Time flies when...you're in Africa?

I know, I know, I am a horrible blogger and haven’t posted in almost a month but I am fixing that now!  The past three weeks haven’t been too event filled but I will give you guys the few updates I have.  It seems like most of my time has gone towards this health promotion pamphlet I am trying to get started.  I have gone to 5 stores and gyms looking for financial support and haven’t heard back from any of them.  In fact, my first one should respond later today so I am actually pretty nervous right now.  I never realized just how tiring it is to interact with all of these people and try to sell the same story over and over.  Nothing is ever done straight forward here so it results in me traveling to different headquarters and making lots of phone calls.  However, if the end product is what I hope it will be, then all this will be worth it.  I find the worst part of it to be the traveling to and from campus in this ungodly warm weather.  Without a car and trying to avoid paying to combis, I tend to go through a lot of clothes these days.  I don’t know what ever happened to “winter” coming because it seems like it has been getting hotter every day!

Anyway, so it was a couple of my friends’ birthdays in the past few weeks so we went out again, my second time since coming here.  It was fun but I definitely don’t feel as comfortable going out here as I do at home.  All of their clubs and bars are in the middle of nowhere which is a little scary.  I try to keep myself occupied on the weekends doing other things though so that works out well. 

Last weekend I stayed at David’s house (the man whose family is taking care of me while I’m in Gabs).  I made them an “American meal” as they requested for dinner last Saturday.  While I fancy myself as a decent cook, I have no idea what is considered “American”.  I would have said hamburger but they already have those here so I resorted to chicken parm and macaroni and cheese.  They enjoyed both but I would say the mac n cheese was the big hit.  They want me to make another meal before I leave but I think I’m fresh out of ideas!  Anyway, the next morning I went to church with the two little girls, the son, and David’s wife, Charity.  It was interesting to see the differences in churches between the Mochudi church, the one in Gabs, and the one she took me to last Sunday.  This one was not the typical church.  They had people from the congregation reading and leading the mass and the most noticeable difference is that there was no building.  We had mass under a tent.  At least I didn’t have to cover my head like I did in Mochudi, that makes it about 10 degrees hotter anywhere.  Speaking of Mochudi, I am going to visit my host family this Saturday so that should be fun.  Also, one of my friends doing a home-stay is offering the family farm for a bunch of us to camp out and do…farm things?  It should be fun.

 Last Friday we went to the Jwaneng Diamond Mine where 80% of Botswana’s diamonds come from.  I have never seen a hole that big in my life!  I can’t even put into words how big it was.  It was about a quarter mile deep and I can’t even estimate how wide.  Its weird thinking the entire economy is based on that one spot though.  They are estimating the pit will last until 2033 but at that time…no one knows what will happen.  That’s not even mentioning the fact that something like 60% of all of Botswana’s water supply goes to cleaning the diamonds.  No wonder people are still digging boreholes here.  Guess it’s time to start rethinking some plans.  The coolest part was probably getting to stand next to a 240 TON capacity truck.  The tires were about two of me high.  Talk about feeling small!

All geared up for our tour (too bad you can't see our steel-toed boots!) 

Open-cast mine.  Those little trucks down there are the ones in the next picture.

Also, on Tuesday morning I went around with the Gaborone City Council who does waste management which sounds disgusting, and kind of is, but it was very interesting.  Again, I just don't understand some of the things they do here.  We went to a landfill which was absolutely enormous.  Apparently they did not build it up to standards so once everything decomposes, the toxins will seep into the ground water thus affecting drinking water.  Something isn’t right there considering half the time they have trouble finding water here anyway.  Don’t you’d think they’d want to protect it?  The other issue was that they use an incinerator to get rid of PLASTIC clinical waste.  Everything I have ever heard says burning plastic is not too wise. 

As for school, I have run into a few issues recently that have made me truly not understand how things work here.  My first issue is that one of my classes, the professor only shows up about half of the time.  I have an issue with that when my program is paying the school which is paying the professor to teach me but he doesn’t do half of his work.  Apparently the students don’t ever complain and at first I didn’t mind some of the days off but now it is getting ridiculous.  Also in that class, we watched a film called Slum Survivors.  While it was an extremely eye-opening documentary, I left the class extremely annoyed.  First of all, the stuff we saw was very intense as it covered the story of Africa’s largest slum found in Kenya and we did not discuss anything we saw.  I am not used to seeing something like that and just leaving after like nothing was different in the world.  The other thing that aggravated me was that the kids in the class were laughing about the whole film.  I don’t understand what they found humorous, especially knowing that is happening in their backyards and they themselves are about 20 years away from that situation themselves once the diamonds run out.  My only guess is maybe it was a defense mechanism but it really disturbed me.

My second issue I have with this school is that yesterday I had a bit of a run-in with a professor who gave me my first taste of predjudism.  In a class of 100 people, three of which are international, we are giving group presentations about traditional medicine in different regions of the world.  After one group member presents, the professor asks one male and one female to volunteer criticism about the presentation.  I wouldn’t feel comfortable standing in front of that many people to begin with but to be criticized by immature college students would make it 10 times worse.  So one girl went up and she was the only girl who actually knew what she was doing so I decided it was my turn to offer comments.   I wanted to make sure she got an honest comment rather than the ones people had been saying such as..”your font is too small” when we couldn’t even see the presenter’s note cards.  Not only did the entire class laugh at me after making my comment (which was that she did a good job and clearly knew her material because she didn’t rely on her notes) but the professor proceeded to make a joke out of my comment for the rest of class.  This really got to me because one other international student made a comment on Monday and was also laughed at yet everyone else doesn’t comment seriously and should be laughed at.  The worst part was that the professor joined in on the fun with my comment.  It is clearly just because we are international and it was clearly a lesson to be learned.  That was the first and last time I will ever raise my hand in that class, if I even go back.  I guess this should be chalked up as a “learning experience” about what people in the states go through but it was probably the most embarrassed I have been since coming here.  After talking about it with a local friend I have, I came to the realization that the students here who claim the teachers aren’t good never do anything about it because they just don’t care.  They aren’t paying for school.  In fact, they are being paid to go here by the government so what do they care if professors show up?  It makes for a very frustrating situation.

Other than my classes, everything here is going well though.  I only have 21 days of classes left which is crazy to think about but it amounts to 46 pages of papers left to write.  I hope something more interesting happens soon so I can update people about cool stuff.  Still, hoping to get to Mozambique over Easter break and will probably go scuba diving there so that will be fun.  Hope all is well at home and that everything in Northern Africa and the Middle East calm down seeing as I have to fly through all of those places on the way home.  That could end up…interesting.

Reality Check Number 2 - Ke botshelo (such is life)

Following my break in Cape Town, I knew that I was going to have to come back to Botswana and assumed I would be swamped with work but I found a couple of things that caught me off guard.  This post is going to be more of an overview for the second half of the semester and talk about some issues I have been realizing.

Initially, upon returning home (yes this has now become home), I had forgotten that I left a flat with no hot water.  You would think that during the week we were gone, someone would have made progress with this issue.  No.  We still, almost a month after losing hot water in our building, have yet to get it back.  This makes showering a daunting task as I find myself sending 5 or more minutes motivating myself to run under the freezing water before running back out and soaping up only to repeat the process for rinsing and washing my hair.  This has motivated me, however, to run more as I realized a cold shower isn’t exactly bad when you are burning up from working out.  If this were the only problem, I think I could live with it but the most recent development has been water cut from the kitchen.  

This poses a much bigger issue as we can no longer properly wash our dishes, clean our foods, or wash our hands.  Being a public health major, I have spent the semester studying the ways in which diseases are spread and basically, that’s it.  I have been taking my dishes to other people’s rooms in order to clean them but obviously it is extremely inconvenient.  I never realized the important of kitchen water in food but it is slowly becoming more and more or a hassle to cook anything.  My biggest fear is that they will cut off our water to the building completely and at the rate they are addressing this issue, it would never be resolved.  Also, we are having a building meeting tonight to address this issue as apparently some others are concerned about the spread of cholera and other waterborne diseases.  For those of you unsure, there are three types of waterborne disease, one of those being due to a lack of adequate water.  Overall, this has just reminded me again that as developed as Gaborone may be, I am still in Africa and need to take precautions. 

Moving on from the water, I have been doing some life searching and planning which has resulted in some big things.  First of all, I have decided that I need to go right into Graduate School after finishing at Nova otherwise, my major will not be specific enough in order to get positions I would like to get.  After deciding that, I have narrowed a list of schools down and it looks like I will either be in Boston or Washington D.C., mainly because I need to be near NGO headquarters.  As of right now, my top choice would be Boston University and its program for International Health but who knows, that is almost a year down the line.  Anyway, more immediate, I have realized that the project I am working on here in Bots is going to be the key to everything I want to do in public health.  

Recently, with the help of my clinical professors, my program director, and a CIEE regional director, I had decided it is time to take what I have learned from my clinical experience and do something productive.  Therefore, I have come up with the idea of developing a bi-weekly or monthly health promotion pamphlet to be distributed in clinics and other helpful venues throughout Botswana.  While the packet itself is not too terribly difficult as I just need to write helpful tips on how to live healthy lifestyles, the logistics behind getting it approved, printed, and distributed will be taking up the majority of my time this semester.  It looks like I will need to talk with the Ministry of Health which is basically our FDA at home and a few other HUGE organizations.  I am a bit nervous because I have never started a program before nor have I ever had to deal with behind-the-scenes details before but if I can get this off the ground, I will be one of the happiest people in Africa.  Not only will I be able to use this program as a basis for any public health internship, school, or job but more importantly, I can give back to the community that has so graciously hosted me.  With this, it is also possible for people to come and continue my work and eventually expand it into possibly a health promotion program to be presented in schools and workplaces.  

Obviously, I am extremely excited but in the mean time, I also have a ton of other work I need to focus on.  The one other project I have taken responsibility for is being a student representative at the University of Botswana for a new NGO to be created by my professor.  With this, I will be helping to organize their first activity which will be a “marathon” to raise awareness on anti-smoking.  That is quite as involved as my pamphlet but still excited.

Anyway, I have had a lot of time to think about my time in Botswana and the time I have left.  When I initially started thinking, I couldn’t believe I still had to be here another 65 days or something like that but now I have shifted to not believing I ONLY have 65 days left.  We have started talking about our final trip in May and all of my classes are done in about a month.  It is amazing how fast time has actually gone.  I will not lie, I have definitely had some hard times, especially in the past few weeks with being homesick but being here has been an awesome experience.  It has been nothing that I expected it’d be but has taught me so much about myself.  Being the only white person within miles at times has made me a more confident person as people stare and ask questions while I have also learned from the communities things I never thought I’d discover here in Africa such as WHY I have the motivations I do.  I guess I was going through the rollercoaster of emotions that everyone talks about when you go abroad and I am now on my second high.  Mid-semester and I have realized that I love the people in my program and can’t imagine not seeing them when we go home.  Even more than that, I love my family beyond belief and value their thoughts, opinions, and support more than anything.  I appreciate all that Botswana attempts to offer but understand where it fails to pull-through.  Despite the uncomfortable moments with people begging and men proposing, I thoroughly enjoy walking in the city and experiencing the differences in cultures.  Sitting on a combi yesterday, I came to the realization after talking with my friend Gerrica that being here IS what I needed.  While I am very excited to travel other places and work with different cultures, the people, government, and culture in Botswana has truly been an experience I would not trade for any other.  

I realize that the attitude I have right now is a completely 180 from the attitude I had the few weeks leading up to Spring Break but I hope that I keep this outlook and continue to learn and grow in my remaining weeks here.  We have a trip coming up to a diamond mine which will be interesting considering that is the basis of all of Botswana’s economy and I believe I will visit my host family in Mochudi again soon.  While I would like to take a hot shower again, I am going to make a promise to myself that I will do everything in my power to appreciate and learn from everything that happens in the next few weeks.  That’s not to say I still don’t miss home though!! 

P.S. My next big trip I am planning is to Mozambique for Easter break but hopefully I can figure out a weekend trip before then!

Cape Town

Following a week in Cape Town and my return to Gaborone and the University of Botswana, I feel as if it’s time for another post.  Let me first just go off on how my trip to South Africa was amazing.  I knew it would be a good week considering the fact that Joe was coming and I missed him so much but that was only the start.  Joe’s flight was delayed leaving me to fend for myself Saturday night when my plane landed but it was no big deal.  Our week started Sunday when Joe finally made it to Cape Town.  We walked around the V & A Waterfront which was absolutely gorgeous and basically just explored the city.  I did not feel like I was in Africa at all.  It felt like a combination of what I imagine LA looking like and Atlantic City.  It was definitely a nice break from the dry and barren environment of Botswana.  Anyway, Monday we decided we would attempt to go to Robben Island but didn’t make reservations.  Somehow, Joe’s luck pulled through and a woman returned two tickets 5 minutes before the boat left.  That was one of our favorite days for many reasons.  The history of Robben Island is incredible and unbelievable as they told about the prisoners have to construct their own prisons, being kept in solitary confinement, being denied visitors for years upon years, and their desire to help one another through teaching during lunch times.  All of this was happening with probably one of the prettiest backdrops I have ever seen.  I just couldn’t get over the fact that Robben Island is a place where people would have come for a get-away vacation to appreciate the beauty but it is scared with the ugliness of humanity during the times of political strife in South Africa.  I guess that’s how history works most of the time though.

 

V & A Waterfront

Following: Robben Island, Stone Pit where prisoners worked, Nelson Mandela's cell, an extremely windy boat ride back to Cape Town

On Tuesday, we decided to tackle the beast of a mountain in the center of town.  It was amazing that Table Mountain, over 3,000 feet high, is the center of the city.  We successfully made it up the mountain but that’s not without many breaks and close to 100 pictures.  The views were just breathtaking.  I am a bit embarrassed to say, though, that we chickened out and took the lift down but in our defense, we had no water and I probably would have fallen down instead of climbing down so it was wise of use to use technology and get down in 5 minutes rather than the hour and a half it took us to get up there.  Wednesday we continued our physical activity with a 21km wine and bike tour.  We joined forces with Kelly, Sam, and Sean who had gotten into Cape Town the previous afternoon.  While it was beautiful, the first half mile or so of bike riding was nearly impossible as it was basically straight up a huge hill consisting of sand pits after sand pits.  The easy part was coasting down but even then you had to work because it was by no means a smooth ride and there were some sharp turns that made me a little nervous.  Everyone seemed to have fun though so it was good.  Thursday was my personal favorite day as I finally got to live the dream of every girl, according to Joe.  We went horseback-riding on Noordhoek beach which was absolutely GORGEOUS.  Definitely the prettiest beach I have ever seen.  My horse’s name was Cognac and only had one eye but was a good fit for me as he loved the water and refused to leave plus he was a bit pushy with Joe’s horse (I don’t know how they matched our personalities so well!).  Joe’s friend was named Jiffie and was a bit lower key than my horse, always doing exactly what he was supposed to and a bit scared of the water.  It was a lot of fun and I realized that is a place I could totally see myself living.  Friday we rented a car and with Joe’s phenomenal driving on the wrong side of the road skills, we made our way to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope with the other three.  It was another fun and beautiful day as we got to see most of the coastline, which is beach after beach of white sand and crashing waves.  Saturday was a sad day because Joe and I had to part ways but not before another delicious meal and some time walking around the city.  It was one of my favorite weeks ever and I should thank Joe’s family for making that happen.

 Me on top of Table Mountain

On our way up

Vineyards

Fish hoek Beach

Us at the top of Cape Point (Southern-most point in Africa)

Atlantic Ocean on the left and Indian Ocean on the Right

The weird thing about the week was that even though all of these amazing things were happening all week and I got the break I needed form Gabs, I couldn’t help but the think about what I had been seeing in the streets of Cape Town.  Even driving from Gabs to Joburg through other parts of South Africa, it seemed like the gap between people living on sufficient incomes and those in poverty was way more extreme in South Africa than in Botswana.  I’m not sure if that is a cultural thing, purely economic, or a result from the government.  I would like to research that some more but based on observations, it seems like the poor are not given the help that those in Botswana are given.  It made me uncomfortable at times when I was stuffing my face with delicious meals and doing tourist activities that cost more than they should.  At one point, we were in an extremely fancy restaurant that was entirely unnecessary in a community which had people sleeping on the streets, stick thin, right outside the doors.  It did make me appreciate what the government in Botswana tries to do for its people in need and almost made me homesick for Bots strangely enough.

Well, I’d say that’s enough about my week on vacation but I am going to write another post about what is going on in Bots.  It seemed a bit strange to combine a fairly serious post with a fun one.  Anyway, still thinking of home and occasionally getting sad about what I’m missing but big things are happening here too!!

P.S. UB has put restrictions on the amount of time you can be on a blog to 3 ten minute increments a day for some strange reason (TIA) so I apologize if the quality of posts gets worse and I apologize but until I get somewhere with better internet, I will not be able to post many more pictures.