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!