Guys GLOW Camp

After running my first camp in Botswana last August, I knew I wanted to do as many as I could during my service. I loved camp as a kid and an adult, and it’s a unique experience for both kids and adults in this country, because it’s still kind of a new idea.

GLOW stands for girls and guys leading our world. Typically camps focus heavily on girls, because female empowerment is lacking here, to put it concisely. But honestly… you can empower girls and women all you want, but if you don’t include boys and men, not much is going to change.  You have to empower women to work towards gender equality, but you also have to work with men to support and respect women. I have lots of thoughts on this, and that’ll probably be a separate post.

Last Wednesday I made my way out of my village, fought with a grant website in Letlhakeng for several hours, and crashed a fellow volunteer’s place in Moleps for the night. I caught the 6am bus to Maun, arriving a little after 4. Another volunteer got on my bus about 2 hours into the trip, so I had company and conversation to make the trip go faster. We got a taxi to Trevor and Lindsey’s house on Lindsey’s NGO compound and hung out for a little while as other volunteers showed up. We met the rest at a sports bar for dinner. I’m not sure when I’ve been that hungry in recent memory, but I definitely ate 2 dinners.  And I wasn’t the only one that did. Guess munching on the bus wasn’t enough for us? Anyway. We all stayed at Trevor and Lindsey’s, colonizing their floor and creating some funny conversations about sleeping arrangements. Things overheard:

“Apologies if I wind up spooning you in the middle of the night.”
“Can we really fit 2 people on that?”
“Can I move the coffee table into the pantry? I know that’s random, but it’ll give us more floor space.”
“Sure. People can sleep in the pantry too if they want. People have slept there before. Actually, people have had sex in our pantry.”
You know you’re a PCV when…

Friday morning we migrated to Trevor’s NGO where the camp was to be held. Some volunteers cleaned a bathroom that hadn’t been used in YEARS (I don’t know what happened there, but you should never have to use a spade to clean a bathroom, let’s leave it at that), others pitched about fifteen tents, we put together 60 hygiene kits for the guys, and various other setting up stuff. One neat thing we did was plan games the whole group could do, including eleven hearing impaired students. All of the students attending went to the boarding senior secondary school and were between the ages of 16 and 21, and these hearing impaired students came from there and the rehabilitation center  (Lindsey’s NGO) which works with all sorts of disabilities.

The students were supposed to meet at the school at 4:30 to walk over, but things got messed up and they got to the camp around 6 instead. The boarding students had to be walked to and from the boarding school each morning and evening, while the day students camped at Trevor’s NGO in all of those tents we pitched.  The food was catered by the ministry of education/alcohol levy, and while it was good, it was often late and they ran out several times. The norm, basically… you plan as much as you can, and random things will still go wrong. This wasn’t catastrophic by any means, so Becky, the other PCV in charge, and Trevor, basically shrugged and made things work. We also only had 2 bathrooms, and despite labeling them, constantly had boys in the girls bathroom, so we just sort of had to knock and shield our eyes every time we went in, just in case.*

The first night we watched a STEPS film called One Life, One Love and had a discussion about the themes of the film, a big one being multiple concurrent partners.  We made group names and posters, and played a lot of get to know you games. I was in the yellow group, and we decided to be team United. Except that got combined with mustard, which was the color of our shirts, (Becky nicknamed us Colonel Mustard previously, the other groups being Mrs. White, Miss Scarlet, and Mrs. Peacock), and we became Mustard United. By far one of the best group names I’ve ever had, I think second only to the A.D.D. Puffy Muffins, but that’s a story from college for another time.

Saturday was full of different sessions, including safe sex, gender based violence, sex and communication, alcohol abuse, and safe male circumcision. The first session had some awkwardness with the facilitator, but the rest were great, and all led by Batswana, which was fantastic. There was also some free time for sports and we all made collages. I definitely played a game of volleyball with no net, on pavement, until we literally could not see the ball because it was so dark. We’re kinda lucky we didn’t knock over the food table in the process.

Later that night we made a bonfire and the guys had what us women called “boy fire” for a while, where the male PCVs talked with the students for an hour or so. Us women were a little jealous we couldn’t hang out by the fire, but we were hearing snippets of a really good conversation, and knew this was probably the most important part of the camp, where the guys could just talk openly about things that don’t get talked about enough. For instance, one topic that the guys mentioned to us later was knowing the difference between lust and love. I think back on all of the awesome experiences I’ve had at campfires, some really defining moments in my life, especially as a teenager, and I’m so glad the guys led that fire time. I got to walk back to the boarding school with students both nights, and had some really great conversations with students as we walked. Everything from where I was from in America, to what they wanted to do after they finished school, to differences in different faith denominations. These guys are bright, and inquisitive, and so fun to talk to. I miss that in my village where the language barrier gets in way of my bonding with my students.

Sunday we let the students have a football match while we cleared out of the way for a local church to have their services in the NGO building. We also had to chase kids from the church away from our food, and I almost had a heart attack when a five year old tried to dart under a car as it was backing up to chase a ball. I grabbed the kid as the car stopped, but EEEISH. We did some extra babysitting. Our students had sessions on hygiene and leadership under a big tent outside, and ended with an official ceremony where the students got certificates. There was much picture taking and hugs as camp ended after we ate lunch.  Once the students left, we cleaned up, took down all of the tents, and celebrated a successful camp. Later that evening we had a big Braai (barbeque) at Trevor and Lindsey’s.  I was the only volunteer from my intake group this weekend; almost all of the others were Bots 14s. A really fun group, who have invented a game of catch called One hand no body (which I swear is going to evolve to people getting beaned in the face) and had everyone trying to light a match with the box on your elbow. Good times were had. I got to hang out with a lot of people I didn't know well before that I hope I get to hang out with a lot in the future!

Monday I got the 6am bus again, which dropped me in Moleps a little after 3. I didn’t make it all the way back home, but spent the night at Aileen’s since I couldn’t get a hitch all the way to my village. Today I finally made it home, exhausted, but with the high that only comes from hanging out with friends and camp. :)

*The boys in the girls bathroom were students, not PCVs. Thought I should clarify that ;)

Under the Surface: Part 2

In part 1 I talked about how the treatment of children in this country is a huge problem, and really goes against the national principle of Botho on which Tswana society and Botswana is based on. I don’t think theres something inherently wrong with Batswana,  I think this is due to a severe lack of mental health awareness and services. To clarify, when I say mental health, I mean things like stress reduction and coping techniques, support systems, and counseling, as well as psychiatric services and medication.

I feel like people in this country are traumatized. Not everyone, but many, especially in rural areas. They are traumatized by lack of family support systems, systematic and cyclical physical and sexual abuse, and profound loss. There is no mental health system or even awareness of mental/emotional  health needs. Children are taught to bottle up their emotions from a young age, so people don’t deal with their feelings. I feel like what Peace Corps should be sending here above all else are mental health professionals and counselors. My working assumption is that at least half the people I interact with probably have some level of post-traumatic stress disorder from losing loved ones and/or abuse, and then having no way to work through such trauma.

I don’t think it was always like this. I’ve read and heard stories about Botswana from 50-60 years ago, and it seemed like there was more of a village culture and intact families and support systems, even though there was much more overall poverty and less development. But development changed some of that, as well as the AIDS epidemic. Half a generation was wiped out. Family structures got messed up badly. Grandparents and young teenagers were raising kids. Since ARVs have become available, the death rate from HIV has plummeted. But in some ways, the damage has been done. There is a generation traumatized from so much loss, and they are now raising children. But they haven’t really dealt with their own trauma, so it’s hard to be a good parent, let alone raise emotionally healthy kids. Lots of kids suffer from neglect, especially in the rural areas. Marriage rates are very low due to the high cost of getting married, so almost every woman I know has one or more children before getting married, if she gets married. The kids often have different fathers. This considerably messes with the traditional family structure and support system. Kids no longer have aunts and uncles helping initiate them into adulthood and explaining sexuality to them, so in most cases no one has these conversations with them. This contributes to high HIV infection and teen pregnancy rates, and the cycle continues.

I don’t want people to think I’m bashing Tswana culture, because I’m not trying to. I understand that it’s different than American culture. And I’m certainly not trying to compare it to American culture and suggest that America has everything right- I could write (and there are written) books about the societal problems in America.  In Tswana culture, men often had multiple wives, something the government is trying to discourage now. Extended family plays a big part in raising kids, and that’s been disrupted by both HIV and development with people moving around. Traditionally it seems people weren’t supposed to be overly emotional in public, but there were places they could show emotion, such as at church and funerals. They had a support network of their village and their extended family. The point is… the way this culture was, seemed to work pretty well for them. But things have changed and it’s not working well anymore.

One symptom of this I see in children and adults is emotional numbness. When you are taught to bottle up your emotions and not feel, or when so much trauma happens you don’ know how to deal with it, you start acting impassively when emotional things happen. It makes it hard to have an emotional connection in relationships. But it’s a coping mechanism to deal with further trauma. I see this when teachers at my school mention someone died, with no emotion in their voice at all. And then move onto a new topic 30 seconds later.

There aren’t easy solutions to any of this, and to suggest there are is to minimize the pain that these people have been through and are still going through.  But I really believe that the first step is talking about it. Talking about how children are treated in this country, and mental health in general. The countries that have made the most progress in their fight against HIV are the ones that acknowledged the problem existed and prepared to address it, not the ones that pretended it didn’t exist.  I think the same thing applies here.

As this relates to me, this ugly stuff under the surface is part of why it’s such an emotional roller coaster to live here. People (and Peace Corps) tell us we are so lucky to be in Botswana, they are so good at development and look at all the progress they’ve made! And that is true, and also not the whole truth. In one day I’ll teach 2 classes where kids stare and me and won’t talk, see starving dogs roam the village, watch a student get caned for some infraction, see kids having a ball playing soccer, talk with a friend about America, listen as people talk with no emotion in their voices about boys beating girls for sex, and marvel that my rural village has 2 schools, a clinic, running water, and electricity. It’s up and down, good and bad, all the time.

I want to do my part in raising awareness about the treatment of children and mental/emotional health, which is why I decided to post this. It may seem weird to combine the two, but I firmly believe that unmet mental health needs are contributing to the maltreatment of children here. These are not bad people. These are a peaceful, respectful people. These are my friends.  Hurt people hurt people.

I hope I haven’t insulted anyone by writing this, especially if they are a Motswana. But the part of the ambassador’s letter that got to me the most was the end, where she wrote “As for me, Botswana and its young people are now in my heart for good. For the rest of my life, I will be cheering you on.”

Me, too.

Under the Surface: Part 1

(I broke my original response to the ambassador’s piece into 2 parts)

I guess I should explain a bit why I posted the ambassador’s piece like I did. When I first read it… I honestly cried. On and off for about an hour, as I read and reread it in my living room. Because someone other than a Peace Corps Volunteer gets it. Or rather, publicly acknowledges it. Not everything is okay in this country. Not everything about Botswana is the success story of Africa. And it goes beyond poverty, and education, and the HIV epidemic.

And the ways in which it’s broken are under the surface. Because on the surface, Botswana IS the success story of Africa. It’s done wonderful things with its diamond money like building roads, schools, and hospitals. It’s trying to invest in social programs and also diversify its economy. It’s a peaceful people that work hard at avoiding corruption. All of this is true, and very good. But there is more to be done. When I see articles and discussions about Botswana’s future, they focus on diversifying the economy and fighting the AIDS epidemic. Those are very important and challenging tasks, and should be given a lot of time and energy. But what I see at the grassroots level is what the ambassador wrote about. The children in this country are neglected, frightened, and abused. This doesn’t really seem to get any press, yet I feel like this is by far the biggest problem to be addressed.

I’ve ranted about the ministry of education before. The ministry fails to provide adequate teachers, books, food, and basic supervision to children at school, and then blames the kids for failing.  The conditions of the boarding schools are appalling- people would be arrested in the US for keeping prisoners in these conditions.  There is rampant sexual abuse of students by teachers. Corporeal punishment is legal, and while politicians debate whether students should be caned, there are teachers and school officials literally beating the crap out of kids for things such as not having the proper uniform, which isn’t the kids fault.

Sometimes conditions are home aren’t much better, and they are harder to monitor. But I have a copy of that behavioral survey the ambassador referenced, and I’ve seen first-hand the abuse, depression, and neglect that it measured. But what gets me the most is the fear. When I teach, it’s almost like pulling teeth to get kids to talk. Teachers walk around with a stick to get kids into classrooms. That’s also how they herd goats and cattle in this country. Is it telling that animals and kids are often treated the same way? Beat them into submission? When I make eye contact with students they look away and blush or giggle, especially the girls. They have the same response to the rest of the teachers. I understand that part of Tswana culture is a deep respect for elders, and in some ways, I wish I could export some of that to America. But there is a fine line between respect and actual fear, and I see it crossed daily. Because children are scared into behaving, adults can tell them to do anything and they will. Or do anything to them and they will take it. This leads to the abuse and neglect.

Healthy Batswana children won’t look exactly like healthy American children, and some of what bothers me may indeed be cultural. But the parts that are human rights violations transcend culture and are mostly not a traditional part of this culture. I think the underlying reasons for a lot of the mistreatment of children in this country stem from unmet emotional/mental health needs, and I’ll go into that in part 2.

World AIDS Day March

I visited a couple of PCVs in Thamaga (Ta-ma-ha) on November 30th and went to their World AIDS day march. World AIDS day is officially December 1st, but there are usually events all over the country for a few days before and after,  especially since it fell on a Sunday this year,

Botswana has a vision for 2016, when the country will be 50 years old. No new HIV infections, no AIDS related deaths (get everyone ARVs who needs them), and no HIV related stigma.

Sandy, Jorge and I made the cardboard signs the night before and different people carried them. 

We walked for a little under an hour, so maybe a few kilometers through Thamaga.

It was a small but committed group, and I think we made enough noise and slowed down traffic enough that people took notice. 

Jorge was the official photographer.

When you are tackling a problem as big as HIV, in a country where almost 25% of the population is infected, and everyone is affected, you do lots of things, big and small, and hope they add up to make a difference.

Gender Camp!

So I had the idea to do a two-day day camp at my school way back in August, when we were planning out the school term. The form 3 students take their end of school exams in October and are done and gone by the first week of November.  The form 1 and 2 students take their end of the year exams in November and then have about a week where they have to be at school but they really do nothing, because the teachers are busy grading. So, I thought I could use some of that time to sort of blitz them with information through a camp, and not have to worry about food/sleeping arrangements/transport/bathing this time around.

Me and one of my volleyball girls.

The camp wound up being for Form 2s (all 240ish of them), and we did sessions on gender, gender based violence, gender and power, reproductive health, healthy relationships, and contraception.  It was also during the 16 days of activism against gender based violence, so we gave the kids an opportunity to sign a pledge against GBV and gave out white ribbons. I had 6 other volunteers helping me, so we each had a session. I only did my gender and power game with about half of the kids, but that's okay. All of the other sessions were done for all of the classes, and I consider that a huge success.

The frustrating part was that my school and guidance and counseling committee was supportive of me as I planned the camp, but then gave me no support DURING the camp. I didn't mind planning it and having other volunteers come and facilitate sessions, but I wanted teachers in the classrooms for translation, cultural sensitivity, and crowd control. And that didn't happen at all- we did the entire thing ourselves as PCVs. Which, was super super frustrating  and I really wanted to just walk out the first day because things were so badly planned/not planned at all on the school's part. But, then I saw my friends playing games with like 80 kids and the kids were having a ball, so we decided to just do it ourselves. 

Visuals of AIDS, HIV, female condoms, and assertiveness.

We split the kids into single gender groups, and about half of the boys wandered off halfway through each day because we only had 2 teachers helping us keep order. So we had full classes of girls and half classes of boys. But, it was better than nothing, a lot of kids learned stuff and had fun, and it was the best we could do under the circumstances. They learned about different types of gender based violence, they each got to practice putting a condom on a model, and they learned the difference between gender and sex.

Condom demonstration!

We also had a lot of fun with 6 of us squished in my house, cooking all of the things, including Mexican food and a giant banana scone.

Do-do-do-do-do-do-do, banana scone!

Super delicious and fun

Hanging out in my house

The biggest thing was I feel like this helped break the ice between me and a lot of these kids. So I hope that I can teach more effectively next year. 

The banner says "Gender and Wellness Day Camp"

All in all, a successful camp. Frustrating at times, but the kids got a lot out of it, and that's really all that matters. Also, my fellow PCVs are amazing people who slept on my floor, interacted with my kids, and put up with the crazy from my school. I love my government issued family :D

  

We try to look normal...

but this is far more accurate ;)

Month of Youth Against AIDS

 This is some back-blogging, because describing this without pictures would have been a bit boring. March is designated Youth Against AIDS month, and my school picked March 25th to celebrate with sort of an all-day assembly.  It was after their term final exams, so there wasn't much to do in class anyway.

This is all of the students gathered in the big hall.

Between each 'act' there was an impromptu dance party on and near the stage.

 About 17 different students and student groups sang, danced, rapped, spoke, or demonstrated sports moves, all with the theme of Vision 2016: Zero new HIV infections, zero AIDS related deaths, and zero discrimination.  This was a singing and dancing group.

More dancing than singing with this group.

Traditional dancers getting ready.

Traditional dance! They were really good.

One of my PACT club kids giving a speech.

Another of my PACT club kids as MC.

Guys dance group. Dancing is huge here- all types. 

3-man dance group.

Karate club demonstration.

Boxing club demonstration.

The coolest part of this day was that I didn't do hardly anything to get it together.  My counterpart and I got together with the PACT club to go over logistics, but the kids found all of the student groups to perform.  A great end to my first term here. 

a MUCH better week

This week turned out much better than last week, due to it being the 2nd week of school and things finding a rhythm, cool people, and you know, things didn't explode in the US.

Highs
- I'm now an assistant volleyball coach!  And it's a lot of fun.  I didn't realize how much I've missed volleyball until I was around it this week.  I also didn't realize how long it's been since I actually PLAYED volleyball, and I need to not injure myself =P
- I met with the PACT club at the primary school and had fun teaching them Kingdom, Wisdom, Condom, with lots of resulting giggles and enthusiasm
- Aileen (another PCV near to me) and I talked to the ENTIRE student body about HIV facts and myths.  This could also fall under challenges, but for the most part it went pretty good.  In other news, my school could use a bull horn for such events =P
- 2 of my fellow PCVs have asked me to help them with workshops in May and June- yay for being productive! (and getting to visit friends)
- getting to know a few more teachers, and I got invited to one of their houses to meet their adorable 2 year old =)
- bumped into some fellow volunteers on my shopping trip in Moleps
- my mom and friend booked their plane tickets to come see me in July!!

Lows
- No real lows- at least none in the category of things exploding in the US or animals dying on me during desert hurricanes.

Challenges
- I didn't get to meet with my Lempu PACT club this week because I couldn't figure out when to meet with them- sports have sort of taken over the world this term.  So I need to keep pushing for a time to meet and chase down some kids this next week.
- Still feeling like I don't know very many students.  A lot of this is because of the language barrier. So I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and attempt to hang out with them during some free time during the school day.  It'll be super awkward at first, but maybe some conversations will happen.

Hopes
- I have a teacher interested in starting an English club with me at Lempu- really hoping we can find a time and some interested kids!
- Potential to read with/help out in some classes at the primary school
- Methinks I've lined up 2 interesting groups to come and do stuff with my students and teachers- more on that when the events take place

Randomness
- We randomly pulled students for a blood donation workshop, trying to promote students to participate in blood drives. They all jumped and squealed when the speaker pulled out the needle and blood bag they use though...
- I've started feeding my neighbors dog.  And by that I mean I actually bought dog food. We'll see where this goes...
- One of my teachers saw me making a poster for the HIV presentation and now wants me to help him design a visual aide of the reproductive system of a chicken
- I saw a botswana squirrel for the first time.  It looks like someone stuck a squirrel tail on a small ferret.

Botswana 101: The Country

So, this probably should have been the first post in my Peace Corps journey… oops.

I feel like a little info about the country itself would be helpful to whoever is reading this as you follow along my 2-year journey.  If you are like me, you don’t know much about Botswana (at least I didn’t until I came here.  All I knew is that it was in southern Africa).

So, here’s a few facts and figures about Bots, Wikipedia style:

Location:  Just above South Africa.  Namibia to the left, Zimbabwe to the right, Zambia to the north.

Climate: Mostly desert- the Kalahari Desert.  More temperate in the south and east (if you look at a map, that’s where the greatest population of people live.  Not a coincidence.)  Okavanga Delta in the north.

Population: About 2 million.  And half of them are under the age of 30.

Languages:  Setswana and English.  Although English is the ‘National’ language, most people prefer to speak Setswana, which is a Bantu language.  Various other languages are also spoken by various tribes/villages throughout the country.

Economy: Diamonds.  And cattle.  There are 3 million cattle in this country, so more cows than people.   Diamonds fuel the economy since the government owns 50% of the mines.  Cows fuel peoples’ day to day lives and are the sign of wealth.  Cows > bank accounts.

Biggest strengths:  Peaceful, uncorrupt government.  Amazing use of diamond mines to build infrastructure of country.  Good healthcare system.   Lots of animals and tourist possibilities in the north.  More than 25% of the country is game reserves to give animals spaces (animals = lions, buffalo, giraffe, zebra, gemsbok, hippos, rhinos, hyenas, wild dogs, cheetahs, jaguars, elephants.  Coming for a safari yet?)

Biggest challenges:  2^nd highest HIV rate in the world, I’ll expand on that below.  Not much private economy.  The diamond mines are slated to run out in 10-20 years, which means the country needs to switch its economy to other things.  Very high unemployment.  25% employed outside of their own cattle herds and farming lands.  Lack of accountability in government and in jobs in general. Alcohol abuse.

HIV:  The epidemic is driven by many things, including alcohol, multiple concurrent partnerships, low condom use, low circumcision rates, intergenerational sex, transactional sex, etc.  In some places 50% of women of childbearing age are HIV positive.  Currently the government provides free anti-retrovirals to all patients that need it.  Peace Corps is in the country through American PEPFAR, the presidents emergency plan for AIDS relief, which funds other Bots HIV programs as well.

History:

Botswana is known as the success story of Africa.  It was never an official colony, but rather a British protectorate.  This has good and bad results: it’s avoided some of the worst results of colonization and post-colonial rule (see: race in South Africa, violence in D.R.C, ethnic clashes in Nigeria, anarchy in Somalia, genocide in Rwanda, etc.).  But it also didn’t get the infrastructure build-up that say, Kenya and South Africa did.  So when it became a country in the 60s, there wasn’t much to start with.  Then they found diamonds.  Lots of them.  And unlike almost everywhere else in Africa, this resource did not curse them, but was put to good use by a functional government.  And the government built roads, schools, and hospitals.  It wired the country for electricity and cell phones, and set up piping so that water is drinkable straight from the tap in most places (you need to travel the developing world to realize how freaking rare drinkable tap water is outside of the US and Europe). It got more than 90% of its kids in school and provided free healthcare.  It provided food for a lot of the country that had no way to provide for itself.  It did really cool things with that diamond money.  It got upgraded to middle income country status.

                The aftermath of that is mixed.  Botswana has some of the best infrastructure in Africa.  It also has a population that is used to relying on the government for almost everything, and therefore private industry is rather stalled.  The biggest challenge facing Botswana now, in my opinion, is getting its population to work in private industry.  The infrastructure is there, it just needs businesses and manufacturing, so it’s not importing most goods from South Africa and can employ its people.  Personally, I think this is an even bigger challenge that the HIV epidemic, which many see as the greatest challenge.  It’s not a competition though, I feel like a country can work on two problems at once.   I’ll go into development issues more in another post.

                Botswana did well enough in development that the Peace Corps, which had been in the country since 6 months after independence, left.  There was a mutual agreement that PC wasn’t really needed anymore, and volunteers could be better used in other places.   They left in 1997, and returned at the request of the Bots president in 2003 to address HIV/AIDS.  So currently all 135 of us in Bots are doing HIV related activities/programming.    Some of us feel like economic volunteers would be more useful, or at least as useful as HIV volunteers, but that’s another post as well.

                So that’s Botswana in a nutshell.  Come visit me!