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!
