Hi everyone! It’s been a while! How is everybody doing? Enjoying summer and all its greatness I hope. We’ve had an extra cold and wet winter here. Back in June we had 3-4 days straight of rain and not a glimpse of sun throughout. And it was coooold. People were saying that hasn’t happened that time of year in a long time, if ever for as long as they can remember. I thought maybe that was it and the worst of it was over, but oh no, I’d say most of July was torture. You’re probably thinking, “Torture? Please! Have you forgotten what MN winters are like!?” and to that I respond, “No, but most people in MN have a handy little something called heat!” I will, however, admit that 5 months of winter with heat is still probably worse than 2 months without. I will give you that. But for someone who would prefer 0 months of winter and is a total baby when it comes to the cold, these 2 months were torture. I tried my best to fight it. Most days I wore a ridiculous amount of layers. On top of that I wore a jacket, wool socks, scarf, hat and my MN-winter mittens (which I choose to believe my coworkers were just jealous when they called them baseball gloves and oven mitts, pfh, whatever!). I used an extra blanket, drank lots of hot tea and baked a ton trying to heat up my house. Some of it helped, some of it didn’t, but it doesn’t matter now because I made it through! And I won’t have to deal with it again because right when it starts to get cold again next year, I’ll be finishing up my service and heading back to the US to enjoy a second summer! Woop woop!
Other news, in May my family came to visit South Africa. They did a safari at Kruger and then I met up with them for a week in Cape Town. That was a lot of fun. I had heard from several people that Cape Town is awesome and I’d have to say they are right. There are lots of things to do and see. Especially see. It seemed like everywhere we went you could take a picture and it’d look like a post card. Everything was so picturesque. We went to Table Mountain, the Kirstenbosch Gardens, Cape Point and a good chunk of wineries. It all came as a welcomed change of scenery from the flat flat desert that I live in. We really lucked out with weather, too, since South Africa’s rainy/winter season starts right around the time we were there. And of course the restaurants… how I miss restaurants! Not that I don’t like me some take away! Dinawa le soupu? Sign me up! But sushi and sandwiches and green salads… yeah… that’s what I’m talking about. Mmm.
On to work stuff- I found out this past quarter that I’m not the only one who despises the cold. We had 2 workshops planned (one in June, one in July) and people didn’t show up until the morning was half over. The excuse I heard the most was that it was too cold earlier in the morning. So lesson learned. I know now not to hold workshops in the winter, or at least to not pack the morning schedule so if people do show up late your workshop’s not all in a mess.
Besides the late and narrowed attendance, both workshops went quite well. The first in June was the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Behavior Change workshop put on by our VMSAC (Village Multi-Sectoral AIDS Committee). It targeted out-of-school youth and covered the effects of alcohol and drug abuse, gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy, discipline, importance of education, youth empowerment, and self employment and training. We had a smaller turnout than hoped for and almost all participants were women, some of which were no longer youths (you’re a youth until you turn 30 in Botswana), but even so the sessions went really well. Each active department of VMSAC presented on a topic relevant to both their department and behavior change, and most included some sort of activity or group work to have participants using the information they just learned.
The second workshop in July was the one I had been planning with another PCV to address abuse towards women in my village. We had the NGO W.A.R. (Women and Men Against Rape) come and facilitate a day and a half workshop for women. It covered topics like their rights and actions to take when they are abused as well as exercises that allowed the women to share and discuss their personal experiences and struggles. The planning got a little challenging when the other PCV and I didn’t look at our schedules closely enough when we picked the date and we ended up being away at our mid-service training the week before the workshop. That created quite a deal of stress and some bumps in the last minute logistics, but in the end it worked out. A team of women was created from the workshop with the objectives to remind each other and others not to remain silent about violence, not to be perpetrators of violence themselves and to put the exercises learned in the workshop to use. The team met this past week and developed a meeting schedule and a rough work plan. I really hope the group continues to function and becomes an active voice in the community.
Another activity that took place in the past quarter was a composition contest at the school. The purpose was to get students to think critically about what a positive role model is and who in their life they would consider their role model. After beginning the contest I was informed by the teachers that the students don’t do very well on composition writing in exams so the contest would be good practice for the exams they’d be writing the following month. Excellent! I went to the school two afternoons a week to help students with their compositions. At the end of the contest all compositions were collected and judged by the Department of Youth. A week later we announced the winners at school assembly and presented them with prizes. It was suggested that we hold a composition contest every school term in order to improve the students’ English writing skills. Sounds like that might be possible, so we’ll see.
That’s pretty much it for activities in the past 3 months. Plans for next quarter are to get the women who attended the abuse workshop together again to give us feedback on the workshop so it can be improved and replicated in other villages in the district. It’s also been brought to my attention that the workshop caused some buzz among the men in the village and they are requesting a workshop for themselves. I’m all for that because if abuse towards women is so rife it would be smart to include men in the interventions! Especially if they are requesting it!
Also, a youth corner has been created in the clinic to offer youth-friendly services. I’m still a little unclear as to what that encompasses but it seems to be pretty open. One of the active youth in the village has shown interest in being involved and we’ve been working together on some ideas. He’s been wanting to start up a youth support group for some time for youth to share their frustrations and work together to create change in the community. I found a book of games that can be used as tools for educating youth about reproductive health. So as you may have guessed, we’re going to put the two together! That way we’re talking about health and we’ve got a venue for a group to meet and discuss other issues as well. The first meeting is going to be next week, so hopefully we’ll get some youth to show up, build on their interests and grow from there.
Alright then, I think that’s it! I hope everyone is doing well. Let me know what’s new with you! It’s only fair if this goes both ways, ya know! ;) Ok, go siame!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Thoughts on a year passed...
Can you believe it’s been a year since I began my PC service? I have reminders popping up all over the place, but I simply cannot wrap my head around it. Although there were days when I pondered if time had forgotten it was supposed to keep moving, most of my weeks and months have been marked with statements like, “I can’t believe it’s Thursday already!” or “How can it be April? When did March happen?” For a good chunk of that I have to thank my ability to drift off in thought for long periods of time (not so awesome for school, excellent for PC ;]) as well as my habit of making completing simple tasks take 4 times longer than the average person. This is often incredibly irritating to others, but I like to just think of it as being thorough! hehe And then, of course, there’s that other reason for time passing by more quickly than slowly… dare I say it!? I’m having fun!
Yes, yes, sometimes things can get VERY frustrating, but all in all, I’m enjoying my time. Let’s take this past quarter for example. Project-wise it was a total failure, but I sure did learn a lot about my village and all the cultures that play a part in the way people think and act. Now, with all that I learned in mind, I will be able to plan more appropriate activities and avoid some of the obstacles that hindered previous ones. Not only do I think I understand the way things work better, but this past quarter has been transformative in regards to my orientation with the community and the people who live here. Maybe I’m way behind on this matter, but I feel like all my newness has warn off and I’m finally living here. If that makes sense. I’ve started noticing I actually know things versus having an idea from what I saw or heard that one time. It’s the confidence in knowing what to expect that comes with living somewhere for a while. I find this all kind of amusing because not all that long ago another volunteer and I were chatting about how when we arrived in Botswana we thought the volunteers who had been here for a year were pros and had everything figured out and now that we’ve been here for a year and a new set of trainees arrived this past week, they might look to us the same way and we weren’t sure we were qualified for the part. Of course we’re nowhere near being pros or having it all figured out for that matter, but I think we have learned a lot more than we realize. It’ll be interesting to see what information reveals itself once the new volunteers come to site and we have a chance to share tips and swap experiences.
In an attempt to follow suit with other volunteers and post a Year in Review, I took some time earlier this week to sit down and reflect on all that has happened in the past year to bring me to where I am now. In doing so I realized there weren’t too many BIG things that occurred, but a whoooole lot of little things, and as you can imagine those are rather more difficult, if not downright impossible, to communicate in a blog entry. At least one of tolerable length. :) I find this to be a similar situation to people asking, “How’s Africa? What’s it like?” I’m not discouraging this type of question, its good people are curious; it’s just a little bit daunting for the person being asked. Despite one’s best effort to answer, you’re inevitably left feeling like you didn’t do it justice. So anyway, while part of me feels like I’m passing up an opportunity for some soulful reflection, I’m going to assume you’ve gathered an idea of my experiences from what I’ve written up until now. If that’s not enough and you wanna know more, let me know and we can talk.
As I said earlier, this past quarter was not the most successful in regards to projects. However, April was the beginning of the new quarter and already things are looking brighter. For starters, the other volunteer in the village and I thought it might be useful to conduct a short activity related to HIV at the beginning of VMSAC meetings from now on. The primary purpose is to teach members new activities and to show them that these activities can be very simple yet effective. Hopefully next time we are organizing a community event the suggestion of something other than just a kgotla meeting won’t be so scary. Also, while we are a VMSAC (village AIDS committee) committee, that doesn’t mean all the members are experts on HIV, so the activities will serve to fill in the gaps and hopefully increase interest in the committee’s projects. We did the first activity at the VMSAC meeting yesterday and it went really well. We actually had to cut it short because there was so much discussion about each topic.
Next, I’m helping plan a workshop with a volunteer from the larger village near mine. It was her idea after I told her about an upsetting experience in my village. I was going for a walk about a month or so ago and as I passed by a shebeen (informal bar on someone’s compound) someone I knew called me over. I was chatting with him when I noticed what looked like two people fighting. It wasn’t until one of them threw the other on the ground and kicked them did I hear a girl cry out. It was an older man beating a young girl probably around 16 years. The worst part about the whole thing was that no one really seemed to care. The girl got up sobbing and walked off on her own while everyone just went on drinking. I had heard plenty of stories of women being abused but that was the first time I witnessed it so I was really upset and telling this volunteer who felt something had to be done. She contacted an organization in Maun called WAR (Women and Men Against Rape) and as long as we can arrange the funding, they’re going to put on a workshop for women in my village who have been abused. I talked with the police in my village about it and they gave me the numbers of abuse cases that have been reported in the past few years. In just the last 3 years, the numbers have increased with 10 cases already reported in the first 3 months of this year! My village isn’t that big! 10 cases is a lot! I asked what happens then and was told that if the abuser is convicted, which often is the case, they receive strokes of the cane. Meanwhile, there are no counseling or support services for the women. I’m hoping that if the workshop goes well it might lead to some ideas to address that need.
Another activity I’m hoping to get started soon, once it’s okayed by the school head, is an essay contest at the primary school. I would like to do the theme “Who’s your role model and why?” in order to get kids thinking about what makes a good role model and why they value those qualities or behaviors. I’ve ran the idea by a few different people and they’ve all said that students in Standards 5-7 should be able to write essays in English, so it’d be a topic relevant to that age group, especially in our village where teenage pregnancies and alcohol abuse are common. I planning to go to their afternoon studies a couple of times a week to help students with things like essay format and grammar. The Culture and Youth office in my village said they’d be willing to judge the essays, so now I’ve got to look into finding some funds to purchase small prizes for the winners. Ideally, I’d like to have a little ceremony at the school so the winners can read their essays for the rest of the school, but that’s still just an idea. We shall see. I really hope this one works out! Schools are back in session in two weeks, so I should find out soon if it’s good to go.
Alright, well I think that’s long enough for this time. I’ll leave you with a few pictures from a trip I took into the CKGR (Central Kalahari Game Reserve) over Easter weekend with some volunteers and friends. It was an amazing trip. So fun! Others had fancier cameras than mine that I’m sure took way better pictures, so I’ll work on getting those from them and updating my albums on Picasa, but for now, here ya go! Peace out!
Yes, yes, sometimes things can get VERY frustrating, but all in all, I’m enjoying my time. Let’s take this past quarter for example. Project-wise it was a total failure, but I sure did learn a lot about my village and all the cultures that play a part in the way people think and act. Now, with all that I learned in mind, I will be able to plan more appropriate activities and avoid some of the obstacles that hindered previous ones. Not only do I think I understand the way things work better, but this past quarter has been transformative in regards to my orientation with the community and the people who live here. Maybe I’m way behind on this matter, but I feel like all my newness has warn off and I’m finally living here. If that makes sense. I’ve started noticing I actually know things versus having an idea from what I saw or heard that one time. It’s the confidence in knowing what to expect that comes with living somewhere for a while. I find this all kind of amusing because not all that long ago another volunteer and I were chatting about how when we arrived in Botswana we thought the volunteers who had been here for a year were pros and had everything figured out and now that we’ve been here for a year and a new set of trainees arrived this past week, they might look to us the same way and we weren’t sure we were qualified for the part. Of course we’re nowhere near being pros or having it all figured out for that matter, but I think we have learned a lot more than we realize. It’ll be interesting to see what information reveals itself once the new volunteers come to site and we have a chance to share tips and swap experiences.
In an attempt to follow suit with other volunteers and post a Year in Review, I took some time earlier this week to sit down and reflect on all that has happened in the past year to bring me to where I am now. In doing so I realized there weren’t too many BIG things that occurred, but a whoooole lot of little things, and as you can imagine those are rather more difficult, if not downright impossible, to communicate in a blog entry. At least one of tolerable length. :) I find this to be a similar situation to people asking, “How’s Africa? What’s it like?” I’m not discouraging this type of question, its good people are curious; it’s just a little bit daunting for the person being asked. Despite one’s best effort to answer, you’re inevitably left feeling like you didn’t do it justice. So anyway, while part of me feels like I’m passing up an opportunity for some soulful reflection, I’m going to assume you’ve gathered an idea of my experiences from what I’ve written up until now. If that’s not enough and you wanna know more, let me know and we can talk.
As I said earlier, this past quarter was not the most successful in regards to projects. However, April was the beginning of the new quarter and already things are looking brighter. For starters, the other volunteer in the village and I thought it might be useful to conduct a short activity related to HIV at the beginning of VMSAC meetings from now on. The primary purpose is to teach members new activities and to show them that these activities can be very simple yet effective. Hopefully next time we are organizing a community event the suggestion of something other than just a kgotla meeting won’t be so scary. Also, while we are a VMSAC (village AIDS committee) committee, that doesn’t mean all the members are experts on HIV, so the activities will serve to fill in the gaps and hopefully increase interest in the committee’s projects. We did the first activity at the VMSAC meeting yesterday and it went really well. We actually had to cut it short because there was so much discussion about each topic.
Next, I’m helping plan a workshop with a volunteer from the larger village near mine. It was her idea after I told her about an upsetting experience in my village. I was going for a walk about a month or so ago and as I passed by a shebeen (informal bar on someone’s compound) someone I knew called me over. I was chatting with him when I noticed what looked like two people fighting. It wasn’t until one of them threw the other on the ground and kicked them did I hear a girl cry out. It was an older man beating a young girl probably around 16 years. The worst part about the whole thing was that no one really seemed to care. The girl got up sobbing and walked off on her own while everyone just went on drinking. I had heard plenty of stories of women being abused but that was the first time I witnessed it so I was really upset and telling this volunteer who felt something had to be done. She contacted an organization in Maun called WAR (Women and Men Against Rape) and as long as we can arrange the funding, they’re going to put on a workshop for women in my village who have been abused. I talked with the police in my village about it and they gave me the numbers of abuse cases that have been reported in the past few years. In just the last 3 years, the numbers have increased with 10 cases already reported in the first 3 months of this year! My village isn’t that big! 10 cases is a lot! I asked what happens then and was told that if the abuser is convicted, which often is the case, they receive strokes of the cane. Meanwhile, there are no counseling or support services for the women. I’m hoping that if the workshop goes well it might lead to some ideas to address that need.
Another activity I’m hoping to get started soon, once it’s okayed by the school head, is an essay contest at the primary school. I would like to do the theme “Who’s your role model and why?” in order to get kids thinking about what makes a good role model and why they value those qualities or behaviors. I’ve ran the idea by a few different people and they’ve all said that students in Standards 5-7 should be able to write essays in English, so it’d be a topic relevant to that age group, especially in our village where teenage pregnancies and alcohol abuse are common. I planning to go to their afternoon studies a couple of times a week to help students with things like essay format and grammar. The Culture and Youth office in my village said they’d be willing to judge the essays, so now I’ve got to look into finding some funds to purchase small prizes for the winners. Ideally, I’d like to have a little ceremony at the school so the winners can read their essays for the rest of the school, but that’s still just an idea. We shall see. I really hope this one works out! Schools are back in session in two weeks, so I should find out soon if it’s good to go.
Alright, well I think that’s long enough for this time. I’ll leave you with a few pictures from a trip I took into the CKGR (Central Kalahari Game Reserve) over Easter weekend with some volunteers and friends. It was an amazing trip. So fun! Others had fancier cameras than mine that I’m sure took way better pictures, so I’ll work on getting those from them and updating my albums on Picasa, but for now, here ya go! Peace out!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Ngwaga o mosha! (Happy New Year!)
Hey everyone! Long time, no update, eh? Sorry about that! You know how the holidays are… busy busy busy. What’s that you say? The holidays ended a month ago? Well, no siree, they did not! I extended my holiday season this year until mid-January and since then it’s been rainy almost every day. And I’m on solar power, remember? So that means I barely had enough power to have a few lights on at night. One night I even cooked by candlelight! Now you tell me how I’m supposed to know if my onions are browning when everything in the room looks golden! Yeah… that’s what I thought. Life of a Peace Corps volunteer. Wah wah wahhhh. ;)
Alright then, let’s begin!
For xmas I went up north to Kasane with a few other volunteers. That was a really fun time! I think we all thought there’d be more things to do in Kasane but found it to be mostly big fancy lodges that you can plan outings through like game drives and day trips to Vic Falls. Being on a PC budget, we had to find cheap ways to entertain ourselves so we started a little something we called the Kasane Krawl, where we would go to these beautiful lodges and order appetizers and maybe a drink and then just sit there for the whole day and play cards or whatever. It’s an affordable way to enjoy the lodges. I highly recommend it! It also gave us a chance to scope out where would be good for xmas dinner. We ended up splurging for this huuuge dinner buffet, and it was delicious! Buffets are such fun!
We stayed at Thebe River Camp which I believe has rooms as well but we camped for a good price. The only downfall there was I learned my tent was not so waterproof and in the middle of the night had to gather all my things into the center of the tent and sleep in a ball (literally, a ball, think tornado drill position). haha The second night that it rained I got out and moved everything to shelter and stayed there for the rest of the time. We did a game drive and river cruise through Thebe River Camp on xmas day. We got to see hyena, monkeys, elephants, impala, kudu, lots of birds, a jackal and hippos. We also saw lion tracks, but no actual lion.
After xmas I headed back to my neck of the woods and celebrated New Years in the larger village near mine. In Botswana, it’s common to set off fireworks for New Years, so at midnight we were outside watching them all and toasting to the new year. It was nice. Then I was back in my village for a week before leaving for Spain to see Joe.
Spain was great! We stayed right on Las Ramblas, so we were in close proximity to plenty of paella and sangria. I also went on a personal mission to have ice cream from every ice cream shop on the strip (plus one sidestreet) because let’s face it, most of the ice cream sold in Bots is a disgrace to ice cream. The place we stayed was also right next to the huge market, St. Josep. I’ll post pictures of it, because it was so amazing. It had everything; fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood, pastries, nuts, chocolate, tapas, yeah, you get the point. I could have easily never left that place, but being in Barcelona for only a week, it would probably be best to see some other things. So we went to the Parc Guell and this huge aquarium down by the sea and just walked around a lot. Parc Guell was cool. Since it’s up on a hill it had some really great views. The aquarium was alright, not all that impressive, but they did have a few crazy looking fish that were cool to see. I’ll post some pictures of those too. Ummm yep, I think most of our time was spent eating though. As it should be.
Since I’ve been back there hasn’t been too much going on. Last week we had a workshop for the VMSAC (Village Multi-Sectoral AIDS Committee) and Support Groups for two days. The first day was mostly going over HIV basics: transmission, prevention, myths, those sorts of things. The second day we broke into two groups (VMSAC or Support Groups) and went over our 2009 plan that we developed a few months back, adding a few events and specifying details. I think the workshop was most useful for identifying who was to represent each department in the village. Each department is supposed to send one representative to VMSAC meetings but generally there are only about 3 or 4 of us that show up. Two of the 4 being PC volunteers. So yeah, now that we know who is supposed to come we can hold them accountable. The activities we have planned are good and could be great, but there is often a lack of interest and support in carrying them out. I’m hoping this workshop will serve as a reminder for many of the departments of their duty to contribute to these events and do what needs to be done to ensure their success.
The other volunteer in my village and I were trying to organize a little party for Valentine’s Day to do something fun while at the same time give people information on HIV, but now the Men’s Sector from a village nearby is coming to hold a football competition on Valentine’s Day and talk about rape. I’m all about the men doing an event and taking leadership, but I find it a little bit of a downer to focus a Valentine’s Day event on rape. Some of us VMSAC members will be meeting with the Men’s Sector this Friday to prepare and I’m pushing for some talk time to promote making smart decisions and caring for and protecting oneself.
As for my work in the clinic, our PMTCT lay counselor recently attended the Infant and Young Child Feeding training that my former counterpart had taken, so now she and I will hopefully be working together to start up and run a mothers support group. That way, instead of doing training every day with the mothers who come to the clinic to weigh their children, we can hold meetings and train them all at the same time while also giving them the chance to talk with one another and exchange challenges and advice. Since part of the training will be showing the mothers how to properly and hygienically prepare formula and then having them demonstrate what they learned, it makes sense to do it all at once every now and then rather than everyday.
Oh! In December, my counterpart, another nurse and I organized and put on a health talk for the maintenance workers in the village. Unfortunately, since it was getting close to the holidays a lot of the workers had already left to go back home, but we ended up with 11 men and the talk went really well. We planned an activity to see how much the men already knew about STIs and HIV and to create discussion about the material. I couldn’t believe how involved they got! I was expecting them to be like, “uhhh, why do we have to be here?!” but nope, they were totally getting into it. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and I think they’re a great group to target for additional talks in the future. I really enjoy talking about sexual health with adults (formal and informally). Because it’s an embarrassing topic for a lot of people, the atmosphere gets kind of goofy and childish but then people start to ask questions about things they have really been wanting to know for some time but have never asked or didn’t know who to ask, and it feels really good to be able to talk about those things with them and especially when it gives you the opportunity to clear up common misconceptions. In a country like Botswana with HIV rates where they are at, it can be a little disheartening to hear so many pieces of incorrect information floating around. HIV and AIDS prevention seems to be everywhere you look here. It’s built into every sector of the government and there are billboards and tshirts and what what what, but I think it’s become quite clear that while most people know about it, a lot of them couldn’t tell you what HIV or AIDS stand for, list the 3 most common modes of transmission, 3 ways you can protect yourself, and so on. So yeah, I guess that’s where there’s work to be done! But anyway, that was a rather long digression! Moving on…
The computer classes are still “happening”, but we haven’t held a class in some time due to the holidays and a shortage of diesel for the clinic generator. However, the current class has said they are eager to get back to the computers, so I’m hoping later this week we can have a refresher class before continuing on with the other lessons.
The health talks with the video showings have also been further postponed due to the shortage of diesel, and because they really don’t rank up there that high with demands for the generator. But lately I’ve noticed one of the Family Welfare Educators has begun doing a weekly health talk for the patients in the morning. That’s actually part of the FWE’s job description, but it wasn’t being done before which is why I thought introducing the videos might help create some interest in doing so. I think the sudden pick up in duties has to do with having a new nurse in charge. (There were two before: my counterpart, who was transferred, and another nurse who is on leave and then has been temporarily transferred to a nearby village.) I like this new nurse a lot. She has a good attitude and people seem to listen to and respect her. I had actually met her before my counterpart was transferred and was pleased to find out that she would be the one replacing him.
Alright, this has gotten quite long so I’ll spare you my usual lengthy bug/weather/etc. updates and offer up just a sentence or two for each. (Bet by now you’re wishing I’d do that for everything else, too, huh? ;) )
Weather: Like I said, we’ve had lots of rain and I thiiink it’s beginning to cool down in the mornings and evenings. Yay!
Bugs: Thanks to the rain and cooler weather, there have been less bugs, but, unfortunately, an increase in poisonous spiders in my house. Total count killed to date: somewhere between 14-16 (I lose track after awhile). I swear I keep my house clean, but I came back from holiday and bam, everywhere! So that’s been fun…
Etc.: I know I said I’d post a packing list in the near future and then didn’t, so for that I apologize, but here is one now! I hope it’s useful and feel free to email me with any questions or suggestions! I’m very excited for the new group of volunteers to come in April! Hope you’re all living up your last two months in the states! Woop woop!
Ok, that’s all! Eesh, 3 pages! You said you wanted an update! hehe
Hope everyone is doing well and surviving winter alright! It’s almost over! Talk to ya’ll later! :)
Alright then, let’s begin!
For xmas I went up north to Kasane with a few other volunteers. That was a really fun time! I think we all thought there’d be more things to do in Kasane but found it to be mostly big fancy lodges that you can plan outings through like game drives and day trips to Vic Falls. Being on a PC budget, we had to find cheap ways to entertain ourselves so we started a little something we called the Kasane Krawl, where we would go to these beautiful lodges and order appetizers and maybe a drink and then just sit there for the whole day and play cards or whatever. It’s an affordable way to enjoy the lodges. I highly recommend it! It also gave us a chance to scope out where would be good for xmas dinner. We ended up splurging for this huuuge dinner buffet, and it was delicious! Buffets are such fun!
We stayed at Thebe River Camp which I believe has rooms as well but we camped for a good price. The only downfall there was I learned my tent was not so waterproof and in the middle of the night had to gather all my things into the center of the tent and sleep in a ball (literally, a ball, think tornado drill position). haha The second night that it rained I got out and moved everything to shelter and stayed there for the rest of the time. We did a game drive and river cruise through Thebe River Camp on xmas day. We got to see hyena, monkeys, elephants, impala, kudu, lots of birds, a jackal and hippos. We also saw lion tracks, but no actual lion.
After xmas I headed back to my neck of the woods and celebrated New Years in the larger village near mine. In Botswana, it’s common to set off fireworks for New Years, so at midnight we were outside watching them all and toasting to the new year. It was nice. Then I was back in my village for a week before leaving for Spain to see Joe.
Spain was great! We stayed right on Las Ramblas, so we were in close proximity to plenty of paella and sangria. I also went on a personal mission to have ice cream from every ice cream shop on the strip (plus one sidestreet) because let’s face it, most of the ice cream sold in Bots is a disgrace to ice cream. The place we stayed was also right next to the huge market, St. Josep. I’ll post pictures of it, because it was so amazing. It had everything; fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood, pastries, nuts, chocolate, tapas, yeah, you get the point. I could have easily never left that place, but being in Barcelona for only a week, it would probably be best to see some other things. So we went to the Parc Guell and this huge aquarium down by the sea and just walked around a lot. Parc Guell was cool. Since it’s up on a hill it had some really great views. The aquarium was alright, not all that impressive, but they did have a few crazy looking fish that were cool to see. I’ll post some pictures of those too. Ummm yep, I think most of our time was spent eating though. As it should be.
Since I’ve been back there hasn’t been too much going on. Last week we had a workshop for the VMSAC (Village Multi-Sectoral AIDS Committee) and Support Groups for two days. The first day was mostly going over HIV basics: transmission, prevention, myths, those sorts of things. The second day we broke into two groups (VMSAC or Support Groups) and went over our 2009 plan that we developed a few months back, adding a few events and specifying details. I think the workshop was most useful for identifying who was to represent each department in the village. Each department is supposed to send one representative to VMSAC meetings but generally there are only about 3 or 4 of us that show up. Two of the 4 being PC volunteers. So yeah, now that we know who is supposed to come we can hold them accountable. The activities we have planned are good and could be great, but there is often a lack of interest and support in carrying them out. I’m hoping this workshop will serve as a reminder for many of the departments of their duty to contribute to these events and do what needs to be done to ensure their success.
The other volunteer in my village and I were trying to organize a little party for Valentine’s Day to do something fun while at the same time give people information on HIV, but now the Men’s Sector from a village nearby is coming to hold a football competition on Valentine’s Day and talk about rape. I’m all about the men doing an event and taking leadership, but I find it a little bit of a downer to focus a Valentine’s Day event on rape. Some of us VMSAC members will be meeting with the Men’s Sector this Friday to prepare and I’m pushing for some talk time to promote making smart decisions and caring for and protecting oneself.
As for my work in the clinic, our PMTCT lay counselor recently attended the Infant and Young Child Feeding training that my former counterpart had taken, so now she and I will hopefully be working together to start up and run a mothers support group. That way, instead of doing training every day with the mothers who come to the clinic to weigh their children, we can hold meetings and train them all at the same time while also giving them the chance to talk with one another and exchange challenges and advice. Since part of the training will be showing the mothers how to properly and hygienically prepare formula and then having them demonstrate what they learned, it makes sense to do it all at once every now and then rather than everyday.
Oh! In December, my counterpart, another nurse and I organized and put on a health talk for the maintenance workers in the village. Unfortunately, since it was getting close to the holidays a lot of the workers had already left to go back home, but we ended up with 11 men and the talk went really well. We planned an activity to see how much the men already knew about STIs and HIV and to create discussion about the material. I couldn’t believe how involved they got! I was expecting them to be like, “uhhh, why do we have to be here?!” but nope, they were totally getting into it. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and I think they’re a great group to target for additional talks in the future. I really enjoy talking about sexual health with adults (formal and informally). Because it’s an embarrassing topic for a lot of people, the atmosphere gets kind of goofy and childish but then people start to ask questions about things they have really been wanting to know for some time but have never asked or didn’t know who to ask, and it feels really good to be able to talk about those things with them and especially when it gives you the opportunity to clear up common misconceptions. In a country like Botswana with HIV rates where they are at, it can be a little disheartening to hear so many pieces of incorrect information floating around. HIV and AIDS prevention seems to be everywhere you look here. It’s built into every sector of the government and there are billboards and tshirts and what what what, but I think it’s become quite clear that while most people know about it, a lot of them couldn’t tell you what HIV or AIDS stand for, list the 3 most common modes of transmission, 3 ways you can protect yourself, and so on. So yeah, I guess that’s where there’s work to be done! But anyway, that was a rather long digression! Moving on…
The computer classes are still “happening”, but we haven’t held a class in some time due to the holidays and a shortage of diesel for the clinic generator. However, the current class has said they are eager to get back to the computers, so I’m hoping later this week we can have a refresher class before continuing on with the other lessons.
The health talks with the video showings have also been further postponed due to the shortage of diesel, and because they really don’t rank up there that high with demands for the generator. But lately I’ve noticed one of the Family Welfare Educators has begun doing a weekly health talk for the patients in the morning. That’s actually part of the FWE’s job description, but it wasn’t being done before which is why I thought introducing the videos might help create some interest in doing so. I think the sudden pick up in duties has to do with having a new nurse in charge. (There were two before: my counterpart, who was transferred, and another nurse who is on leave and then has been temporarily transferred to a nearby village.) I like this new nurse a lot. She has a good attitude and people seem to listen to and respect her. I had actually met her before my counterpart was transferred and was pleased to find out that she would be the one replacing him.
Alright, this has gotten quite long so I’ll spare you my usual lengthy bug/weather/etc. updates and offer up just a sentence or two for each. (Bet by now you’re wishing I’d do that for everything else, too, huh? ;) )
Weather: Like I said, we’ve had lots of rain and I thiiink it’s beginning to cool down in the mornings and evenings. Yay!
Bugs: Thanks to the rain and cooler weather, there have been less bugs, but, unfortunately, an increase in poisonous spiders in my house. Total count killed to date: somewhere between 14-16 (I lose track after awhile). I swear I keep my house clean, but I came back from holiday and bam, everywhere! So that’s been fun…
Etc.: I know I said I’d post a packing list in the near future and then didn’t, so for that I apologize, but here is one now! I hope it’s useful and feel free to email me with any questions or suggestions! I’m very excited for the new group of volunteers to come in April! Hope you’re all living up your last two months in the states! Woop woop!
Ok, that’s all! Eesh, 3 pages! You said you wanted an update! hehe
Hope everyone is doing well and surviving winter alright! It’s almost over! Talk to ya’ll later! :)
Packing Suggestions for Bots8ers!
While you can technically find most things in Bots, your days of entire aisles dedicated to shampoo and conditioner are over (or at least for the next 26 months). So, this packing list is more about bringing things that are key for maintaining your sanity and that are difficult to find/expensive/limited in options in Botswana.
•A backpacker’s backpack. I don’t think it’s necessary, but it’s definitely convenient (rolling suitcases aren’t so great when you don’t have tarred roads). They’re good for longer trips too.
•I brought a lightweight sleeping bag with a compact bag, so it shrinks down real nice and fits in my daypack with a few changes of clothes for short trips.
•REI towel – the kind that are super thin and soak up a lot of water. They’re great for traveling because they don’t take up much room and dry extremely fast.
•Laptop, if you were thinking about it. Most of us don’t have internet at our offices, so it’s handy to have to type up emails and whatnot before going to the internet café. Also nice for watching movies on the weekends!
•External hard drive. You’ll be taking lots of pictures over the next two years. It’s good to have a place to back them all up so you can reuse memory cards.
•I suggest bringing 2 memory cards so for long trips or whatever you always have a spare in case one fills up.
•Pictures!!! Lots of them! They’re cheap and easy to print off in the states. Do it while you can, cuz it’s hard to find places where you can do it here and its expensive when do find a place. They help to make your new home homier.
•Any makeup or health care products that you are particular about. ***Here is where I also recommend bringing a luxury item or two, because they do wonders from making a bad day not so bad.
•Hand sanitizer. I’ve only looked for it a few times, but haven’t ever seen any. Because toilets can be difficult to find (and ones with running water and soap are even more rare), I always carry some with me.
•For the ladies: tampons. I can find one brand at one of the stores in the larger village near mine, but that’s it, and they are expensive. I brought a bunch with me and have had more sent since.
•Other things that you can probably find here, but that I brought with me and found useful: string (I brought it to crochet but forgot how, so now I use it for lots of other things!), Ziploc bags (lots of them, all different sizes), and moist wipes (handy for those days when there’s no water/traveling/etc.)
That’s all I can think of for now. I’ll add more if something important comes to mind! Good luck! And here’s a piece of advice. Take it or leave it. Don’t worry so much about luggage weight. If you’re over, just pay the fee. It’s a small price to pay for having everything you want with you! (and it would cost just as much for someone from home to send it to you)
ADDITIONS!!!
-Batteries: I brought a few AA and AAA. The batteries here are really expensive and I've been informed by others that they're crap. So they don't take up much room. Pack a few spares.
-Blank CDs: For sharing music/movies/whatev with other PCVs, or for putting pictures on to send home to fam and friends. Also waayyyy cheaper in the states than here.
-Anti-virus software: If you're bringing a laptop, make sure it's got a decent anti-virus program. Computers and people's memory sticks are virus ridden!
•A backpacker’s backpack. I don’t think it’s necessary, but it’s definitely convenient (rolling suitcases aren’t so great when you don’t have tarred roads). They’re good for longer trips too.
•I brought a lightweight sleeping bag with a compact bag, so it shrinks down real nice and fits in my daypack with a few changes of clothes for short trips.
•REI towel – the kind that are super thin and soak up a lot of water. They’re great for traveling because they don’t take up much room and dry extremely fast.
•Laptop, if you were thinking about it. Most of us don’t have internet at our offices, so it’s handy to have to type up emails and whatnot before going to the internet café. Also nice for watching movies on the weekends!
•External hard drive. You’ll be taking lots of pictures over the next two years. It’s good to have a place to back them all up so you can reuse memory cards.
•I suggest bringing 2 memory cards so for long trips or whatever you always have a spare in case one fills up.
•Pictures!!! Lots of them! They’re cheap and easy to print off in the states. Do it while you can, cuz it’s hard to find places where you can do it here and its expensive when do find a place. They help to make your new home homier.
•Any makeup or health care products that you are particular about. ***Here is where I also recommend bringing a luxury item or two, because they do wonders from making a bad day not so bad.
•Hand sanitizer. I’ve only looked for it a few times, but haven’t ever seen any. Because toilets can be difficult to find (and ones with running water and soap are even more rare), I always carry some with me.
•For the ladies: tampons. I can find one brand at one of the stores in the larger village near mine, but that’s it, and they are expensive. I brought a bunch with me and have had more sent since.
•Other things that you can probably find here, but that I brought with me and found useful: string (I brought it to crochet but forgot how, so now I use it for lots of other things!), Ziploc bags (lots of them, all different sizes), and moist wipes (handy for those days when there’s no water/traveling/etc.)
That’s all I can think of for now. I’ll add more if something important comes to mind! Good luck! And here’s a piece of advice. Take it or leave it. Don’t worry so much about luggage weight. If you’re over, just pay the fee. It’s a small price to pay for having everything you want with you! (and it would cost just as much for someone from home to send it to you)
ADDITIONS!!!
-Batteries: I brought a few AA and AAA. The batteries here are really expensive and I've been informed by others that they're crap. So they don't take up much room. Pack a few spares.
-Blank CDs: For sharing music/movies/whatev with other PCVs, or for putting pictures on to send home to fam and friends. Also waayyyy cheaper in the states than here.
-Anti-virus software: If you're bringing a laptop, make sure it's got a decent anti-virus program. Computers and people's memory sticks are virus ridden!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
