After traveling around the beautiful Tubu area we went just north of Gumare on the main road, turned east to a "lagoon" as they call it (it is really large streams meandering through cattle grazing land from the delta) and set up our Braai. It was a beautiful day! Not too hot, blue skies surrounded us and we could hear the brilliant cacophony of nature's melody. It is quite amazing to stand out in the bush or delta and just listen. It is loud; but not of 80's music, American rap, cars, chickens and dogs, like it is in the village. It is a chorus of hundreds of birds (all different species), monkeys, water and even cows. And nothing else. Going out of a village is a wonderfully relaxing experience! On our drive in we actually saw a family of monkeys and of course all different types of birds. We hung out the whole day cooking, playing cards, playing guitar and exploring for monkeys and other critters.

It was a wonderfully short work week. : ) One interesting thing though- While in the office reading, Amanda met a man from Nxangwa (the 'x' is a click behind your teeth!), about 240K away, who had come to Gumare to sell his crafts. This meant that he had to hitch about 200k from his village to the main road, then take a bus the rest of the way. He was walking around the government buildings going office to office with a bag of handmade decorative bows and arrows- smaller replicas of the real thing used by the San people. They were beautifully made. This man was very humble (a characteristic not commonly seen when I first meet men) and his initiative was inspiring to me. So I took him around to a few people I knew and asked him if he had been to the Basket Weaving Co-op yet. He said he had, but they hadn't wanted to buy them. I had the idea of connecting him and his team of craftsmen to the craftswomen who make and sell their baskets right there at their store front. We have been trying to help the basket-weaving ladies in their endeavourers anyway, and one of their major needs at this point is diversification. So here it was, walking right into our office! The head lady from the Coop is gone until August however, so I told him to come back in a 2 weeks so we can go together to convince them to let these San craftsmen sell their bows and arrows in their store. At this point, I think it will be really good for both parties!

So as you can see, some of what we do here is just thinking outside the box for people…connecting them and their skills to the rest of the village (or in this case, area) in meaningful ways.

We still have no furniture beyond a bed in our house (yes, still!) but we did go to the furniture store this week and get a quote so hopefully we will have a table and couch this next week. We did buy our first basket from a neighbor woman who is part of Amanda's organization (Sekgele Training Home Society), making it our first piece of home decoration.

Our chameleon friend has moved on but the dogs are getting more and more comfortable at our house, making nests in the sand around our house (to stay warm, or cool). We also got a new, rather unwanted houseguest, a cute and tiny mouse. He is about the size of a large marble and as fast as a bullet! Amanda named him Willis J

Last Sunday we headed up to Shakawe with the assistant District AIDS coordinator (ADAC), Dawn. Shakawe sits North of Gumare along the Okavango River and only a few Kilometers south of the Namibian border. We went to there to help with the AIDS candlelight memorial. The memorial was held at the Kgotla (the Chief's community gathering place), which sits right on the river. The memorial was surprisingly well attended considering it was the night of the final World Cup game. At the memorial people sang songs, prayed, gave speeches and shared about how they are either affected or infected by HIV/AIDS. It was a beautiful evening. I will record some video of the next candlelight memorial we do. I think it will be in Seronga.

We took our dogs to the vet this week to get their rabies shots. Once they give them the shot they mark their head with a red paint to designate the dogs that have been vaccinated. Officially, Lady(bug) and Buster (Butters) are our dogs but a third dog, which we lovingly call Scrappy, has adopted us. Scrappy gets his name from due to his overall worn out/broken in and unhealthy condition and demeanor. He appears to have had gotten into a bit of trouble in his days. Most notably, he is missing fur from his side in a pattern that appears to be telling of hot oil thrown on him. If I had written this post Saturday, I may be telling how we really like scrappy. Sunday, on the way home from church scrappy decided he wanted some goat for breakfast. Normally when dogs back in the sates chase animals I just laugh and expect that in the rare chance that they actually catch an animal they will not know what to do with it and will just end up letting it go. These dogs on the other hand have a more wild instinct that has a full repertoire of killing skills (as their breed "Kalahari Hunting dog" describes). Scrappy convinced our angels Lady and Buster to help him wrangle a goat. In an instant, they took off at full speed away from us and once they caught the goat by the neck, they proceeded to pull it around. It quite literally looked like a scene from Discovery Channel where the wild dogs get the antelope and pull it apart! Luckily, for the goat I quickly ran over and stopped them from actually killing it. Then as we were leaving the scene of the crime Scrappy went back to the poor goat and had a one-on-one with it, staring it down, barking at its face and trying to nip at it. By then some other dogs had joined in the fun as well as a local man who started pelting the dogs with rocks. In this country, a predator of any kind will be stoned or killed if it hurts or badly affects a heard livestock. We were scared that our dogs would get caught up in this fight when the owner came out and we would have to watch them be killed. Luckily, we were able to (barely) contain ours while the scene played out in front of us. As Amanda, lady, Buster and I walked away we wondered if Scrappy would no longer be coming over for dinner. Bad Dog! He did, he is outside cuddling with Lady and Buster in the dog nest made of reed scraps.

Our garden is coming along great! The seedlings continue to grow and we are continuing to plant more. We have been working hard (one of us more than the other) constructing the reed fence that will eventually wrap around our whole garden and keep the animals out. Making the reed fence is very tedious but rewarding.

Last week I mentioned that we now know that the critters that live in our roof are owls. Well, this week I got photographic proof of the family sitting on the power pole behind our house. They appear to be Barn owls.

I also wanted to mention a few difficulties and frustrations we have been facing. We are very blessed beyond many Peace Corps volunteers around the world because of the fact that we have running water and electricity in our house. The electricity goes out a few times a week which is not a big deal we simply switch on our flashlights if it's dark. The biggest issue we face on a near daily basis is water outages. See, here is my frustration: If I didn't have running water in my house I would be OK with that; I would simply walk to the community standpipe and collect my water once a day and it would be alright. However, when the water goes out at our house we have nowhere to go. This is such a problem in our area that many of the houses in our town have what is called a "Jojo" which is a large, usually green, water container that sits outside the house and is connected to the gutters of the house. The Jojo collects water during the rainy season and is used when the water goes out. Our Jojo is empty, disgustingly dirty and is not even hooked up.

Another frustration that we find worth noting is the ignorance toward white people that many people in our community seem to have. Well, not necessarily white people just any non-african people. As we walk around town some community members both young and old will shout out "makgoa! makgoa!" which is the Setswana term for white person or foreigner (Literally translated- "those who were spit out from the sea" linguistically historical to European trade ships). I don't see this as intentionally derogatory or rude, just ignorant and very annoying. After that comes "Mpha madi" which means "give me money." Because if you are not black, it is assumed that you have more money than you need and that you have an obligation to give it to others, just because they want it- NOT because they need it. Very few people here need money, as the government provides them with pretty much everything. When we are in many general stores, butcheries or restaurants we will often be served last, people will cut in front of us and clerks will ignore us. Amanda adds: she is often harassed by men who all seem to think it is their right to marry an American girl...she handles herself and puts them in their place well, though. There are many other examples but I will limit my complaining time.

I see these as pieces of ignorance that will be challenges for us. Ignorance is something for us to tackle as we focus on one of the primary goals of the Peace Corps: to share American culture and understanding with the rest of the world. We now know what it feels like to be a racial minority and a foreigner at the same time, it's hard.

Last week I was reading the posting board at work and came across a very interesting post that is uniquely African. The post read "auction of animal skins." Below that, it listed off the types of animal skins that would be auctioned: crocodile, zebra, kudu, antbear, lion, cheetah, and leopard! We anxiously waited for the following Friday to roll around and headed to the auction. (A little pretext to this is that Amanda really wants a Zebra skin to hang on the wall for some reason and I just really wanted to see what this crazy event must be like.) At the auction were about 20 different skins of animals laid out on the sand. The interesting thing to me was that they had not been tanned in a proper way; they simply looked like they had been cut off the animal and put into rock salt. The wildlife department then went over the auction rules all in Setswana (I only speak basic conversational Setswana.) Apparently, the rules were that you had to be a citizen and have a trophy license. Bummer. The skins were then practically given away at auction. They sold for between P25-P70 ($6-$10)! Amanda haggled with one of the game dealers to try and get him to sell us a zebra for twice what we bought it for but he said that he could tan it and sell it to South Africa or overseas for P4000. After talking more with the people from the wildlife department we learned that these animals had either been killed by car or shot by farmers protecting their stock, they also sometimes confiscate skins from illegal poachers.

Last time I think I mentioned that bats live in our attic. Well, last night we confirmed that the creatures that shriek and squeal all night are not primarily bats but a family of large owls! We went outside and shined a light onto the broken water heater on our roof and sure enough, 3 owls were sitting there staring back at us. They like to hiss and scratch their nails along our metal roof about the time we are going to bed, but other than that they are cute.

I would say that we have discovered a newfound love of cooking but really, it is newly found time for cooking. We do a good job of keeping ourselves busy during the daytime but since it is winter, it gets dark early. We have really cooked some amazing meals. I will have Amanda write up a post all about it. We have significantly fewer resources but more time to be creative.

Last week I discovered a chameleon living in a bush in our backyard. A few weeks ago when I was clearing the yard I almost removed the bush but decided to keep it and I am glad I did. He has been there for about a week now.

Today we are headed up to Shakawe –about 2 hours north- for and HIV/AIDS candlelight vigil.

Site announcement day was perhaps one of the most exciting days since we have been in Botswana. This excitement was partially due to the fact that it was also Amanda's birthday. Therefore, we were hoping for the best birthday present ever, a great place to live for the next two years. The site announcement ceremony is a great tradition and is somewhat unique among all the countries that the Peace Corps serves. In Botswana we all sit down in a conference room with a map of Botswana in the front. The map has numbers representing each of the 56 volunteers in the 'Bots 9' group (our class). The numbers were one of 4 different colors representing the 4 different programs in Peace Corps Botswana. We got a quick peak of the map before we sat down and looked for a spot on the map that had two numbers in the same town that matched our programs. We noticed 3 spots. At that point they tell us that underneath our seats were numbers, not the numbers represented on the map but numbers representing the order in which we have to come to the front and open an envelope with our name on it. We got number 25. By the point that our number came up we had narrowed it down to just one place on the map but I won't ruin the surprise for you. We each opened our corresponding envelops and read a quick little Botswana proverb that was in each one and found our numbers on the map. We found our numbers in the Northwest corner of Botswana. We will be living in Gumare! Gumare (pronounced: goo-mar-ee with a rolled 'r') is a village situated on the West side of the Okavango Delta and home to about7,500 people. But I will stop there about the town because that's all we knew at that point…

…Until site visit. The following week we headed off to Gumare for a 4-day visit. During those 4 days we got to see our house (although not the house we would eventually move into, more on that later) We visited many community leaders and learned where the basics are around town. Gumare (and the whole Okavango district) is actually home to 5 people groups and 6 languages-English being the most predominant in the work place. Setswana is the second most used (the one we learned!) and Seeye being the next. We also met many people we would be working with. Todd will be working at the RAC (Rural Area Center? That's not right but it's something like that haha) working with the DHT (District Health Team). The DHT is a team of doctors and health care professionals that manage all the clinics and health posts for the whole Okavango area. Amanda is working with an NGO called Sekgele Training Home Society (STHS). The NGO is just starting to get off the ground and has a big role to fill as it covers the whole Okavango area, serving all people with disabilities and their caretakers. The house they showed us was not ready yet (that's putting it lightly) so we stayed with a woman named Pinki. Pinki works in the DHT as the rehabilitation officer and works closely with STHS. Below is a picture of the son of the Seceratary of STHS. She invited us over for a wonderful Setswana traditional lunch!

On June 10^th we officially swore in as United States Peace Corps Volunteers! The ceremony was held in the same place that our Host Family Matching ceremony was held. Many of the volunteers, including ourselves, had traditional clothing items made for this special ceremony. Two of the volunteers gave speeches in Setswana! They both did a great job. The ceremony was a great cap to the two months of training, but it was also a sad time, knowing that we had to leave our host families the next day. Our host mother, Mma Pundi, was particularly sad and has asked us to be sure that we call her often and come to visit.

After swearing in we were suppose to move into our home in Gumare but we received a message letting us know that not only had we been moved houses- from the one they showed us at site visit into a government house- but our house wouldn't be ready for a few days! The good news in this situation is that they put us up at the Shakawe Lodge. Shakawe is just North of Gumare close to the Namibian border, and a tourist destination! Staying at the lodge was an amazing vacation in the transition between homestay and site placement, especially because Amanda was still trying to kick a 4 week-long major cold. While at the lodge we had some fantastic gourmet food and simply relaxed along the Okavango river, in the traditional hut-rooms and around a fire pit with some very nice people. We also got to go out on a boat ride on this famous delta river! We became friends with the lodge owner (a white, very westernized but also very hippie, Zimbabwean). While at the lodge we saw monkeys, crocodiles, a huge monitor lizard, bats (living in the roof of the bar!) and heard a family of hippos all night. Hippos are actually nocturnal animals so we didn't get to see any, but they tromp through the camp often, so we saw their prints.

After a few days at the lodge they came to pick us up and we finally got to move into our new home! Our house is a two-bedroom government house that sits on a block of other government houses that look exactly the same. It kind of makes me want to paint it purple : ). The house is very plush compared to other Peace Corps houses around the world. We have electricity and running water- although both go out very frequently. We even have a water heater, although it is currently broken. As of now, the only furniture we have is a bed and a vanity. We hope that soon we will get a dining table, couch and bookshelf...we are waiting (4 weeks now) for the money to come in so they (gov) can go purchase it. The house came with a solar water heater on the roof, but it is long broken and is now inhabited by a family of bats that love to slide down our metal roof at night, dragging their nails the whole way. Gumare sits very close to the Okavango Delta, which is an abundant source of fresh clean water so you may expect that drinking water wouldn't be a problem. It is. When the pump was installed many years ago it was placed in the flood plain, so that when the delta floods, so does the pump and we lose water for weeks at a time. So far the longest we have been without water is 2 days. To combat this issue many people in our town have a large green water tank that collects rainwater from the gutter. Ours unfortunately is empty and not hooked up at the moment. So for now we have lots of big jugs and buckets of water stored in our kitchen. We also inherited two great dogs, Lady and Buster, from the previous volunteers that were in Gumare. Thanks Richard and Stacy. Like all animals and most people, Amanda has already given the dogs new nicknames – Ladybug and Butters . They are apparently a real breed of dog called the Kalahari Hunting dog.

Gumare feels just like a beach town and if you didn't know where you were you might expect an ocean to be near. Everywhere you go there is white sand and palm trees. Gumare is in the Okavango Sub-District of the Northwest District of Botswana and is the largest village in the Sub-District. You would never guess this village is home to 7500 by the look of it. It has no grocery store and of the two petrol stations, one has never been open that I know of and the other is bankrupt, so there is no fuel for at least 40K. The town does have its share of what are called General Dealers that sell most of the everyday goods (dry goods and cleaning supplies) at the obvious convenience cost. There are also a handful of bars, butchers and "take-away's"/restaurants that call Gumare home. One of which is Chicken House where we met some great Indian men who give us scraps for our dogs. There is also a chicken farm just outside of town where we can buy fresh whole chickens. The nearest real shopping is done in Maun. Maun is the tourist capital of Botswana and is the headquarters for anyone looking to do safaris into the Okavango and surrounding areas. Maun has five major grocery stores and countless other shops to buy just about anything we may need.

Things are going great! Thank you to all you who have called us and sent us mail. We promise the next update will come sooner.