May 6, 2011

Well, I was thinking about taking out a full-page ad in the New York Times to share this news...but I suppose I'm not quite that important. Anyways, the big news is, I resigned from my Peace Corps training in Botswana and am back in Indy. I made my final decision this past Monday morning and arrived back here yesterday afternoon.

A few points/explanations:

-I feel blessed to have been able to spend about a month in Botswana, which is really a lovely country in so many ways. Beautiful green hills in the south, tall palm trees in the north, and a “winter” that is temperate and sunny....not to mention some of the most gorgeous sunsets and sunrises you'll ever see.

I was sad to leave my Bots 10 group- already loved my fellow trainees so much that I can only imagine how great friends we would have been after the whole term of service, 26 months. I also would like to mention the awesome Batswana (demonym of the people of Botswana) and their general welcoming attitude to us foreigners.

-I still believe strongly in Peace Corps- in the mission, the methodology, and the people. There are few substitutes or like experiences to leaving behind everything in your old life to go integrate into a new community where just about everything is different, and join certain aspects of 3^rd world living. I made this decision to come home after much thought, for many reasons. First of all, as much as I still believe in the 3 goals of PC (1. Provide trained volunteers to interested countries 2. Promote a better understanding of the American people on the part of the peoples served 3. Promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of the American people) I came to decide that the PC experience in Bots was not something that would make me happy long-term. Life in Bots (and probably in many other PC experiences as well) is generally much more slow-paced and runs on 'Africa time'. Time and time again, current volunteers told us that we had to 'adjust our standards of productivity' in the organizations we would be working with. For someone like myself who is rather impatient, there is only so much you can fight against or mitigate certain aspects of your disposition. Also, for a long time I had pictured myself doing PC in a Spanish-speaking country and had received my original nomination for Central/South America. Today, 39% of PCVs serve in Africa, so it's a bit of a numbers game. I did have certain issues with the efficiency of overall PC operations, but these were annoyances rather than a factor in my decision to resign. I'm glad I accepted the invitation, and I'm glad I went. I don't have many regrets in my life, and I don't anticipate this becoming one of them.

So, perhaps surprisingly, I don't feel negative about everything that has happened. I'm a big believer in taking things from every experience, and that things happen for a reason. I'd be lying if I didn't say that it's a little intimidating to come back and have to job-search. Still, I feel lucky to have had the support of friends and family on the long journey from the beginning of the application process to the decision to return.

Besides, I'm now vaccinated for a bevy of strange tropical diseases that have long-since been eradicated or rare in the US. Come and get me, typhoid fever.

So here's to combis, to bumpy dirt roads, to the on-going fight against HIV/AIDS in Botswana, to the diamonds not running out (doubtful), to the current volunteers, trainees, and PC staff, to sometimes living without toilets or running water (only in certain households), to crazy African spiders, to a society obsessed with greetings, to Generations (South African soap opera) to getting in trouble with your neighbors for not scrubbing your clothes the right way, to hellish bus rides from Maun to Gabs, to my host family, to getting woken up by dog barks and rooster crows....

Tsamaya Sentle and Bots 10 hope to see some of you in South Africa for NYE 2012.

-Bruhn

Northside

Oh, Botswana. You are so full of cows, donkeys, and chickens. I hear there are lions and elephants too but we have yet to see any! I did see a wild warthog on the bus up to the delta yesterday. We are now in the far north of the country shadowing another volunteer that works in the CCB (Community Capacity Building) program for HIV/AIDS. We arrived after 2 days of traveling (10 hour bus ride one day, then 4 hour bus ride yesterday) took a walk around her beautiful and rather remote village, population 2500. This morning she took us by the medical clinic where she works. Life here, as in much of Botswana, is much more slow-paced than I am used to! That has probably been one of the biggest challenges for me.
Here in the north us white trainees don't get stared at as much as we do in the South. (Of the 4 black PC trainees in my group, 3 of them can more or less pass for Motswana. One has lighter skin and can't.) Anyways, most tourism comes through the north so people are more used to seeing white people here. We haven't seen a ton of tourists, but a few hunting/safari types that look straight out of a movie!
-S

Lucky Lizard

Peace Corps is partly about starting a new life, and the process is extensive. You even get a new Tswana name here. Mine is Lesego Mokgatitswane...my host family gave me the first name, which means good luck or lucky. The surname is theirs...and means lizard, apparently. I think the name is funny, I don't dislike it, but it adds a bit to the sense of alienation from home that my host family addresses me as Lesego!
The landscape in this village/Botswana in general is pretty awesome. I'll try to post pictures at some point if I get a fast enough internet connection. It's very hilly and green, with really colorful sunrises and sunsets. There are some paved roads, and some red dirt roads. I heard somewhere that at independence in 1966 Botswana only had a few kilometers of paved roads...so it really has come pretty far in a relatively short time.
Peace Corps mandates 100 hours of language lessons for us during our 2-month Pre-Service-Training period, so we've had a fair amount of lessons! It's hard for me, mentally, to learn a new language, since I was hoping and expecting to be able to use my Spanish in Peace Corps. What does not kill me will only make me stronger I guess.
It's rainy here today...we're all huddled in the little office at the RIIC Center getting that prized internet time.
Hope everyone is great...
-S

Sugarcane, Setswana, and Homesickness!

Sunday April 17th

We have been with our homestay families for a little over a week now. It seems like longer- there have been so many ups and downs! One of my favorite things so far has been trying sugarcane. You can buy a big stick of it for about P1 (one pula), and you use your teeth to pull down the green stalk. In the middle there is the sweet stuff, which you just chew up like gum and then spit on the side of the road. Soo that was fun. During the week we are kept pretty busy with Setswana lessons and Peace Corps meetings at the RIIC center about everything we need to know...when I get home in the evenings I will just make some food and sit with the host siblings for a little bit, sometimes we watch tv...then I go to bed at about 9 (not that much to do anyway!) and wake up early, around 5.

I've definitely been bonding a bit with my fellow Bots 10 Peace Corps Trainees (I know, you'd think it'd be Bots 11 because of this year...I think the number has to do with the number group since Peace Corps has returned to Botswana. Peace Corps originally came into Botswana in 1966, left sometime in the 90s' and then came back some years ago at Botswana's request in order to work specifically on HIV/AIDS.) I think I've been bonding with my host family too although we come from such different backgrounds. The 23-year-old girl (Cono) and the 21-year-old boy (Lawrence) speak English pretty well, although I really have to adjust the way I speak and speak more slowly when I speak to them.

People in our village are really interested in us, which sometimes is really nice. Sometimes, though, you just want to walk down the road and be anonymous! I remember a current PC volunteer telling us how he had to leave for work pretty early each day in anticipation of so many people stopping him to talk to him on the road. Also, greetings are VERY important in Botswana to show respect and to show that you are friendly.

I'm starting to feel more at home here, although I definitely experience a bout or two of homesickness a day. It's all to be expected- this is pretty much a whole new world compared to the US, and everyone said it's not any easy thing to do- but knowing that doesn't really make it any easier sometimes. I've met a lot of really great, interesting, warm and funny people so far- both Batswana and American PC people. However, I definitely wonder a lot if this will ever feel enough like home that I'll want to stay here for the full PC term of 2 years. There have been some great moments, and I think I'm giving it all my best, but at this stage in the game I just don't know. I think it would be a lot easier for me to be so far away from home if I was in a big cosmopolitan city....even though this is considered a pretty big village, it feels a little isolated sometimes. Peace Corps has a 'Peer Support and Diversity Network' group to talk to, and I talked to one of those girls about being homesick yesterday. She said it gets a lot better later on and that your actual service is nothing like your pre-service training.

We watch tv, but we watch Botswana news in Setswana or South African channels (the soap opera “Generations” is my favorite so far)...I would kill for some international news right now! At lunchtime this week at the center we had our PC meetings at there was wireless internet, so it helped to be able to e-mail/facebook for a little bit each afternoon. Other parts of my experience have been easier for me to adjust to- a few more bugs, handwashing clothes, having a pit latrine in the back for the toilet- but the lack of internet is sooo different. I'm told I can eventually buy a little stick internet thing for my netbook so I'm hoping I can do that at some point. Next week we have to use our lunchbreak to walk a ways from our language lessons to the RIIC center, so me being me I'm worried that that will cut into or erase any internet time next week.

There aren't a ton of stores here, just little 'tuck shops' that have snacks and drinks, two grocery stores, and some stores that seem to be somewhat all-purpose carrying clothing, tupperware, and some electronics.

Another adjustment has been a loss of a bit of my independence. I think I will be more independent once I'm not with the host family anymore (we'll be with them 2 months overall), but it's different in that I'm not driving, obviously. Not that there really would be anywhere to drive to! I also can't go running as my stress relief...it's just not practical or culturally normal. I would probably be able to go and feel safe if I got another guy volunteer to go with me, but we'll see. I know that some PC girl volunteers do run in their areas, they just take certain precautions. Anyways, did some sit-ups and push-ups on the cement floor of my room this morning, that will have to do for now, haha.

Now am going to go finish my clothes washing- the only big event of the day- and later this afternoon meet up for a bit with a friend who is from Gaborone (Gabs, the capital).

Send me a message on facebook if you want my Botswana cell phone number. My parents call it from skype and I don't think it's too badly expensive for them- (Mom and Dad, is that correct??)...but it is a little expensive for me to call the US. Also I am hoping that I will get more regular internet at some point (after PST, probably) and be able to set up 'skype dates' to call people. And just fyi Botswana is 6 hours ahead of Indiana time- I'm usually free and have my phone anytime between 5 pm-9 pm my time.

Tsamaya sentle (go well),

Sara

Getting adjusted

 I left Indiana on the 31^st of March, but it seems like it has been so much longer. On evening of the 31^st, I finally got to Philadelphia after a rather fun delay (Delay reason: aircraft delayed). Our staging/orientation period in Philadelphia went well (Side note: not sure if it's a chain, but El Vez or La Vez, has the most incredible guacamole of your life in Philly). We had dinner there with about 10 of us from our group and overall it was awesome to finally meet everyone in my group. There are 39 of us now. We had meetings at our hotel there for a few days and then left at 2:30 in the morning to take a bus to NYC for our flight. Just before our airplane took off, we were told that one guy in our group decided not to go at the last minute. Could just have easily have been me, I think. The anticipation leading up to this big life change was just horrible.

About 15 hours later we landed in Johannesburg, South Africa. From there took a rather tiny plane to Gaborone, Botswana. Peace Corps put us up for a few days in a place called Big 5 Lodge, which was pretty swanky compared to our accommodations now.

We are now staying in homestays in a decent-sized village. When we got here, there was a 'matching ceremony' at a government building. Some local officials and the local kgosi (chief) attended. One of the officials talked about how he studied in Michigan and mentioned Gary and I-90. My homestay has a mom and a dad, a 23-year old girl, a 21-year-old boy (those two speak conversational Batswana English...to be explained later), a 14-year-old boy, an 11-year-old, boy, and a 4-year-old boy. I haven't met the dad and I've just met the mom briefly because she has been at the family cattle post for the last few days. Now that I've gotten used to it a little bit I enjoy living here. They have electricity- a tv, stereo, overhead lighting, a little stove and oven and a fridge- but no running water. Instead we fill up a little pail at a tap outside. In the mornings I get up really early to heat water to wash up and stuff.

Botswana is even more rural than I expected so far. It's a very serene and pretty country, from what I've seen. Driving down the main roads you see a lot of donkeys, cows, and chickens. The first time I've ever heard a rooster crow in person was here in Africa, which I think is funny. Now I get to get woken up by that pretty much every morning. At night, you can often hear the soft tink of cowbells nearby. And the night skies are beautiful- very clear and starry.

The food is kind of hard to describe. One seemingly common meal is a maize meal called poleche that kind of reminds me of mashed potatoes. It's served with a side of vegetables and sometimes a meat. So far in this village I've only had chicken, but at Big 5 Lodge I got to try kudu (thought I was eating beef) and a maopane worm.

During the days we have Setswana lessons (the other main language here besides English) and PC meetings about safety, HIV/AIDS, etc. On Monday we get to head into the capital for immigration paperwork....all for now! 

-S

Dumela Botswana

So this won't be a super well-written entry, but just wanted to write something because I'm excited to have an internet connection for a bit today! I'm in a homestay for 2 months in the south of the country. It's really pretty here and very rural so far. Biggest adjustments have been food and using a pit latrine instead of a toilet. I promise that more well-written posts are coming at some point. Love you all & thanks for staying in touch!

The countdown begins

I'm finally about to set off on my Peace Corps journey....a journey that started (in paperwork and interviews, at least) back in October of my senior year at DePauw. Here we go...