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!