Waaaazup?!

Wow, it’s been a long time! Whoops! :)

Umm so where to begin… well, in early September we had a week and a half long in-service training in Kanye that concluded with a counterpart (every PCV is supposed to have a counterpart, kinda sorta like a supervisor) workshop where we planned out our projects for the coming year. The Bots7 group was split in half to make training easier, but we overlapped with the other group for a couple of days so we would get a chance to see everyone again and catch up. It was a lot of fun! And Kanye is beauuutiful! I hadn’t seen hills in a long time, so I got pretty excited about that. There was way more greenery and all kinds of pretty flowers. We also hiked the gorge on the weekend and that was really cool. A week after training, Joe came to visit and that was amazing! :) I went down to Gabs to meet him and then we came up to my village for the week and holiday before heading back down to Gabs for one more day before he left. Botswana’s Independence Day is September 30th so that was a long day of events and fun times. It started off with a kgotla meeting (the kgotla is the place where traditional leaders would meet and was traditionally placed in the center of a ward/village and then the compounds would be built surrounding it. It’s now used as a gathering place for meetings, events, speakers, etc.) where there was a guest speaker and performances by two traditional dance groups, the boy scouts and several choirs. Later that afternoon there was an informal football game between the women’s team and some men who got together to play us. That was funny. Maybe not so funny for my team cuz I let an easy goal by and we lost by one… I thought it was funny though, considering the game was just for fun. Ah well! I asked who had been practicing as goalkeeper while I was gone and the girl who raised her hand actually looked like she enjoyed the position, so I’m hoping she’ll stick around and take over. I handed the second half of the match over to her and she did much better than me, so really, her becoming the new goalkeeper is in the best interest of the team. ;) After the football match my neighbor had a party and a braii (a cookout). That was a good time. A nice way to end a long and busy holiday!

After getting back to site after Joe’s visit, it was time to get some projects rolling. I know many of you have been wondering what the heck I’m actually doing over here, so I will tell you. Let me preface by saying just a few weeks ago I had a list of project ideas and am now working on a completely different list of projects, so things are always changing as time goes by and obstacles arise and needs are realized. I don’t think I mentioned it, but in August my clinic started distributing ARVs(Anti-retrovirals a.k.a. HIV drugs) so we’ve been given a computer for this reason. Last week my counterpart and I started giving computer lessons to the clinic staff, in order to familiarize them with the basic functions. Also, it’s been brought to my attention that there is a serious need for infant and young child feeding information and counseling for mothers, and that many under-5s are malnourished due to this lack of knowledge and assistance. So I’m starting to plan an infant and young child feeding training for a few women who would then come to the clinic in the mornings (when mothers bring their children in to get weighed) and counsel and educate them on their options. Another project that is in the works is a weekly health talk at the clinic. At in-service training we received a large DVD set of short films focusing on HIV/AIDS, so I’d like to use those to start off the health talks. Each session a film would be viewed, followed with a discussion. I’m a little unsure of how this idea will play out since the films are in English, but I’m hoping with the visual and some translation the message will still get across effectively. We’ll see I guess!

So those are the things I am working on at the moment. What else can I update you on… Oh! I don’t think I ever said anything more about the soccer team. After getting 2nd in the tournament in my village we went on to compete in the regional tournament and yowzas, that was nuts! Long story short, we lost the first game 5-0. The next day we played for 3rd place and the game ended in a tie. I thought, alright, that’s cool, bring on the overtime. But no, tourney rules said it’s straight to shoot out (whaaat?), so you can imagine how I felt about that! It was absolutely terrifying. I don’t even know what the final score was. I just know that it came down to our last kicker and she sent it straight to the corner and it was beautiful. So we took 3rd place, which came with a trophy and one of those gigantic checks that said we’d won 3,000 pula (~$500). We’ve spent the money on uniforms and gear for the team. Up until now, we’d been wearing the men’s uniforms. Since the tournament we’ve continued practicing and have recently registered to be officially part of the women’s league, which I’m hoping will mean more games in the near future.

Let’s see… weather… it’s hot. Not much else to say about that. I guess it’s been pretty darn windy too, but I mentioned that in my last post. Although last night it was so windy I thought I was going to wake up and walk out of my house to find a bunch of munchkins dancing around with lollipops. Thankfully that didn’t happen. I asked a coworker today when she thought the rain would come and she said end of October. I’m looking forward to that. I hear the thunderstorms here rock. Twice while Joe was here I thought we might get rain, but both times nothing happened. The first time it smelled like rain so I was sure some was going to fall, but nope. And the second time there was thundering and lightning, but that was it. At least with the warmer weather, many of the trees and bushes have grown leaves and blossomed which has been really cool to see. (Also strange considering we’re nearing the end of the dry season, so where all this life is coming from I don’t know) There were a bunch of trees in my village that grew purple flowers and smelled like lilacs. I loved it. They didn’t last long, just like lilacs, but they were really pretty and smelled amazing.

Bug update. I’ve finally seen my first cockroach, and about a hundred more since. Bleh. Now I understand why people dislike them so much. Really fast bugs give me the creeps. I bought a product recommended to me called Dyroach and some caulk to fill the gaps around my sink that they come out of and am planning on anti-cockroaching my kitchen this weekend. Wish me luck with that! Did I ever mention that I saw a black widow? That was pretty cool! I was staying with another volunteer and it was living in a little hole in the wall next to the toilet in her compound. I tried to get a picture of it, but none of them turned out well. There have been lots of other bugs lately. There’s this one bug that flies over and over into my windows at night and it’s so big and loud its wings sound like a lawnmower in the distance and when it runs into my window it sounds like someone is knocking. Eesh. I also saw the biggest grasshopper I’ve ever seen in my life. I claimed it was easily the length of the palm of my hand, but others said that was a bit of an exaggeration, so imagine somewhere around the size of your finger I guess. That’s still pretty big!

Well, that about wraps it up! I hope everyone is having a nice fall and enjoying sweatshirts and jeans! :) Talk to ya’ll later!