First Congregational UCC - Platteville

Dumela, totlhe (greetings, all):

I am currently sitting in the Peace Corps office in Gaborone due to a change of plans that involved a loss of connection with a driver that was supposed to pick my friend Monica and me up to go off to our respective sites, Charles Hill and Kole. This sort of thing is a common occurrence, and I am quite enjoying this particular schedule faux pa because it means a night in a hotel (a shower is a rare gift . . . bucket baths just aren’t the same) and we can have a more leisurely travel day tomorrow, starting early. By 8pm or so, I should be in my new village, in a new house, and having, in general, a fresh start.

Kole is small. Less than 1,000 people (population isn’t really measured, I’ve decided . . . no one in Kole seems to know how many people live there. From what I saw, about 200, but it could very well be more). 2 main roads, a primary school (grades 1-7), a health post (smaller than a clinic), 2 police officers, and one phone, at the police “station.” There is no cell phone coverage (I will miss the weekly calls from my parents!), but there is internet 18 km away in a village called Ncojane. There is a volunteer, Susie, in Ncojane who has been here a year. I met her at site visit a few weeks ago and it will be easy to be her friend. She’s excited for me to come.

There is just too much to say, I’m going to have to be selective. Business first. My new postal address is:
Leah Hart
Post Box 42
Charles Hill, Botswana
Afrika

The old one (Private Bag 00243/Gaborone, Botswana) still works, it will just be held at the P.C. office or forwarded from here so it will take longer.

My housing situation in Kole is a bit . . . well, up in the air. I lived at a house that people say is “my house” while I was at site visit, but the government health workers at the clinic in Charles Hill who dropped me off said, “you shouldn’t have to suffer so!” and the health post RN Malebogo (who is great) was writing letters on my behalf to the gov’t office in charge of my housing to ask if I could move into the social worker’s house when she moves out on July 10th. I felt very well taken care of, even though the house is not much more than an empty cement block, it is certainly the sort of house I expected to live in when I signed up for the Peace Corps. The first night, someone dropped off a bed. The next day, an “ambulance” (meaning the covered pick up trucks that are provided for gov’t transport that sometimes take patients in the back) brought me a stove from the clinic to borrow for a few days. The clinic in Ncojane sent dishes and blankets. My neighbors helped replace a leaky gas regulator on my stove. Someone came to repair a broken window the day after I came on very short notice. So, even though Peace Corps Botswana is not typically the “typical Peace Corps experience” and I am the ONLY volunteer in our group with no bathroom in the house, no running water in the house, no electricity, no cell phone coverage, no post office, etc., I feel quite confident that I will be well-looked-after. Most likely I will be moved to gov’t housing (which would have electricity and running water – what luxury) sometime in the next two weeks. I am sort of doubtful that any of the borrowed items I used during site visit (like the bed and stove) will still be in “my” house when I get to Kole tomorrow. And I’m even more doubtful that it will be furnished by the matron (the woman in charge of the sub-district where I work- the over-seer for the gov’t health workers) as she is the one who provided (or didn’t provide in this case) transport to our sites. I am doing my best to give her the benefit of the doubt and not dread having to ask for reimbursements for electrical and water bills from her even though Susie tells me, “I’m not sure what that matron does . . . makes sure nothing changes, I guess.”

Even though I have done a bit of worrying about my housing situation, it’s amazing how insignificant it seems compared to the immensity of what we will be doing as volunteers for the next two years. I am so excited about the possibilities. We had our “swearing in” service yesterday, when we officially graduated from trainees to volunteers. Our country director, Peggy McClure (who is fabulous), gave an inspirational speech about looking forward to the time when HIV/AIDS takes its place with small pox and the plague in human history; the day when our children will be asking “what was that AIDS thing all about?” . . . and also, that future generations can say, “how fortunate you were to be in a position to do something so meaningful and such a critical time.” This stuff really sinks in when you start recognizing the impact of HIV/AIDS first-hand. My host family has had two family members (a neice and a cousin, I think) die in the past two months. I’m sure it was of AIDS-related illnesses, because the cause of death was supposedly “unknown.” They were “sick”. Monica’s host family had a friend who died of “a headache.” At the health post in Kole, there is a form that the RN has to fill out and send to the sub-district head (Charles Hill) at the end of every week. It is supposed to be a record of the diseases in the area and gives numbers of illnesses due to malaria, TB, etc. HIV/AIDS is not listed. TB is a fairly good tracker, though. 70% of people with TB are HIV positive. One of the other volunteers was watching her host dad die of TB (probably AIDS-related). Even that, as awful and heart-wrenching as it sounds, just becomes a part of “normal” life, even for us. I don’t think we’re hardened, it’s just “the way it is.”

So, on a lighter note, I had an amazing experience at the swearing in service yesterday. I was volunteered to do a short speech in Setswana because I have a good Setswana accent (according to my fellow trainees, but what do they know?) Well, apparently they were right, because the audience, including our host parents, government officials, training staff, and ourselves were overwhelming with their response: they oo-ed and ah-ed and sighed happily and gave me a standing ovation at the end and I got hugs from everyone at the head table when I was done. The host mom’s were crying and my teacher (who helped me translate and practice the speech) was so happy. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to express to them our gratitude in their own language. It was obviously well-received. My host mom kept saying, “I’m so happy . . . clever girl.” Today at the peace corps office, Peggy (director) said, “people are still talking about you. (The Associate PC director) Pinny says you were the best of any trainees that have spoken in Setswana at any event.” Wow.

Okay, enough bragging about myself. Monica is getting listless she is so hungry and we’ve had a stressful morning, so I have to close here. I think I will be in more regular email contact once I get to Kole since the post office in Ncojane has internet that Susie assures me is available to us.

I love and miss you all very much. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

love, leah