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.