Week 91: GLOW II

As I mentioned last week I just completed a GLOW (Girls/Guys Leading Our World) camp in the southern region with 7 other PCVs and teacher counterparts. GLOW camps were started by a group of PCVs and their counterparts in Romania in the 1990s and since then have spread to numerous Peace Corps countries worldwide. For this camp we took 67 boys and girls from 10 schools and hosted a four day camp that included such topics as leadership, gender, HIV, and self-confidence to name a few. These camps can be extremely rewarding and a good test of patience. You learn what to do with 67 kids when dinner is three hours late. How to get a group of 30 boys to go to sleep since you will be the one waking them up in 6 hours to start the fire to heat their bath water. Throughout the weekend I fine tuned my disciplinary techniques as I was one of the volunteers sleeping in the hall with the boys. It was after 11pm one of the nights and the boys were still being rowdy, all I could think of was having to be the one to wake them up at 5am and that finally did the trick as I calmly threatened the boys with moving my sleeping bag to where they were sleeping. One of the ring leaders said, “No ma’am we are afraid of you” At 11pm all I could say was good go to sleep. Although that was not a highlight of the GLOW camp for me I do think it showed my growth. I know that previously I would have placed a higher value on getting all of the kids to like me however this year I was more comfortable being a disciplinarian and getting the kids to like me was secondary. First I wanted their respect and some sleep. I was so happy that I was a part of the Southern Region GLOW camp this year and I am also okay that it was my last PCV driven GLOW camp. Next step is getting my school to transition from vocal support of the camps to putting one on themselves. The best part of having a GLOW camp at Modisi (the school I work at) is that at 11pm at night I will have been sound asleep for hours and not sleeping at the foot of a bunch of 15 year-olds beds worried they are sneaking out.

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.

Week 89: A Week Well Spent

Lesego is back. Last week grumpy city loving Dawn was being grouchy around the village but this week smiling slow paced Lesego is back. I really am grateful to live somewhere with such beautiful sunsets and the time to watch them. This week I spent an entire afternoon making Vindaloo, finished working on some Gender Based Violence lessons, and worked with the Eye nurse that came to the village. I also was able to celebrate the birthday of a peace corps friend with cake and the knowledge that I have met some amazing people who continuously remind me to see the positive and eat more cake! Back in the village I was able to hang out with my friend’s kids and share the simple pleasure of a candy cane. All in all I would say I am pretty lucky, a week well spent.

Week 88: Readjustment

Six months remaining and I am back at work. Back to the village where the only café in town is my own kitchen and I would not know the first thing about making an Espresso martini (nor am I up late enough to reasonably enjoy such a drink). I have been here for twenty months and throughout that time my reasons for being here have consistently shifted and evolved. I got to a place this week that I was no longer sure I had a strong enough reason to stay. After numerous conversations with friends and family I decided even if I am unsure why I am here, I don’t have a strong enough reason for leaving. For all you long distance runners reading this, I have decided that I’ve hit my wall. Peace Corps is a marathon and I am at mile twenty and I have hit my wall, even though I am not sure why I am still running, I can trust that it will make sense to me later and I want to cross the finish line. As my marathon running sister said, gummy bears and Gatorade. Luckily my sister’s boyfriend was so kind as to bring me gummy bears and I do have Gatorade but as my sister reminded me it is strictly for rehydrating after getting sick (Oral Rehydration salts are possibly the worst thing I have ever drank). As my mom said, its always hard to come back after a vacation, and I am lucky that I have been able to take such a great vacation with amazing people. As long as I am gentle with myself I know I can make it past this wall. Although there is no shame in leaving the Peace Corps early and I support all of my peers who left for various reasons, but I am not ready to go yet.

Week 87: Cape Town

Nestled around Table Mountain and between the oceans and wine country, Cape Town is a truly magical place. Admittedly I did not know much about it before moving to this part of the world and could barely find it on a map. However, after arriving here it seemed like every PCV was talking about it either for its natural beauty, great hiking, good coffee, pastries, craft beer, I could go on and on. Needless to say I became quite excited that such a city was so near my dessert village home.

While in Cape Town we took advantage of the spectacular views and hiked into a cloud as we climbed Table Mountain as well as the spectacular views of the city as we walked it daily. I was able to pretend I was in one of my favorite movies of all time (Casablanca) and go to Rick’s Café where I enjoyed my falafel and Martini in peace, since it was touristy Cape Town and not Vichy Morocco.  I was lucky enough to enjoy this beautiful city with my sister and her boyfriend who continually reminded me to be grateful to be in such a lovely city with great company.

Week 86: Vacation!

After a few weeks in the village my sister and I were ready to go on vacation. We had quite the vacation planned including a safari, Cape Town, and due to its convenient location and transportation hub, Johannesburg. The trip started with a car rental pick up that set the tone for adventure. After riding the combi’s and busses for the last few weeks my sister and I may have forgotten some details about private vehicles, for instance that with an accidental click of a button we had the power to open the trunk. Once we had the car and were taking it back over the border to Botswana (we rented the car in South Africa) this button must have been clicked unbeknownst to us and the car alarm going off in the parking lot was in fact our car since the trunk had been open the whole time we were going through customs. As we walked out of the building pleased with ourselves for getting the car and coming back home, I heard the alarm and said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that was our car.” Good thing I was serious and we both got quite a laugh out of our own foolishness and were much more careful during the rest of the trip.

Later in the trip we were spending a night in Johannesburg where I may have been unnecessarily hyper alert (and we had already returned the car, so there was no fear of another trunk incident). As a PCV I had to get special approval from the country director of Peace Corps South Africa. This along with Jozi’s (one of the many nicknames that locals have for their city) less then steller reputation left me hyper aware of my surroundings and extra cautious. My sister and I were staying in an adorable neighborhood called Melville that some other PCV friends had stayed in only a few weeks earlier. We also met a Dutch couple during the first part of our trip who had resettled in Melville and sang its praises as well as drew us a map of the neighborhood with all of their favorite restaurants, book shops, coffee houses, and even their house which was two blocks from where we were staying. All this information made me more excited to go but no less vigilant. As my sister and I changed out of our travel cloths and into something for dinner I put some rand in my pocket not wanting to carry a purse. My sister was going to simply take a clutch. I said that I felt uneasy with her carrying her wallet so out in the open, she trusted my judgment or simply wanted to calm my nerves and put her money in a pocket as well. As we walked down the flower lined cobble stone streets to the main restaurant drag, we came across an older woman who immediately started walking with us. She was a Melville native and going out to a trivia night at one of the bars with her friends. She was delightful and reminded me of one of the reasons I love traveling and although its best to ere on the side of caution not all of Jo-burg’s reputation is rightfully deserved. As with any city it is good to be aware of your surroundings and what neighborhood you are in, but then enjoy! Make friends with middle-aged women who enjoy trivia and compliment you on your fitness level.

Week 85: Madombi

 One thing I can always count on in Botswana is that things never go as planned. This can be infuriating when I don’t have the energy or an exciting adventure when I do. One of my favorite foods here is Madombi, a boiled bread. I have never made it, even though I have made the dough since it is the same dough that other breads here are made of. I was always too afraid because early on one of my teacher friends was laughing with me as she told me all the ways she has messed it up. Naturally I wanted my sister to try my favorite foods so I planned for us to go to one of my friend’s houses for dinner as she is a phenomenal cook. At the last minute something came up and my friend was unable to have us over (as a mother of four, this is perfectly understandable). I was a bit bummed that my sister was not going to be able to eat madombi until I realized my sister isn’t going to be able to tell the difference between my first timer madombi and my friends excellent years of practice madombi and if I really messed up, the dogs could have a nice afternoon snack. As it turned out, my madombi isn’t so bad and I was grateful to my friend for her busy schedule because it pushed me to try new things. If I hadn’t been given a little extra shove, I would have never made madombi and I would still be thinking I couldn’t do it.