Makgoa!

They "Hey Whitey" incident was the big kick off to a long string of reminders that I am a white person in Botswana, and therefore a part of a small and relatively secluded minority.

From what I've gathered, the white people in Botswana live mostly in wealthier areas of Gaborone and speak very little Setswana. They seem to have a tendency to stay away from the poorer areas unless they are people like us: volunteering for NGOs.

We learned from Thato and Karabo that the word for white people here is Makgoa (mahk-hoa, 'g' in Setswana is guttural like a German 'ch'--the best way to translate it is with an 'h'). Just one white person is a Lekgoa.

The 'kgoa' sound is used to indicate that Batswana didn't know where white people were coming from--they just knew they had boats. So they assumed white people were spit out of the ocean. It's interesting, however, that they do not refer to Afrikaaners as Makgoa.

We explained to Thato and Karabo that, in the United States, somebody would never go up to a group of African Americans and yell "black people!" Karabo especially, however thinks this is hilarious and will often shout "white people!" to get our attention or "black people!" to refer to himself and other Batswana.

We've encountered some interesting situations here, ranging from completely benign to highly irritating, thanks to the color of our skin. We are often treated differently, for better or worse, than Batswana.

People here often automatically speak English to us, even when we tried to speak Setswana to them. At the stores, I might greet the cashier with "Dumela mma" and get "Hello, how are you?" in return. The assumption seems to be that white people just don't speak Setswana.

When we do get beyond "Dumela" in a conversation, people are always surprised. Kids have especially remarkable reactions. They rarely see white people, let alone white people who will wave and sing the Setswana version of "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes" with them!

Mostly, we just get stared at a lot, because we obviously don't belong, and often we're treated very well--it's like we're guests of the entire country. However, there have been a few annoying things about standing out so much.

Just today, Chris and I got a taxi with Karabo to go to Riverwalk mall to cash Chris's traveler's cheques. When we got the taxi, which is supposed to be 18 Pula, the driver charged us 30 Pula (more than a cab would charge!) just because we were obviously foreign.

Also, teenage boys here--like a most teenage boys--like to make cat calls to girls. Because we stand out so much, we are especially targeted. The noises they make to girls are hissing noises (tssss tsssss...) and clicking noises that one would use to get a horse's attention. It's never a good feeling to feel like a horse! We've realized that it's best to just ignore it, but everytime it happens, it's more and more tempting to yell something back.

So far, this trip has made me much more aware of my so-called "race." Being white in the United States is seen as a kind of neutral state, and being another race is often framed as a deviation in another direction from that neutrality. Here, being white means living outside the norm and being constantly aware of how you look to other people.

I've confirmed with a few other people in the group that we'd like to just yell, "Makgoa!" every time we walk into a restaurant, mall, or store to ease the tension and acknowledge our whiteness.

...But I'm pretty sure that'd just make us stand out more.

First week of placements

After having travelled around in the car all day on Tuesday, we were a little worried about what the rest of the week would be like at the Women's Shelter.

Wednesday, we went to the Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing Program in Lobatse. There, we heard a few speakers on relevant topics and watched Zodwa, an employee at the shelter, give a presentation about our initiatives. The day was long, but lunch was included! We also got to introduce ourselves to those present at the conference and explain why we were there.

Thursday, we had an awesome opportunity to spend some more time at the shelter itself. We got to see the kids and have some more discussions with the women. I went with "mother" (the shelter's house mother) to go buy groceries for the women. She said that the women take turns cooking and cleaning; she buys groceries every 2 weeks.

Today, we finished up a computer studies class that we'd started yesterday. We are going to teach the women at the shelter about the hardware of a computer so that they can move on to understanding how to use a computer. This will be a very useful skill set for them once they leave the shelter. We also began compiling a list of potential U.S. donors to whom we will send letters explaining the mission of the shelter and the financial need.

We compiled our expectations and goals into a project plan for the director of the shelter.

In the evenings we've been doing a wide variety of things. On Wednesday night, we played catchphrase in the boys' room. Last night we watched Brazil play South Africa in soccer (cheering for South Africa, of course.) Tonight, we are planning on going back to the restaurant where we watched the game and having pizza for dinner! Yum!

First days at the Women's Shelter

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Yesterday was our first day at our NGO placements.

I am working at the only Women's Shelter in the entire country of Botswana with Lauren Blalock. We began our day by touring the Drop-In Counseling Centre and reading their 2008 Annual Report. By reading these reports, we found that they are running a deficit of thousands of dollars (USD, not Botswana Pula) and have no attorney associated with their organization. If a woman wants a divorce or needs/wants to address a violent situation with legal action, they must refer her to an attorney with another organization.

After our orientation, we went to the village to see a woman's home. She is pregnant and already supporting 4 children and her husband is absent. The whole family sleeps in one room. They have another room with a TV, some couches, and a refrigerator--as well as a toilet room. They have no kitchen. There was only enough food in the house to last them through the day. The children rely on their father or relatives to get to school. If he doesn't come, they can't get to school. He comes maybe once-a-week, usually Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday he stays with his girlfriend. On Thursday he gets paid. Then, he spends the whole weekend spending his paycheck and returns to the house on Monday, saying that his paycheck is gone.

All four of her children are boys. The two who were home when we were there were so cute and happy. It was terrible to know that they have no father in their home to show them how to be men. It is easy to see how a cycle of absenteeism for fathers continues in situations like these. These little boys don't know that their daddy is supposed to come home and care for them--so how will they know to do that for their own children?

They offered her an opportunity to come to the shelter, but she wants to stay at home for now and work towards a legal separation and then divorce. She says all she wants is money for rent and for the children.

This meeting was very difficult for me to sit through. I felt angry that a man could treat his family this way and I felt frustrated that the wife was willing to ask for so little. She doesn't care about the girlfriend, the drinking, or the fact that he's never home. She just wants her kids to have food, a home, and an opportunity to go to school--even knowing that he is out spending his money on gambling and alcohol.

The staff at the Centre take it all in stride. Keke, the "intern director" (I think he gave himself this title,) told us that he tries to stay positive when he counsels clients. He might even chuckle at something bad that a man does to show the women that their situations are avoidable. He told us that one can't take life too seriously when working there or depression will set in. Positivity and optimism rubs off on clients.

Lastly, we had an opportunity to sit in on their staff meeting. This was one very serious aspect of life at the Centre. They are very close to closing. They are seriously in need of financial support. Lauren and I feel that this is one way that we can really help them.

After coming back from work, we had group meetings to discuss our days. Lauren and I volunteered to present a paper about the Women's Shelter at a conference in two weeks. Hopefully, we will be able to spread some awareness through our presentation.

After our meeting and dinner, we watched Mr. Bones--one of Karabo's favorite movies. It is South African and smacks of British humor. It was a little strange, but very funny.

Today was our second day at the Shelter. We were a little frustrated because we spent most of the day driving around, running errands. As interns, we feel under-utilized so far; we're hoping we can get some more direction on tasks that can actually help them. If we just shadow the staff, we will be a burden.

We had an opportunity to go to the shelter itself today. Four women live there right now. One of them has three children. We didn't get to stay for long, but the facility is very nice and is staffed by a housemother who makes the women feel safe.

We also went out to Bokaa, a village outside of Gaborone, where we met the chief to discuss plans for an upcoming workshop.

Hopefully, we will have an opportunity for some more activity tomorrow. I will keep everyone updated on what we're working on!

In other news, some people are starting to have crazy dreams related to our prophylactic Malaria medications. (Which is unfortunate, because it is definitely too cold here for mosquitoes.) Last night, one of the girls in my apartment thought she was talking to two of the boys on the trip--then she realized she was hallucinating and talking to the wall. Other people have reported some strange dreams.

Luckily, I'm on Malarone, which does not cause these side-effects. Although I do have to make sure I take it with food because sometimes people are likely to vomit after taking it. Shockingly, despite my sensitive stomach, this hasn't happened. I think it's because the medication is supposed to be taken with something milky because of the protein. Luckily, our breakfasts are full of protein. I eat an egg and bacon every morning.

Last day of class, placement, and the French Music Festival

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Today was our last day of classes at UB. Next week we will begin our internships with NGOs. More on that later.

Today in class we heard a few speakers, but we first played a "game" that simulated the effects that HIV/AIDS has on the lives of the affected. We began the game with beads representing our grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, sister, brother, and best friend. As we went from table to table, we rolled a die which assigned us a fate such as "grandmother dies of old age," "sister is infected with HIV," "father dies of AIDS," "mother dies of malaria," etc. It was very difficult to put beads away or change the color of beads to indicate infection.

Sometimes, one of the numbers on the die would indicate that "life goes on as normal." This was actually the most difficult part of the exercise. Life can't go on as normal after a family member or friend dies or is infected with HIV. Even in places like Botswana, where anti-retrovirals are readily available and the lifespan of an HIV positive person is drastically expanded, taking drugs everyday that can have irritating to debilitating side-effects is not "life goes on as normal." Even with the best counseling services available, losing a family member--maybe the breadwinner for the family--is not "life goes on as normal."

Overall, the game was an excellent way to display how deeply HIV affects the lives of everyone, not just the infected.

After our classes, we had a meeting to discuss our placements for internships. Because there has been lot of shuffling around, and because BONELA decided not to participate in the program, I have been placed at the only women's shelter in Gaborone. I am looking forward to the experience for myself. However, I am concerned that I will not be able to help them enough. I hope that my experience in organization and communications along with my cultural anthropology perspective, I will be able to help them with the logistics of the shelter--even if I am not trained to counsel the women themselves.

We spent the afternoon and evening at the French Music Festival. Contrary to our initial assumptions, this was not a Festival for French Music. Rather, it was a music festival, sponsored by the French embassy, a french school, and other companies. There was a wide variety of music, as well as crafts and food for sale. The music really showed how cosmopolitan Gaborone can be: there was a heavy metal band with a black African singer and a blues band made up of white South Africans--not what you'd expect! My favorite performance was by Mogwana, a traditional dancing group. The food was delicious and I was able to buy some gifts for my family, so all-in-all, it was a very good night!

The Mogwana dancers were very intense and expressive.

Cultural Village

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I wrote a quick post this morning to cover what we did last night. However, I didn't have time to write about our trip to the Cultural Village Friday afternoon. The Cultural Village is set up to provide people with a sense of traditional Setswana culture. Dan and a UB Motswana peer guide were chosen to be participants in a wedding ceremony. We had a chance to see how the ceremony was performed and the duties of man and wife that followed. We also had a chance to learn some Setswana games and eat some delicious food.

The wedding ceremony

On the night of the honeymoon (wedding night,) the grannies snoop outside the newlyweds' house.

One of the wife's duties in Setswana culture is spreading cow dung on the floor of the house to keep snakes away. This is when the American girls realized we were glad we hadn't volunteered to be the wife!

We had a chance to try our hands at molding with REAL clay from the river. I made a person.

These ladies were limber! They showed us all kinds of dances and sang songs for us. We even got to dance with them.

We were taken to a lookout point where you can get a great view of the areas around Gaborone.

This might have been the best meal of the trip to date. The white cornmeal mixture is really starting to grow on me and that bread was delicious!

It was really amazing to see how life goes on in a traditional Setswana village. The women were so friendly and really made us feel welcome, making the visit one of my favorite parts of our trip so far.

Tuplojustohampurilainen

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Last night we went out to a restaurant/bar in Gaborone called Bull and Bush. It was our first night "out on the town" and it was quite an experience!

When we arrived, we noticed an usually large number of white people. I asked Karabo if that was normal for the bar and he said it was. It seemed like it was an ex-pat hangout for South Africans and Europeans. There is a Finnish guy who also lives at UB near us who was there. I tried out my Finnish words, "Terve" (greetings) and "Tuplojustohampurilainen" (double cheeseburger), on him and he seemed impressed. There were a few Americans there: our group of OU students, some UPenn students, and the US Marines who guard the American embassy in Gaborone.

There was a live singer there for a while who sang some classic bar tunes (ABBA, Tina Turner, Pink Floyd...) and some Afrikaans songs. I'm convinced she was on crazy pills, because she was running around the seating area, singing, dancing on tables, and apparently being harrassed by some drunk South African who wanted her microphone. She kept calling for the bouncer through her microphone while continuing to sing...Very strange.

As the night went on, the singer left and a DJ came so that people could dance. They played mostly American R&B and pop music, but they used some remixes that I wasn't familiar with. The whole group had fun dancing. Thato and Karabo are great dancers, and they put us all to shame.

In typical OU fashion, some of our group wanted some food after our night out. Nothing is open that late in Gaborone except a "fast" (a very loose term) food joint called Bimbo's. Karabo took us there so that some people could get food. It took a loooong time, so I chatted with Karabo, who was the other person drinking just Coca-Cola with me all night.

We came back and settled in for the night. Now it's time for another day of excitement in Gaborone!

Driving on the wrong side of the road

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I know I didn't come all the way to Botswana just to get pancaked trying to cross the street, but if I don't start looking right first before I cross, I might just become African roadkill.

This is just one of the colonial remnants that I'm having a hard time adjusting to here. Trying to spell things with the letter 'Z' (zed) or talk about band-aids (plasters) are some other difficulties.

However, I am having no trouble dealing with tea time. As they say in Setswana, "Ke kopa tea thata!" I like tea time a lot! I never drank tea at home, but I think I will start when I get back. It's a great pick-me-up in the morning!

Some pictures of our classroom. We learn Setswana and hear speakers here.

"Hey Whitey!"

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I am adding some pictures to my blogs (backdated), so be sure to check them out!

Today we began to delve more intensively into issues regarding HIV in Botswana in addition to our Setswana lessons. Dr. V. Chipfakacha from SADC (Southern African Development Community) came to speak to us about his approach to HIV/AIDS. In addition to an overview of what HIV/AIDS is and how it is affecting southern Africa, Dr. Chipfakacha gave us some special insight into the disease in this context.

He had us begin by making a tree. At the roots, we wrote the causes of HIV: poverty, mother-child transmission, sharing needles in drug users, unsafer sex practices (he stresses that there is no "safe sex"), lack of sex education, gender inequality/violence, etc. At the trunk, we wrote effects: girls forfeit education to run households, gender inequality, rape as treatment, stigma/discrimination, morbidity/mortality, poverty/lower productivity.

Amongst the branches, he made us put flowers. The flowers, he said, were the positives of HIV. We sat silent for a while--we often do not think that there can possibly be a positive to something like HIV/AIDS. However, after a little coaxing, we did come up with four flowers: women's empowerment, a multi-sectoral response, multi-billion dollar industry, and bringing countries together against a common threat.

With these causes, effects, and "flowers" of HIV in mind, we went on to discuss more about the disease. Dr. Chipfakacha stressed that "mass killer are nothing new to Africa." Malaria is endemic and still kills about as many people as AIDS in Africa. Mass killers are also nothing new to the world: he gave examples like the AD 541-542 plague in Constantinople where 10,000 people died daily and the Black Death where 25 million people died in three years from AD 1347-1350 and 137 million died by AD 1700. The pattern that we must observe, he argues, is that "epidemics follow development."

Earlier, I wrote that Gaborone's growth contrasted starkly with the HIV pandemic. Understanding that this is a normal pattern helps me to comprehend how the fastest growing economy in Africa can also have the highest HIV prevalence rates.

We also discussed the nature of germs. A germ of any kind cannot kill off ALL of its hosts--because if it doesn't have hosts, it will die too! This is why epidemics follow an S curve. They get bigger and bigger, but eventually level off.

These two understandings are vital to redefining our views of and approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention, education, treatment, etc.

Dr. T. Maudeni came to speak to us as well. She has intensively studied sociocultural factors that place males at risk of HIV/AIDS in Botswana. She is a UB professor, but the research was funded by OSSREA (Organization for Social Science research in Easter and southern Africa.) She discussed the seven main factors that she found in her study:

1. Males learn about sex from peers and media
2. Sugar-Mummy Syndrome
3. Absence of community and family based socialization agents
4. Inadequate knowledge about HIV/AIDS
5. Views about vulnerability
6. Views about sexual relations with females
7. Silence of the family

In her brief discussion of "ways forward," she noted that empowerment of families and engaging teachers are important steps to combat these vulnerabilities in men.

Both of our speakers were very informative, but our day was long and we were ready for some fun! We went back to Riverwalk to do some shopping (I got jelly flats for P17.50--about $3--each) and to have dinner. We ended up eating at the same restaurant that we ate at in South Africa. It was just as good the second time around. I did realize to a larger extent the political incorrectness of the restaurant's Native American logo. It would never fly in the US!

Also, I should note that on the way to the mall, some of the men waiting for Combis decided to yell, "White people! White people!" at us. As we continued along, they yelled, "Hey Whitey!" at us. We are REALLY starting to feel what it's like to be a part of the very small minority!

Orientation Day

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Today was our first day of real orientation to the University and Gaborone (pronounced Ha-ba-ron-eh in Setswana.) We began the day with some exercises to explain our expectations from the program and had a few Setswana lessons. We also got a tour of the University from Karabo and Tato and an welcome session from UB’s international office.

This is my first time in a foreign country at a University. I know many international students at Ohio University, but now I’m getting to experience what it’s like to be an international student myself. Along with that, I'm also getting the experience of being noticeably foreign--or "exotic" as Dr. Pillay says. In my travels to Europe, I've certainly stuck out because of my way of dressing, mannerisms, lack of fluency in the language, and my touristy activities. However, the way that I looked was never the thing that defined me as foreign. Now, the color of my skin makes me stand out as obviously "other." People definitely want to know who we are and where we came from. Only 3% of the population in Botswana is white; so even if we lived here, we would be oddities. While it's a little strange to be so obviously out-of-place, it is fun to greet people on the street with "Dumela!" They look so surprised to see white people speaking Setswana.

For breakfast this morning, we also had boiled and fried eggs and a little fruit. Also, today we had tea time, which was very well received. We’re wondering why we don’t have tea time in the States! I haven't been a big tea drinker for most of my life, but it's chilly in the mornings here and tea is a nice way to relax and recharge mid-morning.

We (and our digestive systems) are slowly adjusting to the food, but generally it has been very good. I’ve tried almost everything (there are too many options to try every dish at every meal,) and I haven’t yet found anything totally revolting. I have heard that there is a kind of worm that is a delicacy here in Botswana that we might be trying. I’m starting to psych myself up for that experience!

After our lessons today, we went back to the mall. I didn't need anything, but I went along just for fun and another chance to walk around the city. The weather is just about perfect here. Just a little chilly in the mornings and evenings and warm and sunny in the days; there is no humidity. So, I like to take any chance I can get to be outside. The designers of the University obviously understood the neccesity of taking advantage of the weather, because the campus is very open and airy with a lot of courtyards.

After we returned from the mall, we had some dinner and then changed to play some sports at the University sports areas. People played volleyball for a while and then I think they played some football (soccer.) However, I left with some of the other girls to get the internet working in my room.

That being said, the internet is working! Thanks to Clare Mulach's magical notepad with connection instructions that apparently work by simply being placed next to one's laptop, I was able to get the ethernet to connect. Hopefully this will mean much more regular posts (and no backdating--like I did on the last one!)

First Day in Botswana

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The flight from Columbus to Atlanta was awfully bumpy and made me a little nauseated. The flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg was not as bumpy, but obviously considerably longer. I didn’t sleep very well on the plane and it has affected my ability to adjust to the time zone—so pardon me if this blog jumps around a little.

Our overnight stay in Johannesburg was at the Garden Court Hotel, just by the airport. I roomed with Mandy Heck, another student on the trip. We had a very nice room. We changed and went down with the rest of the group to the restaurant downstairs. Everyone tried at least a sip of Savannah lite, a South African malt cider that is also popular in Botswana. We’d heard about it from one of our program directors, Dr. Pillay, who is from South Africa; we knew we had to try it. The restaurant itself was actually American themed, so most of us had burgers or TexMex food for a late dinner.

Our hotel room in JoBurg

I didn’t sleep well in the hotel, despite being so tired from the plane—but it was nice to finally have someplace flat to sleep!

In the morning, we loaded our baggage onto a shuttle and made our way back to the airport for our South African Airways flight from Johannesburg to Gaborone. The flight wasn’t bad. It was a little bumpy but short. The pilot came on the speakers about halfway through to say, “We have now reached our cruising altitude and are ready to begin our descent into Gaborone.” It’s never easy on the stomach and ears to head back down as soon as you’ve finished take-off!

The airport in Gaborone was a stark contrast to the shiny, new, metropolitan airport in Johannesburg. The airport was clearly an older building and very small. It seems that it services only two airlines: Botswana Air and South African Airways. There is no real separation of the terminal/gates from check-in areas, although customs has a separate section. At the airport, we got some Botswana Pula (about 6-something to the dollar) and met the Batswana professors in charge of our program as well as Dr. Pillay, who had gone ahead of us to assure our arrangements.

The Gaborone Airport

Driving through Gaborone was a unique opportunity to see the city. Some areas are clearly very poor—but there are also giant buildings with bank and corporation names on them. The roads were paved and people drove Mercedes and BMWs, but people who walk use dusty dirt paths. It is clearly a city of contrasts, including the contrast between huge economic growth and a deadly pandemic; it’s hard to believe that around one out of every three people here is HIV positive.

When we finally reached the University of Botswana (UB,) we had a big lunch (ALL of the meals are big here) and were assigned our rooms. I am in an apartment of 6—all five of the girls I live with are a part of my program. Others are in apartments with other international students and Batswana grad students.

The living conditions are similar to dorms in the United States, although some of our things are in disrepair. My apartment doesn’t have a light in the kitchen or the bathroom and another group of girls is missing a toilet seat! We’ve had a little trouble with the internet—but that was just an IT issue. The conditions aren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination, but they have made us grateful for the conveniences of home.

My room at UB!

Helping us adjust have been Karabo and Thato. They are students here at UB and have been assigned to us as guides. I don’t know if they were ready for 20 OU students, but they have been incredibly flexible, helpful, and understanding with us. Like all other Batswana we’ve met, they are very hospitable. We’re starting to get to know them very well.

After getting somewhat settled into rooms, we went to the Riverwalk mall. The mall here is different from American malls; it has clothing stores, a movie theatre, and some restaurants—but it also has a grocery and and all-purpose store. The grocery, Pick N Pay, has all of the grocery items you would expect in the United States, including toiletries, detergent, fresh fruit and vegetables, etc. They even have some things that I liked a lot in Europe that I can’t easily find in the US, like Kinder Schokolade, orange Fanta, and TLC face cleansers.

After our visit to the mall, we had dinner (again, a LOT of food!) All of our meals have been chicken and beef with a lot of starches. Things I’ve read about a lot, like mealy-meal and sorghum are staples in the diet here. Mealy-meal was actually introduced as a way to keep people full, despite its total lack of nutrition. I didn’t realize it had been so accepted into the diet.

A typical Botswana lunch--with smaller portions

After dinner, we went to the boys’ apartment to play some Euchre and some people had a few of the African beers and ciders they purchased at the mall. A few people bought a bottle of famous South African wine—which was apparently very good. Then we went over to the international student lounge to watch USA v. Italy in football (soccer). USA lost, but it was nice to see the Batswana cheering for our team! (Or maybe just against Italia…)

I tried to stay awake for as long as I could, but around 9:15pm, I hit a wall that didn’t let me stay up any longer. I headed back to my room and had one of the best night’s sleep ever!

Arrived in South Africa

I've arrived safely in Johannesburg and am currently waiting for the flight to Gabarone. I'll write an update when I get there!

The Johannesburg Airport -- They are very excited for the FIFA World Cup!

Today's the Day!

My flight leaves early this evening! It seems everything's in order for a smooth trip.

As a requirement of the program, I had to write an "Initial Impression Paper" to describe what I expected Botswana would be like. I decided to share that paper here:

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Initial Impressions Paper

When travelling, I try not to have too many preconceived notions of the places I am going. The images I create in my mind are rarely accurate and usually not as good as what I ultimately end up experiencing. That being said, however, I have of course begun to imagine what Botswana will be like. I do not know how correct these assumptions are, but they are nevertheless the basis of my initial impressions of Botswana.

One aspect of life in Botswana that I have been forced to confront is the weather. I cannot very well pack my suitcase without some prior knowledge about the climate. I will admit I have done some research. I know that Gaborone is very close to the desert, and I know that deserts have high temperature fluctuations. With that in mind, I looked up the average highs and lows for Gaborone in June and July, as well as the precipitation averages. The data confirmed my suspicion that June and July are the middle of a dry winter with very little cloud-cover, leading to big temperature differences. Unfortunately, this has made my packing more difficult rather than easier.

In previous travels, I have found that I remember certain colors. From my experience living with a host family in southern Germany, I remember Bavarian blue; reflecting on my trips to the Czech Republic makes me think of the red dye that many women there use in their hair; and, oddly enough, I will always remember the strange, pink sauce on my hamburger at a small racetrack in Estonia. I will not know the colors that remind me of Botswana until after I have returned, but I can imagine what colors might stand out to me. For some reason, I associate the African continent with the color yellow—maybe it is because yellow is a prominent color in African flags, maybe because a few of my African studies textbooks have been yellow, or maybe the Sahara and Kalahari look yellow on maps. Whatever the reason, I expect to see more yellow there than I do at home.

I also know that the colors of people’s skin will stand out to me. Obviously, the United States has a racial majority of whites/Caucasians, albeit this majority is getting smaller and smaller all the time. I think being in the racial minority for the first time will be an eye-opening experience. I am eager to reassess and reshape my expectations that most people are white; I look forward to a white person being an anomaly, rather than the norm.

Smells are some of the most difficult things to imagine prior to a trip, but smell is always the first sense to bring back memories of my time abroad. I can still imagine the smells of the Steinbergers’ old Bavarian farmhouse in Aich and the fresh air off the vineyards that poured into our hotel window in South Tirol. I can not conjure up the scents of Botswana without having experienced them, but I do expect them to be different from anything I have smelled before. I think the air there will be fresher and the scent of the dirt will remind me how far away I am from home.

Having been told that a lot of the meals in Botswana consist of meat and starches, I have been wondering what the food will be like. For a long time, I was not a meat-lover at all. I desperately tried to be a vegetarian but settled for very little red meat and more fish. After being at college, I have become a much less picky eater. However, I will still choose raw fruits and vegetables over beef or chicken if given the choice. To me, meat and starches at every meal sounds flavorless and heavy. I think the diet will be the part of the experience that will follow the culture shock phases of honeymoon, negotiation, and adjustment.

Finally, the sounds that I expect to hear in Gaborone are very much like the smells: difficult to create without actual experience. Based on the size of the city, I expect to hear cars and voices on the street. However, at night, I think the city will be quieter than most since it seems that it has relatively little public nightlife.

On the one hand, I hope that Botswana lives up to everything I have imagined. On the other hand, I also hope that Botswana is totally different from everything I have imagined. I think it will be a little bit of both: the country itself will be unlike anything I could dream up, while the experience will be above and beyond my imaginings.

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Weather in Botswana (& NGO Update)

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I'm not sure what to expect from the weather in Botswana. It's winter there, because they are in the Southern Hemisphere. Because Botswana is a semi-arid climate, winter means a dry season with slightly cooler temperatures.

We've been told that it's fairly warm during the days and cooler in the evenings. Gaborone is not far from the Kalahari Desert, so, like the American Southwest and other deserts, the low cloud cover lets heat in during the day and lets it out at night. This accounts for the drastic temperature changes.

According to WorldClimate.com, the average high and low for Gaborone in June/July are 72 and 35 degrees Fahrenheit (1.7 and 22.3 C), respectively. There is well under 1" of rainfall, on average.

The Weather Channel provides a forecast for Gaborone. For the next ten days, the highs are supposed to be in the mid to high 70's (23-26 C). The lows are forecasted for the 40's (4.5-10 C).

To pack, I'm planning on layering my clothes a lot. I have everything from tank tops to cardigans to fleeces. I'm also taking a light coat.

Last year, the students travelled in open-air trucks for 2 hours to see wildlife on one of the reserves in Botswana. They had to take the blankets off their beds to account for their lack of warm clothes. My group saw pictures of this expedition, and I think we're all trying to avoid that situation!

An update on the NGOs that I listed earlier:
BONELA will not be taking a volunteer this year. Since that was my first choice, I'm not sure where I'd like to be placed. We will hear presentations from the organizations during our first week at the University of Botswana; I'm sure a few of them will pique my interest.

Word on the street is that we will have wireless access in the University housing that we will be staying in. If that's the case, I will be updating the blog everyday. If not, my updates may be more sparse. But, I will take meticulous notes and do my best to pass on all of my experiences to you!

How you can help

I've had a few people asking questions about ways they can help in Botswana. I'm sure I'll have more insight after I come back, but I wanted to give some recommendations now as well.

Aid can be a very good or a very bad thing for African countries. Some countries need aid (free money, free food, free clothes,) but others function very well on their own. In these high-functioning countries, influxes of foreign aid can be very harmful to local economies. Free goods will always be able to undercut even the most inexpensive locally-made products, causing people to look for freebies instead of supporting their own, local small-business owners.

An alternative to contributing to aid organizations is to become a part of the growing microfinance movement. Microfinancing organizations provide small loans to people, mostly women, who want to start or grow businesses. The first experiments in microfinancing were in Southeast Asia and were highly successful. Southern Asia, Western Asia, Africa, and the Americas have all successfully become recipient areas of microfinance loans.

If you are interested in financing a microloan, I suggest Kiva.org. People from all around the world are listed with their professional goals. You can choose a recipient for a loan of $25 or more. You won't get interest payments, but they will pay you back. The payments can then be transferred to Paypal accounts where you can loan it out again or buy something from eBay ;)

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Update: One thing that I am definitely going to look into while I'm there is their need for shoes. I know that shoes are something that aren't as readily available locally in many places. I may put together some kind of shoe drive to send shoes back to Botswana if they need them.