In Service Training (IST)

After being at site for a few months, Peace Corps has all the volunteers come together for more training. The NGO (non-governmental organizations) and LS (life skills) volunteers came a week earlier than the CCB (community capacity builders) and DCL (district community liaisons) so by the time I got to the lodge in GABS where I would be spending the next 2 and half weeks most of my BOTS 9 group were there. It was really exciting to see everyone again! I made sure to spend the first few days with my friends from the NGO and LS groups because they were going to be heading back to their sites on Saturday or Sunday depending how far away they had to travel. The past weeks have been filled with lots of sessions on various topics. Some presentations have been great and others have been not so great. I was feeling kind of low (part of the PC rollercoaster, you go through a lot of ups and downs throughout service) before IST, but now after being here for a few weeks and listening to the presentations I have a lot of ideas for things to do in my village. I have also had a lot of Setswana. We have another LPI (language proficiency indicator) on Monday so hopefully I will move up to a higher level. It's been really nice to have a hot shower and good food everyday. The lodge we are staying at feeds us a ton! I feel like I have had more food these past few weeks than I have had during my 2 months at site. One night they fed us pizza and another night the cook made hamburgers for us! We were all pretty excited because chicken and rice is getting pretty old. The lodge also has a pool so we have gotten some time to work on our tans. The second night at IST some of us decided to change our hairstyles. One girl said she wanted to shave her head and ended up with a Mohawk. The Mohawk looked good so she's decided to keep it for awhile. I finally dreaded my hair!!! It took a couple days but the finished product looks good (or so I am told).

One night we had an 80s themed party. Another night a few of us went to Riverwalk (it's a mall close by the lodge) to see "Inception" . The movie was really good and I recommend seeing it if you haven't yet. That is the weird thing about being here in GABS. GABS is very developed and it feels a lot like I am back at in the US, especially when I go to Riverwalk. It's funny how developed this city is and then only a few miles away there are villages that don't have running water or electricity. It makes me happy I didn't get placed in a site that is as developed as GABS or Francistown. It’s nice to have the luxuries for a little bit, but after being here for a few weeks I have realized that I have grown accustomed to my simple life in Machaneng and rather enjoy it.

One evening I went to Riverwalk with a couple other volunteers to get some coffee at the café there. As we were sipping our mochas and people watching I noticed this group of guys coming towards us. From their body language I could tell they were not from Botswana. They came up to us all wide-eyed and bushy-tailed with this glow of excitement on their faces. Immediately they asked if we were Americans and what state all of us were from. One of the guys was from Pennsylvania so he was pretty excited when he found out I was from Ohio. They had only been in country for a week and we were the first Americans they had come across. After talking to them for a minute we found out they were missionaries working at the University of Botswana and were going to be here for a year. I also found out that they were working through Campus Crusade for Christ. It was cool to find that out because I was involved with CCC and Athletes in Action at Miami University. After a few minutes they left us and we went back to enjoying our mochas, but I just chuckled to myself. They had soo much excitement for being here and it made me think back to when I first got here. It's hard to believe I have been here for almost 5 months, but at the same time it seems like I have been here forever. The new excitement has worn off but there are still things I come across here in BOTS that makes me remember I am halfway around the world in a completely different country and culture.

Today a few volunteers and I went to the Mokolodi Game Reserve to go on a Game Drive and to pet Cheetahs!!! I didn't go on the Game Drive but I did do the Cheetah petting! Cheetahs are my favorite animal (Phologolo yame ke e rata thata ke lengau) so I was soo excited! As we were waiting to go out to pet the cheetahs some warthogs came up by the playground near the reservation desk. Another volunteer and I tried to see how close we could get to them but some kids came up and scared them away. I was able to get a couple good shots. There was a restaurant with a patio seating area and apparently wildlife, like rhinos, impala, and warthogs, will come close.

The Game Reserve has two Cheetahs who they had found as cubs. They were abandoned so the Staff took them in and since they were never trained how to survive in the wild they couldn't set them free. They are 14 years old now which is pretty old for a Cheetah. Cheetahs usually live to be 16 years old in the wild and when they are in captivity they can live up to 20 years.

On our way out to see them we say a male ostrich (male ostriches have black feathers and females have gray). Once inside the cage we got to get up close to the cheetahs and pet them :) Both of them were purring as soon as we got close to them. Cheetahs love to be petted (as long as they are used to humans) but I wouldn't just go up to any cheetah and start petting them. We all got to take some turns petting the cheetah's head and at one point the cheetah rolled over. The guide told us that means he likes being petted.

We also got to see a few of their hyenas that the Game Reserve had also rescued. Hyenas look a lot different than what I have always pictured from the Lion King. They more so look like a hybrid of a dog and a bear. We didn't get to pet them which is fine by me because I guess they are really aggressive. After spending some time with the Cheetah's we went back to wait for the other group get done. The Game Reserve also had some monkey's in a caged area for people to watch. They were really cute and I was thinking that it would be cool to have one as a pet. As we were watching the monkey's play one got out of the cage. I was standing kind of near it watching it and I guess I was too close because all of a sudden the monkey came running at me making all sorts of noise! It was kind of scary haha! I was ok though cause it didn't get too close and just kind of ran away. I think I might have to rethink the whole monkey as a pet thing.

Trade Show, Mosadi Mogolo, Typing, and IST, Oh My!

First of all I want to personally thank everyone who has sent me a letter, card or package for my birthday or just to give me some encouragement. I enjoyed all the little presents and everytime I go to the Post Office and find out I have a letter or a package I am estatic! The words of encouragement are great especially when things get rough and they make the good days even better. I cannot thank you all enough. I constantly re-read all the letters and cards I have gotten as a reminder of all the love and suppport I have back at home. Thanks again and I love and miss you all!

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. I guess I have been a little busy and just have not gotten around to writing. So here's what I have been up to the past couple weeks.

Machaneng had their annual Trade Show a few weekends ago. This is kind of like a county fair but on a lot smaller scale. A volunteer from another village came to Machaneng with one of her friends who works at the Jr. Secondary School in her village and went to the show with me. Friday night there was supposed to be a beauty pageant, which I was pretty excited to see, but it didn't end up happening. But my good friend Sliza (she is a famous Rumba artist from Botswana) was performing at Machaneng's Community Hall, so I got to watch her. It was pretty cool but ended up being a late night. She didn't end up performing until well after midnight so I wasn't home until pretty late. The next day we walked around the show grounds to see what was at the Trade Show.

They had animals (cattle, sheep, goats, rams, chickens, etc) and lots of booths showing off people's produce and art work. In one of the booths they had different plants you could buy and one of the was a Paw-paw tree! I was pretty excited! The Show reminded me a lot of walking around the 4H buildings at the Fairfield County Fair, only not as much stuff to see. We also ate some traditional food (mabele and goat meat) and watched a little bit of a football match that was going on. Later that night there was another performer but I didn't end up going because I was very tried from the night before. I heard the best Trade Show to go to is the one the happens in Gaborone (the capital), but I guess it is not going to happen this year because there has been a huge outbreak of foot and mouth disease so they don't want to contaminate the animals. Hopefully I will get to go next year, apparently there is always a great selection of jewelry, pottery, and baskets you can buy.

The next weekend was the final for the Mosadi Mogolo Cup. Machaneng won their Catchment Area games a few weeks ago so they got to go to the finals. There were 8 teams from the Mahalaype Sub-district area who got to go and compete for the medal. The Mosadi Mogolo Cup tournament is put on by the clinics in the Mahalaype sub-district area. The purpose of the tournament is to get women (aged 25 and up) involved in physical activity and to teach them about HIV/AIDS and the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) program. Scoring is based off of the points in the game and how well the team does on a quiz about HIV/AIDS and PMTCT info. This was the third year the Mahalaype Sub-district put the tournament on. This year they invited many important people from the Health Sector to try to show them what our district is doing to help educate women, in hopes of using our tournament as a model to be replicated in other districts within the country. Maybe after a few years it will become a national tournament and not just a district level thing. The day ran fairly smoothly. It started off with the first game at 8am (which surprisingly started only 30 minutes late), then around 10am they had an opening ceremony with some speeches and entertainment. After the ceremony they proceeded with the rest of the games. As one of the organizers I got a free Polo, which was a nice surprise. Unfortunately, Machaneng lost their first game that day so they didn't get to go on to the next round. I felt bad for the girls because they had been practicing really hard these past few months and they really wanted to win. Hopefully they will do better next year. Because my team lost their first game we didn't stay for the whole thing to see who won the whole tournament. I thought that was a little weird, but considering I had been up since 5:15am I wasn't too upset we were leaving early.

This past week I have been helping the Staff at Matlhako Library learn how to type. This is the first step in the Library's plans of how to get more people to use the library. So over the next few weeks I hope to teach the staff how to use the computers (typing, word, power point, excel, etc.) and how to look up things in the library. Once the staff is educated in these things they will be able to set up sessions to teach the members of their community what I taught them. I am hoping this will then get more people to come to and use the library. The girls were soo excited to learn how to correctly type, but they thought the way you have to hold your hands was awkward. It was pretty entertaining watching them, but they caught on very quickly. I am very excited to go back again this week to teach them more.

Another thing I am looking forward to is IST (In-Service Training). IST is a 2 week training session to regroup and share our experiences about the first 2 months at site. We also will have more Setswana lessons, which I desperately need, and learn some stuff about grant writing, proposals, and other useful things for the next year. I am pretty excited because I will get to stay in a lodge with a nice hot shower and a pool and I get to see my friends and be around other Americans! It will be a nice break. One thing we have to bring with us to IST is our Community Assessment Report. This is basically what we have found out about our village and what our village's needs are. This means over the next week I am going to be super busy trying to get that together for IST! I wish I had started typing that up earlier! At least I will have something to keep me busy for the next week and a half :)

Happy Birthday To Me!

So today's my birthday. I am 23 years old. Typically I would be spending time with friends and family and eating some delicious cheesecake and opening presents. This year that is not the case. I actually had to go to see the Peace Corps Medical Officer yesterday so most of my birthday is being spent traveling back to my village. I can't say it has been a bad birthday though. People here in Botswana have shown me a decent birthday.

On Saturday I got to meet up with a couple of the volunteers in Mahalaype and hang out a little bit. We went to the Mahalaype Trade Fair which is kind of like a County Fair, only on a lot smaller of a scale. We walked around the grounds and looked at some of the tents. We also watched some of the youth do some traditional dancing in the traditional clothes. For the most part there wasn't much to do so we only stayed for an hour or so. My village is having on this weekend and apparently there is a beauty pageant on Friday, and my good friend Sliza is going to be there. I hope my villages Trade Fair will be more interesting. After we left the fair we went back to one of the volunteers houses and we made pizza and this brownie-cake-pudding thing which was pretty tasty.

On Sunday the owners of the one general dealer shop near my house took me to their property out on the Tuli Block. I got to meet their son and daughter-in-law (who are similar age to me). They are very nice people. They made me a brunch and took me out on a drive all around their property. They have around 8,000 acres of land so there was a lot to see. We saw all sorts of birds, warthogs, impala, and waterbucks. They also showed me the camp site where the hunters usually stay. That got me to thinking about maybe later one I could get a group together to go camping out there. After we got back from the drive they had some deserts for me for my bday (they said they were going to make me a cake but didn't have time, the deserts were just find though). While I was hanging out with them, they were asking me all about my house and how I live. They are a little well off so they have a washing machine, dryer, microwave, and a shower with hot water, so when they found out I don't have any of those things they offered me to come stay over if I ever wanted a hot shower. They also said if I ever wanted to drop off my laundry at the shop they would do it for me for free! They also said they had an extra microwave at the shop they barely ever use so if I wanted to borrow it I could! I might take them up on their offers but I think I will still hand wash my clothes for the most part, because I mean I am the Peace Corps so I shouldn't have all the modern convinces right?

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find out one of my good friends from training was in GABS for medical stuff too :) We went and saw Toy Story 3 (which is very good so I highly recommend it) last night and then we met up for lunch before I headed back to Machaneng. It was great to catch up with her, since I haven't seen her since PST and she lives in a very remote village with no internet access or cell phone service.

When I got home the girls on my compound decided to make me some traditional Botswana food for my bday. They made Morogo and Mebele. The Mebele they made with this watermelon type stuff so it was sweet tasting and was pretty good, but morogo is this green stuff that I have tried before. It's not really my favorite. It has kind of a weird taste to it, but I ate it anyways to be nice and polite. While they were cooking the food I got a call from my counterpart. My counterpart and some of the other nurses had bought a cake for me so they dropped it off. It was really nice of them to do that for me.

I also apparently have at least one package waiting for me at the Post Office in Machaneng so I am excited to see what it is and hopefully there will be more by the time I check it tomorrow. Thank you everyone for all of the birthday wishes and birthday packages (hopefully I will get them soon). This years birthday hasn't been a normal one but I can't say it has been a bad one at all.

Cultural Day

Today Matlhako Library and Cultural Center took me to Ramokgonami's Cultural Day at their Library and Cultural Center (Ramokgonami is a village that is about 40km from Machaneng in the Mahalapye Sub district). Another volunteer from my training group is serving in Ramokgonami so I got to spend the day experiencing traditional Setswana, food, dance and fun! When the library staff picked me up I thought we were going to Matlhako's library so it was a nice surprise when I realized we were going to Ramokgonami. When I first got to the center I was introduced to the librarian there and some other important people. We sang Botswana's national anthem. Then they introduced me to everyone (they said I was the Peace Corps volunteer staying in Matlhako, but that's ok). There were many speakers and some of the Jr. Secondary Students preformed dances in traditional attire. There were some drama's preformed and even some traditional games played. The dancing and singing was my favorite part. It is really cool to watch. I find it fascinating how talented the children are, especially considering there is not much emphasis or resources for the arts in schools.

Everything was in Setswana so I don't really know what all was being said throughout the day, but it was fun to watch. Then they served us some Traditional Setswana food, dinawa (beans), seswaa (pounded meat), and bogobe (brown mush stuff made from maze or some sort of corn). All the food was cooked over the fire in these huge black pots. They gave us a heaping plate full and in Botswana style with no silverware, so we had to eat with our hands! Not my favorite of the Setswana dishes but it was ok. I also got to try this seed they cook and eat. I forget what it was called but it tasted a lot like sunflower seeds, so I enjoyed it. After we ate the other volunteer and I saw that people were tossing sticks, kind of like javelin, so we watched that for a little bit. I think the object was to see who could throw the stick the farthest. Throughout the day we were offered Shake-Shake (the traditional brewed beer), but we kindly turned it down. I tried it when I was in Moleps and it doesn't taste very good so I wasn't about to drink some more. The rest of the day was spent talking to some of the teachers from the Jr. Secondary School in Ramokgonami. After talking to them for a little bit we found out that one of the teachers is the son of the kgosi from my village. He was pretty excited that I was staying in Machaneng. The other volunteer showed me around the library which looks a lot like the Matlhako library and then it was time to go back to Machaneng. All in all it was a pretty good day.

3 Months

Yesterday was the 3 month mark since I left Ohio. Today I have officially been at my site for 1 month. I can see now what they mean when the Peace Corps staff told us that the days will drag on but the months will fly by. I can't believe I have been out of country now for 3 months, but in other ways it seems like I have been here forever! Maybe the two years will go by quicker than I imagined? I am becoming more and more known within my village. The other day someone yelled "Refilwe" at me as I was walking home. I was very excited about this because normally people yell "Boitumelo" (the old volunteer's name) or "Lakgoa" (means foreigner). One of my struggles of being in this village is the fact that I am replacing a volunteer. This means I get compared to her and many people think I am her. They think I will be doing exactly the same things she did during her time in Machaneng. I may do some of the same things she did, but I am a different person with different interests and skills. Therefore, when I heard someone call my name instead of hers you can see how happy that made me. I think people are starting to see that I am different and not Boitumelo. I thought this would take a lot longer for people to realize this. Granted I still get asked where the old volunteer is and I still get called here name, but it's a start.

The other day I got to go to Matlhako (a nearby village) to see their library and community center. A family from America donated money to Matlhako to build it. It is very nice but unfortunately no one in the community uses it. The librarian in Matlhako wanted me to come see it and help her come up with ways to get more people to come to the library. Reading is something I love to do, so I am pretty excited to help with this project. I think reading is something everyone should have the opportunity to do. Hopefully we will be able to come up with ways to get people in the area interested in reading and using the resources the center has to offer (there's 4 computers, an adult and children's section, a playground, and some encyclopedias). Matlhako library also is starting up a chess club that meets on Saturday mornings, the only problem is the ladies who are starting it up don't know how to play. I never considered myself an expert at chess or anything but I do know how to play, so I told them I would teach them how to play and also help the children who come learn. I was supposed to go do that yesterday, but the library driver was unable to come get me. I was a little disappointed but there will always be another Saturday.


A couple days ago I got the meet the lady who works at the Social and Child Development Office here in Machaneng. This is the department that helps support families who are struggling and they also support all orphans in the community. Talking with her I was able to get a little bit of a better understanding of the demographics of Machaneng. There are many destitute (chronically injured or ill, or unemployed) individuals, orphans, and needy children in Machaneng. I am not really sure yet how I will work with this department in my village, but the officer told me about a bunch of community committees and what they do within the community. This is a good start because it gives me an idea of what projects are already going on within the community. It gave me a little bit of a better understanding of how these committees work and what sort of things they do. Many of them are income generating organizations. Much of Machaneng is unemployed and there are no opportunities for work. Many able bodied people try to rely on the government to help support them, but there are committees in the community that host workshops to help people to start generating their own income (ex. Bead making, sewing, backyard gardening etc.). These committees are good resources that I will probably work with at some point.

My House

Here's the outside of my house. Isn't it lovely?

I actually live on a family compound of a kgosi (chief) of Machaneng who passed away a few years ago. The compound is pretty big. It is located conveniently next to a General Dealer shop and another General Dealer shop located just a minute walk towards the main tarred road. There is the main house that my landlord (the kgosi's wife) and her two granddaughters live in (one is 20 and the other is 7). Then there are three huts, two of which are occupied by a man who works for the Wildlife Department in Machaneng, and Maggie who works for the Agriculture Department. There are 2 more huts and two other smaller buildings that are unoccupied at the moment, and there is my house. It’s a nice place to live. I feel very safe because no one messes with a kgosi's family and the General Dealer's light is always shining on my house. I have running water (no hot water) and electricity. My mom sent me a bag shower so for the past week I have enjoyed warm showers. That is one thing I have learned since being here: Never underestimate the greatness of a hot shower! Sometimes the water in my village will run out so I have to keep extra water stored in buckets and bottles just in case. So far I've only had to go half a day without running water. Every once in awhile the electricity will go out too. When this happens I just get out my flashlights and candles and entertain myself by reading by the candle light. This hasn't happened yet since I have gotten to site (it happened during my site visit though).

In the front of my house there are a couple of trees. This past Thursday (July 1st) Botswana celebrated Sir Seretse Khama Day so I got the day off of work. This holiday is to celebrate the 1st president of Botswana. I decided to enjoy my day off by relaxing in my hammock and reading. I don't really have anywhere on my porch/ledge to hang up my hammock so I decided the two trees in front of my house was a great place to hang it. Boy did I cause a scene! After I put up my hammock and got in it I noticed a group of children gathering in front of our gate watching me. Because my house is located close to the tarred road and right next to the General Dealer, a lot of people go by my house. After a little bit of time they got up the courage to come inside the compound and talk to me. They were very interested in what this purple and blue thing I was lounging in was. I tried to explain what it was to them and let them try it out. All of them thought it was the greatest thing! So needless to say I didn't get much of my book read. Hopefully next time the hammock won't cause as much of a scene.

So no I don't live in a hut in the middle of nowhere with lions prowling about. Yes I have a toilet that flushes (although no toilet seat, for some reason most toilets here don't have seats on them) and I luckily don't have to use a pit latrine. When I first found out I was coming to Africa I pictured that I would be living in the middle of no where with no electricity or running water and living in a one room thatched hut. That's not the case, but I am perfectly ok with it. The only complaint I would have is I wish the walls would block out sound more. There is a main dirt road the goes right by my house. So there are constantly donkeys, cows, goats, dogs, cars blaring music, and children going by. This only really bothers me at night when I am trying to fall asleep, or in the morning when I am awoken before my alarm goes off. Maybe I should invest in some earplugs?

Finding My Niche

I have been at my site for 3 weeks now. This integration thing is very hard. I always considered myself a very talkative and outgoing person but these past few weeks I can't seem to find that side of me. Maybe it's because everyone around me speaks a language I barely understand and when I speak to them in English they barely understand me. I guess it's just going to take some time and patience for me to find my niche in my village. So I'm sure you all are probably wondering what it is exactly that I have been up to these past few weeks? The first few months at site we are in "lockdown" meaning we are not allowed to leave our villages until sometime in August when we go to Gabs for our In Service Training. This is to allow us to meet people within our communities and form relationships. We are supposed to be assessing the community and finding out it's needs. So what does that exactly all mean? Beats me! I find myself going through each day clueless as to what it is exactly I am supposed to be doing. I go to my clinic at 7:30am every morning and sit through the staff meeting for 30-45 mins (which is all in Setswana so I understand none of it). After the meeting I try to find something to do. Sometimes this means helping out with the child welfare clinic (weighing babies) other times it's writing down dates and genders of people getting their immunizations. Sometimes I get lucky and there actually is something for me to do. Today I typed up a chart on excel and word for them. Maybe I should teach them how to use Micorsoft Office? I am sure with time things will get better. It just takes time for people to trust me and know that I do have ideas and can be useful.


One day I got to go out with Keitumetsi (the Senior Health Educator Assistant for my clinic) and tell people on the Tuli Block about coming in for their H1N1 vaccinations. This was a very cool day. The Tuli Block by Machaneng is a bunch of privately owned game reserves. As we traversed through people's property's I got to see all sorts of wildlife! I just wish I had my camera. I'll have to remember it next time. At every property we stopped the people living there gave us meat or fruit to take with us. It's all part of Botswana's giving culture. In Botswana many people do not have jobs or make much money, so they have a known policy of what's mine is yours. They are very giving people. Which is great when you are a volunteer and are living on less than $3 a day. Throughout the day I ended up with dried impala meat, a big hunk of steak, wildebeest liver, kudo bones, and oranges. I let my coworkers take most of it at the end of the day. I only took the steak, oranges and impala meat (tastes kind of like deer meat). At one ranch I got to see the entire butchering process of a wildebeest. From the live beast in the corals all the way to the hunk of meat on a hook. It was pretty interesting. I was literally two inches away from a live wildebeest with only a flimsy wall in between us. It was pretty awesome! Some other animals I saw were kudo, springbok, wild boar, impala, and buffalo. That day was defiantly one of my better days here in Africa.

Another thing I have been busy with is helping my clinic with the Mosadimogolo World Cup Football Tournament. All the clinics in the Mahalapye Area are putting together this football tournament to promote women in sports and also use the matches as ways to educate people about HIV/AIDs. My village's game is this Saturday so I will be going and helping out with the set up and education part. I would play in the match but you have to be at least 25 to play (darn). My Football skills are not all the great anyways so I am not too disappointed I can't play. I have practiced a couple times with the team though, the exercise was nice. The team had a scrimmage game yesterday against Makwate (another village in the area), but they didn't do well. Hopefully they will do better tomorrow.

This week my counterpart decided she wanted me out of the clinic and she wanted me to get more into the community. This is great because I do not feel like I am much help at the clinic. I got to go hangout with the preschoolers on Monday. That was pretty fun. I will probably be going and spending time with them every week. Children are fun to work with and they have soo much energy! We just played with puzzles, legos, and did a craft. I am not sure what else I will do with them. I haven't really worked with children that young before, but in time I know I will come up with some ideas.

Another group I am excited to work with is the PACT team at the Jr. Secondary School. I met with them once and will be meeting with them every Monday afternoon. They are a Peer Counseling Team that promote awareness about different health related issues in the school. They gave me a list of topics they want to talk about at their meetings throughout the next few months, so now I just need to come up with some fun activities that go along with their topics. Their leader is very proactive so I am also excited to work with her. I just hope my shyness will go away soon. I want to be useful in my community but I am finding it hard to communicate with the people around me. Most of the time I don't know what to say to them. Hopefully this will change over time. I just need to take it one day at a time.