Cultural Charity Event

So at the junior secondary school I work at, the PACT club members wanted to plan an event to raise money for the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in our village.

The event was almost entirely student lead, with a bit of help from me ;) They really did a great job tho. I almost thought it wasn't going to work out with an hour to go before the event and almost nothing was ready lol But I learned a valuable lesson that day, bc with African  timing, the people who were suppose to be there 2 hours before start time showed up 30 min before. And after an hour past the scheduled start time everything was up and running! I was like "Okay, it's a little more of stretch than Hawaii time, but I get this." Haha

The event consisted of a debate on the importance of culture for the future development as a country, outstanding topic! They really love debates here in Botswana. 

We also had some cultural dances which were done by the students as well, and it was adorable and all educational for me.

Last was the beauty contest. Not really aware of this till it happened. Not to mention I was asked to judge for both the debate and beauty contest. So yah, beauty contest are HUGE here as I'm learning. I myself am not to fond of them as I believe they contribute to the objectification of women :/

Anyways, another Peace Corp Volunteer and I came up with some ideas to put a twist and more positive approach to the contest. So we asked them to perform something from their culture, since it was a cultural event lol The last addition was the judges asked them several different questions in Setswana and then marked by their responses.

All in all, it was a great turn out. There was a little over a hundred, mostly children. And we managed to raise 252 Pula, which is a little less than $30 USD. Not sure how we're going to use the money for the OVCs yet. One of the students mentioned organizing a party for them, so we will just have to wait and see!

Here's some pics from the event:

President of PACT Club

The Judges! I'm repping the kukui nut shell lei and a t-shirt that says "Aloha"... I Should have brought a real Aloha Shirt :/

Debate time

the audience

Dances 

3 things to smile about

Just had an eventful time at Peace Corps Mini Regionals in Jwaneng this weekend (thanks Christina Neo Zielke  for hosting!). 

So today, while riding the bus in 100 degree outrageous heat with no air con and all the passengers insisting on keeping every single window up, I made my four hour excursion back to Tsabong, and with impeccable timing as the scorching conditions began to mess with my head, a few things caused a smile to take shape on my face. 

One, its pretty cool to think that after being on the road this weekend I have a home village and my own house to return to. Two, the most adorable little girl who was standing on her chair, trying to tippytoe to look at everyone behind her gives the cutest-est-est smile ever! The kind of smile that makes you say to yourself "I would totally adopt her right now!" Three, seeing two teenage Batswana sitting one row in front of me with their laptop open, giggling through Ace Ventura. And then those creeping negative thoughts from the insane heat suddenly blew away :)

Some pics of my new village Tsabong, my desert :)

My African Nights With the Help of Some Modern Technology

Peace Corps journey starting to get a bit strange, which means so am I! So don't mind the randomness :))

(Jotted this down on my phone late last night, saved it, and now I'm posting it, because that's what you do in Africa. If you don't have Internet at your convenience and fortunate to have electricity (like I do!), and you want to email someone you type it out on Word, or if you want to research something you make a note of it. Then hopefully by the time you find some wifi, you remember to post it, send it, or goggle it.)

"My African Nights With the Help of Some Modern Technology"

Not always, but since settling in my new village most days after work I get the chance to rockstar-it-out on the guitar for about an hour or so (more like fumble thru a few basic chords). Shortly after, I psych myself up to work out again and either go for a jog or pop in that psycho Insanity video. Following that I cook myself dinner (with no microwave usage). Then I compliment the home cooked meal with NBCs comedy Community (thanks Dominique Freeman) by plugging my external hard drive (thank you PCVs for the hundreds of movies/tv shows) to my laptop and have a few laughs while eating. Once the twenty-one minute comedy ends (that's with no commercials, meaning everyone back home who watches Community on tv wasted approximately 9 minutes of their life), its off to cleaning up the kitchen and turning on the electric kettle thingie to boil some hot water for the glorious African bucket bath. Jump in the tub, and slowly wash the desert stench off. Then it's time for some brain stimulation, so I unlock the Kindle,

click The Help (thanks Jess Chambless for the recommendation, and again Dominique for the dl) and begin where I left off the night before. Nine o'clock slowly rolls by, this means it's time for some chocolate motogo (motogo is Batswana porridge). Swallow that up. Finally, I turn on the Kindle for the last time, read for another hour or so, and then it's bed time.

Back in the US I'd be lucky to have the chance to do one of these activities in a night. So far, enjoying this African free night lifestyle (with the addition of all the technological gadgets).

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Swearing-In Ceremony. Official Peace Corps Volunteer!

Tsabong

Placed in Tsabong for the next 2 years!

Pretoria

So...I right now I am sitting in my hotel room in Pretoria, South Africa with wifi!

Why am I in South Africa and not Botswana?

Make a long story short...I fractured my jaw 8 years ago during my "idiot days" and yah. Anyways, i had four screws placed in my jaw, and now one of them seem to be causing an infection in my tooth. This means a possible surgical removal of that one screw. 

So, Peace Corps has come to the rescue and has sent me to Pretoria in South Africa. Supposedly, this place has one of the best, if not thee best medical care in all of Africa.

Glad this is getting taken care of before I move to Tsabong! I have to say, Peace Corps does take care of their volunteers.

Bere: Out in the sticks!

Shadowing week

We just finished Shadowing Week. Shadowing week is when each Peace Corps Trainee (PCT) stays for 5 days with a volunteer who has already been in country for over a year. Its a small taste of what the next two years will be like. 

I had the opportunity to go to Bere, one of Botswana's most remote places. Botswana considers Bere to be too small to be called a village, they prefer to call it a small settlement. Bere has a population of 500 people. They are the Bosora bushmen. There's one primary school, a health clinic, no grocery store. For the most part people eat either their crops or cattle. The closest grocery store or any store is about 2 hours away. It's small, and very rural. 

My Shadower Ryan shared this joke about Bere, he said "Bere has bere anything! It is bere boring!" LOL its very true, but I must say he makes the best of it.

Bere is unique in community development as it is so small and everybody knows everybody! Comparing to a western standard, productivity in Bere would be considered on the slow side. So, Ryan has found ways to adjust to the collectivistic culture and has focused on building relationships. HIV/AIDS work is in progress. Day by day, small gains. The people are welcoming It's seriously reminded me of one big family. Such a unique place.

Wrote this while on my iPhone the day after I arrived in Bere:

"A day ago I journeyed on two buses for a total of 16 hours. Started at 6am and ended up at my location by 930pm. I was pooped... 

the night came quickly, driving in the pitch black. I was so tired, and I couldn't stop myself from nodding off. Then the bus stopped in the middle of nowhere, everyone on the bus looked at me, and the bus driver yelled "Bere!" 

It was my stop. Someone was suppose to be waiting for me at the junction, where the bus dropped me off. But bc the bus was scheduled arrive at 8 pm, and I got there at 930pm the driver went back home. So, I looked outside to see if my ride was on the side of the road somewhere waiting for me. There was nobody. The bus driver asked me "somebody coming to pick you up?" I answered "Yah, suppose to", he replied as I stepped off the bus "good luck, watch out for lions." I was like "WHAT!?!? He better be joking!" I then thought "Crap! He might be serious...this is the Kalahari Desert" 

I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty scared at that moment.

So, my ride came about 30 minutes later. And rather than freaking out that at any moment I was going to be some lions late night snack...and rather than being frustrated that it was 930pm (which is bedtime for us peeps living in Botswana) and my ride was not there, a question popped in my head "Look at where you are at, what if you just enjoyed this moment?" 

Believing God was trying to get my attention, I drew my thoughts towards Him and began talking. It was a surreal convo, gazing into the star lit black curtain sky. On an adventure, standing smack in the middle of the Kalahari Desert, amongst wild life, with no other human within miles, and as silent and dark as can be

It's 2am, I'm filling up water buckets, and I'm thrilled about it...heh?

It's been three days with no running water, and the little bit of water that I do have has become like more precious than gold...and this is exactly what I was hoping for. no joke :)

Here in Serowe the water does not run all day, or every day. It seems to be the same for most places in Botswana, and id guess likewise for all of Africa.

It's only been 2 weeks in Botswana, and I'm already learning the priceless value of water.  

Writing at 2am...

"The sound from the empty toilet bowls refilling frantically wakes up the household at 2am. Mama knocks on my door and says "the waters on!" 

2am is not an issue. It's time to fetch the water! 

Unsure of how long the water will keep running. Walking quickly to the bathroom where the tub is,  each empty bucket or container around the house is ready in position.

Never thought id be scrambling for water at 2am! And actually be excited about it. With water has being a rare resource for the past 3 days, its celebrate worthy. I'm sure it will get old fast, but I'll enjoy these water runs while it last.

Here's a pic of the amount of water I use to shower every day. When PC first gave me the bucket for showering I laughed. But now I realized that one bucket is all you need!

Here's a pic of the full day water supply for the house. Each morning when the water turns on we fill the trash can, and other containers throughout the house. 

Serowe pics 1

My host mom

Dumela! Ke bidiwa Morati

Dumela! (Hello!)
Ke bidiwa Morati (my name is Morati)

Finally, getting this blog thing together...lol

I will do my best to update as I said I would, in a simple way of course!

Well, much to say with little time. Currently, staying in a town/village called Serowe. My PC team consist of 59 trainees, soon to be volunteers! Here in Serowe we each have a homestay family. My homestay mom's name is Olga Bobe. Oh, and she "named" me "Morati" which means "to love." Yah, it sounds nice :)

In Serowe, we will be busy with an intense 8 weeks of training sessions. Monday-Friday and sometimes Saturday from 8-5pm. The training sessions consist of learning the native language Setswana, the culture, and PC development approaches and roles of a volunteer.

Besides the upcoming root canal in a few days, overall, I am doing great. The people are welcoming and have treated me like family. After about a week of showering with a tiny bucket, I would consider myself a pro water deprived shower taker lol still getting use to the small meat portions and extremely large starch portions as well.