I knocked off work promptly at 4:30 p.m. and flagged down a taxi on Gaborone Road.

“Dumela rra. Ke ya go Route 6,” I said greeting the taxi driver and asking him to take the road that runs near my house.

The driver answered, “Sharp (the Afrikaans word for OK). Go phefo, rra.”

“Go phefo?!” I asked eager to learn new Setswana expressions. “What does that mean?”

“August. Puh, puh,” said the driver imitating the sound of spitting sand out of your mouth. “It is windy. Go phefo.”

It had been breezy most of the week, but the winds had definitely picked up today. The horizon was dark and the goats and donkeys given free range where taking refuge next to shops and cement walls. As we made our way across the village it looked like a ghost town. Dust devils spun roadside little around and tin roofs clanked against wooden support frames.

“Rra, eme mo setepong,” I said requesting the taxi driver to stop at the bus bay across from the government housing where I live.

“Ee, rra,” the driver said acknowledging the request.

After I paid the two-pula flat rate and thanked the driver for the lift I had trouble opening the door into the wind.

“Go phefo,” the driver said laughing. “Welcome to August in Botswana.”

By the time I made it to the door of our house the wind was strong enough to make walking in a straight line difficult. Our screen door was banging against the short cement wall on the side of our porch. I quickly unlocked and open our main door, then pulled the screen door shut and latched it securely. After securing the main door I opened up our curtains to look back on the vicious windstorm that was then kicking up heavy amounts sand.

The afternoon had turned to dusk in the matter of a few minutes and you couldn’t even see the houses across the street about 30 meters away. Even though the doors and windows were closed tight, I could feel sand beating against my face and I had the urge to spit. It was August, all right. Puh, puh. Three hours and a dozen brown outs later the winds finally died out. Somewhere day had turned to night while everything in our house, including dishes and electronics stowed away in cabinets, was covered with a thin layer of red sand.

“Go phefo,” I said to myself. “I think I can remember that one.”

The Daily News reported that there are 666 religious organizations in Botswana. And not all of them have the best of intentions at heart. It’s not surprising. Fly-by night pastors also present a problem for the response to HIV/AIDS. Faith-based organizations are eligible for community grants to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS. Some are very useful and effective in running orphan centers, reaching out communities, and providing care for people living with AIDS. Others see AIDS a cash cow--a way to leverage funding for staff offices and salaries. With a seroprevelance level of 37.4 percent, Botswana is the front line in the Battle Against HIV, attracting record amounts of foreign aid and resources. I've come across a few organizations that upon setting up a ministry in Botswana, immediately apply for AIDS funds without even knowing the needs or situation of their community. It is also easy for organizations to get funding at home (in the states or Europe) to come to help out in Botswana, but the staff members spend more time touring and proselytizing than providing needed services in communities.

I'm writing this from an internet cafe in Maun where I'm spending the week attending a workshop hosted by UNICEF. But, I wanted to write about our weekend before all the words floating through my head to describe it escaped me.

So, this weekend Brian and I, along with approximately 25 other PCVs, attended the Kuru Dance Festival near D'Kar. I had so much fun. There was dancing around the fire Friday night and then the festival went on all-day Saturday. My favorite dance was "Hunt of the Gemsbok" In it one of the men plays the gemsbok by holding up two sticks to look like antlers. The other men dance around "hunting" The climax of the dance, of course, is the hunters capturing the gemsbok. The only word I can think of to describe the dance is "organic." You just have to see it. You can tell by watching that it is so traditional, San men probably started the dance by entertaining others with a story of when they once caught a gemsbok. I just loved it.

On Sunday and I traveled to Maun with our friends Dave and Wendy who are the volunteers stationed here. As we were waiting outside the gate of the Game Farm the festival started shuttling participants in 4x4 safari-equipped vehicles to load onto buses for their ride home. As the vehicles pulled up, hoardes of people unloaded clapping and dancing. It was such a contrast to the festival where they put on a "performance." This was just spontaneous, enjoying the moment and expressing it through song. So beautiful. We even ended up catching a ride halfway to Maun with a bus full of performers. The entire ride was filled with music. Again, not a performance, just pure spontaneity. I recorded a clip on the bus on the digital camera, when I can get to computer and upload it I'll do it.

If you were asked to visualize in your mind a Kgalagadi Bushman would you conjure up something straight out of a travel guide, National Geographic or The Gods Must Be Crazy? I doubt you would picture a “bushman” wearing jeans, a tee shirt, sandals and a ski cap. However, visitors to Africa often come hoping to snap a photo of a mostly naked, barefooted person wielding a wooden spear. Of course, they are disappointed when they can’t find that so they snap a few photos of some dancers at a tourist spot to show the folks back home what the people of Africa look and act like. Each new wave of tourists, just like the last, comes searching for a photo-op that conforms to stereotypes of African people.

Over the weekend we went camping and dropped in on the Kuru Dance Festival in D’Kar, which is located a few kilometers north of Ghanzi in western Botswana. The festival is run by a non-governmental organizations working to improve the lives of the San people (“bushmen”) and preserve their culture. We’ll admit that we took dozens of those misleading photos, but I wanted to post one in its proper context. The photo collage above captures San women performing a traditional dance at the Kuru Dance Festival (left) and a group of performers headed for buses following the close of the festivities (right).

The official currency of Botswana is the pula (P), which is divided into 100 thebe (t). Pula means ‘rain’ which is considered as precious as money. (I read in the Lonely Planet Guide that thebe means “raindrop” but I’m pretty sure that somebody else told us that it’s just a common misconception. Now I’m not sure which to believe.) Banknotes come in denominations of P5, P10, P20, P50 and P100. Coins come in denominations of 5t, 10t, 25t, 50t, P1, P2 and P5.

Similar to the U.S., each coin has a different picture on the front with the Botswana Seal on the back. Unlike the U.S., however, the pictures on the fronts of coins are not dead Presidents, or even people but wildlife and insects you find in Botswana. For example, the P5 coin picture a Mopane worm (caterpillar), P2 coins have rhinoceros’ and P1 coins feature Zebras (pronounced with a short e in these parts of the world).

Of course the exchange rate varies daily, but it’s been staying close to $5.50 per Pula recently. (Either divide the total in Pula by 5.55 or multiply it by 0.18) When we got to Botswana the exchange rate was between 4.3 and 4.5, but the Government of Botswana recently devalued the Pula by 12 percent, so the exchange rate went up. Unfortunately, we get paid in Pula, not U.S. dollars, so basically our living allowance went down by 12 percent and we aren’t going to see any more Pula because of the increase in the exchange rate.

Picture: Botswana currency and my coin purse from Dennis’ collection.

Before coming to Botswana I made a “Things That Make Me Happy” album to take along with me. One of the layouts I included was on the contents of my purse. I showed that album, and the layout, to a friend here recently and she just loved the idea of documenting what you have in your purse. When I thought about it more I realized how the contents of my purse then (January 2005) and now (August 2005) make a big statement on where I am at a point in time. I also find it interesting that there are some things that are the same now and then. Here’s what I found …

Date: January 2005
Purse: $5 purse bought on the streets of NYC
Contents:

• Burts Bees Beeswax Lip Balm


• Wallet (ATM card, credit cards, some cash, drivers license, etc.)


• Cell phone


• Palm Pilot Tungsten E


• Pilot Precise Rolling Ball Extra Fine Pen (blue)


• MP3 player


• Altoids gum


• Loose change


• Metro SmartTrip card


• Business cards


• Keys to the office, apartment and mail box

Date: 10 August 2005
Purse: Eagle Creek travel purse purchased from Hudson Trail Outfitters
Contents:

• Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm


• U.S. No-Fee Passport with Botswana residency permit


• Peace Corps ID


• Standard Bank ATM card


• Cell phone


• 3x5 index cards (a.k.a. my Botswana Palm Pilot, I use them for writing down the names of people I meet)


• Pilot Precise Rolling Ball Extra Fine pen (blue)


• Altoid gum (thanks to the care package from PASS)


• Keys to the house and office


• Sunglasses


• My daily allowance (P20/ day or approx. $4.00)


• Loose change (used mostly for combi or taxi rides around the village)

Yesterday Brian and I attended a funeral in Thamaga a village about 30 km from Moleps. The funeral was for a Peace Corps Language and Cross Cultural Instructor (LCI) – Maggie. Although Maggie was not mine or Brian’s LCI during training, her students all live very far away so we attended to show their support to her family. Jane, Colman and Anne were also there representing volunteers. Despite the occasion, it was nice to see other LCIs (Meshak, Tonic, Chris and Thandi) and Peace Corps staff (Pinney, Ntjidzi, Ephraim and Tsepa).

After the funeral Jane, Anne, Brian and I decided to visit the Botswelelo Centre (a.k.a. Thamaga Pottery.) I was surprised at the huge variety of things they sell. Everything from salt and pepper shakers, to plates, bowls, serving dishes, etc. It is all handmade, high quality and set at very reasonable prices. Brian and I bought two of these decorative bowls for P45 each (about $8.) I plan to use them as flower vases. I would love to buy a set of table settings and serving dishes, if I can think of a way to get them back to the U.S. in one piece.

I’ve been extremely lax in my movie reviews. First I skipped one movie, and next thing you know it’s been two months and we’ve done a lot of movie watching. Oops. So, for what it’s worth, here’s what we’ve been watching recently:

Dodgeball: Fun movie starring Ben Stiller. Man he’s funny. The movie overall is just okay, but there are some really funny parts. I enjoyed watching the deleted scenes with director’s commentary on why they were cut. Can’t decide if I like the movie better with the alternate ending or not.

Rushmore: Is an “oldie” (i.e. late 90’s) but goodie. It stars Jason Swartzman as an underprivileged kid attending an elite private school – Rushmore Academy. He’s in every extra curricular club possible but failing school. Super super funny. Lots of quotable, funny lines. (“Nice nurses uniform.” “This isn’t a nurses uniform they’re O.R. scrubs.” “OH, ARE they? Not exactly appropriate for dinner. “I didn’t know I was coming to dinner. “That’s because you weren’t invited!!”) Only bummer was that the DVD we got didn’t have any extras on it. Maybe they’re not released yet? This is one that I’d love to see the extras for.

The Recruit/Insomnia/People I Know: Our friend Kate from Bots 2 gave us a 5-in-1 DVD with movies starring Al Pacino. (5-in-1’s are bootlegs that you can buy in China shops in Gabs. They’re P45 for 5 movies instead of the P120 you’d pay for just one DVD at a regular store.) We loved “The Recruit” and “Insomnia” and hated “People I Know.” We actually watched “The Recruit” twice since we liked it so much. Colin Farrell is really good in it. “Insomnia” is a movie we’ve seen before but absolutely love. It’s directed by one of our all-time favorite directors, Christopher Nolan. (Who also directed “Batman Begins” I’m bummed we didn’t get to see it in the theaters.) “People I Know” is one of those movies that you want to turn off in the middle, but you also really want to know what happens at the end, just to show that it wasn’t worth watching. Blech.

The other movies on the 5-in-1 were “Merchant of Venice” and “Simone” which didn’t sound that interesting. The 5-in-1’s don’t have any extras on them (they’re removed so there’s enough room on the disc for all the movies). I would like to see extras for both “The Recruit” and “Insomnia” they’d probably be pretty interesting.

Lisa Grandgeorge and her husband are leaving for Tanzania to be Peace Corps Volunteers in September 2005. Compare their adventures to ours at http://lisaintanzaniapcv.blogspot.com/

The Summer 2005 issue of Worldview – the magazine of the National Peace Corps Association – was dedicated entirely to Peace Corps’ efforts on HIV/AIDS across the world. I’ve read it cover-to-cover twice now. They have some additional online content that’s worth a look at too. This AIDS Index really hit home for me so I had to share it here. Any typos are my own.

Compiled by Terry Anderson

Worldview
Volume 18 Number 2
Summer 2005

On Sunday Brian and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Yes, SIX years. Can you believe it? Sometimes I can't. What made this anniversary special was just thinking about how far we've come. Never, in my wildest imagination, would I have imagined six years ago that we would be Peace Corps Volunteers in Africa. The fact that we are here just shows how much we've grown. I like to think that we make a pretty good team.

We spent the day in Gabs to celebrate. Very low-key, but also very Peace Corps. Saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" at Game City Mall. I LOVED it. Johnny Depp is just brilliant in it. Oh, and the little boy that plays Charlie. Cutest boy ever. Seriously. He was in "Finding Neverland" too, which I also loved.

After the movie we planned to have lunch at the Italian Deli. We'd never been there, but had heard all good things about it. Our taxi driver apparently had also never been there, got lost, and by the time we got there they were closed. Bummer. Ended up having lunch at O'Hagans - an Irish Pub at Game City Mall. Not exactly exotic, but the food was edible and a step above eating a Nando's in Moleps.

So, now we're back to work. Haven't had a chance to get online for a few days so I'm a little late in posting. Will try to get back into the groove. :)

We’ve never exactly “lived on a budget,” we just spent as little money as possible at all times. We had no credit card debt, saved money in the bank and contributed to our retirement accounts. If there was something we wanted or needed we bought it.

I don’t know what it was about being a Peace Corps Volunteer that made me want to start living on a budget, but so far I like it. We get a monthly living allowance paid to you in a lump sum once a quarter. There are plenty of volunteers who run into money shortages at the end of the quarter. I can see why, without a budget it would be hard to make your money last all the way through the quarter.

For keeping track of our money we decided to use the “envelope” method. Every month we withdraw our monthly allowance in cash and then split it up into our various envelopes for spending. Our spending categories include groceries, daily allowance, household, internet/phone line, clothes, fun/entertainment/souvenirs, cell units, and vacation. We write on the envelopes if there is any money left at the end of the month. Obviously some envelopes are meant to carry over in order to save up for bigger purchases but it’s helped us fine-tune some of the other categories.

Living on a budget has taken some getting used to. For example if the vegetable oil is running low but it’s also the end of the month we may try to squeeze it out another week so we can buy a new bottle in a new month. In the U.S. we probably would have bought two bottles on our next trip to the store so we didn’t run out without realizing it. (Our budget for groceries is intentionally tight. We could spend a lot of money on the food items we like from the U.S. if we wanted to, but they’re really expensive and our highest priority is saving for travel.) We buy one tool for the yard or garden every month with our “household” money instead of just buying them all at once.

We’re certainly not starving or going without, just learning to stretch things out a little longer. I think it will pay off in the long run when we have money to travel and get to see more of southern Africa.

Cry of the Kalahari is the narrative of two American researches who lived in the isolation of the Kalahari Desert, one of the most extreme wildernesses in the world. In 1974, one year after being married and in the middle of their graduate studies, Mark and Delia Owens headed for Botswana to study the region's large carnivores with little more than one change of clothes each and some basic equipment. For seven years they lived in a remote camp near the path of an ancient riverbed in a place appropriately named Deception Valley. Their insights into the behavior and range lions, cheetahs, wildebeests and hyenas were invaluable to scientific discovery and led to lasting conservation efforts.

I just have to send out a huge public THANK YOU to my friends at PASS for the care package that arrived yesterday. It made our day. (For some reason I can't upload the picture we took of my with a huge silly grin on my face, will try to do that later.)

I had almost forgotten the package was coming (it was mailed in early June via surface so it took awhile to arrive.) Then the slip came from the post office saying there was a package for us from Washington, DC. I knew immediately what it was. We picked it up after lunch and took it straight to Brian’s office where we could open it without a million nosy officemates looking on. (I was going to wait until we got home, but who was I kidding? I couldn’t stand the suspense!) In the box was a treasure-load of more than I could ever ask for. Tons of bags of hard candy including 8 bags of Jolly Ranchers. Altoids gum (it has to be a contribution from Abby – remember when we bought entire boxes of it when it was on sale at CVS?) Trashy celebrity magazines like People and In Touch (probably a contribution from Jessica – my celebrity gossip friend). Enough Kool-Aid and Crystal Light to last us the rest of our service here, and lots of cool free stuff that Emily picked up at the Union Industries show like Frisbees and really neat medical kits. (Although I can’t figure out what the plastic container thingys from Kaiser Permanente are for?)

So, I know that a lot of you in the office read the blog. I seriously can’t thank you guys enough for everything in the package. It is so awesome. Please make sure that everyone gets the message. :)

P.S. Fanta also really likes to play in the box that everything came in. So thanks also for the great cat toy.

Many of you know that Chili’s was one of our favorite restaurants in the U.S. We went there to celebrate or mourn just about any occasion. We went to Chili’s on one of our first dates (we split an Awesome Blossom and veggie quesadilla). When we were depressed after moving across the country to D.C. and living in a totally ghetto apartment we drove out of our way to find the only Chili’s that we thought we could find to cheer ourselves up. When Brian didn’t get a job on the Hill very early on that he really wanted, we went to Chili’s. When I got my job at PASS, we went to Chili’s to celebrate. When we found out we were medically deferred for the Peace Corps we went to Chili’s to mourn. And, when we were finally medically cleared, we celebrated at Chili’s. We even ate our last meal in the U.S. at the Chili’s Too in JFK airport.

You may be wondering why I’m sharing all of this. Part of it is probably that I am totally jonesing for their chips and salsa. (Insert sound of Homer Simpson drooling) But it’s also partly because we’ve recently decided that Nando’s is our Botswana Chili’s. Nando’s happens to be the only chain restaurant in Moleps, and definitely the best food in town. They serve barbeque chicken with Portuguese peri peri spices – mild, hot or lemon pepper. You can get chicken burgers, pieces of chicken, and chicken pitas and wraps. It all basically tastes the same, the chicken is either on the bone, boneless or cut-up into the pita or wrap. If you buy the meal it comes with fries and a canned soda.

Nando’s is pretty pricey on a PCV budget (between P25 and P32 for a meal) so we can only go there about once a month. While we were in training we’d charge our meals to a credit card because we couldn’t afford it on our P15/day “walking around allowance.” We’d justify the credit card purchase as our “need for sanity” and the fact that it was really only $5 to $7 for the meals. We were proud of ourselves last week for budgeting in Nando’s for lunch just using our daily allowance.

As much as I like Nando’s, however, I’d still give my right arm for a bowl of chips and salsa from Chili’s …

I took a sick day on Friday with a nasty flu that had been building up for a few days. I had a minor fever, body aches and a swollen gland. I eventually visited a doctor late Friday morning after my fever spiked to over 101 degrees. He gave me antibiotics and a bunch of other medications that helped me turn the corner.

I just have to say that taking a sick day in the Peace Corps means you must REALLY be sick. No way would I ever take sick day just to stay at home when you don’t have a TV to watch – way too boring. I was so sick on Friday all I wanted to do was lay in bed and do nothing. Reading was too much effort and even listening to music from my MP3 player was too much noise. Having a TV for idle entertainment would have made it much better.

I am finally back at work today. Feeling well enough, at least, that the idea of staying at home was enough to get me out. :)