Setswana101

Greetings
Hello - Dumela
How are you? O kae?
Goodbye - Tsamaya sentle (go well)/ Sala sentle (stay well)

Expressions
yes-ee
no-nnyaa
please - tsweetswee
thank you - ke a leboga
I love you - Ke a go rata

Other importants
enjoy, like - rata
friends - ditsala
time - nako
dinner - selalelo
baboon - tshwene

A perfect holiday-S.Hadley-Boston-Ann Arbor

Meeting future PCVs

About a month ago I happened upon another blog via random googling. To my surprise I found out it belonged to a PCV couple, Heather and Brian, in Botswana, doing HIV/AIDS work in the same program I'll be in. When I contacted them they forwared my email to other future Bots PCVs who had also found their blog.
Since then, we've started a yahoo group, done introductions, discussed packing lists (i hate packing!), etc. It's a big relief to know that there's a small group of people out there - in Wisconsin, S.Carolina, Michigan, even Hawaii (!), agonizing over what to take/what to leave behind, cramming Botswana trivia in their heads, and saying goodbye for now to friends and family...

Peace Corps in Botswana

The present Peace Corps- Botswana relationship is unique in that it's entirely focused on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
Botswana's first reported HIV/AIDS case was in 1985. The spread of HIV was overwhelming over the next years and continues today - so much so, that it has led to a decrease in life expectancy: from ~65 years to a life expectancy of ~39 years. While the unfortunate truth is that Botswana's HIV/AIDS dilemma is one shared with most of sub-Saharan Africa, in the past ten years it has stood out among not only African but also Asian and even Western nations in its aggressive and hopeful approach towards the epidemic.
(If you take a peek at the botswanalinks i.e. avert.org you'd see exactly how...)

After a 6 year absence from Botswana (we've been told, due to Botswana's prospering economy and improved situation...) the Peace Corps returned specifically to help with the AIDS crisis. So my group will be the 5th group to enter Botswana since its return in 2003. This means that our projects could be relatively new and undeveloped. <- surprisingly, this is something I'm not really discouraged by...

My position: "Community Capacity Builder" I will be in one of 2 groups - either working in home-based care and orphan care or working in prevention of mother to child transmission . I'd be honored to work with either parents or children and their communities although evenutally I hope I can work closely with both of them somehow (i.e. secondary project).

I feel really blessed to have this opportunity - especially to work with a group (govt. and non-govt.) so dedicated to supporting eachother in life with HIV.

Me 

Spring on its way..?

can't wait for spring...hoping it just pops upe! - full bloom before I leave - hmm but maybe I'm asking for the impossible... For now, I'll stay content with the bird chatter outside my window, surprise visits from the sun, etc...