KB goes to Botswana: July 2007

I am finally getting into a routine here at site. My days are usually busy and filled with excitement, extremely friendly people, new experiences, and lots of hope for the future. Mondays are a catch up from the weekend. I start at the clinic in the morning. I am typically pre-packing pills, talking with patients, doing home visits, weighing babies, etc. Then after lunch I head to the community library to meet with the Standard 4 class. I am with them from 2:30 until 4:00 and then I head back to the clinic to check in. I go home, and usually by the time I get there, I have about 6 kids waiting for me. They all want to play games with me or watch me cook (which I have yet to really learn how to do) or listen to me read to them. I have my favorite little one, he is the grandson to one of my neighbors and he is about 8 years old. He does not speak much English, but somehow we are able to have wonderful conversations without even talking. He is truly the highlight of my days. When the sun starts to set around 6:30 or so, I send all the kids home and eat dinner. Then I sit around and read or I head to one of the staff houses to watch a little TV and catch up on what’s new.

Tuesdays are just like Monday’s except that I got to the Primary School library instead of the Community library and I meet with the Standard 5 class. I give them vocabulary and have them look up information about historical figures in the encyclopedias and then we all read. I check back with the clinic at 4 and then go home to find a large group of children at my house to play and read and talk with me. I have dinner and read or visit again.

Wednesdays are becoming my favorite day of the week. It’s ARV day at the clinic, so the patients on ARV therapy come to see the doctors and to get their prescription refills once a month. The day is always busy with so many patients to take care of. I can usually be found in the caravan with the pharmacist counting patient pills and helping to dispense the next month’s supply of medicines. I find this job both extremely overwhelming and also ever hopeful. It is overwhelming because of the shear number of patients on ARV therapy. There are just so many people who are HIV positive that it sometimes is too much to deal with, I have to step out of the caravan for a moment to catch my breath and clear my head. This is especially true when I see multiple children come to collect their medicines. They always hit me the hardest. Just listening to them tell me what time of day they take each of their many medicines and how much of each they take is heartbreaking. Such small children with the responsibility of remembering to take certain medicines twice a day at the exact times and exact doses or else they might die. It really takes all my strength not to smack their parents around for putting them in this awful position or to keep myself from breaking down in tears. But then, the day is full of hope. Every patient I see on Wednesdays is happy and most of them are feeling very well. All of them remember a time when they felt extremely sick and were at death’s doorstep. But they know that ARV therapy has helped them to find strength to carry on. I really love listening to the patients talk about how they are feeling. It always reminds me of what I am in Botswana for.
After all of the prescriptions are filled and the last patients are seen, it’s somewhere around 2pm. I finally get to go home for lunch. I eventually check back with the clinic around 3:30 and stay for about an hour. Then I go home eat a quick snack and head to the Primary school for Computer classes. I am in the process of teaching the Head Master and School Deputy how to use the computer. I am also teaching some of the teachers as well. We meet twice a month. The Head Master & Deputy on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays and the teachers on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month. So far I am tackling basic computer skills, like how to turn it on, using the mouse, and typing. I have a feeling the typing is going to be the biggest and most difficult area for my computer classes.

* Speaking of typing lessons, if any of you have a copy of Mavis Beacon that you don’t use anymore, I would LOVE to have it to use with my students, honestly any typing program will do, but I learned on Mavis Beacon, so it’s the only one I know. Thanks in advance to anyone willing to send me the program. And multiple copies would be wonderful, I have a whole community interested in learning to type and use the computer and I am working on getting more computers for the schools in Kachikau for the kids to learn on as well *

I normally don’t get home on Wednesdays until after dark and I always feel really satisfied about how the day went. So far the teachers are learning at least one new thing with each lesson, so it’s made me really happy.

Thursday lately have been my day to go into Kasane. I am currently under ‘House Arrest’ by order of PC, which basically means I am not allowed to leave Kachikau unless I need to purchase groceries or conduct official business. But lucky for me, lately I have been receiving packages in the mail (yes I love you for this) and so I have to go into Kasane to get them. I go to the clinic in the mornings and wait for the Ambulance from Kavimba to arrive to pick up patients bound for the Hospital. The driver’s name is Master and he is wonderful to me. One the way to Kasane, we drive through Chobe National Park. He always slows down so I can stare at the animals we see along the way. We drop the patients at the Hospital, then we head to the Health offices to check in. I take care of any business I have here and find out what meetings I am suppose to attend. Then I get a couple of hours for the internet and grocery shopping. I also pick up my packages at the post office. Throughout the day I text other PCV’s because I only have service when I am in Kasane. And before I know it, Master is picking me up and we are on our way back to Kachikau. I get home around 6ish. Make dinner and read my book. I have been doing a lot of reading if you couldn’t tell. Loving it though.

Fridays I start my day at the clinic as usual. I do home visits, talk with patients, help out wherever I am needed. It seems to me that there is always something happening at the clinic. After lunch, I go to the Non-Formal Education office. I just started helping them teach English to the adults in the community. So far so good. It’s really been fun and I am hoping that my Setswana gets better through teaching English. I am at the NFE office until around 4:30, so I go home. Most of the community goes to Kasane for the weekends, so there isn’t much going on. Sometimes Puso gives me her keys so I can watch TV while she is away, other times, I work outside on my yard until it gets too dark.

Saturdays are my day of cleaning. I have been trying to make this routine permanent, but I have a feeling that when I finally get off restriction cleaning will probably not be my #1 priority. I am already planning trips with some of the clinic staff. One of them is going to be a safari through the other side of Chobe National Park. I am really looking forward to this one. I will finally get to use my tent and camp out under the stars.

Sundays I try to get out into the community and walk around. There really isn’t much to see, but hiking up the back roads is beautiful and I love the view. I also typically get one or two visitors who come over and catch up with me. I am still looking for a church to attend here in Chobe. I have one prospect that I am planning on checking out this week. But I’m not sure how it will go.

From now on, I am hoping to keep up updated on my weekly activities. The comings and goings of my work. Now you should have a little better idea of what my weeks consist of. I miss you all, and thank you to everyone who has been posting comments. I love reading them. Ohh and if you have questions, please feel free to ask, I will try to answer them in upcoming posts.