Every Friday, Katrina and I get picked up at 12, an hour early than school ends, to go to a feeding program in a part of town called Old Naledi. It is where orphans and vulnerable children are given a free lunch. I’m not 100% sure if this is right or not, but I think that a lot of the kids that go there are living with a relative because their parents have AIDS. Since the relatives don’t have enough money to care for them, they get free meals to take the stress off the relative’s family. Old Naledi is also the very poor part of town, kind of like the slums of Gaborone. This past week was our third time there. The first week, Katrina and I were pulled into helping a lady with some computer work, but the computer shut off twice while we were trying to type up the data she gave us, and then the printer wasn’t working, and we had several other technical difficulties. It took the entire time so we didn’t get to help out with cooking or playing with the kids. The second time we got there later than usual and just gave the kids the food, but there was plenty of help in the kitchen and I just felt in the way. This past time was an adventure…
We got there earlier than before, and the kids had just started coming. They’re from all ages, I’m guessing from 3 to 12. I went over to some kids hanging out under a tree, and at first they were really shy, but when more kids came it was like a mob attacked me. They would all run up to me and either hold their hands up to be held, climb on my back, or ask me to spin them. I was a human jungle gym. Some of them weren’t that little, either, but they wanted constant attention. They would fight to get on my back. It was a little overwhelming, but it was also fun. They found my headband very entertaining and it got passed around a lot. They also liked to play with my hair, since it’s so different from theirs. Two older girls tried to teach me a hand-clapping game but I still don’t get it. It’s a bit hard to communicate, since a lot of them only speak Setswana, and if they do speak English it is with a very thick accent.
Before they eat, some of the other short-termers lead singing and act out a bible story. Then they all get in a line and have water poured over their hands, get their food, and sit down to eat. Usually it is either rice or mealie-meal with goat or beef on top. I would guess that there is about 30-40 kids that come, but not all of them eat, some just come after school to have fun. It is a good program and I’m excited to keep going there even though it sure is tiring.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
HARD DECISIONS AND MEMORIES OF ANOTHER MERCY FLIGHT - ROGER
Since I got my paperwork sorted out I have been very busy flying, one flight even called out at night to one of the few places we can fly into at night – arriving back at 3:00AM. The mercy flights seem to come in waves, and right now we are riding a high one. I have had numerous car accident victims, a few maternity cases, at least one assault victim, a donkey cart accident, and a few newborn babies as patients. This is all in the last two weeks. Three of the patients have been completely paralyzed from the neck down, with little hope for a recovery. Two of those patients were transported to South Africa, but the rest of the flights have all been from a smaller referral hospital to one of the two better equipped hospitals in the country. When we lived here in the 80’s and 90’s many of our mercy flights went to South Africa, but today almost all of the patients can be treated in Botswana. The health care in the country is vastly improved and doctors are stationed throughout the country and can treat many patients in the new hospitals. It is great to see the improvement. The last time I was here the most frequent mercy flight was for maternity cases. Today vehicle accidents seem to be the major cause.
The last three days some difficult decisions had to be made by the paramedics onboard. Last night we got a call late for a mercy flight from the hospital a little over an hour’s flight away to go to South Africa. They decided it could wait until morning, so we left early today for the flight. While the paramedics were at the hospital preparing the patient for transport we got a call of a very critical patient in Maun, and it was decided since the patient for South Africa was fairly stable we should go for the other patient at Maun. That is over an hour away as well, and while loading the patient we got another call for a pre-mature baby at Hukuntsi. Since we did not have enough duty time to do both remaining flights the doctors and the paramedics had to discuss which one we should do. It was decided we would go to South Africa and the baby would have to be transported by road, but it was very likely the baby would not survive.
Two days ago we also had a situation where a decision had to be made quickly. We had to go to Ghanzi to pick up a three day old baby in critical condition – a 1.5 hour flight. When we arrived they decided to send another cancer patient along. About 30 minutes after takeoff the cancer patient stopped breathing and the paramedics were frantically trying to resuscitate him. While they were trying to revive him the baby’s mother told them her baby was blue and was not breathing. Decisions, decisions! Which one do they try to revive with their limited equipment? Which one was more likely to survive? They decided on the baby, and did get her revived, but the other patient did not make it. It was a stressful day for the paramedics, and made me appreciate some of the life and death decisions medical personnel are called to make at times.
We had to dodge thunderstorms the last part of the trip, and I couldn’t help but think of the last time I had a 3 day old baby on board dodging thunderstorms across the Central Kalahari Desert, with a doctor frantically trying to keep her breathing. The mother that night handed her baby over to the doctor, not wanting to have her baby die in her arms. At least this time I had weather detection equipment, and I had not lost my alternator as well as communications and all electrics. That long 2 ½ flight, over 19 years ago, was the most stressful flight of my career. I prayed that the child in the back struggling to breathe would also grow up to be a beautiful healthy young woman, just like the other baby I flew 19 years ago – our daughter Lisa.
The last three days some difficult decisions had to be made by the paramedics onboard. Last night we got a call late for a mercy flight from the hospital a little over an hour’s flight away to go to South Africa. They decided it could wait until morning, so we left early today for the flight. While the paramedics were at the hospital preparing the patient for transport we got a call of a very critical patient in Maun, and it was decided since the patient for South Africa was fairly stable we should go for the other patient at Maun. That is over an hour away as well, and while loading the patient we got another call for a pre-mature baby at Hukuntsi. Since we did not have enough duty time to do both remaining flights the doctors and the paramedics had to discuss which one we should do. It was decided we would go to South Africa and the baby would have to be transported by road, but it was very likely the baby would not survive.
Two days ago we also had a situation where a decision had to be made quickly. We had to go to Ghanzi to pick up a three day old baby in critical condition – a 1.5 hour flight. When we arrived they decided to send another cancer patient along. About 30 minutes after takeoff the cancer patient stopped breathing and the paramedics were frantically trying to resuscitate him. While they were trying to revive him the baby’s mother told them her baby was blue and was not breathing. Decisions, decisions! Which one do they try to revive with their limited equipment? Which one was more likely to survive? They decided on the baby, and did get her revived, but the other patient did not make it. It was a stressful day for the paramedics, and made me appreciate some of the life and death decisions medical personnel are called to make at times.
We had to dodge thunderstorms the last part of the trip, and I couldn’t help but think of the last time I had a 3 day old baby on board dodging thunderstorms across the Central Kalahari Desert, with a doctor frantically trying to keep her breathing. The mother that night handed her baby over to the doctor, not wanting to have her baby die in her arms. At least this time I had weather detection equipment, and I had not lost my alternator as well as communications and all electrics. That long 2 ½ flight, over 19 years ago, was the most stressful flight of my career. I prayed that the child in the back struggling to breathe would also grow up to be a beautiful healthy young woman, just like the other baby I flew 19 years ago – our daughter Lisa.
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Standing in Line and a Stolen Bag - Jolene
Last Friday I decided it was time for me to get my Botswana driver’s license. Basically we’re getting it because if you have an accident after you’ve been here three months and don’t have a Botswana license, insurance won’t pay. So, now was as good a time as any, right? Roger had gotten his earlier in the week and it was fairly painless, although he also had to wait, just not as long as I did!
I arrived at the driver license center about 7:30 am, which I realized as soon as I got there, wasn’t nearly early enough since there was a very long line already and the doors weren’t even going to open for another 15 minutes. Finally the line started moving into the building and I got my number – I was #75! After that line, I stood in another line to get my eyes tested, and then another line to make sure I had all the papers that I needed (thankfully I did), and then it was a matter of waiting until they called my number – which they did five hours later! I did leave for a couple of hours and came back later, so that part wasn’t SO bad. I had everything I needed the first time and got my license!
When we came out of the building, our tire was completely flat, so Roger put air in it, and we went to a place where they could fix the tire. We backed up into the garage and a guy started working on it right away. When we were getting back into the truck to leave I noticed right away my bag was nowhere to be found. Roger, Renae & I were right outside the vehicle the whole time, but someone had stolen my bag right out of the vehicle in broad daylight with people all around. We’re sure we know who did it, and in looking back he was suspicious looking, but we weren’t thinking of anything at the time. The main thing that was missing was my passport (which I needed to get my driver’s license or I wouldn’t have had it with me), my brand new license that I had waited 5 hrs to get, a credit card, my wallet, my sunglasses and various & sundry other small things. Thankfully my cell phone was not in the purse, nor much money at all, only a couple of dollars. Normally when purses are stolen it’s cash and a cell phone they’re after, and neither of those were in it. SO, we went to the police station and filed a report, and then decided that since I had just gotten my license that day maybe I could go back & they could issue another one for me right away. So, I went back to the person I had seen before and told her the story. She said that she could help me after she had helped everyone else that was still waiting. So I sat down and waited for close to two more hours, and when everyone else was finished I again went up to her window, but now she said, no she can’t help me today, I’ll have to come back Monday, that there is another form I need to fill out for the duplicate license and I’ll have to re-test my eyes. Needless to say, I was not very happy. All in all, it was NOT a very good day!
BUT, there is a silver lining in this cloud! Two days later, I got a call on my cell phone from a guy that said he found my bag! So Roger met him and indeed he did have my bag. It had my passport in it and some other cards that are worthless here, but not my U.S. or Botswana license, credit card, sun glasses, etc. But I was very thankful to have my passport, which was the main loss and the hardest to replace. Hopefully I learned a lesson through this – I can’t be too careful – there are some very clever thieves out there just waiting for an unsuspecting person. In thinking about it later, we think it was an inside job, and the guy that was fixing the tire and the thief were working together, although of course the guy working on the tire insisted he didn’t know the man or anything.
I arrived at the driver license center about 7:30 am, which I realized as soon as I got there, wasn’t nearly early enough since there was a very long line already and the doors weren’t even going to open for another 15 minutes. Finally the line started moving into the building and I got my number – I was #75! After that line, I stood in another line to get my eyes tested, and then another line to make sure I had all the papers that I needed (thankfully I did), and then it was a matter of waiting until they called my number – which they did five hours later! I did leave for a couple of hours and came back later, so that part wasn’t SO bad. I had everything I needed the first time and got my license!
When we came out of the building, our tire was completely flat, so Roger put air in it, and we went to a place where they could fix the tire. We backed up into the garage and a guy started working on it right away. When we were getting back into the truck to leave I noticed right away my bag was nowhere to be found. Roger, Renae & I were right outside the vehicle the whole time, but someone had stolen my bag right out of the vehicle in broad daylight with people all around. We’re sure we know who did it, and in looking back he was suspicious looking, but we weren’t thinking of anything at the time. The main thing that was missing was my passport (which I needed to get my driver’s license or I wouldn’t have had it with me), my brand new license that I had waited 5 hrs to get, a credit card, my wallet, my sunglasses and various & sundry other small things. Thankfully my cell phone was not in the purse, nor much money at all, only a couple of dollars. Normally when purses are stolen it’s cash and a cell phone they’re after, and neither of those were in it. SO, we went to the police station and filed a report, and then decided that since I had just gotten my license that day maybe I could go back & they could issue another one for me right away. So, I went back to the person I had seen before and told her the story. She said that she could help me after she had helped everyone else that was still waiting. So I sat down and waited for close to two more hours, and when everyone else was finished I again went up to her window, but now she said, no she can’t help me today, I’ll have to come back Monday, that there is another form I need to fill out for the duplicate license and I’ll have to re-test my eyes. Needless to say, I was not very happy. All in all, it was NOT a very good day!
BUT, there is a silver lining in this cloud! Two days later, I got a call on my cell phone from a guy that said he found my bag! So Roger met him and indeed he did have my bag. It had my passport in it and some other cards that are worthless here, but not my U.S. or Botswana license, credit card, sun glasses, etc. But I was very thankful to have my passport, which was the main loss and the hardest to replace. Hopefully I learned a lesson through this – I can’t be too careful – there are some very clever thieves out there just waiting for an unsuspecting person. In thinking about it later, we think it was an inside job, and the guy that was fixing the tire and the thief were working together, although of course the guy working on the tire insisted he didn’t know the man or anything.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
LIFE ROCKS - RENAE
Well hello to all! I’ve been badgered quite a lot lately to do this, so finally I’m getting around to it. We have plenty of time here, much more than at home, but it seems to go by twice as fast. Katrina and I go to a school called The Learning Centre School. It is about 2 miles from our house and we’ve been walking in the mornings a lot and getting a ride home from a friend in the afternoon. It’s not too far and the mornings aren’t that hot, but just hot enough to make you sweaty after walking. School is very different than what I’m used to. I am in a class called IUPD, which works solely on computers – kind of like being homeschooled. We only have one teacher who is in our class and she doesn’t know any of the material so it’s all self-taught. There are only 10 of us in total, and Katrina is in that class too. It’s an international school, and there are kids from all over the world in my class, which rocks to meet everyone. At first, school was not fun at all since I didn’t really know anybody, but now that I know more people, it’s a lot more enjoyable. I still don’t like the computer system…at all, but having people to talk to makes it much better. The school day starts at 7:15 but is over by 1. We don’t eat lunch here but we have a break from 11-11:30 to eat snacks and get outside. The afternoon is completely free, which is so nice. It’s weird, I have so much time now because we don’t have homework, either, but that’s something I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of.
Enough about school. I absolutely adore our house – it’s nice and cool during the day with the windows open and we have a nice backyard and I started a garden out the back and it’s just a really nice setting. I also have my own room that is much bigger than at home, and a huge closet. Besides living with my family, I also live with other wildlife – spiders and geckos. I love the geckos, there’s one in our living room right now named Franky, but I can’t stand the spiders. These aren’t just normal spiders – they’re HUGE and hairy and extremely fast – one used to be living in my room (before I killed it) and it ran into me twice when it went crazy.
Not too much else exciting has happened. Katrina and I have been youth-group-hopping and haven’t picked one yet, same with church. I’ve been meeting too many people to count. Everything here is different from the states. It’s such a different culture and I was in major culture shock for the first few weeks, but now that I’m getting used to it life is much better.
Ok, this is long enough, I’ll just close by saying this: life ROCKS!!
Enough about school. I absolutely adore our house – it’s nice and cool during the day with the windows open and we have a nice backyard and I started a garden out the back and it’s just a really nice setting. I also have my own room that is much bigger than at home, and a huge closet. Besides living with my family, I also live with other wildlife – spiders and geckos. I love the geckos, there’s one in our living room right now named Franky, but I can’t stand the spiders. These aren’t just normal spiders – they’re HUGE and hairy and extremely fast – one used to be living in my room (before I killed it) and it ran into me twice when it went crazy.
Not too much else exciting has happened. Katrina and I have been youth-group-hopping and haven’t picked one yet, same with church. I’ve been meeting too many people to count. Everything here is different from the states. It’s such a different culture and I was in major culture shock for the first few weeks, but now that I’m getting used to it life is much better.
Ok, this is long enough, I’ll just close by saying this: life ROCKS!!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
IMMIGRATION AND A POOR ZIMBABWEAN WOMAN - JOLENE
A week & a half ago we needed to go to immigration to get our visitors permit extended, since our residence permits hadn’t come through yet (as of last Friday, they finally came through). We had gotten in for 30 days as visitors, but then needed to get our passports stamped so we could stay longer. We didn’t even have to wait in a line (very unusual!).
We were talking to the immigration lady in front of us, and the immigration woman next to us asked me if I could help her. I had no idea what she needed me to help with, so I said I will if I can. Then she gave me a passport and asked me to look at the picture in it, and then look at the woman standing next to me and tell her if that picture was the picture of the woman standing there. I noticed immediately it was a Zimbabwean passport. So I looked at the picture, and I looked at this woman, and it was quite obvious that the picture was NOT that woman.
Now, what to do?? If I say it was not that woman, of course they send her straight back to Zimbabwe (actually regardless of what I said, I’m sure she was probably going back). But neither could I lie and say it did look like her – well, I just couldn’t lie, even though I wanted to. So I kind of stuttered around and said I’m not sure, but it doesn’t really look like her. Then the immigration woman said they do this all the time – bring in passports that belong to their sister or whoever, and try to pass as them. She said immigration tries to help them, but they just lie to them. Well, who could blame them, really?
We are hearing more & more about what is going on in Zimbabwe, and meeting more & more people from there. It is just beyond comprehension that President Mugabe is still in power and is doing what he’s doing to the people there. They have nothing. When we drove into the immigration place there were lots of people sitting under trees waiting, we weren’t sure for what. But there was also a big truck/bus there that we figured brought people there from Zimbabwe, and would be taking back those that didn’t have the proper documentation.
We were talking to the immigration lady in front of us, and the immigration woman next to us asked me if I could help her. I had no idea what she needed me to help with, so I said I will if I can. Then she gave me a passport and asked me to look at the picture in it, and then look at the woman standing next to me and tell her if that picture was the picture of the woman standing there. I noticed immediately it was a Zimbabwean passport. So I looked at the picture, and I looked at this woman, and it was quite obvious that the picture was NOT that woman.
Now, what to do?? If I say it was not that woman, of course they send her straight back to Zimbabwe (actually regardless of what I said, I’m sure she was probably going back). But neither could I lie and say it did look like her – well, I just couldn’t lie, even though I wanted to. So I kind of stuttered around and said I’m not sure, but it doesn’t really look like her. Then the immigration woman said they do this all the time – bring in passports that belong to their sister or whoever, and try to pass as them. She said immigration tries to help them, but they just lie to them. Well, who could blame them, really?
We are hearing more & more about what is going on in Zimbabwe, and meeting more & more people from there. It is just beyond comprehension that President Mugabe is still in power and is doing what he’s doing to the people there. They have nothing. When we drove into the immigration place there were lots of people sitting under trees waiting, we weren’t sure for what. But there was also a big truck/bus there that we figured brought people there from Zimbabwe, and would be taking back those that didn’t have the proper documentation.
Friday, February 20, 2009
BACK TO THE VILLAGE LIFE - JOLENE
Tuesday February 17th
I got back yesterday after spending the weekend in a village about 5 hours north of here. I went with Tina Kort, who is a long term missionary here –she’s been here 30 years. We knew her from before. Anyway, she had lived in this village a long time ago and the sister of a friend of hers there was killed in a car accident so she wanted to go to the funeral. She asked me to go along because we are trying to find a place for Nicole to stay when she comes this summer for SST from Goshen. (SST didn’t work out for her with Goshen’s normal placements, so she’s doing it independently- a whole other story!) So, we went and stayed in the village with her ‘mom’ here – Mma Oreeditse. It was a super experience – I forgot how much I like the village! There are numerous things I could write about, but I thought I’d write about the funeral.
We arrived at the house of the parents of the woman that was killed (Annie) at about 6 am Saturday morning, and it was already packed with people and the service had started. There were two tents outside, and people kept coming and many were standing. We got a seat – Tina isn’t afraid to walk to the front!! Women all wear skirts/dresses, with something on their head – a hat or scarf, and something around their shoulders – a shawl or jacket. All the men wore jackets. It was cool at 6 am, but by 10:30 when it was finished, it was HOT!
There was about an hour or so of various people talking about Annie – a sister, uncle, friend, someone from where she worked, etc. (I only knew who they were because Tina told me) Then the preacher preached but it was only about 20 minutes which surprised me – I figured it would be another hour. A lot of flowers had been given (mostly plastic) and the cards with those were read. And then it was time to go to the gravesite. EVERYONE went, either walking or piling on the backs of trucks or in cars, since many people had walked to the service. We stood in the hot sun for at least an hour, while they put the casket in the ground and filled the hole, singing all the while. This was an expensive casket so they actually cemented it into the ground. Apparently sometimes the funeral home folks will come back and dig the casket out of the ground and sell it to another person, especially if it was an expensive casket. So that took quite awhile. The men took turns shoveling the dirt in the hole, and piling it way high. Then on top of that they put the flowers, and then a canopy thing, which is how all the graves look here.
The singing is quite interesting. Someone will just lead out with the first line of the song and then everyone joins in, but the person keeps doing that with every line – singing it first and the people singing it after them. A lot of the songs were hymns that were familiar to me, just in Setswana. (missionary influence)
Then everyone again goes back to the house for the meal. Tina and I originally sat on the ground with some of her friends, but it wasn’t long until chairs were brought for us. We said we were fine, but they insisted. It’s amazing how they can sit on the ground – legs straight out in front of them and backs straight. They can do that for hours, or else squatting down when there aren’t chairs. It was a big meal – samp (corn – don’t know how they fix it actually), seswa (meat cooked and then they pound it), cooked pumpkin and some gravy over it. They also had palache and goat, but I didn’t get that. I’m thinking they gave the ‘better’ stuff to us. Quite good. They fed probably about 500 people, and it was very organized. Young guys filled the plates and carried them to the people, men mostly got fed first, but I’m not sure how that all worked. As soon as we were finished our plates were washed to be used again for the next people.
The next day (Sunday) we went to visit Tina’s friend (Annie’s sister) at her parents house. We went in the house and all the furniture had been moved out of the living space and there were blankets on the floor, and there were probably 8 or 9 women sitting on the floor – aunts or other women relatives, there to grieve with the mother of Annie. They had come at the beginning of the week and stayed there with her (her husband died before). It was amazing to see these old women sitting/lying on the floor, but that’s what they’re used to.
They know how to grieve here. We had gone to the gravesite in the car and two men went along that knew Tina. They asked how different it was from where I’m from. I said only the family or close friends would go to the gravesite, and not everyone stays for the meal either, and it’s usually just sandwiches, not a big meal. They couldn’t believe not everyone would go to the grave and eat together – you need a lot of people with you to grieve, and that just wouldn’t be right. Like Tina said – relationships here are everything.
It was great to be in a village again and it brought back lots of memories of when we lived in Maun. Although then we had running cold water but not electricity, and this woman had electricity but not running water! The stars were just as beautiful now as then too!
I got back yesterday after spending the weekend in a village about 5 hours north of here. I went with Tina Kort, who is a long term missionary here –she’s been here 30 years. We knew her from before. Anyway, she had lived in this village a long time ago and the sister of a friend of hers there was killed in a car accident so she wanted to go to the funeral. She asked me to go along because we are trying to find a place for Nicole to stay when she comes this summer for SST from Goshen. (SST didn’t work out for her with Goshen’s normal placements, so she’s doing it independently- a whole other story!) So, we went and stayed in the village with her ‘mom’ here – Mma Oreeditse. It was a super experience – I forgot how much I like the village! There are numerous things I could write about, but I thought I’d write about the funeral.
We arrived at the house of the parents of the woman that was killed (Annie) at about 6 am Saturday morning, and it was already packed with people and the service had started. There were two tents outside, and people kept coming and many were standing. We got a seat – Tina isn’t afraid to walk to the front!! Women all wear skirts/dresses, with something on their head – a hat or scarf, and something around their shoulders – a shawl or jacket. All the men wore jackets. It was cool at 6 am, but by 10:30 when it was finished, it was HOT!
There was about an hour or so of various people talking about Annie – a sister, uncle, friend, someone from where she worked, etc. (I only knew who they were because Tina told me) Then the preacher preached but it was only about 20 minutes which surprised me – I figured it would be another hour. A lot of flowers had been given (mostly plastic) and the cards with those were read. And then it was time to go to the gravesite. EVERYONE went, either walking or piling on the backs of trucks or in cars, since many people had walked to the service. We stood in the hot sun for at least an hour, while they put the casket in the ground and filled the hole, singing all the while. This was an expensive casket so they actually cemented it into the ground. Apparently sometimes the funeral home folks will come back and dig the casket out of the ground and sell it to another person, especially if it was an expensive casket. So that took quite awhile. The men took turns shoveling the dirt in the hole, and piling it way high. Then on top of that they put the flowers, and then a canopy thing, which is how all the graves look here.
The singing is quite interesting. Someone will just lead out with the first line of the song and then everyone joins in, but the person keeps doing that with every line – singing it first and the people singing it after them. A lot of the songs were hymns that were familiar to me, just in Setswana. (missionary influence)
Then everyone again goes back to the house for the meal. Tina and I originally sat on the ground with some of her friends, but it wasn’t long until chairs were brought for us. We said we were fine, but they insisted. It’s amazing how they can sit on the ground – legs straight out in front of them and backs straight. They can do that for hours, or else squatting down when there aren’t chairs. It was a big meal – samp (corn – don’t know how they fix it actually), seswa (meat cooked and then they pound it), cooked pumpkin and some gravy over it. They also had palache and goat, but I didn’t get that. I’m thinking they gave the ‘better’ stuff to us. Quite good. They fed probably about 500 people, and it was very organized. Young guys filled the plates and carried them to the people, men mostly got fed first, but I’m not sure how that all worked. As soon as we were finished our plates were washed to be used again for the next people.
The next day (Sunday) we went to visit Tina’s friend (Annie’s sister) at her parents house. We went in the house and all the furniture had been moved out of the living space and there were blankets on the floor, and there were probably 8 or 9 women sitting on the floor – aunts or other women relatives, there to grieve with the mother of Annie. They had come at the beginning of the week and stayed there with her (her husband died before). It was amazing to see these old women sitting/lying on the floor, but that’s what they’re used to.
They know how to grieve here. We had gone to the gravesite in the car and two men went along that knew Tina. They asked how different it was from where I’m from. I said only the family or close friends would go to the gravesite, and not everyone stays for the meal either, and it’s usually just sandwiches, not a big meal. They couldn’t believe not everyone would go to the grave and eat together – you need a lot of people with you to grieve, and that just wouldn’t be right. Like Tina said – relationships here are everything.
It was great to be in a village again and it brought back lots of memories of when we lived in Maun. Although then we had running cold water but not electricity, and this woman had electricity but not running water! The stars were just as beautiful now as then too!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
KGOTLA MEETING – Roger
Every village in Botswana has a Kgotla where the Kgosi (Chief) listens to disputes and makes a ruling, and where all community meetings are held. That is where all the decisions are made that affect the village. If the village is large it will be divided up into wards each with a Kgotla. In a Kgotla meeting any person who wants can speak and share his or her view, and the others listen politely (usually) while that person is speaking. The Kgotla is the center of village life and is recognized by a partial semi-circle of tree trunks “planted” in the sand forming a fence of sorts, usually near a large tree. A person charged with an offence may have to go through the traditional court at the Kgotla or through the civil courts (a system very similar to ours) depending on the nature of the charge. Sometimes the person is allowed to choose, again depending on the offense. One means of punishment in the traditional court is lashes – and believe me that is not a pleasant sight to behold. I watched it once.
The city does not have Kgotla’s, but the police in our neighborhood notified all the residents and drove around with a speaker announcing a meeting to be held one evening this past week. They jokingly said that is now our Kgotla, and about 40 or 50 people showed up for the meeting. I was surprised to see Jolene and I were the only lekoa (white people). We desperately wanted to live in a village when we returned, but since I have to be at the airport within 15 or 20 minutes when a mercy flight is called, we could not find a suitable location. It was good to know we are living in a neighborhood that is mostly composed of Batswana.
The meeting was to be held at 5:30PM so I came straight from work, and since everything is on Africa time it got going around 6:10. The meeting reminded me very much of some of the Kgotla meetings I attended in the past. It took until 8:00PM to make a decision – just to decide that a neighborhood watch is a good idea and to form a committee to have some ideas before the big group met again. It is frustratingly slow for someone with a western-type mindset, but everybody has a voice and only then can things be decided. The one police officer was trying to get me to be chairman of the committee, but I refused any position as an officer on the committee. I did agree to be an additional member, so it will be interesting to see how it all develops. It will be a great way to get to know some of the neighbors – something that is very hard to do with electric fences, high walls, and large solid steel gates. I would guess about 25% have high walls with electric fences (all of them have a fence of some sort) and ours is one of them. It is hard to get to know one’s neighbors that way.
The statistics the police gave on crime was an eye-opener. We live in an area called Block 5 (a small part of the city), and in Block 5 alone in the week prior to our meeting there were 167 reports of crime. 2 armed robberies, 8 vehicle thefts or break-ins, 5 house break-ins and numerous other attacks and thefts. I guess that is “development”!
One encouraging thing to see was the way the role of women has appeared to change since we last lived here. The chairperson position on the committee was open to any gender, and several women were asked to head it. In the end a man accepted it, but women are some of the other officers, and some were asked to be chairperson, but they refused. That would not have happened so quickly when we were here before. The dress code for women (at least in the city) has also loosened up. Many women wear pants now, and one even sees shorts on some of the younger women. Unfortunately the dress code for men seems to be more restrictive. I do not feel comfortable wearing shorts nearly as much as I did when we lived here last, and believe me this country is meant for shorts J. I am stuck in long pants much of the time!
The city does not have Kgotla’s, but the police in our neighborhood notified all the residents and drove around with a speaker announcing a meeting to be held one evening this past week. They jokingly said that is now our Kgotla, and about 40 or 50 people showed up for the meeting. I was surprised to see Jolene and I were the only lekoa (white people). We desperately wanted to live in a village when we returned, but since I have to be at the airport within 15 or 20 minutes when a mercy flight is called, we could not find a suitable location. It was good to know we are living in a neighborhood that is mostly composed of Batswana.
The meeting was to be held at 5:30PM so I came straight from work, and since everything is on Africa time it got going around 6:10. The meeting reminded me very much of some of the Kgotla meetings I attended in the past. It took until 8:00PM to make a decision – just to decide that a neighborhood watch is a good idea and to form a committee to have some ideas before the big group met again. It is frustratingly slow for someone with a western-type mindset, but everybody has a voice and only then can things be decided. The one police officer was trying to get me to be chairman of the committee, but I refused any position as an officer on the committee. I did agree to be an additional member, so it will be interesting to see how it all develops. It will be a great way to get to know some of the neighbors – something that is very hard to do with electric fences, high walls, and large solid steel gates. I would guess about 25% have high walls with electric fences (all of them have a fence of some sort) and ours is one of them. It is hard to get to know one’s neighbors that way.
The statistics the police gave on crime was an eye-opener. We live in an area called Block 5 (a small part of the city), and in Block 5 alone in the week prior to our meeting there were 167 reports of crime. 2 armed robberies, 8 vehicle thefts or break-ins, 5 house break-ins and numerous other attacks and thefts. I guess that is “development”!
One encouraging thing to see was the way the role of women has appeared to change since we last lived here. The chairperson position on the committee was open to any gender, and several women were asked to head it. In the end a man accepted it, but women are some of the other officers, and some were asked to be chairperson, but they refused. That would not have happened so quickly when we were here before. The dress code for women (at least in the city) has also loosened up. Many women wear pants now, and one even sees shorts on some of the younger women. Unfortunately the dress code for men seems to be more restrictive. I do not feel comfortable wearing shorts nearly as much as I did when we lived here last, and believe me this country is meant for shorts J. I am stuck in long pants much of the time!
DIFFERENCES – SOME GOOD, SOME BAD - Roger
It some ways it almost seems like a foreign land, returning to Botswana; even though we lived here for seven years – definitely the most life-changing years of our lives. After returning to the US and living there for 15 years before having the opportunity to come back to visit the land where three of our children were born, and a country that means a lot to us, it is almost surreal that I have returned to this land for the 5th time in the past 18 months – this time to move here for a season.
Some of the nostalgic times I recall will not be re-lived however. Since we left “progress” has occurred. The city we are returning to is now a real city, and has lost the “small town” flavor it used to have. The village we used to live in now seems more like a town as well. It is hard to imagine a little over 40 years ago there was nothing at Gaborone except a small village. At the time of independence a decision was made to build a city and make it the capital of Botswana. When we arrived the city had a good start and just prior to our arrival the first two robots (traffic lights) in the country were installed in the downtown “mall” area. The day we arrived a Motswana (Botswana citizen) took us to show us the new robots. She explained how she figured out what the red and green meant, but still couldn’t figure out what the yellow was for. She was so proud of this new addition and asked us if we had anything like that in America. We told her we did have them, and she gave us this doubtful look as if to say “yea right” – I knew she really didn’t believe it. Today there are robots everywhere, four lane highways and a bypass, and of course traffic to fill them up with long lines of cars. After we left Gaborone became (and still may be) the fastest growing city in Africa, and be some accounts in the world. Times have changed. At this point it appears things have not slowed down, although the entire economy is based on diamonds. If diamonds had been discovered before Independence this country would have a vastly different history, but since nobody thought the country was of any value it was never colonized. After Independence some of the richest diamond mines in the world were discovered, and the government went into a 50/50 partnership with DeBeers – the big diamond company – and formed a company called Debswana. The country was fortunate to have elected an amazing Chief as the first President, and the second President was also an amazing person (the president when we first arrived). This country is a shining example for Africa – it is not a “typical” African country. The politics and the race problems, interconnected with the British Empire and apartheid in South Africa makes for a very interesting history, however. If you want a good book to read about the founding of this country (there have been several written) – one of the first ones written was titled “A Marriage of Inconvenience”. It is a fascinating story!
It is hard to wrap our heads around the changes in the 15 years we were gone. At the retreats and country meetings in our past life, we used to discuss the way urbanization is affecting the country – and now returning one can see some of those effects, although I don’t think we ever imagined we would see some of the things we see now.
A few observations of things I wish had not changed, and things that have changed for the better.
Oh for the good old days:
1. No high walls, electric fences on top of the walls, steel gates, house alarms, watch dogs
2. No armed robberies, car hijackings, violence, house break-ins
3. Expecting to hear a greeting when passing someone on the street
4. No traffic jams, waiting at robots, getting “cussed” out by other drivers
5. No TV – only one station was available from 7:00 to 9:00 PM
Boy I’m glad the good old days are over:
1. Wow you can find just about anything in the shops (if you hit the right day) and there are stores EVERYWHERE – malls, grocery stores, petrol stations, fast food, restaurants, cell phone shops
2. Tar roads – it takes hours to drive where it used to take days on sand tracks
3. Cell phones (from no phones, to cell phones), internet, - maybe this should be on the list above?
The list could go on in both columns. It feels great to be back – a bit like returning home only to discover it has been completely remodeled and unrecognizable in many cases. We will continue to moan about missing the “good ole days”, while we count our blessings when we find things in the shops we can’t believe.
Some of the nostalgic times I recall will not be re-lived however. Since we left “progress” has occurred. The city we are returning to is now a real city, and has lost the “small town” flavor it used to have. The village we used to live in now seems more like a town as well. It is hard to imagine a little over 40 years ago there was nothing at Gaborone except a small village. At the time of independence a decision was made to build a city and make it the capital of Botswana. When we arrived the city had a good start and just prior to our arrival the first two robots (traffic lights) in the country were installed in the downtown “mall” area. The day we arrived a Motswana (Botswana citizen) took us to show us the new robots. She explained how she figured out what the red and green meant, but still couldn’t figure out what the yellow was for. She was so proud of this new addition and asked us if we had anything like that in America. We told her we did have them, and she gave us this doubtful look as if to say “yea right” – I knew she really didn’t believe it. Today there are robots everywhere, four lane highways and a bypass, and of course traffic to fill them up with long lines of cars. After we left Gaborone became (and still may be) the fastest growing city in Africa, and be some accounts in the world. Times have changed. At this point it appears things have not slowed down, although the entire economy is based on diamonds. If diamonds had been discovered before Independence this country would have a vastly different history, but since nobody thought the country was of any value it was never colonized. After Independence some of the richest diamond mines in the world were discovered, and the government went into a 50/50 partnership with DeBeers – the big diamond company – and formed a company called Debswana. The country was fortunate to have elected an amazing Chief as the first President, and the second President was also an amazing person (the president when we first arrived). This country is a shining example for Africa – it is not a “typical” African country. The politics and the race problems, interconnected with the British Empire and apartheid in South Africa makes for a very interesting history, however. If you want a good book to read about the founding of this country (there have been several written) – one of the first ones written was titled “A Marriage of Inconvenience”. It is a fascinating story!
It is hard to wrap our heads around the changes in the 15 years we were gone. At the retreats and country meetings in our past life, we used to discuss the way urbanization is affecting the country – and now returning one can see some of those effects, although I don’t think we ever imagined we would see some of the things we see now.
A few observations of things I wish had not changed, and things that have changed for the better.
Oh for the good old days:
1. No high walls, electric fences on top of the walls, steel gates, house alarms, watch dogs
2. No armed robberies, car hijackings, violence, house break-ins
3. Expecting to hear a greeting when passing someone on the street
4. No traffic jams, waiting at robots, getting “cussed” out by other drivers
5. No TV – only one station was available from 7:00 to 9:00 PM
Boy I’m glad the good old days are over:
1. Wow you can find just about anything in the shops (if you hit the right day) and there are stores EVERYWHERE – malls, grocery stores, petrol stations, fast food, restaurants, cell phone shops
2. Tar roads – it takes hours to drive where it used to take days on sand tracks
3. Cell phones (from no phones, to cell phones), internet, - maybe this should be on the list above?
The list could go on in both columns. It feels great to be back – a bit like returning home only to discover it has been completely remodeled and unrecognizable in many cases. We will continue to moan about missing the “good ole days”, while we count our blessings when we find things in the shops we can’t believe.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Hello Botswana
February 3, 2009
Well, this will be our first blog entry since arriving in Botswana. We should have started it right away because now it will be hard to catch up on what all has happened so far. We arrived on Wednesday, January 14 after two long night flights – Philly to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Johannesburg, and then Johannesburg to Gaborone. Everything went well, except that none of our 11 (two of those were for Flying Mission) bags made it through with us. However, they did arrive later that same day, so that was pretty good.
Our house wasn’t ready for us, so we stayed at the Mennonite Guesthouse for 4 nights before moving into our house. It still wasn’t totally ready, but we moved in anyway, after giving it a thorough cleaning. It’s a very nice three bedroom, two bathroom house, nice sized kitchen with lots of storage space in closets and cupboards. The floors are all tile which is a challenge to keep clean, but we’re not complaining! Since we’re here for such a short time, Flying Mission had this house for us and had basic furniture and appliances here. Most of the folks that come have to find their own houses and buy all their appliances and stuff. So that is really nice. We brought a lot of our own things along, but we’re supposed to outfit this house while we’re here so when we leave it is furnished so other folks that come short term have a place to come to. So part of my job is trying to find bargains, sales, etc., for kitchen things, towels, sheets, etc. There is even an auction once a month for furniture and household things, which will be this coming Saturday that we want to go to. One thing we don’t really like, but is a reality here, is security is a big issue. We have a wall around our house with electric wires on top of that, and we have a pretty elaborate alarm system in the house. That is just so unlike what we were used to when we lived here before, and a bit hard to accept, but I guess those are the things that come with urbanization and “progress”.
Renae started school on Friday the same week we arrived, and then Katrina (niece living with us), arrived Sunday evening. She had quite a harrowing experience of missing her flight in Johannesburg – she had a tight connection and her flight was late getting in. After Roger made numerous phone calls, he finally found someone that was helpful and they got her on the last fight of the day on Air Botswana, instead of South African airlines. They were going to put her up in a hotel, but thankfully they didn’t need to do that. We are still not sure how it happened; as that flight was overfilled and initially he was told there was no way for her to get on it. He used the word “child” over and over and finally got them convinced to put her on the flight. Her phone wasn’t working there either so there was no way to contact her –it was quite an experience for her!
She started school then on Tuesday. I should let them write about school. They wear a very cute uniform (they wouldn’t’ t say so!) and school is very different to say the least. I think they’re getting used to it, but they like their old schools a LOT better! It’s pretty much all on computer, and no classroom discussion, or much interaction at all with the teacher. Schools here teach VERY differently – mostly rote learning, and the teacher is very strict and certainly not a friend to converse with. We thought since it’s an international school it would be different, but the teacher is a Motswana, so that’s all she knows. They’re doing it on the computer because it fits in a lot better with the American system – here it is the British system, and isn’t compatible with the American system at all.
We’ve attended the same church for three Sundays, but want to visit a couple others before we totally decide what we’re going to do. The church we’ve gone to was pastored by Jonathan Larson (he preached at our church a couple months back and we knew him when we lived here before – a Mennonite). The church is about 30% white ex-pats, and 70% Batswana or ex-pats from other African countries. It’s pretty lively, and we’ve met some really great people there. Renae played viola in the worship band last Sunday, so she’s expanding her horizons! She & Katrina also went to a youth group function at another place – a good way to meet some other kids.
We had an orientation to Flying Mission last week, and learned a lot about what they do, and how they work here. It’s very different than when we were here before. Then there was no HIV/AIDS program, only the flying side, but now HIV/AIDS is their main thing really. The AIDS situation here is a lot better than it was several years ago, but only because the government is giving free ARV medications, so people can live a full life with HIV/AIDS as long as they stay on the drugs. Lifestyle issues are still the same problem they were then – Fm works on those kinds of things. Multiple partners (at the same time) are very common, and that’s the main way it spreads here. One day we went to Old Naledi, which is sort of a squatter/slum settlement, where they have a feeding program for orphans & vulnerable children (OVC) at noon every weekday, run by the Open Baptist Church. I actually had to leave before they fed them the meal, but I want to take Renae & Katrina there to help, and there are other places too to get involved in things like that. At another location they play sports with the kids in the afternoon, or help tutor them.
I think this is way too long for a blog, but now we’re sort of caught up. Of course there are many other things I could write, but that’s good for now!
Jolene
Well, this will be our first blog entry since arriving in Botswana. We should have started it right away because now it will be hard to catch up on what all has happened so far. We arrived on Wednesday, January 14 after two long night flights – Philly to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Johannesburg, and then Johannesburg to Gaborone. Everything went well, except that none of our 11 (two of those were for Flying Mission) bags made it through with us. However, they did arrive later that same day, so that was pretty good.
Our house wasn’t ready for us, so we stayed at the Mennonite Guesthouse for 4 nights before moving into our house. It still wasn’t totally ready, but we moved in anyway, after giving it a thorough cleaning. It’s a very nice three bedroom, two bathroom house, nice sized kitchen with lots of storage space in closets and cupboards. The floors are all tile which is a challenge to keep clean, but we’re not complaining! Since we’re here for such a short time, Flying Mission had this house for us and had basic furniture and appliances here. Most of the folks that come have to find their own houses and buy all their appliances and stuff. So that is really nice. We brought a lot of our own things along, but we’re supposed to outfit this house while we’re here so when we leave it is furnished so other folks that come short term have a place to come to. So part of my job is trying to find bargains, sales, etc., for kitchen things, towels, sheets, etc. There is even an auction once a month for furniture and household things, which will be this coming Saturday that we want to go to. One thing we don’t really like, but is a reality here, is security is a big issue. We have a wall around our house with electric wires on top of that, and we have a pretty elaborate alarm system in the house. That is just so unlike what we were used to when we lived here before, and a bit hard to accept, but I guess those are the things that come with urbanization and “progress”.
Renae started school on Friday the same week we arrived, and then Katrina (niece living with us), arrived Sunday evening. She had quite a harrowing experience of missing her flight in Johannesburg – she had a tight connection and her flight was late getting in. After Roger made numerous phone calls, he finally found someone that was helpful and they got her on the last fight of the day on Air Botswana, instead of South African airlines. They were going to put her up in a hotel, but thankfully they didn’t need to do that. We are still not sure how it happened; as that flight was overfilled and initially he was told there was no way for her to get on it. He used the word “child” over and over and finally got them convinced to put her on the flight. Her phone wasn’t working there either so there was no way to contact her –it was quite an experience for her!
She started school then on Tuesday. I should let them write about school. They wear a very cute uniform (they wouldn’t’ t say so!) and school is very different to say the least. I think they’re getting used to it, but they like their old schools a LOT better! It’s pretty much all on computer, and no classroom discussion, or much interaction at all with the teacher. Schools here teach VERY differently – mostly rote learning, and the teacher is very strict and certainly not a friend to converse with. We thought since it’s an international school it would be different, but the teacher is a Motswana, so that’s all she knows. They’re doing it on the computer because it fits in a lot better with the American system – here it is the British system, and isn’t compatible with the American system at all.
We’ve attended the same church for three Sundays, but want to visit a couple others before we totally decide what we’re going to do. The church we’ve gone to was pastored by Jonathan Larson (he preached at our church a couple months back and we knew him when we lived here before – a Mennonite). The church is about 30% white ex-pats, and 70% Batswana or ex-pats from other African countries. It’s pretty lively, and we’ve met some really great people there. Renae played viola in the worship band last Sunday, so she’s expanding her horizons! She & Katrina also went to a youth group function at another place – a good way to meet some other kids.
We had an orientation to Flying Mission last week, and learned a lot about what they do, and how they work here. It’s very different than when we were here before. Then there was no HIV/AIDS program, only the flying side, but now HIV/AIDS is their main thing really. The AIDS situation here is a lot better than it was several years ago, but only because the government is giving free ARV medications, so people can live a full life with HIV/AIDS as long as they stay on the drugs. Lifestyle issues are still the same problem they were then – Fm works on those kinds of things. Multiple partners (at the same time) are very common, and that’s the main way it spreads here. One day we went to Old Naledi, which is sort of a squatter/slum settlement, where they have a feeding program for orphans & vulnerable children (OVC) at noon every weekday, run by the Open Baptist Church. I actually had to leave before they fed them the meal, but I want to take Renae & Katrina there to help, and there are other places too to get involved in things like that. At another location they play sports with the kids in the afternoon, or help tutor them.
I think this is way too long for a blog, but now we’re sort of caught up. Of course there are many other things I could write, but that’s good for now!
Jolene
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Conclusions
RENAE:
Well let me just say that I love Africa. A lot. The best part of the trip I would say was meeting the people here my parents knew and talked about so much. They make such an effort to interact with people, putting it before work, sleep, or anything else that we would otherwise put before people. If you go to their house one day, the next day they’ll call you up and go to your house for tea. It’s just so different than the States. The scenery is also amazing. I’ve never ever seen anything so beautiful as the sunset over the Chobe River with hundreds of elephants crossing it. I hope to never lose that picture in my mind, ever. Some of the other highlights of the trip were: seeing the country where I was born, the hyena taking our cooler, camping wherever we felt like in the Bush, all the wildlife at Chobe, Moremi, and Etosha, white water rafting down the craziest river in the world, and trying to stay standing on a sandboard flying down a dune. Living in Botswana is definitely at the top of my list for what I want to do in my life in the future.
Renae
LISA:
It will be quite depressing to leave this place. It was really neat to finally see all of the places and people I’ve heard so much about and seen so many pictures of since as long as I can remember. I think everyone should someday in their lives put themselves into a situation where they are a foreigner in a developing country as the only person of their race in the whole town. Although extremely uncomfortable, it’s interesting for you and everyone around you to be so aware of the color of your skin, because you just don’t think about it at home. Also, seeing the immense amount of our possessions for a 6 week vacation next to the village huts that were used for a lifetime made me stop and think a little about the discrepancy between the way I live and the way much of the world lives. Some of my favorite parts were bush camping, the amazing amounts of wild game, interacting with the culture, meeting Batswana friends, sandboarding, the incredibly different types of scenic beauty from all 4 countries, the African sky at night, and Dad falling out of the white water raft. I was disappointed that we never got to attend a village church, because apparently that is quite an experience. Africa is definitely a continent I will hopefully be revisiting in the future.
Lisa
NICOLE:
So there’s no denying this trip is over. We will all go out for brunch later this morning together one last time before Travis, Erin and I will drop the others off at the Windhoek airport before beginning our journey back to Gaborone.
There is also no denying that this conclusion has to be written….I have come so far I would hate to have to pay for 1/7 of the trip now. I have been writing silly conclusions for the past few days, but nothing passes the critical eye of Dad. So here goes…
I would say one of my favorite things about this trip was the few times we weren’t just rich white tourists, but people who actually have ties to the country. Having contact with the local people and getting a glimpse into the culture by visiting friends of my parents in Gaborone and Maun have been unforgettable. These glimpses have definitely made me rethink my place in this world as the privileged white American I am. I too am jealous of Travis for getting to stay so much longer, but I’m not a big college grad yet so my time may come someday. I hope I have not seen Botswana for the last time.
Other highlights include camping in the bush in the middle of nowhere, watching the stars and the sunsets/sunrises, all the beautiful wildlife Botswana and Namibia have to offer, whitewater rafting the Zambezi, seeing that hyena steal our entire cooler, and of course just generally spending time with the family and Erin before we disperse to all corners of the world again.
It is sad to think that in just a few short hours this trip will be only a memory, but it had to happen someday I suppose. All good things must end. I am excited for the next part of this trip, which, for me consists of working at a day care for AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in Gaborone for three weeks. I a little nervous, heading to a city I don’t know, with a language I don’t know, to live with a woman I don’t know. But I am thankful to have the opportunity to have an experience like this, and glad to postpone my goodbye to Africa for a few more weeks.
Nicole
TRAVIS:
Well, I pretty much agree with everyone else’s conclusions thus far, and I’ll try not to bore you by repeating the same things that you have already read above. But I suppose I will keep with the tradition of listing some of my highlights: meeting some of the people that had only existed for me in stories, seeing the places were we had lived and comparing them with my memories, camping in the middle of nowhere and having campfires every night for a few solid weeks, spending some quality time with my family and Erin before they leave me here for good, whitewater rafting and seeing Dad lunge towards the middle of the raft to save it from capsizing as I fell off the edge, seeing all kinds of beautiful wildlife, the mokoro trip into the swamps….and many, many more of course. As Lisa mentioned, it has been difficult to come to terms with our position as wealthy white tourists here, even in one of Africa’s wealthiest and most stable nations. This was brought home to me in a real way when a lady came up to us while we were sitting in the Land Rover in a South African town, with all of our camping gear packed on the roof and in the back, and asked us where we were moving. No, we’re not moving. This is just all the junk that we need to “survive” for 6 weeks. As a counterpoint to that, I’m extremely excited to head back to Gaborone after this and settle down and actually live here. It will feel good to not be a tourist and to be able to feel more at home here with time. It will be interesting to see how it feels to be a white person living here rather than just passing through (although I suppose 15 months is pretty much “just passing through” also). In any case, the trip has been amazing and I have loved being here and seeing the places that we’ve been. Oh, and I think that I will try to keep a blog running while I’m here for family and friends and all that, so if you want to keep up with me while I’m with Flying Mission check it out. The address is fmtravis.blogspot.com Cool. Until later,
Travis
ERIN:
As seems to be the case with most good things in life, the end of this trip has come entirely too soon. It’s gone quickly…but what a six weeks it’s been. I thought at first that having a blog entry for every day was a little excessive, but I’ve been amazed at the way each one—at least to us (your views as blog readers are allowed to differ)—has been filled with significant happenings. Africa has been a more powerful teacher than years in a classroom could ever be in terms of the issues everyone else has already mentioned—racism, poverty, HIV/AIDS, post-colonialism, everything—and still I haven’t even scratched the surface of everything Botswana and southern Africa are about. Our travels here have forced me to think much more consciously about my place in the world and the incredible privileges I take for granted on an everyday basis. These are thoughts that will not be forgotten anytime soon. One of the highlights of the trip for me has definitely been making connections with people here. Traveling with people who used to live here has made this whole experience so much more meaningful than it would have been otherwise. Even though I’ve learned an awful lot and feel much more comfortable in this part of the world than I did a month ago, I still wish I could get to know the culture by living here instead of just passing through. I really do envy the chance Travis has to do that now, but soon I’ll be doing the same in Cambodia, so I can’t complain. The amazing experience of traveling through Africa aside, the chance to share in this family vacation has been the opportunity of a lifetime. In some ways, being part of another family caused as much culture shock for me as adjusting to a new continent. I have loved getting to know all of the Weavers on a much deeper level than I ever did before, and I give them a lot of credit for being patient with me as I’ve tried to figure out how I fit into this family. I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to most of them tomorrow, and to Travis and Nicole and Botswana in one short week. I can’t claim that this was ever my home like the others, but I share their sentiments that I want to come back. So goodbye, Africa. I hope we will meet again.
Erin
JOLENE:
It’s hard to know how to wrap this up. The kids have said things very well I think. It’s been a significant trip into the past for all of us and something we’ve all looked forward to for many years – basically since we’ve left. Highlights for me were connecting with the people we knew (everyone was so thrilled that we remembered them & made the effort to come see them when we were here) and the places we’ve lived, the gorgeous stars at night, the thousands of animals (especially lions), night sounds and spending time with my family before we disperse again for over a year.
Traveling in a Land Rover brought back many, many memories of the Land Rover we used to have while living in Maun and bumping over those roads in the sand & dust – I had thought I was done with that forever! What amazed me too were all the changes in Gaborone and Maun, and the whole country in general – so many paved roads that didn’t used to be, western type malls where there were just little shops before, Bokaa with electricity and telephones, and a paved road into it. So we couldn’t really show the kids how it used to be exactly. I’m excited for Travis (& Nicole for 3 weeks) to be able to spend more time in Botswana.
It was definitely a worthwhile trip and one we won’t soon forget!!
Jolene
ROGER:
Highlights: Reconnecting with a few of our Batswana friends, seeing the beautiful night sky without ANY ground light interference, sitting by a campfire many a night and getting it stoked back up the next morning for tea and breakfast (we went for a stretch of 18 continuous days - cooking on a campfire every night, and warming up to it each morning).
However for me there is nothing like bush camping and trying to think about how far away the closest human being might be. The night “jungle’ sounds are amazing. Hearing the roar of the lions, the laugh of the hyena, the grunts of the hippos, mixed in with the chorus of all the other night sounds is one of the sweetest sounds on earth. Folks, it doesn’t get any better than that.
Disappointments: It was disappointing we were not in a location to experience an African Independent Church service on any of the Sunday mornings. I really wanted the kids to have that experience. It was also a bit non-nostalgic to see Gaborone and Maun being so different. Gabs is now a real city – when we arrived they were so excited to have just installed the first two robots (traffic lights) in the country. Maun is totally different – they don’t have robots yet, but they now have paved roads and two round-a-bouts already. The wheels of development have been spinning and that is good. It went from one of the poorest countries in Africa to one of the wealthiest over the years, but one of the things that have also spun off is crime and violence, which was unknown before. Sadly one no longer feels as safe and carefree as before. Locked gates are everywhere – even in Maun. That was unheard of before. Our old place in Maun even has electric, and along with that electric fences surround the yard. Electric fences are installed around the tops of many walls in Gabs and Maun. What happened to the trust everyone had before? I do miss that, however in the rural villages it is like it always was. Hopefully it will remain that way for a while.
As was stated above – I love Africa – no doubt about it!
Roger
Well let me just say that I love Africa. A lot. The best part of the trip I would say was meeting the people here my parents knew and talked about so much. They make such an effort to interact with people, putting it before work, sleep, or anything else that we would otherwise put before people. If you go to their house one day, the next day they’ll call you up and go to your house for tea. It’s just so different than the States. The scenery is also amazing. I’ve never ever seen anything so beautiful as the sunset over the Chobe River with hundreds of elephants crossing it. I hope to never lose that picture in my mind, ever. Some of the other highlights of the trip were: seeing the country where I was born, the hyena taking our cooler, camping wherever we felt like in the Bush, all the wildlife at Chobe, Moremi, and Etosha, white water rafting down the craziest river in the world, and trying to stay standing on a sandboard flying down a dune. Living in Botswana is definitely at the top of my list for what I want to do in my life in the future.
Renae
LISA:
It will be quite depressing to leave this place. It was really neat to finally see all of the places and people I’ve heard so much about and seen so many pictures of since as long as I can remember. I think everyone should someday in their lives put themselves into a situation where they are a foreigner in a developing country as the only person of their race in the whole town. Although extremely uncomfortable, it’s interesting for you and everyone around you to be so aware of the color of your skin, because you just don’t think about it at home. Also, seeing the immense amount of our possessions for a 6 week vacation next to the village huts that were used for a lifetime made me stop and think a little about the discrepancy between the way I live and the way much of the world lives. Some of my favorite parts were bush camping, the amazing amounts of wild game, interacting with the culture, meeting Batswana friends, sandboarding, the incredibly different types of scenic beauty from all 4 countries, the African sky at night, and Dad falling out of the white water raft. I was disappointed that we never got to attend a village church, because apparently that is quite an experience. Africa is definitely a continent I will hopefully be revisiting in the future.
Lisa
NICOLE:
So there’s no denying this trip is over. We will all go out for brunch later this morning together one last time before Travis, Erin and I will drop the others off at the Windhoek airport before beginning our journey back to Gaborone.
There is also no denying that this conclusion has to be written….I have come so far I would hate to have to pay for 1/7 of the trip now. I have been writing silly conclusions for the past few days, but nothing passes the critical eye of Dad. So here goes…
I would say one of my favorite things about this trip was the few times we weren’t just rich white tourists, but people who actually have ties to the country. Having contact with the local people and getting a glimpse into the culture by visiting friends of my parents in Gaborone and Maun have been unforgettable. These glimpses have definitely made me rethink my place in this world as the privileged white American I am. I too am jealous of Travis for getting to stay so much longer, but I’m not a big college grad yet so my time may come someday. I hope I have not seen Botswana for the last time.
Other highlights include camping in the bush in the middle of nowhere, watching the stars and the sunsets/sunrises, all the beautiful wildlife Botswana and Namibia have to offer, whitewater rafting the Zambezi, seeing that hyena steal our entire cooler, and of course just generally spending time with the family and Erin before we disperse to all corners of the world again.
It is sad to think that in just a few short hours this trip will be only a memory, but it had to happen someday I suppose. All good things must end. I am excited for the next part of this trip, which, for me consists of working at a day care for AIDS orphans and vulnerable children in Gaborone for three weeks. I a little nervous, heading to a city I don’t know, with a language I don’t know, to live with a woman I don’t know. But I am thankful to have the opportunity to have an experience like this, and glad to postpone my goodbye to Africa for a few more weeks.
Nicole
TRAVIS:
Well, I pretty much agree with everyone else’s conclusions thus far, and I’ll try not to bore you by repeating the same things that you have already read above. But I suppose I will keep with the tradition of listing some of my highlights: meeting some of the people that had only existed for me in stories, seeing the places were we had lived and comparing them with my memories, camping in the middle of nowhere and having campfires every night for a few solid weeks, spending some quality time with my family and Erin before they leave me here for good, whitewater rafting and seeing Dad lunge towards the middle of the raft to save it from capsizing as I fell off the edge, seeing all kinds of beautiful wildlife, the mokoro trip into the swamps….and many, many more of course. As Lisa mentioned, it has been difficult to come to terms with our position as wealthy white tourists here, even in one of Africa’s wealthiest and most stable nations. This was brought home to me in a real way when a lady came up to us while we were sitting in the Land Rover in a South African town, with all of our camping gear packed on the roof and in the back, and asked us where we were moving. No, we’re not moving. This is just all the junk that we need to “survive” for 6 weeks. As a counterpoint to that, I’m extremely excited to head back to Gaborone after this and settle down and actually live here. It will feel good to not be a tourist and to be able to feel more at home here with time. It will be interesting to see how it feels to be a white person living here rather than just passing through (although I suppose 15 months is pretty much “just passing through” also). In any case, the trip has been amazing and I have loved being here and seeing the places that we’ve been. Oh, and I think that I will try to keep a blog running while I’m here for family and friends and all that, so if you want to keep up with me while I’m with Flying Mission check it out. The address is fmtravis.blogspot.com Cool. Until later,
Travis
ERIN:
As seems to be the case with most good things in life, the end of this trip has come entirely too soon. It’s gone quickly…but what a six weeks it’s been. I thought at first that having a blog entry for every day was a little excessive, but I’ve been amazed at the way each one—at least to us (your views as blog readers are allowed to differ)—has been filled with significant happenings. Africa has been a more powerful teacher than years in a classroom could ever be in terms of the issues everyone else has already mentioned—racism, poverty, HIV/AIDS, post-colonialism, everything—and still I haven’t even scratched the surface of everything Botswana and southern Africa are about. Our travels here have forced me to think much more consciously about my place in the world and the incredible privileges I take for granted on an everyday basis. These are thoughts that will not be forgotten anytime soon. One of the highlights of the trip for me has definitely been making connections with people here. Traveling with people who used to live here has made this whole experience so much more meaningful than it would have been otherwise. Even though I’ve learned an awful lot and feel much more comfortable in this part of the world than I did a month ago, I still wish I could get to know the culture by living here instead of just passing through. I really do envy the chance Travis has to do that now, but soon I’ll be doing the same in Cambodia, so I can’t complain. The amazing experience of traveling through Africa aside, the chance to share in this family vacation has been the opportunity of a lifetime. In some ways, being part of another family caused as much culture shock for me as adjusting to a new continent. I have loved getting to know all of the Weavers on a much deeper level than I ever did before, and I give them a lot of credit for being patient with me as I’ve tried to figure out how I fit into this family. I am not looking forward to saying goodbye to most of them tomorrow, and to Travis and Nicole and Botswana in one short week. I can’t claim that this was ever my home like the others, but I share their sentiments that I want to come back. So goodbye, Africa. I hope we will meet again.
Erin
JOLENE:
It’s hard to know how to wrap this up. The kids have said things very well I think. It’s been a significant trip into the past for all of us and something we’ve all looked forward to for many years – basically since we’ve left. Highlights for me were connecting with the people we knew (everyone was so thrilled that we remembered them & made the effort to come see them when we were here) and the places we’ve lived, the gorgeous stars at night, the thousands of animals (especially lions), night sounds and spending time with my family before we disperse again for over a year.
Traveling in a Land Rover brought back many, many memories of the Land Rover we used to have while living in Maun and bumping over those roads in the sand & dust – I had thought I was done with that forever! What amazed me too were all the changes in Gaborone and Maun, and the whole country in general – so many paved roads that didn’t used to be, western type malls where there were just little shops before, Bokaa with electricity and telephones, and a paved road into it. So we couldn’t really show the kids how it used to be exactly. I’m excited for Travis (& Nicole for 3 weeks) to be able to spend more time in Botswana.
It was definitely a worthwhile trip and one we won’t soon forget!!
Jolene
ROGER:
Highlights: Reconnecting with a few of our Batswana friends, seeing the beautiful night sky without ANY ground light interference, sitting by a campfire many a night and getting it stoked back up the next morning for tea and breakfast (we went for a stretch of 18 continuous days - cooking on a campfire every night, and warming up to it each morning).
However for me there is nothing like bush camping and trying to think about how far away the closest human being might be. The night “jungle’ sounds are amazing. Hearing the roar of the lions, the laugh of the hyena, the grunts of the hippos, mixed in with the chorus of all the other night sounds is one of the sweetest sounds on earth. Folks, it doesn’t get any better than that.
Disappointments: It was disappointing we were not in a location to experience an African Independent Church service on any of the Sunday mornings. I really wanted the kids to have that experience. It was also a bit non-nostalgic to see Gaborone and Maun being so different. Gabs is now a real city – when we arrived they were so excited to have just installed the first two robots (traffic lights) in the country. Maun is totally different – they don’t have robots yet, but they now have paved roads and two round-a-bouts already. The wheels of development have been spinning and that is good. It went from one of the poorest countries in Africa to one of the wealthiest over the years, but one of the things that have also spun off is crime and violence, which was unknown before. Sadly one no longer feels as safe and carefree as before. Locked gates are everywhere – even in Maun. That was unheard of before. Our old place in Maun even has electric, and along with that electric fences surround the yard. Electric fences are installed around the tops of many walls in Gabs and Maun. What happened to the trust everyone had before? I do miss that, however in the rural villages it is like it always was. Hopefully it will remain that way for a while.
As was stated above – I love Africa – no doubt about it!
Roger
July 22
ROGER:
Today is the day we each go our own ways. All vacations must come to an end I guess, and this one is no different. Nicole, Erin, and Travis will drop Jolene, Renae, Lisa and me at the airport to catch our long flight home – something I am not looking forward to. I do long flights like that often enough, but for some reason sitting in the front office is not nearly as bad as riding in the back.
I guess in a few days this trip will be nothing more than a good memory (and in a short time only a distant memory), but I am thankful I have a job that allowed me to accumulate frequent flyer miles so this could happen. It is good to have had the opportunity to visit the place that has had more of an impact on my life, than any other life experience I’ve had – by a long shot.
Roger
Today is the day we each go our own ways. All vacations must come to an end I guess, and this one is no different. Nicole, Erin, and Travis will drop Jolene, Renae, Lisa and me at the airport to catch our long flight home – something I am not looking forward to. I do long flights like that often enough, but for some reason sitting in the front office is not nearly as bad as riding in the back.
I guess in a few days this trip will be nothing more than a good memory (and in a short time only a distant memory), but I am thankful I have a job that allowed me to accumulate frequent flyer miles so this could happen. It is good to have had the opportunity to visit the place that has had more of an impact on my life, than any other life experience I’ve had – by a long shot.
Roger
July 21
ROGER:
Today was packing up day. We sorted through all our things – packing the things in bins to return with Jolene, Lisa, Renae and me, and putting the things back in Tau for Travis, Nicole, and Erin to take to Gaborone. After short jaunts to the shops for tape and rope, and shifting things around to make the weights stay within the limits we finally got it all reasonably organized and then headed out to a pizza joint for dinner. After eating we returned and sat around and talked, before finally going to bed a little after 10:00 PM – that may be a record for a late night for us!
Roger
Today was packing up day. We sorted through all our things – packing the things in bins to return with Jolene, Lisa, Renae and me, and putting the things back in Tau for Travis, Nicole, and Erin to take to Gaborone. After short jaunts to the shops for tape and rope, and shifting things around to make the weights stay within the limits we finally got it all reasonably organized and then headed out to a pizza joint for dinner. After eating we returned and sat around and talked, before finally going to bed a little after 10:00 PM – that may be a record for a late night for us!
Roger
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