Hello everyone, sorry it has taken me so long to write
another blog post. I just got to site a few
weeks ago and internet has been non-existent until now. To make up for the lack of updates, this
post will fit in everything that has happened since I left for Gumare on June
13th, including traveling up here and the first impressions of site.
Even though I was excited to get to site and really start
settling into my new home for two years, it was bittersweet leaving PST and the
good friends I made over the two months.
But these thoughts were quickly overwhelmed by a whole new array of aspirations,
challenges, worries, and awkward situations.
For instance, I knew the drive to Gumare was going to be
long, but I didn’t realize just how long.
Depending on the route and the frequency of stops, the trip can be
anywhere from 9-13 hours. Our driver
decided to take to longer route because it had more government fueling stations,
which also meant we were going to stop more and the trip was going to take even
longer. Nonetheless, we aimed to make
the trip in one day and were on track to do so until around hour 10 (7pm). At this point, we were only three hours from
Gumare and planned on making a fuel stop in Maun (entrance village to the game
reserve). When we arrived in Maun, we
started to drive around a residential neighborhood made up of government
housing. I have become accustomed to
plans changing last minute so I didn’t think much of it, but then our driver
pulled into a yard, got out, and started chatting with a woman. After about fifteen minutes of Dave and me
sitting in the car wondering what was happening we decided to go over and ask
what was going on. It turns out the
women worked in the government transportation office and they were trying to
figure out how we to get gas for the 3 more hours to Gumare. After a few minutes of deliberation, it was
decided that there was no way to get fuel from the government posts and no
other cars were available. So on the
first night out of Kanye, Dave and I stayed in Maun on volunteer couches.
The next morning we left Maun after filling up at a
government station and planned to arrive in Gumare around 10am, but again plans
changed. Just about an hour into the
trip, and maybe a 100miles from Gumare, we again made an unannounced stop, but
this time it was on the side of the road.
The engine was overheating! At
first, Dave and I thought this was because how many times we accelerated and
then stopped for cows, donkeys, goats, ostriches, and wild dogs passing the
road (cows and donkeys were in the road maybe every five miles or so). So the driver added water and let the engine
cool, but after a few hundred yards the engine overheated again. Once more we pulled off the side of the road
and our driver inspected the engine.
After looking closer he pulled off the engines’ fan belt to show us it
was completely ripped part. Having no
extra fan belt, the driver had to call the Maun transportation office for a maintenance
tow back to Maun. We were officially
broken down on the side of the road in Africa right outside of the Kalahari Desert. However, it was not as excited or dangerous
as I thought. In fact, it was kind of
like being broken down on a remote highway in Arizona (or what I imagine it
would be like since I never was broken down there). We just sat there and talked for about two
hours until another car came to pick us up and finish the trip to Gumare. There were no wild animals walking around
(not even the donkeys or cows), no people at all besides the few cars and
trucks speeding back to Maun, and the scenery was that of the high desert.
After the break down,
I can happily say that there were no more hick-ups and around 2pm we pulled into
Gumare. At first impression, Gumare
seemed much less built up than what I was expecting. I read that Gumare had about 8000 people with
shops, restaurants, government offices, four schools, and paved roads. While it does have all of these things-and
actually a very nice government office that houses many departments-the town is
still very rural: the shops that I was talking about are locally owned general
dealers and co-ops; the restaurants are chicken take-away places, also locally
owned; and the paved roads only make three.
It actually reminds me of a town that would be staged in an old western
movie. Granted it would be in Africa
and more modern, but the general layout remains the same: one main dusty road
surrounded by shops like a general dealer, a co-op, bank, bars, and other
every-day activities of a local economy.
In Gumare, there are no chains or big box stores, only local people and
local trade, and I have really enjoyed this so far. For example, it was so easy to get a grill
(they call grills braai here and grilling is also braaiing). All I had to do was ask someone in the
shopping area where I could buy a grill and they pointed me to a house a few
yards away. The guy who was occupying
the house turned out to be a welder. I
told him I wanted a small grill and in a few hours I had a small grill that he
welded together out of an old tire hub, metal grate, and metal posts. All of this was done for 200pula or about
$30US!
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| The Braai Stand |
Amidst this rural setting, though, my house is unexpectedly
nice. It has two rooms, a living room, a
kitchen, and all the modern amenities like running water (hot running water
included when the geyser is fixed), electricity, a refrigerator, and a gas
stove. My house is the main house on a
compound with about three other one-two room houses whose renters are younger
adults, one of which who has three children (aged one, three, and I think seven
or eight) that come over now and then to use the soccer ball I brought from
home. These kids don’t really know any
English so it has been interesting establishing boundaries. The
two older kids walk in my house saying “ballo, ballo”. At first, when I gave them the soccer ball I
brought they would kick it around on my porch while the little one year old
waddles back and forth in my doorway looking at me and then walking away with a
kind of Tim Duncan expressionlessness (for those who don’t know Tim Duncan, he
is an NBA player who is famous for his lack of demeanor change on the court). The walking in and out still happens, though
much less frequently because when I am home I leave the balls outside, but now
I tell them to go play in the yard by their house. Currently, I think this has established a nice
pattern where I provide them the ball and they go play somewhere besides my
porch so I can do some work.
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| My House |
Even with this pattern established, I still get nervous with
the kids around because I am now the owner of three Peace Corps legacy
dogs. The last three volunteers before me
took care of, and eventually owned, three brown dogs that look like different
size versions of my old dog Baby (see attached pictures). Now for those who know Baby, they can attest
that she was harmless and never really got excited over anything besides
digging holes and Mount Washington.
However, my new “Babies” are very different. They chase donkeys, goats, and other dogs
that come near them. Being more
aggressive than the average pet you would find at home, I am a little concerned
about how they will act around the kids, but so far they have been very calm
around the kids. In fact, the kids are
starting to pet the dogs and yell with me when they chase goats. All of this, I hope, will establish the kids
as part-owners of the dogs.
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| The Dogs (from right to left: Scrappy, Buster, and Lady) |
As I hope you can tell, I am starting to settle into my
house and environment, which for me is essential to settling into work. Like I mentioned in the last blog, my host
organizations will be Sekgele Training Home Society and Gumare HIV/AIDs
Counseling Center. Everything I said
about Sekgele in the last post remains the same, though now it is just more
realistic and more tangible as work plans start coming into fruition. Also, I met the board and the other staff
member, Ogomoditse, who are extremely nice, kind, and welcoming. GCC was a little more of a mystery to me
because I didn’t get a chance to meet anyone beforehand, but having met the
staff for first time yesterday I am very excited to work with them. They are a satellite of a Christian
organization and have seven employees, all of which are young adults, who
primarily work in the community promoting faithfulness, abstinence, testing,
and counseling. Even though I have met
them just once, they were very friendly and I can tell it will be a great time
working with them.
That is basically the skinny on what has been happening with
me the last few weeks. Before I go,
though, I have to mention how nice it is having other volunteers around. This past weekend a few of us got together
for braai and it was good to just talk about our first week in all its
frustrating glory. I am especially lucky
because I get to do this daily with my friend Dave (we have been going to the
local chicken house for lunch or a coke/tea about every day). His
encouraging words and willingness to act as a soundboard for my rants have been
much appreciated.
I guess that is it for now.
I’ll try to send out more than once every month, as it seems that’s what
I am on track for, but either way please send me updates on how everything is
going with you guys back home. Hope all
is well! Talk soon. Oh, Ill try to post more pictures as soon as I can.
