It's Official!

After two months of training, a yearlong application process, and a decade of interest in the Peace Corps, I am officially a sworn-in Peace Corps Volunteer! Oh man has it been a long time coming. I remember looking up all of the places that Peace Corps sent volunteers as a middle school student, high school senior, college freshman, college senior, six months ago when my Honduras placement got cancelled, and here I am in Botswana working with HIV/AIDS. I think my 14-year-old-self would be pretty stoked to know I ended up here.

We were sworn in by the US Ambassador and in attendance was the former President of Botswana along with many other important figures in Botswana government, Kanye government, and the fight against HIV/AIDS. While the ceremony was long and we were able to see firsthand how protocol (i.e. individually recognizing important figures every time a new speaker has anything to say) can take something that should be 5 minutes and turn it into 10, it was very exciting and emotional moment when we took the oath to serve.

Swearing in also means the end of PST, which has its pros and cons (as with almost everything in Peace Corps). It means leaving the comfort zone of Kanye, other PCVs, our host families, and staff members and the nerves of venturing out on our own and entering a new community. It also means finally getting out of Kanye, getting away from other Americans, host families, and Peace Corps staff and getting out on our own and seeing what our new community is all about! Joking aside, it was sad saying goodbye to many of my friends, placed in every corner of the country, until In-Service training in August. We are entering the stage of training best known as “lockdown” although the Peace Corps name for the time period is less threatening. It basically means that we should spend the next two and a half months in our communities, only traveling outside for things like fresh vegetables in our shopping villages.  And instead of diving into projects, we are taking this time to really get to know our community inside and out and assess what the community wants and needs from a PCV.

As a whole bundle of emotions, the one that stands out the most among the nervous, content, nostalgic and stressful feelings is my excitement. I’m so excited for the journey ahead with all of the ups and downs that I know are coming and the growth that hopefully comes from all of it. I know that it will be tough adjusting to my community and that I will probably be completely freaking out within the next month or so but right now, I’m just excited to get to that point. I’m just hoping that I have a house when I arrive in my village. Getting housing set up for Peace Corps Volunteers is a nightmare in Botswana; if I’m really lucky I’ll have all of my furniture as well J

Diamonds and Chicken Slaughter

The last few weeks of PST were a whole lot of things at once. Emotions were all over the place, and it was kind of like leaving the US again. I was so excited to start on what I came here for and relieved to be finished with the everyday sessions, but I was also very nervous about getting to site and leaving friends, my host family, and our wonderful LCFs who are sympathetic to all of our cultural goofs. But more on that later, right now I want to write about chickens and diamonds.

 If the title isn’t warning enough, to all of my veggie friends- I helped slaughter a chicken. And it was a really interesting experience, so I’ll try not to be too gory but it was gory in ways I wasn’t expecting so if you’re squeamish skip ahead to the diamonds part. Otherwise, read on.

After hearing that several volunteers had helped their families with the chicken slaughter process, it became something I really wanted to do during PST. Now as a general rule, I don’t get much joy out of death, but I love me some chicken, beef, fish, and yeah, I’ve eaten goat. It’s good. That said, I feel like I have to come to terms with the reality of meat. Plus, the meat in Botswana doesn’t get any more free range; cows, goats and chickens frequently wander through the neighborhood.

Anyways, back to the chicken. A group of us went to a fellow trainee’s compound to watch and assist in the process. We chased the chicken around until it was tired out, finally catching it in the bushes. From there, I took the task of holding down the body while Nathan made the cut. *Warning, here is the gross part* Obviously, the phrase “chicken with its head cut off” comes from somewhere, but I can honestly say I was not expecting the body and head to twitch for that long. I figured it would tremble a bit and that would be that. Likely it felt longer than it was but there was about 20 seconds of movement, body and head both. And that wasn’t even the worst part. By far the most disturbing thing was feeling the heart stop beating. I could feel the final pumps of that chicken’s heart, the pressure decreasing and the frequency slowing. It didn’t even bleed that much but gahh I’m cringing as I write this.

Once that was over with, it shifted from an animal to food quickly. We boiled the chicken in a cauldron over a fire, and plucked away. It looked like something you could buy in a grocery store once the feathers were off. I didn’t get to stay to watch the cuts made, but hopefully I’ll get to see that another time over the next two years.

I’ve eaten chicken since then, and intend to continue eating meat. Even though it was a far from pleasant experience, I’m really glad I did it and if I get the chance, I’ll assist in preparing dinner again. Now, I’ll change the subject from the gross stuff to some diamond fun.

For a little background on Botswana, the reason it is a middle income country is because there are loads of diamonds and the government used the wealth responsibly, by building roads and schools and whatnot.  The diamonds are mined here, sorted and shipped off somewhere, and many come back here to be cut and/or polished. The details of the whole process have escaped me, but I have a newfound appreciation for diamonds after getting to see them in various stages. Plus, I got to hold some big ole rocks so that was pretty neat.

The trainees were able to go on two separate tours, to a polishing plant and where they sort the diamonds.  We were able to see plenty of diamonds in the rough getting sorted according to shape, size, clarity, color, etc etc; thousands of diamonds just lying around in piles waiting to be examined. They were sorted by hand and using machines, and with machines and human eyes together. We were able to look up close at diamonds polishing other diamonds, watch people decide how  to bets cut a 10 carat diamond, and see the combination of technology and human eyes deciding what to do with thousands of dollars in the palm of a hand. At the sorting, I found the dark diamonds that were to be used for machinery really interesting as I wouldn’t have been able to pick them out of any pile of rocks. At the polishing plant, we were able to see the raw rocks take the shape of what you would expect to see in a diamond ring. All in all, a very interesting field trip!

Etsha 13!

As the title of this post suggests, I will be moving to the village of Etsha 13 after I swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer! I have no clue why there is a number in the name, but I do know that the village is small and on the Okavanga Delta. This means several things for me:

1.       I will be living among some real fantastic wildlife. Think elephants and hippos. Walking around outside my village is risky.  

2.       Much of Botswana is desert, but I will be living on one of, if not the, largest inland delta in the world. It’s a more lush part of the country and I can get fresh seafood! No small feat for a land-locked country.

3.       I will be working in a clinic, which I had to fight for so I am very excited. It is a small clinic serving a rural community and is staffed by four nurses, one layperson, and a health educator.  There are also opportunities to work with a primary school, a basket weaving group, and a dance troupe.

4.       I have heard several different things about my housing, from my country director, my counterpart, my program coordinator, and rumors from volunteers who shadowed in the area…. so I am just going to wait and see. But everything I have heard is awesome. And I will have cell phone service so I should be able to figure out something with the internet, woot!

5.       Getting in and out of my village should be relatively easy. There is a major-ish road with buses that come through fairly regularly, which means getting a hitch should be pretty easy too. This means that I can travel to the five other volunteers on that road with relative ease, and get to Maun (a city with four Bots 12 volunteers) within a few hours.  It’s a pretty small village though, so I will probably be doing my grocery shopping in one of the larger neighboring villages or potentially Maun. I’m really excited that I get to live the village life! Many volunteers are sent to more populated regions and don’t have that ‘traditional Peace Corps Experience.’

This is about all I know, but I am really excited about all of it. If I could have picked my region, the delta would have been it. Even my host family even said it was the best of area of the country. Plus, I’m just so thankful to be working in a clinic and I have some intriguing opportunities for side projects.  That’s not to say that I am not nervous; isolation and integration into the community are always nerve wracking, many of the people I have become close with will be on the opposite side of the country along with the majority of the other volunteers, and I am still not exactly sure what my amenities will be like. Regardless, I’m going into what I anticipate to be the most challenging part of this experience feeling like I can handle it J

Countdown to Site Announcement!

We find out our site placements on FRIDAY! After a month of waiting in country, and a year out of it, I will know where I will spend the next two years of my life in TWO DAYS. We are going all over the country, will have varying amenities, village sizes, etc and everything about site placements are full of pros and cons (pretty much like everything in Peace Corps). Before we arrive in country, Peace Corps has sites picked out for each of us. They don’t tell us until now because things can change drastically in this first month; some people ET (early terminate and go home), some sites fall through, they realize the original invitation is not appropriate, health issues come up, really the possibilities are endless for why things need to be changed up.

I have been preparing myself for the very least- no electricity, running water, and being at least two hours from any other volunteer. Odds are that this won’t be the case, but it is very likely that I will be without at least one of these amenities or that I will be far from other volunteers. I am expecting the worst and hoping for the best, but I really lucked out by just being in Botswana. Many PCVs worldwide would not have any of this as an option and it is truly one of the safest places in the world that Peace Corps could have sent me. Plus, there is no such thing as a perfect site. Often what we think would be the best region or crucial resources or what size village we want or whatever else is nothing like we expect it to be. I am trying to keep myself without assumptions or expectations, and I really hope that I can make the best out of whatever I end up with. Plus, I’ve gotten the hang of bucket bathing and my hair is the longest it has been in the past few years, although I think it helps that I can go about 4 days without washing it ;)

I am also less worried about my site placement because I have worked out one of my main concerns in the past few days. I haven’t gone into too much detail over my problems at site because there were many variables up in the air, but I am happy to report that my position has been worked out! For a little back story, I came to Botswana with the idea that I would be working with health education focusing on HIV/AIDS but involving a variety of topics. When I arrived, I realized that my ideas were not matching up to my job title and that my experiences and interests put me more in line with the position of a Community Capacity Builder. I immediately mentioned this to Peace Corps staff and long story short, the issue was brought up several times over the past few weeks and after being a very squeaky wheel in need of grease, I was switched. This means that I will be placed in clinic as opposed to an NGO/non-profit that might be health based where I would be helping the organization as a whole. It also means that I will most likely be placed in government housing which is often a bit nicer (although not always, so I still can’t assume anything) and I will be more rural, which are both more than fine with me. I am just very relieved that I will not have to worry about balancing my primary assignment with what I actually want to do! I am much more flexible with the rest of my placement and I am just excited to finally know the details!

Shadow Week!

Rachael's super cute round house

                                            Condom water balloon toss with the PACT club

I spent the last week shadowing Rachael, a current PCV, in her village of Morwamosu. I experienced the village life for the week; only about 600 people make up Morwamosu and she lives in a small round house without running water. It was also a much-needed break from the daily grind of PST and a glimpse into what I will get to do myself in a few weeks. It was a really fabulous and well-balanced week with amazing food (we ate pizza twice! Woot), interesting workshops, a braii (the Botswana version of a bbq) with Batswana, and time with other volunteers.

But what everyone actually wants to hear- I saw my first African wild animal! As I was on the bus ride out to Morwamosu, I hadn’t seen anything interesting and by Friday I was getting disappointed when I still had yet to see anything besides donkeys and cattle. I was just telling Rachael this, when 10 minutes later our hitch (more on this later) nearly runs over a baby ostrich and it’s family! The ostriches were unharmed, but I got a real close glimpse of the giant birds.

So don’t freak out mom and dad, but I also gained more experience in the art of hitchhiking last week. While not technically endorsed by Peace Corps, hitch hiking is often a big part of transport for PCVs in Botswana as the cost of gasoline is so high and public transportation is inconsistent and only occurs in brief time windows. Rather than giving the thumbs up one sees all over American media, which actually signifies that you don’t need a ride, you just kind of flap your hand at the wrist.  If the driver can’t/won’t take you he or she will make one of several types of hand signals back, which I have yet to figure out. After last week, hitching has become my favorite form of transportation because it was often much quicker than the bus and I had way more space than in the crowded combis and buses. While there are certainly things to watch out for (mainly unsafe vehicles and drunk driving), you can always turn a hitch down and wait for the next car to go by. Although the wait time on less travelled roads is long, as I learned trying to go about 20km between villages. Rachael and I waited several hours for a hitch only to have it get snagged by some guys who only had waited about half an hour… needless to say I don’t think I will let another long awaited hitch slip by me that easily again.

Along with hitching and ostriches, my favorite highlight of shadow week was the PACT workshop I attended in another village. Rachael was assisting another volunteer with the workshop in her village so I had the opportunity to attend and help a little. It was so nice and refreshing to see PCVs at work; I was able to translate all of the tedious training activities into real life. The workshop centered on health and life skills in a school, with what I guess were 10 to 13 year olds. Those kids were amazing. We arrived at the school and they had the classroom ready to go and they were eager to be there as well.  And then we had this question box- which I don’t know if anyone remembers having that in middle school or whatever, but all anyone put in there was jokes, but these kids had the best questions about all sorts of topics. I was so impressed! While I’m sure that those kids were great to begin with, it’s also encouraging to see the impact the PCV had on her community. Seeing stuff like that is the reason I joined Peace Corps. Sure, filling up over 100 lubed condoms with water for a balloon toss was fun, but sorting through those kids’ questions about topics such as gender, sexual health, puberty, leadership, etc was amazing, especially knowing that along with the other PCVs and Batswana in the room we would be answering them and getting these kids comfortable with the topics. I’m so thankful for my shadowing experience; it was  a great break from training but I am more ready than ever to finally learn about my site… only a few more weeks until I get my own village!

Fun stuff

While trainees do spend most days stuck inside the Education Center, we do occasionally get out and around, well, at least before dark. This next week will be the biggest adventure thus far; we actually get to leave Kanye and travel on our own. We will be shadowing a current volunteer, and mine is in the village about three hours away. It’s about three hours away by bus, so not as far as some of the trainees going to the other side of the country, but I’m still really looking forward to going on Monday. 

Other interesting things that I have done beyond the training classroom include:

We met the Kgosi, or chief, of our local ward. There was a lot of Setswana but we had a translator and a chance to ask some questions about the Kgosi’s role, especially relating to HIV/AIDS.

I have been to a few different churches with my host family members, and it is pretty different from the US. There is a lot of dancing and a lot of singing and a whole bunch of fire-y yelling speakers. But the choirs are crazy good. Some volunteers have been put on the spot but I have managed to avoid that so far.

I have also been to a funeral in Botswana, which was a pretty interesting experience. I have only been to one of the 10 or so that my host mother has been to, which may relate to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the importance of community here. Funerals are huge here, everyone comes. I missed the food portion to go to another church service followed by a prayer meeting where this super old guy just stared at the lekoga in the room trying to speak Setswana, but I heard  that a entire cow was slaughtered, and eaten to the intestines.

Most of the food is pretty basic, but I have come across some pretty interesting stuff. Goat, chicken liver, chicken feet, and these worm things pictured are pretty interesting.

Today, we did permagardening which was really interesting. Botswana is super dry so we got some really good suggestions on how to get things to grow in this environment. We’re doing sessions on composting in a few weeks too! Can’t wait.

A Day in the Life of a Trainee

So what exactly am I doing in Botswana? I am still not an official Peace Corps Volunteer, which I know sounds strange to anyone who knows about my application process. I am a trainee, and on June 12 (which is also my dad’s birthday, the day I graduated, and the day that I will close service in Bots and head home in 2014… weird, right?!) I will swear in as US Peace Corps Volunteers. 

Training is a pretty intense period of service though. We have training six days a week, with Saturday being a half day. A typical day starts with a 7 am wake up, cornflakes for breakfast with watered down whole milk, another bath, tidying up and heading over to Claire’s house to meet her and Ryan for language in the morning. Her house is like two or so houses behind mine, so it’s nothing too strenuous. Our LCF (language and culture teacher) Gomolemo meets us there and from 830 to 1230 we have language lessons, with a half hour tea break. Batswana love tea. I usually go back to my homestay for lunch, which is often rice/beans/sorghum/ and some kind of stewed veggies. I hang out, wash up, and help cook for about an hour and then head over to the education center, which I am unfairly close to. Most volunteers are anywhere between 30 mins to 2 hours away walking, and I am maybe 15 minutes.

After lunch, we have sessions on safety, HIV/AIDS, cross-culture, keeping ourselves healthy, etc. They often involve a lot of group activities and a lot of discussion. Also, Peace Corps volunteers tend to be the type of people that like to say things in class… thus, there is a lot of talking and someone always has an opinion to share. The sessions can definitely get a bit tedious, especially if they are the ones that require reading from a script from PC headquarters. It’s all good information, but all-day-everyday gets exhausting.

After training, some volunteers will occasionally hit up a tuck shop (think vending machine with people and a small builiding) grab a pineapple Fanta and then head home. Once at home, I am help cook dinner, which is pretty similar to lunch, and wash up. My job in the house generally revolves around dishes, which most days we have running water so it’s not that different then living in college house. Then we watch the South African soaps, including everyone’s favorite, “Generations.” So bad and so good. 

 A word on gender norms in Botswana… it’s pretty damn patriarchal. There is definitely a transition towards gender equality, especially in big cities, but even in my household (my sisters work as an engineer and health worker in Gaborone) I am expected to do household chores such as cooking and cleaning while my host brothers do not. And beyond the house hold, there is no such thing as chivalry sexism. In public events such as Kogtla meetings, funerals etc women give up chairs for men, men are always greeted first, men eat first etc.  It’s been a source of frustration for me (and many other volunteers) but it has also led to some really good conversations with my host brothers about gender roles. My personal favorite happened with my host brother and, well some guy at his church, who came up to me with the fairly typical “I love you and want to marry you.”Current PCVs told us to make a joke about it, so I responded with “You don’t want to marry me… I would not cook or clean for you! Just ask Mpi, I am not like that.” Mpi was cracking up and in agreement with me.

The Homestay

So I am doing my 2 month training in Kanye, a town outside of Gaborone (the biggest city and capital). My new Batswana host family includes Kaelo, a Motswana mother and her two sons Mpi and Thapelo (in their late 20s/early 30s). They live on the compound with us (pictured above), while Kaelo has several other children living in Gaborone now. Cousins also seem to come and go, as there is a 12 year old girl who is full of sass here now, but is going back to school soon. I think. I’ve also met several other members of their family who ask me some basic questions in Setswana, which I fumbled through, they laugh, I laugh and then they resume talking about the lekoga (the non-African) and other things in Setswana. It’s been pretty fun though, in general the Batswana are really sociable and friendly and we spend a lot of time laughing. My family, especially the brothers, speak English so we can communicate outside of playing charades.

For all of those who have ever lived with me or just made fun of my bathing habits…. In my first weekend at the home stay, I have already been told I need to ‘bath,’ not bathe, twice a day. I saw this one coming, but hoped that I would be able to avoid it for at least a little longer. Right off the bat my host mom, Kaelo, asked me if I wanted to bath again. No thanks, I replied hoping that would be the end of it, at least for a few days. No go though, she pressed on, with all the assorted family in the room roaring with laughter and disgust. Sigh, “here people bath twice a day, right?” “YES.” Okay, Kaelo. You win. I’ll bath twice a day. I am going to see how long I can go without washing my hair though. That is significantly less fun with a bucket instead of a showerhead.

Actually being here though, I can see the reason behind the twice daily cleansing. My feet are filthy, and while it’s getting colder now (think 80s, some of the time, 90s other days, which the Batswana are bundled up in coats and blankets, thinking I’m crazy in my T-Shirt) there is still a fair amount of sweat, dust, and bug repellent that comes up. Still, I think a night time bath makes more sense to me.  But, in the spirit of cultural immersion, I will be succumbing to the twice a day bathing, at least until I am at site. I already want to chop my hair off though.

Other First Impressions:

-Song and dance have already broken out twice during the Peace Corps/Host family activities. YES. Hopefully I’ll learn a little while I am here, the Batswana can break.it.down.

-I have indoor, hot water and electricity in my homestay. Definitely wasn’t expecting that. It also means my host family watches Btv (Botswana TV) and SATV (South Africa) all of the time. They also have two tvs playing two different shows at once, side by side. Even if only one person is watching tv. I don’t think this is typical though.

-My Setswana name is Lorato, which means Love. I think it’s a nice name, although I confuse people with three names now.

-Roosters/donkeys/mystery animals suck. I was beyond tired when I went to bed last night, and I still woke up about five times during the middle of the night to them making animal noises. We had been warned, but I am going to need to find some ear plugs.

- Some of the rooms do not have finished ceilings, such as my bedroom. This means that every sound echoes off the tin roof and back into my bedroom from the rest of the house. No secrets here.

- It’s quite a bit greener then I was expecting. None of the trees are tall, but there is a lot of shrubbery.

-I’m still feeling the bliss :)

The Beginning

I have officially been on Botswana soil for a full 24 hours!  I am moved into my home-stay, I have a cell phone, I know the names of most of my intake group (there are over 40 of us) although the names of my host family are not coming so easily…

Even though the flights were extensive and I was saying goodbye to a whole lot, I found myself remaining continually positive and freak-out free. The positive and excited feelings grew the closer I got to Botswana, even running on about 7 hours of bus/plane/airport sleep over three days I still had energy and excitement.  I have no doubt that this will catch up to me, but I’m seeing this as encouragement that I have made the right decision in joining the Peace Corps. Before leaving, I kept feeling as though I wasn’t prepared to make this journey or that I hadn’t actually thought the whole thing out because I hadn’t suffered a major freak out about spending the next 26 months on the other side of the world (with the exception of the Saturday, but I was much more based on stress about seeing everyone I love before I left and managing to get my 80 pounds of stuff underweight and in one piece to the airport over moving to Africa for two years). Now don’t get me wrong, I definitely had moments of doubt but, I was able to squash them within a few seconds. And I definitely cried leaving my parents in the airport. But it wasn’t the freak-out-oh-my-god-what-am-i-doing-turn-back-now type of panic, it was mainly sadness, but not regret, over leaving my life in the US behind. 

I can say that as of week one away from home… I couldn’t be happier to be here. I’m feeling that the long application, packing and goodbyes feel like they will be worth it. Being in Botswana seems really ‘right,’ as corny as that sounds. And, I can drink water from the tap… woot for no bottled water!