The Wednesday (June 27th) after I heard of my grandfathers death was a rough day. Even though I had been told that I could take a few days off if I needed to, I decided that going to work and keeping busy was the best thing I could do. The day started off by everyone going to the BCC office so that we could all be dropped off at our different programs. Allie, Satoko and I were all dropped off at the Roman Catholic Church and introduced to Sister Angela, the woman we were told we would be working with. Sister Angela greeted us and then we all quickly set off for the small village outside of Gaborone we would be working in. The drive to the village took only about 20 minutes, but it seemed worlds away from where we were living. It was the first time any of us had been able to see anything close to a rural area.
Sister Angela introduced us to some of the other volunteers as the church that served as the care center, and then she informed us that she would not be staying with us. She also informed us that she would be unable to provide any more transport for us and that we would need to take public transport the remainder of the week. None of us really knew where we were, so we were a little worried and a little annoyed at the whole situation. We were left with several women who really had no idea what to do with us, so for almost an hour we just sat around waiting for something to happen.
Eventually another Sister (her name slips my mind) arrived at the church and sort of took charge of us. At first she was not very friendly or very welcoming, but eventually she started to warm up to us. She offered to let us come along with her when she went to go pick up some of the patients who were either too sick or lived to far to walk to the care center. All of us were interested to see where the patients came from, so we were all excited by the prospect of tagging along. After we told the Sister that we were indeed interested, she then said that the combi was too small, and that maybe only one or two of us could go. At that, we all just kind of looked at each other, and we spoke up and asked if all of us could go. None of us wanted to stay behind, so we offered to all squeeze together. She agreed that all of us could go, but she seemed kind of annoyed with us.
Going to go pick up the patients was interesting. We were exposed for the first time to an area of Botswana that had no running water or electricity. As the patients we were picking up were infected with HIV, and are in need of a lot of assistance, this is a little problematic. Before the Home Based Care program started, many of these people were really left to fend for themselves, and as we learned a few days later the death rates were much higher only a few years before. Now that the patients had at least one well balanced meal a week, as well as moral support and did some exercises, they are much healthier.
After we went to go pick up the patients, we came back to the church to join the rest of the patients who gathered. Most of them were well enough and lived close enough to walk on their own. First we sat through a bible study, which was all in Setswana, but it was interesting enough. Next everyone partnered up and we did some healing and relaxation exercises. It was definitely a learning experience, and the first time we really did any sort of hands on activity with people infected or affected by HIV.
After the exercises, Allie, Satoko and I helped serve everyone lunch. When everyone had their fill, we were also offered food. We took a small amount, we didn’t want to refuse the food but we also didn’t want to take it from someone who may have needed it more. When lunch was over, some young priests in training offered to give us a ride home. At this point we had been talking amongst ourselves all day about how we would get home, so we gladly accepted.
Unfortunately when the young men offered us a ride, they were not really the ones with the transport. They were being driven by an older priest, who didn’t really know where anything in Gaborone was, so he just ended up driving us to a random bus station and dropped us. We were told which Combi to take to get home, but the experience was still very stressful and frustrating. It took us quite some time to find the right Combi, because we were actually dropped off at the main buss station, so there were hundreds of busses and Combi’s all around. While we were walking around trying to find the right Combi I was so frustrated and strung out that I was near tears. We did find the right Combi home, but by that time I was not a happy camper. In retrospect it was an interesting experience that allowed us to explore a little more of the city, but at the time it was no fun.
When we got home it was very clear to me that I needed to take a little time off. The other two students I worked with were not nearly as stressed out by the events of the day as I had been, most likely because they were not also dealing with other problems. I ended up taking Thursday off work to sleep and relax, and it did me a world of good. I was able to talk to my family, which is what I really needed. By Friday even though I was still mourning for my Grandpa, I was at least able to go back to work with a more positive attitude.
Friday (June 29th) was a much better day. It started off much the same way as Wednesday, except this time we were dropped at a different location. When we arrived at this new church, once again no one really knew what to do with us, so we ended up cooking. The women who were volunteering just led us into the kitchen and left us to our own devices. At first we were at a loss, as we had never really cooked Botswana food before, but eventually we got the hang of it. The women figured out that we were clueless, so they gave us a little bit of direction. The food we prepared ended up being really good, so we felt pretty accomplished at the end of the day.
After we finished preparing the food we joined a priest named Father Tony and went to deliver some of the food to several immobile patients as well as go to another group meeting at another location. (The food had to be prepared at a separate church because the group meeting was held where there were no facilities to cook a proper meal.)
One of the immobile patients we met had a very sad story. She was a very sweet young woman of 19, and Father Tony informed us that her step-mother has been beating her for some time. The young woman is in a wheel chair, and is not able to care for herself or to control some of her bodily functions. The step-mother is impatient with her, and has been violent. One of the Sisters has gone to talk to the step-mother, so hopefully something will be done to improve the situation. We gave her a warm meal, and prayed for her when we left. She seemed to be happy despite her situation, but it was still depressing. It seems abuse is something more accepted here which is something to be noted even if I can’t do anything to change that aspect of the society.
When we arrived at the location of the group meeting, we once again helped serve food. The group meeting was held in a more remote location, and none of the patients really spoke any English. We were able to help serve the food, but we were not able to really interact with anyone. We mostly talked to Father Tony about the Home Based Care project as well as his experience in Botswana. Father Tony also explained the name of the town, which had a fascinating yet very disturbing translation. The name of the town literally means, “lift up your skirts”. The town was given the name because a man who used to live in the area would make all the women lift up their skirts so he could rape them. When the area was made into a town, the town kept the name, because everyone knew the area by that description.
After serving the food we were once again left to find our own way home. By this time though we knew where we had to go, so it wasn’t such a big deal. In fact we were able to explore the main bus station, which actually had a lot of cool little shops and food venders. We were still a little annoyed that we had to find and pay for our own way home, but that is just a quirk that can be noted for possible improvement.
The weekend ended up being quite interesting. On Saturday (June 30th) two other students and I went to a local soccer tournament. The tournament was a charity cup that had several games played by local teams. We had to buy tickets off the street which was an experience, as you had to be very careful who you bought from. I was actually a little nervous for part of the game, because I had never been to a soccer game before, which I guess are quite lively. It didn’t help that Tim (another student) and I were the ONLY white people there. We got quite a bit of attention, that I could have lived without. We had a good time though, and managed to stay very safe. We left before the final game ended, just in case things got rowdy.
Monday was a holiday, so we had the day off of work. Because we had the day off of work, and we wanted to get out and explore a little bit, we ended up going hiking. The hiking trip was definitely an experience. On the way to the “trail” we saw about 15 baboons, which was really cool, sadly I got no good pictures though. We ended up just kind of climbing up a random path that didn’t really turn out to be much of a trail. It was a really steep and rocky climb, but the view from the top was beautiful. I didn’t go all the way up because I don’t really like heights all that much, but I did climb high enough to see the dam. It was fun, but probably not something I would really need to do again! Monday night we all got together to eat pizza and play games. It was a nice way to end the long weekend.
On Tuesday (July 3rd) Allie, Satoko and I started working with a different program within the Roman Catholic Church. We started working with an Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) daycare center. The OVC daycare is located about 20 minutes from UB, in a smaller village, much like the villages we visited the week before. This daycare center was most certainly the most well run organization that we have visited so far. The center is run by a woman named Sister Margate, and she really seems to know what she is doing. Even though she didn’t really have much work for us to do, it was a good week.
The first day that we were at the daycare, we were able to attend a ceremony with a local Bishop. Apparently the Bishop donated a large sum of many to the daycare, and the ceremony was held to thank him for his generosity. The children sang for him, and speeches were given, all pretty standard ceremony stuff. Once again, everything was in Setswana, but we got the gist of what was going on.
After the Bishop left we all went into different classrooms to observe what the children did during the day. In the daycare there were four classes, each with one teacher and one teacher’s aid. The four classes were broken up by age, with the children ranging from 2 to 6. In all, there were 127 children. In the first classroom I observed there were almost 40 kids, all under the age of five! The teacher seemed to have a hard time getting them all to concentrate, but I think that is pretty standard for young children. The teacher first read everyone a story, and then I was asked to do an activity with them. As I was taken by surprise I ended up teaching them a song. It went pretty well, the kids were so adorable. After I taught them a song it was time for lunch, which is the last activity of the day before the children are taken home.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (July 4th thru July 6th) went much the same as Tuesday (minus the ceremony of course). On Thursday we were able to attend a meeting of the parents and caregivers of the children that is held once a month. The meeting was mainly about fundraising and the upcoming graduation of the oldest class. The meeting touched on the topic of HIV testing for the children that had yet to be tested. The Sister recommends that all the children are tested, as they often have HIV positive parents. We were told the meetings also often include advice on how to properly care for children, as many of the children come from troubled families.
Working for the OVC daycare was fun and educational. We mostly just played with the children, who were so happy for the attention we gave them. The children seemed to be very well cared for at this program, which was uplifting to see. When we were not playing with the children we tried to get as much information about the organization as possible. We were able to talk to Sister Margaret as well as the other staff members quite a bit. Most everyone was very friendly, even though sometimes we got under peoples feet.
On our last day working, we stayed outside with the children all day. There was one little girl who was particularly attached to me, and I spent most of the day with her by my side. I tried to break off a few times to play with other children, but eventually it became clear that she was going to be my little girl for the day. All of the children seemed to be very curious by us. We were not the only white people they had ever interacted with, but maybe we were just more tolerant to their curiosity. They all liked to touch our hair a lot and they all referred to us as “white person” in Setswana. I was a little heart broken when we had to leave on Friday, but if I had stayed longer I’m sure it only would have been more difficult to break away.
This weekend was pretty tame. We did all go to a Fourth of July party given by the embassy, but it was pretty lame. Those of us who enjoy hamburgers and hotdogs were thrilled however. I was not impressed; they even made us pay for our food. I ended up walking home early which was nice, because the weather was beautiful. It had been cold most of the week, but Saturday was sunny and warm.
Not much else interesting to write about. More to come as time goes on!
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