Will We Have Transport?

Will There Be Transport?
That same afternoon after the fire, my PACT Club is planning a trip to a primary school to assess the challenges of the students in the rural area. My students do this effectively by playing some games initially and them talking to the very shy students n Setswana in small groups. The process is simple, but getting to the school about fifteen minutes outside of town is not. Transport is always a problem. I failed two weeks ago and do not want to cancel again since both my students and the primary students have been disappointed.
I have checked with the school authorities a few weeks ago and keep reminding them in writing and verbally. Then the previous day the bus we are planning on using no longer starts and a part has to be brought from Gaborone. So I switch to plan B to take a smaller vehicle and few students. When I arrive at school, I see the vehicle but not the person in charge. I am hopeful. I wait until he arrives. I am told the vehicle has been deployed elsewhere without his knowledge. I am out of luck. Even though I had reserved a vehicle in advance does not really matter. This has happened before.
Expecting the worse, I have come up with an alternative plan. I make a call to the District Aids Committee office that is funding us to see if they will provide funds for 17 students to take public transport. In the past, they have said it was the school’s responsibility to provide transport. Today I get a different person and a different answer. They will reimburse for the fares. So the trip is on!
Our large group marches to climb aboard a waiting bus. All goes well. The trip is not far and we are already later than expected. We climb down near the village about one hour late. To reach this rural primary school is another few kilometers. Along the way we meet about 50 young students running down the dusty road. They have come to meet us and escort us to the school.
My older senior secondary students are huge by comparison to the primary youngsters. They idolize my students. As we have trained previously, the students divide into some large groups to begin fun games to loosen up the shy students. The kids love it. Then they break up into small groups of 3-8 students and begin some name games. Despite the town versus small village differences, the students open up. They talk about their problems at home and their challenges with their teachers. While talking, we pass out a snack of juice, a peanut butter sandwich, and a small container of yoghurt to each. Food is always welcomed despite having a lunch after classes at noon. The small groups are then followed by large ones again, often using balls to kick around. We then form a begin closing circle. Some of my students start singing and the kids join it. They are having a good time and do not want us to leave. We promise we will return during the next term and hope they will form a PACT club(Peer Approach to Counseling Teens) to help prevent truancy, teenage pregnancy, and difficult behavior.
For now we need to get back to the road to catch a bus home. The youngsters proceed to escort us back and break off from the dirt road as they head for their own homes. We catch a bus back to Molepolole where my students climb down at different stops along the way to head home. I walk home from my school content with the job my students have done. As I get close to my compound, I see the ashes of the house now burned to the ground. Only rubble remains.
It is now a month later and as I write, I am sitting in the guidance and counseling center/sick bay writing this entry while watching two students take a final math exam. One has one has been vomiting and now feels better as she sits at a table writing her exam. The other has had a minor asthma attach. She is resting and writing her exam on a bed. The weather has been hot, but a few days ago it started raining and the weather has cooled down. The students know have blankets wrapped around them to stay warm as they write.
I still have the gas cylinder next to my stove. I have only the promise of its being move outside. Time moves on. It is the end of the last term. We have a long summer break when most people go back to their home villages I am planning a trip with some younger volunteers to go pony trekking for a few days in Lesotho. Later on I hope to go with a bus load from Botswana to visit Namibia over the Christmas holidays. In the meantime I celebrated Thanksgiving with 9 other volunteers on the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day. It was a delicious potluck that ended with real pumpkin pie. Yum....