Balelapa La Me Mo Mochudi

...or... My Family in Mochudi

I don't even know where to start. Maybe my host mom. Her name is Andile and she's 35. She has three kids who I'll talk about later. She has a boyfriend in Mochudi who I've met one. And I think the kids' father is working in South Africa, or that's what the kids told me. Andile is a councilman. I'm not sure exactly what that means, and we've never really talked so I haven't asked. She likes to drink and smoke a lot though. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday she goes out to bars. And like I mentioned, we don't really talk. She normally gets home around dinner time and is really tired. So she'll lay down either on the porch or in the sitting room. After Generations, a TV show that comes on at 8 that everyone watches, I go to bed and she stays up. Lately we've been sharing a room so we'll chat in the morning sometimes.

Andile's sister is Zowie. She was really nice for the first two days and helped me out around the house, letting me know where thigns were and how I can help out. Now there's never anything for me to do. Zowie doesn't work but does most of the house work. She cooks every meal, cleans and looks after Andile's kids during the day. She tends to walk around in leggings and a towel. This weekend I was doing my laundry in teh yard. I washed all my clothes and then hung them on the line to dry. Zowie walked by and asked if I did my laundry like that at home. When I said no, she said "I can tell by the way you hang them" and walked back inside. She was laughing and I did too, but I was overlapping the clothes because there hadn't been enough clothes pins out and I hadn't asked for more. It's just a little awkward.

I don't even know Andile's brother's name. He goes to bars on the weekends too and I don't think he works. He lives in a one room building in front of the house and I hardly ever see him, although he did watch me do my laundry one day while eating breakfast. awkward.

Andile's mom is super sweet. We don't really talk but we tend to laugh when we see each other. One day she asked me if I knew how to iron. When I said yet, she just laughed and walked away.

Tlotlo is Andile's 6year old son. He's super cute but also likes to push the rules. He's in Form 3 (3rd grade) likes to talk to me in English. Sometimes I have to make him and his younger brother leave my room when they start to fight.

Legae is Andile's 3 year old son. He's adorable but wants to be just like his brother so he'll sometimes see how far he can go too. His favorite thing to do is make faces at me that I return. He's also found it really fun to try to balance on my out stretched leg as we watch TV. By far Legae's biggest fault is the fact that he's not a morning person at all. He cries every morning. His mom bathes and dresses him most mornings.

Peo is Legae's twin sister. She might just be the cutest thing I've ever seen. She has a smile that lights up a room. Her English isn't as good as Legae's so I try to talk to her in Setswana, and while we can talk a lot of the time, she doesn't understand that I can only understand her when she speaks slowly. Peo really likes to play with my hair and sit on my lap while I try to eat.

So that's the fam in Mochudi. I'm trying to upload pictures of them to facebook, and hopefully it'll work but my connection's a little slow today.

Looking into the future: I'm finishing up my last week interning wtih BOFWA. On Saturday we take a bus back to Gabs where we meet our next families and move right in! Talk about no down time!

pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2068401&id=1036350539&l=81a6b82d33

Dumela, from Mochudi!

I found a great internet cafe in Mochudi, where we're doing our second homestay. I only have a few minutes left, so I thought I'd try to give a quick update on life here, although I've barely started to explore the village.

My family is fun. My host mom is more like my sister, she's just a few years older than me. She has three kids: a 6year old boy, and twin 4year olds, a boy and a girl. i think i have 4 other siblings (all in their late 20s and early 30s) but i'm not quite sure who's related to me and who's not. my grandma and grandpa also live at home. my grandma's adorable. she's really sweet. my first morning, as i was washing dishes (and we go through a ton of dishes with so many people and visitors!), she pulled me over to the fire where she was cooking traditional beer in a HUGE pot. she told me all about how she cooks it to sell.

i've been keeping busy by getting out of the house. my first full day in mochudi was spent at a wedding and hanging out with some friends from the program. yesterday, i walked all around the village. murphy, casey and i walked to the top of a hill and looked out over the whole village. it was beautiful, but also shocking because mochudi is SO MUCH bigger than manyana! the houses spread out farther than we could see. i can't wait to explore more.

today i walked into town by myself (about 40 minutes) and found the internet cafe i'm current at. i bought crackers and cheese at the store and had lunch outside with ian, jesse and cameron. we'll see what the rest of today holds!!

on monday, i start working with BOFWA, an organization that focuses on HIV/AIDS issues, especially those surrounding Mochudi's youth. i'm not sure exactly what work i'll be doing, but hopefully it'll be interesting and worthwhile.

email when you can! i want to hear from everyone and look forward to updates!!!!
love,
karen