Week 68: The Princess of Moshana

November 24^th-30^th

Thanksgiving is quite possibly my favorite holiday and I wanted to share it with my friends in the village.  Going the whole nine yards with a turkey and stuffing seemed a bit too complex so I settled for an apple pie (of the square variety).  A few of my teacher friends and my land lady came over to enjoy the pie which was the perfect way to celebrate with my Moshana family. I tried to explain the saying “As American as Apple Pie” which turned out to be more difficult then I thought so I settled by telling them that they were eating the most American food. The average Motswana doesn’t seem to have as much of a sweet tooth as the average American but luckily my guests all enjoyed the pie and asked me to wait till they arrive to start baking next time.

Earlier in the week I had a meeting with the clinic staff about how we are going to work together next year. Later in the meeting I was encouraging the women to come to the library and borrow books. One of the women claimed she couldn’t read because she didn’t have reading glasses. I asked if she had children, which she confirmed and I told her to have them read to her. She then said that they only watch TV and abuse her, I told her to turn off the electricity and in an attempt at a joke told her to abuse them back. Due to her look of confused horror, I do believe my joke bombed and I accidently encouraged violence…oops!

We had a road safety event in Moshana this week, which was supposed to begin at 6:30 am with a march through the village. Time is a lot more flexible here and thus the boy scouts and I were the only ones to show up at 6:30. When the event did start at 9:30 I was glad to be there because the Kgosi (traditional leader) called attention to my presence and introduced me as the princess of Moshana. I don’t think I have ever been called princess, however, after the event numerous people went out of their way to call me that and I am worried it will stick. However the nickname is a small price to pay for the acceptance and love I feel in the village.

Week 67: Dr Tau o kae? (Where is Dr Tau?)

 November 17^th-23^rd

My annual dentist appointment rolled around this week and I left the village armed with the Dentist’s name and a rough hand drawn map that I could not make heads or tails of. Admittedly I was a bit irked with this minimal amount of information I was given and felt none of the control over my day that I so enjoy. The day started well as I got my favorite bus to the capital and the conductor assured me he knew where I was going and would help me get there, I rested easy for the next hour and a half. Then upon arrival to the bus rank he directed me to the combi I needed. Just to be sure, I double checked with the combi driver to see if his was the right route, he then directed me to another combi, promising that that one was better. A slew of other kindly strangers and combis later I was headed out of the rank sitting next to the combi driver who reassured me he knew where I was going, this was more than I could say for myself and I decided to trust him. Fifteen minutes into the route he asks me where I am going and before I lose my cool, I remember that I really haven’t the faintest and I can’t be angry with him for also not knowing, despite his earlier promises. A few minutes later I decide to get off when I see a sign for a dentist, in hopes it will be mine. As it turns out it was not, but the lovely ladies at the office did know my dentist and my map made perfect sense to them. I left their office armed with a phone number (which I didn’t have before) and a sense of gratitude for all of the people who helped me along the way, even though they did not have to. Even down to finding the right building in the complex and the office when I was in the building, there were friendly faces helping me along. Countries are made up of many individuals but by and large I have found Batswana to be very helpful and willing to assist a stranger, as one of those strangers, I am very grateful. As it turned out I have a cavity and thus have the privilege of making this trek again in two weeks, as fun as it was, I do hope it is a bit simpler next go around, maybe I can even give someone directions to pay it forward.

Week 66: Mid Service Training

Mid-Servicer Training was this week and thus I spent the first half of the week in the Capital with my fellow Bots 14ers. It was great to catch up with some of the members of my cohort that I have not seen since our last training in February and enjoy the amenities such as a hot shower and air conditioning. I am very grateful to be going through this experience with a great group of people, even though by and large our paths do not cross on a regular basis when they do cross I know they understand what I am going through and I them.

One of my best friends in the village is the four year old who lives on my compound. As I type this we are reading a book by Eric Carle interspersed with singing head shoulders, knees and toes. This child has affected my life more than she will ever know and always reminds me to keep it simple, giggle, and sing.

Week 65: Little Frustrations and Midterm Elections

  Since I have been living and working in Moshana for more than a year, I am definitely more comfortable but that also means that little frustrations which I thought were funny and endearing I no longer see that way. This week I worked with the standard 6 teachers and the guidance department to put on a self esteem workshop for the standard 6 students. In order to put this event together there were many hurdles however the one that makes for the best story involves the hunt for the projector, which turned into a hunt for the key to the filing cabinet it was stored in, and finally a hunt for a sharp object to jimmy the cabinet open with. It was about the time that I was scanning the school for anything flat and metal to open the cabinet with that I realized a few months ago this would have been funny to me and just another part of my adventure here. Now I see it as an unnecessary hoop I have to jump through to get to my end goal (showing a power point).  I can appreciate that I am growing here and do not need for every frustration to be a laugh but I hope I can still see the humor in a situation while still standing up for my needs.

I assume most people know that this week there were the Mid-Term Elections in the States. Recently I have been watching copious amounts of the TV show The West Wing and drinking the idealism juice that Aaron Sorkin is putting out there. As a result of drinking the juice I was very excited for elections and I hope people took their civic duty seriously to be informed and vote. I will own up to the fact that I did not submit my absentee ballot and hang my head in shame. Although I can promise I will be voting next time around.

Week 64: Trouble in Paradise (When Paradise is the Library)

I was enthused by how many children were using the library at school, with 50-100 books being taken out daily. However as the week wore on, I was becoming less enthused with the amount of books being returned, the state of the books that were returned, and the over all state of the library after the hurricane of kids left each day. My first reaction was to get angry with the kids for mistreating the books and make it personal feeling that they were mistreating me. Then I was reminded that my mother read to me every night as a child and I was surrounded by books at school, at home, and (because I was cool like that) the library. Most of the kids I am working with have not had the same exposure to books and thus my new goal is to try to create a culture of reading and mostly just don’t take it personally.

Week 63: Elections

On October 24^th there were long lines at the school as community members waited to vote. Botswana has had a parliamentary democracy, modeled after the UK system, since independence in 1966. Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has held the majority in Parliament since independence and remained the majority this election keeping President Sir Seretse Khama Ian Khama in power for another 5 year term (his second and last due to term limits). This election was more heated then recent years and opposition parties now have 20 seats in parliament, which is greater then ever before. Keep an eye out for the next election in Botswana times are a changing.

At the end of the day I went over to the Kgotla, our other polling place, to see how voting was going that side. Civil servants such as teachers are the ones who work and manage the polling stations and thus I wanted to check in with my friends. While chatting with the teachers one of them told me that there was a case of Ebola in New York and then let me read the article on his phone. Just as an fyi there have been more confirmed cases of Ebola in the States then there have been in Botswana (there have been zero Botswana).