One last post!

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven’t posted forever! There hasn’t been a whole lot to report. Since the last time I wrote, which was in August (yikes!), I think the two biggest things that have happened work-wise were World AIDS Day and a second abuse workshop.

World AIDS Day was put on by our VMSAC and was a huge improvement from the event a year before. We began planning early and I worked closely with the Chairpersons to make sure certain things were carried out, particularly delegation of duties to all participating members. That was a much needed improvement from past planning events because before all the work would come down on the chairpersons and it was causing them too much stress and burn out towards VMSAC as a whole. It was also important because the rest of the members needed to realize how much work and prep go into planning these events and it’s not fair to leave it all to a few people. So anyway, overall, the day of the event went smoothly. Our guests visiting from the district headquarters arrived 2 hours late so everything was pushed back and unfortunately most of the educational activities we had planned for following the ceremony were abandoned for lunch. I was really disappointed about that since I felt the activities were where people would learn the most (speeches serve a purpose, of course, but you look around while the speaker is talking and only half the people are paying any attention) and get engaged in the topic. Other than that, I felt really good about the event and the VMSAC members were proud of their successes too. We had an evaluation meeting shortly after and I am confident that the VMSAC will be able to replicate many of the effective changes we made. We’ll see come December!

The other big thing that has happened since then was another abuse workshop that I planned for the community members. I believe I mentioned this before, but after the workshop for women that I planned with a fellow volunteer back last June, I had heard from some of the men in the community that they wanted a similar workshop for them. Encouraged by the seldom felt interest in projects by my community, I was eager to organize that workshop. The Social and Community Development department funded the first workshop and they even said they’d be interested in carrying out the workshop in other villages, so after submitting a report to the department and telling them the men in my village were requesting the same, I waited for a response. Months ended up passing by and I thought it wasn’t going to be possible if this idea wasn’t materialized by the S&CD department because funding is difficult to come by. After some time I decided I had to look elsewhere if this was ever going to happen so I wrote letters to different departments requesting funding. I shortened the workshop to a 2-day 10am-2pm schedule so I could cut costs by only providing snacks instead of tea times and a full lunch that usually comes with an all day workshop. I’m not sure if things would have worked out the same way at any other time, but when I showed up at the District Health department with my request letter, the money gods were smiling down at me. The department had recently received a new Chief Public Health Officer and they were also very busy preparing for the President’s visit to 4 or 5 villages in the district (including mine) and there was a mood in the air to get things done before the President arrived. I sat down with the Chief Public Health Officer and explained my plans and was shocked when right there on the spot he said they’d fund it! Woo! So after I got the go on funding I set to planning all the other details. The workshop was held in mid-February and was facilitated by the local police. Our recruitment efforts were effective. The participants were engaged. The objectives were met. The two police officers facilitating did such a nice job! I was very pleased.

That’s about it for work stuff. I realize it’s not a lot, but unfortunately that’s just the way it is! If you’re interested in knowing more about my work in my village, I’d love to go into detail about it in person, but that’s something that’s much easier to do face to face rather than in a blog posting, so yeah, just ask if ya’d like to know! :)

Well, considering I’ll be heading back to the US in less than two weeks, I guess I don’t need to go into all the other stuff I usually babble on about. Instead I’ll just end with some thoughts on leaving Botswana.

I’m going to miss it. I’ve met a lot of great people in the past two years and I’m going to miss them the most. I’m going to miss the beauty of the country. There were times when I was so annoyed with parts of the culture or people’s behavior, but the land and the huuuge sky have a way of making none of that matter. Living in a soooo so flat desert has been an entertaining change from the Land of 10,000 Lakes and growing up in a valley. Ahhh, there are just too many things. I’m going to miss all the little things like take away and goats and parties where you can dance any way you like and no one cares. On the bright side, there are also things that I’ve learned or gained while I was here and will take with me and I find comfort in that. My time in Botswana has taught me a lot and I will forever be grateful for my two years I’ve spent here and the memories I’ve made and will keep. Thanks, Bots! ;)

See all you home peeps soon!!!