The Compound

My parents encouraged me to post more pictures of my compound .. so here they are. 

You can thank my parents for them!

This is the walk up to my gated compound. This is the left half where the main, large gateway is.

This is a photo of my main walkway. The main house is on the left, second house on the right, and my house is in the back (the edge of my house is just to the left of the car in the background).

A view of the front of the main house.

The front of the second house.

View from that car right next to my house.

Here's my house again!

Garage attached to the main house (left), my house (center), traditional round-house (right).

This is what's behind the houses - there's a shed and near the large tree (left) is a chicken coop with no chickens at the moment... actually there's geese there.

Here's the geese (ha). I have no idea why the family on my compound keeps them!

From the back of the compound, by the random geese.

 

Setswana house -- this is the traditional round house. It's used for storage, and it's where the housekeepers sleep.

The family has a lot of trucks... how American of them.

 Behind my house, another storage shed...may have been a garage at some point?

The sun sets right behind my compound.

Lwapeng (Home)

This is dedicated to all my oh-so-patient friends and family who have been waiting for me to post these photos (especially Traci!). And a shout out to my mom's class at Klahowya High School... if you've been reading I hope you enjoy!

Here's a little background:

I live on a family compound, meaning there are a few other homes on the plot owned and occupied by the same family. The "compound" style of living is common in Botswana and many volunteers end up being placed in this situation. In the beginning, it's a bit bizarre to imagine living 2 years in such close proximity to others, but there are benefits to having people closeby - it provides respite from loneliness we feel from time to time; it's extremely safe; and it's an easy opportunity to have cross-culture experiences (what we're all here for!).

Here is my little pink house! You can see how close I live to the family on my compound -- the building to the right is the main house. It's just 10 ft away!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Living room, view from the entrance to my home. The sink in the back corner is essentially my kitchen sink since there isn't one in my actual kitchen (very strange setup).

Living room, view from the entrance to my kitchen. The doorway in the background opens to my bedroom. Main entrance to the house is to the right.

Living room, view from the back by the "kitchen sink".

Living room, view from the entrance to my bedroom. The door in the background opens to the kitchen.

 

 

 

Kitchen. Cabinets and fridge.

 

 

Kitchen. Gas stove and gas tank.

Bathroom. I even have a shower! -- it's just to the right, the blue colored object is my shower curtain. The bathroom is connected to the kitchen.... again, very strange setup.

 

 

 

Entrance to my bedroom. Closet straight ahead....

My opened closet. I fit everything I brought with me here into this - I just shove it in there or on top!

My house has way too much furniture for its' size...this chair hardly fits in my bedroom. I feel like yelling the line from Knocked Up... "There are 5 different kinds of chairs in this hotel room!"

My mock aerial view, standing on the unnecessary chair in my bedroom. Admittedly, I can't blame just the chair - the mosquito netting over my bed also takes up quite a bit of space.

If you pull away the mosquito netting, you'll find a very big bed for a small girl. Yay!

R.I.P. El Mestizo

Dear Mestizos,

I just heard the news today all the way across the world and in a different time zone, months out from living in Seattle. But the news of your closing still shook me to my core. How did this happen? Where do the people of First Hill go to find reprieve during their work days and to enjoy delicious Mexican dishes?

I remember the first time I noticed you -- you replaced that sketchy pizza place whose name I never remember. You were like a beacon of light and we thought, for a while, that First Hill might be "up and coming". It wasn't. But nonetheless, you remained for a long time and I enjoyed so many memories in the restaurant. I remember May 5, 2010 camping out for hours after work and listening to the deafening sounds of the mariachi band playing whilst I ate my carne asada burrito laden with guacomole. Many times I've dreamed of that food here in Botswana, dreamed of having it again one day when I come home to visit. And now with this news my dream dies.

¡Descanse en paz, El Mestizo!

Holidays

Being away from home during the holidays can be difficult so it's a huge blessing to be able to gather with fellow volunteers to celebrate in familiar ways. Now having more time and knowledge of Botswana, friends and I adeptly traveled all over the country, sometimes enduring long, hot bus rides to visit each other. I've gained so many great memories in just the past 6 weeks or so celebrating Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah, and New Years. Here's where I spent the occasions...

Thanksgiving in Shakawe, on the Okovango Delta

We were accommodated by a person with a farm in Shakawe. This is the cabin we stayed in.

This was the view from that farm, right on the water!

We were also right next to a Crocodile Farm with a catchy name.

Our group of Americans and 1 Canadian hosted a big Thanksgiving dinner for locals at the Croc Farm.

Everyone waiting patiently to eat the food we'd cooked all day.

Happily dining together!

Thanksgiving plate before...

And AFTER.

We had to get a funny photo right before we left...

Christmas in Mochudi
 

We got photos with Santa in Gaborone on our way to Mochudi

We spent several days just playing games, watching movies, and visiting.

Our hosts were very sweet and hung up "stockings" for everyone coming.

We even had a little Charlie Brown tree! We forgot about the voltage difference and accidentally plugged this in -- it didn't light up after that :0(

My volunteer friend Britt near the table where dinner settings were being prepared

Here's our Christmas feast!

The group shot (and a great group I must say!)

Later we enjoyed lighting sparklers and a few enjoyed cigars. 
And one managed to enjoy both at the same time.

Some sort of 'Saved by the Bell' moment I captured after sparklers all went out - 
"Gooooo CHRISTMAS!"

Stay tuned for my New Year's photos!

World AIDS Day

On December 1st the world commemorated World AIDS Day. But ceremonies have been held even throughout this week in some areas in Botswana, for instance villages in my sub-district. The devastation of the HIV and AIDS epidemic is a significant part of Botswana's past (particularly in the 90's and early 2000's), and sadly, it will continue to be a large part of its future. With still the 2nd highest prevalence rate of HIV in the world, the people of Botswana have serious issues to address, like gender-based violence/stigma, low male testing turnout, and multiple concurrent partnerships. At the same time, they've accomplished a lot working together; Botswana has the best ARV (antiretrovirals) and PMTCT (prevention of mother-to-child transmission) programs in Africa - things I might not know at all unless I were here. Botswana has much potential and I'm grateful for my Peace Corps placement because of that.

I just want to post links to a couple articles written around World AIDS Day:

1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-blumenthal/world-aids-day-2011_b_1122377.html

2. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ross-szabo/what-overeating-americans_b_1120055.html

The first is written by an expert discussing the roadmap for ending the AIDS epidemic, and I found it very inspiring. The second is an article written by a current Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana with an interesting take on behavior change. Hope you have the chance to read both!

Go nna sentle mo LTK (Living well in LTK)

You ask: "What's DLA in the LTK"?

DLA are my initials, and "LTK" is the shorthand name for my village, Letlhakeng. I'm located in the Kweneng District which is just below the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (see map below - I actually found one with my town listed!).

The LTK has a population of somewhere around 7,000 (we just had a 2011 census but I haven't been able to find the updated results). Some would say that for American standards this is the size of some secluded cult town. But you have to keep in mind that the entire population of Botswana is just over 2 million, and many volunteers are staying in areas with much lower population size (starting from around population 500). So for Botswana standards my site is not incredibly small.

Let's lay out what is here. It's not a lot, but what we have includes the following:

• 2 primary schools, 1 middle school
• 1 small library
• 2.5 paved roads.... (1 isn't paved very far)
• 3 small shopping complexes (4-8 shops each)

Other than that...there are lots of small 'Mom & Pop' type businesses and a plethora of churches scattered about town. Last but not least, we have 4 bars, and at each you can buy a cold beer for about 1 USD and a game of pool for about 20 cents (!)

Although it has a small population the LTK could probably support more businesses. However, businesses rarely open here because of a much larger town, Molepolole, located 60 km away. This bustling place has several large supermarkets, as well as a variety of many other stores, so it's where I do the bulk of my shopping.When I first arrived, the thought of taking public transport 1 hour both ways to get most of my groceries in Molepolole seemed nuts. Now that thought doesn't even cross my mind. It's amazing how our perceptions can change...

Dunes, wena o fentse (Dunes, you are the winner... aka Dunes FTW)

One of the perks of Peace Corps service is the potential travel. 2 weeks ago I returned from about 5 days in Namibia, and it was a great vacation. Since living in the southern part of land-locked Botswana the largest body of water I'd seen was in my laundry bucket, so I was looking forward to meeting with an oceanic coast. We drove all the way out to Swakopmund, Namibia and got some great R&R on the beach. But really, even more fun than seeing salt water again was getting to see some dunes. They were ridiculously fun to play around on, like a big sand box for big kids. And they were beautiful! Posted some of my photos below (shout out to my Dad for telling me how to compress!)

Me, attempting the jumping shot in sand.

My Volunteer friend, Britt. (REI called, they want their photo back)

Awkward jumping shot at sunset.

The little kid at the bottom right was one of many sliding down the dunes on pieces of cardboard.