In December last year I organized, with the help of some wonderful New Xade-ers, a Family Fun Day for our 71 orphans and their caregivers. The purpose of the event was really simple - to give the kids an unforgetable day of play and to show them, as a community, our affection and love for them. Many of the children were actually physically playing and laughing with their caregivers for the first time; the majority of these kids were used to "interacting" with their elders only when doing household chores or when being disciplined.

It's our hope that, after the Family Fun day, the village as a whole will do more to show these children just how precious they are. Just look at the photos below - and you'll see the kinds of feelings and expressions that, in all honesty, were unique to the day...feelings and expressions that we in the states might take for granted...=}

Training in Moshupa

  

nxade/post-training

  

Ngwaga o mosha =) Happy New Year

I can't believe it's already been 1/2 a year in New Xade - -this makes me happy bc I've made it thus far, but it also makes me panic bc I still feel I have so much I could do, people I want to work with, etc.

Wish you could see all the things I'm seeing, meet the people I've met and wish I could, in turn, be there with you...for now though, sending pieces of New Xade your way...

-amazing sky - still, the most beautiful sunsets I've seen in Botswana have been from my front porch, in New Xade.

-little rascals- New Xade children at my doorstep - no matter how much they try my patience, no matter how many tricks they (try to!) pull, I'm happy that in the end, even if I yell at them in broken setswana/english or literally chase them away, they'll come back the next day to play, help me, or...quite possibly... harass me=)

- identity crisis- still never fails to amuse me, when folks call me lekgoa over and over and over again, meaning "white person", although clearly (right?).... i am not! =}

- summer sweet- cold, sweet, mango! - perhaps the ONLY enjoyment I get out of summers in bots.

- moon-lit nights - the whole village is illuminated.

- lebola- I have so fortunately inherited 20 goats, donkeys, and cattle ever since my front gate was run-down. Now these stinkers have free access to the yard, and it's become a grazing paradise for all the livestock of new xade =}

-slumber party - sleepovers with the lively and lovely ladies of new xade during youth rallies, etc. Just watching them goof off, gossip, laugh together, makes me think of the friends I'm missing back at home.

- yumm meat - pudi stew =) (goat stew)

-desert dancing- Hostel kids traditonal dancing at night, kicking up sand around the fire

Ngwaga o mosha =) Happy New Year

New Xade

Two nights before I left the states, I was sitting at home in front o our computer, googling “Botswana Government” to dig up any dirt I could possibly find. This probably sounds like a strange thing to do (and for some reason “confessing” about it on a blog makes me feel worse). But I was just trying to get a more complete picture of a country that, for the most part, has only been praised by the media for its bold fight against HIV, for its peaceful history and democracy … Needless to say, I found only one major article in my “digging” – it was about a small resettlement village on the outskirts of the central Kalahari Game Reserve, called New Xade. Now, two months later, (coincidence, fate, who knows?) I am making a home in that very village.

New Xade thus far is a wonderful village, filled with amazing workers and residents. When I first drove into New Xade, the sun was setting and I could only make out the village building and houses – I don’t remember seeing anyone out. I do remember thinking “wow, I’m definitely in the CKGR” ( or at least right outside of it) – the single gravel road that takes you into New Xade makes its way through miles of desert and you’re simply surrounded by the horizon – at sunset its just breathtaking.

There is so much to write about New Xade but I’ll have to save that for next time. All I’ll say now is, I feel really blessed to be here, and while our friends here are in definite need of help and love, there is a lot of home and opportunity here… I guess much of my work here will be to inspire and motivate.

Highlights of Training

Training is over! It’s been 9 interesting weeks but, having met some really wonderful people and having learned quite a bit, I’ll say now, it’s been an essential part of whatever my experience here is to be.
So, to sum it all up…
Training Highlights:
1. Appreciative Inquiry: The AI Approach
I think this is sometimes really valuable for everyone – community development workers, teachers, parents, whoever… it’s about approaching development with the idea of replicating successes (vs. dwelling on failures)
this was taken from The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry by Sue Annis Hammond

1. In every society, organization, or group, something works
2. What we focus on becomes our reality
3. Reality is created in the moment, and there are multiple realities
4. The act of asking questions of an organization or group influences the group in some way
5. People have more confidence and comfort to journey to the future (the unknown) when they carry forward parts of the past (the known)
6. If we carry parts of the past forward, they should be what is best about the past
7. It is important to value differences
8. The language we use relates our reality

Clearing – up Stats
BOTUSA (Botswana partnership with U.S.’s CDC) came in the first week of our training and cleared-up some of the confusion over 2 different Botswana HIV prevalence stats many of us had seen even before we’d left the states. This is what we learned about the 2 figures:
33% figure: This is from a survey done of women coming into the antenatal clinic- thus pregnant women, usually between 15 and 34 tears old
17% figure: This was calculated from the Botswana AIDS impact Survey. This is more population based but it includes Batswana aged anywhere from 18 months to 94 years

So both of these surveys don’t account for
• Gender disparities and age differences between the two genders. (adolescent girls are twice as likely to be infected with HIV)
• Geographic disparity: HIV/AIDS prevalence is significantly higher in certain regions of the country – the Chobe district and eastern Botswana (highly mobile population)

Visiting The Youth Health Organization (Yoho)
Yoho is an amazing; energetic organization based in Gabs. It really touches my heart that there is a group so dedicated to kids
Yoho’s vision: Develop an AIDS-free generation THROUGH youth-adult partnerships.
Yoho works with and for youth through the “Triplet: Entertainment Education for Empowerment”. Some of their programs/projects include:
1) a grassroots soccer program that merges moves and rules of the game with life skills and goals
2) DZalobana BoSele Arts Festival: theatrical performances – put on by youth – (poetry, music, drama, story- telling) are held annually throughout all of Botswana – in front of all different types and sizes of youth audiences.
3) Bus rides project: as buses provide the major public transport, In Botswana, Yoho has actually managed to bring their outreach ONTO the bus – (via TV’s and VCR) funded by several Bots. bus companies.
4) Yoho’s Pledge 25 Project: this I thought was a seemingly simple but truly ingenious idea – because young kids are the safest blood donors, they’ve been challenged by Yoho to donate blood 25 times in their life. Consider how this not only involves the youth in helping with their country’s short – blood supply – but motivates kids to make healthy life-choices in order to donate safe blood.

Visit from the U.S. Ambassador
Katherine Canavan met with us twice during our training – first at a dinner our fist Saturday in Botswana, and then later at one of our training villages. On that second visit she shared quite a bit of info. with us. Perhaps this was her intention to begin with, but she made me quite proud of U.S. involvement in Botswana thus far. (For example, I found out that despite the controversial ideologies that guide REPFAR, it is really up to the Botswana govt. to dictate how to cater those U.S. resources/$ to the HIV/AIDS issues specific to its people). That being said, a pro- U.S. point of view…
Some other interesting buts and pieces form the Ambassador’s talk….
She addressed Botswana’s diamond industry and the dangers of dependence – something which from the start, the Bots. Government has been watchful of. Some other possibilities the government is looking at…
- coal fields for power production
- introducing a sweet-melon agribusiness in Botswana, directed towards Europe (apparently there are three months in the year during which S. Africa can’t produce melons but Botswana can!)
- continuing Botswana’s beef production – Botswana has some of the finest beef in the world and its large purchaser is actually the EU.

SOS visit
There is an SOS Children’s village in Tlokweng that I was able to visit a month ago. I had never heard of SOS. So for those of you who also aren’t familiar – it is a world-wide organization for orphans and vulnerable children. The really wonderful idea it works of is ‘rebuilding the family unit’ for these children. So, each SOS village consists of family houses (Tlokweng had 15 houses). Children live as brothers and sisters under one roof, along with an aunty and a “mother”. Mothers are female volunteers who agree to live with their SOS children, teach, nurture, and love them. “Where is the “father” figure?” you’re probably thinking … - Well, SOS has established that the father role is provided by the SOS director… this I guess was something I myself had trouble accepting… but nonetheless I really loved the guiding principles behind this organization.

Mail Call

It’s about 8:30 pm, I’ve got my Zing’s tee and Dad’s scrubs on – about ready for bed. It’s pitch-black outside and pretty quiet except for a highly excitable goat that won’t leave our front yard (I think we might own it…? Hmm that would make sense…)
Before I throw my donkey blankets over me and say boroko (goodnight!) I want to thank you thank you thank you.
Today, believe it or not, was the first day I received mail! (some sent as early as April 18th, some as recent as April 27th – I guess that’s international post for you!) Anyway, I have to say – even if I can’t possibly explain – how happy I am right now. You have no idea (or maybe you do…) how much I needed to hear from you – words of encouragement, news of life back at home- all of it. I know it’s only been a few weeks, bit times just warped when you miss everyone at home.
Thanks again from the bottom of my heart.

TRAINING: wk 1 and wk2 - April 24 - May 6

Apparently, these next several weeks will be the “longest 8 weeks of my life!” (according to basically every PCV I’ve met at this point)
Every Monday – Friday, from 8am-ish until 5pm-ish, we meet for language and technical training. (although lately its been more technical, less language) I have to say these aren’t the most exciting hours of my life… but I think we’re all getting through it- one day at a time…
This past weekend, however, was a real treat – all the trainees went off in pairs to visit current PCV’s and their sites. I traveled about five hours west of our village, with Bo (short for Bodhisattva!!) We shadowed Nichole and then Jenn, for five days. That just flew by…
1) *note on public transport. aghhh!
This is something I will most definitely have to adapt to and I swear, “Bo and Seema’s appreciative inquiry look at bussing it in Botswana” can be a later posting, but for now, some simple lessons I’ve learned!…
- there is no such thing as an “overcrowded” bus here – we sit on anything flat and low to the ground (or find a willing lap), stand wherever we can fit our feet
- if grandma’s chomping on sweet root and spitting it every now and then all over your leg… so be it!
- If you’re the only makoa on the bus and you want the window cracked open (on an 80 degree afternoon) just open it … and reopen it … and reopen it…
- If someone insist you’re sitting in their (un-saved) seat, then your sitting in their seat.
- If the 8am bus is “full”, wait around for the 10-o’clock bys… and if that one is “full”… wait for the 1-o’clock or hitch hike
2) Nichole’s Village
Besides the fact that her house was “pimped out” (Bo’s choice of words, though we all agreed – Nichole’s village had given her nicer furniture than we’d had in our apartments in the States), she seemed to have a comfortable connection with her community…. We met some girls from GLOW (Girls Leading all over the World) – they even danced for us! – and we ate fat cakes with her neighbor-friends.
3) Jenn’s Village
Jenn’s village was relatively larger and more spread out. On Tuesday we shadowed her at the clinic 9she works in PMTCT)… in the morning, before beginning anything, the staff sits and prays and sings – maybe it gets old after a while – but to me it was just beautiful – the singing in particular.
At one point, I was able to sit-in on some testing. A mother came in with her chronically ill baby, to get tested … it was strange because the set-up was so familiar (after HIV test counseling in the States, w/ LAAN)- but then there seemed to be so much missing (1)- risk reduction education, encouragement, compassion… there seems to be so much that can be done.
4) Looking Forward…
To me, home has always been a feeling – that only family and close friends could give me – something irreplaceable.
But… I realized, staying at Nichole’s and Jenn’s that home – that feeling – is still very much in my heart (ALL THE TIME in fact!), even here in Botswana.
And I can’t wait to build from that… cant wait to settle into my own place, fill it with cards and pictures of home in the U.S, (fill it with the smell of something yummy – hot chocolate maybe? J), meet my neighbors, play with the kids, visit the primary and secondary schools, and finally start my work- whatever it turns out to be!

Homestay

My home right now is in an impressive village southwest of Gaborone. Our village is huge – spread out over three rocky hills and then the flatter surrounding land. Almost everything you need can be found tucked away in some part of the community. There’s your typical “general dealer” – little shacks that sell soap, toilet paper, sometimes even milk and eggs, depending on the latest delivery. There’s also a Choppie’s “supermarket, and of course there are bars or shalseers (little shacks where the local drunkards spend their day), a central post office, police station, day care center, a primary and junior/senior secondary school, and tons of churches.
Each family has its own little compound, usually marked off by a hedge, wire-fences, or, in our case corn stalks. :)
Roosters, chickens, goats, donkeys, and cows roam around as they like in and out of everyone’s yards. Somehow, each and every animal in this huge village, belongs to somebody… naturally the most common case brought to the village Kyotla is some dispute over who owns this donkey or that chicken.
I live in a big bungalow with my mother, Mme Lillian and her older brother. Mme has retired from her work as a counsel secretary but is the most active little lady in our village – attending various committee meetings and planning council events, etc. I am one of the luckiest PCVs – this house has BOTH indoor plumbing and electricity…
My favorite times of the day are early morning and late evening I wake up at 6-ish- quite easily actually, because even though it’s still pretty dark out by this time, the roosters have been up for a good half-hour. I get out of bed, boil my water, take my bath, drink tea (I’ve become an avid tea-drinker!), eat breakfast, “sala sentle”! and leave the house for training. Then I make my way down the gravel road towards the village center where one of my classmates stays.
… after a long day I return from training, chat with Mme Lillian and whoever has dropped by, start dinner, etc. Mme stores her food in the cellar outside. (in a fridge :) –mind you –in the cellar outside) and by the time dinner has finished its time to put away leftovers etc., the village is completely dark except for the sky. And when I’m running between the house and the cellar just outside, I love looking up and seeing more stars than I’ve ever seen before right above me.
… Anyway, these are the moments that make me so happy to be right where I am…

This cat can’t go to bed

It is 1 am in Gaborone and I can’t fall asleep – still jet-lagged. I’m sitting outside this secure compound/motel that’s entirely enclosed by high walls and barbed wire. As far as I’m concerned, the most dangerous encounter I’ve had yet involved a spider the size of my hand hanging out in the bedroom. Tomorrow is a very big day for us. Well be riding out to the village to meet our host families. I have two ideas of how this might go one- that ill be totally useless at communicating with my family, our meeting will be made up entirely of wild gesturing, nods, shakes, grunts, etc… but nonetheless my family will love me for trying!
The other idea is that the latter part wont happen
But in complete seriousness, I am a bit nervous about this meeting not only because ill be a guest in my family’s home for one entire month, but also because I probably don’t fit their image of a typical American… and given the history between Indians and Africans I cant help but worry that they may be disappointed…