Friday, June 10, 2011

One Year Left


As of today I have less than a year until I close my service here in Botswana and get to return home to the United States. The Bots 8 volunteers are packing up their things and saying their goodbyes as they prepare to leave this next week. The Bots 10 volunteers swore in earlier this week and have now moved to their sites. To think only a year ago I was doing that and just embarking on this experience and now I am down to the last year. Before I know it, it will be time for me to go. I just hope I will have made some sort of a difference in my village. The past few weeks things have been very slow. All the public workers have been on strike since the beginning of April. This is the first time in Botswana's history something like this has happened, so it is very exciting for the citizens, but makes it hard to get anything done project wise. I should relish in all the free time I have to sit and chat and form relationships with my community members or just reflect on the past 14 months, but the American in me still wants to be a busy bee and get as much accomplished as she can. The next year still feels like forever away but I know it will go by quicker than I realize, so I worry it will pass by and I will have done nothing substantial these two years I have been here. Once again I see why Peace Corps is a 27 month (26 months in my case) commitment. It really does take the first year or so to get integrated and acclimated to your community. I have heard from previous volunteers that after Mid-Service Training things start to pick up and you will have lots of projects to work on.

Speaking of Mid Service Training, mine is in a little over a week. It will be nice to see some of the other volunteers from my group I haven't seen since our In-Service Training back in August. This will be a time for all of us to reflect on the past year, recharge and dig in with new hopes for the next year. After the training my family will be arriving!!!  I am super excited for them to come and visit! It will be great to spend some time with them. I miss them soo much! We have a pretty awesome trip lined up. They will get to see my village (some of my friends here are eager to meet them), see some wildlife, and experience one of the 7th wonders of the world among other things. I will post updates about our trip when I get back.

"Finish everyday and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities crept in- forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it well and serenely"

I also wanted to make a shout out of congratulations to my two brothers! Congrats on both of your graduations! I am so proud of both of you and I am terribly sorry I couldn’t be there to celebrate your accomplishments. See you soon :)