Links to Google Images

Sorry I forgot the links to Google Images......here is the one for the Delta and here is the link for the Moremie Game Reserve.

Living in the Desert and Site Placement

As I wrote in the last post, my first few weeks in Botswana were spent adjusting to a new way of life.  However, eventually living with a family in Botswana became the norm.  As a result, this post will be less about the adjustment process and more about training, especially because training can no longer be described in the general terms I used in the last post. 

For instance, in week 5 of training (May 7^th-May 14^th) I went to Kaudwane and shadowed a current Peace Corps Volunteer working in a school.  Kaudwane is a remote village bordering the Central Kalahari Game Reserve about four hours north from where I live now in Kanye.  It is so remote that the paved road, and consequentially the last bus stop, ends about 90km from Kaudwane.   For the rest of trip you have to a catch a ride with someone traveling the sandy and rocky 90km of road to Kaudwane.   While Kaudwane’s location made this mode of transportation a necessity, catching a ride with strangers is actually a pretty normal mode of travel in Botswana.  In fact, it is so ingrained that it seems most villages have unofficial carpool areas were people wait for passer-bys.  In many cases, including my experience going to and from Kaudwane, these unofficial carpool areas are just trees on the side of the road. 

After traveling the 90km to Kaudwane, the seclusion becomes even more apparent.   For instance, most of the 500 people living in Kaudwane are from the minority San group.   Since the San people are by tradition hunter and gatherers, the few residences in Kaudwane were separated by miles of shrubbery and thick sand.  This made the village seemed to house no more than a little over a hundred people. Consequently, not much is in Kaudwane: there is one school, one store with basic goods, a few shebeens (traditional brew houses), one clinic, one street lamp, and no paved roads. 

The volunteer I shadowed seemed to navigate this rural setting very well.  In fact, in addition to the rural setting he didn’t have electricity or a refrigerator, yet he seemed perfectly happy.   Living with him for that week was a refreshing, because I saw that living in a rural setting without many of the amenities was possible and actually not that bad.  For example, even though the area was remote the day still went by pretty normal: during the day my host volunteer worked at the school; after school he coached soccer; around six it was back home to cook rice and some type of canned vegetable and/or meat; and finally, after dinner we just hung out playing cards and/or watch a movie until bed around 10.

With this said, the other closest volunteer was 90km away down the earlier described rough patch of road, and when I put myself in that situation I recognized that loneliness could be an issue.   But after observing for that week, I also recognized the nature of working with the Peace Corps forces the volunteer to integrate into a community, whether that is the workplace or the actual village.  As a result, your social network becomes that community.   

While shadowing was definitely a highlight of the past few weeks, it was surpassed last Friday when Peace Corps told us where we will be living and working for the next two years.   As expected, my fellow trainees and I are going to many different places in Botswana and working with a variety of non-profits and government offices in variety of capacities.  For me, I will be living in a village called Gumare, which is in the northwest part of Botswana bordering the Okavango Delta and Moremi Game Reserve.   It is a small village of about 7000 and for most of my shopping I will have to go about 3.5hrs away to Maun.  This may seem isolated, but there are actually quite a number of fellow trainees around that area.  For instance, there is another trainee going to Gumare as well as 8 other trainees in about a 3hr radius.  In addition, I will have access to internet and will be living in a two-bedroom house complete with running water, electricity, appliances and furniture, a small yard, and a small porch.   Now if the description of my location ended there I would be happy.  However, it gets even better.   The region Gumare is in has been called the Garden of Eden and the Okavango Delta is one of the premier wildlife destinations in the world (click on links for images: Gumare, Delta, and Moremi).  So along with nice housing and close proximity to other volunteer, I also get to live in arguably one of the most scenic places on earth.   With all this in mind, I am extremely happy with the actual location of where I will be living. 

Even more important than the location, I met my supervisor for the first time just two days ago and he was telling me about some really interesting projects that I could potentially be working on.  For example, our NGO, Sekgele, is working with people of disabilities to empower them economically and is in the process of launching three income generating projects.   Along with these income generating projects, he also told me I would be involved in the NGO’s resource development, grant and proposal writing, organizational development, and joint programs with the Gumare HIV/AIDs counseling center.  On top of these primary activities, I have the opportunity to continue some really cool secondary projects the current Peace Corps volunteer has already established like teaching a business class and helping a youth club at the school.

So all in all, these past few weeks have been great.   Like I said earlier, the adjustment process is over, and I am really starting to feel more comfortable at my homestay, which means participating in more activities like going to my homestay brother’s soccer games.   But the best part was what I just mentioned about finding out my living and working situation.   Not only was the anxiety of being in a perpetual state of limbo gone, but I also was really happy with the location and the NGO.  Also, my supervisor was really nice and I am really looking forward to working with him on the many different activities of Sekgele.

 That’s it for this post.   The next three weeks we will be wrapping up training, so if there is anything worth mentioning I will update the blog then, but if not I probably won’t have much more to say until I get to Gumare on June 13^th.     

Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone is doing well!

First Blog Post Ever! (Sorry for the late)

Hello everyone, before I get to the actual post I just wanted to say three things.  First, I am sorry that this post is coming so late.  There have been some technical difficulties, but I also have been somewhat of a slacker.  Second, I also want to apologize for the lack of pictures.  My camera broke so no pictures in fact at all.  Finally, anything I post in this or subsequent posts are a reflection of my personal views and opinions, not those of the Peace Corps or the US Government. 

Now that apologies and disclaimers are out the way, here is the first update on what I have been doing since last time I talked to many of you:   

On April 10^th I officially began my Peace Corps training in Philadelphia where we went over travel logistics.  On April 11^th, we left for Botswana and a little less than 24 hours later arrived in Botswana.  From there we had a one day training session at a nice lodge near Botswana’s capital city, Gaborone.  Then on Friday April 13^th we went to Kanye (a Botswana village about an hour outside of Gaborone) where we were introduced our family that would host us for the next two months during our Pre-Service Training (PST).   The family that I was matched with is the Sentle’s (pronounced Seh-n-clay) and most of this post will be about the little more than a month I have lived with them as well as the one week I spent shadowing a current volunteer. 

While the day by day account may be a little much, it is a good snapshot of the whirlwind it has been since I have left.   There is so much I have been adjusting to that the processing of these new experiences almost becomes self-consuming.  This goes for everything from meeting my fellow volunteers, the Peace Corps staff, and my homestay family, to normal day to day activities like bathing, washing dishes, cooking, walking around town, and learning a new language and culture.    

For instance, my day usually starts with me getting up at 6:30 to sounds of roosters roosting or whatever they do, dogs barking, and my homestay brothers running around.  Though I get up at 6:30, I usually lay in bed until around seven.  Once I get out of bed, I “take a bath”, which means washing myself with a bucket.  Literally this means that I heat water in a huge kettle, or a fire outside if it’s the weekend, then pour the hot water into a medium size plastic bucket and proceed to splash water on my soapy self while sitting in an empty bathtub .  The water comes from either a JoJo (a huge plastic container that collects rain water) or the community water container that the government water facility fills up routinely.  Now I was expecting the infamous “bucket bath” that so many previous volunteers have talked about, so that is not surprising.  What was more surprising was that if not for a drought, I would not have had to take a bucket bath.  My homestay family has sinks, full bath tubs, and even a washing machine, but since there is no water they cannot use these benefits of living in a middle income country like Botswana. 

Once bathing is done, I make myself a PPJ or eat some cornflakes, brush my teeth, and then head out for my fifteen walk to the local education center where we have are training starting at 8:30.  As you probably can imagine, there are not many white people in Kanye, and for this first time in my life this makes me somewhat of an attraction.  During my walk little kids scream out “hi, hi”, people laugh when I say dumela rrra/mma (hello sir/mam), and others just stare.  However, for me the real attraction is the scenery.  There are two main roads near me and they are surrounded by family compounds that are accessed mainly through dusty and dirt roads.  These family compounds are pretty large plots of that consist of maybe a main house, a separate building that houses one to two other bedrooms as well as a bathroom, and then a pit latrine to use when the water is not running or if you don’t have enough income for flushable toilets.   There are no well-manicured lawns, but there are rather it looks like the high desert: dusty roads mixed in a little greenery here and there.  Walking amidst this high deserty terrain are other villages as well as seemingly random assortment of chickens, goats, and sometimes cattle.   The cattle are the most shocking and I catch myself just staring at them in fascination, though I try not to look for long because sometimes they stare back and are probably thinking of charging me. 

At first, I thought Kanye must be a rural town, but Kanye is actually one of the biggest villages in Botswana with over 60,000 people and the scenery has more do with Botswana’s development.  For instance, before Botswana found and developed their natural resources like diamonds, the Batswana (people of Botswana) here raised animals, tended their fields, and overwhelming lived of the land.  So while roads were being built and modern villages were being built with diamond money, the tradition of raising cattle and having a garden was kept.  It is not uncommon for someone who works full-time in something other than farming to raise their own cattle and tend their own fields.  In a sense, the cows on the road are a symbol of Botswana’s unique mix of traditional with the modern.  

I say modern, because Botswana in many ways is very developed.  For instance, though we wash dishes by candlelight, we also watch T.V. in a living room while eating dinner; though I bath using a bucket, many of my fellow Peace Corps trainees have running water and showers; though cows and goats still walk the streets, Kanye roads are better than those in New England; and though the family compounds have no address, most (mine included) have electricity, living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms complete with many of the amenities developed countries enjoy. 

This overlap between modern and traditional can also be seen in the way Botswana’s governance system is structured.   In Botswana, the traditional method of governance, tribal Chiefdoms, coexists with a more modern representative and constitutional government.    Each Botswana village has a Kgosi (Chief) and several different headmen who were born into their position and have powers that are not symbolic.  These Kgosi and headmen have the power to settle disputes and even enact corporal punishment.  For example, we met one of Kanye’s headmen and he said when there is a public nuisance the police first bring the offender to the him.  The offender is then tried at a Kgotla, the traditional community meeting place, where the community can debate and offer opinions.  Once the community meeting is adjourned, the headman has the right to basically whip the person with two lashes.  Afterwards, the offender goes through Botswana’s constitutional court proceedings were they could face further punishment like a fine or prison sentence.   While the Kgosi’s role may seem out of date, they do more than just apply corporal punishment.  In fact, they are now becoming more like civil servants and help on a variety of issues including HIV/AIDs. 

Moving on from what became a very lengthy diversion based on scenery, at the education center I am trained on language, culture, and/or technical skills for my future work with HIV/AIDs.  There is not too much to say about training besides that it has been enormously informational and extremely helpful for a HIV and Setswana novice like me.  My language teacher, Phenyo, has been very patient with me and the two others in language class.  We stumble our way through and he is constantly encouraging us and telling us to keep practicing. 

Training is done around 5-5:30, and from the education center I head back home.  Once at home, I continue to stumble through Setswana with my family (they enjoy this immensely), learn what it really means to live in Botswana, and ask a lot of questions (yes, I warned them that I ask a lot of questions).  More importantly, this is time that I get to laugh and relax.  My homestay family is so nice, welcoming, and very funny.  I have two homestay brothers (10 and 16) who actually laugh at my jokes, which is just me trying to speak Setswana, and a homestay mom who tells me funny proverbs and Setswana sayings.  Relaxing doesn’t mean I don’t do anything to help around the house.  From time to time I help prepare dinner.   Most often this consist of a starch like soft corn (Maize meal), Sorghum (porridge), or Samp (boiled corn); vegetable mix like cabbage, beets, tomatoes, onions, and/or carrots; and a protein source like chicken, beef, eggs, or beans.  Whoever cooked usually dishes the food out and then serves the family sitting in living room.  Once the family is done eating, the dishes are taken out back to a separated one room building where I help my homestay brothers boil water once again and scrub the dishes in a big bucket by candlelight. 

One thing that is interesting to note is that in the Botswana culture the kids do most of the work. For instance, my 16 year old brother cooks many of the meals, does the majority of the laundry (by hand), and cleans the house.  He does this all without complaining and many times without any prompting.  This isn’t to say that my homestay parents don’t do anything, because my homestay mother does all the same things while working full time as an administrator in the school system.  As for my homestay father, he is in charge of the cattle posts, the families’ fields, and regular maintenance around the house.  I have yet to see these roles really change any.

Finally, around 8-8:30, I head into my room and read until I go to asleep around ten.   As for other things, the training has been intense and the language has been hard.  We are just starting to scratch the surface on HIV/AIDs and probably most of the other posts will deal heavily around this, especially when I get site.  My fellow trainees are great, which makes being around them for hours at a day something I look forward.   Saturdays we get to hang out at a café and drink the local beer (which is pretty much Black Label for me) and eat Indian food from this small general store next door.   

I guess that is it for now, but before I go I want to end with saying how great my homestay family has been.  They have been nothing but welcoming, generous, and patient as I stumbled through these first few weeks in everything from washing the dishes to cooking to speaking Setswana.  There kindness has made it much easier to get over the initial first few days where I was missing home, my family, and friends.   

I could go on and on about them, but since they don’t know I wrote this I will just leave it at that. 

Thanks for reading and again sorry for the late post.