Chickens sleep in trees and other weird stuff

LESSONS LEARNED AFTER 2 YEARS IN BOTSWANA

This week we reached our 2 year anniversary of living as Peace Corps volunteers in Botswana. As I was walking down memory lane this week-- seeing the 56 other new faces of anxious Americans, watching the African continent come into the horizon after 14 hours on board our plane, eating our first traditional Botswana meal upon arrival- I couldn’t help but feel how “green” we were back then.

The first few months of living here (believe me, they did NOT feel like a just a few months) we were like children finding our way around the world. Nervous, inquisitive, frustrated and astonished at what you would consider the simplest of things (riding in a car! Eggs sold in our village?! Chickens come when they’re called?! Rope: the developing world’s Duct Tape, can fix anything from a broken down car to a chair).

Fast forward two years and we now feel like veterans. We secretly giggle at the struggles and astonishments of the newer inductees (don’t judge! There’s not a lot to do hereJ ): because we’ve been there. We teach them how to talk to their co-workers to get what they want, how to make their meat chewable without hours of cooking and the best techniques for bearing through the weather.

In light of all this, I decided to sit down and make a “serious list” of “Things I’ve learned Since Coming to Botswana”. I’ll take these lessons with me through the rest of my life….

Our very productive garden the first year. We learned to garden in pure sand!

Chickens, like most other birds, sleep in trees! They’re especially fond of lemon trees. Also, despite what movies have taught us throughout the years, roosters do not crow at dawn. All chickens crow, squawk or otherwise make a terrible racket at ALL hours of the night!

Free range livestock come “home” at night. You don’t even have to round ‘em up! They just know! Amazing!

If you let them, dogs will take care of themselves. Yep, all that pampering and tending to you do for your dog…...is actually for you. Ok, maybe with the exception of man-made dogs that have been bred into stupidity. Dogs can and will find their own food. They heal their own wounds. They make themselves well again when they are sick (with a few exceptions). They get rid of ticks and other pests. They live in and take care of their pack. They play and fight other dogs and get stronger. It is incredible how intelligent, clever and resilient dogs are! Living here I’ve learned how important it is for ME to care for, pet, play with, talk to and nurture our three dogs. But it is fascinating to sometimes sit back and watch the pack take care of each other.

Our dogs' pack. Though we only own three of them, the other two have joined for their own security and we can do nothing about it. They all follow us everywhere!

Campfire Ash- the best cleanser man or nature can make. Step aside Ajax, Comet, Bar Keepers Friend and Oxiclean! Firewood ash will scrub a burnt pot clean and get grit and grime of any surface. Try it! (ps. many household cleansers in the US used to, or still do use ash in their products

Pouch-cooking over an open flame when we didn't have cooking gas
Shaving razor blades are re-sharpen-able! Stop buying those expensive razor blade cartridges every time yours go dull! You can simply re-sharpen your razor blades by running them in the opposite direction over (preferably course) hair. I use Todd's arm :) Whereas I used to go through a razor blade approximately once a week, I now use one for up to 3 months! Todd’s of course last much longer since he hasn’t gotten into shaving his legs yet ;)

Yes you can! make….anything: Americans are pretty obsessed with convenience in the U.S. This means we buy almost everything pre-made and rarely practice ‘Jerry Rigging’.

A very typical 'Jerry Rigged' fence using an old broken rake as a pole

But when you move away and find these conveniences gone, you are forced to learn the art of self-sufficiency! Here are a few things we have hand-made or repurposed: all food (including breads and cakes, pasta, stocks, sauces, soups, syrups, pumpkin purée, cheese, soda, granola, and one time by accident; butter), a garden, tomato cages, fence, window screens, candle holders, baskets, body cooling devices, dog food, barbeque pit, toilet seat, artwork, storage containers. Once you start, it becomes a fun game to see how many uses you can get out of once piece of, what otherwise might have been considered, garbage!

Home made dog food- cornmeal cooked with beef fat with salt

Our daily bread

One of the many ways one can eat beans

Learning to milk a cow

A thorough tooth brushing only requires 2 cups of water; bathing just 2 gallons; full scrub down with rinsing, using a bucket and a cup

Donkeys: the eleventh plague/Gods only lasting curse on the earth: hideous nightmare creatures that ruin everything! arrrg

The value of pizza: Oh the sweet comfort of a familiar and delicious meal! There is not much else we look forward to here. Pizza night is every Friday (and sometimes Saturday and Sunday ). When I asked Todd how to describe how much pizza means to us, he immediately says “Essential….an emotional stabilizer….. it’s a fixed point we can focus on to get us through a week”. Ha! Yes- It’s THAT important

A favorite, with back bacon, three kinds of peppers and mozzerella

There is no limit to the number of people and animals that can fit into a truck. In a place where transportation is rare and difficult, people will do anything to get a ride somewhere; inside, outside, on top, underneath- desperate times call for desperate measures. It's a good thing they don't mind (there is no such thing as personal space here).

How incredibly resilient the human body is: The first year of bearing through the 9 months of 95-105 degree weather and scorching sun brought a lot of heat sickness and many hours of my day were spent in a cold bath or otherwise trying to drop my internal temp. I was absolutely miserable. By year 2 the heat still sucked, but I could actually function despite it! An unexpected surprise my body gave me.

If it’s been done for hundreds or thousands of years without ill-effect, you can feel safe eating/drinking it: a rule we go by when choosing which new foods to try. Even the mophane worms...

Components of a traditional medicinal tea I drank, which completely relieved me of a bad cold within 8 hours

Working on the traditional fense that will keep animals out of our garden

The art of doing nothing: I have never been more INactive in my entire life. After a (long) while though, it became sort of nice. Sitting and watching nature, crawling the web, taking an afternoon nap, petting our dogs. The slow life is good too.

Todd playing a very common tire racing game with a neighbor kid. Hilarious to watch, the kid didn't stand a chance.

Special English: This is the unique type of English you must use when speaking to a Southern African. You learn it pretty quickly, after the use of standard American English fails you time and again. Hard to explain; it’s a mixture of elementary vocabulary, British English and some Afrikaans terms, and a funny African accent that over-enunciates each word. It’s like learning a whole new language- we only speak Setswana and Special English here. American English is reserved for other PC volunteers and expats.

We celebrated 45 years of Botswana's independance last year. A cake I made with local flowers for a party

Read More 4 comments | Posted by Todd William Wright

"What do you actually do?"

After two years we finally have an answer for you.


These posters are aparently a new-ish fad on the internet?

This has been a question that we have been asked a lot. It is usually followed by a prolonged silence and umm-ing and humm-ing on our side. This isn’t because we don’t do anything. We do. We really do. It’s just hard to pin down and succinctly describe what we do. Peace Corps Botswana is somewhat unique in that the volunteer’s duties are not as specific as some other countries. Many Peace Corps posts (countries) around the world have very specific jobs that volunteers fill; some are English teachers some are forestry advisors some are IT specialists. In Botswana we are called “HIV/AIDS Capacity Builders”, but we may be better described as community development advisors and trainers. HIV/AIDS capacity building in Botswana is a grassroots bottom up approach to compliment the government of Botswana’s top down approach. We help people gain the skills necessary to better address the issues surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Botswana. We fall into three specialties with the job titles of: District Community Liaisons/District AIDS coordinators, Community Capacity Builders and NGO Capacity Builders. This is the primary assignment volunteers in Botswana, but most of us also work on what we call ‘secondary projects.’

Primary Assignments

Amanda in an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) Capacity Builder. She is partnered with a very small community organization called Sekgele Trianing Home Society. When we first came to our village two years ago this small group of community members would best be described as a community based organization (CBO) or even a club. With no paid staff they were all volunteering their time to help the group achieve its goals of representing people with disabilities in the District by providing them with better access to services and education. The organization got a one year grant to fund activities, pay staff and build a small building to operate out of.

Amanda teaching the club at the primary school

Amanda’s colleagues (2 now-paid staff) at Sekgele, Gosalamang and Ogomoditse, are both very hard working and dedicated people who care a lot about the success of the NGO and its vision. Ogomoditse never finished high school and Gosalamang finished high school but never got the opportunity to continue his education. Both are originally from Gumare and have lived here their whole lives. Amanda’s primary goal at Sekgele has been to build the capacity of the organization, mainly through Gosalamang and Ogomoditse, so they have the skills needed to work toward achieving its vision.

This task takes on many forms for Amanda. Through observation or needs assessments, Amanda is able to spot specific gaps in knowledge that she then trains the group in. For example she has done several in-depth financial management training courses to help the group understand how to manage the various grants they have received. If they were not able to properly manage a grant they would likely never get another one, and misuse the current one. Amanda also does various computer skills training lessons for Sekgele. Amanda has also helped the group with grant applications that have helped to make them sustainable for the near future. This work with Sekgele is roughly half of Amanda’s work load.

Todd Teaching a workshop on cheese making

I am a Community Capacity Builder and was originally stationed at the District Health Management Team (DHMT). The DHMT is a group of heath care professionals and administrators who are in charge of managing all the health facilities and health services across the district. Due to a long list of various circumstances I now don’t spend a lot of time with the DHMT but spend more time with the District AIDS Coordinator’s (DAC) office. I report to the DAC office every morning at 7:30am and usually stay until lunch. I assist the DHMT sporadically as a health education advisor. In the DAC office I am able to offer a different point of view on how to best conduct various HIV/AIDS awareness activities throughout the district. The DAC office’s primary responsibility is to act as an overseer for all HIV/AIDS activities in the district. The office holds an open application period for organizations to apply for funding they want to use for various HIV/AIDS activities. These applications are then reviewed, accepted or denied, and then compiled into a formal proposal to the government for a yearly financial allotment. Then, the activities that are funded are carried out throughout the year under the supervision of the DAC office. This work with the DHMT and DAC offices is roughly half of Todd’s work load.

Secondary Projects

For the second half of our work load we each have several secondary projects. Amanda leads a club of about 30 young students at the elementary school. The goal of the club is to teach the kids “Life skills” that will hopefully help them to make good choices in their lives in the future. The topics they cover are things like: self confidence, goal setting, decision making and self esteem. These are skills that are typically learned in the home in States but are usually not taught in the family setting in Botswana.

Amanda working with youth on our movie project

Amanda also teaches a class on basic business concepts for community members (mostly women) which has an end goal of creating a detailed business plan that they can use to apply for loans and grants. The norm in Botswana for a beginner small business is to pay a “professional” to write up a business plan they then use to apply for funding. The problem Amanda has observed is that the business often fails because the businesswoman lacks the basic skills needed to take the business plan and turn it into an effective business. They also lack the understanding of their prewritten new business plan, because they were not involved in writing it. The private sector in Botswana is the sector with the biggest growth potential for the nation, and women make up the group with the greatest potential factor for filling it. As a woman in Botswana, owning a business also means independence, security and a step toward gender equality. These are some of the characteristics needed for women to help slow the HIV epidemic.

Support group members making cheese

I work with an HIV support group that meets at the HIV counseling center. The group consists of people who are both infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. The group isn’t the typical psychosocial support type group you would expect like in the States. The group is more focused on income generating activities (IGAs) with the intent of giving the members skills and financial independence. The group also sporadically leads HIV education sessions in the community. They also have an annual People Living With HIV (PLWH) week where they get together with people who are infected to discuss issues relevant to the HIV community in Botswana (which is about half of the sexually active population).

Todd has also started teaching a computer skills course at the middle school. The computer lab was closed for the past two years. Many of the students are far behind on the skills that are important to make them competitive with other students in Botswana. The class follows the usual syllabus of the computer awareness curriculum but with an HIV awareness theme. For example the students created a PowerPoint presentation on how HIV affects their lives and communities.

This is not everything we do but these are some examples of the many projects we have been involved over the past two years.

Amanda teaching the importance of exercise!

This is what we really spend most of our time doing : )

Read More 0 comments | Posted by Todd William Wright

South Africa – So nice we did it twice

We loved out trip to South Africa so much last January, we decided to go back! While living in Botswana we really miss a lot of things about home. Of course we really miss our family and friends but we also really miss other things that we realize we took for granted such as bodies of water, soil, trees without thorns, trees that are taller than houses, customer service. South Africa has all of these essentials and more.

Last time in South Africa we drove from Botswana and stayed in St. Lucia, Durban and Drakensberg. You can read about that adventure in a previous post. This time we decided to do things a little different.

Back in May, Amanda received a wonderful birthday gift from our family, a week at a time-share of her choosing. After weeks of careful deliberation, we decided that a week in Durban would be fantastic. We joined forces with two other volunteers Lucie and Sunny and with our powers combined… we could afford to go on a two and a half week vacation!

When doing our pre-trip planning we discovered that there is no cheap way to rent a car or fly from the capital of Botswana to South Africa. Being the nerd I am I created an extensive Excel book of all the different travel methods (bus, train, car, plane) in various combinations, accounting for taxes, tolls and fuel costs. We came to the conclusion that taking the bus from Botswana to Johannesburg then flying to Durban, driving to Cape Town, flying back to JoBurg and bussing back to Gaborone was our best bet. So, the first step was to take the lovely Intercape bus. The bus leaves Botswana real early and gets into Johannesburg in the afternoon, 7 hours later. The bus is a very comfortable ride but unfortunately it drops you off in a super sketch part of a sketch city in the moderately sketch country so we took a taxi right away to the airport to catch our flight to Durban. Once in Durban we collected our rental car and headed to our condo.

Durban

We love Durban. I think it feels somewhat like San Diego, if I had to compare it to a city in the States. Long, split avenues with palm trees in the middle going all the way down endless public beaches with super high-end neighborhoods at each end. The condo we stayed at the whole week sits right on the waterfront in the south beach area. We shared a parking lot with uShaka Marine World, which is owned by Sea World and Wet n’ Wild. We spent most of the week enjoying the city and beach. The uShaka complex has some really great shops covering everything we would miss from a mall back home. But of course since this was a trip with three women and one man we would have to go to two other malls throughout the week. One of which I believe is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. We heard that claim a lot, is there no other big city in the Southern Hemisphere? Where you at Rio? Sydney? I have to be honest though, I enjoyed the big malls too.

View from the condo of the Durban beach

one of the Victoria/Indian street market alley

We spent a whole day enjoying the Victoria Street Market/Indian Market. Durban is home to more people of Indian descent than any other place in the world outside of India. The market area of Durban has many sections including: spices, seafood, herbs, restaurants, clothing, beads and the typical tourist type shops selling goods from all over Africa. They must get them all from the same catalog though because when you go from one to the next you feel like you are in the exact same shop.

View from the car on the drive to Addo

One day in Durban Amanda and I went to uShaka while Sunny and Lucie got tattoos and enjoyed the beach. We were pleasantly surprised at how large and complete the aquarium and water park were. I scored us half-price tickets online beforehand to it made the day even more enjoyable. The aquarium (largest in S.Hemisphere) and water park (largest in S.Hemisphere, ok I will stop) were great!

Addo

B+B/backpackers we stayed at in Addo

The drive from Durban to Addo was fairly long and uneventful until we had a miscommunication near our destination and were forced to take a very very long side trip (17 hours total!). The B&B/Backpacers we stayed at in Addo was Amazing! It is a beautiful family run citrus orchard. They had just harvested the Oranges but we were allowed to go and take some leftovers, so we filled a few bags of oranges with a few grapefruit and lemons. Sunny, Lucie and I went on a self drive through the local elephant park were we saw a good amount of animals. It was a lot different than Botswana’s parks, much less “wild.” Even the obligatory elephants were tiny and lacked tusks for the most part. (This is due to generations of poaching the largest animals with the largest tusks causing genetic selection.) However we did see a small family of lions in the distance, which is always impressive.

Elephants drinking at Addo

we alighted carefully

Zerba, Kudu, warthog and ...I forgot the other

they really are this comfortable with people

these little moving rocks were all over the place, he was the smallest.

Lucie and I enjoying wine at the citrus farm

Winelands

view from a winery in Franschhoek

After another long drive (with no missed turns this time) along the beautiful coast we found ourselves, slightly inland, on switchbacks climbing a mountain and eventually descending a small mountain pass into the lovely little French Huguenot town of Franschhoek. Franschhoek is basically everything you thought you would never see in Africa; endless wineries, chocolatiers, cheeseries, charcuterie and fine dining (dubbed the “culinary capitol” of south Africa). We spent time in this idyllic little European-style village tasting wine, eating at nice restaurants and just overall enjoying the transplanted French culture, at a fraction of the price it would be in Europe!

Wine cellar in Franschhoek

entrance to a winery in Franschhoek

Amanda and I tasting

Our next stop in the winelands was in a college town/wine area (I know, bad combinations huh?) called Stellenbosch. Stellenbosh’s unique combinations of old wine estates and youthful student population make it a fun area. We visited more wineries in this area as well. On the second day we visited a brandy distillery which has won the coveted best brandy in the world award. The distillery had a very “boys club” feel with dark wood and dark leather furnishings. The second stop was at a champagne winery, which was the exact opposite in feel from the distillery, think Barbie Palace with crystal sparkling, lots of pink and lots of shinny things…the girls loved it.

Brandy tasting (its a whole different game)

Lucie and Sunny at the distillery

The only manly thing about the champagne winery

Cape Town

Ahh Cape Town, the cosmopolitan “mother city” of South Africa. We all really enjoyed Cape Town for its variety and feel. In Cape Town we stayed at a great backpackers near the point and the World Cup stadium.

Cape of Good Hope

One day in Cape Town we made the climb up one of the newly appointed “new7wonders of nature”, Table Top Mountain. It’s a tough climb. Most people choose to pay the money and ride the gondola. Once on top the view was amazing! Unfortunately it was short lived and we soon found ourselves among the clouds.

penguins

We also drove to the Cape of Good Hope and visited the only penguin colony in Africa.

Table Top Mountain from V&A Waterfront in Cape Town

Overall South Africa was a tour of ~~all~~ many of the things we miss from home mixed with things that are uniquely South African. We ate amazing food. We drank some amazing wine. We came back completely refreshed (and fat) and, after having been reminded of the comforts of the developed world, are now ready to come home.

We HIGHLY recommend South Africa- a tour of the winelands in specific- for your next vacation! The people are friendly, the views are magnificent, the food and wine are splendid and there is so much variety in culture, scenery and entertainment that you are sure to enjoy it no matter what your interests. (Let us know if you need some planning tips). We will definitely return again.

View from top of Table Top Mountain of Cape Town

---Todd

Read More 2 comments | Posted by Todd William Wright

We're back/The never-ending swing

We apologize for the unannounced hiatus in writing for our wildly popular blog. For those of you who noticed, we thank you. We really do appreciate your interest in our lives and adventures here in wild Botswana. It can become quite lonely here at times and thinking about friends and family, who just might be thinking about us too, makes it bearable.

Due to some exceptionally difficult circumstances starting in July this year I (Amanda) have not felt the desire or need to express myself here on this platform. Mainly for your sake, dear reader, I have kept our blog from becoming cluttered with nonsense and negativity. For those who aren’t aware of those particular circumstances, I will divulge.

Most horrific of these was the passing of my stepfather Tom Mayburry while he was on trip in Ireland. He was an incredible man and great father and I miss him terribly. This kind of event, as you can imagine, is more difficult to deal with at a distance. What more is there to say? Death sucks.

Another situation comes out of a long, continuous battle that younger females serving in Africa deal with on a regular basis; that is sexual (/racial/gender/age/national) harassment and discrimination. After “dealing with” a man who was particularly fond of harassing me (and other women) for more than a year, I finally had him jailed for threatening to rape and kill me. Let me lower your alarms and red flags- this man is an alcoholic and is usually inebriated when he badgers me. He also would prefer an easy life in jail over his current one in poverty. I cannot ever be certain of whether he would follow through with his threats or if it is just a show for him. Regardless, the Peace Corps staff has worked with the police and me to ensure my safety and his custody. Aside from this more overt case of harassment, the usual continued to happen. I have not written about this widely experienced/talked-about issue among women, PCVs and ex-pats in Botswana due to its extremely frustrating and angering nature. Because I deal with it on a regular basis (usually daily) it is not something I like to remember by talking about it often. I do talk about it with Todd or a friend to try to maintain some form of mental and emotional health.

And lastly, work seemed to be growing more insignificant with numerous setbacks piling up and little progression. The volunteers-turned-staff at my organization were not letting me help and I found myself as no use to them. The kids club at the primary school that I had been trying to get fully functioning since February has still not solidified. I couldn’t find any other projects worth working on. As a volunteer, when your main reason for being here is to make a difference in a community, it is very disheartening and depressing when your work seems to be for nothing.

The life of volunteering with the Peace Corps in a rural village is locked into a constant cycle of emotional and mental ups and downs. When your mental and emotional health is on the upswing, everything is “just ok” (as they say). Nothing special really about this high. You just feel comfortable. You’re at home. On the downswing, you mostly lose motivation and have a hovering sense of sadness. The support system of friends, family and culture that we had in America does not exist here, so the downs are a bit longer and stronger. July through November I was living in my downswing.

So there you have it- a loss of motivation, a heavy sadness, and a need to be quiet. These are the overarching feelings I have had up until recently AND the reasons for remaining quiet on this blog. As for Todd’s reasons for not contributing…well, maybe he will give them too.

There have been a couple good things mixed in throughout these past six months and I’ll tell you about them later. For now, things are just ok. The end is in site with just six months more to go so we are trying to make the best of the little time left.

Thanks for checking in with us!

Amanda

Read More 3 comments | Posted by Todd William Wright

Peace Corps in Botswana

About

Todd and Amanda will be serving in the Peace Corps in Botswana from June 2010-June 2012 (with in country training from April - June 2010). Todd's assignment is Community Capacity Builder and Amanda's assignment is NGO Capacity Builder. Both of our jobs will focus on HIV/AIDS.

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