Things are good here in Bots. I am keeping extremely busy with work and yearly planning. I thought I would give you an update of my work progress and new projects.
I’m really excited because The District AIDS Coordinator’s office asked me to help on a project for the district. Basically the project is teaching life skills to junior secondary school students (grades 8-10). My job is to plan life skills camps throughout the year for these students as well as train the facilitators who will be running the camps. All in all if the funding comes through and things go as planned, by the end of the year we will have trained 250 students and 50 out of school youth (ages 18-25) in the following life skills: HIV/AIDS Education, listening, non-verbal communication, peer pressure, communication with parents, alcoholism, health & reproduction, gender awareness, relationships & family, decision making, goal setting, career options, fiscal responsibility, money management and budgeting skills.
It sounds like a lot of things to cram into a week long camp… and I’m sure it is. But hopefully with the right amount of planning, a productive and energetic crew, and a little bit of luck it will turn a few lives around and help the kids make better decisions and life choices.
My first goal in this project is to find a great group of people to be the management team. Considering everything I do as a Peace Corps Volunteer is focused on making things sustainable, I am looking for people who will be able and willing to continue on with the project after I leave. I already have a few amazing people who are helping, they work for YOHO (Youth Health Organization) and BNYC (Botswana National Youth Council). Both of these organizations already do amazing work with the youth here in Bots and I know they will do a great job with this project as well. I’m also really lucky because I have the help of a few PCV’s (Nadine, Robert and Chami) in my area who have taken a role in helping me plan these events. There is no way I would be able to do this without them.
My next goal is to find 50 facilitators for the camps. It’s my desire to use out of school youth between the ages of 18-25 because they are a very high risk group for contracting HIV. If I can train them to be life skills facilitators as well as peer educators, then maybe they will make wise decisions preventing themselves from becoming infected throughout their lifetime. Since this is a District project… I am looking for facilitators throughout the district. Lucky for me, my district doesn’t have a ton of villages, and I work closely with 5 of them. Robert, Nadine Chami, YOHO, and BNYC are also helping to find facilitators.
I’m still waiting to hear if funding for my project comes through. But even if it doesn’t my hope is that we are able to train the facilitators anyway. Funding is always a struggle and it never comes in on time, so I am just going to cross my fingers and pray.
As for other projects: I am still working with my primary school GLOW girls. Unfortunately the beginning of the year is extremely busy for the schools and all of them are currently trying out for various sports, so the club has temporarily been put on hold, but they are all extremely excited to get started again soon. And I am SUPER proud of my Junior Secondary school GLOW girls because they have started the club at the school on their own. I think their first meeting is this week. I’m looking forward to attending. The girls who came with me to Camp GLOW have taken the initiative and started things on their own since I have been extremely busy with the life skills camps as well as the clinic. But they know I am always here for help and support.
The Library clubs are doing well also. I have a new group of standard 4 students this year, and there is something like 43 of them. It’s a lot to handle at one time, so we are working at splitting up the classes. It has also been fun to see how much the standard 5 students have grown since last year. They are more outgoing, and much more focused. All together I think there is something like 60 kids in library club. Just this week we made Valentine’s cards. It’s not often that kids get to express themselves creatively and they are all so artistic, so I wasn’t surprised that the cards turned out beautiful.
Things here at the clinic are also going well. The clinic staff has been changing a lot lately… one of our nurses transferred, one is in Kasane filling in for someone, our driver retired, we had a new nurse transfer in, we had a new driver transfer in and we are getting ready to receive a Doctor and a Pharmacist. Plus one of the staff members just found out she is pregnant with her first baby. I’m completely stoked about the last one because she listens to the little bit of advice I can give her and seems to be doing really well and happy. Plus I will still be here when the baby is born.
That’s pretty much it for things happening here. I’m keeping very busy and really enjoying myself. I hope you all are doing well. Thank you Mom and Kali for sending me the new pair of flip flops, I absolutely LOVE them! Thank you for the other stuff in the boxes as well…
With the election stuff getting close, could you start sending me info on the candidates? I get Newsweeks from PC, but they are always months behind what’s going on.
PS Thank you to all of you who answered my plee for play money for the life skills camps. It should be really cool and I look forward to your packages!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day
My PC Family
It’s come to my attention that I haven’t told you much about the PCV’s I consider family here in Bots. I think it’s time to rectify that and share some funny little stories from our times together.
I have 2 PCV’s who are closest to me in proximity as well as relationship wise. These two, Nadine and Robert came over with me on the plane and hopefully will be around for many many years to come. Just so they know… I’m doing this in alphabetical order so as not to cause conflict between you to. Somehow I got really lucky to be place close to Nadine and Robert. They are both 61 years old and have become sudo-parents for me here.
Nadine lives in Kasane and is completely wonderful to open up her home to me when I need a place to crash. She works with an NGO called Fair Lady Day Care Center and is doing amazing things with her organization. Just this year she raised money to support something like 10 orphans for this school year. So cool. She is also working to make her organization self sufficient, although they have a long way to go to get there, she is really getting the ball rolling. Nadine has really taken me in as a daughter and is always there to give advice, listen to me vent, is an amazing cook, let me teach her how to make tortillas, bakes cookies with me, helps me with projects, supports my decisions, and is all around a wonderful woman. She was a complete Godsend during the holidays. She realized I was depressed & missing home, and she made me come into town to spend the holidays with her. When Justin was here, we had Thanksgiving with her. I had Christmas with her, Monica, Cassie, Liz and Leah. Her birthday is coming up this month and I plan on spending that with her too. Life here would be a lot tougher if I didn’t have Nadine around.
Robert is my resident psychologist and father. Dad… don’t worry he hasn’t taken your place; he is just filling in while I’m here. I absolutely adore Robert; he is my traveling companion, advice giver, never afraid to put me in my place, shares my sense of humor, is always good for a laugh, and currently is my reluctant partner in crime. Robert lives in Pandamatenga and works at the clinic like I do. His interests are very different from mine and he works more with the older community. Right now I believe he is working with support groups, the social worker, and the local police to cut down the alcoholism in his village. It’s a steady problem throughout the country and Robert is working hand in hand with his village to create self-esteem within the community so people face the problems rather than try to drink them away. Robert would fit right into the Tokar family, probably as an uncle or something. He has our same pick on each other, sarcastic, anything goes attitude. And it’s delightful to have him around to keep me grounded as well as protect me from whatever I may need protecting from.
Recently both Nadine and Robert had been really concerned about me. They see me and are typically the best judge of my character as well as mood. The could both tell I was going through a rough patch and took turns supporting me, talking with me, and kicking me in the butt when needed. I really do owe them a lot of thanks and I’m sure I will never be able to thank them enough for what they do for me here.
Now don’t get me wrong… I have more than just Nadine and Robert here to support and love me. Of course I have all of you at home, but I also have other PCV’s who rarely get mentioned because they are so far away. These PCV’s know who they are and know how much I miss hanging out with them, talking to them, and getting my daily quota of hugs. I love you guys!
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Safety...
Hey all... So I am sure some of you have been hearing all kinds of things that are currently going on here in Africa. But I wanted to reassure you that I am perfectly safe and sound here in Botswana. In fact I had a meeting with my Country Director yesterday and she said that at this point myself and the other PCV's here in Bots are not in danger.
So put on your happy face, write me a letter, and send me goodies. Because a package is the best way to show you care. Sadly for me almost every time I check my mailbox I am greeted with an empty space. Makes the day sad and the weeks long. But for those of you who don't love as much... an email is always welcome.
Miss you all
Saturday, February 2, 2008
The Start of a New Year
Can you believe it’s already February 2008? I have a hard time with that. Partly because the start of a new year means that, I am in my 10th month here in Bots. It always surprises me how fast time goes by. Just look how big Jerome is getting…
He is certainly a challenge right now because he is going through what I consider puberty. Jerome learned very quickly not to hump anything in the house… so he has taken to the other dogs in the neighborhood. He also does this really funny thing when he lays down when I am in the room, he lets out this long sigh like he has the whole world on his shoulders. He is also very defiant. I swear that some days I really feel like I am leaving with a 13 year old. But in all hopes this phase will end soon and I will have a happy, healthy, dog living with me again. Jerome doesn’t know this yet, but very soon he will be going to the doctor to get *snip snip* taken care of. The last thing my village needs is for Jerome to be fathering any children.
With this new year, I am getting a new perspective on my yard. We are in the middle of rainy season here, and all this rain has made my yard into a dense jungle. I spent a couple days pulling weeds and tearing up my hands and finally decided to contribute to the local economy by hiring someone to do it for me. I know you are all probably thinking I am silly for not doing it myself, but seriously my weeds are about shoulder high in some areas and my yard isn’t small. Its not like pulling weeds by the pool in Orlando, it’s more like clearing the waterfront in Lake Wales without the water to swim in during breaks. Anyways, my yard is getting there. I will be thrilled once it is finished and I can fully enjoy the lack of weeds.
