December 2007 Archives

(from a sign at the Spar in St. Lucia. Very PC of them. Everyone calls this time of year the festive season. It seems more appropriate given the hot weather.) We're in Durban now. Came a day earlier than planned and loving it so far. We're about 100m from the beach. Can't beat that. Only five days left to THE LION KING and then back to Bots. Will post pictures when we return.

We're in Swaziland now and having a great time. Saw all kinds of game in Kruger. Lions on the side of the road, rhinos. All the big 5 except cheetah. We don't have cell phone access in Swazi but will for Christmas when we're back in SA. If you want to call us the number is +27 732132281 More to come on our trip when we return :)

You talked about how much down time you have, but on the other hand you seem to be very busy. My job description says I'll be working 7:30-4:30, then working with after school programs and weekend activities. It sounds like I won't have a minute to spare. Is there a lot of down time or not?

I guess being “busy” in Botswana is relative (though I am busy by any standard of measurement). You are a PCV 24/7, but I can assure that you will have more than a minute to spare.

You will have many days at work that you feel aren’t very productive—you’re going to have to deal with that. You won’t have something work related everyday after school or on every weekend either. To make matters worse, you may feel stuck inside your home after working hours. This is largely because it’s not safe to be out after dark unless you have a ride, and even that can be dangerous because of cows/donkeys/goats on the road and rampant drunk driving. Also, Botswana is closer to the equator and there is no daylight savings time. In winter, the sun sets around 6:00 p.m. In summer, the sun sets around 7:00 p.m. People tend to head inside and lock up after dark. There will be lots time between sunset and sleeping.

How “busy” you are is up to you. I truly believe that a good PCV will make themselves busy, even if means just falling back on the Role of a Volunteer as Learner. A lazy/jaded PCV will always find an excuse not to be busy, ignoring that a PCV can play different and equally valuable roles in a community. But no matter how much you put yourself out there you will have plenty of time to enrich yourself.

Yesterday Brian picked up this mysterious package from the Peace Corps office addressed to me from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Inside was a stuffed polar bear. At first I was like, "How did the WWF know that I love polar bears and where to send it?" And then, when Brian pointed out that there was a letter inside, I found out that it was a Christmas present from my sister, Allison. She made a donation in my name to symbolically adopt a polar bear. What a great idea! I had a huge smile on my face all day, while the bear sat on my lap at work. Allison says the idea for adopting a polar bear came to her after we bonded over our shared distress from the polar bear story arc in the BBC series "Planet Earth." (Note: If you haven't seen the "Planet Earth" series, go out right now and rent it. Or buy it from Amazon, it's worth the investment. The series is the best thing I've ever seen and I'm totally not exaggerating here.) Just thinking about the poor polar bears who are out drowning in the arctic ocean because global warming is melting the ice (aka where the live) makes me teary eyed.

Anywho, included in the materials was information on other animal "adoptions" available from WWF. I was excited to see that they had some of my favorite species from "Planet Earth" including the snow leopard, arctic fox and amur leopard. Then, of course, they had your expected cute and cuddly animals (lions, pandas and clown fish) and some species that personally I think should never be stuffed (Who wants a stuffed anaconda, stingray or octopus?)

I tried to upload a picture of me and my polar bear, but it doesn't seem to be working. I'll keep working on the picture, but until then just imagine me (a proud mama) with a huge grin on my face holding a stuffed polar bear. Merry Christmas!

On Saturday morning Brian and I will be taking the bus to Joburg to start our two week adventure/Christmas vacation. We’re renting a car in Johannesburg and then driving through eastern South Africa and Swaziland. Following along on the map, our itinerary is as follows: start in Johannesburg and Pretoria, drive east Graskop (north of Nelspruit) for one night and then spend two nights in Kruger National Park (one night each in Lower Sabie and Crocodile Bridge camps). From Kruger we’ll drive south and spend two days/three nights in Swaziland. From Swaziland we’ll drive to the coast where we’ll spend two days in St Lucia and two days in Durban before driving back to Johannesburg. Some of the activities we have planned include game drives in Kruger, hiking and mountain/quad biking in Swaziland, snorkeling at Cape Vidal (near St Lucia), possibly visiting the Natal Sharks Board in Durban, shopping for crafts and spending lots of quality time on the beach and seeing the Broadway version of The Lion King at The Teatro at Montecasino in Johannesburg. (The soundtrack has been on my MP3 player ever since we got the tickets. I’m so stoked!)

I've been planning all the details of the trip so it's pretty much all I can think about right now. So many things to look forward to, but I'm especially excited about the freedom that renting a car gives you. Since we’re not allowed to drive while at site as PCVs I forget how convenient it is to be able to jump in the car and go wherever and whenever you want. It's going to be great just to explore wherever we want.

One Christmas tradition my family has it to eat chili for dinner on Christmas Eve. The tradition is so strong that Brian and I have also kept it since being married. (If I’m not mistaken I think the chili tradition started with my mom’s family, so this has been going for sometime now.)

Who would have thought, then, that chili for Christmas would be a tradition we’d keep in Botswana? It started with our first Christmas here (2005) when we traveled to Nata to visit our friend Melody and stay at Elephant Sands. Here’s the scene: Brian and I took the overnight train on Dec 23 from Gabs to Francistown then fought our way on to the 6am bus from Francistown to Nata. We show up at Mel’s house, it’s Christmas Eve and we’re exhausted from the travel but what does she have cooking on the stove? Chili. For some reason, despite the 90 degree weather, Mel had the inspiration to make chili for Christmas Eve. She had no idea about our family’s tradition. I, of course, was totally thrilled. What an unexpected treat.

Last year we returned to Nata and Elephant Sands to celebrate Christmas. There was a slightly larger group than the year before, but Mel still remembered to make chili for Christmas Eve. This year I’m planning to keep up the tradition in two ways. First, we have a group of friends coming to stay with us on their way to Lesotho on Tuesday so – again despite the 90 degree weather – I’m planning to make chili and corn bread for dinner that night and have a little holiday dinner. (I haven’t seen eggnog here so I won’t be able to have eggnog with 7-Up to make it a real Smith family dinner.) Second, I'll be bringing a bag of chili powder with us on our trip to South Africa in order to make chili on Christmas Eve.

Picture: Me enjoying chili for Christmas Eve at Mel’s house in 2005.

Headquarters in Washington, D.C. sent out a press release in advance of December 1st titled, Peace Corps Turns Hope Into Action On World AIDS Day. The Zebras project was highlighted as key volunteer-led intervention:

In Botswana, Volunteers are working with voluntary testing and counseling centers to help implement the Zebras for Life--Test for Life campaign, which promotes behavior change among football fans, and encourages young people to get tested. Those who complete the full counseling and testing process receive a [blue] bracelet with the campaign's message inscribed. Several players from the Zebra national football team serve as role models and spokespeople for the campaign.

The campaign was also recently praised by local leaders in the Kgalagadi District in a Botswana Daily News article on November 27th titled, Dikereke le borre, matshego a tsholofelo (the article is in Setswana).

This kind of recognition motivates me to keep pushing myself and the campaign, especially considering all of the logistical problems we've suffered through lately. We hoped to end the year with several strong events, but things kind of fizzled out and we had to pull back and regroup for next year. On a more positive note, the data that is coming in shows that the campaign is working: Men are testing in higher numbers, Tebelopele's ration of male-to-female clients is nearly even, and testing centres are posting all time highs in client loads. Scott, Hannah, and all Peace Corps volunteers in Botswana past and present should be proud of their efforts.

Photo: Brian and Libby pose with Botswana national team players and HIV testing spokespersons.

We are receiving inquiries from a few folks in Bots7 who will depart in April ‘08. We are excited to hear from you and ready to answer your questions and concerns. In the near future we will post a few documents on the blog that will be worth checking out. In the mean time there are a few things you can do to prepare:

Read up on HIV/AIDS at your local library and on the internet.

I am often surprised that new trainees profess to lack knowledge on HIV/AIDS and then go on to blame Peace Corps for not spending what little training time exists on something they should have researched on their own. Hardly the independent and mature attitude expected of a PCV. Get started studying up on HIV/AIDS right away. If possible, consider volunteering at a local AIDS service organization to learn more.

Start a Yahoo or Google group with your training class.

You may find a trainee that is coming from your state or hometown. Meeting up before staging can help make the departure process a lot easier. Seeing friendly faces in Phily, Scott and Coleman, definitely helped us feel more comfortable being with 23 other strangers.

Be thinking about how you plan to spend hours and hours of down time.

I’m surprised how many volunteers have no hobbies or interests other than reading, studying for the GRE/MCAT/LSAT, and/or watching DVDs on a laptop. Those things just won’t cut it. I like to run, practice the guitar, play sports, play nerdy strategy games (Carcassonne rules!), teach people card games…. In Molepolole, I even had a rather productive vegetable garden. I guess that I’m unusual for a PCV because I wish I had MORE down time for the things I enjoy. Use your personal time to enrich yourself by learning a new skill and/or perfecting something you already enjoy doing.


Enough advice for now. Your questions:

We celebrated World AIDS Day by ... okay we didn't celebrate World AIDS Day. This is our third WAD (as I like to call it) in Botswana and I think we're jaded enough to know better than to attend an event. Lots of money spent, no behaviors changed, no infections prevented, nobody receiving care or treatment because of it.

However, I did want to point people to this essay by Mpho Mogodi, who was my neighbor in the caravan at BOTUSA until she left to pursue her MPH at Johns Hopkins. She raises excellent points about PEPFAR and the need for capacity building. It's one of those really tough issues that have no easy answers. Very good questions that need to be considered and especially approprite to this year's theme "Leading the Fight." There are also really good links and articles on the JHSPH World AIDS Day website that you should check out.