What I can do

As I write this, I'm sitting outside the library in Kanye, enjoying the shade, coolish weather, and free wi-fi.  Four girls that were sitting in the grass near me for a while finally came up to me and starting asking me for money, not an uncommon occurrence.  On a whim I decided to use the reverse psychology I’ve heard friends here discuss.  Give me 2 pula.  You give ME 2 pula.  What?  It completely baffles them that I’m asking THEM for money.  They were persistent though, and part of me wanted to tell them to bug off, I’m not going to give you money.  But then they asked me where I was from, and I managed to steer the conversation towards them: What form (grade) are you in?  What is your favorite subject?  What do you want to be when you grow up?  We had a laugh when I gently correctly one girl’s pronunciation of pilot, because I swear she first said pirate. (Which is doubly funny because there is no coast here; Botswana is a landlocked country.  I told her she’d be stealing boats in the Okavanga Delta.)  They are at junior secondary school, which is like middle school in the States, and what I’ll be working in at my site in less than a month.  They said I should come to their school, they have bad teachers that don’t teach them and beat them when they don’t know their lessons.  I asked if they had books that they could study on their own, and they said they weren’t good, etc.  There is corporeal punishment in schools here, but I have no idea if they are studying or not, who is actually getting beaten, etc.  So I told them that in a few years, they get to run things.  They get to make the decisions about teacher training, and corporal punishment, etc.  And if they don’t like the way things are, they should change them.  Because they would be in a better place to do that than me as a volunteer, because people will just assume I’m a crazy lacoa (white person).  That made them laugh, and although I’m not sure if they believe me, I think I at least gave them something to think about.

During our conversation they kept saying I want to go to America, everyone’s rich in America.  (So as I’m talking with them, I now have the song ‘America’ from West Side Story playing in my brain.  If you’ve seen the movie you know what I mean.)  And I’m trying to explain a few things like: America is big, more than 150x the population of your country.  So no, I have not met Beyonce or Obama.  Also, not everyone is rich in America.  Yes they might have more money than people here, but things cost more there.  Also, there are poor people in America.  And bad teachers.  And people that can’t find jobs. Etc.  And I said, you guys want to be pilots, nurses, and teachers.  Why don’t you make Botswana so great that people want to come and move here? And they were like, huh?   The conversation sort of dwindled after this and they started asking me for money again.  So I told them I was glad to talk with them, but if they kept asking me for money I was going to leave.  That sort of startled them, and they left a few minutes later, saying they would see me again.

This might not sound like a great conversation, but it actually was.  Because I made them think.  And I think they were surprised I would take an interest in them, asking them about school and their goals and such.  And it really solidified for me something I can do here as a PCV.  I can engage with students, as much as possible, and rock their world a little bit.  Care about them, help them dream, show them a point of view they’ve never thought about. 

There’s a lot that I’d like to do in my two years here, and much more that I can’t change.  Hopefully at my site I can build long term relationships with them, and help them problem solve, and tutor each other, and start some clubs and other programs.  But even if I just hang out with students for two years, I think that will be the biggest difference I can make, teaching/mentoring/after school programs aside.

Hey y’all.  Apologies for the delay in update, I was under the weather the middle of the week and wasn’t thinking much about posting.  Am much better now so here you go…

Last week our training group was shadowing, where we live with a current volunteer for a few days and see what they do, what their life is like, etc.

I stayed in Ghanzi with a volunteer named Maureen, who works with NGOs.  Maureen is a lot of fun, and because of her location (the biggest town in the entire district) she has people in and out of her house ALL the time.  Like there’s literally only been a few days at her site when someone hasn’t been staying with her.  So the first night it was just me, the 2^nd night it was me, a couch surfer from Spain named Marta, and a grad student from GB named Jenny.  The 3^rd night it was me, Marta, and some PCVs, and the last night there was a pile of us because we had a barbecue.  Because of Marta and the fact that Maureen speaks Spanish pretty fluently, I think I spoke more Spanish this past week than Setswana, although Marta also spoke English.

I arrived Tuesday around 1:30pm, after getting picked up by PC at 4:30am to go to Gabs to catch a bus.  Although it was almost an 8 hour bus ride, the ride itself wasn’t too bad.  There were 6 of us on the bus, and me and another trainee were going all the way to Ghanzi so we had people to chat with. Our drive through the Kalahari was beautiful, although it mostly looks the same.  Lots of small trees/bushes that are brown, although with the rains coming they will soon bloom.  Not a desert like the Sahara.  Also, ostriches!! And man, they are HUGE!  I wasn't expecting that, so they were really fun to see.

On Wednesday Maureen took me to a smaller village where we helped another volunteer write a grant for her NGO, which provides facilities and materials for San people to make and sell arts and crafts.  Then we went back to Ghanzi and visited the Ghanzi celebration for international mental health day at the bus rink, complete with lots of speeches and dancing.  Then we briefly met with someone at an NGO for people living with HIV.  That night we went to dinner at a restaurant with some PCVs and the people staying with Maureen.  Thursday we were supposed to do some field work but the person taking us was sick.  That afternoon we went to the local elementary school and did a reading group with the kids we could find.  Normally Maureen has a regular group, but some of the kids were having exams, other weren’t there, and the room was locked, so we made due with what we had, PC style J 

Friday we prepared for the brie (pronounced bry), the Botswana way of barbecuing.  At the brie there were a bunch of us and we chilled all evening, going dancing later at the local bar.  Saturday I caught the 10am bus home.  It was an awesome week and is making me want to be at my site!

Saturday we went to a village about 45 minutes from Kanye that I guess is sort of a tourist attraction?  They danced for us, had us dance with them, and told us a lot about traditional cultures and practices.  At the end we had lunch there, so I know that PC must have paid them for our visit.
The dancing and singing was really fun to watch, and I hope I can get some people to teach me when I get to my site.  I don't have high hopes for my dancing abilities, but I'd really love to learn some of the songs I've heard in church and when people are working.  Some remind me of the spirituals that are sang in the American south from the time of slavery.  (I know that sounds like a duh since I'm in Africa, but most slaves that were taken from Africa that wound up in America were taken from central and west africa, not southern africa.)
Anyway, the dancers made different people in our group dance with them at different times, including the 'grandfathers', 'grandmothers', and Luis, the only guy in our group under 30.  Then the guys in the dancing group picked girls to dance with, and then we mock married Katy, one of our group, to the chiefs son.  This was complete with her getting to dance with the women a few songs (including one called 'I have a headache'), getting an additional skirt and shawl to wear over her clothes, and having a 'honeymoon' in a traditional hut.  The last thing was hilarious because after they were led into the hut, the older women in our group were invited to peak in the window to 'make sure everything was going ok'.  Apparently this really used to happen, the grandmas spied on the honeymoon to make sure things were happening. :P  The whole thing was funny and slightly awkward and Katy was a really good sport.
We also got a chance to grind some sorghum to make a porridge that's a breakfast food, and buy some jewelry made in the village.  I got a neat necklace with beads that are the colors of the Botswana flag.
After we got back from the cultural visit we had free time, so about half of our group hung out in a cafe in Kanye that we've found called Kohai.

Tomorrow I leave for Ghanzi for a few days, so hopefully I can update in a week about those adventures :)

I’ve found internet that’s easier to access, so hopefully I can post more often.  At least for the duration of training.  I realize that I should probably back up a bit and explain a little bit of how Peace Corps works, since I know most people aren’t familiar with the process.

When you apply to Peace Corps, you tell them all of your skills and background and they roughly try to place you somewhere where you can use those skills and experience (very roughly.  More on that in another post).  The application process is a completely separate beast that I’m not going to go into here :P  Once they tell you where you are going, you have the opportunity to accept your invitation or decide not to go.  I got my invite in May after I graduated.  Then there’s a whole bunch more paperwork that goes back and forth between you and PC, until the day arrives that you leave.

When you leave home you go to some city in the US for staging, to meet the rest of the people going to your country at the same time.  A lot of people might not know this, but PC sends people to countries in batches.  So my staging was in Philadelphia with 34 other people going to Botswana to be Life Skills volunteers (more on the life skills stuff later).   We meet each other and more paperwork ensues.  After getting talked at a bunch we basically didn’t sleep and began the process of getting here, via a bus to New York, flying to South Africa, then Gaborone (affectionately known as Gabs for short), then taking a bus to Kanye.

Kanye is our training site.  Each of the 34 of us (one person has gone home already) live with a host family to learn Setswana and local culture and customs (unless you are married then you are placed together).  M-F and some parts of Saturday, the 34 of us have training at a local education center.  This is what I mentioned last time, where we get sessions on health, safety, language, local culture, HIV/AIDS, and eventually what we are doing in schools.  At this point, we are actually not Peace Corps volunteers yet.  We are Peace Corps trainees, in the Bots13 class (you’ll hear me mention that a LOT).  Once we finish training we swear in as Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) on November 15^th, at which point we then go to our sites.

So I’m currently a Bots13 PC trainee in the middle of pre-service training (PST).  Have you picked up that PC really likes acronyms? J   There are currently 3 other bots groups here as current volunteers.  Bots 12 came in April, Bots 11 came a year ago in September, and Bots 10 came April 2011, so they only have about 6 months left.  Bots 9 left this past June.  Keep in mind that people think of Peace Corps as a 2 year commitment, but it’s actually 26-27 months, because your training (that I’m currently in) doesn’t count towards your 2 years of service.  I’m sure I’ll go into lots of other PC stuff in future posts.

Next week we have a break from M-F training and we get to shadow current volunteers for a few days.  I leave at 4:30am for Ghanzi (pronounced hanzi, most Gs are silent in Setswana) for 4 days, and I’m super excited.  I’m excited to actually be with a volunteer, and to see more of the country; Ghanzi is pretty far west- look near the Namibia border if you are trying to find it on a map.  I also know that our training class Bots13 will have sites within several hours of Gabs and not be as far as where I’m going next week, so yay for getting to go farther for a few days!  The 8-hour bus ride is not on my list of favorite things, but at least its just one bus I think.  I’ll give a full report in a week or 2.

Once again, leave a comment if you have questions!

Some questions and answers, courtesy of my mom and others:

Does your host family speak English?  
Yes!  I'm very lucky they speak it so well, and they are helping me with my Setswana as well.  I've  told the 8-year old that she is my tutor and she helps me pronounce words :)  Although my host mom's children are grown, the children of some cousins are often over/spending the night, so there's usually 3 kids ages 6, 7 and 8 around.  There's also some other older cousins that hang around, I've not figured out the family relations of everyone yet.

Are you the first PCV she has housed?  I think I'm the 3rd.

Is the "plumbing" indoors or out?  
Its actually both?  The house is 'wired' for plumbing.  The toilet works, but the sink in the bathroom doesn't because the pipes leak.  The laundry room sink and the kitchen sink work, but the kitchen sink leaks a bit.  The spout in the bathtub leaks a LOT so it's not usually hooked up.  Bathing is from a bucket of water, some of which I heat on the stove so its warm.  Actual bath is inside in the tub.  Laundry is in tubs outside. Dishes are in the sink but with minimal water.  There is a standpipe outside to fill buckets. Water is scarce here because its the desert, so even if the water runs, it's usually turned off.  They also have a pit latrine if the water is completely shut off, which happened last night for a few hours. Water is drinkable from the tap in most places including my house.

How do you get to your training meetings and to other places like the Mall where internet is located?  
I walk to training, about 30 minutes.  There are also some buses that the PC has to take us places- they are called combis here.  To get to the mall I usually take a cabs, its about 60 cents.

How is the food?  Do you eat most meals with your family?  
Food is good.
Have had an upset stomach one day but really pretty good all things considering.  Lots of stews and heavy starches.  Rice, pasta once for my lunch, something akin to dumplings, and a lot of white stuff with the consistency of grits with no taste.

How long are your training meetings?  What are you discussing/learning?
We have training 8:30-4:30 M-F with an hour off for lunch, and Saturday it varies.  Tomorrow its 9-11 I think.  We have a lot of language training, cross cultural training, safety training, PC values, and how to do jobs at
site.  We haven't hit that last one much yet but its coming.  This week for example we've had about 9 hours of language, food/water safety, intro to using the medical unit here, individual medical consultations and starting
vaccines, sexual assault awareness, how to prevent crime, learned games to play with kids, learned some of our roles as a volunteer (trainer, facilitator, learner, mentor, etc).  Lots of different things broken up into 2 hours sessions, except that sometimes language class can be longer.

You sound really busy!
I'm pretty busy, but I have a fair amount of downtime at night.  Usually I can read a little before bed.  The sun goes down at 6-6:30 and I haven't been out after dark.  I usually go to bed around 9, because the roosters go off at 6am and they have no snooze alarm :P

Other random things: 
My 'mom' (we are supposed to call our host family mom, sister, brother, etc.)  is a counselor in our village, which is a political position. Everyone knows her and shes very busy.  Our training group went to a local village counsel this last week and she was there :)  I also went to church with her on Sunday, which was from about 11- 3.
Then there was a meal afterwards so we got home around 4.  I think I might try church every other week, and do laundry this week instead. My sister showed me how to wash clothes last sunday after church, so I'll try with my own this week :) The weather has been really nice here.  It's cool in the morning and at night, and warm during the day.  I think its about to get really hot, but its nice for now.  I have used my sleeping bag, so I'm very glad I brought it.

If you have other questions leave them in the comment section and I'll try to answer them in the future!

We made it safely to Botswana, and I'm beginning to recover from jet
lag.  We left Philly at 3am Wed. morning and arrived in Botswana around noon on Thursday.  We spent Thursday night in a lodge in Gaborone getting lots of information from PC staff and current volunteers, and then I crashed-
not sleeping for almost 3 days made me more tired than I've been since at least college.
Yesterday we rode a bus to Kanye where we live for training.  After some more information sessions we met our host families.  My host mom has 4 grown children that are all here for the weekend.  I haven't figured out if they live here perminently.  The daughter lives in Gaborone and comes home on the weekends, and has an adorable 10-month old baby.  The house is nice with electricity and plumbing, but currently no running water. We can flush the toilet with buckets of water, and they have a separate barrel of water for drinking, as opposed to washing and flushing toilets.  Tonight I'll figure out how to take a bucket bath- I'll let you know how that goes*. I have my own room that locks- a PC requirement, which is nice and I can sleep pretty well.  I don't think I'll ever sleep through the roosters though.  I swear this morning it sounded like one was IN the kitchen.
We had some more training this morning and then a free afternoon, so my friend Sarah and I took a cab to the mall (which is pretty close) to buy a few things and use the internet cafe.  She got lost lost walking home from the training center, and I got lost walking out to the highway, but we eventually found each other and got a cab.
For now, I think I'll post here about once a week, unless I find some other internet. I have a phone, but I'm not sure how to call long distance yet without it costing more than a dollar a minute (yikes).  Facebook also loads really weird in this cafe, so I might miss something if you post it on my wall.  E-mail is your best bet if you really need to reach me.
The address I have up on the blog will reach me, and I haven't gotten a better one yet, so mail things to the Gaborone address if you are so inclined.
The weather here is gorgeous, its like early-ish spring.  Very cool at night and warm during the day.  I know it will get very hot soon, so I'm enjoying it while I can!
So far Botswana is great, both the people and the country.  I start serious language training on Tuesday, and will then hopefully know more than 3 words in Setswana.  My Botswana name is Lesayho, which means luck.
Go siame! (goodbye!)


*I promise not to give you too much information on bathing and sanitation here :P

I leave for Botswana (by way of Philadelphia, New York, and South Africa) in less than 2 days!  Eek!  I'm currently trying to tie up loose ends and make sure my luggage isn't overweight.

As soon as I figure out a mailing address during training I will post that here.  For the time being, e-mail is the best way to reach me, although I won't have a lot of access to that during training.  Assume for a while that no news is good news :)