Welcome to Madikwe

Tuesday April 14

Lazy mornings feel so good especially because I'm able to lay in Sam's arms. Our driver was coming at 10am to take us to Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa, but we happened to wake up around 4am. I figured now that Sam was with me I would be able to sleep, but instead I want to spend every minute I can awake with him. Combined with his jet lag, we were wired and ready to go by 5am. 

We flipped through the tv channels while relaxing. Sam was incredibly excited about finding rugby on everyday channels. Television is such a luxury and I was happy watching anything. 

When it was a reasonable hour of the morning and people were out starting their morning, we went for a walk, getting reacquainted with each other. I was reminded of how easy and comfortable it is being with Sam. We had breakfast at the hotel before checking out of the hotel. I already know it will be difficult adjusting my lifestyle back to an American budget rather than my measly Peace Corps budget. For Sam, a $20 breakfast is reasonable for a vacation meal; however, that's two weeks worth of groceries for me. 

It was finally time for our safari adventure. Between exchanging money and stopping several times at the border crossing to pass through customs, it took us at least an hour to get out of Botswana. We finally made it to South Africa, my first vacation in 8 months was just beginning. 

Once we arrived in Madikwe and start driving I understood why a 40 mph zone is enforced. Within five minutes we found a giraffe eating from a tree right along the road. It didn't seem even bothered by our passage. And we continues on our way to Mosetlha Bush Camp. 

Madikwe Game Reserve is the fourth largest game reserve in South Africa with 75,000 hectares. We are staying at Mosetlha which is a bush camp and eco-lodge which offers an eco-experience by cooking over an open fire, using solar for all power, bucket baths, and pit latrines. Although this sounds more like a Peace Corps experience, it was quite luxurious and romantic. The camp accommodates 16 people in 9 wooden cabins. There is a common area to relax, play games, or have a glass of wine as well as a shared dining room where everyone shares meals together. 

Upon arrival we met a young French couple who had been there for one night already and spoke very highly of the game drives. We settled in briefly before moving to lunch of cheeseburgers and salad. At 4pm we went on our first game drive. 

We were joined by another three people halfway through lunch, so there were 7 guests plus our field guide adventuring out on the game drive. This was a manageable number to drive around with compared to the 11 people the truck could potentially hold. The truck was a range rover wish seats attached to the bed, ideal for looking out for animals.

Within minutes we found wildebeest, jackals, and steenbok as we made our way to the waterhole. Both the steenbok and antelope mate for life. Down at the waterhole we found an elephant bull taking a drink of water with some guinea fowl. Johnny, our field guide, called the guinea fowl chickens and Sam called them dodos, but to me they are guinea fowl. 

Occasionally we would pass other game drive trucks. On one of the trucks was apparently a famous soccer player. When Johnny said his name everyone oohed and ahhed in appreciation, whereas Sam and I looked at each other completely clueless.

After driving around for nearly an hour we turned off the road and straight into the bush, over bushes, shrubs, and small trees. Occasionally we would hear a faint grumble in the distance, but it wasn't until we were 50 feet away that I noticed the two male lions laying under a tree. I thought we would stop there, but Johnny continued to once forward until we were roughly 10 feet away. They were perfectly harmless, lazily taking a lion snooze. Occasionally they would get up, growl a little, looking for other lions, and reposition themselves for another snooze. They were beautiful, magnificent creatures. 

We spent a long time watching the lions and then slowly made our way back to the main road. The sun was just beginning to set by the time we were on the road, so we found a nice place to stop and stretch our legs. Johnny set up a display of carrots, crackers, and peanuts and raisins on the hood of the truck. Sam shared a bottle of wine while watching the sun set behind the mountains on the reserve. It was a beautiful, romantic evening and a perfect start to our vacation. 

Dark quickly set in and we got back in the truck to finish our night drive. The truck headlight were on lighting our way while Johnny simultaneously shone a spotlight into the trees to the sides to light up any night creatures. We found some jackals, brown hyaena, buffaloes, and white rhinos down by the waterhole. The night drive wasn't nearly as long as during the evening, so we shortly made out way back to camp finding spring hare along the way. 

The last five minutes of the drive was the highlight of my day. As we were pulling up to the camp, Johnny pointed out some footprints on the ground indicating that elephants have been walking along the road. Soon enough we find not just the one or two elephants on the road, but roughly 40 elephants out in the bushes! It was mind blowing seeing all of these large creatures together and I was happy as could be. 

The camp completely transformed to a new place overnight. There were no lights, but instead kerosene lamps lighting up every surface in the common areas and all walkways. It felt like I was in a fairy tale, so happy to be here with my Prince Charming. 

For dinner we had a steak braii with curry cabbage that Sam was in love with, butternut squash, and salad follows by banana flambé. It certainly was an evening to remember and I look forward to many more. 

Happy Reunion

Monday April 13

I don't sleep until nearly 11pm Sunday night, I toss and turn all night, and can't go back to sleep after waking up at 6am Monday morning. My excitement has been slowly growing to the point of restlessness. I've resorted to counting not just hours, but also minutes until Sam's flight lands. 

I took my time getting to Gaborone because Sam wouldn't get in until 8pm. I arrived at the hotel to check in at 4pm thinking I had 4 more hours to shower, change, and beautify before seeing Sam for the first time in 8 months. By 4:30pm I had paid and gotten everything squared away at the front desk only to find that the last bus departing to the airport left at 5:15pm. I only had 45 minutes to prepare and be in the lobby to leave for the airport. That would then leave me over two hours to wait at the airport. 

Eight months living in Botswana has taught me to be nothing but efficient with my time and use of running water. I was able to shave my legs, nearly clogging the drain because of all the hair, shampoo my hair, and put on fresh clothes all before 5pm. By 5:15pm I was nervous and anxiously waiting in the lobby ready to go. 

I use anxious and nervous to describe my state of being because at this point in the journey, excitement and joy have been cast to the shadows. My nerves got the best of me and I played out every different scenario while waiting those two extra hours in the airport. I considered everything including your typical airport reunion where Sam picks me up and spins me around or Sam taking one look at me and deciding to turn back towards the plane and immediately leaving Botswana. This obviously didn't happen, but I couldn't help my nerves overpowering all my thoughts. 

It was finally 8pm and I couldn't wait any longer. I went to the floor to ceiling windows facing the runway to watch Sam's plane pull up and slowly unload it's passengers. I quickly move to the arrival gate to take a peek inside customs every time the automatic door slid open. For security purposes there was a big post to block any view farther into customs, but this didn't stop me from standing at different angles to achieve the optimum visual. Within 15 long, painful more minutes I see Sam for the first time in 8 months. 

My heart dropped and I was ready to risk getting arrested by running inside customs to be in his arms. He looked worn out and tired after nearly 20 hours of travel, but his presence lit up my world. Even carrying his big suitcase and his smaller backpack in his arms, he still managed to pick me up and hold me hovered above the ground for a few minutes. We blocked the walkway from any other arriving passengers making them reroute around us because I couldn't stand to let go of Sam. Even if we would have to spend some time getting reacquainted with the other, for those first five minutes in his arms I felt safe, loved, and where I belonged. 

Waiting for Sam's Arrival

Sunday morning and it's only 6:09am,  my first thought of the day, "why am I awake?" My second thought of the day, "I'm too excited to sleep!" Sam boards a plane today, to fly to JFK international airport followed by a flight to Dubai, then to Johannesburg, South Africa where he will take yet another plane, this time only an hour, to Gaborone, the capital of Botswana. He will arrive at 8pm Monday night, so if my restless, disorienting excitement starts now I have a long 38 hours to go.

September 20, 2014

Tiro is away at a funeral this weekend, so our group was divided and sent to join different language clusters. I didn’t realize until today how incredibly lucky and fortunate I am to have been placed in two wonderful classes with two amazing teachers. Greene and tiro are incredible teachers and people. They understand people’s learning styles and are thorough when explaining the material. I have continued talking with Greene and am thankful that he continues to support me even though he is no longer my teacher. I joined a class today where everyone was on a different page. The ground rules hanging on the wall that were created for and by the class were completely disregarded. There were many uncomfortable dynamics, teacher to volunteer and volunteer to volunteer. It is unfortunate that individual learning is being jeopardized because of the group dynamic, but there is a level of individual responsibility that needs to be taken into consideration.

Four hours of Setswana in an uncomfortable group setting got the best of my positive attitude and I was slipping to the dark side. I went to Sara’s house to work on a group project and my worries quickly disappeared. Obviously being hungry is a large contributor to my mood. I’m always appreciative that Sara feeds me when I go to her house. Fully belly and I was ready to take on this project.

For our project we will be facilitating a training on classroom management. THe project is more about the process of facilitation rather than classroom management, so we had to create a session plan format for the ten minute presentation. It was a speedy and painless process and we spent the next few hours relaxing, chatting, and eating homemade popcorn (much better than throwing a bag in the microwave).

On my walk home I found a group of about 10 children standing outside my house playing with a ball. Before I could made it into the gate they asked if I wanted to play “Duck, Duck, Goose.” Of course I said yes. After throwing my bag inside, I came out and one of the little girls rushed inside the fence, grabbed my arm, and led me outside. Once in the street the children started dancing to their chant of “duck duck goose, duck duck goose” over and over again. It was one of the most adorable things I’ve seen in Botswana and my heart melted like it usually does around kids. “Duck duck goose” is now my official name among the children in my neighborhood and I often hear it being chanted and yelled as I walked home over the next couple of days. These are some of the same girls I asked if they liked to eat dirt, so it’s a good thing they don’t think I’m too weird to play with.

We played and laughed and ran around and I was immediately in a great mood. Our game was interrupted when my phone rang and I didn’t see them again after ending my conversation with my mom, but I reminded in a happy mood for the rest of the day.

I ate dinner in the living room with Princess and Onica when all of a sudden we hear an enormous boom then rumble, rumble, rumble. I was surprised to hear thunder in Botswana and soon enough the rain followed. At one point all the windows flashed a bright white simultaneously with the overwhelming boom of thunder, leading me to believe the lightning was just outside the safety of our living room walls. While discussing the thunderstorm Onica said, “We don’t touch water.” I stared at her with a strange, disbelieving expression. What does she mean they don’t touch water? No one goes outside at all when it’s raining? Oncia clarified that they grow up believing that if you use water in your house, for example take a bath, you run the risk of getting struck by lightening. I’m not so sure this is how lightening works, but I’m also not so sure I know enough about Botswana pluming to safely say her myth is true or false. Unless they have a tall metal pipe sticking hight above the roof that connects to the bathtub, we’re probably in the clear. However, I’m going to use getting struck by lightening as an excuse to get out of bathing.

I heard a whimper and quickly remembered the dog chained up outside. I asked my sisters if the dog would be ok. I got blank stares for a minute until I answered my own question with, “I guess?” The only response I got from my sisters was a shrug of their shoulders as they continued playing on their phones and watching television. Once in a while I would hear a bark or a faint whimper, a promising sign that he hasn’t been struck by lightening just yet.

September 19, 2014

Knowing our site placements almost makes it more difficult to continue with these never ending training days. Now that the end is in sight I just want to get into my new village and start establishing relationships and getting a feel for what I will be doing for the next two years. Today was just a total blur and I had no desire to pay attention to the few training sessions we had. My attention was quickly grabbed during the “STIs; Alcohol and Understanding and Avoiding HIV Infection” session.

Dr. Shava raced through slides about safe sex in a sarcastic, matter-of-fact manner. I always appreciate Dr. Shava’s presentations because he is honest and to the point, refusing to dwell on a topic when it is unnecessary. After the slides concluded, Dr. Shava braced the class by announcing that we would be watching a depressing video about five Peace Corps volunteers who contracted HIV during their service. The video was slightly outdated and it was difficult to connect with the volunteers who were placed in different parts of the world without the overall emphasis on HIV health work like the Botswana program. At the end of this sad video, Dr. Shava says, “If you’re life depends on it... and you must have sex... use a condom.” The manner in which he relayed this information sent the class into a fit of laughter. This perfectly sums up the aura and concentration of both trainees and facilitators throughout the day. And to make things even more exciting and riveting, we had to sit through another two hour session on administration policies before the day was done. 

September 18, 2014

How does anyone expect us to pay attention when we will be discovering our site placement at the end of the day? I was anxious and excited throughout Setswana, my mind racing in a million directions while my eyes glanced over at the map of Botswana wondering where I will be for the next two years.

In general, I had a challenging time concentrating all day. We had a session on job assignment introductions and Mpho, our program manager, admitted his frustration with facilitating a session on site announcement day. He recognized that he would not get our full attention and that he was also looking forward to the great revelation in just a few short hours.

I averaged 30 glances at my watch ever 15 minutes. We reviewed the Peace Corps core expectations and our progress thus far. With a half hour to go, I though the last session would drag on and on, but it was the quickest part of my day. They facilitated a guided imagery session where we closed our eyes and reflected on our live before arriving in Botswana, motivation and inspiration for joining the Peace Corps, what our journey has been so far, what our time in Botswana will be, and where we see ourselves in five and ten years. This was an overwhelming amount to think about. I didn’t get the chance to think about anything except what I was leaving behind - my loving family, rewarding job, kind friends, and a warm home with a fiance, dog, electricity, and running water. My eyes began to water, but I had to remind myself that these things will all be there when I get back. I continued to remind myself that I came here to help children and better understand new cultures. I am here for a reason and wouldn’t change that for the world.

We ended the session by writing letters to ourselves that we will open and read in a year. We dropped them in a folder on our way into the multipurpose hall to discover our sites, finally! We sat in two rows with papers taped underneath the chairs revealing a number to determine what order we would go in. Sara and Isaac had numbers 12 and 13 on both sides of me, and I had 43. By the time we reached the 30s, the excitement was slowly fading and I just wanted to sneak a peak at the list.

I nervously (and very patiently) sat through 42 site announcements before practically running to the front of the room for my envelope. Inside I read a paper allowed that said “the harder you work, the luckier you will get in...” And then I pulled out my second little paper reading “Magoriapitse!” Wherever that is. I was ushered to the giant map of Botswana where Tiro pointed far south near the South African border. The next station was to pick up a packet of materials before getting snacks from the back of the room. Of course I would be one of the unlucky volunteers whose information packets has been misplaced. I was completely left in the dark, as the only thing I know about Magoriapitse is that it is a small dot on the map. Mysteries can be fun.

September 16, 2014

We powered through verbs in the present, past, and future tense in Setswana followed by creating endless sentences to practice the varying tenses. I didn’t realize how far I’ve come in the past few weeks. I’m at the point where I can construct sound sentences, now I just need to start memorizing more of the nouns and verbs. I left class with my head spinning, knowing this is going to be the most intense part of my training for the last few weeks.

At the end of the day the schedule listed a treasure hunt. The sun was blazing down and I had lost all motivation to do anything that wasn’t sitting in an ice bath or taking a nap on a bed of ice. We quickly learned that the treasure hunt would consist of visiting key locations and stakeholders in Serowe as well as identifying various Setswana words. This would have been more appropriate at the end of week one or in week two of training. I understand that this is reflective of what we will be doing during our community needs assessment phase in the first three months of service; however, this could have been planned and executed differently to make it more applicable and effective. Not to mention, it would have been more desirable to complete in the morning out of the hot afternoon sun. My group discussed how we would be able to exert the least amount of energy and finish enough of the list to make it look as though we gave an honest effort. By the end we put in more energy than I anticipated. We spent the first hour at the college asking people in the library the various questions that needed answering. We then visited some friends in the IT department to get the rest of our answers. While visiting, the IT lady agreed to drive us around, so in 20 minutes we were able to get pictures of the majority of locations on our list, what took the other group two hours.

I ended the night with lots of homework, which is also a new concept to me. It is going to be an adjustment from having Greene as a teacher who rarely gave homework. I ate dinner while doing my homework and began clearing dishes. Mme Chiliwa asked me to clean dishes and while I was in the kitchen she started calling my name. She knew I was washing dishes because she asked me to and must have heard me, but she continued to call my name over and over without giving me 30 seconds to wipe soap off my hands. She literally called my name every five seconds until I finally just walked to the living room with soap all over my hands. She just wanted some water. And while she was asking for water she told me to rinse my hands off.