Holidays

I spent most of Thanksgiving weekend waiting for buses and riding them- not how I had intended to spend it, but at least the times between busrides were enjoyable :) I went up to Mahalapye to visit my good friend Chandni and her parents who were still visiting- they were having a party with a bunch of Chandni's coworkers. Her mom cooked an amazing Indian feast and we all ended up dancing- some Setswana dancing, some Indian dancing, and some dancing I really couldn't associate with any culture. It was certainly a unique evening.
The following day I ventured out to Phikwe where I met up with at least 20 other volunteers for a real Thanksgiving feast. I arrived just in time to eat all my favorites- mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and a bunch of other comfort foods. It was so nice to meet up with so many other volunteers and get updates on their progress with their projects. Many people are struggling in their jobs- one of my friends had her counterpart (boss) die very suddenly and now her organization is nearly closing; another was strangled in her house. But overall most people are making some progress in their work- it's just a very challenging experience.
Things at work have been okay for me- things are slowing down a bit as the kids are on their holiday break from school- many are out of town visiting family. We're planning a big Christmas party next week, complete with a drama performance by the kids, prominent community members visiting, a big feast, and presents for the kids and their families. It should be really fun, I'll do my best to get pictures to post.
As Christmas approaches, I feel really sad to be so far from home, but I'm very thankful to be safe, have good friends here, and to be able to keep in touch with everyone.

Giant Moths, Diwali, and Learning to Teach

The last few weeks have flown by- I’m still reeling at the shock of it being nearly halfway through November. What happened? Fortunately the increased speed of things has been for a good reason- I’m enjoying work (and feeling inspired), and having a great deal of fun with my friends. For Halloween, which nobody celebrates here except us crazy Peace Corps Volunteers, I ventured to a village called Bobonong to meet up with a bunch of my friends. We had a braai (the Setswana word for barbeque), dressed up in some hilarious costumes- the Hamburglar, Bam Bam, a sumo wrestler… and many more- and I’m sure the neighbors thought we were genuinely insane. But it was a great time. On the way back to Mochudi, our bus was stopped at a checkpoint- apparently the area around Bobonong has been known for hoof and mouth disease, thus people’s shoes are checked in hopes of not spreading contamination to other parts of the country- and as I stepped off of the bus I noticed a moth larger than my hand. It was beautiful- grayish in color with large eye-like circles on the wings, covered in a delicate layer of fur- but it still caught me off guard as I had never imagined a moth so huge. As I looked around I saw another one… and another one… and suddenly realized they were EVERYWHERE, nearly covering the ground. Most of them were dead, but some were still stirring. I looked out over the main road and saw another collection of them, most of them crushed by the passing cars. The whole scene seemed like an eerie experience out of a horror movie- I tried to imagine all of them in flight, but the thought was a little to creepy to entertain for long.

This last weekend my good friend Chandni’s parents came to town and invited me to meet up with them in Gabs to celebrate Diwali, an Indian festival of lights. We ate at one of the few Indian restaurants in the country, and I can’t even begin to describe the meal- we had several courses (too many to count) that had so many different and unique flavors and textures- it was some of the best food I’ve ever had. Compared to my usual attempts at cooking for one, eating an amazing meal with great company was a dream come true.

On the work end of things, I’ve been having a great time. I’m becoming more comfortable working with the kids, and I can tell they’re getting more comfortable with me as well. In the beginning none of them would talk to me (most of them are very shy, and especially so around foreign strangers), but now I feel like I’m really getting to know them better. I’m working with the younger kids daily to help them learn to read stories in English (most of them can read a little bit, but not well). I’ve also been doing more on the administrative side of things- learning to write proposals, helping with accounting, writing some of the content for our upcoming website- so I’ve been busy and learning a lot. All is well.

Adventures with Mom

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.

Holiday fun and hard work

Last weekend was a holiday weekend- Botswana celebrated 41 years of independence on September 30th, and we got Monday and Tuesday off of work which was nice. I made a trip to some villages further south to visit some other Peace Corps Volunteer friends- went to a couple of birthday parties and ended up spending tons of time on buses and waiting for transportation. Just another reminder that things here definitely move at a different pace. I definitely miss the convenience of having a car, but at least time on the bus usually translates into reading time, assuming I manage to get a seat.
Work has been very busy this week, and I've been fighting a bad cold which doesn't help. Sarah, the volunteer who is staying with me, has been teaching the kids about marketing and they seem to be enjoying having her around. Hopefully I'll get to spend more time with the kids soon, but in the meantime I'm doing research and helping with administrative and organizational stuff that needs to be done. Stepping Stones International is going to be expanding soon to accommodate more kids, so that means a lot of planning and proposal writing for funding needs to happen. It's an exciting time, and time seems to be flying by. I can't believe it's already October and I'm going to be 26 in a few days!
My mom comes to visit next week and I can't wait! I'll try to get some great pictures when she's here and will post them in the near future.

Feeling the heat, training, and some guests

It's now spring here and the shift in temperature has been dramatic- for almost every day in the last month I've been able to walk out my door before 8am in a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals and be perfectly comfortable; by afternoon I'm hiding from the intense, dry heat. It's been quite a shock to my system, and it's only going to get worse- summer is fast-approaching and I'm awaiting the 100+ degree days. Good times!
The past few weeks have been filled with training, work, and a sprinkling of fun here and there. The last three weeks have been mostly consumed by counseling training which has been provided by my work- it’s good information, but it’s been very tiring to be in training even on Saturdays. This upcoming weekend is my first chance to really have some free time- it’s a holiday weekend since Sunday, September 30th is Botswana’s Independence Day. Botswana first became independent from the British protectorate in the 1960s, so it’s a fairly young country. Independence Day is a very proud occasion for the Batswana, and there are said to be a great deal of festivities taking place to mark the occasion.
Last week a volunteer from the US named Sarah arrived- she will be staying with me for the next 5 weeks while she helps teach the kids at our center how to come up with and run income generating projects. She has her degree in business marketing, and she has some great ideas for what the kids can work on. Fortunately she’s really nice and about my age as well, so the company is welcome! It’s interesting to get a non-Peace Corps perspective on things here- I feel a little bit bad because compared to America there is very little to do here for fun. It’s not safe to go out after dark (around 7pm), there’s nowhere to go even if it were safe (there aren’t really pubs or dance clubs or restaurants that aren’t pretty sketchy), and even during the day there is little to do besides socialize with the neighbors. I’ve grown pretty used to spending a lot of time alone, reading and writing and learning Setswana, but for an outsider it can be a little daunting. Hopefully Sarah will get a chance to travel around the country a bit to make things more interesting.
In addition to Sarah, I had a few Peace Corps friends visit me last weekend which was really fun. It’s always so nice to meet up with other volunteers and discuss differences and similarities in our experiences- I think we learn a lot from each other.
The kids I’m working with continue to be a source of energy and excitement- it’s so apparent that they take nothing for granted and that even the smallest gestures of kindness mean the world to them. We’ve been involving them in activities to help them learn job skills and I’m focusing on teaching them about creative writing- they put so much effort and thought into the activities, it’s really inspiring to work with them. I’m also trying to organize a group of kids to go to Camp GLOW- it’s a week-long camp in December to help guys and girls to develop as leaders, learn life skills and build self-esteem, and then to return to their villages and help to empower other youth to do the same. Hopefully things will work out so I get to go along as a group leader- it would be a great way to help work with youth to hopefully make some positive changes in the community.

Pictures from Kanye

Monkeys at the motel, eating garbage

Me and friends at "the beautiful place"

Sunset over Kanye

Monkeys, Soccer, and a New Home

The last few weeks were spent in Kanye, a bustling town in the southern part of the country. Kanye is beautiful, spread out over several large, rolling hills covered in greenish brush and red sand. I met up with about 20 other volunteers at a nice, quiet motel surrounded by trees and even a family of monkeys. We spent many days being trained in Setswana, organizational development, and other topics aimed at helping us be effective volunteers. The after-hours were spent watching movies, playing soccer (I hadn’t played in many years and it brought out my competitive side all over again, so fun!), and just catching up. It was great to see volunteers from all over the country and get different perspectives on life in other villages. It was strange to be around other Americans, but it was comforting to be with people I could better relate to, and it was great to see my friends from our initial training.
Coming back to Mochudi is a little hard since my good friend Manda, the other PCV in Mochudi, decided to leave Peace Corps early to go back to the U.S. She left earlier this week and unfortunately I didn’t get to see her before she left. The only upside to her departure is that she helped work out the details so I can move into her house- since I’ve had security issues at my own house, it’s really nice to come back to a place that is seemingly safer and also furnished- it feels much more like home.
The next few weeks will be busy with more training- I’m being trained to be a counselor to help with my work. I’m really excited to see the kids again since I’ve been away for so long- I’m anxious to get back to work!
In case anyone is interested in reading about Mochudi’s chief who recently died, here’s a link to an article from one of the main newspapers in Botswana: http://www.mmegi.bw/2007/August/Wednesday22/1.php