Stomp Out Malaria

One of my projects was highlighted on the Peace Corps 'Stomp Out Malaria' site!

http://stompoutmalaria.org/building-the-capacity-of-volunteers-as-malaria-peer-educators-in-botswana/

Tsodilo Camp

In January, thirty youth living with HIV and ten facilitators took to Tsodilo Hills for a youth retreat, with content on life skills, healthy living, and plenty of fun. The event went incredibly smooth for a camp in Botswana, and kids and facilitators alike had a great time among the hills and ancient rock paintings. Highlights included sessions on identity, self esteem, maintaining health, and hiking among thousand year old rock paintings. 

Youth seeing the rock paintings of Tsodilo, many for the first time.

One of my favorite comments: It feels like we're on top of the world!

Decorating a tool for medication adherence.

From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World

In Botswana, most women will experience some form of violence in their lifetimes, and that’s with the amount reported estimated to be about 24 times less than what is actually happening. One in ten girls’ first sexual encounter is rape, and it is not uncommon for teachers to have relationships with students with others turning a blind eye, woman to lose rights to any property if their spouses die. In my short time here, I have heard countless stories of and seen the damage of rape, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and murder suicides, sensationalized as “passion killings” by the local media.

For a country often herald as the ‘gem of Africa” and whose citizens pride themselves on their peaceful nature, there is staggering amount of violence against women and children and a slew of unhealthy relationship habits to boot.

Cue Voices of the Community, the fledgling group of women and men working together to eliminate violence from relationships in my district. The group ran a 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence campaign; an accomplishment not only in those we reached, but for the juvenile group to run such a large event. The team held a youth day full of art, healthy relationships, and games of course; outreach at the center of town, distributing white ribbons (symbolizing standing up against violence) and discussing GBV with the community; members went to their churches to videos and leading discussions; we held a final closing event that, in spite of an all day downpour and non functional cell phone network, had solid attendance and engaged the audience.

 One of the highlights of a long, frustrating, and satisfying two weeks was the  In Her Shoes activity for government workers, which teaches empathy for those experiencing abuse. This activity provided some of the most wonderful and surprising moments of the 16 days- we had open, nearly tolerant conversations about homosexuality and managed to approach it as a human rights issue, and this in a country where homosexual acts are outlawed. There was also a member of the District AIDS Office that I frequently work with; he is often found feet propped up and newspaper out in the office. Yet for this activity, he actively participated and made meaningful comments about gender, the role of service providers, and wants us to do more of those trainings for other offices.

In spite of all of the running around Gumare in the heat, stressing over transport and whether or not the ribbons would arrive in time, and downpouring rain when you least want it, 16 days is the perfect example of a project coming together (albeit often late and occasionally looking nothing like what you planned) and making it all worth it.

Voices showing off their white ribbons

Youth Day

Our fearless leader on Youth Day

Community outreach

March against gender based violence in Gumare

Blind condom races, always a favorite

The Voices team!

This & That

I haven’t been the best blogger of late, but here are a few updates on my life and work from the past few months:

Malaria Week:

As rainy season was just beginning in mid November (the time when malaria outbreaks become a risk), the Clinic and I put together a malaria campaign. We held health talks in the morning, hung the net display, and the health volunteer team and I went house to house with a flipchart presentation. I'm always surprised by how few people in my village know that malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes, in spite of the ability to identify malaria quickly, meaning we had plenty to teach! The event was a great success, reaching around 25 households and engaging patients at the clinic with our display and talks.


Evidence Based Planning
EBP is the week that the stakeholders gather together in a fancy lodge and plan out how to spend our funding for the next two years. It was also one of the most frustrating weeks I have experienced in Botswana. In spite of being put up in a nice hotel room all to myself, complete with aircon, a hot shower, and free meals, I felt as though my teeth were being pulled out, one by one, for most of the week. One of the most challenging aspects of working in Botswana is the bureaucracy; there is protocol for everything, though somehow the proper protocol varies widely depending on who you ask. In addition, EBP is full of people who want to get their ideas funded, badly (myself included). So arguments ensue, the occasional bigot shows her face (in which I actually had to walk out of the room I was so angry about her attempt to deny services to certain groups), and the "evidence" we used is meager at best; but, eventually we created a plan that prioritizes key areas and names potential activities to reach our goals. It was an frustrating and exhausting, but I managed to place numerous Peace Corps driven activities on the agenda for the next two years, so I'm counting it a success. 

World AIDS Day
Always a big commemoration in a country with the second highest rates of HIV in the world, my village and I recognized WAD with an event at the Kgotla (village center). From skits, songs, a fact contest, and some of kids’ HIV-inspired art display, Etsha 13 came together.

Teen Club Christmas Party!

Teen Club is a group I co-facilitate for youth living with HIV, and we had a fun holiday party for the youth complete with parachute games, a plastic Christmas tree, and lots of dance performances. Not your average holiday party, but certainly a memorable one!

How I met the President of Botswana
While at a craft market during December, we were perusing the baskets and baked goods when I heard a “Dumela, Mma,” from behind me. I half-turn around, put my left hand to my elbow, and casually said “Dumela, rra.” With a double take, I realize that the person I just shook hands with was the President of Botswana, apparently out and about Shakawe.

The Holidays
I spent the holidays visiting friends across the country, starting with multiple Thanksgiving celebrations, one in Maun with a real turkey (NOM) and another in Shakawe with the NW Okavango crew, both with incredible food of course. Christmas was magical, full of delicious food, fireworks, and good people, complete with a PCV Santa clad in a leopard print santa hat and a pillow stuffed in her shirt. In spite of ninety degree heat, this year actually felt like Christmas with my Peace Corps family coming from near and far. New Years was spent out at the lodge near my village, with a legitimate fireworks show over the lagoon and somehow managing to make it to watch the sun rise over the water (while at 8:00pm I was worried I wasn’t going to make it until midnight).

Gender Committee 

In mid January, I attended my last official Gender Committee meeting. It was a particularly productive meeting, in which I have an exciting new project for the tail end of my service, involving a country wide activity utilizing some of the copious funding available for gender-based violence projects at the moment. I've really enjoyed my time serving on the PC Botswana committee!

PC Botswana's Gender Committee

Monster Catch Up Entry

This is going to be a blog in three parts (and sub-parts), and will mainly contain pictures because I've had a pretty incredible time since my last post, but I don't really want to write that much and most of you don't want to read that much. So, here it goes...

Pre-America:

Aimee and I went to Kasane, met up with some wonderful people, ate some delicious Indian food, and saw a bunch of elephants. Also, I held some snakes. And we got a hitch from an overlander, which for those of you not in Botswana, are those giant tourist trucks that look like small buildings for people to come and live out of for several weeks at a time and trek across several countries. They are ridiculous and never pick up hitch hikers, so that was weird and awesome.

Sssss.

The Most Ridiculously Crazy, Fun, Three Weeks EVER

(Part I) So America is a pretty neat place, Oregon especially. It's also super awesome when two of your favorite people in the whole world get married to each other and your entire family is together for the first time in a long time and somehow the majority of your other college friends can make it into the Portland metro area and the Portland Brewer's Festival is happening and it's summer in the Pac NW (which is pretty much the best thing ever in itself). It was a whirlwind of food, beer, coffee, water, sunshine, and love. See photographic proof below:

Sushi and sisters.

McAlister & Friends Reunited.

Sisters.

Oregon Brewers Festival.

Bridal Party! YAY!

Ladies.

Paddle Boarding on Detroit Lake

(Part II) Also ridiculously awesome was that I spent the following week here:

Obligatory Eiffel Tower stop.

I'm still not entirely sure what they put on escargo, but it is ridiculously delicious.

Drinking wine along the Seine.

SO MUCH GOOD FOOD.

Hiking!

Rough life.

Returning to Botswana:

(Part I) AWA, or Africa Wins Again describes my return travel in which I discovered that an hour and a half is not a long enough lay over to get through the Joburg airport. So, my trip back to site was far more expensive and far less comfortable than I was expecting... AWA. Luckily, I had some really great projects to jump right into, which brings me to:

(Part II) Special Olympics is a project my friend Lindsey in Maun has been working on for quite some time, and Etsha 13 had a team going down. I was able to jump right into the prep work for our youth, my favorite part being training with the kids each morning leading up to the event. I'm not sure if I have ever been a part of such a joyful project. A great day with the kids, facilitators, and my fellow PCVs and a perfect way to jump back into my work.

PCVs involved.

Enjoying the races.

Some of the kids involved (those in black Choppies jerseys are from Etsha!)

Life is Sweet, Man

About a year ago, Aimee and I were hitch-hiking down to our In-Service Training.  After a very long wait, we were finally picked up by a Rastafarian trucker. Now I've since learned that hitching in big rigs can add hours and hours to your trip- this lesson learned during this ride to Gabs. And yet, what started out as as a slow hitch south eventually turned into a hilariously insightful trip and one of the most memorable rides I've had in Botswana. We were left with the advice "Life is sweet, man, life is sweet." And a year later, life is feeling very sweet, indeed.

My projects are going really well! Activities I have been pushing for months are not just 'happening,' but the participants have been actively engaged in discussions and visible progress is being made!

JSS PACT Club Girls and me with our identity collages 

JSS PACT Club: My Junior School PACT Club has really come together- the past few meetings the group has connected and all of the girls are active participants in conversations and activities. Further, we've been tackling increasingly challenging issues lately, and the girls have been responding thoughtfully. The previous term I was lucky if the meetings even happened at all, so this change has been so exciting to see! Plus, we've been having a lot of fun hanging out before and after meetings!

Voices of the Community: The women's group that my fellow PCVs and I have been working with for months has not only been very active, they've been drawing in new members, old members are now the ones doing the training sessions we originally taught them, and PCVs aren't the ones driving the meetings forward. The members have also become a fantastic resource the community; the group has been approached by individuals in need of advocacy while maneuvering through a convoluted legal system! I can't wait to see what this group can do next. 

I love this photo! Voices celebrating a successful project with a braii (bbq)

Teenage Pregnancy Prevention: Over a weekend, the team at the junior secondary school and I managed to talk to nearly every student out of the 800+ enrolled about teenage pregnancy prevention. The schools start their six week break at the end of June; year after year, 9 months after these breaks the school sees several students dropping out due to pregnancy. We split the youth into small groups and just cycled through presentations regarding the implications of teenage pregnancy, delaying sexual debut, condom use, and contraception. Most of the students were active participants in the discussions and willing to demonstrate condom use or explain another form of contraception to their peers, so hopefully the Etsha JSS will see fewer dropouts due to pregnancy next term!

World Tobacco Free Day: My clinic and I put together a community event for the global commemoration. This was a project that seemed to fall into pieces, up until the last minute when everything came together- and managed to draw a large crowd! Even without snacks, a solid group met to march through the village singing and holding posters depicting the dangers of tobacco use, drawing hundreds to the kgotla where we delivered a health talk and skit encouraging the community to be tobacco free.

And I can't say my life has been all work and no play! My weekends have been full with some pretty incredible experiences lately.

Hippos on the way to Jao

Jao: My village is largely made up of two ethnic groups: Bayeii and Hambukushu. The 13 Etsha villages were built as settlements for Angolan refugees in the 1970s, many of them Hambukushu (though Hambukushu also lived in this area previously). The Bayeii people are people of the delta, and have gradually moved in towards the Etshas to have access to medical care, schools, and shops. My friend Jamie's research is centered around access to natural resources and I could (and probably will at some point) write an entire post about what she has learned about the Etshas. To keep it brief, I was accompanied her to Jao Island, where many Bayeii people living in Etsha consider their home village. It's a beautiful hour boat ride through the heart of the delta, past countless tiny islands and through both lagoons and narrow channels. 

Backing up in preparation of our 'flight'

This photo may not look like anything too interesting, but the papyrus had moved to block the channel (papyrus, the plant in the photo, actually floats along the water rather than growing out of islands). Ishmael, our driver, said to us "Alright girls, so the island has moved to block the channel, we're going be flying over the papyrus!" We assumed he was joking, as last time we had managed to push the plant blockage out of the way, but he wasn't. We actually backed the boat up and 'flew' the boat over top the island and continued on our way. 

Once out at Jao, we spoke with village elders, including a 100 year old man, fishermen, and saw the beautiful village nestled among the delta reeds. We also went out to a few fishing posts, including one built around a termite mound island! It was incredible to see more of the culture I’m living among.

Tent atop a carved termite mound. Most creative set up I've seen!

Enjoying sunset on the lagoon (photo credit to Jamie)

Guma Lagoon Camp: While my dad was visiting, he wasn't too keen on roughing it in Etsha, so I decided to send them to the lodge just outside my village. We ended up making friends, so Aimee, Jamie and I decided to head out there again! We soaked up a little bit of sunshine by their pool, enjoyed the view of the lagoon, took ample advantage of their hot showers, and took a boat ride out for sundowners. Oh, and Aimee was nearly run over by a hippo chomping his way to the fancy grass to the pool (only the deadliest animal in Africa, no big deal). 

So metal.

Ghanzi Metal Fest: One of the most interesting sub-cultures I’ve come across, Botswana is home to the aptly named ‘metal cowboys.' They don leather chaps, studded cowboy hats and chains, and listen to the likes of Slipknot, Iron Maiden, and some Batswana versions of metal music. As one of the most unexpected forms of Botswana culture, of course some PCVs and I had to check it out. 

Next week I'm headed to Gaborone for my In-Service Training. This is the last of the mid-milestones to cross; I'm past the one year mark, past the halfway mark, past the one year as a PCV (as opposed to a trainee) mark. Over the past month or so, I've noticed a significant shift in my attitude about living in Botswana. This feels like 'real life,' rather than something I'm just passing through, and it's a really fabulous real life to be living. Water outages, electricity 'brown outs,' bugs, cold, heat... have become manageable, easily handled in fact. I remember there was a point where my mood coincided with whether or not the water was on. I had a realization during a run last week that I was actually look forward to kids screaming 'Loraaaaaatoooo' and running with me and the mosadi magolos saying, 'ah! next time I will come with you!' These things originally prevented me from wanting to run in the village and used to drive me crazy during my 'me time.' I have less than a year left, and suddenly it feels like my time here is moving too quickly.

Community Clean Up

With the flood waters in my backyard again, I've been spending plenty of time down by the water. Usually this begins as an attempt to read but I often am sucked into people-watching: kids swimming, mokoros headed into the detla, women washing clothing, and even the occasional religious ritual. It seems the entire village takes advantage of this proximity to water. I have also found myself diverted from my reading by a much less pleasant distraction, garbage. Everywhere.

It is also worth noting my recent discovery on how much kids flip out over stickers. I've convinced them to break up an argument in the hope of earning a sticker. Kids know that if I am walking home and carrying something that looks heavy, if they help me take it home I will reward them with stickers. It's amazing. So, after a day sitting by the water, disgusted by trash, a light bulb went off: If I put garbage bags, my PACT Club kids, and stickers together, the waterfront could be cleaned up in no time. 25 garbage bags, 30+ kids, a bagful of stickers, and a couple of hours later, Etsha 13's lagoon is nearly garbage free (never underestimate how much garbage accumulates in a place without any decent disposal options).

I have been on a bit of an environmental health tear lately; it all started with an Earth Day themed PACT Club. I've been a little low on good activity ideas without a mile long list of complications, so I've taken advantage of all of the international commemorations, i.e. World Malaria Day, Water Day. I used an excellent activity suggested by  Bridgette, in which the kids guess how long it takes for various waste products to decompose and/or break down. They had no idea that plastic bottles didn't just disappear in a matter of a few years, or that styrofoam would outlast us all (and then some). I don't think I've gotten a single guess over 10 years for any waste substance! We also had the chance to talk about the various ways to dispose of garbage, burning or burying. As both options are still pretty awful, we focused on harm reduction.

They're much more excited about their stickers than trash pick up

The positive reaction from the activities with my youth led to my extra motivation to finally push for a training for the 'Green Scorpions,' a group of paid volunteers that the clinic oversees each month with the goal of environmental health education.The group doesn't get much information beyond a daily location and the instructions "Tell people to clean up their garbage." Since the time I arrived, the group has felt like a grossly underutilized resource; I'm so happy that everything came together for a training! Plus, there was great participation from the group and I think we all learned a lot. The group changes monthly and most villages in this area has Green Scorpions, so we're looking to expand into other nearby villages next month!

In other news, my cat disappeared for three weeks and then, after he was presumed eaten, showed back up one night looking well-fed. Where he has been is beyond me, village life is pretty harsh on animals- who knew my crybaby cat was so tough. Also, it is almost too cold to bathe these days, it seems that brief period of near perfect weather is over. Eight months out of the year I'm doused in sweat, and for three months it's too cold to bathe. But oh, that two week window between where I feel clean! Anyways, the most exciting news of all is that my dad will be out here next week! Can't wait to show him and his friends around Bots!

World Malaria Day

With about half of the world’s population at risk of malaria, World Malaria Day is recognized every April 25^th. To commemorate the day and increase awareness in Etsha 13, the clinic and I created a mosquito net exhibit and focused the week’s health talk on malaria. We hung the net in the middle of the clinic for a few days before and my counterpart Kandondi helped me with translating the talk. Health Talks are given every Wednesday at the clinic, as this is the day that blood samples are collected for CD4 counts, creating the most traffic through the clinic. This meant that the audience was made up of those most at risk: people living with HIV and the usual group of pregnant women and mothers bringing in babies for weighing.  The talk emphasized prevention measures, early recognition of symptoms, and gave time for Q & A at the end. I was surprised to learn that many of my community members were unaware that mosquitoes transmit malaria, including the staff member at the clinic who helped me translate the statements for the net display.

Luckily, malaria is not the insurmountable problem in Botswana as many other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa face. Over the past decade, malaria related deaths have decreased drastically and overall incidence is down as well. Data from the previous year showed only a handful of cases, but outbreaks have occurred in my sub-district this season. Botswana is very close to eradication!

International Women's Day

March 8^th marks International Women’s Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments of women around the globe as well as provides an opportunity to address all that still has a long way to go in reaching gender equality.

While gender issues of every magnitude plague Botswana, most shocking are the high rates of violence against women. For a country with a well deserved reputation of a peaceful nation, physical and sexual abuse are rampant and what the media has dubbed as ‘passion killings’ occur in alarming frequency. I rather hate the term ‘passion killing’ as it sounds like something out of a soap opera. The reality of it is a murdered woman, often someone who has been accused of cheating, and occasionally the 'other man' and suicide of her partner.  The crimes are ususally brutal and plastered all over the media- in fact, this week my counterparts pulled out three recent news articles detailing murders and attacks involving an ax, acid, and knives.  Botswana is no stranger to rape either, often hidden away as a private matter. Defilement (what Americans call statutory rape) is another frequent issue, especially between teachers in students.

In spite of several acts of legislation relating to GBV, many cases go unreported, often teachers are simply transferred with no other consequences, and there is still no law against marital rape. And these are not just far away problems to me; in the 11 months I have been in Botswana, I have seen or heard rumor of all of these issues.

Students categorizing healthy/unhealthy relationship habits

With an apt theme this year: Time for Action to End Violence Against Women, International Women’s Day provided the perfect opportunity to talk gender based violence with my community. Etsha 13 had a health talk focusing on GBV, both of my PACT Clubs discussed gender versus sex and healthy relationships and my fellow PCVs and I wrapped up our final GLOW camp over the weekend. The camps have been incredibly fun, but also EXHAUSTING as 30+ energetic primary students require copious amounts of attention, plus there’s the language barrier. In spite of whole new set of kinks to work out than experienced with the previous three camps, everything went smoothly once we started and we had some of the best conversations about gender issues, life skills, and HIV.  

As for March 8th, Voices of the Community, the anti-GBV group, introduced themselves in the Gumare Kgotla with the Kgosis/Chiefs. It was a big step because the group is finally registered in Botswana and it opens doors for the community leaders to learn about what we want to do. The meeting wasn’t quite what we anticipated but it provided opportunities to connect with individual wards. So, more hoops to jump through but in the end more people will be reached and we’ll get them in smaller groups, which is often more effective anyway. It was so exciting to finally be official, and on International Women’s Day!

Voices of the Community at our first Kgotla meeting

So, it has been a busy week full of gender related activities! Throughout the week, I’ve had to remind myself that behavior change happens snail pace. It’s easy to only see the teachers in relationships with their 15 year old students or the frequency in which women are treated like second class citizens. But what I find most hopeful are all of the girls who want to be presidents, scientists, or most creatively among a sea of teachers and nurses, meteorologists. Girls who speak up just as much as boys in sessions and boys who can point out what is part of an unhealthy versus healthy relationship. Women like Keitumetse, the leader of Voices of the Community and Gumare’s female Kgosi. Even the older folks in my village who every once in awhile you see a glimmer of change registering with them. Do I think anything I've said this week is going to change what he or she does tomorrow? Absolutely not. But maybe, and really I can only hope, the activities from this week provide reinforcement that women are not second class citizens, they shouldn't expect physical punishment for disobedience, and we shouldn't look the other way when teachers have relationships with students.

Girls and Guys Leading Our World

Last weekend, the first of four GLOW mini camps occurred, which meant an incredibly fun and utterly exhausting weekend working with 30 primary school students. Teenage pregnancy rates are through the roof in our district, so we focused the two days around activities that empower youth (especially girls) to live happy and healthy lives. We did sessions on goal setting, decision making, alcohol abuse, implications of teenage pregnancy and games. Lots and lots of games. There’s was lots of fun all around, and I’m really looking forward to doing the next one in the Etshas in two weeks, hopefully with a few of the kinks worked out in the planning and execution stages.

It was also an exciting weekend for the women of Voices of the Community, an anti gender based violence group Jeff, Aimee and I have been working with for the past few months. They were a new group, in the very early stages when we all arrived at site; Jeff has helped through the numerous steps of registering as a Society in Botswana and general day to day capacity while Aimee and I have been training them on subjects from gender vs sex basics to facilitation skills. This GLOW workshop was they’re first time presenting sessions, and they rocked it! It was incredible to see them interacting with the kids in such a fun, animated way. When we first started out, they couldn't say anything related to genitalia without giggling, and in last weekend’s sessions they were acting out parts the female reproductive system and talking to the kids about healthy relationships. Things can be so difficult here; but man oh man, when something really goes right… it’s a pretty incredible feeling. 

One of the Voices ladies, Mma Day, talking to the kids

Facing the Post Vacation Blues

To be fair, it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. I was greatly aided by the pushing up of two workshops to the week I returned, keeping me busy. But, eishe, over the last couple of days in Cape Town I was dreading going back to site in a very strange flurry of being incredibly happy and sad at the same time.

Don’t get me wrong; I really do love my village. It’s adorable, I feel like a part of the community, and I am doing a fair amount of good work. I recognize how lucky I am to have all of these things in a Peace Corps experience. But the thing is, it was so easy to be happy in Cape Town. Here, you have to work at it. You have to find joy in small things- and even though there are lots of small things to find joy in it still requires a conscious effort. Getting onto my usual bus in Maun and the bus conductor greeting you by name and a mosadi magolo excitedly greeting you in Thimukushu can make your day (and it did for me on the return trip). It really is wonderful feeling like I am a part of this community.

I recognize that happiness coming easy, all of the time, isn’t true for anywhere. And that any vacation isn’t like day to day life, obviously it is going to be easier to be happy. But what I realized I was missing so acutely was much broader than what I realized day to day: the lifestyle. I miss being able to go to dinner with friends, and then go home. I miss any type of food whenever I want it. I miss hot showers. I miss drinking craft beer while listening to live music. And while these things are replaced with coloring with my neighborhood kids or boating on the delta, spending time in Cape Town, with all of these things easily in reach, evoked a feeling of homesickness that I hadn’t yet experienced.

Moreover, the trip was a wakeup call for parts of me that have been lost in the shuffle of this experience; parts that I really don’t want to lose. Somehow, I have become complacent here…. I’ve become okay with spending hours of a weekend at site watching too many episodes of something, or expecting and accepting mediocre work from not just others but myself. I think, well, I knew I would have to lower my expectations about how projects turn out; plus, I am happier than many other volunteers because at least I’m doing something… but really, I know my counterparts and I could have done better. And that’s just not how it’s going to be anymore.  

Cape Town also pointed out through some of my interactions with perfectly kind people that I have become far too skeptical and now assume the worst from others. I’ve always been a “people are inherently good’ type of person, but I’ve fallen prey to a common PCV shortfall of cynicism. So what if there are some less-than-stellar people out there who continue to call me lekgoa and ask for money for cigarettes every time I see them? For every one person that drives me up the wall, I have met four who have gone out of their way to help me or happily try to get past my poor Setswana and befriend me. I’ve met far too many jaded volunteers, and that is just a category I refuse to fall into.

So, since returning, I have been make an effort to makes some changes and avoid the post vacation blues. It hasn’t been perfect; I will admit to a day of watching far too much tv and as well as some planning and delivery in the workshops that I certainly didn’t give 100%.  But, I have been much more patient with the kids (and adults) in my neighborhood asking for things, have a better attitude about people in general, and spoke up to various counterparts about not just letting an event simply happen but rather preparing far enough in advance. Transitioning into 2013 seems like a perfect opportunity to make, and keep, these much needed New Year’s resolutions; well that, and exercising more J

Family Bonding Workshop!

My alternative title for this is “Such a Successful Workshop that People Actually Showed Up in Spite of Not Having Enough Food and Drinks” but that seemed a little wordy.

People loooooove going to workshops in Botswana. After attending few, I understand why to some extent. You usually get meals, occasionally you get per diem and lodging, and it’s an excuse to skip out of your regular job. Sometimes though, workshops can be very dry. There can be a lot of talking at you, for hours. And hours. This is especially rough when you speak little Setswana, but based off the sleepy Dikgosi, I think everyone feels this way. So really, most people go to workshops for the free lunch. Hopefully they usually take at least something away from it too, but I do feel that food is a big motivation for attendance. So the fact that the workshop was over capacity and we ran out of food and drinks… and yet people stuck around resonates.

Our theme was ‘Family Bonding,’ meaning we focused on healthy relationships between couples and parents and children, in a whole variety of aspects. I planned sessions relating to HIV and co-planned/facilitated (with the help of several wonderful translators) introductory sessions, gender based violence, healthy relationships, and pre/post tests. People were actually engaged in all of the sessions and willing to discuss, even debate, during the activities. Organizing these types of events can be very hit or miss, and I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into it. It helps that we had a really great group of facilitators, a few people that I’ve worked with before and a couple of people that I am so excited to work with again. I also think that there are very few opportunities for community members, especially adults, to discuss their relationships in an open manner like the workshop provided. Whatever the reason… the subjects struck a nerve and honest, open discussion poured out.

At the end of the workshop a man, who had told me several months ago that babies are made solely out of semen and women are simply carriers of the fetus, made the comment (well based off the translation) “I really hope that more workshops like this one continue in this village. I have learned so much about why I have difficulties in some of my relationships. This workshop has pointed out some bad habits and given me a lot to think about.” If that isn’t validation, I don’t know what is. Planning this workshop has been pretty stressful and fairly disorganized; I was nervous about getting up in front of a group of adults (as opposed to behind the scenes work or talking with kids), many of the village Kgosis, people I buy my airtime and onions from, and the community volunteers I work with regularly and presenting to people in Setswinglish and asking them to get up and discuss some tough and uncomfortable topics. It was really wonderful to have a project work out so well, when too often projects have come up against barriers time and time again. We are also doing the same workshop in two neighboring villages, and hopefully we will see the same response.