KB goes to Botswana

Things once foreign... but now are completely normal

2008-04-23T02:36:00.001-05:00

Having 2 lizards live in your couch & stare at you throughout the day. You also tend to warn people of these tenets before they sit on that couch because they may come out to visit.

Reading random novels by obscure authors under a mosquito net by candlelight.

Having two way conversations with your dog and chickens when there is no one else to talk to.

Knowing what sound the water tap makes when the water will be off for at least 3 days. And leaving work to fill various buckets & jugs to get through the drought.

Lighting candles in the bathroom, not for the ambiance, but just in case the power goes out while you’re in the tub.

Eating PB&J, grilled cheese sandwiches, and burritos every week and thinking you have a well balanced diet.

Carrying toilet paper everywhere you go.

Getting stuck in a bathroom in town, crawling out the window, opening the door for the next unsuspecting victim and then doing it again the very next week.

Being hit on, told “I love you”, and proposed to routinely by men of the ages 16-75.

Being offered cows in exchange for my hand in marriage and turning the offer down because I have told myself I won’t be gotten for less than 250 cows.

Being asked for money every time you leave the house.

Telling the two frogs that live in your bathroom to keep the place bug free while you’re in the tub.

Not speaking for upwards of 48 hours.

Having people stare at you for long periods and not wondering why or what they are thinking.

Having a assigned spot in the morning meeting to stand because it is the place where the previous volunteer stood.

Being involved in conversations that last for hours and only saying 10 words.

Not watching television for more than 8 months.

Letting flies and other insects sit on your skin for long periods without flinching or brushing them off annoyed.

Seeing a spider the size of your hand come out from behind your stove while the oven is on and saying “Sorry Judes, I know it’s getting hot back there, but the cookies are almost finished and you can eat the flies that land on them”.

Killing chickens, goats, cows, etc.

Having to be home before dark…

Sitting next to a mother breast feeding in the back of the ambulance and talking about the terrible road conditions over the machine-gun rattling sound the door makes.

Saying, "I'm coming," when actually you’re leaving.

Having people talk about you in front of you and not knowing exactly what they are saying because they are speaking so fast.

Sitting at the bus stop for upwards of 6 hours waiting to hitch a ride into town to buy groceries.

Becoming a contortionist in the back of a small combi (mini bus) crammed with 15 people more than manufactures recommend and bags traveling at 120 kph and being able to sleep for hours with someone else’s baby on your lap.

Having upwards of 10 names you are called throughout the village: (just a few)

Refiwe Mokabedi
Refilwe
Ref
Fifi
Mma Jerome
Mma KC
Kara
Kara Tokar
Lekgoa

Being asked to sing in the Village Health Committee choir knowing that all of the songs you learn to sing you will know a total of what 6 words mean.

Not attending a meeting for a community event and being nominated for at least 1 committee.

Having kids everywhere you go to ask you for sweets.

Walking out into the bush, cell phone in the air, searching for network signal.

Knowing just where to stand on the hill, in the tree, with speakerphone on, to make a phone call.

Using at the very least 5 acronyms each day.

Boiling water for baths.

Waking up to the sounds of roosters, donkeys, and cows before your alarms rings.

Being able to tell which animals pooped in your yard by the size and shape of the poo.

Knowing that when the tub or kitchen drain isn’t working properly, there is a very large frog nestled inside the pipe outside.

Washing all of your clothing by hand.

Going weeks at a time without water or electricity.

One Year

2008-04-22T02:33:00.003-05:00

I can't believe I have been gone a year already! It feels like just a month ago I was at the airport with Mom, Dad, Kyle and Justin saying goodbye. This year has flown by so quickly and I am sure this coming year will fly by just as fast (if not faster). I wanted to take this time to reflect on some of the lessons I have learned so far in the last 12 months living in Kachikau.

No matter what happens in the rest of the world, in my village life goes on as usual. I have noticed more and more that news of the rest of the world travels very slowly out here in the bush. I have been trying to keep up with election news and current events, but typically the news I hear around the village is at the very best 2 weeks behind. One of the great things about this is, life is so much simplier here. People aren't concerned with what's happening with the stock market, who won some reality tv show, who the next president of the states will be, etc. They are more concerned with where their cattle are grazing, what community event is coming up, and saying hello to neighbors as they pass. It reminds me daily to stop and think about the big picture in life.

Greetings are extremely important! I made the mistake not that long ago of going into the Kgotla (the Chief's court/offices) to use the telephone to call PC and the woman on duty was on the phone. I figured it would be rude to interupt her, so I went into the other office to use the phone. When I finished, I was severely repremanded for not waiting to greeting her. I typically try to greet everyone as I pass them, but sometimes it isn't always easy. I may be in a hurry to get to the youth center or clinic for a meeting and I will pass someone on the street and along with my greeting, they will want to talk about an upcoming event or project we are working on together. It is extremely rude to cut someone off and tell them you are in a hurry, so greetings aren't always convinient, but they are esential.

Big Brother is watching. I guess from the couple of years I lived in Lake Wales, I always knew that in a small town everyone knows all of your business, but it's different here. It's funny and I joke about it with other PCVs, but I really do believe that everyone in my village knows where I am at all times. I will walk into the clinic in the afternoon and a lady sitting on the bench waiting to see the doctor will ask me about some person I said hello to at 10:15am this morning. Or I will overhear someone say I spent 20 minutes with the Chief this morning, then went to the youth center to work, and when I went home for lunch Jerome didn't come with me. This has taught me that nothing I do is private. Every move I make may be watched, so I really should be setting a good example.

The idea that I may go back to the states is always on the community's mind. This is one that both annoys me and makes me laugh at the same time. It may be that I have been really busy at the clinic or youth center and I haven't taken a walk through the village in a while, or I may have a couple day workshop in Kasane, or I may go on holiday for the weekend. When I get back and someone who I haven't seen in a couple weeks will say something like "Ohh you're around... I thought you went back to the states". No matter how many times I tell people I am not going anywhere, it's a constant battle. Part of me feels that this is a part of PC that is never talked about. That our communities feel abandoned when we eventually complete our 27 months of service. But mostly it makes me laugh because most people expect me to tell them where I'm going and when I'll be back, it's like having a whole community of overbearing, but caring parents.

Family, friends, and a social life are necessities of life. No one likes to feel like they are excluded from the world around them. People need the love and support from people nearby. No matter how much friends and family are praying for you back home, there is just something missing if you don't have friends or a social life. It could just be my personality, I was probably a little depressed for a while when it was the holidays, I was missing friends and family. But now, I have an active social life both in my community and out of it. I have very reliable friends who are becoming more like family. And I am seeing the fruits of my labor. I really couldn't be happier. In fact, PC just came to do a site visit here with me. I got to meet the new APCD (Assistant PC Director) who is in charge of my program. They ask a lot of questions about how I'm doing, what I'm working on etc. Two other PCVs were with them and overheard the question "How are you doing?" I could hear them sarcasticly saying "Ohh Kara is just miserable here, can't you tell? She never smiles, she is never in her village, she is counting down the days till she goes home". I started laughing and it was in the moment I realized just how happy I am here. For those of you who know how bubbly I am most of the time, you have no worries. I am just a bubbly here as ever!

Everyone needs a place to vent their frustrations. Whether you keep a journal, listen to music, talk to friends, write letters home, draw, etc you have to do something to shed the daily frustrations here. I have days where nothing seems to go right... I loose electricity & water, the project I am working on still isn't going right, I sat though a 4 hour meeting (conducted all in Setswana) which I understood only about 10min of, I am still waiting for information from Kasane, people are asking me questions I don't have the answers to, etc. It's those days that I sit in the house and write like it's going out of style. These are also the days I appreciate my family the most. I see how important our family dinners were and how much I miss them.

Patience is a vertue. No matter if you have to wait 6 hours for transport, 2 months for a definate answer to a project you are working on, or weeks for the right paperwork to be filed, things take time. So for those of you who are praying for patience for me... please stop! I am certainly much more patient than I EVER was in the states, and with or without your prayers I am sure there will be plenty more things thoughout the rest of my PC service I will need to practice my patience with.

Letters/Packages from home make all the difference! I don't think I will ever be able to explain the feeling I get when I find packages and letters in my mailbox from home. Even the shortest card makes me smile and reminds me that there are people back home thinking about me. Thank you to all of you at the church who wrote little notes and put them in easter eggs for me! I can't tell you how much that made me miss you guys. Are you now thinking you should send me something, but just don't know what to send??? It's okay, here are the things I would love to have most:

1. Books - any good novel. I like to read while I eat my meals and before bed so I go though books like candy. I try to update my books read list, but seriously send me anything. They will all get donated to the village library when I finish my service, so you are helping not just me, but the many others in my village that love to read.
2. Music - I don't have a radio here. So I am falling behind on music very quickly. Burned mixed CDs are best, because it gives me lots of varity. But please include the names of the songs and their artists so I know who I am listening to.
3. Magazines - National Geographic, People, Oprah, Men's Health, Cosmopolitan, In Style, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Etc. Really anything is good and it doesn't matter if it is months old. I read them and then use them with the kids for LOTS of projects, so magazines like Oprah with strong black women pictured really help the kids to dream big.
4. Twislers, M&Ms, Milk Duds, any chocolate (although M&Ms travel best), Goldfish, pretzels, dried fruit (this is great for traveling), beef jerky, pasta sides, etc. I love junk food and I promise it will all get eaten!
5. Art supplies - I have a lot of the village kids that come to my house after school and they color, draw, etc. I can always use things/activities for them to do. Dollar store stuff works great!
6. Bath & Body works body splash - I am running out of my body splash, and I can't get it here. I really like Cherry Blossom, Cotton Blossom, Exotic Coconut, Moonlight Path, Sweet Pea, and Warm Vanilla Sugar.
7. Vera Bradly Journals - I am going though journals like crazy and I love the patterns with the Vera Bradly collection.
8. Pens - Bic pens are the best, colored, black, blue, clicky, non-clicky... it doesn't matter. Pens are like gold around here.
9. Anything fun for the kids in my village. stickers, small toys, pipe cleaners, glue, school supplies, etc. The kids love it and they make great prizes for the kids, and better incentive for them to read books for library club.
10. Children's books - I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I realized the lack of children's books in my primary school library. So send whatever you can. Its the best way for the kids to learn english and to read!

Last but not least - LETTERS!!! If you write me I will definately write you back!

My address is:
Kara Tokar
PO Box 917
Kasane, Botswana
Africa

The US Postal service has these really great flat rate boxes that you can stuff full and the weight doesn't matter. If you are just sending books & magazines, they have something called an M-bag. It is only for media stuff like books & magazines. It is a lot slower than the regular mail, but it's cheaper for the super heavy stuff.

Cheers & happy mailing

Traveling to KC

2008-04-17T04:49:00.001-05:00

A Blurb from another PCVs blog that mentions what it's like to travel to Kachikau from Kasane. I thought you would all enjoy this as it paints the perfect picture of what it's like.

"From Kasane we went to a village called Kachikau (on a very “sad” bus, built in 1979, which lumbered approximately 20 mph down a dirt road through the bush- the bus was in it’s death throes right when we arrived, I doubt it made it much further after that- it took two hours to drive 40 miles!). Kachikau, pronounced “Catch a Cow”, is where another PCV, Kara, lives, in the middle of the bush, just south of the boonies, a little north of oblivion, an hour away from nowhere, and about 100 km away from absolutely nothing. There is no cell phone service there, she has no land line, no internet, and no post office. (Props to Kara for keeping it “real and “rural” and “really really rural”- she loves it there though)."

Thank you Andrea for visiting me and I miss you terribly.

Out with friends on the river

2008-04-16T09:23:00.003-05:00

So this past weekend I got invited to go out with a bunch of the locals from Kasane into the Park (Chobe National) for a little R&R. Here are just a few of the pics.

Elephants in the park - they are super cute when they are little

Ryan and I on the top deck of the boat (Isn't he adorable???)

Jacques (the elephant hunter), Me and Ryan on the boat - These are the guys I hang out with most when I am in Kasane. No worries about them, they always take really great care of me. Yes, Jacques hunts elephants, but it's his job.

A couple of the girls relaxing.

As the sun goes down on the water

More pictures of Training Cont'd

2008-04-16T09:00:00.003-05:00

Johnny & Joe (it's been a rough day for Johnny)

Standing on a chair to try and direct the trainees... I'm too short

Learning some traditional dances

Back on that chair again!

More pictures of Training

2008-04-16T08:43:00.003-05:00

WARNING
This post contains Sexual Reproductive images!!!

The group of Trainees and Staff (can you find me? Cause I'm hiding)

The Management Team (what an amazing group of people)

Courtney and I teaching Reproductive Health

Courtney and I afterwards

Don't you just love teaching fun subjects???

For those of you who are wondering, Courtney and I were teaching about sexual reproductive health. This includes but is not limited to the following subects: anatomy, abstainance, condoms, partner faithfulness, masterbation, oral sex, and any questions the trainees had on the subject.

Pics of Training

2008-03-25T04:06:00.003-05:00

Playing a game. I somehow got sandwiched between Big Mamma Mpho and Clearance.

Chami teaching a session on becoming what you want to be

The trainees playing "hide the ball" it's a game related to how difficult it is to know who is infected with HIV.

Giving Johnny a back rub

Random Pictures

2008-03-25T03:48:00.002-05:00

So this is me in the old Kasane prison. It was made out of the Boabab tree. This was the women's prison. I look way too happy to be in here.

Nadine and I hanging out in the women's prison.

This was the men's prison... it's the hole next to Joe's leg. They would have a hard time sticking me in that sucker, it's very dark inside. Ohh and Joe decided to hug the tree- what a true peace corps volunteer

Life Skills Training

2008-03-18T03:12:00.002-05:00

Thank you, thank you, thank you... I really appreciate all of your prayers this past week, they were certainly answered. The training went very very well. It looks like we have a good group of young people who have major potential for facilitating. The training was LONG... but we got through it with flying colors. I have tons of pictures I will post when i get the chance (hopefully by tomorrow) there are some funny ones of Courtney (PCV) and I teaching reproductive health (we have models and diagrams we were using to teach with). All in all a great week.

Very happy this weekend is Easter. Sad I'm missing out on the sunrise service, but glad that I have been in botswana for 11 months.

I'll try my best to update tomorrow before I head back to Kachikau. love and miss you all

Prayer Request

2008-03-11T03:27:00.002-05:00

I have to ask you all of your prayers for me this week. The first Life Skills camp facilitators training starts tomorrow in Lesoma, and to say I am nervous and freaking out is a whopper of an understatement. Basically we have about 50 out of school youth between 18-25 coming to learn how to teach life skills to Junior secondary school students. This is my first big event I've helped to plan and I would love your prayers that things go smoothly and that the kids get out of this camp training the skills they need to help change the world.

It's a lot to ask, but just be thinking about me this week. I could use all the positive thoughts possible. I love and miss you all. Thank you

More Pictures

2008-03-08T05:02:00.006-05:00

Melissa and I on the boat... the guys got out to pee in the middle of the river

More beautiful water lilies

Sunset on the Chobe River

Mr. Elephant

Mr. Elephant

Well I promised more pictures... and here they are. Apparently the internet has something against me posting pictures today, so it's being very umcorporative, but i'm determnined. But i promise to post more when it lets me and when i have time.

Thank you Katelen for requesting more pictures... I will try to put up as many as possible. I miss you.

Day on the River

2008-03-07T03:46:00.002-05:00

So things are going well here. I got the opportunity to go out on the boat with a few new friends of mine on the Chobe River. So here are a couple pictures. It was a lot of fun and i wish i had a camera with a better zoom lens because most of my pictures don't capture the beauty like they should. I'll try to upload more this week. Miss you guys

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T05:08:00.001-05:00

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!

My PC Family

2008-02-14T05:07:00.000-05:00

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!

Safety...

2008-02-09T03:38:00.000-05:00

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

The Start of a New Year

2008-02-02T03:21:00.000-05:00

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.

2008-02-01T09:06:00.000-05:00

Hey Mom... okay I talked to Nadine and apparently her blog is restricted, so I am going to see what I can do to get you invited so you can check hers out too. Sorry this is not really a post, just an update for you Mom.

For the rest of you, new post coming soon

Hey Hey Hey

2007-11-13T01:54:00.000-05:00

I really stink at updating this thing lately... so on that note, here are a few updates from life here in Botswana.

The Clinic... things are going really well at the clinic. I love working there. The staff is awesome, the patients are super sweet, and they are keeping me busy. A lot of the girls I work with have been gone at workshops for the last couple weeks, so I have been working really hard with them gone. I am also very sad because one of the nurses is leaving my village. I am extremely happy for her, because she is moving down to the village her husband lives in, but I am sad because she is leaving me.

I had a rough week a couple of weeks ago. A friend of mine passed away. She was an older lady in the community, but we had become friends and I know her daughters as well as her grand-daughters. She was on ARV's and doing really well until one week she got really ill and went to the hospital. I went to the funeral. It was very sad, but nothing like funerals at home.

Okay enough depressing news...

GLOW, I am so excited. I am taking a group of girls down to Gaborone next month for a 10 day camp. It kinda feels like I am going back to Lake Aurora, except for the lack of the lake and no religious stuff. It should be really fun. The girls I am hoping to have over for dinner before we go. I want them to get to know eachother better as well as myself and Sega.

Jerome is doing well. He had his first vet visit 3 weeks ago today. He got shots, a bath, his ears cleaned, a full check-up, and an appointment for today to get more shots... update on that, I went yesterday to pick up his shots from the vet and today I get to play nurse and give him them myself.

I don't remember if I told you I am planning a football(soccer for all you american's) tournament in my village. I have been working on this for quite a while now and things are going well. I had to change the dates of my tournament this last week to coordinate with World AIDS Day. The tournament's focus is to increase male involvement in health services as well as increase male and couple HIV testing. So now that it is now partnered with World AIDS Day, I have a lot more support and help from my community.

Guess who's here??? Yep, that's right Justin is. That crazy boy flew half way around the world to come hang out with me for a couple weeks. Today is his 5th day on the job with me. Yesterday we spent the day in Kasane settling the administration side of my job. We also checked out all the fun stuff we are planning to do while he is here. I will let you know more when it happens.

I think this is good for now. I should be updating again soon.

Thank you Kyle & Justin

2007-10-19T06:55:00.000-05:00

So sometimes i totally lose my mind. Thank you Kyle and Justin for pointing out my error. It's the Broncos. I don't know why i typed Bruins. I guess i was not paying any attention.

I love you guys. I'll talk to you soon.

Pictures

2007-10-14T05:45:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple pics. The computer is slow, so it's only two

This is my puppy, Jerome Bettis!!! See I am not starving him to death.

This one is a picture of Sega and I doing prep work for the Independence Day celebration at the Kgotla. Don't you just love my apron?

Time for an update

2007-10-13T09:56:00.000-05:00

I have a feeling that most of you have been wondering what exactly I have been doing lately and I humbly apologize for my lack of blog-ing lately but things have been busy.

Okay so to catch you up on the ever-changing life of Kara “Refilwe” Tokar. I am in the middle of planning a football (soccer for all you Americans) tournament that my village is hosting next month. It has been semi-stressful because right now I am the only one in my village really working on the preparations. However, it is certainly coming along and I promise to post pictures of the event after it happens. In addition, I will have better pictures than the ones from the Choir competition because I will certainly not be playing in any of the games during the tournament. Lol.

This month has also been a serious month of planning in my district of Botswana. The District AIDS Coordinators office has been planning all of next years events and I have been working with them to plan the events in my village as well. Not only that, but Bots National Tree Planting Day is coming up next month (the weekend after my football tournament) and I am on one of the committees planning that event. That means I am going to meetings at least 3 times a week now and at least one of them is in Kasane. I am also planning my youth activities for next year as well. Therefore, I have been semi busy lately.

Good news from the youth end of things… I had my first meeting with the Primary school girls for a club I am starting in my village called GLOW (Girls Leading Our World). It was an impromptu meeting because I wasn’t planning on them the day it happened, but I was thrilled at how well everything went. I explained what GLOW was to the girls and then asked what kinds of things they would want to talk about at our meetings. They had so many ideas; I couldn’t help but get extremely excited. It looks like I will be teaching everything from Sex Ed to the perils of having a boyfriend. I am definitely not an expert on Sexual Education, so I am calling in another PCV who knows WAY MORE than I do about both the male and female reproductive systems. But I think I have plenty enough experience to field the perils of having a boyfriend questions and discussions. Lol. Honestly some of their questions they put in the question box (made to encourage asking the most difficult questions to ask) floored me. For instance, “Why does a girl have to have a boyfriend?” “Why is a boyfriend important in our lives?” “HIV can be transmitted to a person when they do what?” “If you don’t have a boyfriend, what is the point of your life?” “What is menstruation?” “Why do boys want sex so much when they see a naked girl?” and my favorite … “ What is patriotism?” (the oddball question). Some of these are just impossible to answer in this culture. From everything I have seen I am not quite sure its possible to get through high school without having multiple serious boyfriends. So I have some culture/soul searching to do in order to come up with some good answers that will spark discussion among the girls.

I am also starting a GLOW club at the Junior Secondary School in my village. I am completely stoked about it too. I can do so much more with the older girls because most of them are going through all of the relationship problems right now. So I know I will be able to make a difference with them. They also have a lot more English under their belts so the language barrier is not a concern. I am applying to take 3 of the JCSS girls with me to a GLOW camp in December. I really hope we get to go because it could have an amazing effect on the girls in my village. The GLOW camp is a 10 day camp for girls from around the country. It is put together by a couple of PCV’s and each GLOW group is brought in by a PCV and a community member. So I will be able to share ideas and get the best practices from other PCV’s who have been doing GLOW longer than I have.

Very exciting news for those of you out there who were worried I would be terribly lonely out here all by myself. I got the most adorable puppy this past week. I of course named him after my favorite (ex) Steelers player Jerome Bettis. I had been talking with Kali about names and she suggested historical names. Then I was going to go with an Author, but it hit me the night I brought him home. His mother is a golden yellow and his father is jet black. Hello – Steelers colors! Since I can’t be there in front of the TV to cheer for my team the next couple seasons, I have a little Steeler living with me now. I must tell you that he has caused some controversy within my community. One, I am still deciding if he is going to be an inside dog or not, so I am house training him. The moment anyone hears that he sleeps indoors they freak out on me. I have had amazing luck so far because Jerome has only peed on my cement floors a couple of times, nothing else. But everyone in my village believes Jerome is going to turn my whole house into his personal toilet and poop everywhere. I understand that this culture does not raise inside dogs, so no one has the experience to house train one. But Jerome is actually extremely smart and prefers to go outside. Two, everyone is on my back about what I am feeding Jerome. I bought puppy dog food and he seems to be happy with that. Plus he gets rice and meat every once in a while. I am certainly not starving my dog by any stretch of the imagination but that’s what you would think if you heard my clinic staff. I get accosted by them each morning about what Jerome is eating and if I am feeding him enough meat. I told them he eats dog food and I thought they were going to take him from me because apparently dog food is not good enough or healthy enough for an African dog. I am baffled by this because half the dogs in my village are always searching for food because no one feeds them, yet I feed my dog a couple of times a day and I’m starving him to death. You can see for yourself he is by no means going hungry!

Moving on… computer classes are at the moment on hold in my village. The youth center where the computers are located is under permanent staffing issues. The girl who is supposed to be here now working is never in my village and neither are the keys to the building. I am working on getting a set for myself but that takes time and mostly never ending patience. (Speaking of that… whoever has been praying for patience for me, knock it off, I have plenty!) I am also waiting for typing programs so I can work with the teachers at both the primary and secondary schools. Most of the teachers know how to work at computer, they just can’t type. So that’s the scoop on that.

Quick comment going back to the Steelers and my lack of game watching ability. I am extremely jealous because my PCV neighbor in Kasane has been getting the Broncos games on DVD. I don’t care to watch the Broncos play unless they are up against the Steelers. So if it is at all possible for someone to tape the games, burn them on a DVD for me, and send me them to watch on a regular basis, I would be the happiest girl in the world! (You won’t have to send the Oct. game against the Bruins because my PCV neighbor will have that one).

This blog has become way longer than I had expected, so I am going to go now. I will try to update more often. I’ll keep you posted! I love and miss you all.

PS. Happy 50th Birthday Dad. I know it is late but I hope you had a blast jumping out of the plane and at the party. I love you

I don't have time to post the pics today, but i will post them tomorrow.

This blog...

2007-09-20T06:18:00.000-05:00

So I tried to update my picture the other day, and well when i signed in, everything came up in some African language that I couldn't read or understand, so I started pushing buttons and somehow erased my photo. Lucky me. Though the wonderful Justin N, I was able to post a photo in my absence of internet. Thank you honey. I finally changed it today, it's a picture of me in Moshupa. I had gotten lost on my way back from shadowing another volunteer. It was crazy and tons of fun. Okay, i am out of time. I will try to post again soon. Things are well and i am really happy. I miss you guys.

Hey SSCC, miss you guys. thanks for the constant messages.

Totally stressed out

2007-09-17T09:54:00.000-05:00

I am totally stressing out. Last week I got back from a Peace Corps workshop in Kanye that was two weeks long. I swear it was the longest two weeks of my life. I really don’t like leaving my village for that long. I came home and unfortunately I had left some chicken in my freezer and of course the power had gone out and popped the circuit breaker so my refrigerator smelt like something died while I was away.

Not only that, but I had been working on a project with my village youth center before I left for the workshop. We had 2 computers donated and everyone seemed really excited about getting the computer classes up and running. Since I have been back, I have yet to get a hold of the girl who runs the youth center to get working on the project again (Not that I have had much time to think about my secondary projects). Apparently this month is the National Month of Prayer and before I left the workshop my counterpart was adamant about me planning something to celebrate this event. Why I was the one who needed to plan this celebration, I have no idea. Thank goodness that when we actually returned to site, someone else had already started planning something.

So I have been back to work for a week. Monday, I was ironing out the plans I had made for my next 8 months in my village. I am trying to start up a couple of support groups for people living with HIV/AIDs as well as pregnant mothers enrolled in the PMTCT program. I work with the Primary school library club every week and I am still trying to finish writing the curriculum. The youth center and the computer classes is on the top of my list of things to do, because it is such a great project that I am so excited about, I just want to see it underway. There are so many other things I have on my list of things to do.

In fact, while I was at this PC workshop, I was told that I have to turn in a report at the end of this week (it’s a very complicated report that I am still trying to figure out how to fill out). I need to find 3 girls and a teacher for Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) and have our paperwork turned in by the end of the week. Also, my mail from the Peace Corps office was being sent to another PCV so I never received some forms I needed to fill out and I had to fill them out this week and I am sending them in today.

It’s just been a lot crammed into 7 days. I will be very thankful when I am all finished with these reports and I get back into my routine.

I really missed my village. I know my blog today my sound like nothing but complaining, but I really do love it here. This week has been super busy but I enjoyed every second of it.

Side-notes:
Hi Mayor Family, thank you for all of your comments. I am glad you guys are reading this on a regular basis. Thanks for the pictures too. Caitlyn & Nicholas, I miss you guys so much! Be good for mom and dad. Give each other hugs for me okay.

Welcome back to the states Mom and Dad. I am sad the only two weeks I have cell service continuously; you are out of the country. However, I am glad you had fun on your trip. I love you.

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY JUSTIN!!! Only 44 more days till I get to see you ;o)

Lastly, this may sound a bit harsh… but I have decided I am not going to write people who don’t write me anymore. It costs too much in postage to write to people who don’t want to take the time to write me back. So I am terribly sorry if I offend those culprits to whom this note applies to, but ohh well, nuff said.

VHC Community Choir

2007-08-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

It’s official; I have become a “vital” member of Kachikau’s community. This last week my clinic staff talked me into joining the Village Health Committee choir. Originally I was told that we would be singing one song and that it would be ever so painless. So reluctantly I agreed to join and began going to practices. Mind you, the competition was this past Saturday and so I had approximately 4 days to learn a song we wrote that is completely in Setswana. This is completely do-able. However, when we started having practices each night it became clear to me that we would be singing 2 songs. I am always up for a challenge, so I graciously continued practicing, trying my best not to sound horrible. On Tuesday we chose parts. For the life of me I was not going to sing Soprano or Alto because both parts are in the front row where everyone wanted to put me, that way I could be seen. I however decided that Tenor would be best because I would be hidden by everyone else and if I made a mistake or forgot the words no one would notice. This posed a tiny problem; I have never sang tenor before in my life, so I really had no clue what I was doing.

Anyways, so come Thursday I find out at practice that we have to sing a song as we enter the stage. At this point I was ready to quit all together because I was having significant trouble learning the first 2 songs and then everyone wanted to add another song to my plate. The problem with this entering song is that it also included dancing. And I am not talking swaying from side to side or a few hand motions, I am talking intricate steps and shaking of my behind. This was something I was not comfortable with at all because everyone here will tell you that white people can’t dance. I have proved to my clinic staff that I can dance “African” just like they can, but doing it in front of a crowd of people, on stage is a whole other story.

So moving on to Friday, it was our last practice before the competition and I was feeling not so great about 2 of the 3 songs. When I got to practice (which always started about an hour after it was scheduled to start) I found out that we would also be singing a leaving the stage song. Suffice to say I was beyond upset about all of the additions to the one original song I agreed to sing. This meant that I had less than 24 hours to learn a new song (completely in Setswana mind you) along with more dancing. I was furious. But I decided that I would go through with it because I knew that if I quit, people would really be disappointed and I was not willing to disappoint my community. So I did my best to learn everything before the next morning.

The actual competition was beyond entertaining. I was dressed in my choir uniform (which I have to say looked very nice on me) and I met everyone at the clinic. It took a while to get everything started, but eventually it was time for the choirs to sing. At this point I was still not sure what I was singing exactly, I didn’t really know the dance steps, and I felt like I was going to puke because I knew all eyes were going to be on me. There were probably around 200 people in attendance. Kachikau was second to perform. Amazingly I did quite well. I sang all 4 songs, and danced my dances (to the amazement of the crowd) and it wasn’t too long before it was over and I was beyond grateful for the reprieve.
I don’t exactly know how, but my choir got 3rd place and 1500 pula. I was elated because it meant that I didn’t screw up. Lol. Plus it made everyone from my community extremely happy that I joined the choir.

All in all, I am just glad it’s over. The VHC Choir has already started talking about practicing for next year and I know they want me to participate. I told them the only way I would join is if we practice for more than a week, because I need at least that much time to learn the songs. Below are some of the pictures from the day... Somewhere someone took video, so i am trying to get a hold of it. I will post it if i do.

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New Pictures

2007-08-16T07:57:00.000-05:00

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