Week II: Adapting to a New Lifestyle

Life is becoming more routine, Its funny how fast that can happen. The first two months in Botswana are Pre-Service Training (PST) before Peace Corps Trainees (PCT) are sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV) for two years with the potential to extend. In PST PCTs  (The Peace Corps loves their acronyms) live with a host family and have a structured schedule Monday-Friday 8-5, with either Setswana or another activity on Saturdays. These first two months are quite different then how I anticipate the next two years to be. The days are long but the weeks are short. Some days begin with a session on Diarrhea, where as others take place at the Kgotla, which is a local meeting place and at the heart of community life.

Although it is very dusty here you would not be able to tell by looking at a Motswana. It is common to “bath” twice a day here. This may seem strange for a region experiencing a drought, however, I am definitely using less water in my two baths combined then one shower in the States. Batswana take great pride in their appearance. Women frequently wear heels and everyone’s cloths are freshly pressed. Of course this is a culture full of many different types of people and what is true for some of the population is not true for all. However bathing twice a day is not uncommon here and chances are the Motswana next to you looks better then you do.

 I am fascinated by the remnants of the British, who were here until the 1960s, juxtaposed with Botswana traditions. Come 10:30am its Tea time, however there is no PG tips in sight, Five Roses appears to be the black tea of choice. Additionally Bush Tea (Rooibos) and Ricoffey (an instant coffee with chicory) can be found as well as a plethora of sugar. I am not sure if diabetes is a problem nation wide or just within the demographic that my host mom’s friends are in, however based on what I have seen of people’s diets, I wouldn’t be surprised.  Meat, Starch, and Sugar appear to be the main food groups, which could arguably be said about America as well. According to my host mom hyper-tension and diabetes are a large problem in Botswana. Lucky for me my host mom is aware of these things and embraces my meat free diet and takes note of how much salt I do or do not put on my food as well as my sugar intake, what she doesn’t see is the American Chocolate in my room… but I suspect she eats differently when I’m at school as well.

My host mom is extremely loving and welcoming, she makes me feel like I have family here. Also she is in her 70s and well off yet I, with my 55 pounds of luggage feel like I have a ridiculous amount of stuff in comparison. I feel like Batswana in general have less stuff, however, this is not rooted in anything except what I see and how I feel.

This may have been the first official week of training but already it feels like I have been in Botswana for months. I feel like I know how to deal with the water going out, I expect tea by 10:30am, and at 7pm I watch the news in Setswana usually falling asleep before the news in English is finished at 8:30. I would argue I am integrating into my community by adopting the life style of my 74 year old host mom, however then she makes me look bad by going to bed later then I do. Well you can’t win ‘em all and in the mean time I am going to continue my newly adopted sleep patterns.

 

Random Botswana Facts

Botswana (Prounounced “Boatswana”) is the Country

Batswana are the people (Plural)

Motswana is one person (singular)

Serowe is the largest Village in Botswana with over 57,000 people however it is still considered a village because of the way of life.

3 of the 4 Presidents of Botswana have hailed from Serowe

Week 1: Dumela, Ke bidewa Lesogo Hello, my name is Lesogo (Lesego means good fortune and is the name my host mom gave me upon arrival)

After an epic journey to Botswana including 7 hours in JFK, a 14 four flight that was just long enough for me to question why I was flying 8640 Km (5369 miles) to a place where I knew no one, and a beautiful African proverb “Go alone and you will go fast, go alone and you will go far,” I had arrived in Botswana to the warm greetings of current Peace Corps Volunteers and staff. Immediately the fact that I had only slept a handful of hours in the last three days and the fact that I was not entirely sure what day it was, ceased to matter. I was home.

Tim Hartman is the Country Director for Peace Corps Botswana and a name to know. He came to greet all 60 of us “Bots 14” at the airport and continued to be personally involved in our adjustment to the country. Although I now find myself in a completely different part of the world I have been given the tools to not only adjust to, but embrace the culture and the world around me. There will be days when I wonder why I am here, and hopefully I can think back to this day for support.

After two days in Gaborone (the capital) it is off to Serowe to meet our homestay families. When my name was called a dancing cheering woman greeted me and immediately draped a shawl over me. The shawl became a little more alarming to me later when my host mom whispered “this means you will be daughter-in-law” however as she later said it was meant more to make me stick out so she could recognize me, “since you all look the same.” Later when we were in the parking lot trying to sort through the luggage we got disconnected but luckily I spotted her just a few paces away from where I left her, so I went and lovingly patted her arm, there is a lot of physical contact in Batswana culture, only to have the woman stare confused at me. Yes, I had just stroked some random woman’s arm and even in Botswana that is strange, but I felt okay knowing that both my host mom and I had an equally hard time recognizing each other that first night. I am happy to say that now that we have seen each other in the day light we are both good to go. Although I cannot say as much for finding my way home.

I have never felt so incompetent in my life. I am 21 years old yet I cannot find my way home from training/School. The pink house on the hill where I live is a 10 minute walk from the Serowe College of Education or TTC where I have my training. On my first day it took me an hour and a half to get home and led many people to worry about me. During my adventure home I had also managed to turn off my phone without the password I needed to turn it on again. Although I was a little stressed during my unplanned adventure and felt guilty for having people worry about me the reality is I gave my host mom and her neighbors something to laugh about for weeks. In turn I got a ride from a Peace Corps Staff member and was able to watch one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen in my life with a light breeze hitting my face.

Welcome

Hello Everyone,

Thanks for checking out my blog! I am 21 and a recent graduate of the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana with a degree in History and Gender and Women’s Studies. In a few short days I will be calling Botswana home and working as a Peace Corps Volunteer on HIV/AIDS Capacity Building Project as a School and Community Liaison for Life Skills. Adventure here I come!

The views expressed in this blog belong to me and do not in any way reflect the United States government or the Peace Corps.

As I Say Goodbye

There are so many emotions I do not know how to hold all of them. I am leaving everything I know. Yes, I realize this is melodramatic but that is how I feel. One moment there is the realization that this is the last time I will see a loved one for two years and the next I am chatting with a current Peace Corps Volunteer who is excited for me and all of Bots 14 (the group of 67 people I will be departing for Botswana with on August 12^th) wishing she was back in our shoes, remembering all the excitement. Then my mom reads about Botswana in the Costco magazine, another reminder of the inter connected world we live in and a comfort to her that the people who shop at Costco have not only heard of Botswana but are also interested in traveling there, or at least someone in their PR office feels that way. Next an aunt pops in to drop off a going away present and remind me of all of her friends that have died while traveling abroad. Great I will take note. Later that evening I am wondering why my cardigan is a bit damp in the shoulder and I realize it is the tears of one of my dearest friends who I just said goodbye to as she departs for her own travels, and when she returns in two weeks I will already be 7 time zones away. This may feel jumbled but welcome to my head.

I am about to embark on the biggest adventure of my life thus far and I could not be more thrilled or scared. In 6 days I leave for Botswana and I am confident that that is where I should be, I feel incredibly lucky to have this opportunity and at the same time I am filled with fear. What if no one likes me? Will I be an effective PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer)? Will I adapt? Will sorghum and millet agree with my stomach? How will I function outside of my carefully crafted support system in the States? Then the next moment I do a pulse check realize I am over doing it a bit.

So I begin to talk myself down from the anxious space I just created, and here is goes:

What if no one likes me? I may have trouble with a lot of things but making friends has never been one of them.

Will I be an effective PCV? The best I can do is try, and I have been known to be a bit of an overachiever.

…I am already feeling a bit calmer

Will I adapt? Well I signed up for an adventure and that is what I will get, also I hear humans are incredibly adaptable and I’m human for better or worse.

Will sorghum and millet agree with my stomach? I hear there are also “fat cakes” which I am sure can make up for the difference if my stomach is not inclined towards these new grains.

How will I function outside of my carefully crafted support system in the States? I am so lucky to have so many people who love me and whom I love. These connections are not going anywhere. I am still the same me no matter what my belly is full of, what my current address is, or what time zone I am in, and I like me so this will probably all work out.

And then I realize I’ll be okay.