My mom came to visit for about 10 days and it was great fun! I tried to introduce her to life in Botswana as best as I could- the crowded bus rides, the beautiful and newly green scenery that stretches on for miles, the kind and slightly slower-paced people, the cows, goats and donkeys that roam the city streets freely- so many different experiences to take in. We spent a lot of our time around Gaborone and Mochudi, going to the Gaborone game reserve (saw lots of monkeys!) and looking at arts and crafts- we found an amazing place called Oodi Weavers (in a small village called Oodi) where these old women spend hours everyday hand weaving wool tapestries and wall-hangings. They spin their own yarn from sheeps wool, then hand-dye it and then hand weave everything on large wooden looms. It takes them a month to weave a square meter! Most of the weavings display traditional village scenes, with rondavel houses (round huts), livestock, and daily activities that many of the Batswana partake in.
Dereje, one of my good friends, drove us around for the weekend and took us to Otse, Lobatse, and Pitsane, all villages in the southern part of the country. We stopped at the Otse Cheese Factory (the only cheese factory in the country), visited my boyfriend Jason's village, and eventually returned to Gaborone for a delicious Ethiopian meal cooked by one of Dereje's friends.
The next day a visit to my host family in Kumakwane was in order, so my mom got to meet my Motswana mom. My host mom was so excited to see me and meet mom. My host brother, Bofelo, already looked older and more mature despite it only being a few months since I've seen him. It was great to visit and have mom meet the family that helped me get through the very rough first few months in Botswana.
Mom got to meet the kids that I work with, spending time helping them to write letters to their US pen pals. It was a fun activity, and all the kids took it really seriously. It's very hard for most of them to write in English, so it was nice to have mom there to help out. We even got to meet Muriel Williams, the sister-in-law of the first president- she came to speak to the kids about what it was like to grow up during World War II and leading a life of volunteerism. She's English but has been living in Africa for the 38 years, the last 10 of which have been in Botswana.
Friday, on our way up north to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary, we spent a night in Palapye with some other Peace Corps Volunteers, and then proceeded to Serowe, a large town known as the home of the first president, Seretse Khama. We stumbled upon an old, abandoned church surrounded by a few other derelict buildings, rocky cliffs and several different types of cacti. From on top of the rocks we got a terrific view of Serowe, and we had a blast taking pictures of our strange surroundings. Who knew abandoned buildings could be so exciting? We finally made it to the rhino sanctuary later in the day. This was my second time there, but it was still a lot of fun- we went on a guided drive for almost 2 hours and saw white and black rhinos, wildebeest, impala, kudu, springbok, zebras, and warthogs. I managed to arrange for mom to meet some of my good friends up north as well, and we had excellent Indian food made by my good friend Chandni.
All in all it was great to have mom here. It was hard when she left because it reminded me just how far from home I am, and how long it will be before I get to go back. But at least I have good friends here, I have a great job that keeps me busy, and I have some great memories of adventures with my mom.
