August in Botswana

At present I am living in a dust bowl. It is dry and the wind this month makes small funnel clouds both close and far. They could be tornadoes, except they are brown. Hard to keep you shoes and clothes clean. I cannot believe the amount of dirt I track in. It is like Chicago, except it is brown. I could clean every day. The space under the doors allows not only dirt, but leaves, crickets, spiders, ants and other assorted creatures in my place. I think the critters march in in broad daylight when I am not home. I had a noisy cricket in my bathroom. I found it and put him outside. Then the noise kept coming but louder. Found an even bigger one. I welcome spiders to even out the war with the insects. . My floors are cement, so I can sweep everything out the door. I have also installed my beautiful green mosquito net. It gives me a room within a room. Now I am no longer cold. The weather is really beginning to heat up, but things cool off at night.
This month I have spent making my place homey. I have bought curtains, pots and pans, dishes, sheets, towels, utensils, buckets for water when the water does not run and candles for when the electricity goes out. Since I only have water in the bathroom, I spend lots of time carrying water and dishes back and forth. There is no hot water, so I heat water for baths. Just use about two buckets a day. Water is a problem in Botswana. I received a lovely donation of spices and teas, so my kitchen is getting well stocked. I have found some delicious local beans, so rice and beans plus my spices are delicious. There is also wonderful fresh chard and rape that I have practically daily. I do not have a refrigerator, so food does not last long. A guest donated another mattress, which is now on my floor as a yoga mat and a place for playing Uno and connect 4 with my young neighbors. Besides children’s art, I now have some photos on the wall and even some aerial maps of Molepolole and different parts of Botswana.
Since school does not begin again until September, I have been interviewing people in the village. I just visited a juvenile rehabilitation center. Another Peace Corps volunteer and I hope to do further observations and perhaps help with some life skill workshops. This week I met some great folks from SAMEID, an organization for developing private media in Southern Africa. I want them to come for a workshop on HIV and the media. The intent is to inform and help people think critically about the news media. The government really controls the press here, so there is a lot to think about and learn. My role at the school is turning out to be encouraging critical thinking, as I did years ago at Harper College.
On the HIV front, I also visited a group of older women like myself who were doing Home Based Care work with the elderly and people living with HIV/AIDS, although the ARV treatments have really altered the wellbeing of these people who previously have not been able to work. In addition, I interviewed the chairman of the men’s multi sector HIV committee in Molepolole. One of the many factors affecting the spread of the disease seems to be the fact that men and women have many concurrent sexual partners, rather than getting married or staying with one. The young women tend to hook up with sugar daddies and get pregnant early. These cultural partners are very strong. Many men and women have jobs away from their partners which encourages the practice. For examples, teachers are placed by the Ministry of Education. They are not usually placed in the same town as their spouses. Evidently men are very competitive about the number of women they have relations with in the same or different towns. Changing attitudes is one thing, but changing behaviors is even harder.
Well the Olympics have passed me by and now the Democratic Convention has as well. But the Peace Corps provides us with old issues of the international version of Newsweek, so I will get news eventually.
On August 31st I leave for 10 days in service training in Kanye, another village not far from Gaberone. We will be doing more language study and discussing our needs assessments to determine how we can be most effective at our sights.
Hope to post some photos eventually. I still have lots of questions and few answers. But maybe that is how it will be.
Go siame,
Molly