Week 53: "We have a Surprise for you"

“We have a surprise for you!” exclaimed Mma Pule’s standard 2 class as they skipped into the library shortly followed by Mma Pule. Usually this means a fat cake or someone wants me to do extra work, however, Mma Pule instead pulled out one of their readers and five kids stood up saying they could read the whole page in English. This was the best surprise I could have asked for and came at the perfect time. I wasn’t sure who was more excited, the kids who could read, Mma Pule, or me. Regardless it gave me just the boost I needed in my midweek slump and reminded me that although I cannot always see it, I am making a difference in people’s lives just as they are making one in mine.

This week the “Bots 15s” arrived and their energy and enthusiasm is contagious, hopefully I was able to share some experience with them and become infected with their spirit.

Week 52: Singing and Combis

 Every Monday and Friday Morning the kids have morning Assembly, which begins and ends with the children singing. The most common being a Christian themed song, “We are marching over to Jerusalem…” Clapping and foot stamping usually accompany the singing and inevitably I am singing it to myself all day long. However it is much more culturally acceptable to be walking around singing to one’s self here and thus I fit in.

The Moshana combis in and out of Kanye (the nearest shopping village) can always be seen full of bags of maize meal, sorghum, and other personal items while the owners of said items are in the midst of finishing their shopping else where. Since I do not buy maize meal in bulk and have had a hard time shaking my American distrust, I usually carry my shopping bags, however, having just stocked up on flour (and living in Botswana for a year) I decided it was time to trust a little and leave my bag on the combi. I then went to go buy airtime (minutes for my cell phone) only to return to see the combi pulling out of the bus rank. My American kicked in, and I was angry with myself for letting my groceries out of sight and mostly just sad that the snack I bought was now traveling further from me and closer to the place I wanted to be. I knew that my groceries were not gone forever, it would just be more of a hassle tracking down the combi driver later and maybe the butter I bought would be a little melty. Resignedly I walked to the new combi that is waiting at the rank and what do I find inside? My bag! The combi driver saw that I was not back yet and relocated my bag to the next waiting combi. Although I had to wait another hour for the combi to leave I sat happily munching my snack and grateful for small acts of kindness.

Week 51: HIV Lesson and Investing

Peace Corps Botswana’s mandate is to teach about HIV/AIDS. My motto is I can only fight one loosing battle at a time and the fight I have taken on is literacy. If you cannot read, that affects every other aspect of your life so I think that is a good starting point. Some my call my mindset pessimistic, but I call it realistic.  However, this week I was able to have an HIV/AIDS lesson with the standard 6 students. This was a short 45-minute lesson, however the planning process was not quite as short. Many meetings were held in order to pass through the proper protocol including one with my counterpart where he got up 15 minutes into the meeting to pass a message onto another teacher, never to return. It was only him and me in the meeting so 45-minutes later I go to the teacher he went to see only to find out he never made it to her, then I go to his classroom where I find him. He was shocked to see me and completely forgot we were in the middle of the meeting.  Luckily I was in a good mood that day and was able to laugh it off.

I was still laughing later in the day when I came across my land-lady’s eldest son traipsing through the bush next to our home. I greeted him and he responded with a mutter, “I am going to invest in property, not living things.” His mother on the other hand has invested in goats who have recently had babies and the little ones do not know their way home yet so Mpati was sent to retrieve them and had apparently been looking for some time. In his mind, property cannot go wandering away and is thus a better investment. As a result of the baby goats wandering they are now only allowed in the yard and have been continually trying to sneak in my house.

Week 50: Sese Bush Walk

I am incredibly proud of another PCV friend who organized a 25 and 10 K walk between her village and a neighboring town. She exceeded her monetary goal and will now begin building a library and a woodshop at her school. Like a good friend I went to her village the weekend of the walk to help with last minute details. Promptly upon arrival I got sick and ended up sleeping in her house all weekend. I was bummed I missed the walk and was a poor helper, however, it was the best place to be sick, surrounded by friends who fed me tea and chocolate.

Traveling from Moshana to Sese begins with me walking to the paved road outside of my village to catch the bus to Jwaneng. This time I walked the 2K with a guy from my village who was giving me a history lesson which after my prodding turned into a discussion about the politics of Zimbabwe. The man was articulating that people are averse to change because it is scary (which I agree with to a degree), however, with the sun shinning, a light breeze in my hair, and the prospect of a fun weekend ahead I was pro-change. A year ago, I was excited and afraid to move to Botswana, now it is my home and it has opened me up to experiences I could not have gotten elsewhere, cheers to taking chances.

Week 49: GLOW

“FIVE-FOUR-THREE-TWO-ONE, Left hand, FIVE-FOUR-THREE-TWO-ONE…” Shouted 15 boys as they shook their hands and feet to warm –up before learning about gender roles at the Southern Region GLOW camp.

GLOW stands for Girls/Guys Leading Our World and is a camp usually put on by peace corps volunteers focusing on leadership, self-esteem, gender roles, puberty, and HIV/AIDS education. This particular camp I have been working on with 10 other PCVs since March. Together we brought 60 boys from all over the Southern Region for a long weekend.

Working on this camp has been the most rewarding work experience I have had here. I co-taught two lessons on gender-roles and risky sexual behavior (that increase the risk of HIV infection). In the gender-roles session, one of the boys admitted that he babysits his younger sister, which sparked a lot of discussion and some of his peers to make fun of him, since as a young man this was not a role that he should have. The courage of this boy to be honest with his peers warmed my heart and reminded me that this is how change happens. I feel lucky to have created a space where that boy felt comfortable sharing because I know that his peers got more from what he said than all of the other things I taught. On the contrary when I asked other boys what they learned in the session, they replied, “Men eat more than women.” Haha you can’t win ‘em all.

Overall the camp was revitalizing. I had the privilege of working with other motivated PCVs, teachers, and students, can’t wait to start planning another!

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.