Goat stress and lion stress

If you've been reading my blog the last few months, it may seem that all I do is plan and run GLOW camps :)
And while that has been a big part of my service, especially in the past few months, I am doing other things. Aside from the random things that come along like the chalkboard project, the thing I do the most on a regular basis is teach guidance and counseling classes.

Guidance and counseling here is an interesting hybrid of health class, some civics, study skills, and career counseling. The topics range from things like stress and anger management, communication and decision making, self awareness and goal setting, to reproductive health, HIV, contraception and teenage pregnancy. There are also topics like voting, crime, career choices, and what it means to be a citizen. These last topics overlap a lot with the social studies and moral education curriculum, so I don't cover them in my classes. I'm not sure the American should be teaching on what it means to be a citizen of Botswana, ya know? :)

Currently I'm teaching 9 of the 18 classes. 5 are Form 2 classes, like 9th graders, and 4 are Form 3 classes, like 10th graders. My favorites are the Form 2s. Form 1s are still very shy and won't talk AT ALL. Form 3s think they own the place and senioritis is setting in. Form 2 is a nice middle ground where they will sometimes talk, but aren't giving me too much attitude.

So far I've taught lessons on self awareness, stress management, communication, goal setting, gender, and peer pressure. Soon I'll be getting into sex and reproductive and condoms and stuff, and that will be a new level of hilarity I'm sure. I really focus on the basics though, of knowing yourself, making decisions that are good for you, managing your own stress, etc. 

So much of the message these kids get are negative: DON'T get pregnant, DON'T have sex, DON'T drink or do drugs, DON'T get HIV. But I feel like most of the time, the kids aren't a) given the tools to not fall into these problems, and/or b) Not given good alternatives to these things. So I'm trying to approach it holistically. Instead of scaring you to death about the dangers of teen pregnancy, let's look at your goals and what you want to accomplish. Now how would getting pregnant get in the way of the cool things you want to do? What are some ways you can avoid that?

Sometimes the kids literally won't talk at all in class. Often they say they can't understand me and want me to speak Setswana, although classes are supposed to be in English. Lesson planning is usually me figuring out what information I want to get across to them, and then figuring out a way to do that which is both interactive AND something they will understand. Sometimes it's writing on big paper and getting teachers to help me translate key words. Sometimes it's having them write their answers instead of speak, or raise their hands to vote what they think is right. Often it's me saying something in broken English and broken Setswana, and trying to judge how many of them understood what I just said.

One of my favorite lessons has been on stress management. I explain that sometimes things that cause us stress are actually good things. I give the example of goats.

Me: What causes you stress? *list their answers on the board* Is all stress bad?
Class: Yes.
Me: Ok. Now, are goats bad?
Class: No.
Me: If a goat walks into class and starts eating your book, what do you do?
Class: *giggles*
Me: *Walks to a student, takes her book* Ke podi. Ke ja buka ya gago. O dira eng?  (I am a goat. I am eating your book. What are you doing?)
Girl: Chase it away.
Me: Exactly! Goats aren't bad, but goats eating your books, ke mathata.  (It's a problem.) Now, what would you do if a lion came in the room?
Class: Ieesh. 
Me: Ditau. O dira eng?  (Lions. What do you do?) Shoo them away? *I pretend to shoo away a lion)
Class: *laughs* No! Run away!
Me: Right! So, stress is your body's way of saying: Stop.  There's a problem. And it's up to you to figure out whether you should fix or cope with something, or get away from the problem. Is it a goat stress, something that is a good thing, but causing a problem? *label some of the things on the list with podi  (goat)* School, exams, being a teenager, friends, boyfriend. Or is it tau stress, something that is never good, that you need to get help or distance from? *label some thing on the list with 'tau'  (lion): abuse, death, lack of food, HIV. *

From there I give them examples to talk about in small groups, and we end with talking about healthy ways to cope with stress. Hopefully they learn good coping mechanisms, and that even good things can cause stress. And that no matter if it's a goat or a lion, it's always okay to ask for help.

I'm probably not going to be a career teacher, but for the most part, I'm having a lot of fun with this :)

May GLOW Camp, Part 2

Each day we had a few morning sessions on lifeskills topics: 

Monday: leadership/volunteerism

Tuesday: stress, reproductive health/contraceptives, and gender

Wednesday: self esteem, HIV, and gender based violence

Thursday: goal setting and decision making

Discussing consequences of decisions.

Afternoons rotations included crafts, journaling, and soccer games with an HIV focus.

How many of these balls can you juggle?

We all juggle school, sleep, friends, sports, hobbies. 

When you add sex, you could also add STIs, HIV, and pregnancy.

All of the sudden, you are juggling a lot more things!

Collages during craft time!

Evening activities included a movie, a carnival and a talent show.

PCVs practicing for our talent show act: singing, the cup game, and juggling. At the same time.

We had singing,

dancing,

audience participation,

and a tradition, PCVs singing Lean on Me.

On Friday, we had a certificate award ceremony.

Me handing out certificates to my girls!

My Lempu girls <3 p="">

Camp GLOW!

Was awesome. In a nutshell.

There were some closing up activities. We did attempt to clean ALL the things.

The girls were super excited to ride home in this nice bus. Cue singalongs and tired PCVs.

And loading up for the final leg of the journey home.

I can't promise sustainability of GLOW camps with respect to getting teachers to plan their own, completely independent of Peace Corps. But the teachers are interested in using these lessons in their classes, and these girls had an amazing week they will always remember. Win in my book! 

May GLOW camp, Part 1

After all of the planning, we finally got to do the camp!

Can you believe that ALL of these girls and their things fit in that truck?!

We talked about leadership, and did an activity leading each other blindfolded through an obstacle course.

Leading and following

GLOW camp in a nutshell: Different kinds of stress, demonstrated with goat and lion categories.

And do NOT put oil on a condom!

We tye-dyed 

And made a LOT of friendship bracelets.

Works of art.

We had visitors: PC country director and director of PC internationally!

We signed each others' name posters.

We had fun with face paint.

We had mad hula hooping skills.

Lots of games during a carnival.

Musical chairs.

Ok, I had fun with face paint too!

Some PCV outtakes... 

Not vomiting popcorn, but eating out of your friends hands when yours are dirty.

Be careful trying to take apart the hula hoops...

It takes a lot of effort, 

And someone might get hurt in the process...

Victory!

Sometimes GLOW camp requires drawing a lot of vaginas.

Vagina drawing skills, PCV win!

Chalkboards

Remember when I mentioned the crazy storm that came through in December? In addition to knocking down lots of trees and flooding things, it also seriously messed up the roof of our primary school. Luckily school was out at the time and no one was hurt. When school started again in January, 8 of 17 classes were meeting in large army tents while they fixed the buildings.

I was glad they at least had somewhere to meet, however...

Two weeks into the term I talked with some teachers, and they all said, can you get us chalkboards?? These classes in tents have no chalkboards and it's really hard to teach without them.

Uh, yeah. 

It's hard to teach 30 to 40 kids WITH lots of resources, let alone without basic ones like chalkboards.

Trying to think quickly, I realized that writing any kind of grant would take too long. By the time money actually came in, the renovations would be completed, and the classes would have been without boards for months. So, I looked into trying to make some. I was going to experiment with making my own chalkboard paint, but when I posted my dilemma on facebook, a PCV in Jwaneng found a guy that would donate the store bought stuff to us.  Sweet! Thanks Christina!!  By the time we arranged this and got the paint from South Africa to Jwaneng to Gabs to my village, it was almost the end of February. I got the school to save the old doors and ceiling panels that weren't too water damaged, and painted some boards.

I made 6 boards, to the amusement of all the construction guys at work on the school. I realized about halfway through my endeavor that painting is pretty much a man's job in this country, so seeing a woman painting was an unusual site for both the students and the workmen.

By time I got the boards made, the classes had been in tents for 2 months, and several had moved back into classrooms. But since they renovated half the school, they decided to paint and fix up the rest of the buildings as well, so the boards definitely got a month or two of use. The teachers also like that they are portable, so they say they will keep using them. Win!

I took this picture to send a thank you card to our paint donor. Chalk boards make happy kids and VERY happy teachers :)

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 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.

Madiba

Being in southern Africa is a unique experience in itself. Adding to that currently being  in Gabs 20km from the South African border,  for the passing of Nelson Mandela, and it’s witnessing history.

I want to refer to him as Madiba. I realize that most of the world knows him as Nelson Mandela, but Nelson was the English name he was given in school. My Setswana name in Botswana is Lesego (Leh-say-ho), but my real given name is Mary. So I want to refer to him as Madiba, his tribal name.

I don’t remember when in my life I learned who Madiba was. I certainly was not aware of historical events going on in South Africa during my childhood- his release from prison, rioting, the end of apartheid, his election, the Nobel Peace prize. To say that he is a national and international hero, especially here in southern Africa, is an understatement. He’s an important world figure in the US. In southern Africa, he’s one of the most important people ever to live.

I feel like I don’t know as much as I should about him. I went to Cape Town last summer with my mom and Carol, and we visited the Slave museum which had exhibits on Apartheid and the South African struggle for peace and shared power. We visited an exhibit at the town hall commemorating him for his 95^th birthday which he recently had. We attempted to visit Robbin Island, but the weather was bad so the ferry was canceled. I’m currently reading Long Walk to Freedom, and I saw the movie based on it a week ago, just after he passed.

What’s interested to me is that people seem to revere the Madiba of the last 20 years, and forget parts of his life from before he went to prison. He cheated on his first wife (and might have been abusive- the movie portrayed him that way). He spearheaded the arm of the African National Congress that moved away from strictly non-violence into trying to undermine the white government by setting fire to buildings and causing damage. He and the ANC were labeled a terrorist/terrorist organization for a long time. He was a radical.

From what I know, the work that he did in his life was invaluable to South Africa in their struggle for equality and a government of shared power.  And he is known for so much of the work that he did after spending 27 years in prison. But what really stands out to me, is that he came out of prison a different person than the one that went in. He changed. He grew. He forgave people of crimes against him, his family, his friends, his people, that I can only imagine. And he realized that forgiveness was the only way.

The amount of world leaders that descended on South Africa for his funeral is tribute to the man he was, and the man he became. Some people are worried that without Mandela that South Africa is going to have renewed racial violence. The tension is still there. I hope with all of my heart that is not the case, because that is the complete opposite of what Madiba wanted. Like I said, it’s an interesting time to be only kilometers from South Africa.

Watching the movie last week, I was also struck by the amount of change that has occurred in South Africa in my lifetime. I’m only 30 years old. That gives me hope that maybe by the time I am 50 or 60, some of the other countries in Africa that are such a mess now, will have radically changed by then. As I read the headline that Mandela passed away on Friday, (Thursday night, but it was late here so I heard about it Friday morning), there was a smaller headline warning that Central African Republic could be headed for a genocide and that UN troops might be moving in.  The work is never finished.

I’m also struck by how amazing it is to live in an African country that managed to avoid such a bloody struggle for independence and equality. There are plenty of things about Botswana that drive me crazy, I’m not saying we’re perfect here. But the contrast of what Botswana is and went through and what South Africa is and went through is stark. A lot of that is that the countries started with different resources, histories, and racial tensions. But I don’t take for granted the history of peace in this country.

The ironic thing about being where I am, in the Peace Corps in Botswana, is that I’m geographically close (relatively speaking) to what is going on in South Africa, but I live in the bush so I don’t have access to a lot of media coverage of it. I can get headlines and a few news stories, and when I’m in the capital for a day or to I can see some TV.

From what I’ve seen, the services for Madiba seem peaceful, reverent, and well attended. Yes, there is always going to be crazy things to detract from the real purpose, like the sign language scandal. But it’s neat to see the world mourn and remember such a great man, and coming together in the process to do so.

Peace is what you worked for your whole life Madiba. Rest now knowing you accomplished so much for so many, and left us a shining example of how to go forward with your work.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than it’s opposite. “ ~ Nelson Mandela

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.