...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
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Update Time!
here's what's happened in the last week:
presented at a primary school on the negative effects of drug/alcohol abuse. the students said they couldn't understand my english so my boss reviewed what i said. i'd been told presenting in english would be fine, but the kids certainly didn't think so. it was pretty embarrassing to be told to continue talking even after they said they couldn't understand me.
i finally learned the names of my three younger siblings: Tlotlo (boy. i think translates to pride) is 6. Peo (girl. translates to seed) is twins with Legae (boy. not sure of the translation) who are both 4.
my shoe broke at work yesterday so i stapled it 8 times and it held up the rest of the day.
i can successfully hail any combi or taxi going in my direction.
i visited Mochudi's museum with Ian, Katie and their students from a school for the visually impaired. it was super interesting to see all of the really old pictures and artifacts. there was one pot, probably a foot and a half deep with an opening about a foot wide that was used to bury people. someone was telling me there was little respect for the body of a dead person, so they were shoved into these pots and buried. after the museum, two students taught me to play mhele, a traditional game that's kind of like tic-tac-toe on steroids.
while i absolutely love the work BOFWA does, they don't really have anything for me to do. i sometimes read, sometimes talk to other volunteers, and sometimes do homework. or sometimes i leave early.
i've gone twice to Motswedi Rehabilitation Center with NT, the BOFWA employee I wrote about last time. It's super fun to play games with the kids. we do things similar to Simon Says and Duck-Duck-Goose. i have also sat in on physical therapy for young kids. that was super tough to watch because the kids were getting stretched out and screaming so loud. at the same time, there were older people (70s or 80s) who were from an org that works with people living with HIV. they were doing exercises to strengthen their muscles. they couldn't walk without a lot of support. their motivation to walk even just five feet was inspirational.
i went to a club friday night with Nt and Ian where live music was being played. we were interviewed for BTV (botswana tv). i also went to a party the police department was throwing because someone was retiring. a little weird to see police partying.
we discovered the Mochudi library, a cute little two room air conditioned building with books we can't check out and computers we can't use because we won't be here for two years. but they do have ethernet cables we can use and apparently it's the fastest connection around (i have yet to use it).
i've had a few more setswana lessons, so i keep trying to talk to people in the village and they laugh every time i do. but they're always impressed with how much we all know and how well we can get around town.
watched the first half of Home Alone 2 at cameron's house.
considering how long it's been since i last posted, not too much has happened. a lot of down time and relaxing. i finished a book: Cyclops. i never though i'd enjoy a scifi book, but i did!!
presented at a primary school on the negative effects of drug/alcohol abuse. the students said they couldn't understand my english so my boss reviewed what i said. i'd been told presenting in english would be fine, but the kids certainly didn't think so. it was pretty embarrassing to be told to continue talking even after they said they couldn't understand me.
i finally learned the names of my three younger siblings: Tlotlo (boy. i think translates to pride) is 6. Peo (girl. translates to seed) is twins with Legae (boy. not sure of the translation) who are both 4.
my shoe broke at work yesterday so i stapled it 8 times and it held up the rest of the day.
i can successfully hail any combi or taxi going in my direction.
i visited Mochudi's museum with Ian, Katie and their students from a school for the visually impaired. it was super interesting to see all of the really old pictures and artifacts. there was one pot, probably a foot and a half deep with an opening about a foot wide that was used to bury people. someone was telling me there was little respect for the body of a dead person, so they were shoved into these pots and buried. after the museum, two students taught me to play mhele, a traditional game that's kind of like tic-tac-toe on steroids.
while i absolutely love the work BOFWA does, they don't really have anything for me to do. i sometimes read, sometimes talk to other volunteers, and sometimes do homework. or sometimes i leave early.
i've gone twice to Motswedi Rehabilitation Center with NT, the BOFWA employee I wrote about last time. It's super fun to play games with the kids. we do things similar to Simon Says and Duck-Duck-Goose. i have also sat in on physical therapy for young kids. that was super tough to watch because the kids were getting stretched out and screaming so loud. at the same time, there were older people (70s or 80s) who were from an org that works with people living with HIV. they were doing exercises to strengthen their muscles. they couldn't walk without a lot of support. their motivation to walk even just five feet was inspirational.
i went to a club friday night with Nt and Ian where live music was being played. we were interviewed for BTV (botswana tv). i also went to a party the police department was throwing because someone was retiring. a little weird to see police partying.
we discovered the Mochudi library, a cute little two room air conditioned building with books we can't check out and computers we can't use because we won't be here for two years. but they do have ethernet cables we can use and apparently it's the fastest connection around (i have yet to use it).
i've had a few more setswana lessons, so i keep trying to talk to people in the village and they laugh every time i do. but they're always impressed with how much we all know and how well we can get around town.
watched the first half of Home Alone 2 at cameron's house.
considering how long it's been since i last posted, not too much has happened. a lot of down time and relaxing. i finished a book: Cyclops. i never though i'd enjoy a scifi book, but i did!!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
BOFWA
with constant access to super cheat internet, i'll hopefully be updating every few days. (it's less than fifty cents per 30 minutes!!) and it's fast. :)
i started my internship at BOFWA (Botswana Family Welfare Association) yesterday (the link is in this post somewhere). it's an NGO and i work in the Mochudi branch. it's been super low key so far. yesterday, i got dropped off around 10. my initial impression was confusion. the building is bright orange with purple trim. there's three buildings with a tennis/netball court in front and a huge tree for shade over a cement picnic table.
i anticipated BOFWA as being an ngo that worked only on HIV/AIDS, since that's how it had been presented to me. turns out the mochudi facility has a full clinic that treats anyone who comes, and a lot of people come since it's not a government clinic and has shorter lines. they also do hiv testing and peer education/counseling. but in addition, it's a youth center. kids come after school to hang out and play games. Kex teaches karate everyday, which is something i told him i'd try a few times!
i got a tour of the facility from the man who runs it, Ke a leboga (translates to thank you) or Kex. he didn't have anything for me to do, so after asking questions and chatting for an hour, he drove me half way to a cultural fair outside town. i say half way because we ended up driving behind the van of an organization we partner with, Stepping Stones. so they pulled over, i hopped in their car and Kex headed back to BOFWA. i couldn't understand much of what happened at the culture day because most of it was in setswana. but the botswana police's full band was there (about 20 people in it) so it was fun to hear them play. a school for the blind also performed on the marimbas which was cool. in the audience was Miss World, 2008 (she's from botswana), the UN Ambassador to Botswana and the Paramount Chief. In order to get a ride home, i hitched with Daniel, who's from my program and his supervisor at RADP, the org. he's working with in Mochudi. Once i got back into town, i met up with a few friends. we went to where they work for what we thought would be just a few minutes to finalize their schedules. instead it turned into more than an hour of meeting everyone they'll be working with.
today was a little crazy too. i showed up half an hour early because i thought the combi (public transport) would take longer than it did. i met two new people who had actually been at the culture fair but didn't know who i was so didn't say hi. Nt remembered me and knew i'd been wearing a blue dress though. i walked with Nt to her house because she had to take her ARVs at 8am sharp. we talked for awhile about her status. it was incredibly interesting because i've never had a conversation with a person living positive before. she told me she's known for 6 years, she had tests done this week and her doctors now want to change her meds, that her parents initially abandoned her when they found out but that her boyfriend was very supportive. now her parents have accepted her back, although she can't forget the hurt they caused. i was so touched she was so open and i'd literally met her 20 minutes before.
once we got the keys to go in, there wasn't much to do, again. we're meeting with teachers tomorrow about a spelling bee. the words are all relating to medical issues, so the point is to teach kids their definitions. three of us copied all of the words and definitions (more than 7 handwritten pages) before i was told there was a copier. efficiency isn't always a priority. also, there's a computer and printer. i would have been happy to have typed everything up and printed out four copies. that way, they also would've had the words on file. after that, i hung out with the other local volunteers.
my internet time's almost up so i'll sum up the rest of my day: walked to lunch with Nt and another girl where we had the traditional lunch of phaleche, name, le morogo (phaleche, meat and greens). went back to bowfa and hung out. took a 40 minute power nap on a couch. hung out outside with the local volunteers again. then took a combi to town where i shopped at Choppies and came to the internet cafe.
that's it for time. hopefully next time i'll get to my family.
until then, i love and miss you all!!!
Lorato
i started my internship at BOFWA (Botswana Family Welfare Association) yesterday (the link is in this post somewhere). it's an NGO and i work in the Mochudi branch. it's been super low key so far. yesterday, i got dropped off around 10. my initial impression was confusion. the building is bright orange with purple trim. there's three buildings with a tennis/netball court in front and a huge tree for shade over a cement picnic table.
i anticipated BOFWA as being an ngo that worked only on HIV/AIDS, since that's how it had been presented to me. turns out the mochudi facility has a full clinic that treats anyone who comes, and a lot of people come since it's not a government clinic and has shorter lines. they also do hiv testing and peer education/counseling. but in addition, it's a youth center. kids come after school to hang out and play games. Kex teaches karate everyday, which is something i told him i'd try a few times!
i got a tour of the facility from the man who runs it, Ke a leboga (translates to thank you) or Kex. he didn't have anything for me to do, so after asking questions and chatting for an hour, he drove me half way to a cultural fair outside town. i say half way because we ended up driving behind the van of an organization we partner with, Stepping Stones. so they pulled over, i hopped in their car and Kex headed back to BOFWA. i couldn't understand much of what happened at the culture day because most of it was in setswana. but the botswana police's full band was there (about 20 people in it) so it was fun to hear them play. a school for the blind also performed on the marimbas which was cool. in the audience was Miss World, 2008 (she's from botswana), the UN Ambassador to Botswana and the Paramount Chief. In order to get a ride home, i hitched with Daniel, who's from my program and his supervisor at RADP, the org. he's working with in Mochudi. Once i got back into town, i met up with a few friends. we went to where they work for what we thought would be just a few minutes to finalize their schedules. instead it turned into more than an hour of meeting everyone they'll be working with.
today was a little crazy too. i showed up half an hour early because i thought the combi (public transport) would take longer than it did. i met two new people who had actually been at the culture fair but didn't know who i was so didn't say hi. Nt remembered me and knew i'd been wearing a blue dress though. i walked with Nt to her house because she had to take her ARVs at 8am sharp. we talked for awhile about her status. it was incredibly interesting because i've never had a conversation with a person living positive before. she told me she's known for 6 years, she had tests done this week and her doctors now want to change her meds, that her parents initially abandoned her when they found out but that her boyfriend was very supportive. now her parents have accepted her back, although she can't forget the hurt they caused. i was so touched she was so open and i'd literally met her 20 minutes before.
once we got the keys to go in, there wasn't much to do, again. we're meeting with teachers tomorrow about a spelling bee. the words are all relating to medical issues, so the point is to teach kids their definitions. three of us copied all of the words and definitions (more than 7 handwritten pages) before i was told there was a copier. efficiency isn't always a priority. also, there's a computer and printer. i would have been happy to have typed everything up and printed out four copies. that way, they also would've had the words on file. after that, i hung out with the other local volunteers.
my internet time's almost up so i'll sum up the rest of my day: walked to lunch with Nt and another girl where we had the traditional lunch of phaleche, name, le morogo (phaleche, meat and greens). went back to bowfa and hung out. took a 40 minute power nap on a couch. hung out outside with the local volunteers again. then took a combi to town where i shopped at Choppies and came to the internet cafe.
that's it for time. hopefully next time i'll get to my family.
until then, i love and miss you all!!!
Lorato
Saturday, October 2, 2010
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
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
Friday, September 24, 2010
pictures are officially up!
check 'em out:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=2065125&id=1036350539
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=2065125&id=1036350539
Thursday, September 23, 2010
My Setswana Name!
super, super quick post: my trip up north was incredible. i'll write and post more in the next few days. our current plan is to spend 6 days in gaborone for orientation for the next section of our trip. then we head out to do another homestay and an internship. more to come soon.
but, i forgot to post about my setswana name: Lorato. in setswana, r's are rolled. (also, g's are pronounced as h's) lorato means love. masa gave it to me when we met, and i adore it. we keep all of our names the whole time we're in botswana. it's fun to say my name's lorato when people ask for it at restaurants/hotels. they're always impressed we each have our own setswana name.
the other names in our group also have meanings. i know a few meanings, but not all.
kagiso: peace.
lesego: lucky.
leungo: fruit.
benolo: tenderness.
dimpo: gifts
neo: gift
mpho: gift
naledi: star
other names that i don't know the meaning of:
katlhego
tabo
kano
kabo
boitumelo
in setswana culture, names are given to children based on current situations, hopes or desires. i met a man named Rrapula, which literally means Mr. Rain. My guess is he was either born during the rainy season or during a drought when his family wished for rain. April, my brother, was born in the month of april.
but, i forgot to post about my setswana name: Lorato. in setswana, r's are rolled. (also, g's are pronounced as h's) lorato means love. masa gave it to me when we met, and i adore it. we keep all of our names the whole time we're in botswana. it's fun to say my name's lorato when people ask for it at restaurants/hotels. they're always impressed we each have our own setswana name.
the other names in our group also have meanings. i know a few meanings, but not all.
kagiso: peace.
lesego: lucky.
leungo: fruit.
benolo: tenderness.
dimpo: gifts
neo: gift
mpho: gift
naledi: star
other names that i don't know the meaning of:
katlhego
tabo
kano
kabo
boitumelo
in setswana culture, names are given to children based on current situations, hopes or desires. i met a man named Rrapula, which literally means Mr. Rain. My guess is he was either born during the rainy season or during a drought when his family wished for rain. April, my brother, was born in the month of april.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Life in Manyana
It is so hard to sum up my first month in Botswana. My last post was from Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana. I wish that hadn’t been my last post, because it certainly wasn’t my happiest. Although living here hasn’t always been easy, it’s been wonderful.
We spent our first few days in the country in Gaborone, learning the basics of Setswana and what we should expect during out homestay in Manyana, a medium sized village where we would be living for the first month. On our final night in Gabs, we drove about an hour out of the city to a game reserve. We went on a drive and saw lots of great animals. After safari-ing in Zambia just a few weeks before, a fenced in reserve just can’t compare, although it was fun to be with thirteen new friends. We had a braai, or BBQ, in the middle of the bush, which was incredible - so much delicious food and a warm fire to sit by.
The next morning we headed out to Manyana. I can’t retell my entire month there, so I’ll try to hit the highest highs, lowest lows, and most typical normals. My family in Manyana was small: my mom, Masa was sweet. She mumbled a lot, so it was pretty difficult for me to understand her whether she spoke Setswana or English. She has three kids, and only the youngest still lives at home. The older two work outside Gabs. April was my 25 year old brother (he was born during the fourth month) who lived at home. He is so incredibly nice and fun to hang out with. His English was great, so we mostly talked that way. He was on Manyana’s best soccer team (a goal keeper… of course!) so we talked soccer a lot. I got to watch one of his games which was really fun, even though they suffered a tough loss. April has a 2 year old son who I was never able to meet. He lives with his mom outside Gaborone. April visited once while I was in Manyana, although the trip was unplanned. He spent two days and one night with his girlfriend and son.
The last member of my family was my 5 year old nephew. His name is Brian. When he was born there was too much fluid in his brain and he’s now mentally handicapped. His head is much larger than normal, but he may be the sweetest child I’ve ever met. He can’t walk yet although he’d be physically able to learn with enough practice. He can’t talk or really communicate in any way. He mostly sits and giggles to himself. Sometimes we’d sit on the couch together. I’d have to keep my notebooks out of reach so he wouldn’t rip the pages, but he loved to play with my water bottle.
The hardest adjustment was seeing the living conditions he deals with. As far as I can tell, he doesn’t know what going on around him, although that didn’t make the reality any easier to deal with. He’s still fed three meals a day by someone else in the house. His mom works somewhere else and only came to visit twice while I was in Manyana. There are no resources to help Masa raise her grandson, and so without any judgment, I’ll describe Brian’s life. He has his own room in the house. There’s a low bed with blankets as well as a few blankets and pillows from an old couch on the floor. There’s a dresser tied shut with a piece of cloth in the corner. There’s a huge window that’s covered with a pretty transparent sheet. When Brian’s inside the room, the door is locked shut with cloth that is attached to the window on the other side of the wall. Essentially, it’s locked from the outside. Brain was pretty much only brought out for meals and little else. After eating, he stayed out for anywhere from three to thirty minutes, depending on Masa’s energy level and mood. He’d be put back in the room and the makeshift lock secured each night. Since he loved to play with and explore anything that moved, Brain loved to tug on the door. I could often hear it opening and closing. The lowest low I ever hit was when I had to put Brain back in his room for the first time. When I tried to leave, he crawled after me and whined even after I shut and locked the door. Then I could hear him pulling the door open and listen to it slam shut. I wish I could have kept him out and listened to his laugh all night. Before that, I’d only taken him out to feed and play with him. During those times, he always smiled.
Our house was great. Manyana wasn’t near as rural as I expected, but the surprise made the experience fun. My house had three bedrooms, a sitting room and a kitchen. We had electricity (lights and plugs in the wall) in every room. There was a water spicket in the backyard that we constantly used. My room had a queen sized bed and a dresser filled with Brain’s mom’s clothes. There was a comfy wicker chair, two bed side tables and two huge windows draped in a lacy covering. There was a fridge/freezer in the kitchen and a gas stove, plus lots of cabinets and storage space.
The bathroom situation wasn’t ideal… an outhouse in the back corner of our beautiful yard. The hole was covered with a seat, and there was newspaper there, although I opted to use the tp I’d brought from Gabs. The shower situation was worse. I had a green plastic tub (three feet wide, two feet across and one foot deep) and a small bucket at my disposal. Each morning, I’d heat water on the stove and mix it with cold water. I’d fill the bucket with that and take it into my room, where I had to wash with only that water. If I wasn’t smart with my rationing and ran out, I’d have to reuse the dirty water. Needless to say, I perfected my bathing ritual quite quickly. Since washing my hair and body at the same time wasn’t really an option, I switched between the two. Jesse, another student from Pitzer, described showering as “petting yourself with water” and she was exactly right. After each shower we’d dump the dirty water down the outhouse hole. Adding bath water to the small room somehow magnified the smell by at least 20 times, no exaggeration.
Our yard, both front and back was incredible. I’ll try to get pictures up ASAP, but it’s unbelievable. We had three magnificent orange trees that ran along our front fence. The gate always opened with a recognizable creak so that we always knew if someone was coming or going. There was a path that led up to the house, lined with bushes. Some of the bushes had beautiful pink flowers while others had striking white thorns. To the right, Masa grew sugar cane, which April was often munching on. To the left was the outside kitchen, where Masa built a fire each morning and did work outside. That kitchen was attached to what April lovingly referred to as his “drunk house.” It’s the room he moved into so that he wouldn’t wake his mom up all the time when he came home after she’d gone to bed and locked the doors.
Food.... mmmmm. I certainly tried lots of new food, some of which I loved and some of which I didn’t. I decided that while I was in Botswana, I’d eat meat. I’ve been a pescitarian for about three years now, and going back to eating beef and other meat wasn’t easy. I decided to eat meat because food in general is such a large part of Setswana culture and I’m not opposed to the way animals are treated here. Although I was expecting to eat fresh meat here, the majority of meat that I ate came from cans and looked just like cat food. During the week, we ate breakfast and dinner at home and had lunch at school. We ate all weekend meals at home. School food wasn’t much different from what we got at home - it was all soaked in oil. Vegetables are never eaten raw and the meat is cooked until it resembles jerky in texture. On one of my last days, I tried chicken gizzards. Ick. The staple dish is phaleche, which is similar to nsima in Malawi. It’s made by adding maize flower to boiling water and stirring incredibly hard and fast. We didn’t eat phaleche very often, but when we did, it was either with morogo (vegetables) dripping oil or heavily seasoned meat. Other dinners included rice or pasta with vegetables or meat. Breakfasts were pretty much always motogo, or sour porridge. Plain, it was pretty gross. Not even a Motswana will eat motogo without ample amounts of sugar and milk. I learned to ignore the gross amounts of sugar I added each morning to make the porridge sweet and yummy. When we were lucky or Masa had just been to the store, we had scrambled eggs for breakfast. All of that said, I also had some delicious food. Our house often had homemade bread as well. There were lots of delicious kinds of bread, dipapathatas are similar to English muffins, magwina aka fat cakes is dough boiled in oil and dumplings are dough boiled in water. I didn’t get to cook as much as I would have liked. One of my assignments for a class was to write a narrative about any cultural experience we’d had. I decided to write about trying to cook, and my paper's the previous post. Just know that while I do enjoy cooking, I have a hard time without a recipe.
On days off, I went on a few hikes with friends. We found a few great spots. The first was a rock overlooking the entire valley. The view was breathtaking. We tried to hike up toward the end of our trip to watch the sunrise but the day we picked was too overcast. We ended up watching the world around us get lighter without actually seeing the sun.
A really common hangout for us was at the river. Since it’s heading into but not quite the rainy season yet, the river was pretty low. There were a few spots we’d hangout in the afternoons to pass time. Sometimes we’d work or study, sometimes we’d all read silently and sometimes we’d just talk. I always managed to take my shoes off and stroll around in the cool water. One place had incredibly gorgeous rocks all around. You could see the layers and imagine the time that had passed. Here, we’d either sit on stepping stones in the river or about twenty feet on a cliff up above, looking down on the water. We lovingly referred to another favorite spot as “the waterfall.” In reality, it was another beautiful rock face where water trickled down. The water source was as huge field that had once been dammed. It was maybe thirty feet tall, with no “waterfalls” bigger than two feet anywhere. There was one tree that provided shade on hot days. When the sunset, the view was breathtaking. (again, see facebook pictures)
One Friday, we went to Mankodi’s Culture Day. Mankodi is another village, about twenty minutes from Manyana. We took public transportation for our first time. There is a completely different concept of personal space here. People were literally sitting on my shoulder. We got there at 8:00, right when it was supposed to start. We anticipated waiting around a little since we’d already become very familiar with “Botswana time.” The event didn’t end up starting until 11. We had also anticipated seeing cultural dances, hearing songs and experiencing other aspects of Setswana culture. In reality, it was an event based more on talking about preserving culture than it was actually preserving it. The day started off with a procession of men, followed by women in traditional dress into the kgotla. When the kgosi (chief) entered, we all stood. We then sang the national anthem, and people were really impressed we all knew the words. We’d been singing it every morning since arriving in Manyana. A series of men made speeches about the importance of preserving culture. Unfortunately, they were all in Setswana so I could only pick out words. We saw one youth group perform a song/drama about HIV/AIDS and how having multiple partners can quicken the spread of the disease. We left at 1 because we had to get back to Manyana for a wedding. None of us had ever met the bride or groom but we were ushered into the tent. In Setswana culture, events don’t require an invitation; you can show up to a wedding, funeral or party if you want to. Invited guests were seated under the tent and everyone else was seated on the ground or on rocks outside. We dressed formally – in black and white. We’d missed the ceremony itself and showed up for the reception, which could have taken place anywhere in the states. It was held until a white tent, with plastic chairs covered in white material and beautiful settings on the table. The bride wore a beautiful wedding dress. Her train was lilac, to match her bridesmaids. There was a ring bearer as well. We were served yummy, yummy food. What we’d been told about, and certainly lived up to expectations, was seswa, or shredded beef. There was a choreographed dance for the wedding party, but really no other dancing.
I had the most incredible experience shadowing a potter. It was another group’s Day in the Life project, but I decided to go along and make a pot. We ended up spending five afternoons with the potter, each making our own unique pot. On day one, we made the top half of the pot. Two days later, we made the bottom. The next week, we smoothed the outside with a rock and then rubbed goat’s fat on it to make it smooth. The next day, we smoothed the inside with part of a soda can. We each had to find a soda can and then rub the top on the cement until the very top became detached. We used that to scrape any bumps off the inside of the pot. On the final day, we fired our pots using cow dung, which we had to collect off the road. Our pots all turned out wonderful.
On our last Sunday in Manyana, a group of us went to visit the mosimo, or the lands. We went with Robert, one of our Setswana teachers who’s from Manyana, to see his family lands. Although we’d planned to head out at 3pm, we left around 4. We walked for at least forty minutes through gorgeous fields. There were occasionally cows and goats. We eventually got to Robert's lands which include huge granite hills. As I understand it, his family is currently negotiating with mining companies to extract the rock. We kept walking and eventually came to a pretty sizeable hill. We climbed/scrambled/jumped up the hill to what is now known as Pride Rock. The land stretched forever in all directions. We could see fields, the outskirts of the village, animals, more hills, and beautiful trees. We stayed at the top until the sun was completely behind the horizon and then headed down. We ended up walking home in the dark, but it was worth it.
Sunrises in the morning were beyond description. I tended to wake up right at 6:30. I’d walk to the bathroom and stop every time to look at the sun. I never saw the beginning of the actual sunrise, but my timing couldn’t have been better. The full sun always hung just over the horizon. The sky would glow brilliant pinks and oranges. I love that moment when the sun is still dull enough to where you can look right at it and soak up the new rays.
We saw all sorts of animals everyday in Manyana. We passed donkeys, chickens, goats and cows on our way to school. Since it was spring, there were lots of babies everywhere. Sometimes the animals were penned and sometimes they weren’t. Lots of the goats and cows had bells on. One day, on the way home from school, Ian and I came across a chicken fight. I’d never seen a chicken fight before but watching was pretty incredible. We stopped to take some pictures and I luckily got some great shots. A few batswana stopped to watch us watching the chickens.
Stars were incredible in Manyana. Since most homes had electricity, outside lights were often left on and contributed to the minimal light pollution. Just on the walk from the house to the bathroom I could pick out the very few constellations I know in the southern hemisphere: Scorpio and the Southern Cross. When I’d walk around at night, I could find patches of sky that were breathtaking. The Milky Way was visible every night.
TV in Manyana was insane. My family watched all the time. When I got up in the morning, it was already on. Most of the time, a show would be on but gospel radio would be on the audio. One morning, I woke up and it was eerily quiet but I couldn’t figure out why. I tried to turn on my light and realized the power was out, and so the TV was off. Most of the students got hooked on a soap called Generations. It’s a really funny show filmed in South Africa. At least three different languages are spoken and subtitles were in English. At the first break of Generations, a commercial for Omo washing powder always came on. It was by far my favorite commercial. There were also a lot of commercials for HIV/AIDS prevention, testing together, and the possibility of having a negative baby even if the couple is positive. My least favorite commercial’s tag line: “Unsure? Insure. Be sure.”
For my last morning in Manyana, I woke up at 530 and climbed a hill in total darkness with Ian to watch the sunrise. It was great to watch the whole village light up before our eyes. There were clouds that they lit up brilliant colors. The sun didn’t rise above them until I was walking home, but the view was still beyond words.
I hope that was enough of a description for now! I'll try to write and post more often, and hopefully I'll have more access to internet in the near future. Now, we're spending one night in Gaborone, where I'm online checking email and writing this. Tomorrow, at the crack of dawn (Botswana time) we leave for the northern part of the country. We're spending 8 days touring Chobe and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. I can't wait!
pictures from Manyana and Vic Falls: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2065125&id=1036350539&l=c6e0c95b23
We spent our first few days in the country in Gaborone, learning the basics of Setswana and what we should expect during out homestay in Manyana, a medium sized village where we would be living for the first month. On our final night in Gabs, we drove about an hour out of the city to a game reserve. We went on a drive and saw lots of great animals. After safari-ing in Zambia just a few weeks before, a fenced in reserve just can’t compare, although it was fun to be with thirteen new friends. We had a braai, or BBQ, in the middle of the bush, which was incredible - so much delicious food and a warm fire to sit by.
The next morning we headed out to Manyana. I can’t retell my entire month there, so I’ll try to hit the highest highs, lowest lows, and most typical normals. My family in Manyana was small: my mom, Masa was sweet. She mumbled a lot, so it was pretty difficult for me to understand her whether she spoke Setswana or English. She has three kids, and only the youngest still lives at home. The older two work outside Gabs. April was my 25 year old brother (he was born during the fourth month) who lived at home. He is so incredibly nice and fun to hang out with. His English was great, so we mostly talked that way. He was on Manyana’s best soccer team (a goal keeper… of course!) so we talked soccer a lot. I got to watch one of his games which was really fun, even though they suffered a tough loss. April has a 2 year old son who I was never able to meet. He lives with his mom outside Gaborone. April visited once while I was in Manyana, although the trip was unplanned. He spent two days and one night with his girlfriend and son.
The last member of my family was my 5 year old nephew. His name is Brian. When he was born there was too much fluid in his brain and he’s now mentally handicapped. His head is much larger than normal, but he may be the sweetest child I’ve ever met. He can’t walk yet although he’d be physically able to learn with enough practice. He can’t talk or really communicate in any way. He mostly sits and giggles to himself. Sometimes we’d sit on the couch together. I’d have to keep my notebooks out of reach so he wouldn’t rip the pages, but he loved to play with my water bottle.
The hardest adjustment was seeing the living conditions he deals with. As far as I can tell, he doesn’t know what going on around him, although that didn’t make the reality any easier to deal with. He’s still fed three meals a day by someone else in the house. His mom works somewhere else and only came to visit twice while I was in Manyana. There are no resources to help Masa raise her grandson, and so without any judgment, I’ll describe Brian’s life. He has his own room in the house. There’s a low bed with blankets as well as a few blankets and pillows from an old couch on the floor. There’s a dresser tied shut with a piece of cloth in the corner. There’s a huge window that’s covered with a pretty transparent sheet. When Brian’s inside the room, the door is locked shut with cloth that is attached to the window on the other side of the wall. Essentially, it’s locked from the outside. Brain was pretty much only brought out for meals and little else. After eating, he stayed out for anywhere from three to thirty minutes, depending on Masa’s energy level and mood. He’d be put back in the room and the makeshift lock secured each night. Since he loved to play with and explore anything that moved, Brain loved to tug on the door. I could often hear it opening and closing. The lowest low I ever hit was when I had to put Brain back in his room for the first time. When I tried to leave, he crawled after me and whined even after I shut and locked the door. Then I could hear him pulling the door open and listen to it slam shut. I wish I could have kept him out and listened to his laugh all night. Before that, I’d only taken him out to feed and play with him. During those times, he always smiled.
Our house was great. Manyana wasn’t near as rural as I expected, but the surprise made the experience fun. My house had three bedrooms, a sitting room and a kitchen. We had electricity (lights and plugs in the wall) in every room. There was a water spicket in the backyard that we constantly used. My room had a queen sized bed and a dresser filled with Brain’s mom’s clothes. There was a comfy wicker chair, two bed side tables and two huge windows draped in a lacy covering. There was a fridge/freezer in the kitchen and a gas stove, plus lots of cabinets and storage space.
The bathroom situation wasn’t ideal… an outhouse in the back corner of our beautiful yard. The hole was covered with a seat, and there was newspaper there, although I opted to use the tp I’d brought from Gabs. The shower situation was worse. I had a green plastic tub (three feet wide, two feet across and one foot deep) and a small bucket at my disposal. Each morning, I’d heat water on the stove and mix it with cold water. I’d fill the bucket with that and take it into my room, where I had to wash with only that water. If I wasn’t smart with my rationing and ran out, I’d have to reuse the dirty water. Needless to say, I perfected my bathing ritual quite quickly. Since washing my hair and body at the same time wasn’t really an option, I switched between the two. Jesse, another student from Pitzer, described showering as “petting yourself with water” and she was exactly right. After each shower we’d dump the dirty water down the outhouse hole. Adding bath water to the small room somehow magnified the smell by at least 20 times, no exaggeration.
Our yard, both front and back was incredible. I’ll try to get pictures up ASAP, but it’s unbelievable. We had three magnificent orange trees that ran along our front fence. The gate always opened with a recognizable creak so that we always knew if someone was coming or going. There was a path that led up to the house, lined with bushes. Some of the bushes had beautiful pink flowers while others had striking white thorns. To the right, Masa grew sugar cane, which April was often munching on. To the left was the outside kitchen, where Masa built a fire each morning and did work outside. That kitchen was attached to what April lovingly referred to as his “drunk house.” It’s the room he moved into so that he wouldn’t wake his mom up all the time when he came home after she’d gone to bed and locked the doors.
Food.... mmmmm. I certainly tried lots of new food, some of which I loved and some of which I didn’t. I decided that while I was in Botswana, I’d eat meat. I’ve been a pescitarian for about three years now, and going back to eating beef and other meat wasn’t easy. I decided to eat meat because food in general is such a large part of Setswana culture and I’m not opposed to the way animals are treated here. Although I was expecting to eat fresh meat here, the majority of meat that I ate came from cans and looked just like cat food. During the week, we ate breakfast and dinner at home and had lunch at school. We ate all weekend meals at home. School food wasn’t much different from what we got at home - it was all soaked in oil. Vegetables are never eaten raw and the meat is cooked until it resembles jerky in texture. On one of my last days, I tried chicken gizzards. Ick. The staple dish is phaleche, which is similar to nsima in Malawi. It’s made by adding maize flower to boiling water and stirring incredibly hard and fast. We didn’t eat phaleche very often, but when we did, it was either with morogo (vegetables) dripping oil or heavily seasoned meat. Other dinners included rice or pasta with vegetables or meat. Breakfasts were pretty much always motogo, or sour porridge. Plain, it was pretty gross. Not even a Motswana will eat motogo without ample amounts of sugar and milk. I learned to ignore the gross amounts of sugar I added each morning to make the porridge sweet and yummy. When we were lucky or Masa had just been to the store, we had scrambled eggs for breakfast. All of that said, I also had some delicious food. Our house often had homemade bread as well. There were lots of delicious kinds of bread, dipapathatas are similar to English muffins, magwina aka fat cakes is dough boiled in oil and dumplings are dough boiled in water. I didn’t get to cook as much as I would have liked. One of my assignments for a class was to write a narrative about any cultural experience we’d had. I decided to write about trying to cook, and my paper's the previous post. Just know that while I do enjoy cooking, I have a hard time without a recipe.
On days off, I went on a few hikes with friends. We found a few great spots. The first was a rock overlooking the entire valley. The view was breathtaking. We tried to hike up toward the end of our trip to watch the sunrise but the day we picked was too overcast. We ended up watching the world around us get lighter without actually seeing the sun.
A really common hangout for us was at the river. Since it’s heading into but not quite the rainy season yet, the river was pretty low. There were a few spots we’d hangout in the afternoons to pass time. Sometimes we’d work or study, sometimes we’d all read silently and sometimes we’d just talk. I always managed to take my shoes off and stroll around in the cool water. One place had incredibly gorgeous rocks all around. You could see the layers and imagine the time that had passed. Here, we’d either sit on stepping stones in the river or about twenty feet on a cliff up above, looking down on the water. We lovingly referred to another favorite spot as “the waterfall.” In reality, it was another beautiful rock face where water trickled down. The water source was as huge field that had once been dammed. It was maybe thirty feet tall, with no “waterfalls” bigger than two feet anywhere. There was one tree that provided shade on hot days. When the sunset, the view was breathtaking. (again, see facebook pictures)
One Friday, we went to Mankodi’s Culture Day. Mankodi is another village, about twenty minutes from Manyana. We took public transportation for our first time. There is a completely different concept of personal space here. People were literally sitting on my shoulder. We got there at 8:00, right when it was supposed to start. We anticipated waiting around a little since we’d already become very familiar with “Botswana time.” The event didn’t end up starting until 11. We had also anticipated seeing cultural dances, hearing songs and experiencing other aspects of Setswana culture. In reality, it was an event based more on talking about preserving culture than it was actually preserving it. The day started off with a procession of men, followed by women in traditional dress into the kgotla. When the kgosi (chief) entered, we all stood. We then sang the national anthem, and people were really impressed we all knew the words. We’d been singing it every morning since arriving in Manyana. A series of men made speeches about the importance of preserving culture. Unfortunately, they were all in Setswana so I could only pick out words. We saw one youth group perform a song/drama about HIV/AIDS and how having multiple partners can quicken the spread of the disease. We left at 1 because we had to get back to Manyana for a wedding. None of us had ever met the bride or groom but we were ushered into the tent. In Setswana culture, events don’t require an invitation; you can show up to a wedding, funeral or party if you want to. Invited guests were seated under the tent and everyone else was seated on the ground or on rocks outside. We dressed formally – in black and white. We’d missed the ceremony itself and showed up for the reception, which could have taken place anywhere in the states. It was held until a white tent, with plastic chairs covered in white material and beautiful settings on the table. The bride wore a beautiful wedding dress. Her train was lilac, to match her bridesmaids. There was a ring bearer as well. We were served yummy, yummy food. What we’d been told about, and certainly lived up to expectations, was seswa, or shredded beef. There was a choreographed dance for the wedding party, but really no other dancing.
I had the most incredible experience shadowing a potter. It was another group’s Day in the Life project, but I decided to go along and make a pot. We ended up spending five afternoons with the potter, each making our own unique pot. On day one, we made the top half of the pot. Two days later, we made the bottom. The next week, we smoothed the outside with a rock and then rubbed goat’s fat on it to make it smooth. The next day, we smoothed the inside with part of a soda can. We each had to find a soda can and then rub the top on the cement until the very top became detached. We used that to scrape any bumps off the inside of the pot. On the final day, we fired our pots using cow dung, which we had to collect off the road. Our pots all turned out wonderful.
On our last Sunday in Manyana, a group of us went to visit the mosimo, or the lands. We went with Robert, one of our Setswana teachers who’s from Manyana, to see his family lands. Although we’d planned to head out at 3pm, we left around 4. We walked for at least forty minutes through gorgeous fields. There were occasionally cows and goats. We eventually got to Robert's lands which include huge granite hills. As I understand it, his family is currently negotiating with mining companies to extract the rock. We kept walking and eventually came to a pretty sizeable hill. We climbed/scrambled/jumped up the hill to what is now known as Pride Rock. The land stretched forever in all directions. We could see fields, the outskirts of the village, animals, more hills, and beautiful trees. We stayed at the top until the sun was completely behind the horizon and then headed down. We ended up walking home in the dark, but it was worth it.
Sunrises in the morning were beyond description. I tended to wake up right at 6:30. I’d walk to the bathroom and stop every time to look at the sun. I never saw the beginning of the actual sunrise, but my timing couldn’t have been better. The full sun always hung just over the horizon. The sky would glow brilliant pinks and oranges. I love that moment when the sun is still dull enough to where you can look right at it and soak up the new rays.
We saw all sorts of animals everyday in Manyana. We passed donkeys, chickens, goats and cows on our way to school. Since it was spring, there were lots of babies everywhere. Sometimes the animals were penned and sometimes they weren’t. Lots of the goats and cows had bells on. One day, on the way home from school, Ian and I came across a chicken fight. I’d never seen a chicken fight before but watching was pretty incredible. We stopped to take some pictures and I luckily got some great shots. A few batswana stopped to watch us watching the chickens.
Stars were incredible in Manyana. Since most homes had electricity, outside lights were often left on and contributed to the minimal light pollution. Just on the walk from the house to the bathroom I could pick out the very few constellations I know in the southern hemisphere: Scorpio and the Southern Cross. When I’d walk around at night, I could find patches of sky that were breathtaking. The Milky Way was visible every night.
TV in Manyana was insane. My family watched all the time. When I got up in the morning, it was already on. Most of the time, a show would be on but gospel radio would be on the audio. One morning, I woke up and it was eerily quiet but I couldn’t figure out why. I tried to turn on my light and realized the power was out, and so the TV was off. Most of the students got hooked on a soap called Generations. It’s a really funny show filmed in South Africa. At least three different languages are spoken and subtitles were in English. At the first break of Generations, a commercial for Omo washing powder always came on. It was by far my favorite commercial. There were also a lot of commercials for HIV/AIDS prevention, testing together, and the possibility of having a negative baby even if the couple is positive. My least favorite commercial’s tag line: “Unsure? Insure. Be sure.”
For my last morning in Manyana, I woke up at 530 and climbed a hill in total darkness with Ian to watch the sunrise. It was great to watch the whole village light up before our eyes. There were clouds that they lit up brilliant colors. The sun didn’t rise above them until I was walking home, but the view was still beyond words.
I hope that was enough of a description for now! I'll try to write and post more often, and hopefully I'll have more access to internet in the near future. Now, we're spending one night in Gaborone, where I'm online checking email and writing this. Tomorrow, at the crack of dawn (Botswana time) we leave for the northern part of the country. We're spending 8 days touring Chobe and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. I can't wait!
pictures from Manyana and Vic Falls: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2065125&id=1036350539&l=c6e0c95b23
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