Week 48: Goodbyes and Goats

This week we lost another Bots 14 (this was the intake group I arrived with). Thankfully it is not due to any medical emergency, however, it is still a loss. August 2013, the 60 some Bots 14 s met in Philadelphia for “staging” before we all got on a plane and our journey began. Staging is often referred to as a last chance to decide that Peace Corps is not for you and the women who led our staging continually referred to the group as our new life long best friends. I remember being frustrated with her thinking, “No! My best friends are by and large in Chicago and I recently had to say goodbye to them. I am currently sitting in a room full of strangers.” Since then I have had many conversations with other volunteers who felt similar then and now we laugh as the joke was ultimately on us. The people I am having these conversations with I believe I will be friends with for a very long time. I arrived in Botswana with 60 other Americans and although I am not close with all of them, they have become my family, for better or worse, and I am sad to see one of them leaving.

In other news I continue to be obsessed with goats and I believe they have surpassed elephants in the quest to win over my heart. They are just adorable and hilarious at the same time. I used to only appreciate them for the delicious cheese they produce, but now my appreciation goes deeper.

Week 47: There are Leopards?

I went to my friend’s house after school to plan a time when she can teach me to make this delicious boiled bread. Her husband and her were enjoying the sun’s powerful rays and so I joined them and we started to chat about my friend’s new chicken. I started advocating for my friend to get more chickens so I could have a reliable egg provider in the village, she responded that this was not a viable business plan as I would be leaving in a year. As sad as I am that I will still have to buy my eggs in another village, she is making financial sense. Then the conversation progressed to how long I have been in the village and the things I still appreciate. Regardless of how much time passes I still love the gravel/dirt road east of the village that heads into the bush, which has become my running path. My friend’s husband asked if I was scared running on that path. I chuckled and asked what is there to be afraid of? Previously the answer has always been other homo sapiens, however, this time he threw me for a loop and said the tigers! Comforted with the knowledge that there are no tigers in Botswana, I respond that I am not afraid until the language barrier was broken and it is determined that he meant leopards instead of tigers. So after nine months of running on the same dirt road I have only just found out that my running companions are not limited to small children, cows, and donkeys but also leopards and large snakes!

My temporary fear turned to excitement at the thought of seeing these animals but then was quickly placated by the reality that it has been nine months with no sightings. After an afternoon filled with laughter, my friends company, the warming sun, and new knowledge I now feel much more hardcore about my running. In the unlikely event that I encounter a leopard I now know to just pretend like I didn’t see it, which I may have inadvertently been doing for months.

Week 46: Victoria Falls Half Marathon

I ran my second half marathon this week in the beautiful Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Along the run I was able to see the falls, cross a bridge to Zambia, see Baobab trees, and meet some cool people. Making new friends is one of my favorite things about travel and highlights the multitude of different ways to live one’s life. Whether it’s talking with an Australian lawyer about their justice system,  learning about the good places to eat in Durban, or breaking people’s stereotypes about Americans, I enjoy meeting new people, learning their story, and sharing mine

Before going up to the falls I lead a workshop on Gender Based Violence in a friend’s village. So much of what I do here involves me learning things as I go or more often than not from my mistakes. “Lesego speak to the kids about Commonweath Day” Great let me first learn what that is. Speaking and educating about GBV was a welcome relief as it is a topic I am both passionate and knowledgeable about.

Week 45: 5 Things I love about living in Botswana

1.     The Sky

2.     Goats, especially baby goats

3.     The hills around Moshana village

4.     Fat Cakes (Megwinya in Setswana)

5.     People’s kindness

Week 44: “Happy Birthday to Me…” June 9th-15th

I am now the wise old age of 22. One year ago I graduated from University and became legally able to drink in the States and then promptly moved half way across the globe to Botswana. A little geography lesson, Botswana is located in Southern Africa resting just above South Africa and bordered by Namibia to the west, Zimbabwe to the east and touching Zambia at the site of Victoria Falls.  The official languages in Botswana are Setswana and English although there are also a variety of other languages spoken including Kalanga, Sarwa, Ndebele, and Afrikaans.

As of June 13^th I have been living in Botswana for 10 months and in the village of Moshana for 8 months. Frequently I question what I am actually accomplishing here, however, I have some how managed to worm my way into the hearts of the teachers at my school. In the staff room there is a small calendar where I post my monthly schedule. The calendar is mostly so the staff can see when I will be working in other villages however I also marked my birthday. This did not go unnoticed (it also probably helped that I told everyone) and the teachers threw me a surprise party complete with cake, presents, and speeches. Highlights of the party included the photo shoot, where everyone took a photo with me, which is made better by the fact that one of the teachers tricked me into going home at tea for my camera saying she needed it to film her students. She was a very convincing liar and although the project was fictional, now that I know the idea, I would love to see it come to fruition, and am grateful that the party was well documented. The presents consisted of a space heater and a blanket, which could not have been better, I am currently sitting under the blanket next to the space heater and I am quite toasty. Hilariously I was a bit late to school today since I could not rouse myself from the cold, with my new heater, I have no excuse. To conclude the party the school head said, “This is love,” and I couldn’t agree more.

Week 43: Back to Village Life

Sadly there were no metal cowboys to be found this week, however, I did feel vaguely like a cowboy (okay more like a dairy farmer) as I learned how to milk the goats my land-lady keeps

Term two at school has started up and the temperature has dropped. Morning temperatures this week reached a whopping 27 degrees Fahrenheit, which lead me to put on all of the warm things I owned and then dance around my house singing, “I am a marshmallow, marshmallow, marshmallow.” The temperature is likely to reach the 60s by the afternoon, which brings an end to my marshmallow dance and the feeling back to my toes. As a native Chicagoan I am used to temperatures much colder for longer periods of time, however, I am also used to insulation, central heating, and indoor plumbing. Lucky for me, the winter is much shorter in Moshana than it is in Chicago.

Week 42: Ghanzi Metal Festival

The last week of May marked Ghanzi’s fifth annual metal music festival and my first metal concert. Initially when my friend invited me to the event I thought, “Oh fun, I love crafts!” It was not until weeks later that I discovered I had actually agreed to go to a metal music festival and not a craft fair. Knowing that I may not have agreed to attend, however, I am so glad I did. The festival draws bands and metal enthusiasts from all over Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa (as well as an unsuspecting peace corps volunteer). The weekend was also quite informative as the mystery of what constituted a metal cowboy, was unraveled. From what I saw a metal cowboy wears leather chaps, fringe, and a whole lot of studs.

During the day we were doing HIV/AIDS education and community outreach and by night we were all just a few metal enthusiasts. Highlights for me included the march across town, in the name of ending poverty however more like an excuse for the metal cowboys to strut their stuff. The march was very informative for me as I also learned the appropriate way to strut, even if my bright orange shirt did not exactly match the leather body suits, I did learn to strut with the best of them. Although I am still partial to crafts I am also excited for next years metal music festival.

Ghanzi is a village in the northern part of the Khalahari desert on the western side of Botswana, not far from the Namibian border.