Week 13: Motogo and Masimo

Motogo is a soft porridge made of sorghum meal, which is a softer creamier version of oatmeal (it is not very much like oatmeal but its what I eat for breakfast now instead of oatmeal and serves as a great vehicle for cinnamon and sugar). When I first arrived my land lady made me motogo before I was able to go to a grocery store, then when I started making my own motogo it was terribly lumpy and quite sad. However, during a particularly long wait at the bus renk I was able to pick up the trick, (mix the sorghum meal with water before you add it to the boiling water) and now I am eating a delicious bowl of motogo with almond essence and sugar that is lump free. This is a good indicator of my time in Moshana. The little things are starting to demand less energy of me, like bucket baths, pit latrines, and breakfast, and I feel just a little more Motswana.

A bit of a wrench was thrown into my new level of comfortability as the water went out this week for a few days. I have a stand pipe on my compound which went out but just up the road there is a boar hole with water that the cattle use. Thus my landlady and I went with our empty buckets in hand and came back with them full on our heads. She was of course balancing hands free while I felt a bit precarious and did not dare to remove my hand, a few more days without water and I am sure I will be a champ as well. In the end I was only with out water for two and a half days which is not long, however, not knowing when it was going to come back was what worried me.

Botswana has a three land system where many people have a home village, a cattle post, and lands (masimo in Setswana). This weekend I went with a friend to her masimo. It was just a bit of a walk outside of Moshana and I learned about boroku along the way. Since I was born and raised in the city of Chicago I do not know the American equivalent and perhaps we don’t have boroku exactly but it’s a type of tree sap and tasty treat. The boroku crystallizes as it saps out of the tree and you can just peel it off and enjoy! Although truthfully I did not particularly care for the taste, (it was not sweet enough to satisfy my taste buds) it was a magical moment to have snacks on the way provided by the trees. Less magical was learning more about the drought in Botswana and how this is killing the animals and consequently peoples livelihoods.

To close out the week, I woke up at 2am on Saturday and was confused, was I still dreaming what is that noise? Then again at 3, nope this is not a dream I am having, I definitely hear people. At 4am, I am not curious enough to get out of bed, but still confused. Finally at 5am, encouraged by the sun I get out of bed mosey to the pit latrine and finally understand the noise was simply the all night prayers complete with full body singing that my neighbors were holding, naturally why didn’t I guess. Botswana is a Christian nation and there is a heavy religious influence. Most meetings or events will start with a prayer and the all night prayer vigil that caught my attention is not uncommon and another friend of mine attended a different such vigil that same evening.