Week 90: Grieving

 This week a teacher who I used to work with at Modisi passed away. Before entering peace corps I was given material on how to deal with death of community members in my service. I am lucky that this was the first time the material was relevant. I have been to countless funerals here but never of people that I was close with. I went to show my support of the community since I had just arrived and because I thought this made me part of the community. This week not only did my co-worker pass away but two of my closest friends in the village had family pass away as well. I felt as though I was surrounded by death, I was sad for the family, friends, and children that the loved ones left behind and more than that I was sad that as a culture the Batswana have become accustomed to death. I am not saying that any of these deaths were related to AIDS, I honestly don’t know if they were, as it is still not common for people to disclose their status, even to close family. However, when the HIV/AIDS epidemic came in the 90s it ravaged the country and no family was left untouched. I believe in a small way it normalized the death of family members. I am not saying it made it any easier but it definitely made it more common. This devastating part of Botswana’s history has left the people stronger in my opinion. Upon hearing of the death of my co-worker and my friends’ family members I was distraught and unclear how to proceed. For each of my friends I could see that they were hurting but they each took it in stride and their lives continued just now there were more mouths to feed at home and no more visits from Uncle. Peace Corps is full of highs and lows and through out this week I was also working on last minute preparations for a GLOW camp that I will tell you about next week.