Updates

Besides struggling with the ever inconsistency of running water in my village I have been very busy these past few months. Every quarter us PCVs have to report back to Peace Corps Headquarters on all that we have been doing. Reports are due Thursday so as I am compiling mine I have realized how much I have been doing. Here's a list of some of the projects I am working on, plus some things I did over this quarter:

-I started an aerobics class for the teachers at the Jr. Secondary School. They want to meet three times a week, but that has yet to occur. Right now the schools are on break so we haven't had it in a few weeks, but I hope to start it up again next week. 

-I was asked by the Athletic Director in early January to help coach the sprinters at the Jr. Secondary School. He said he wasn't familiar with how to train sprinters/runners and would very much like my help. I was very excited and began racking my brain for various workouts I did when I was a Sprinter on the Track Team in High School. I was able to coach a few practices and then all of a sudden I find out the Running season is over, and now the sports teams are practicing ball sports. This meant the sprinters/runners wouldn't be practicing again until next January! Bummer! After talking to the Athletic  Director we decided to form a small running/sprinter club with a few of the athletes. This was I would be able to continue to help the students learn drills and exercises so that when next season came they would reap the benefit of all their training. I had about 10 girls and 10 boys show up for the remainder of the practices. It was a lot of fun coaching them and I am looking forward to when practices begin again next week.

-My mother sent me a few children's books in some of my recent care packages. I have been using them to read with a few of the primary school girls in my village. The 9 year old girl who lives on my compound is the one I read with the most. She loves it! Some weekends when I am hanging up my washing she will come up to me and ask if we can read later! I am very excited to instill a sense of enjoyment in reading in these girls. Plus through reading these books they are gaining better English skills which is vital to them doing well in school. I hope in the next quarter to meet more regularly with the girls and maybe even set up some incentives.

Traditional Hut

Making Leather

-The first weekend of March one of the volunteers wanted to have a get together in her village to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps. Her village is in Kaudwane, which is near the Khutse Game Reserve right under the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, which is basically in the middle of the country. Kaudwane is literally in the middle of nowhere. It is really hard to get to and the last few hours of the trek there you have to hitch, because not many vehicles go in and out of her village. During the weekend the volunteer had activities planned to learn more about the culture of the people living in Kaudwane. The first night we got to go to the campsite of the Leopard Ecology and Conservation Research team. There they told us all about how they track the Leopards in the area and other wildlife. It was interesting and looked and sounded like they had really awesome jobs. The next morning one of the friends of the volunteer from the village gave a talk about the people of the village. Kaudwane is another settlement for the San/Bushmen/Khwe (koo) people. These are the people who were living in the ancestral lands of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. From the 1990s the government of Botswana wanted this group of people to relocate to Settlements so that they could receiver better education and medical care. Kind of like when our government forced the Native Americans into the Settlements, but Botswana handled this in a much more peaceful way. It was really interesting to hear about this part of Botswana's history, and to hear about it from someone who first hand experienced it. Later a few more of the villagers took us out on a bush walk. They showed us a traditional cattle post, different berries you could eat (and we got to try them), roots you could dig up and drink water from, and some of the crafts the locals make. It was really interesting and a great experience. Later in the evening we watched the Traditional Dance Group practice and then showed them some of our American Dances. It was a great time and a fun learning experience!

Making jewelry from ostrich shells

Teaching the villagers the Macerana

Showing us how to make leather

Getting water from a root

Riding in the back of the ambulance

 -The Privately owned farms/reserves near my village have many people living and working on them. It is very hard for these people to come into the villages whenever they are sick or need to see a doctor. The Government of Botswana is looking to set up a Mobile Clinic in a central location out of the reserves. One week I got to go with my counterpart and a few others of the clinic staff to find out how many people were actually living out there. I felt like we were census staff! It was fun getting to meet all the people and the land owners. Plus it was like we were on our own private safari will all the wildlife we saw those days!


-At the Matlhako Library the Librarian hired a few new staff members. This gave me another opportunity to teach them how to type and use the computers. It is a slow process but I go there twice a week to work with them for a few hours. Every time I go they are very eager to learn. As the weeks have gone by they are getting better and better at typing! Last week the couple that funded the building of the library came by to visit and check up on how things were going. It was really cool to meet them. They are from America and have built 7 libraries all over Botswana. During this visit they were also meeting with women in the village to talk to them about a new project they want to help fund. This project is a micro-loan committee for individual women in the village wanting to start up small businesses. It would be a great way to build up the village and for the women to start generating income. They asked me to help the committee and women through the process. At the meeting there were around 15 women who all had ideas for small businesses they wanted to start. Some of them even brought samples of things they wanted to sell. I hope in the future as this moves forward I will be able to put together some sort of business workshop for the committee and the women seeking a loan. This workshop would talk about budgeting, finances, loans, business plans etc. I think it would be beneficial for the women so that they will be able to prosper in their business.

The group meeting

She made this

She made this preschool uniform

-March is designated as Youth Against AIDS Month. Here in Botswana many villages have been having rallies and events for this. Two weekends ago our Catchment Area village of Makwate had an event and I was asked to come help out. The day started out with some speeches, drama and traditional dance group performances. After the opening ceremonies were through then stations were set up for people to go around to. There was a place to get HIV tested, a condom demonstration and info table,  a station to get your blood pressure checked, another station to get your insulin checked to see if you have diabetes, and a BMI station. I thought it was cool that this event not only focused on knowing your status but had other healthy aspects to it. I helped out at the BMI station by calculating people's BMI's and then my partner would explain to them in Setswana what it meant and how they could get into or stay in a healthy BMI range. It was nice to finally be able to use some of my knowledge from my schooling.

At the BMI station

Demonstration how to use a Female Condom

All the people lined up to get their BMI

-I am still continuing to work with the preschool in my village. This past term I was helping them to teach Phys. Ed to the kids. I tried to teach them the game Red Light, Green Light. They didn't get it the first day but they seemed to enjoy it. Recently I have been helping the owner to get some funding to expand her school. The building that the preschool is held in is not up to standards and she is risking being shut down if things are not improved. I hope to help her get some grant money so she can build a newer, bigger building that will allow her to give these kids the best early child education one can offer. With a new building the preschool will be able to take in more kids, which would be awesome for the community.

Some of the preschoolers

The building

-The other day the Out-of-School Youth Officer asked to meet with me. She was the person who wanted to open up a preschool/day care center for OVCs in the village and surrounding areas that would be free of cost. This project has kind of fell through so now she has a new project she wants me to help her with. In Machaneng, there is not much to do. This leads to youth partaking in unhealthy activities, like drinking, fighting, and having unprotected and sometimes transactional sex. What the Officer wants to do is to build a place for the youth to go to hang out that is safe a fun. After brainstorming with her for a little bit we came up with a plan of what would be ideal. A large space with a playground/activity park, sports fields, and building that has a recreational room full of games, books and other fun things, a classroom where youth can get help with their homework, do distance learning, and have a space for people to come a teach the youth various topics, and a store room. Obviously this is something that is going to take a lot of time and work to become a reality. I told her I would be happy to help her. First we need to acquire some land and then find funding to start building parts of the Youth Center. I think it would be very beneficial to the youth in the community.

Ok so as you can see I have been very busy. As time goes on I am realizing that people are starting to see that I am here in the village to help. I see now why Peace Corps has us here for 2 years. It really does take the first year for people to figure you out and understand where you can help. Now that I am coming up on the year mark I feel like all these different projects are popping up on me, whereas just a few months ago I was feeling like I wasn't doing anything and not being used. I guess I just needed to wait a little bit. I hope I will be able to finish all the projects I start and impact a few people in the village before I leave next year.