I feel like to often I hear from people that we are not happy and that we are struggling here. I really want to set this straight and talk about it.
Is life here an effort and it is it hard for us to adjust, accept and understand what is going on in around us- yes, without a doubt. But traveling for 6 weeks at a time, like we do every summer is also a challenge, and we still have chosen to make it a huge part of our life. It is nice to actually look deeper into a place rather than just a romanticized view through a month long journey. We are happy and at this point, this is where we are in life and this is what we are meant to be doing. We are surrounded by amazing people, both PCV’s and Batswana, that look out for us and care deeply about whether or not we like their country and that we learn more about their country. We knew what we were signing up for when we joined the Peace Corps. Is it exactly what we expected or wanted- no. But we should have known better than to have expectations. However, we are happy and we love what we are doing.
In all reality, this is no more challenging than what I did in the South Bronx for ten years. I have not seen anything worse or more devastating here, this is just compounded by the fact that I have stepped completely out my norms and I am trying to navigate in a completely foreign world.
I need people to understand that when we vent in this blog, we are venting, as we hope we can confide in you as we would an email. This is just an easier way for us to communicate with mass people and not have to write many emails. These are truly just our opinions based on our very minimal interactions and they are purely anecdotal and should be taken as such. We do not want you to only communicate negative stories to your friends. We would love for you to extract the good that you are reading and communicate those stories. Africa and her people are amazing and we are happy to be welcomed here and able to learn and grow from this country. I would hate to think that we are contributing to all the negatives images that already flood the media about Africa.
So enough rambling but please help us in succeeding in one of our biggest goals: that by living here and learning about Botswana and Africa, we will show Americans that Africa is more then the negative images we see and hear about. It is a beautiful, magnificent and rich place both environmentally and spiritually but also culturally.
10 October 2009
Donkey Carts and Benzo’s
Botswana is often considered a success story in Africa, with a functioning democracy and an infrastructure capable of caring for the 1.7 million people that live in this vast country. Despite HIV/AIDS sweeping through and threatening to destroy the entire country, Botswana has remained peaceful in its’ 43 years of independence. With the proximity to South Africa and its’ rich mineral and diamond deposits, the country has grown from a developing country to middle income in a relative short amount of time. Has this hurt or helped the country? I still cant get my head around it as the disparity between rich and poor is tremendous, or should I just say money or NO money in this case.
A few days ago I went to one of the five hardware stores in our village to buy some chicken mesh to protect my garden from the hens and roosters on our compound. I wish I had my camera because as I walked up there was a donkey cart with four donkeys parked next to a Mercedes Benz, a 500 series at that. It is a striking contrast and one seen quite often unless you live in a very rural village.
There are loads of donkey carts all over Botswana. They are used mainly for collecting water and firewood, the two most important items for much of the population. Hence, there is generally no power or water on many compounds either because it is too expensive or simply no means. We have both, and hot water as well, but many neighbors and surrounding places survive with the bare minimum, a single hut with a clothesline in some cases. Working to live is a common practice for much of the Batswana.
While some work to live, and work extremely hard, others hardly work or have cushy government office jobs and have the fancy accessories in life- a nice car, nice clothes, and they get to send their kids to fancy private schools.
If you have a ‘real’ job in Botswana, most likely you are working for the government in one fashion or another. At my workplace, the District Health Team, the Ministry of Local Government employs everyone, while teachers are with the Ministry of Education and so on. There are Ministries for every sector. Don’t ask me why the health team is not under the Ministry of Health instead associated with Local Government, I may never know that answer, but in any case, you work for the government. In most cases, they even supply your house, different colors depending on which sector you work for. At my office, even toilet paper is passed around once or twice a month for people to take home.
Let me touch on the workplace just a little. First, I don’t want it sound like NO ONE is working. In fact, my counterpart and countless others produce monthly reports and maintain a busy district office. There are people, both up top and on the ground doing great things, or else the country would crash, but a many of the working peeps simply don’t produce work.
I have witnessed people leave meetings regularly if they show, say they did things when they actually haven’t, and falsified data simply because a report was due. I don’t know if the latter is a common practice but once was enough for me. Moreover, there is no accountability for doing these things. The culture isn’t one to reprimand and demand things, therefore; it is easy to be unmotivated and laissez-faire. We literally find ourselves staring and uncomfortable when we see someone raise their voice. Quite a change from loud, vocal NYC. If you accomplish one thing per week and are around the workplace from 7:30 – 4:30 all is well.
Coming from a country, in which I would argue we work too much, it is still very difficult getting used to this work environment. It is important as a foreigner to understand that things will take longer regardless of the situation. On top of an already relaxed work environment, you’re bound to come up against obstacles that are out of your control. There may be no transport one day, computers are down (if you have them at all), or crash from the viruses inundated on every computer, or another meeting or workshop is taking place at last minute. Weeks are filled with workshop after workshops and you never really know if they are useful because people don’t necessarily report about them.
Anyways, these are a few complexities that all volunteers must deal with and hopefully figure out a way to motivate themselves and the ones that need it, regardless of the obstacles.
A workshop on organization skills and/or team building is necessary and needed, even if they have previously tried. A refresher of sorts because it doesn’t matter if you are working with HIVAIDS, TB, and environmental health; as health inspectors, nurses, doctors, health educators, administrators, typists, cleaners and drivers, noticeable change starts from within.
The learning curve for me personally and of the country as a whole has been slow but very good considering the age of this nation. My co-workers have been nothing but welcoming and great. I am learning a lot just being there and finding my place from within. I constantly think of new things that could be done and how to accomplish them and the list is quite long. Over time, I am sure it will narrow down and I will be able to focus on several particular issues.
The above was written some time ago (over a month) but never posted and as the list is ever growing, both Laura and I have started to focus on some key issues both at the clinics and in the schools. Also, we are working on some things to start in our ward with out- of- school youths, as there are way too many children not in school for one reason or another. I will elaborate more on this as things develop as I am sure some of you would like to know specifics as to what we are doing but for now, I need to get to work. My ride is here, I think I will take the donkey cart!
A few days ago I went to one of the five hardware stores in our village to buy some chicken mesh to protect my garden from the hens and roosters on our compound. I wish I had my camera because as I walked up there was a donkey cart with four donkeys parked next to a Mercedes Benz, a 500 series at that. It is a striking contrast and one seen quite often unless you live in a very rural village.
There are loads of donkey carts all over Botswana. They are used mainly for collecting water and firewood, the two most important items for much of the population. Hence, there is generally no power or water on many compounds either because it is too expensive or simply no means. We have both, and hot water as well, but many neighbors and surrounding places survive with the bare minimum, a single hut with a clothesline in some cases. Working to live is a common practice for much of the Batswana.
While some work to live, and work extremely hard, others hardly work or have cushy government office jobs and have the fancy accessories in life- a nice car, nice clothes, and they get to send their kids to fancy private schools.
If you have a ‘real’ job in Botswana, most likely you are working for the government in one fashion or another. At my workplace, the District Health Team, the Ministry of Local Government employs everyone, while teachers are with the Ministry of Education and so on. There are Ministries for every sector. Don’t ask me why the health team is not under the Ministry of Health instead associated with Local Government, I may never know that answer, but in any case, you work for the government. In most cases, they even supply your house, different colors depending on which sector you work for. At my office, even toilet paper is passed around once or twice a month for people to take home.
Let me touch on the workplace just a little. First, I don’t want it sound like NO ONE is working. In fact, my counterpart and countless others produce monthly reports and maintain a busy district office. There are people, both up top and on the ground doing great things, or else the country would crash, but a many of the working peeps simply don’t produce work.
I have witnessed people leave meetings regularly if they show, say they did things when they actually haven’t, and falsified data simply because a report was due. I don’t know if the latter is a common practice but once was enough for me. Moreover, there is no accountability for doing these things. The culture isn’t one to reprimand and demand things, therefore; it is easy to be unmotivated and laissez-faire. We literally find ourselves staring and uncomfortable when we see someone raise their voice. Quite a change from loud, vocal NYC. If you accomplish one thing per week and are around the workplace from 7:30 – 4:30 all is well.
Coming from a country, in which I would argue we work too much, it is still very difficult getting used to this work environment. It is important as a foreigner to understand that things will take longer regardless of the situation. On top of an already relaxed work environment, you’re bound to come up against obstacles that are out of your control. There may be no transport one day, computers are down (if you have them at all), or crash from the viruses inundated on every computer, or another meeting or workshop is taking place at last minute. Weeks are filled with workshop after workshops and you never really know if they are useful because people don’t necessarily report about them.
Anyways, these are a few complexities that all volunteers must deal with and hopefully figure out a way to motivate themselves and the ones that need it, regardless of the obstacles.
A workshop on organization skills and/or team building is necessary and needed, even if they have previously tried. A refresher of sorts because it doesn’t matter if you are working with HIVAIDS, TB, and environmental health; as health inspectors, nurses, doctors, health educators, administrators, typists, cleaners and drivers, noticeable change starts from within.
The learning curve for me personally and of the country as a whole has been slow but very good considering the age of this nation. My co-workers have been nothing but welcoming and great. I am learning a lot just being there and finding my place from within. I constantly think of new things that could be done and how to accomplish them and the list is quite long. Over time, I am sure it will narrow down and I will be able to focus on several particular issues.
The above was written some time ago (over a month) but never posted and as the list is ever growing, both Laura and I have started to focus on some key issues both at the clinics and in the schools. Also, we are working on some things to start in our ward with out- of- school youths, as there are way too many children not in school for one reason or another. I will elaborate more on this as things develop as I am sure some of you would like to know specifics as to what we are doing but for now, I need to get to work. My ride is here, I think I will take the donkey cart!
05 October 2009
Kill and Defeather
Written on 29/09/09
Posted many days after - so our next blog will be about this amazing trip.
Matt killed and defeathered his first chicken. We ate it last night. It was pretty good. It was a little tough but overall I would have to say it is pretty amazing knowing everything about what you are ingesting in a night.
This Tuesday is Botswana independence day. We are headed to the Sowa Salt Pans. We are visiting a PC friend who lives up there. There are like 15 of us going. Definitely too big of a crowd but I am SOOO excited to get out of our village. Jillian, our friend, lives near these salt pans and we are hoping to go out there and camp for a night. They are supposed to be really cool especially since they are waterless now. She also lives within a few kilometers of a Refugee Camp so we are going there for sure.
I guess it is the rainy season. I can never get a straight answer from anyone. However, it is storming every night. Huge, noisy, cuts your electricity out for hours storms. They are awesome. We have a tin roof, so it is literally so loud you can not hear each other. It is amazing last night; it rained for hours and I woke up this morning and I could not even tell. Funny how you know you are in the desert no matter how much rain we get.
Last Friday was a huge event at our school, called Prize Giving. They honor the best students throughout the school. I cut cabbage for three hours. It was terrible. However, while cutting I got to hangout with students. We laughed alot, sang a little Akon and practiced my Setswana. The kids really enjoyed the day; it was really nice to see kids being kids.
A child got really sick during the activities. She fell to the ground and from her waist down she started shaking like she was having a seizure. It was so weird and when I asked her if she had talked to a teacher she said no. So of course, I took over. We tried to calm her down. It was one of the weirdest things I have ever seen while working with kids. She was shaking uncontrollably but only from the waist down. We got transport to the clinic and they immediately put us in an ambulance to the larger clinic with a doctor. The doctor said she thinks it is an emotional response to something that is going on in her life. Who knows. She gave her anxiety pills and sent us away. So many unanswered questions. And this is the second child I have seen that has done this.
Today the girl was back in my office with the shakes again. I treated it as if it was a neurological reaction to a trauma in her life. I had her count her breaths and when ever the shaking started again i told her to focus on the tree we were sitting under. I am going to figure this out. The girl is coming to my house next week and we are going to talk. This culture does not allow children to talk to adults and you are not allowed to air your problems in public. I hope by being at my house she will open up and we can get to the problem. But, shit, who knows if that will even help. I am still not totally convinced that what the doctor said is right. But for now I will listen to the doctor and will try talking to this girl.
It is so weird that I am here to teach children about self- awareness, being assertive, and about gender roles all to help prevent future HIV/AIDS infections. Yet, we are still in a country in which children are not free to express themselves. Their stressful situations manifest themselves through these strange illnesses. I wonder if by teaching these children these things we are creating too big of an imbalance and we are the reason that they are having these 'panic attacks'.
Posted some more pictures from the prize giving
http://picasaweb.google.com/mattandlaurabots
have a great week.
love
laura
Posted many days after - so our next blog will be about this amazing trip.
Matt killed and defeathered his first chicken. We ate it last night. It was pretty good. It was a little tough but overall I would have to say it is pretty amazing knowing everything about what you are ingesting in a night.
This Tuesday is Botswana independence day. We are headed to the Sowa Salt Pans. We are visiting a PC friend who lives up there. There are like 15 of us going. Definitely too big of a crowd but I am SOOO excited to get out of our village. Jillian, our friend, lives near these salt pans and we are hoping to go out there and camp for a night. They are supposed to be really cool especially since they are waterless now. She also lives within a few kilometers of a Refugee Camp so we are going there for sure.
I guess it is the rainy season. I can never get a straight answer from anyone. However, it is storming every night. Huge, noisy, cuts your electricity out for hours storms. They are awesome. We have a tin roof, so it is literally so loud you can not hear each other. It is amazing last night; it rained for hours and I woke up this morning and I could not even tell. Funny how you know you are in the desert no matter how much rain we get.
Last Friday was a huge event at our school, called Prize Giving. They honor the best students throughout the school. I cut cabbage for three hours. It was terrible. However, while cutting I got to hangout with students. We laughed alot, sang a little Akon and practiced my Setswana. The kids really enjoyed the day; it was really nice to see kids being kids.
A child got really sick during the activities. She fell to the ground and from her waist down she started shaking like she was having a seizure. It was so weird and when I asked her if she had talked to a teacher she said no. So of course, I took over. We tried to calm her down. It was one of the weirdest things I have ever seen while working with kids. She was shaking uncontrollably but only from the waist down. We got transport to the clinic and they immediately put us in an ambulance to the larger clinic with a doctor. The doctor said she thinks it is an emotional response to something that is going on in her life. Who knows. She gave her anxiety pills and sent us away. So many unanswered questions. And this is the second child I have seen that has done this.
Today the girl was back in my office with the shakes again. I treated it as if it was a neurological reaction to a trauma in her life. I had her count her breaths and when ever the shaking started again i told her to focus on the tree we were sitting under. I am going to figure this out. The girl is coming to my house next week and we are going to talk. This culture does not allow children to talk to adults and you are not allowed to air your problems in public. I hope by being at my house she will open up and we can get to the problem. But, shit, who knows if that will even help. I am still not totally convinced that what the doctor said is right. But for now I will listen to the doctor and will try talking to this girl.
It is so weird that I am here to teach children about self- awareness, being assertive, and about gender roles all to help prevent future HIV/AIDS infections. Yet, we are still in a country in which children are not free to express themselves. Their stressful situations manifest themselves through these strange illnesses. I wonder if by teaching these children these things we are creating too big of an imbalance and we are the reason that they are having these 'panic attacks'.
Posted some more pictures from the prize giving
http://picasaweb.google.com/mattandlaurabots
have a great week.
love
laura
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