THIS IS IT!

As I am currently on a plane heading to Philadelphia for staging, I guess it is about time for the inaugural blog post! Without a doubt, the past few weeks have certainly been a whirlwind of time with friends and family, long showers, the Magical World of Harry Potter, cheese, craft beer, Thai food and frantic packing. I have managed to feel what seems like a bagillion emotions at once; a whole lot of excitement, stress, anxiety, and sadness about leaving for so long. Obviously, the goodbyes that took place over the last few weeks were not much fun, especially when my parents (and Kate!) dropped me off at PDX. My mom, who I have seen cry fewer times than I could count on one hand, was crying. So if she cries, we all cry. Once I stopped crying (mainly by passing out after a very long weekend) I was excited again, because it’s finally here… the beginning of my Peace Corps journey!

I’ve noticed that most of my friends and family have asked me similar questions and this seems like a good forum to answer those questions. In order of which they are most often asked: Yes, Botswana is in southern Africa. It is a landlocked country that borders South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.  As for the weather, it’s a very sunny country so I will likely be missing the Oregon rain, well, eventually. Coming off winter I think I’m going to enjoy the sunshine for awhile. Since Botswana is in the southern hemisphere, their seasons are opposite. I get to experience winter twice! I’m told it will be pretty chilly.

I will be working as an NGO Capacity Building Volunteer; the details are still foggy though. After Pre-Service Training, our skills and community needs will be assessed and we will receive our placements. I will be mainly working on HIV/AIDS related issues, as Botswana has the second highest HIV rate in the world.  I will also have flexibility to work on secondary projects as well.

As for the logistics, the duration of service is generally 27 months, although I’ve heard that my program has only two months of training instead of three. The first two or three months are spent in training in the village of Kanye, outside of the c­apital Gaborone. During this time I will be staying with a host family, but once I receive my placement, I will be living in my own house in another village. I may or may not have running water in the house, electricity, or regular internet access, and I could be fairly near other volunteers or I could be the only volunteer in the area. And yes, Botswana does have those “Lion King” type animals, lions, hippos, zebras etc. I will have some time off to travel and see them.

Whew, I think that covers most of the questions I have been asked over (and over) again for the past few months. I really appreciate all of the questions, love and support I have received from everyone! Thank you all so much, it really does make leaving for so long much easier. Hopefully I will have some sort of semi-consistent internet access over the next two years, but either way I would love emails, Facebook messages, letters, and your addresses to send postcards and letters! Go siame America, dumela Botswana!