The final words for now . . .

Week of Sept 1st

This was a week of conflicting emotions. I looked forward to reuniting with the other volunteers at IST (In service training) and the nice vacation from the stresses and responsibilities of organizing and leading activities around the community. In addition, it will be nice to have some social life, speak English, and share our experiences with other people that can relate to the same joys and challenges and just relax and take a breather and reflect. At the same time, I am really feeling at home in Semolale and very happy and I know that I will miss everyone while I’m gone for 2 weeks. I also feel like a lot of projects are just taking root and starting to sprout a bit. I feel like they are still vulnerable and could wither away in these 2 weeks if not nurtured properly and then I will be starting at square one when I return. It was also crazy stressful trying to wrap up loose ends, try to be sure everything goes smoothly in my absence and also prepare myself to leave.
I feel like we made a lot of forward progress this week with the youth center. The youth department is finally backing us up and helping us speed up the process a bit. I also met with the VDC (Village Development Committee) who is our partner in the project. We took measurements for all the new windows and doors, and me and a few of the guys busted out all of the old windows one afternoon, so I’m hoping to have all new windows when I return! We also met to discuss starting a HIV/AIDS peer educator program which was an idea brought to me from a guy in Semolale who thought the youth would be a good place to start this project and help it take off in the community. The idea is to have a community meeting with representative s from the kgotla, school, police, clinic, VDC, shopkeepers, bar owners and include young, old, men and women to assess the contributing factors to the untamed spread of HIV in our village in particular. The nurses will then educate and train a group of interested individuals to be the peer educators within the community so that people who are intimidated by the going to the clinic or talking with young, mostly women nurses will feel comfortable discussing and therefore more receptive to correct information regarding the transmission of HIV and the behaviors that encourage it. Then this group will be responsible for coming up with creative activities and events to reach all people with this information at the local bars, schools, homes, and other places where local people congregate. I am excited about working with them to develop this because it is locally initiated and would empower the villagers to educate each other which should help the program’s sustainability after I leave.
The other things I spent a lot of time coordinating before I left was the primary schools’ “Kids Teach Parents: HIV/AIDS Days”. Since September is Botswana’s HIV/AIDS Awareness month, they want the events to be shortly after I return so I had to make sure each of them were on task and felt capable of doing the rest of the preparations while I’m gone. I teamed up the Family Health Educator from each village with the Health committee at each school to plan the day. The idea is that each grade will be given a topic to cover and then they come up with a creative presentation to encompass that topic. The parents will then go from class to class learning different aspects of transmission, prevention, testing, treatment, behavior change, etc. from their children. It had a very powerful impact last year in Semolale so we are hoping for the same this year in all 3 of the villages.
The last day in town was pure craziness but I was really touched that so many of the youth and my neighbors came by to “check” me since I was leaving. It made me feel like I will actually be missed these next 2 weeks.

IST (Sept. 6th- 17th)

Wow! This week was so much fun! Kanye is actually quite beautiful. It’s set in the hills and is a bit greener and lusher than the other places I’ve seen here. There are great views off the ridge and a nice reservoir that we ran to in the afternoons. It was really great to see everyone together again and hear about everyone’s experiences at their sites. It was also really helpful to share similar challenges that we were all encountering and also to hear about different things that people have done and found to be successful to help generate ideas for us to take back to our own sites. We had a great time hanging out and strengthening relationships within our group also. We had a lot of valuable training on funding opportunities and partners to team up with on initiatives throughout the country. And of course, a lot of Setswana lessons, which I really need. I think a balance between structured and unstructured learning. We also had a lot of fun hanging out, catching up, and simply being “American” without any cultural or language barriers. We even had a few birthday celebrations which livened things up a bit! We had a day off and a group of us went on a hike to the gorge. It was great to be out climbing around on the rocks and hiking through the bush. And we even saw monkeys! All in all, a great 10 days and a much needed break but I will be happy to get back to Semolale and see everyone and go forward with all of these fresh ideas!

Gabs (Sept. 18th- 22nd)

Well this little side trip took an interesting turn in events about midway through. I was in Gabs meeting with the Department of Home Affairs to register the youth group as a society in Botswana. I also met with a potential funder for youth activities and projects. He wants to plan a benefit gala here in the city and invite the ministers of parliament and corporate executives to the dinner and have the kids perform drama and traditional dance. We are hoping for some time during he holiday season, so I’ll keep you all posted. Then just as I was about to return home, I felt death come over me and despite my stubbornness I actually did go to see the doc. It still has not been decided exactly what it was. People call it “African Sickness” but all the clinical symptoms matched with malaria so they kept me in the city a few extra days to treat and monitor me. But now, I am feeling much improved and anxious to FINALLY get home!

Well, that’s about all for now. Sorry this is so much at once, but I hope you all feel in the loop once again. Hope you are enjoying the nice change of seasons on that side of the globe. Miss you all greatly! Keep smiling! Love, Jac