My Life in Botswana

- Bathing (pronounced “bath-ing” not “bathe-ing”, seriously, if not pronounced exactly like this people have no idea what you are talking about) is now something that only occurs a few times a week and consists of me kneeling in my bathtub and pouring water over myself from a bucket aka a “bucket bath”. Although I am lucky to have a bathtub, I have decided that baths are gross, especially when you are covered in dirt and sand, and thus bucket baths are my preferred method of bathing.

- Cleanliness is overrated. That goes for everything from clothes to the floors in my house. Each article of clothing I own is worn approximately 2 or 3 times before it is washed. You would understand if washing meant spending hours over a bucket scrubbing each piece of clothing by hand, inevitably ending up with blisters on your knuckles.

- Internet is a luxury that can only be obtained during the day and thus when all of you are sleeping. I am lucky to have internet at my office…well I have it every other 2 minutes as it switches between on and off. Though for the most part I am able to check basic things like email, although sending email is a different story.

- There is no real need to be timely. I used to be late to everything as my friends in high school can attest. I then made the effort to change that in college, which I would like to say I succeeded in. Now, as if part of a joke, I must return to my old ways. Not because it is acceptable to be late here, although on some level it is, but more because nothing here ever starts when it is supposed to. This is called “African time”, something known and referred to here even by Batswana. So now I know that if someone says something starts at noon, they really mean 3pm.

- I may need to reevaluate my consumption of meat (just kidding – a good Texan girl like me?) The killing of animals, reptiles, and insects is something I have determined I will witness on a regular basis here. So far I have seen the slaughtering of 3 cows (seriously saw the entire process from living to dead and hanging on a hook), the torture and death of a lizard, and the beating of a chicken, not to mention the dozens of insects that have unfortunately died due to my hands and big can of doom.

Last Week

So I have found that community based work is particularly uneven when it comes to time. Either you have a week where every hour is scheduled or a week where nothing is scheduled. On those days/weeks when I have nothing scheduled I typically walk around the village, trying to get to know people, learning new shortcuts to get places, or just hanging out with the kids on my street. Last week, was not one of those weeks. Everyday I was doing something and it was such a productive week that I figured I would share a bit of what I‘ve done here so far.

On Tuesday, one of my fellow PCVs in my village put together a tour of stakeholders for all of the PCVs in my region. This was something that we had been trying to put in motion for weeks, even prior to getting to site. The goal was to meet with government agencies and organizations to introduce ourselves and to get a feel of how we might be able to assist them in what they do. So starting Tuesday morning I set out with plenty of time to meet everyone at the regional education center and that’s where this story starts. After catching one taxi, being dropped off at the wrong education center, walking 10 minutes back to a main road to catch a new taxi, and ultimately being 15 minutes late, I finally reached the correct place. Our tour started there, where we met with the individuals working at the regional education level. Next, we moved on to Hope Worldwide, the NGO next door to my office which works with providing education and support for orphans and vulnerable children in the village. We then stopped by my office where I gave the presentation to the other PCVs about what we do and where we could collaborate. Then on to Tebepolele, an organization that provides free counseling and HIV testing, including a mobile unit to reach smaller villages in the region. We made a quick stop at the main kgotla where activities were happening in recognition of World AIDS Day. Lastly, we stopped at the regional office for Social and Community Development. All in all the day was a great success meeting my basic need of wanting to simply have a formal introduction with all of these offices.

Wednesday and Thursday I spent in the capital at a GLOW (Girls and Guys leading our World) Camp being led by Women Against Rape (WAR) and the PCV who is assigned to the organization. The organization does similar things to mine but is based in the northern part of the country in Maun. I was lucky enough to shadow the volunteer that works there about 2 months back and she invited me to come out for a couple days of the camp. It was a great couple of days. The organization staff and other PCVs helping out led sessions ranging from violence against women, gender and power, and STIs for a group of 31 junior secondary students. My last day even ended with me in charge of the condom balloon toss station for a scavenger hunt for the kids!

Finally on Friday, I came home and led 2 focus groups with the girls enrolled in my organizations projects to get a better idea of the needs of the community as perceived by youth. For those interested, issues surrounding poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, and orphans were some of the top issues brought up in both groups.

My office just closed for the holidays, so for the next few weeks I will probably be spending most of my time walking around and going to cultural events. Then come January my schedule should be pretty booked again.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the holiday season! Oh, and a shout out to my MI friends who sent me my very first package…It was great! Thanks so much!

Site and address

So I have been at site now for a couple weeks, just trying to figure out my way around the village and setting up my new house. My house is pretty nice, though with a few kinks like no running water (except at 3 am in the morning), an empty gas canister meaning I cant cook on the stove, and a tree that has grown through the outer piping for my toilet which leads to leakage in my bathroom everytime I flush (that being when I can). But no big deal…all of this will be fixed at some point, not to mention it’s the life of a Peace Corps volunteer. I do have 2 bedrooms, so regardless of all of this I expect visitors..haha. On the really positive end, I have super helpful neighbors who have already offered to help me in many ways, a lot of kids who have taken to calling me “Auntie Neo”, and a prime location. I live about a 10 minute walk from the “mall” which is really the equivalent to a shopping center in the states but it has pretty much all I will need and about 15 minutes from my office. All in all I really like my house and its location and look forward to making it my new home for the next 2 years.

Now that I am settled or at least working towards being so I would love to hear from everyone in the form of phone calls, letters, and packages. I will post a wishlist on my blog soon for those of you who feel inclined to send a package, but packages are not necessary, I would just love to hear from everyone. I do have one request that if you send me something please include something that I can hang up on my wall for decoration (my bare walls are in dire need). It can be super simple like pictures, drawings, post cards, a quote, or something utterly ridiculous that you know will make me laugh. I would sincerely appreciate it (and I am sure so would any visitors I have to my home). In addition, I have added an email update option on the right hand side of my blog so that you can receive email updates whenever I post something new on my blog.

My address is the following:

Danielle Tuft c/o Kagisano Womens Shelter
P/Bag X046
Gaborone, Botswana

Pictures

Site Announcement!

As a trainee, site announcement is pretty much the biggest thing you look forward to throughout training.  It’s the day you find out where you will be living and working for the your 2 years of service.  For Bots 11 that day was Friday the 21st and I am excited to announce that in a week and a half I will be moving to Molepolole (aka Moleps) to work at the Molepolole Drop In center for the Kagisano Society Women’s Shelter Project.  

Now for some more information.  Moleps is the largest traditional village in Botswana with a population of approximately 70,000 people.  It is about an hour bus ride from the capital city, Gabarone, but based on what I have heard, still very much a village in the sense that it still has very defined wards that separate the community.  Until recently, the village was the site for Peace Corps training, so the village has quite a bit of experience working with Peace Corps volunteers.  Moleps also happens to be a hotspot for volunteer placement as there are currently 4 volunteers serving there and 4 more from my group who will join them in November ( I will be the only one officially partnered with an NGO).  This is a unique situation as most volunteers are the only ones in their village.

As for my organization, I have heard many good things.  It was started in Gabarone in 1998 as the first shelter of its kind in Botswana.  It was founded to provide shelter and counseling for victims of gender based violence.  In 2009, recognizing increased need for support services in Molepolole, the organization opened the Molepoloe Drop in Center.  The center currently provides counseling and referral services, outreach activities to educate the community on gender based violence, and the implementation of youth activities with a focus on like skills.  

 I think that this placement is perfect for me and I am super excited to get started!

First 2 weeks

Monkeys!  I saw monkeys this week just chilling on the side of the road on my way to Gaborone.  According to Batswana I have spoken to, monkeys here are “naughty”.  I have heard stories of monkeys just sitting outside eating from a box of KFC (the one American fast food available on Botswana, by the way) or taking food from kids lunches while they are at school!

That was just one fun moment in my last two weeks, but it really has been an eventful couple of weeks and I am learning so much about Botswana culture and etiquette.  For example, I have learned that drinks never coincide with a meal, instead you must finish your meal first and then you may get a drink.  That was surprisingly difficult to get used to! 

In other exciting news, I have a Setswana name now.  It is pretty much expected that everyone has a Setswana name regardless of where you are from.  So expected that I now only go by my Setswana name…Neo.  According to my host family my name means “gift” and I love it!  I learned quickly that when people ask you your name here, they really just want to know your Setswana name, so from now on just call me Neo!

In addition to all of this, Peace Corps staff led a great session on permagardening in which we created a garden for a home based care organization.  It was a 2 day project and was a lot of hard work, but the results were great and I am really excited to visit in a few weeks to see how everything has progressed.  The vegetables produced in the garden will go towards supplementing the home based care clients’ current diets. It’s great that in only 2 weeks we have already found ways to assist the community.  I am really excited to use what we learn to start community gardens, and perhaps my own garden, once I get to my permanent site.

I have been able to attend many more cultural events recently including a school concert, wedding reception, and a cross cultural event.  The school concert was so cute with children performing a variety of acts ranging from “little red riding hood” to dances to popular music.  The wedding reception was also a new experience.  We were “sort of” invited, but welcomed none the less when we arrived and were given tables at the reception.  The reception was held in a big tent on the family compound and the bridal party entered in dance, then exited in dance, then entered in dance again.  It was really cool and unexpected, but is apparently the norm for weddings here in Botswana. 

The cross cultural event I went to was held at the main kgotla.  A kgotla is a meeting place overseen by the kgosi (chief) where the community comes to discuss community issues and activities, such as development plans like a neighborhood watch or the construction of new homes.  The kgosi is a position that typically goes from father to son; however, some circumstances do allow it to pass on to daughters.  The kgosi is responsible for leading all meetings, chairing many of the committees, and making the final decisions.  The event was super cool and was designed to be an opportunity for individuals to share something from their culture.  There were traditional Botswana dances and choirs as well as some parades of other cultures from different African countries.  Following this awesome traditional dance, they urged our group to demonstrate something American…and thus, we did the Macarena (I do realize that this isn’t technically American, but what American won’t break into dance at the sound of the song?).  Needless to say it was hilarious and quite embarrassing!

Thats all for now, but look out for some pictures soon!

Arrival!

       After 24 hours of travel (16.5 hours via plane and 8 hours waiting in airports), I have arrived in Botswana!  My Peace Corps group otherwise known as Bots 11 (signifying us as the 11^th group of volunteers to enter the country since returning in 2003) is a very diverse group with a total of 35 volunteers.  We are all Peace Corps trainees for the next two months, after which we are sworn in as official Peace Corps volunteers and will move to our permanent sites in the country.

      Our stay in Botswana started in Gaborone, the capital city, at a very nice lodge where we spent our first night.  The following day we took a bus to the city of Kanye which will be our home for the next 2 months.  I have been told that Kanye has apopulation of about 8,000 people and I am excited to start exploring the city and meeting the community members.

      On Thursday, we had a matching ceremony in which we met our host families for the next two months.  It is kind of a big deal and was wonderful to see how excited Batswana families were to welcome us into their homes.  I will be living with just my host mother.  She has 3 children but they all currently live out of the home either working or studying in other cities around Botswana.  It is clear however that living near family is very important as within the first few hours of meeting my host mom, I also met her sister, siter-in-law, two cousins, and daughter.  On a different note,  my host mother keeps chickens/roosters in the backyard right by my room, so I expect that my travel alarm clock will be unecessary most days. 

      I have been here for less than 24 hours and have already had many fantastic experiences.  About an hour after I arrived to my new home in Kanye, my host mother and I attended a funeral procession for her pastor who recently passed away.  Following this, we attended a memorial service in his honor at the church.  It was so great to jump right into the culture and my anthropology background has already begun to surface as I sat at the church searching for cultural cues and practices.  On a more awkward note, my host mother had us sit on the pulpit behind where the reverands speak, so I had an entire congregation facing me the entire service.  What a way to introduce me to the community!

To end this entry, here is a brief list of things I have learned so far:

1.      -   There is ALOT of red dirt here, and thus everything I own will be very dirty soon.

2.      -   Here they drive on the other side of the road.  I knew this yet was super thrown when I got into my      host mother’s car and the steering wheel was on the right side! Clearly I have never been to Europe.

3.       -  Donkeys (“tonki” in setswana and my word of the day!), cows, and chickens roam freely around town and like to just hang out in the road.