May 2008 Archives

In just under 18 hours I will start my 39 hour journey back to the U.S. (Gabs - Joburg - Atlanta - JFK - SLC, thanks Delta.) I can't believe this whole adventure is finished. Once again I have no idea where this week went. With the office move, giving up Fanta, our friends getting married not to mention the million things you have to get signed off by Peace Corps the week was hectic. It's been a great way to wrap up.

So this is it for me. I'm officially NOT a Peace Corps Volunteer. Whoa. I plan to conclude my Encyclopedia of Life in Botswana series back in the U.S. and when I'm finished I'll be starting another blog somewhere. In the meantime Brian's off to Uganda and has a few more weeks until he leaves. I'm sure he'll do some updating here as well.

write an email and send out text messages telling everyone you know that you're leaving. People write back lots of nice things. :)

No, not the movie I'm talking about my office space here in Bots. You see, I've been kind of spoiled since graduating from college and have always had my own office. Therefore sharing an office with my counterparts in Molepolole (Nancy and then Mma Maphane) took some adjusting. I think that sharing an office in the US probably wouldn't be that bad. Here, however, it usually means usually means that your officemate will go through your desk or rearrange the stuff on your desk at anytime. That was pretty annoying. For example, the DHT didn't keep toilet paper in the bathroom. Instead the supplies lady (Mma Noko) would come around every couple of weeks and issue everyone their own roll. (They also did this with pens.) I tended not to use my whole roll and usually had more than one hiding in a desk drawer. If I was gone for a day it was guaranteed that any stockpile of TP would be gone. When I came to BOTUSA I originally shared a portacabin that had several desks in an open space. Within a few days, however, construction was complete on a new portacabin with actual offices and I was the first to move in. I was thrilled to find out that not only would I have my own office but it came completely furnished with guest chairs and a bookshelf. I will never take having my own office for granted again.

During our visit to Moleps last week we had lunch at our favorite place in town: Hot Favorites. The food at Hot Favorites isn't anything to rave about, but it's better than most places and fills you up.

The basic gist of eating out in Bots is as easy as picking a starch a meat and a salad (or two). Starches usually include pap, madombe (dumplings), samp & beans or rice. Meats include fried chicken, stewed chicken or beef while salads include beetroot, coleslaw, or mashed up butternut squash. My all-time favorite thing to get is madombe with fried chicken and soup (gravy.) Yummm. It's hard to find places with madombe because they're more time consuming to make than rice or samp. Therefore even though Hot Favorites was a hike to get to from work we'd make the trek at least once a month because we could almost always count on them to have madombe. (Unfortunately last week they didn't have madombe and I just couldn't get my head around having rice so I skipped lunch.)

I have no idea where the last week went. It has been such a whirlwind of activities, seeing friends and wrapping up. The time is going so quickly now and I am going to be so sad to leave next week.

So let's see. On Wednesday night Brian and I were invited to a dinner at our Country Director's home to honor Ambassador Canavan who is wrapping up her service in Botswana next month. Ambassador Canavan was a PCV in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) and has been an amazing support to Peace Corps here. The initial funds for the Zebras4Life campaign came from her HIV/AIDS budget and without her support the project would not have gotten off the ground. What I respect most about Ambassador Canavan, however, is just how personable she is. Not the stuffy State Department person you'd expect. From the picture above, can you even pick her out? I think she fits in seemlessly. Brian and I really appreciated being invited to the dinner so that we could thank the Ambassador one last time for her support.

Then on Thursday Brian and I traveled out to Molepolole where we took a bunch of our stuff to sell. You cannot imagine the things we've acquired in three years. However, we can only take back whatever we can fit into our luggage (or want to pay to ship ourselves) so we have to get rid of all non-essential items. Most of it was household items like plastic containers, sheets, blankets, old clothes etc. The goal in our trip to Molepolole wasn't to make a bunch of money but rather just to get rid of everything. Let's just say it worked, and we sold everything to less than 10 people. Whew!

That night we went to dinner with our friends Basipo, Chipo and Gift. Basipo was a nurse in Sojwe and friends with our PCV friend Kathi. She now works in Francistown and made the trip down to say goodbye. What a sweetheart. The dinner was a little crazy as we ran into a big group of PCVs from Bots 5 that are leaving starting this week. Lots of goodbyes to say that night.

Finally, yesterday I went to lunch with my colleagues from the portacabin. I don't think I've mentioned here but at BOTUSA I work in a trailer that is outside the main building. Everyone in the portacabin works in different areas but we've formed a bond from being in the same space. Not only is next week my last week but it's also the last week we'll all be in the portacabin because BOTUSA is moving to new space and everyone there will be moving to different buildings. So we all went to lunch to celebrate our last Friday as portacabin colleagues. Marcus made it especially fun by having us all name one thing we'll miss about the portacabin and our favorite temporary portacabin member.

So I fly out one week from tomorrow. I don't even like to think about it. Leaving Brian behind is going to be hard. Giving Fanta away is going to be hard. Saying goodbye to everyone is going to be hard. I am really not looking forward to it.

Marsha gave me and Brian magazine subscriptions for our first Christmas here. Brian’s is for Sports Illustrated and mine is for People. The magazines are sent to her house in the U.S. first and then she bundles them up and ships them once or twice a month. It is such a treat. I don’t think I’ve ever been as up-to-date on celebrity gossip as I am now, even given that the magazines are about 2-3 weeks late. The best part about magazines subscriptions is they’re the gift that keeps on giving. We read them and then pass them along to other volunteers and I have never had a problem getting others to take them.

In Botswana potato chips (aka “crisps”) come in every flavor imaginable: Fried chicken, Peri-Peri, sour cream and onion, cheese and onion, chutney, beef jerky, salt and vinegar, Mexican chili, etc. (Just to be clear “chips” refer to French fries.) For a long time my favorite flavor good ol’ “lightly salted” (or plain.) Problem was plain crisps were hard to find in Moleps so they became a treat when we came to Gabs. I still enjoy Lightly Salted but now my favorite flavor is Oven Roasted Chicken and Thyme by Lays. Yummmmm. They’re extra yummy dipped in ranch dressing. I also really enjoy the Woolworth’s brand crisps that are “Sea Salt and Crushed Pepper” flavor. Ooooh. Bet you can’t eat just one!

Setswana for "no." It's one of those little sounds that you take for granted but will totally make you stick out if you say it in the U.S. Also in that category: "Ee" (I say this often to our French teacher); "this side" or "that side" as in "My office is that side"; and "yeah, no" as in "yeah, no, I totally agree."

Another thing I miss about life in Molepolole is having kids in the neighborhood over at our house. Or even having kids around. Pretty much everyone in our neighborhood has tall walls with electric fencing so we just don't see kids playing in the street like we did in Moleps. Sometimes I miss that alot. But, don't get me wrong, having kids around all the time wasn't always idyllic. There was one little girl who was maybe the cutest little girl ever but a terrorist when she didn't get her way. And sometimes the group would get a little bratty and ask "why?" when we said no to doing something. Then we had to start saying no to everything for a while just so they wouldn't take us for granted.

Nevertheless, some highlights of our neighbor kids in Moleps include:

• Field day with the kids basically racing around the house a million times. Foot races, wheelbarrow races, one-foot jumping races, you name it. (See picture.)


• The first time we had a big rainstorm a large puddle formed in the street. Brian taught the kids to make paper boats and then they raced them in the puddle.


• Playing frisbee or softball in the street.


• Teaching the kids to play Uno. They got the general idea but could never remember to take turns.


• Brian's "basimane power trio" with three little boys playing the guitar, harmonica and drums.


• Coloring on the porch

We have the best full moons here – especially out in the village or when you’re camping and there are no street lights to block out its light. When the moon is full it feels like early morning all night, but when the moon is new the darkness is completely consuming. One of the things I miss most about life in the village is enjoying the full moon. The full moon effect just isn’t the same in the city. Our friends gave me this Full Moon Calendar pictured for my birthday last year. I will be taking it with me so that I can reminisce about the bright Botswana moon at the right time of each month.

One thing that I absolutely do not look forward to is doing laundry. Our twin tub died about two months ago, but even before that doing laundry was a total chore. The twin tub took 10 steps just to do one load (which wasn’t that many clothes):

1. Drag machine from back bedroom into the kitchen
2. Attach hook-ups for water and drainage
3. Wash clothes
4. Drain clothes and move to spinner
5. Spin clothes then move back to main tub
6. Add clean water and rinse
7. Drain clothes and move to spinner
8. Spin
9. Remove clothes and hang outside to dry
10. Repeat 1-2 more times depending on amount of laundry to be done

What’s worse than washing clothes in a twin tub? Washing them by hand, which is what we’ve been relegated to since the twin tub died. Talk about backbreaking work. Not to mention that I still don’t have the correct technique so my hands always end up blistered and sore. In Molepolole we originally paid someone to do laundry for us once a week. Then we got the twin tub and she came once a week to clean the house. That was so nice. In Gabs it’s a lot harder to find someone to do “piece jobs” like that.

Brian and I try to do laundry once a week. Otherwise the loads get out of control. For example, last weekend it rained both Saturday and Sunday. So this weekend we’re going to have a ton of laundry to wash. Boo. I am very much looking forward to having a washer and dryer in the U.S.

This is me and Mma Maphane, my counterpart in Molepolole. (Mma is Setswana for Ms. or Mrs.) Her given name is Keamogetse, which is a mouth full even for Batswana so everyone just called her Mma Maphane. She was the Community Health Nurse for Kweneng District when I started working with the PMTCT program. Then the PMTCT Focal Person I was working with left and she took over. This was about April 2006 and I was really excited to have someone new to work with. I totally appreciate Mma Maphane. Not because she’s perfect, but because she was willing to learn and work with me. She recently transferred to Maun where her husband is headmaster at a school. Fortunately we were able to see her one last time while Al & Scott were visiting.

My flight is on Sunday, June 1st. I thought June 1st was a Monday. Good thing Brian pointed it out to me.

I can't believe how quickly the time has gone.

Especially our 3rd year.

At the same time I feel like we've been gone forever.

I'm really looking forward to going home.

I am NOT looking forward to giving up Fanta. *sniffle*

Fortunately I have a great home lined up for her with a colleague from work.

I am close to finalizing housing in Baltimore thanks to our amazing friends Arnie and Bunnie who offered to check places out for me.

I'm nervous about starting school so quickly after returning to the U.S.

I mean, how to people organize themselves? I haven't had to keep a real schedule with deadlines for 3 years now.

I am looking forward to visiting office supply stores in the U.S. to reacquaint myself with the variety of products available. (A love of office supply stores runs in my family.)

I will try my level best to finish the rest of the alphabet in my "Encylcopedia of Life in Botswana" series.

I also have more favorite places to write about.

Things I'm looking forward to in the US?

• Unlimited nights and weekends


• Stable wireless internet


• Food


• Like Taco Bell


• and Taco Time


• and unlimited chips and salsa at Chili's


• and ice cream not made with vegetable oil

Things I will miss about Bots:

• Sunsets


• the full moon


• Having our own little house


• Fanta


• Playing games with Brian


• Oven Roasted Chicken & Thyme potato chips by Lays


• Donkeys roaming the streets

Let the countdown begin!

In Setswana “kwena” means crocodile. Kwena is also the totem for the Bakwena tribe (crocodile people) that is centered in and around Molepolole. The Bakwena are one of four major Tswana tribes in Botswana. (Mokwena is the word to describe one member of the Bakwena tribe.) People are always surprised that a settlement of more than 60,000 people, like Molepolole, is considered a “village.” What this reflects, though, is that the village is still under tribal administration by the Bakwena tribe. The tribe controls distribution of land and has jurisdiction over misdemeanor crimes (like cow stealing and petty theft.) Cities and towns have city and town councils that are responsible for administration of the area.

In Molepolole Brian and I worked for Kweneng District. Kweneng translates to something like "crocodile place." I like to compare districts to counties in the U.S. The highest ranking official in the district is the District Commissioner. While Botswana was never colonized by the British they still had British administration. Back in the day the District Commissioner was a representative of the British government. Now they represent the Ministry of Local Government and are responsible for everything from social welfare, to marriage counseling and conducting marriages.

What statement is nerdier?

Because I’m the Architect I’m going to spend 8 gold pieces to build both a Dragon Gate and School of Magic!

I’m a Level-5 Dungeon Master!

If you go with the former, then you’re describing a possible move in Citadels, a self-described “game of medieval cities, nobles and intrigue.” If you go with the latter, let’s hope for the sake of your social life that you don’t know why the statement is unfeasible.*

Citidels is by far the nerdiest game in our collection. It’s so nerdy that we had to whisper our moves back and forth when playing it at backpackers in South Africa and Swaziland on our big trip a few months back. The card game, which can have 2-7 players, involves acquiring gold pieces to build improvements in your city. The dynamics change each round as players select one of eight characters with special powers (Assasin, Theif, Magician, King, Bishop, Merchant, Architect and Warlord). It’s a bit like a mix of Magic—The Gathering, Settlers of Catan Card Game and Murderer in the Dark (that game you played at sleepovers and camp outs).

If you’re playing with two players, you recognize pretty quickly the shear dominance of the Assisin/Theif/King, which is why I don’t recommend it as a two player game. If you are playing with more people, however, it can be really annoying to wait around as each player analyzes the available characters and chooses one-by-one. It’s almost like the author built in a Mountain Dew and/or bathroom break into each round. It helps a bit if the players have the characters’ powers memorized. Even then, the game has way too much waiting around for other people to make their moves until it’s your turn—boring! The trading element in Settlers of Catan Board Game and Bohnanza keep you engrossed into the action even when it’s not your turn. This isn’t true of Citadels.

Overall, I think Citadels just ok, but only if you have more than two players. I would only recommend it to nerdy gamers who will play it multiple times with the same group of people.

*There’s no level of Dungeon Master!