Monday, April 21, 2008

A mother's perspective

As a mother it is hard to drive your daughter to Philly and drop her off knowing that you may not see her for over 2 years. You just want to hold her, but you know you have to let her go and live her dream. Jaclyn has talked about doing this since she was in high school. It makes me proud to see her fulfilling her dreams and so willing to share herself with others, to make things better in this world.

As her sisters and me were driving back down 95, the car was very quiet for the first half hour, then we starting talking about it's not going to be that different. Jaclyn was always off traveling somewhere, whether it would be college, Australia, Italy, Costa Rica, road trip across the USA or spending months in New Orleans helping in the lower 9th ward. She was never home very long. Jaclyn has always had a hunger for new adventures, travel and a desire to help where she is most needed. (Believe me it was not at home cleaning her room.) So when we got home, we decided to see what clothes and shoes she left behind, because Jaclyn always had the cutest clothes and shoes. They were quickly divided up. (sorry Jaclyn, they would be out of style when you got back anyway.) I had the chore of cleaning her room of the mess she left behind, some things never change.

As we got back into our hectic lives, we wonder what Jaclyn is doing and how she is making out, but mostly we go on living our lives and dreams too. With all the new communications options it will be easier to keep in touch. (Look at me I figured out how to post on a Blog site.) I know it brightened my day when I received the e-mail that invited me to blog. I was amazed at her blog site, because Jaclyn was not very techy type person. I guess it is pretty easy, huh?

Well I will keep you updated with my insights as Jaclyn is off in Botswana. Jaclyn there are many wishes and prayers going out to you from co-workers, clients, friends and family. Comet was in your room last night crying, silly dog. Look forward to hearing from you and following your journey.

I love you sweetie,

Mom

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Botswana At Last!

Dumela rra. Le tsogile jang? (Good evening. How are all of you?)

Hey everyone! Well, I have made it through the first portion of my journey. I (and all my luggage) have arrived safely in Botswana! So I guess you could say I am now “home”, since this will be my home for the next 2+ years. My group consists of 59 (2 dropped out at the last minute) volunteers. We are a very diverse group with people from all age groups and many awesome life experiences. Everyone is great and so interesting, it’s just been hard to get to know so many people- but I guess I have another 2 years! The most stressful part of the trip is over- our 16 hour flight from NY to South Africa. We were greeted by some of our in-country staff, Heather, Pinny, and Kumo. They got us all squared away with luggage and converting our money to Rand. Johannesburg was very westernized so it hasn’t really sunk in that I am here. We stayed in a very nice hotel and a group of us all hung out at the bar to relax after the taxing flight. Since we were so close to the airport, there were a lot of other international travelers and we met some guys who were from Australia and they were excited to hear about our upcoming Peace Corps experience. Today we made the next leg of our journey on land from Johannesburg to Gabarone, Botswana. The drive was pretty cool because we were able to take in a lot of the scenery. The land is mostly flat and prairie-like. There are several hill, but they are not forested like back home so they look very odd. There were a lot of small tress and cacti and shrubs growing with some areas being greener than others. Most of the homes and stores seemed to look like those in Costa Rica, which are slightly nicer than the ones in Ghana. We went through immigration and walked across the boarder into Botswana- we have finally arrived! We were greeted at our hotel in Gabarone (the capital of Botswana) by many of the Peace Corps staff and volunteers who are currently serving. We had a quick orientation and then got to meet and ask questions to the current volunteers who were all so friendly and helpful with clearing up some of our uncertainties. We also enjoyed a nice dinner at the hotel with all of the other volunteers and staff. I think tomorrow we are going to get cell phones so I will soon have a new contact number for all of you. From home, you can by calling cards and call my international phone without me using any minutes. Other than that, it is about $1/ minute for me to call any of you. Also, as far as contact goes, we have been told that there are about 3 internet cafés in Molepolole, which is the town I will be in for the next 3 months of training. With that said, our allowance is not enough that we can afford to use it everyday, but I am hoping to be in contact at least once a week. Tomorrow our training begins with language and culture lessons- and a lot of immunizations (up to 6) and apparently I’m first since I am the first in the alphabet so I guess I will have something nice to wake up to tomorrow haha. We will also be introduced to the custom of have tea twice daily, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Finally, tomorrow night is our fancy dinner with the US Embassy representatives. I’m sure there will be a lot more exciting things happening in the upcoming days so I will try to keep you posted. For now, I am having a great time enjoying the company of everyone and am excited to finally be here. So for now, I send my love to all of you. Please keep in touch and I will write again soon! Robala sentle (Goodnight)!