my one Chinese friend in Botswana, Sunny.

I had not made any of these things before in the past so we had a crash course. We made Chinese BBQ Pork Dumplings, Noodles Filipino Chicken Adobo style, Spicy Szechuan Eggplant w/ zuchinni, and rice cakes which I happened to find in Gaborone over New Years. Rice Cakes, also called Nian Gao, I didn't know signified starting New Year on a high note. Since Chinese depends on tones, which cannot be spelled out in English, I thought the Gao was for "Cake" and not for "High". Thanks again wikipedia....

Nian Gao - Chinese Rice Cakes with Black Bean Sauce

Staying in Botswana for the holidays can be pretty chill. During the day, most of the country is quiet. People spend the holidays relaxing and hanging out, taking time off work and destressing. At night, alot of people like to party - a scene I distance myself from for safety purposes.

For the New Year, I went to the city to try out a new restaurant I heard was in town - a sushi restaurant. Sushi in Botswana, the land locked country, covered in 85% kalahari desert. The restaurant is adorable and looks much like a sushi restaurant you'd get in the states.

On the road, it was interesting to see how much the landscape in Botswana has changed due to the rain. The Kalahari desert has completely transformed from its white sands to green grassy fields. One would have never knew that they were the same place, desolate expanses of sand turned into lush grassy fields with happy cows that look like they're in California.

Of course reminding me of the work I do and the place I'm in, I encountered a sign; one I'm glad that

somebody put up for the tourists to see.

On the way back, I stopped in the Khama Rhino Sanctuary since I hadn't been there yet, nor seen any rhinos on safari. The park has more than 30 rhinos, mostly black rhinos and a few white ones (though I have no idea what the difference is, they must all be some shade of grey). On the first drive around the park, we only saw a couple lounging in the mud since it was really hot. But since we were pressed for time to get back to Maun, I petitioned my friend to make one last loop around the park. The second go around, we saw them out of the mud and walking around, grazing.The rhinos were really magnificent to see. They're very lean and huge and have a square jaw. They were fairly docile though when they started getting close to the car, I wanted to move back since all wild animals can be unpredictable.

Back in Maun, we made it just at sundown over the Thamalakane river at Boseja bridge. A nice welcome home to the delta.

After a nice short trip to the states, I came back to sweltering hot Botswana and the Kalahari Desert. People had been telling me that average temperatures in Maun were 46 Celsius, about 115 degrees Farenheit. There had been no rain in Maun, which in the summertime is necessary for relief from the blistering heat.

Back in October, also known as suicide month, I had heard, that there in fact had been several suicides. May be a coincidence. But the heat manages to intensify everything, the facts of life, emotions, etc. When it is 115F at night, the town of Maun doesn't sleep for days and everyone sighs at the relief of cold showers.

By the time I came back from LA, there still had been no rain. Then it came. Like true locals, we all came out of our flats and rejoiced as the sky poured on top of us. Miraculously, the rain was cooler than the cold water coming out of our taps.

Since I live with 2 other Peace Corps Volunteers in the same building complex, we contemplated doing Thanksgiving together. 3 kitchens, we'd be able to divide and conquer. For a couple months now, we had been eyeing a very pretty turkey next door which wanders around a chicken coup and gobbles on cue at 7AM each morning. Who would have thought I'd move to Botswana and hear a turkey gobble everyday or roosters crow every morning. I had never heard a live turkey before in my life, because there are so many wandering around the beaches of LA. Since I had been gone for awhile, we couldn't get our party plans together, (we weren't even sure if the turkey, after slaughtering and de-feathering etc. would even fit in one of our ovens); we decided to forgo the turkey.

I'm sure the first Thanksgiving didn't even have turkey. Since it's so deathly hot this time of year, some South Africans prefer to celebrate with meals of cold cuts and cheeses and salad instead of heavy heavy turkey and starches. We threw together a dinner with some friends, complete with mashed potatoes and canned cranberry, (along with some bacon cucumber pitas and pasta salad), and our very own Turkey Jerky to appease our American heritage.

Probably similar to how the first Thanksgiving was done, we sat outside and ate by candlelight with glasses of wine.

When I was living in LA, I'd go and watch sports fairly often. Nithya and I would watch Lakers games at Busby's, we'd go to occasional Clippers, Kings, and Dodgers games.

In Botswana, instead of basketball, baseball, and hockey, we have football (American soccer), cricket, and rugby.

Today we went to watch the Semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup, Australia vs. New Zealand at Barcelos, a casual dining chicken place.

I think rugby is much more dynamic than American Football. Lots of action, running the ball, serious tackles. The ball just constantly keeps moving. The men are also built like rocks, huge, all muscle.

What was cool to see was the New Zealand Haka. After the Australian and New Zealand National Anthems, the teams separate on their sides and the All Blacks (New Zealand team) performs the Haka, a traditional dance from the Maori people that they do to intimidate the other team. Imagine a bunch of guys in all black, 200+ pounds each, pounding their chests like they are going to grind your bones. The end move of the haka is when they all poise and use their thumbs in a sweeping motion across their necks like you're going to get your head chopped off.

Awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g3QbH_i2VU&feature=related

September 30 is the day that Botswana gained its Independence in 1966.

Last year at this time, I went to Kasane where I saw amazing herds of elephant migrating to the water. This year, i decided to stay local to see what it was like in the village and what kind of festivities took place.

This year, I ended up judging the Miss Independence Beauty Pageant. The winner of the Pageant was to become an advocate for socio-economic issues in the community. All the pageant contestants were paired with local NGOs to learn more about the socio-economic issues in the community and how they could be spokespeople for their specific causes.

I had never been to a beauty pageant before, let alone in Botswana. Beauty Pageants are a prolific event, happening all the time in the community. There are beauty pageants for absolutely everything and every occasion here...pageants for preschool kids, for Miss HIV Positive, for women over 40 yrs old, the possibilities are endless.

I had no idea what to expect when I got roped in to be a judge for the Pageant. My urge was to have a scoring sheet, that way the winner would be based on points.

The girls were judged in 3 different areas: personal presentation (poise, confidence, composure), personality (creativity, individuality), and presentation (grooming, clothing and makeup). There were 11 contestants between the ages of 16-26. There were 5 rounds:

Round 1: Casual Wear

Round 2: Sporty Attire

Round 3: Formal or Business wear

Intermission: Dance Routine

Round 4: Traditional Clothing

Round 5: African Traditional

The Casual wear round was very cute because the girls showed alot of creativity and highlighted some really cool clothes - purple and green high tops, different fro's and weaves, the feminine version of MC Hammer Pants.

Round 2 Sporty, was the coolest round since I had never seen it before. A bunch of girls dressed in jerseys, but was an interesting twist on the idea that these girls are not just models or beauty queens, but are active as well.

Round 3 of "formal wear" was more like business casual wear. Some girls we could tell were much more comfortable in these outfits and showed some spirit of empowerment. While some tottered in high heels, this was the best round in my opinion where the girls really shined.

For the traditional Clothing round, the girls donned modern day versions of traditional skins - a much cooler take on the "bikini" round. The girls still had only top and bottom covered with a bare midsection with traditional beads and or hair. Each girl demonstrated a traditional skill: sewing, sweeping, making traditional beer, pounding maize.

The African Traditional round I thought would have been switched with the "Traditional Clothing" round. But this "African" traditional was in fact Botswana Traditional dress with German Print - long flowing gowns specially made for the girl.

Judging was difficult since all the girls were pretty, talented, and showed different personalities. Some were more outgoing and charismatic than others, but some were also more consistent, natural, and humble. I was actually amazed at how much I could read from how the girls presented themselves on the catwalk. Though, some of the reads may have been more judgmental than we'd want (I was actually more interested in hearing presentations and short speeches from the girls on their experiences and beliefs in socio economic issues), their composure on stage in different rounds was actually interesting to see. All the girls showed alot of courage in participating in the event and I hope they learned alot from their NGO experiences.

Congrats to Mpho who was awarded Miss Independence 2011.

In the States, classified ads can be a hoot to go through.

When you're looking for a house, "charming" signals that it's small or cars with no air conditioning being sold in Palm Springs.

Then you have personal ads.

Nice caring middle age man who likes dogs looking for woman who can cook Indian food.

Lesbians looking for sperm donor, 1600 SAT score and blue eyes

In Botswana, the classified ads are all from traditional healers. Not the normal stuff we'd see in the states.

My favorite are: tightened womanhood, locking your partner, bring back lost lover, and pass exams.

In a recent local workshop that I attended, some of the information disseminated was of the kind that is hard to come by, especially the statistical kind and especially on an everyday basis. I'd like to share some of that:

According to UNICEF, in Botswana, 44% of the population are children under the age of 18. More than 100,000 children were orphaned in 2008.

In the Ngamiland District, where I reside, we have 2457 registered orphans.

Children's rights is still a rising issue waiting to be address. While the Child Act and several other laws were passed in 2008, many people, law enforcers, social workers, teachers, school administrators, often do not know the laws that were recently passed. Child abuse and defilement cases (known as statutory rape in the US) is rarely reported to the police.

Defilement is an issue in the Ngamiland District. Thinking back, this practice was very common, even in the western world. It was common for young girls to be married off to older men and for women to give birth during their teens. However, in today's times, the girls are not being married off as they used to; instead people are delaying the marrying age but not the conception age. Most girls in their teens who are pregnant, were impregnated by much older men, rape or sometimes as the inadvertent result of some sort of economic transaction either between the girl and the man, or the girl's family and the man (It is also not uncommon for this man to be a family member).

At the Letsholathebe Hospital in Maun, the Superintendent reported the number of teenage deliveries.

Last year, in 2010, of 2672 deliveries, 286 were from teens (about 14.4%). Of those teens, the breakdown of deliveries followed:

1 from an 11 year old

1 from a 12 year old

1 from a 13 year old

5 from 14 year olds

31 from 15 year olds

It's important to note, that not everyone goes to the hospital to have their baby delivered.

When these statistics were disclosed, the representative of the police said he had no idea, these rapes were not reported to the police.

Mid September brings quite literally, a change in the wind.

Suddenly the heat increased this week, getting up to 90 something degrees during the day. The wind has picked up, blowing most of the day, and kicking up dust storms. This is about as much of "spring" as we see until we hit October, suicide month, where it can get up to 115 degrees everyday.

This week, half of Maun has been sick. The wind kicks up all the dust and pollen floating around Maun, causing everyone's allergies to go crazy. Literally everyone ran to the doctors complaining of watery eyes, incessant sneezing, runny noses etc. The allergies aren't just a nuisance, they're actually rather debilitating. My friend Sharon's eyes were swollen shut. My eyes have been red all week with drippy stuff out of my eyes and nose. Pounding headaches caused by inflamed sinuses etc. Stomach aches and pains... it goes on. Suddenly a whole town is miserable.

Making people miserable, of course makes for a hellish work week. Allergies aren't like being "sick" because you can go to work without "spreading" it to your coworkers. However, working with a bunch of other people who are not feeling well, and feeling on edge, with snappy tempers, makes work and conducting any business very difficult. A lot of people this week told me they had an awful week. I was included.

After everyone in Maun has been prescribed with Loratadine for allergies, next week should be more or less back to normal.

Imagine a day where you get up, eat breakfast, go to work, walk in the door at 8 AM, sit down and set up your lap top to get ready to work.

8:15 the power goes out.

This was yesterday.

This is a common occurrence in Maun. Usually, I wait an hour to see if the power will come back on and catch up on reading studies or cleaning the office. If it doesn't come back, change of game plan.

Very little can be done without electricity. I can't turn on a computer, a printer, the internet, the network server, the fax machine, or even a light. Luckily, my lap top holds a few hours charge, but other then that, no access to work.

What's worse, is when the electricity goes out village wide, the water pumps stop working and the village then goes on a water shortage. No running water absolutely everywhere, no flushing toilets, no washing hands, no boiling water to make pasta.

Anyways. Like I said, this is a fairly common occurrence in Maun. Power outtages happen a least once a month.

What was funny is within a half an hour, I heard that it had been confirmed, power would not be back until 4PM. Some how, every one in town knew this. Power was out from 8-4. Done. Everyone at work calls it a day, nothing can be done. On days like this, I usually go home by 12, to read studies on orphans by sunlight through the window or practice some guitar.

Last month, power went out for 4 days. The first day, no one knew when it would come back. The second day, rumors floated around that a transformer had blew somewhere between Dukwe and Francistown and that power could be out for up to 5 days. It was a district wide blackout. They had to fly technicians in from Joburg to fix the thing. That's when we found out who were the workaholics. The only lodge that had a strong enough generator to power internet was Maun Lodge. As the first person there on Thursday morning, I watched people trickle in with their laptops, finishing presentations and studies and etc. Hilarious.

The third day power was out, not as hilarious. It was time to make sure we could eat the perishable food in the fridge. I was waiting to see if the power would run out at ATMs. If people could not take money out of the bank on a Friday, I thought there were going to be riots. Luckily this didn't happen. And luckily, I found out I could get cash back when I bought more candles at Spar, so I could go to the shops without backup generators to power their credit card machines. I wandered around town and stopped to say hi to my friend Wame who works at the Orange store. I thought the store would be really slow, but instead, people kept coming in. It turned out they were all buying Orange SIM cards for their phones, because Mascom cell network had been out for days because the cell towers had no power. People started topping up the petrol in their cars, afraid that generators at the fuel stations would run out so they wouldn't be able to pump any petrol.

Day four, the power came back.

Yay for being able to have the finer things in life: an ice cold beer.

In Botswana, queues (or lines in American English), are a fact of life; especially at the bank and the post office. Actually, the fact is not so dissimilar in the states, banks, post office, DMVs.... it's just that queues in Botswana are to the extreme. Going to the post office at Christmas time is the same as going to the bank at the end of the month.

Anyways. I was in line at the Post Office. A common cultural practice is to not actually stand in line, but to tell the person in front of you, "hey, I'm in line behind you." In the states, we'd normally tell the person behind us to save us a spot, because the person behind is the one who loses out on the deal when someone comes into the line ahead of them.

So a lady parks behind me, lets me know that she is in line behind me, then sits on a bench to rest. A young man then came up behind me in line. To tell him that someone was behind me, I said "Mosadi ko morogo," which, I actually meant to say was, "mosadi ko morago" but "morogo" instead of "morago" came out. I must have been hungry.

What I meant to say, "mosadi ko morago" meaning "a woman is behind me."

Instead I said, "mosadi ko morogo" meaning "a woman is in the vegetables."

The young boy just laughed as I corrected myself. It was pretty funny.

Antagonistic Diarrhea Disease.

That's what the doctor said. Apparently it's seasonal and common in Maun. It's just part of the change in the weather.

Cure:

4 sets of pills and 1 bottle of banana flavored syrup and 1 full week of rest and not going to work

After vomiting my guts out and days and days of runs, I'm finally back on my feet and functional. I haven't decided whether it's better or worse than having Giardia (which was my suspicion but apparently not) or the 3 week E.coli stint. But I'm finally better now. Happy to go back to work tomorrow.

I just completed the Peace Corps Annual Volunteer Survey.

Highlights:

I estimated that I get sexually harassed 21-60 times a month.

I have lived about 11 months with a Batswana family.

I am considerably satisfied with my experience and would adequately recommend to others.

It's been difficult working with Microsoft Word while working in Botswana.

I try to set the spell check to British English because I am constantly typing in American English using words like:

organization instead of organisation

program instead of programme

honorable instead of honourable

Even if I put British English in default, once I start typing in American English, the setting will switch back and ignore the spelling errors.

But, imagine if you could switch Microsoft Word to Setswana? Setswana is spoken by approximately 4.5 million people. (For reference, the population of Los Angeles is about 3.7 million people). Not a chance there would be a spell check for Setswana (especially with the high Setswana illiteracy rate).

This is what happens when Word gets wind of Setswana:

Basically, Word is saying, "You are incompetent and cannot handle any additional errors therefore, we will just sweep all of the errors under the rug because it is tired of logging them." Once you hit ok, all the red squiggly lines disappear, and you have successfully fatigued Word's spell check system.

Tada.

Fridays my office closes at 1:30. Once in a while, I try to take the opportunity to spend the afternoon running errands and shopping around Old Mall. Woolworth’s gets their food shipments in on Fridays so going there is like going to expat social/networking hour. Shopping around Old Mall is also a good opportunity to check people that I know at various shops and say hi. When I was still living in Sehithwa, a lot of the shop owners around town knew me because I made a point to introduce myself when I first arrived to differentiate myself as a local and not a tourist. The ladies at PEP used to help me when I came in to buy lunch bags, socks, and clothes for the kids at the preschool. The ladies at Shoprite always chat me up and ask me about Sehithwa. Most people around town get used to seeing me (it’s a small town) and whenever they run into any of my other friends, they always ask where each other are and to relay messages. “Tell Gofiwa to come visit us. We have her favorite beer that she has been looking for! She has been coming every time looking for it, and now we have it. So tell her to come.” It’s nice to see familiar faces at everyday places and get to spend time to say hi and see how people are doing. I’ll run in to see my friend Wame at the Orange store, say hi to the vegetable boy at Shoprite, chat with Oleo and the ladies at Liquorama who always show me the cheapest imported wine and what’s on sale, the bag check lady Lydia at Spar, the guys at Shell gas station that used to work at Woolworths, a Chinese lady named Li Li who’s hilarious and always nice to me when she sees me, my Indian friend Dunsun at Taurus Pharmacy. Just a nice thing about living in a small town.

Yesterday I got interviewed as part of the national Census.

The interview was short, took 20 minutes. I have never been interviewed by the census bureau in the states, but I'm pretty sure, they don't ask the questions that I was asked yesterday. My interviewer was a very kind polite guy named John.

He started off with basic questions:

Who is the person residing here? What is their full name? Age? Gender? Place of Birth? Country of current residence (clearly Botswana)? Marital Status? Religion? What language is primarily spoken at home?

We continued on. Some of the questions, I'm sure, make me sound retarded, especially according to this country's standards. While he was sitting in my living room asking the questions, he kept asking them in third person.

Q: Does this Kelly have a paid job?

A: No

Q: If Kelly does not have a paying job, what does Kelly do during the day?

A: Work as a volunteer. Yes I work all day, but don't get paid. Does that make any sense?

Q.Did Kelly receive any income or money from any other piece jobs in the last 7 days?

A. No

Then John prefaced that we will be moving on to much more personal questions that may be of sensitive matter.

Q. How many children does Kelly have, alive or deceased, from any spouse etc...

A. 0

Q. Really?

A. Yep.

My answer eliminated a whole slew of questions following.

More interesting questions. As he was sitting across from me in my sitting room. (Just a selection)

Q. What type of house does Kelly reside in?

A. I don’t know, a flat? We’re sitting in it right now. What would you consider this?

….John takes some time to search on his checklist for the appropriate option….

Q. What are Kelly’s hallways made of?

A. I have no clue. It must be concrete because it is so cold.

Q. What are Kelly’s floors made of?

A. Plastic Tiles?

….John takes some time to search on his checklist for the appropriate option….

Q. What is Kelly’s roof made of?

A. Since I live on the first floor, as you see, I don’t have one.

….John takes some time to search on his checklist for the appropriate option….

(no roof eh? I seem to be in a worse position than someone with a thatched hut)

Q. Does Kelly own any of the following?

A cow? – No

Goat? – No

Sheep? – No

Pig? – No

Horse? – No

Donkey? – No

Chicken? – No

Turkey? – No

Ostrich? – No

Q. Does Kelly plant any of the following? Maize, sorghum, wheat, pumpkins, squash etc…

A. No…No…No…

Q. Do you have any land or access to a plot where Kelly can plant?

A. No.

Q. Does Kelly own any of the following? A car, truck?

A. No.

Q. …A tractor? Donkey cart?...

A. I’m really tempted to say donkey cart, but I don’t own any donkeys. So No.

Ok that’s all. That concludes our survey. Thank you for participating!

It was a fun experience. John was very nice, and of course, wants to come and visit the States sometime. According to this country, I am of the lowest social class, poor, single, with no kids. I don’t own any land, vehicle, livestock, or even have a roof over my head or even a donkey cart, and absolutely no income.

I've looked at over a 100 CV's so far. It's absolutely clear that application submission and resume practices are different than they are in the states. In the states, we urge people to keep it to one page and to use action verbs that show leadership or management ability. It's not like this in Botswana.

We asked people to submit their CV's and references. Instead, commonly, people attach addendums to their CV's - pages and copies upon copies of transcripts, certificates, drivers licenses, etc....which make applications more than 10-15 pages.

Here are some other differences I've noted:

Coverletters often start with: "I hereby declare my candidacy for the above post...." or "I do hereby apply for the aforementioned post...."Attaching school transcripts even though the grades were not good and even mostly failsUsing more than 5 font styles

Including as hobbies: watching TV, registered blood donor, listening to gospel musicListing and describing every class taken at school

Highlighting text to accent the informationAttaching 20+ files to an e-mail. The winner, so far, attached 27 documentsUse of the term "referees" to refer to someone you are using as a referenceFriending me on Linked InIncluding your age, gender, religion, and # children on the front page of your application

Sending me a computer virusThe search goes on, though the closing date is tomorrow.

At home, it's been a worry that the US may default on debt.

What the US Debt Deal Means for the Global Economyhttp://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2011/08/01/what-the-u-s-debt-deal-means-for-the-global-economy/?hpt=hp_t1

Abroad:The US Embassy has released P31.6 million for Tebelopele Voluntary Testing and Counselling Services to continue providing the service.http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=629&dir=2011/July/Friday29

I had people rushing to my office asking, "we want the US to bail us out too, we need money." Looks like news of the U.S.'s debt hasn't reached Botswana yet.

Botswana has a very rich oral tradition, which unfortunately can sometimes end in verbosity and never ending meetings, but lend people latitude for colorful interpretations and descriptions.

We have a cool organization in Maun called Poetavango.

Get it? Poets + Okavango.

Every once in awhile, they'll do a Poetry Slam and have poets in from all over Botswana and all over the world.

Slam poetry gives people an outlet in a society lacking resources for a large variety of recreational activities. It's a great source of encouragement and innovation since the culture is sometimes deeply rooted in the stringent functions of the bureaucratic machine.

Saturday nite I went to Poetavango Spoken Word Poetry and it's cool to see friends and other people I know and work with perform. People cover all sorts of topics and one person performed a powerful poem about his daughter and how her mother had died, and how HIV/AIDS had ravaged the world around them.

Just an example from DreddX, the chair of Poetavango.http://www.youtube.com/user/Motivationalcoach?blend=2&ob=5#p/u/4/ALDrfFfYSIo

Back in March, when the government said I wouldn't get any furniture until July, I believed them.

5 months later, its finally the end of July, and I can finally announce that I've received a bed and a couch from the government. July. They weren't kidding.

Back in March, someone in the Council was able to pull strings for me to get a stove and fridge within a week - since they were absolutely necessary for subsistence. 5 Months later, the stove and fridge have seen alot of face time with me - 3 meals get cooked 7 days a week. Going out to eat, is really an occasional luxury.

Unfortunately, almost as soon as I started using the stove, it started to fall apart - perhaps a side effect of being made in China. Just a hunch. The oven door, similar to a lap top screen, keeps getting looser at the hinges and is no where near closing on its own. Since the stove was brand new when I got it (straight out of a box), I asked Furnmart to fix it. No Dice. Since it's government property, the government has to request the repair. We'll see where the stove is at 5 months from now...

After a few experiments, I finally found the proper rig to keep the thing shut so that it didn't melt off the handles to all the other burners. Sorry Duct Tape - you couldn't fix this one.

I hooked up a carabiner to the oven handle with some nylon rope and hooked it to another clip which hooks onto a slot on the side of the oven. Tada!

Now I know what it's like on the other side of the hiring table.

Today, I looked at over 50 resumes, coverletters and etc. It's only Day 3 since our ad has been out in the Monitor for paid staff positions of Executive Director, Program Officer, Finance Officer for NCONGO. Our newly hired staff will be charged with taking our NGO to new heights, to administer the Maatla Project which aims to strengthen the Civil Society nationally and locally.

Its up to our Hiring Committee on the Board of Directors to decide who is competent and holds the knowledge, skills, and attitudes suitable to work with over 40 organizations in the delta. As a capacity building adviser, I just help make the first cut - widdling down hundreds of CVs to a manageable number, and create a baseline for what KSA's are feasible for the committee to look for. With recommendations from NCONGO's capacity building advisers, the committee can decide what qualifications are suitable.

What I was taught at Haas School of Business is true. Someone most likely, will not even spend a minute on your resume, as I exercised today. If candidates couldn't write a complete sentence, their CV's didn't even get looked at. If their CV's got looked at and demonstrated no work experience, they were cut.

We spent hours just going through initial cuts. More hours will be spent because the closing date for positions is August 3, which by then, I estimate to have looked at over 100 applications.

My friend Heidi has a Moringa tree and it's quite a phenomenon. Every part of the tree can be eaten except for the roots and modern scientific research is proving that Moringa leaves are one of the richest sources of nutrients. We accidentally broke off a branch when picking the seed pods so I took home some leaves and cooked them up in a soup and made some team with the blossoms. They have a nice nutty smell and little leaves that can also be dried.

The Moringa tree is easily found in Botswana though the trees originate from India. The grow in the harshest of climates and easily grow in Botswana in deep deep sand. Moringa powder can be found everywhere and is commonly used by traditional doctors and locals.

Analysis of Moringa leaf powder shows it to contain, gram for gram:

7 times the Vitamin C of oranges4 times the Vitamin A of carrots4 times the Calcium of milk3 times the Potassium of bananas3 times the Iron of spinach2 times the Protein of yogurtI think I'll begin sprinkling leaves on top of my food for now on.

I was walking to work today and as I was walking, I had to pick up my pace so that I could pass a donkey walking along the same road. But, I had to walk fast enough so I could pass him on the other side of the street because I was afraid he'd kick me, if I tried to pass him and came up from behind.

What on earth is a Honey Badger? There was a Top Gear Episode (British TV show about cars) shot in Botswana a few years ago where they drove across the Makgadikadi Pans and Okavango Delta. When talking about Botswana, one guy brings up Honey Badgers. His other two friends swear that he’s joking, that there’s no such thing as a honey badger and that he just made it up. Just the other day, a similar thing happened to me, where I was casually telling a friend about Honey Badgers and their prevalence in Botswana. He swore that I made it up and that I was totally playing a joke. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and nowhere in the article does it mention honey, badgers eating honey, badgers getting anywhere close to honey. But apparently, honey badgers are similar to mongoose in being the type of predators that hunt and eat snakes, rodents and chickens. So why is it called the Honey Badger?

The clue to the answer came in such an innocuous way. In a similar situation as above, I was eating French toast with the same fellow friend who swore I invented the Honey Badger. Instead of syrup, we use honey on top of our French toast. As I drizzled the honey over my toast, I noticed a symbol on the honey bottle that said, “Badger Friendly.” What on earth? Just like Canned Tuna being Dolphin Free, my honey was Badger Friendly, certified by the World Wildlife Fund. Incredible. There MUST be such thing as a Honey Badger for honey to be declared Badger Friendly. Eager to learn more, I enquired with friends in the office, Why is a Honey Badger called a Honey Badger? Why isn’t it just a Badger? Everyone said of course, it loves to eat honey! But thanks to a ridiculous video on youtube, the honey badger apparently doesn’t eat honey, but instead the larvae of the bees that make honey. Thanks YouTube for helping me find the answers of all of Africa’s unknown.

The Makgadikadi Pans are the largest salt pans in the world, located in the Kalahari Desert near the centre of Botswana. For Seretse Khama Day, I ventured out to the Pans for my first time and headed to Kubu (Hippo) Island which had a reputation for being a magical place.Kubu Island is situated on the western side of Sua Pan, the eastern partition of the Makgadikadi,3-3.5 hours from the main road into the bush. Typically, its only accessible to serious 4x4 vehicles which are advised to travel in a party in case one gets stuck in sand or mud. It’s always advised to carry a GPS. After a long, bumpy, dusty, ride through the bush to what looked like the middle of nowhere (which was confirmed to be the middle of nowhere), we ended up at Kubu Island – a granite island, in the middle of absolutely nowhere.We stayed the night on kubu island which has no amenities. In the middle of Botswana winter, the Kalahari Desert gets bitterly cold. Kubu Island is about 1km long and contains mostly rock formations of different colors of granite, black, green, and red. It overlooks the flat Makgadikadi Pans, which from Kubu, stretch as far as the eye can see like a vast ocean of salt. What’s amazing, are thousand year old baobabs inhabit Kubu and grow directly out of the rock. Most of the tracks seen are from quad bikes and people doing donuts in their cars. But, while walking around the salt flats, I came across some leopard tracks going out into the distance. During some seasons, the pans have water, which also attract all sorts of wildlife that one would think should never be in such a plantless and lifeless place. The further I walked into the pan, the squishier the ground became, uncovering that there was still some moisture left in the clay.The next day, after the 3 hour drive out of kubu, we headed to the Nata Sanctuary, located on the north east side of Sua Pan which was still covered in water. After driving through flat plains of tall grass with some wild ostriches, the land opens up to the salt flats which look like a beach opening up into a large ocean. The area looks like a vast ocean, but in reality, its quite the opposite – its vast desert, which happens to have retained rain water. What water stretches beyond the horizon and is dotted with small white dots. The pans on the eastern side, are a seasonal home for thousands of wild flamingos who come to fish. The wild flamingos are much cooler than those you see at the zoo – white with bright pink legs, pink and black stripes on the inside of their wings and on their beaks. I decided that the flamingos at the zoo stand on one leg out of boredom because the wild flamingos constantly fished and actually do a dance with their legs in a circle around their heads. At no point, where they actually standing still on one leg. The colonies of flamingo stretched out to the horizon and completely covered the pans.The pans are a very cool weekend getaway trip, though not so easy to access, as one would wish. Despite the long bumpy ride however, kubu island lived up to the expectation.

If you're looking for a worthy cause to donate to, I know Jen Murphy, a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer is raising funds to build a school playground in her village.

Kids don't have a whole lot to do here, play grounds and P.E. programs don't exist. So anything to keep them busy and let kids be kids helps them cope with the the harsh realities they face in their daily lives such as, loss of parents from HIV/AIDS, being targets for sex predators etc. Teenage pregnancy is a big issue in Botswana and kids as young as 11 drop out of school due to pregnancy. Playgrounds don't just serve as a healthy outlet, but also a haven for children to reside in during the day when they don't feel safe at home. Any little bit helps.

School Playground | Donate to Volunteer Projects | Peace Corps

Cooking in Botswana can get rather creative with the selection of ingredients or sometimes, the lack thereof. With the help of friends and family who have sent ingredients oversees, I've been able to recreate items that I miss eating at home, and others, that were just inspired by the random things we find here.

Green Onion Pancake (Korean Style)

Chicken & Waffles

Bush Fried Rice with leeks, mutton, bacon, beef, and a bunch of other random stuff

Bi Bim BapMexican Pizza with Guacamole

Shanghainese Rice with Spinach and Egg

Brussels Sprouts & Bacon

The strike continues. Some news has been circulating on Facebook which turned out to be rumors. The headlines are from all over the country so it sounds like alot; but in Maun, things haven't been violent as far as I can see. Of course, things can change and we're keeping a low profile. Just some headlines:

Teacher stabbing allegations untrue-The Botswana Gazette

Allegations of a teacher being stabbed to death in G West and a head teacher in Mahalapye being in a critical state after having been beaten by students circulated across Face Book and the internet yesterday. Police Spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Christopher Mbulawa, has called these allegations untrue, urging people to “listen to the police and not to Face Book.” He further added that should such a death have occurred, “it would not have been possible to conceal it.”

Government 'fires' striking doctors - Mmegi Online

Government has purported to fire all striking essential services workers, among them doctors, nurses, and pharmacy technicians, after they refused to heed its ultimatum to resume duties. Last week government ordered essential services workers to resume duties or face dismissal, among them were doctors who downed stethoscopes in demand for a 16% pay rise and better working conditions. The warning followed a court ruling that the workers should not be on strike. The workers have through the Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU), appealed the decision of the Industrial Court. The essential services workers have however insisted that they will not resume duties.However the workers have not received letters of dismissal as government says the letters will be ready in five days, according to a Btv news bulletin.

The local government has been on strike for the last few weeks and what started out as a 10 day strike has grown tremendously.

Hospital workers have been working on a slow down since the strike. Political parties are voicing their discontent with the President's decisions. Teachers had been on strike leaving children unattended at schools until now. Schools are officially closed as of yesterday due to protests from children who started demanding better education causing violence to get out of control. Peace Corps volunteers placed in government organisations and schools are recommended to keep a low profile, but have been unable to work at their offices for about a month now. As an NGO volunteer, my day stays fairly similar except that I cannot access resources or people who I work with in local government as they're on strike.

See below article from The Monitor. http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=865&dir=2011/May/Monday16

Students battle with Police Greg Kelebonye

Staff Writer Molepolole: An assembly of six junior secondary schools from around Molepolole turned into a battlefield after police allegedly fired rubber bullets and teargas at protesting students on Friday.

The students had gathered at the entrance to Kgari Sechele Senior Secondary School where the previous day they had threatened violence over the fact that they had not been taught because their teachers have joined other public service employees in the ongoing strike that is now in its third week. "We were just standing peacefully waiting for our colleagues from other schools to join us. Then the police arrived and without warning started shooting," said a student. Then all hell broke loose. Gathered in a place awash with stones, the irate students picked up the only weapons available to them and retaliated. The police found the missiles too much to bear. Their perspex shields offered little protection from the thousands of pellets from over 3,000 children. To add to their misery the police ran out of rubber bullets and teargas canisters. So they took to their heels, with the little boys and girls, like one mighty army, in hot pursuit. Finding themselves too far away from their vehicles and the police station - a good two kilometres away - the police took refuge in a local mini-mall and quickly closed the metal door leading into the mall. But the incensed boys and girls surrounded the shop and rained stones upon it as the police stood behind the barricaded metal door into the mall, trying in vain to block the missiles from outside. The stone storm beat upon the building, many of the stones hitting and injuring the legs and feet of the men and women of the law. The shop owners realised that they could not just sit as stones whizzed by. They closed their shops and sneaked out through a back exit at Shoppers, which is the biggest store in the mini mall. "Too many stones were landing into the shop and we were afraid that they (the stone throwers) would break our door, so we rolled down our trelli-door (burglar door) and sneaked our customers out through the backdoor as the students continued to pelt the police with stones," said Shoppers' Store Manager, Bernard Petrus. Petrus, like three others who operate from the premises, would find his car's windows smashed, once the students' anger had burned itself out and they started dispersing and joining the public servants picketing at a local square. And the marks of the mayhem remained for everyone to see: broken shop windows, farm produce, oranges, and other merchandise lay strewn all over, having been trampled upon or eaten by the marauding students. "They took all my air time and oranges. All those peels that you see came from my oranges. I remain empty-handed," said a tearful airtime vendor. All her colleagues in the area suffered the same fate. "Imagine, they even chased away an old woman selling ditoo (black-eyed peas)," said another woman. The woman's ditoo dotted the entrance to the mall. And you would imagine the children either did not find the peas too tasty or they simply never realised they were trampling on the cuisine. The road passing by the shop remained closed for some time as timid motorists avoided playing brave. A taxi driver, who had stood in the way as the students passed by, learnt the hard way after hundreds of missiles struck and broke his windows. "Monna it does not help to think you are brave. Goliath died from a stone thrown by little David," someone quipped. At the square where the public employees were picketing a Good Samaritan gathered some of the injured children into his car and took them to hospital. The children: three boys aged 14, 16 and 17 and a 13-year-old girl. The girl had been shot in the belly, while the boys had been shot one in the chest, another in the shoulder and the last on the hand. Two kilometres away from where the one-way battle had raged, Deputy Police Commissioner Ikotlhaeng Bagopi and senior officers from the police, among them Molepolole Station Commander Andrew Bosilong, Superintendent Mbayi of the Special Support Group, a captain from the BDF and an entourage from the District Commissioner's officer met in a crisis meeting. A stone's throw away from the crisis meeting, in another compound a group of about 20 children sat huddled together in an office as two police officers took turns to rebuke them. "A kere le bona gore le dule setlhabelo sa ba bangwe?" [See now you have sacrificed yourselves on behalf of other people?]," a female police officer derided the wide-eyed juveniles as outside 12 officers, all barefooted, limped from a police combi with bandaged legs, knees and feet. "A sona strike lo a se itse? A lo itse gore go tewa eng?" said another female officer, as she breathed down the necks of the children. One of the children later told The Monitor that he was picked up by the police on his way from lunch at home and had no inkling why he was arrested. He said that like most of his schoolmates, he was a student at Motswasele Junior Secondary School and that the police pounced upon him as he returned to school from lunch at home. Back at the entrance to the Regional Police Headquarters, where the crisis meeting was taking place, a man, who had just disembarked from a government vehicle, shrieked loud enough for all to hear about how careless the police officer in charge of the police, who battled with children, had been. "The police found the children standing by peacefully. And the officer would not even listen to the District Commissioner who was asking him to first talk with the children and not just attack them, but he pushed aside the District Commissioner and ordered his men to open fire. See now what has happened?" he said as several battle-ready riot police listened. It would later turn out that the "District Commissioner" referred to was, in fact, a District Officer. Then someone called one of the men standing at the entrance. One of the police officers had just been released after he was found crouching in one of the stores. The owners returned to find the officer, still scared out of his wits, in the store. "The guy is lucky that the owners came back. He would have spent the night in shop," the message receiver said to his colleague, mirth written on his face. "Leso legolo ditshego rra!" [to avoid crying at the sound of bad news, we laugh] said the other man as they both laughed at the apparent cowardice of the constable. Deputy Commissioner Bagopi finished his meeting to find a group of journalists waiting for him at the entrance. He said the situation was difficult, as a number of things had gone wrong. However, he was quick to say that the officer, who ordered the police to shoot, had not been careless. "We need to appreciate that currently there is a peaceful strike by public officers. However, we also need to appreciate that a strike can degenerate into a riot as a catalyst can come from anywhere...the children were expected to be at school and not picketing. The fact that they were picketing shows that the authorities that should normally manage them had not been able to manage them, thus it was important that the police had to come in...in this country the law is sacrosanct and you don't march unless you have a permit," he said. However he admitted that a number of things could have been done better. One of those was the arrest of the children who were interrogated in the absence of their parents or social workers. "I have instructed that the kids be freed to their parents," he said. It would be another two hours after the order, and further intervention by council authorities and the DC's office before the children could be freed. The situation remains calm but uncertain.

Last week was my 2nd birthday in Botswana.

Birthdays in Botswana are kind an odd phenomenon. Like the U.S., celebrations tend to happen on the weekend when people are not working. For the same reasons, funerals and weddings also happen on the weekends. It's not uncommon to attend a funeral on Saturday morning, then at noon, go to a wedding; even in the same family... You can bury a cousin in the morning and then attend your sister's wedding later.

People in Botswana also like to make things big occasions by getting specially made and personalized T-shirts and even Birthday videos (like a wedding video). A few weeks ago, I attended my friend Wame's birthday where they got bright pink t-shirts printed marking her 40th birthday and had a professional video crew shooting the afternoon boat cruise. Earlier that day, she happened to bury a cousin who died in a car accident.

My birthday on the other hand, was not quite so dramatic. I joke that I got bats for my birthday; since first thing on Saturday morning, I went to finish the project at Motse wa Tsholofelo Orphan Preschool and the bats that we had extracted a month ago, had come back to party. They'll have to be dealt with at another time...

The rest of the day, I spent in the company of my best friends. One particular dork, knowing my affection for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, sought to make me seem dorkier than I really am and commissioned to have a cake made Buffy Style. Who would have thought screen printing and fondant made it to Botswana? It turns out, one of our good friends is a fabulous cake decorator and should be on Ace of Cakes Botswana Edition. The cake is made to look like the ancient book about vampires with an edible stake which I used to clobber my friend with.

The rest of my birthday, I spent the company of my good friends Ross and Heidi and Camilo. A customary birthday practice with R&H is to do my Happy Lap Around the Sun (possibly something like a Snoopy Dance, you'll have to see it yourself). And of course, I customarily popped some champagne which we enjoyed by the Thamalakane River.

We had a cute little dinner, with a few drinks, and Ross baked his famous chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting - in a cute heart shape. To mark my 26th birthday, I blew out the smiley face candles.

It's been slow getting used to Maun, the new job, the new flat, the town, much slower than I expected. I can't believe I've been living in Maun for 2 months now, and it really only feels like I've been here 1 month.

I find myself trying to make routines, to cope with everything else that's up in the air.

Go to work at 8. Get home by 5. Start dinner at 6:30 or 7, watch an episode of Modern Family or Battlestar Galactica...

I didn't expect the move to feel like I'm starting over, but I really am just starting over.

There haven't been any new additions to my house, no new furniture. I have to go through the District Multi-Sectoral AIDS Committee office to access government funds to get furniture and since the financial year is restarting, the funds won't come through until June or July. I still have my friend Kyle's bed, and chairs and a couch on loan from the DMSAC office. When people come to my flat, our voices echo because there is nothing in it.

Work is slowly picking up. We finally had our first district committee meeting or Orphans and Vulnerable Children. It's slow getting people on board with a mandate that was made out of their control but it looks like things are coming along. The situation for OVC in Maun appears more dire than in the village... or my standards have just changed. There is a growing need for orphanages in Maun, but they have lots of barriers to entry. Children are found abandoned in the river and in pit latrines; yet many people refuse to believe that children should be institutionalized in permanent homes. I have been researching landscape of service delivery for OVC for the past couple months. However, it'll take awhile to act upon my findings or figure out what I'll do about it, and get others onboard with districtwide action.

As far as new routines and new environment... still getting used to it. I've been sick every month for the last 4 months. At this point, all the doctors, all the girls at the receptionist, and the pharmacist all know me at the Medical Centre in Maun. All of it has been some sort of residual side effect of the E.Coli, and I'm only starting to feel much better now and can work out again.

Though the process of making new friends and meeting new people has been tiring, I am happy to already have good friends in Maun and to be able to spend more time with them. They take the edge off of being away from friends and family at home. For Easter, a bunch of volunteers came through Maun to visit which is like having extended family in town. And last week, I got to hang out with good friends for my birthday. Being able to work and play with friends has been easier to deal with here because in the small village, it all felt like work in the end.

My friend Ross and fellow PCV (who's wife Heidi who I do swimming classes with) is writing for the Huffington Post about the Peace Corps experience. He'll be updating every 2 weeks.

Check out his article here:

My Girlfriend 'Made' Me Apply for the Peace Corps

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ross-szabo/my-girlfriend-made-me-app_b_832822.html

Here is where I live in Maun on Google Maps.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=200136776423644153625.00049e6c98906f47bb651&ll=-19.980246,23.436348&spn=0.011656,0.016243&t=h&z=16

What's nice is I live across the street from the river. If the water is low enough, I can get to a big tree which has a cool viewpoint of the Maun Game Sanctuary across the river. Yesterday I went and saw impala and a fish eagle on the other side of the river.

I finally bought some chairs for the new apartment in Maun. Getting furniture has been slow...still sleeping on the floor, but a new fridge and stove came on Thursday. Since I had already gone grocery shopping and didn't really have a convenient way to carry the chair home... I carried it African style.

Thank you everyone for sending me packages for Christmas!

For those who are wondering if they can send anything....now that I'm living in a new house, I could use some housewarming items.

Other miscellaneous things:

Chinese dried shredded pork

coffee

blueberry muffin mix

mochi

asian teas

spring roll skins

dried shrimp

milano cookies

panko crumbs

fake flowers

any pictures/posters to decorate with

hair hot oil treatments

hand sanitizer

water balloons

mexican meat seasoning packets

ranch dressing seasoning packets

Thanks a bunch! You can send packages to

NCONGO/Attn: Kelly Liu

PO Box 1995

Maun, Botswana

I've started volunteering with my friend Heidi to teach swimming lessons on Tuesdays and Thursday for the kids at Women Against Rape's Women's Shelter. I'm not a qualified teacher by any means, but as with many things here in Africa, knowing something is better than nothing.

Teaching people to swim here is incredibly important. For the last 30 years, the delta, the rivers, and the Lake Ngami have run dry. For the Batswana, who primarily live in the Kalahari Desert which resides in most of Botswana, water is a very important resource. This is why fear of drought and praise for rain (pula - also the name of Botswana's official currency), is very important to people here. Only in the last 1-2 years have rivers started flowing through Maun and water filling the Lake Ngami outside of Sehithwa. Many people didn't even know that water used to run through these parts and some have never even have seen it causing them to be deathly afraid of the water and anything that could be in or around it such as hippos, crocodiles, or even catfish. Because these peoples have been living in the desert so long, many have no idea how to swim and stay away from the water if they can.

I've been teaching these kids for a couple weeks now. They were originally being taught by a couple of volunteers from Australia for 2 months and since the volunteers have gone back to school, Heidi and I have taken their place. The teaching has been very basic since the kids are 2, 4, and 6. Molooki was originally very afraid of the water and had trouble getting in. We've been starting on basics (necessary, especially with limited Setswana), blowing bubbles, dunking heads underwater, holding breath.... It's amazing to watch kids learn and grow just because they do it so quickly.

Last Thursday, we took the older kids from the shelter swimming. One man at the pool, perhaps a maintenance guy from the lodge, was observing us with the kids. Initially, I thought he was going to accuse us of not being allowed to use the pool. Instead, he was just happy that we were trying to teach the kids how to swim.

It was a coincidence, that there was a terrible accident the night before. 4 people were out on a mokoro (dugout canoe) at sundown. Just as they were about to dock, a hippo overturned the canoe. Even though the hippo didn't attack, it managed to snap the boat in two while they were just a few meters from shore. 2 of the 4 people did not know how to swim. 2 people were able to get to safety, 1 who could swim and the other who couldn't, was helped ashore. One of the others, able to swim, went back for the 4th person who couldn't swim and both went missing.

Search parties were out during the night looking for the 2 missing people while the 2 that made it ashore received medical attention. By afternoon on Thursday, we learned that both people were found dead and had drowned. It was very unfortunate that they were all people that my new office mates knew.

Accidents like these can happen anytime. Especially during the rainy season, there are flash floods because the sand does not absorb all the water and causing riverbeds to overflow. It's stories like this one that remind me how priveledged I was to grow up with a pool and have people able to teach me to swim. For the kids at the shelter, it has worked wonders on their disposition. They have gone from initially being afraid of the water, to being very excited to go swimming. Also, since many witnessed domestic violence all of their young lives and were only recently removed from those family situations, they were very shy and have become a little more outgoing and confident since they feel more empowered after swimming lessons.

Since Maun is a much more modernized town, I got moved from my small house in Sehithwa with no water and inconsistent electricity to a 1 bedroom flat in an apartment building in the Chobe Ward, where many government workers live. The bachelor flat is much the same as any in the States and comes complete with a hot water geyser, piped in water, closet for clothes in the bedroom, kitchen, sitting room and bathroom with toilet and bath tub. Many other tenants in the building are also BDF Botswana Defense Force (military) so I should be relatively safe. So far, no one has been broken into. Also in the apartment complex is Kyle (Duma, meaning to roar), a fellow PCV who volunteers at the DMSAC (District Multi-sectoral Aids Committee) office.

My work is a 10 minute walk away, as well as the New Mall grocery stores. I can also walk to the airport, some local restaurants, or walk 20 to Old Mall. Just across the street and around the corner, less than a 3 minute walk is the river which I got to jog by the other day. It’s nice to have access to resources.

Since I have just moved in and had to leave all the furniture at the old house (because it was owned by my old NGO), I don’t have anything in the house. I borrowed a mattress from Kyle and am waiting for the government to supply me with a stove, fridge, bed and couches.

Below are some pictures of the new place.

The view of the apartment building - 2 floors. I'm on the first floor.

One of my new neighbors, Sharon.

The flat entrance.

The sitting room, from the front entrance. No furniture yet. Just like having a picnic.

The bedroom.

The kitchen. Small, this is about all that will fit in it. Waiting on the fridge and gas stove.

The hallway. Kitchen on the left, bedroom on the right, bathroom at the end of the hall.

The bathroom. No shower. Hot and cold water.

So now I live in Maun. Maun is a large town, 100km north-east of my rural village of Sehithwa. It has about 45-50,000 people and is considered the springboard for all of tourism in the Okavango Delta, the largest inland delta in the world. Though there’s not much to see in Maun itself, it’s where people fly in and use as their hub to go on safaris or other areas in the delta. Unlike the rest of Botswana, Maun has lots of expatriates and foreigners. It’s almost odd to be there just because you’ll see more white people around than in Gaborone or Francistown, especially because of tourism. There are a handful of grocery stores that are just like grocery stores in the states - with tall aisles, florescent lighting, dairy, meat, produce and frozen sections, checkout lines where the ladies scan barcodes. There are also a handful of casual dining/fast food options: Nando’s, Wimpy, Barcelos and Setswana food restaurants which are like going to a Chinese buffet/Panda Express (they’re also all run by Chinese people). The non-Setswana food options – Nando’s and Wimpy are fairly expensive (esp. on the Peace Corps Budget) and are priced on par with food in the States – a ¼ chicken meal w/ 2 sides and a drink for 60 pula (9 dollars), a spicy chicken sandwich 35 pula (5 dollars)… Other places to eat are catered mainly to foreigners: 1 restaurant bar in town called Bon Arrivee and a couple of lunch places, Hilary’s Café and French Connection. Other bars or restaurants are mainly at lodges a bit out of town, like Backpackers Lodge or Okavango River Lodge. Once in a while, Peace Corps Volunteers can treat themselves to these places, but very seldom b/c they don’t fit into the PCV budget. Most things in Maun are in the form of strip malls. The place looks a lot like 1 block in the San Fernando Valley, except with lots of sand. There are 2 main parts of town – Old Mall and New Mall. New Mall has more of the “foreign” goods and where more foreigners shop. Old Mall is where the locals predominantly shop. There is also a network of back alleys of China shops – shops that are owned by mainland Chinese that sell typical “random Chinese stuff” at cheap prices. I bought an electric fan for 150P, a full length mirror for 50P, a hot water kettle for 120P etc. The shops do very well at catering to local tastes and budgets. I’ve also had the opportunity to chat and haggle with some of the Chinese people who have mostly been very friendly. These Chinese people in Botswana are mostly business owners and managers – they either run shops or manage government construction contracts. The Chinese are responsible for most of the infrastructure improvements like the new airport and new roads. All projects will be run and managed by a Chinese person who employs several local Batswana to be laborers. Because of this, there is very little mixing. You will almost never see a Chinese person shopping at a grocery store and will never see them walking around town – they all have cars and go directly from home to work. There is also an Indian community here. A lot of shops are also owned and run by Indians such as some of the grocery stores and pharmacies. These people also don’t mix often. However, lots of Indian food and spices can be found at all the grocery stores. I wish there was an Indian restaurant here, but there isn’t, so I’m trying to learn to cook Indian but also make friends with some Indians and hope to get invited over for dinner. Because of tourism and the large foreign community, I can find a lot of things that I can find at home – most of the stuff which comes from South Africa and for a much loftier price eg. A block of Tofu is 35 pula or about 5 dollars; a bag of taco seasoning is 25 pula or about 3; 10 frozen tortillas are 35 pula or about 5 dollars, a jar of pasta sauce 40 pula or 6 dollars. Needless to say, PCV’s cook and eat mainly at home and also learn to make many things from scratch like bread, tortillas, pizza. Since Maun is also large, there is public transportation – taxis, combis, and several busses that come in from other towns. All taxis are shared, however, you can hire your own taxi for a “special” rate usually for 17 P. Also, wearing conservative clothing is not as much of a big deal here since most locals are used to seeing white people and especially tourists who wear shorts. However, most local people still wear long skirts and dresses and some sleeveless shirts. In Maun, it’s not such a big deal if I wear a tank top. However, if I wore one in Sehithwa, I’d get plenty of full body stares from creepy men. Overall, one can feel spoiled by living in Maun, especially since it looks more affluent and worldly than a lot of the country. However, Maun still has all the same problems the rest of the country and small villages have. The entire Ngamiland District has about 19% HIV prevalence and 4% HIV incidence with the majority of infected people women. This disproportionate amount of people is a sign of the gender inequality issues that reside within the district. The rate of domestic violence and violence against women is incredibly high – someone once sited 50%. Intergenerational sex is also a major issue causing high numbers of teenage pregnancies. Recent statistics from Maun Senior Secondary School showed how many girls dropped out of school due to teenage pregnancies and the number that died trying to get backdoor abortions. What is very unfortunate to see is that the local community is not benefiting from tourism as much as we think they would be. Instead, it has created a larger income divide among the town’s poorest and richest, especially in the district as a whole once rural areas such as Sehithwa are included. According to the Botswana Poverty Survey, the unemployment rate within the district is about 40%. While in Maun, I’ll be placed at NCONGO Ngamiland Council of NGOs, doing capacity building work for member NGO’s within the Ngamiland District and helping to coordinate efforts by NGO’s that serve Orphans and Vulnerable Children at a district level. I’ll also be teaching swimming with Heidi to the kids at the WAR’s women’s shelter. Once I get settled in, I’ll likely be very busy….

Now that I've moved out of my house in Sehithwa, I thought I'd make a little tribute to it. It took me awhile to get used to the house and it didn't happen overnight, but instead in phases.

Some people parallel Peace Corps service to camping for 2 years and that's alot of what it was like - brushing my teeth outside, going out at night through the bush to squat or doing it in a bucket in the living room.

Some of these things take time to overcome - it's really all a mental game. One morning I just woke up and did things without thinking twice.

Making home seem more like home also took time, just like moving into any new house. Over time, my house had made a complete transformation, with furniture and decorations.

When I first moved in, I had concrete floors where the ants had dug mounds through the concrete to come into the house. Eventually, I started doing yoga on this same floor.

My house also had a bathroom - literally a room meant for bathing. It was completely empty (except for the spiders). Nothing in it except for a small window.

I also had trouble opening my door, which had huge gaps in the slats. My pink 20L bucket held the water that I would bring in from the tap outside.

I also had a tiny twin bed where I doubled up the cotton pads and had 3 comforters to fight the brutal cold, -6 degrees celsius. The mosquito net was hung from the curtain bars where I had also clothes pinned a blanket to act as a curtain.

Little by little, I got used to some of the most basic things like not having a toilet or running water in the house and going out in the middle of the night to the pit latrine:

The house was a work in progress.

Eventually, I learned how to sew curtains and acquired a desk to use as a table.

Then I got tiles put in my living room which I even worked on a bit myself.

I acquired a closet to put my clothes in and a double bed and hung the mosquito net with actual rope and had burglar bars put on the windows for security.

Work started on my house to get water piped in and bathroom elements installed - shower tub, toilet and sink though it'll still probably take at least another 6 months to a year to get the bathroom finished and functional.

I also put up pictures of my family and travels, a painting of a giraffe, some prints of bushman paintingsand got a fan for the super hot 115 degree days.

The house became cute and much happier looking though it still lacks basic amenities. My time spent there was worthwhile and I miss my landlady who was sad to see me go because she stays home by herself and her disabled child. I promised I'd go back to visit.

I'll try to put pictures of my new flat in Maun soon and post some info about Maun.

Hi All! Great news, I've finally moved to Maun!

I have moved into a 1 bedroom flat in an apartment building in the Chobe district, where many of the government workers in Maun live. The process has been long and arduous, but I've finally made it and hope to start working at NCONGO asap.

I hope to update more soon, just takes some time to get settled in.

Take the Live Like a PCV Challenge! In honor of the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps, we are giving everyone an opportunity to try and live like a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Go to www.livelikeapcv.org & Check out the Rules

I've checked it out and think it's a pretty cool project. The Rules for how to be a Botswana PCV are supposed to be up end of this week but so far, the rules for being a Mongolian PCV are up.

Example: Depending on how hardcore you want to be about this challenge, you can select 5 different difficulty levels - each level, you have to give up something in your daily life that is on the list. Give up things like:

using your microwave

using your washing machine and washing your clothes by handcook dinners at night every day

shower once a weekusing your own toilet (use someone else's or go outside or use a bucket)It's been interesting looking at these lists because I've had to deal with a lot, if not all of them. Eg.

Not having electricity for 3 days (also means no fridge)

Not having water in my house

Not having access to any water for 5 daysShowering once a weekOnly having a toilet outside or using a bucket insideGive it a go. You'll be amazed at how quickly you can adapt and how innovative you can be at getting around not having certain resources! I really didn't realize that I had access to all of these things before when I was living in the states until I saw these lists because I had gotten so used to not having most of them.