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 10th I officially began my Peace Corps
training in Philadelphia where we went over travel logistics. On April 11th, 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 13th 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.
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