First Congregational UCC - Platteville

October 31, 2007

Dear Friends and Family,

Weather:

It’s hot. Not at night, so sleeping is quite pleasant, but as soon as the sun’s rays hit the sand, the coolness of the night is forgotten. There are prayer meetings, asking for rain. Rainy season is a good time to hold these, the prayers are answered. However, rainy season does not mean days of cloudy, rainy days as one might think. It means wind (this wind must rival Iceland, Aunt Wilma), and if it hasn’t rained very recently that means dust storms. In the afternoon, the wind picks up, dust swirls in small funnel clouds, and dark clouds move dramatically across blue, sunny skies. It has the effect of the world wearing a a dark cap over blue, sunny hair that shows on the sides. It rains for 15 minutes at the most and then the clouds blow away. It is more calm at night, but the smell of rain is strong and the lightening is fantastic. Sometimes it sprinkles at night.

Mosquitoes:

They are there, in force, especially in Maun, near the river. It was a relief to get back to my own bed and mosquito netting after the GLOW weekend.

Girls and Guys Leading Our World (GLOW):

There was a training of trainers meeting in Maun this weekend. Katlego, as the leader of the delegation of girls who will be attending the GLOW Camp in December, was supposed to come with me to plan the event with the other Peace Corps Volunteers and Community Leaders who are taking delegations. (There are 10 delegations of boys and 10 of girls). I had a long meeting last week, called by the Guidance and Counseling committee at the school. They were concerned that Katlego would be representing the school while on “off’s” (vacation). It’s against policy, apparently. So, I suggested that we consider Katlego a “community leader” instead of a teacher and that she would only be representing herself and a few girls from the community, not necessarily in connection with the school. Surprisingly, that was convincing. Then we had the inevitable discussion about how I did not follow protocol in choosing the leader of the delegation. There should have been a meeting with all the teachers and they should have decided together who would lead the girls. I described the situation of being rushed to turn in the application. Katlego happened to be with me in Ncojane (she was hitch hiking to the clinic because we didn’t have a nurse here in Kole at the time) so she heard before anyone that Marakanelo Junior Secondary School in Ncojane wasn’t organized enough to send a delegation. So, really, her being picked was a series of accidents, was my plea. I apologized and assured them I would do things differently next time, but it was still hard to move on to the subject of, “What do we do from here?”

There is great concern about the liability of the school for these girls while they are at the camp. If something happened while they were on the road there, for example (road accidents are very common because of all the cattle, ostriches, donkeys, and goats that seem to spend the majority of their time on pavement), the school would have to explain where those girls were going and why. So, the headmaster wants to be sure the Education Officer in Gantsi is informed that schools from his district are involved. This means more official letters, ideally from GLOW itself rather than from the school or from me.

I am getting trained as a diplomat, which is an advantage I had not foreseen would present itself during my Peace Corps service.

The training of trainers meeting in Maun went well. There were 40 of us, going over the schedule for the camp, signing up for leading sessions, sharing ideas about what to teach the kids, and going over rules and regulations for the campers and what the expectations were for us as leaders. For example, questions about how luxurious the accomodation would be, or how nice the food would be (by the Batswana counterparts) had to be addressed. After the first rather embarrassing reminder that we were going to be at this camp for the kids and not for our own comfort or enjoyment, I thought those sorts of queries would cease, but not so, one woman in particular was very concerned about her comfort during the camp. (“Will we be reimbursed for food that we buy on the way there? What about for those of us who have to travel far? Do we get paid for our time? Can I stay somewhere else that’s nicer in Gaborone and just come to the camp when I want to be involved in a session?”) This woman is an unfortunate representative of a sense of entitlement that I’m afraid is rather rampant, especially among the educated population of Botswana.

My sweet Katlego was also not her usual stellar self. I’m not sure if it was to show off for her fellow conterparts or what, but she asked challenging questions that displayed a level of immaturity that surprised me. “Is “Lights Out” for everyone or just for campers?” And we had a long discussion started by her about whether or not the girls and guys should be kept at separate camps. This was a good discussion to have, although it displayed the lack of understanding on the part of the Batswana how much planning and organizing has already gone into the event. Changing the venue at this point would be impossible even if they managed to convince the leaders that the goals of the camp would be better met with both genders learning together.

There was quite a bit of drinking, by the counterparts, mostly. Although PCV’s do their fair share of “partying”, especially away from their sites, I am confident my colleagues would not show up to an official event/meeting drunk, and a few of the counterparts did. I hope the kids who complete the GLOW program will be more responsible when it is their turn to display leadership. Eish.

Run for Life: They did it! The boys ran the half marathon and girls did the 5 km race. I dropped them off at Monica’s place on Thursday night, gave them money for the weekend, and we exchanged phone numbers so I could be in touch with them over the weekend. On Friday, government transport took them to Gaborone. My friends Liz and Stacy who also took teams took care of their accomodation at a backpacker’s hostel outside Gaborone, near the Mokolodi Game Reserve (which sounds like a neat place for those of you who are considering a visit . . . there are permaculture gardens, composting toilets, and other conservation-focused projects that vary with the work of volunteer group). The race was on Sunday morning. I got a text message from Liz when it was over, “The race went well, I think everyone had a good time.” I called one of my girls and she said, “The race is not good!” (Hm, that’s a contradiction). It turns out she was only disappointed because they didn’t all win. Apparently the race wasn’t well monitored and there was a lot of cutting corners. The boys ran the half marathon in an hour and 5 minutes. They very well may have won if everyone had stuck to the course. I’m proud of them.

The way home was a bit harry for them. They got off at “the junction” (there is a turn off to Charleshill, 44 km before you reach Gantsi from Gaborone and 200 km away from Charleshill) in order to hitchhike. They didn’t make it to Kole and had to spend the night at Mokwaledi’s father’s house in Charleshill. I felt badly because they waited for quite awhile in the sun at the hiking spot without getting a ride. I was in Gantsi (on the phone with them, but unable to really do anything to help them; transport is a problem!), coming back from Maun, trying to arrange to bring gas back to my house. It has been over a month now since I ordered these gas cylinders. I am tired of not being able to cook. Supposedly it will come today. Re tlaa bona (we’ll see).

Drama Practice:

The out of school youth are still practicing at the community hall. I went last week and it was good to be back with them. After practice they all sat along the edge of the stage and one of them told me they were waiting for me to say something. I’m not sure how they knew that I wanted to ask them about the possibility of having an HIV/AIDS Peer Educator Mini Course early next year or about starting sports practices at the school (volleyball and soccer). I told someone and they told someone who told one of the youth who told the rest of the youth but it all happens so quietly that I miss it and instead it seems like telepathy is a normal and frequent form of communication throughout the country, really. Anyway, they said they would be interested in HIV/AIDS education. The next day, Pearl informed me that she wanted to teach the kids at the community hall about PMTCT. (Several of those girls already have kids and one is currently pregnant). The plan is to have a “preview” to the course in November, giving Pearl the opportunity to do her group education with a fancy flip chart that is provided to all lay counselors. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays in January, I will teach the “course.” They will get certificates for being peer educators at the end of the course. They LOVE certificates. One of the teachers at the GLOW meeting this weekend wanted to get a certificate. (This is a training of trainers, isn’t it? She wanted to know).

Dance:

I miss dancing!!! I think I will have salsa classes after the HIV/AIDS education as a possible incentive for them to keep coming and also as a purely selfish form of entertainment.

Beautiful Moments:

I have spent quite a bit of time with Larona, my nurse’s 13-month old baby girl. Last week I gave her a bath for the first time, and it was so much fun. I adore her. If Twenty gets transferred, which is always a possibility, I will miss her baby as much as her.

I had a meeting with the kgosi to talk about VMSAC last Tuesday. He invited me to his house. His wife gave me lunch, in the formal Setswana way, which includes washing my hands in a bowl of water before eating. On the way out, she brought me a bag of fruit – oranges, pears and apples. (They know I don’t have gas and can’t cook . . . the village is jokingly referring to me as a destitute).

There was a rainbow on Wednesday morning last week. It was huge and entirely visible because the sky here is so vast.

Go Fetsa: (to finish)

I miss you. It is strange to think of the trees having lost their leaves and chilly days starting (although I’ve heard it has been unusually warm lately). Write me often so I don’t lose touch with that and everything else about home.

Much love from Botswana,

Leah