Heyo,
So this is it. Today is my last day in Botswana and I have a 5:00 flight to catch tonight. I have got to say that its not going to be easy leaving. I decided to stop by the office today to do Morning Play Group for the last time and make my rounds of goodbyes to everyone here. I have had a blast during my time here and even though I didnt get to stay longer it just means there is something bigger and better in store for me. Its hard to see what that is right now...especially since I am going back to Canada without a job or clear direction of what I will be doing the next year! (besides saving some money). However, I am sure I will figure it out.
On another note, the last Teen Club I was telling you about was a great success. Despite the heavy rain that lasted 5 DAYS!!!! We had a turn out of 112 Teens and it was awesome. I will be posting more information about how the event went on the Teen Club website. So that is all I have to say for now. I am already packed and set to come home. So I will see you on Saturday.
Cheers!
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Almost incident free...
Hey Folks,
So...let me fill you in on the last few weeks. Since returning from Cape Town, work has been extremely busy. With most of the Teen Club staff away on leave or at workshops in Gabs or out of country. There is just Lorena and I to man the office and the little projects and assignments that keeping popping up, particularly the last minute deadlines assigned to us on friday afternoon and due on Monday...typical!
However, besides that I am really enjoying it...this Saturday is my last Teen Club event before I leave and its a big one. This teen club event is particular cool, because I came up with the activity for the life skills session. The younger kids will be wokring with me on an introductory activity on Human Rights and HIV. This was one of my projects I was assigned to while here and I am looking forward to see how it goes. The older ones will be working on clearing the plot of our adolescent centre by clearing the overgrown grass and brush to make way for the new portable caravan that should be arriving soon and all the Teen Club staff will be moving into. After both sessions the Teens will also be having there Teen Leader elections and will be voting. Approximatley 35 teens will be giving speeches and 10 will be elected (5 boys and 5 girls). Its going to be interesting coordinating over 150 kids to vote, but it should be fun nonetheless.
I will let you all know how it went after saturday...
However, not all my news this week is as positive or exciting, but still important to mention.
Firstly, sad news from our morning play group. One of our adult volunteers who was pregnant with twins has passed away after giving bith on Saturday. Turns out she was sent home the day after her c-section with Pneumonia and passed away a few days later. Really sad news, but the babies are perfectly healthy.
Secondly, with only two weeks left in Gabs and being incident free in terms of losing anything, break-ins, being robbed (even after being in Joburg) I had a incident at my house last night.
At 2:30am Magali and I were woken up by the blaring of our two alarm systems. The first from our electric fence and the second from our family room/kitchen alarm (which is activated at night and allows the alarm to be on when people are home and asleep in their bedrooms).
Now we have had quite a few false alarms where the fence alarm has been tripped by a branch or a lizard, but we have never had both alarms go off. When we woke up we turned off the alarms and opened the door to the living room. We looked around and noticed that one of the windows was wide open and the burglar bars had been broken. The security company arrived within 5 minutes and thats when I remembered/noticed that I had left my backpack that night in the living room with my laptop, which was now missing. So within a 30 second time frame that they broke in and tripped the second alarm they culprits had just enough time to get in swipe the bag (wipe down the window with a wet cloth - to remove finger prints, very CSI of them).
Security and police arrived, filed some reports about what was stolen and what it looked like.
To tell you the truth I am really glad that nothing worse happened. It really sucks that my laptop is now gone and that I was planning on moving out of that house this weekend, but again nothing worse happened (like them coming into our rooms or even having to see them, which would have been pretty terrible).
The thing I am actually most upset about is not the laptop itself, but all my work from Baylor in particular The Human Rights Guide that I had been working on the last few months which was due for submission next week. ALL OF IT GONE!!!! I can start again, but it wont be ready next week! Luckily all my pictures are still on my camera and a lot of my documents are save in my gmail account. I am also really upset about my backpack...I LOVED THAT BAG! haha. So if I see anyone walking around Gabs with a brown bag and a little canadian flag sown on the back I might have to ask them where they got it...lol
But yah thats life, no point of dwelling and getting all upset about it. My time here has been great and it doesnt spoil anything
That being said I wouldnt mind having a drink or two tonight and I am also very much considering doing a one night two day safari, just to be out in the bush and see some awesome animals and take my mind off things!
So yah...I am going to enjoy the rest of my time here and then I will be seeing you guys shortly. I think there is some talk of me stopping over in Greece on my way home to pick up some Tsiporo for my dad, but we will see. This whole Volcanic ash thing is making it really difficult to get throught to BA to try and change my flight.
So that has been my last few days. Hopefully, the next few get better and that I can get that safari trip in order.
until next time....
So...let me fill you in on the last few weeks. Since returning from Cape Town, work has been extremely busy. With most of the Teen Club staff away on leave or at workshops in Gabs or out of country. There is just Lorena and I to man the office and the little projects and assignments that keeping popping up, particularly the last minute deadlines assigned to us on friday afternoon and due on Monday...typical!
However, besides that I am really enjoying it...this Saturday is my last Teen Club event before I leave and its a big one. This teen club event is particular cool, because I came up with the activity for the life skills session. The younger kids will be wokring with me on an introductory activity on Human Rights and HIV. This was one of my projects I was assigned to while here and I am looking forward to see how it goes. The older ones will be working on clearing the plot of our adolescent centre by clearing the overgrown grass and brush to make way for the new portable caravan that should be arriving soon and all the Teen Club staff will be moving into. After both sessions the Teens will also be having there Teen Leader elections and will be voting. Approximatley 35 teens will be giving speeches and 10 will be elected (5 boys and 5 girls). Its going to be interesting coordinating over 150 kids to vote, but it should be fun nonetheless.
I will let you all know how it went after saturday...
However, not all my news this week is as positive or exciting, but still important to mention.
Firstly, sad news from our morning play group. One of our adult volunteers who was pregnant with twins has passed away after giving bith on Saturday. Turns out she was sent home the day after her c-section with Pneumonia and passed away a few days later. Really sad news, but the babies are perfectly healthy.
Secondly, with only two weeks left in Gabs and being incident free in terms of losing anything, break-ins, being robbed (even after being in Joburg) I had a incident at my house last night.
At 2:30am Magali and I were woken up by the blaring of our two alarm systems. The first from our electric fence and the second from our family room/kitchen alarm (which is activated at night and allows the alarm to be on when people are home and asleep in their bedrooms).
Now we have had quite a few false alarms where the fence alarm has been tripped by a branch or a lizard, but we have never had both alarms go off. When we woke up we turned off the alarms and opened the door to the living room. We looked around and noticed that one of the windows was wide open and the burglar bars had been broken. The security company arrived within 5 minutes and thats when I remembered/noticed that I had left my backpack that night in the living room with my laptop, which was now missing. So within a 30 second time frame that they broke in and tripped the second alarm they culprits had just enough time to get in swipe the bag (wipe down the window with a wet cloth - to remove finger prints, very CSI of them).
Security and police arrived, filed some reports about what was stolen and what it looked like.
To tell you the truth I am really glad that nothing worse happened. It really sucks that my laptop is now gone and that I was planning on moving out of that house this weekend, but again nothing worse happened (like them coming into our rooms or even having to see them, which would have been pretty terrible).
The thing I am actually most upset about is not the laptop itself, but all my work from Baylor in particular The Human Rights Guide that I had been working on the last few months which was due for submission next week. ALL OF IT GONE!!!! I can start again, but it wont be ready next week! Luckily all my pictures are still on my camera and a lot of my documents are save in my gmail account. I am also really upset about my backpack...I LOVED THAT BAG! haha. So if I see anyone walking around Gabs with a brown bag and a little canadian flag sown on the back I might have to ask them where they got it...lol
But yah thats life, no point of dwelling and getting all upset about it. My time here has been great and it doesnt spoil anything
That being said I wouldnt mind having a drink or two tonight and I am also very much considering doing a one night two day safari, just to be out in the bush and see some awesome animals and take my mind off things!
So yah...I am going to enjoy the rest of my time here and then I will be seeing you guys shortly. I think there is some talk of me stopping over in Greece on my way home to pick up some Tsiporo for my dad, but we will see. This whole Volcanic ash thing is making it really difficult to get throught to BA to try and change my flight.
So that has been my last few days. Hopefully, the next few get better and that I can get that safari trip in order.
until next time....
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Cape Town and Rabies
Hello Everyone,
So, I thought it was about time that I fill everyone in on what my last few weeks were like here in Botswana. They were definitely far from ordinary. As I has mentioned in my last blog, I had planned a trip to Cape Town over the Easter Long Weekend, it was a great trip and before I get into that let me fill you in on the incident with the dog. So on the tuesday before I was supposed to leave for Cape Town. Ed and Agatha (my friends from work) and I decided to make the 20-25 minute walk to Fresh Cafe for lunch. A walk we have made many times before and well worth it. Fresh Cafe for those who dont know is a restaurant/cafe with delicious western style food, ciabatta sandwiches, smoothies, thai chicken wraps, real salad etc. I could go on for a while! So, as I was saying we were heading to Fresh Cafe, and along the way we ran into two dogs across the street one big brown one and the other smaller and black. Now for the record most stray dogs or any dogs in Gabs are extremely skiddish and wont even come up to people because they are afraid of getting beat.
However, these two seemed extremely interested in Agatha and I and stared us down a bit before deciding to run across the street and bark at us and threaten to bite. At first they kept their distance, but then they tried to bite. My initial reaction was to yell "HEY!!!" very effective! haha. It did keep them away long enough for Agatha and I to walk away a bit, but the little black one came back a second time and managed to nip my left leg just behind my knee before I kicked it. I was wearing pants and noticed that nothing ripped so I thought nothing of it. While at Fresh Cafe, the place where I got bit started to sting and I went to the bathroom and saw that it had actually broken the skin and there was a defined bite mark on the back of my leg. I thought nothing of it, washed it and that was that. While at lunch two doctors from Baylor, friend of ours, came into Fresh Cafe. In conversation we told them about our run in with the dogs and my bite and they both immediately wanted to see it. I told them it was barely a scratch and nothing to worry about. However, they insisted and once they saw it they went into full doctor mode. Talking about the type of wound and then began to tell me that it was more serious that I originally thought.
While the cut wasnt big, the simple fact that it broke the skin, that it was unidentified dog, that it attacked unprovoked made them think that I should get the rabies vaccines, especially if we couldnt find the dog or its owner. (we couldnt). Now the likelihood that the dog was actually rabid was slim, but with a disease that has a 100% fatality rate, it wasnt worth the risk.
So after lunch we went back to the clinic to talk to the associate director. Dr. Mike Tolle who back in texas, used to have a travel clinic he began the process of locating the series of vaccines I would need. Turns out that I would need a total of 11 vaccines. 5 of the rabbies vaccine and 6 shots of the Rabies immuno globluin ( which they had to inject around the wound). However, it turned out that the globulin was nowhere to be found in Botswana and was only available in Johannesburg, South Africa. So it was now a scramble to book an appointment at a clinic there and find out how I was going to get there.
Luckily I had already planned to be in Joburg on friday to catch my bus to capetown, so I simply caught a ride with two friends who were heading there on wednesday and I hung out in Joburg for two days with Agatha.
*Sidenote* Joburg is nowhere near ready for the World Cup. The construction is still far from being done, the traffic was terrible and the crime is still a big issue.
Anyway I Got the globulin and day 3 vaccine and caught my bus to cape town, where I still had to get my shot for day 7 and I have two more to go 1 on tuesday and then one a few weeks later. It was kind of a pain in the ass, but I am extremely lucky that I work at a clinic with doctors who helped me out so much. If I had to arrange getting to Joburg on my own or finding my own vaccines it would have been an even bigger nightmare. Dr. Tolle was such a huge help and he even talked to my mom on the phone so she didnt freak out haha. Also, all these shots were uber expensive...thank god for insurance and for WUSC who will cover the remainder of my shots here in Gabs.
So that was that, definitely an adventure but a good story and I am now vaccinated againts rabies, which would have costs way more in Canada!
Anyway, let me also tell you about my little trip to Cape Town. It was AMAZING! I would argue it is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. The food was amazing, great seafood, sushi and everything else. I even tried some game meat (crocodile=disgusting, warthog=great, ostrich=delicious). I still think I will just stick to the classics. While there we went to Cape Point the most Southwestern point on the african continent and apparently it is the location where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic battle it out. Unfortunately, the weather was really windy when we were there and robben island was closed most of the time or sold out. Also, the cable car up table mountain was closed most of the week and there was alot of cloud cover. However, we did climb lions head which was equally as beautiful and the views were great! We of course headed to Simonstown and Boulders beach to see the Penguins, which were pretty cool.
It was definitely an fantastic trip and a place I can see my self visiting over and over again. Now, I am back in Gabs for my last month. Time has flown by and I will be home before I know it. In terms of traveling, I have one more place I would like to visit. I am thinking of a weekend trip to Victoria Falls, I orignially ruled it out, but being this close and not going would be a shame! I am thinkning the first weekend of May, once I am finished my main projects at work and before I start packing up to leave.
Anyways, I hope everyone had a great Easter, I know I did.
ps. Sorry but the pictures were not loading properly, so I think I will just create a Facebook album for Cape Town.
So, I thought it was about time that I fill everyone in on what my last few weeks were like here in Botswana. They were definitely far from ordinary. As I has mentioned in my last blog, I had planned a trip to Cape Town over the Easter Long Weekend, it was a great trip and before I get into that let me fill you in on the incident with the dog. So on the tuesday before I was supposed to leave for Cape Town. Ed and Agatha (my friends from work) and I decided to make the 20-25 minute walk to Fresh Cafe for lunch. A walk we have made many times before and well worth it. Fresh Cafe for those who dont know is a restaurant/cafe with delicious western style food, ciabatta sandwiches, smoothies, thai chicken wraps, real salad etc. I could go on for a while! So, as I was saying we were heading to Fresh Cafe, and along the way we ran into two dogs across the street one big brown one and the other smaller and black. Now for the record most stray dogs or any dogs in Gabs are extremely skiddish and wont even come up to people because they are afraid of getting beat.
However, these two seemed extremely interested in Agatha and I and stared us down a bit before deciding to run across the street and bark at us and threaten to bite. At first they kept their distance, but then they tried to bite. My initial reaction was to yell "HEY!!!" very effective! haha. It did keep them away long enough for Agatha and I to walk away a bit, but the little black one came back a second time and managed to nip my left leg just behind my knee before I kicked it. I was wearing pants and noticed that nothing ripped so I thought nothing of it. While at Fresh Cafe, the place where I got bit started to sting and I went to the bathroom and saw that it had actually broken the skin and there was a defined bite mark on the back of my leg. I thought nothing of it, washed it and that was that. While at lunch two doctors from Baylor, friend of ours, came into Fresh Cafe. In conversation we told them about our run in with the dogs and my bite and they both immediately wanted to see it. I told them it was barely a scratch and nothing to worry about. However, they insisted and once they saw it they went into full doctor mode. Talking about the type of wound and then began to tell me that it was more serious that I originally thought.
While the cut wasnt big, the simple fact that it broke the skin, that it was unidentified dog, that it attacked unprovoked made them think that I should get the rabies vaccines, especially if we couldnt find the dog or its owner. (we couldnt). Now the likelihood that the dog was actually rabid was slim, but with a disease that has a 100% fatality rate, it wasnt worth the risk.
So after lunch we went back to the clinic to talk to the associate director. Dr. Mike Tolle who back in texas, used to have a travel clinic he began the process of locating the series of vaccines I would need. Turns out that I would need a total of 11 vaccines. 5 of the rabbies vaccine and 6 shots of the Rabies immuno globluin ( which they had to inject around the wound). However, it turned out that the globulin was nowhere to be found in Botswana and was only available in Johannesburg, South Africa. So it was now a scramble to book an appointment at a clinic there and find out how I was going to get there.
Luckily I had already planned to be in Joburg on friday to catch my bus to capetown, so I simply caught a ride with two friends who were heading there on wednesday and I hung out in Joburg for two days with Agatha.
*Sidenote* Joburg is nowhere near ready for the World Cup. The construction is still far from being done, the traffic was terrible and the crime is still a big issue.
Anyway I Got the globulin and day 3 vaccine and caught my bus to cape town, where I still had to get my shot for day 7 and I have two more to go 1 on tuesday and then one a few weeks later. It was kind of a pain in the ass, but I am extremely lucky that I work at a clinic with doctors who helped me out so much. If I had to arrange getting to Joburg on my own or finding my own vaccines it would have been an even bigger nightmare. Dr. Tolle was such a huge help and he even talked to my mom on the phone so she didnt freak out haha. Also, all these shots were uber expensive...thank god for insurance and for WUSC who will cover the remainder of my shots here in Gabs.
So that was that, definitely an adventure but a good story and I am now vaccinated againts rabies, which would have costs way more in Canada!
Anyway, let me also tell you about my little trip to Cape Town. It was AMAZING! I would argue it is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. The food was amazing, great seafood, sushi and everything else. I even tried some game meat (crocodile=disgusting, warthog=great, ostrich=delicious). I still think I will just stick to the classics. While there we went to Cape Point the most Southwestern point on the african continent and apparently it is the location where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic battle it out. Unfortunately, the weather was really windy when we were there and robben island was closed most of the time or sold out. Also, the cable car up table mountain was closed most of the week and there was alot of cloud cover. However, we did climb lions head which was equally as beautiful and the views were great! We of course headed to Simonstown and Boulders beach to see the Penguins, which were pretty cool.
It was definitely an fantastic trip and a place I can see my self visiting over and over again. Now, I am back in Gabs for my last month. Time has flown by and I will be home before I know it. In terms of traveling, I have one more place I would like to visit. I am thinking of a weekend trip to Victoria Falls, I orignially ruled it out, but being this close and not going would be a shame! I am thinkning the first weekend of May, once I am finished my main projects at work and before I start packing up to leave.
Anyways, I hope everyone had a great Easter, I know I did.
ps. Sorry but the pictures were not loading properly, so I think I will just create a Facebook album for Cape Town.
Monday, March 22, 2010
So, I have to begin this blog by first apologizing for completely slacking and not having any updates since the end of January. A lot has happened since then and I unfortunately will not be able to cover it all nor will I be able to remember it. That being said I will write about whatever comes to mind.
So, when I last left you I was writing about how I was just findiny my place at Baylor and what my role would be within the organization. But I would have to say that my experience at Baylor has been nothing but awesome. I have learned so much in the short time that I have been here. I like it so much in fact that I made an attempt to extend my contract until November. However, due to budgetary constraints on WUSC\s part and their over quota of volunteers in Botswana, I was unsuccessful. Much to the delight of my parents (ans some of you) I am sure. Nonetheless, part of me is looking forward to coming home and starting something new at home. While part of me wishes I could have stuck around here just a little bit longer, but I have over a month and a half left, so I am not going to dwell on it and enjoy the rest of my time here.
So what have been up to...?
With work, I have had the opportunity to do some traveling for Teen Club. I got to go to some Teen Club events in Molepolole and Mahalapye in March where the theme of the month was financial literacy where all our Teen Club sites learned about the importance of money with the help on some representatives from Barclays bank. While, it may not sound like the most fun of activities, it was pretty successful. However, what has been even more fun was taking the older Teens during February Teen Club swimming and I get to do it agine this coming Saturday with the younger kids. It's awesome.!!! Additionally, I was able to travel in the city of Francistown where I participated in a workshop/training on the problem of MCP (Multiple Concurrent Partnerships and it contribution to the spread of HIV in Botswana. Being a government funded workshop for NGO partners, I was put up in a fancy hotel, given my own room, was allowed to order room service and had it all paid for all. It was really nice, but overall it really seemed like a waste of money, not that I am complaining, but did we really need to stay at the nice
st hotel, probably not. I did enjoy watching TV (the National Geographich Channel is GREAT!)
What else? Oh I have also been able to see a couple of talent/hip hop shows, put on by different organizations. The talent show in February was showcasing talent from young people in the Western part of the county, including the Basarwa (The San). It was a really cool thing to see and the kids were great.
In terms of personal travel I haven't done a whole lot. I am booked for a week long to Cape Twon over Easter, wh
ich I am really looking forward to. However, the second week of March all the WUSC interns took part in a 5 day retreat to Ghanzi and Maun. It was an 8 hour bus to Ghanzi. It was really cool to all hang out together, and in Ghanzi we stayed in Bushmen style huts and were takn on a Bushmen tour and had a traditional dance performance (some of us even joined in). It was definitely really cool, but also a really strange experience as these people where demonstrating their traditional way of life, which is being destroyed. On the Bush walk I also saw my first snake in the wild (A Green Mamba). A nice surprise in Ghanzi ( a semi-arrid desert) was this natural quarry we were brought too. In the middle of this rock quarry was this natural underground water that filled up and provided this beautiful little watering hole. The water was a great temperature and those who had underwater cameras took a ton of pictures which I will be getting some copies of soon.
From there we were off to Maun which is about 3 hours away. However, since we were a group of 12, transport proved to be a bit of a challenge. There was only onw WUSC vehicle so straws were drawn for who got to go ing the car and who would take the bus. I and a few others were left out of the car are were not up for taking a sticky hot bus midday. So we opted to hitchhikie along the main road between the two towns. Before everyone freaks out, hitching is extremely commin in Botswana and is relatively safe. My friend Sarah and I managed to get a ride with two women in a nice air conditioned car and have a lovely nap along the way.
In Maub we stayed at a really nice backpacker's right on the river of the Okavango D
elta. The next day a bunch of us took a ride on a dugout Canoe steered by a local with a large stick (extremely hard work) into the Delta which was a beautiful but scorching hot and little shade. Hence the head wrap. Apparently at the right time of year you can see plenty of corcs and hippos, but we saw none. Probably for the better, especially because we were taken to a spot in the Delta that was 'safe' to swim. How is it safe? I asked thiis question to our guide and the answer was "because you can see the bottom" Right!! Hahah. It was actually suprisingly really clean and really refreshing after being out on the water in the sun for 2 hours. The next day we just relaxed by the river before catching our afternoon flight back to Gabs a comfortable 1.5 hours vs taking the bus which would have been over 10.
All in all that has been my life in Bots thus far, I am sure I am missing tons of little things that make up the best parts of these experience, the people I have met, the restaurants I have been too and the lack of customer service or seperate bills and everything else in between. Most of the WUSC volunteers are leaving at the end of this month and there will just be a few stragglers here until May. It's going to be sad to see them leave, but luckily most of them live in Ottawa.
So that is that, I apologize again for failing to blog more regularly, its hard to take the time to sit and write about what has been going on in your day to dat life. Its easier when you are travling, but I will update again soon, especially after Cape Town...
So until then Happy Easter....!
So, when I last left you I was writing about how I was just findiny my place at Baylor and what my role would be within the organization. But I would have to say that my experience at Baylor has been nothing but awesome. I have learned so much in the short time that I have been here. I like it so much in fact that I made an attempt to extend my contract until November. However, due to budgetary constraints on WUSC\s part and their over quota of volunteers in Botswana, I was unsuccessful. Much to the delight of my parents (ans some of you) I am sure. Nonetheless, part of me is looking forward to coming home and starting something new at home. While part of me wishes I could have stuck around here just a little bit longer, but I have over a month and a half left, so I am not going to dwell on it and enjoy the rest of my time here.
So what have been up to...?
With work, I have had the opportunity to do some traveling for Teen Club. I got to go to some Teen Club events in Molepolole and Mahalapye in March where the theme of the month was financial literacy where all our Teen Club sites learned about the importance of money with the help on some representatives from Barclays bank. While, it may not sound like the most fun of activities, it was pretty successful. However, what has been even more fun was taking the older Teens during February Teen Club swimming and I get to do it agine this coming Saturday with the younger kids. It's awesome.!!! Additionally, I was able to travel in the city of Francistown where I participated in a workshop/training on the problem of MCP (Multiple Concurrent Partnerships and it contribution to the spread of HIV in Botswana. Being a government funded workshop for NGO partners, I was put up in a fancy hotel, given my own room, was allowed to order room service and had it all paid for all. It was really nice, but overall it really seemed like a waste of money, not that I am complaining, but did we really need to stay at the nice
st hotel, probably not. I did enjoy watching TV (the National Geographich Channel is GREAT!)What else? Oh I have also been able to see a couple of talent/hip hop shows, put on by different organizations. The talent show in February was showcasing talent from young people in the Western part of the county, including the Basarwa (The San). It was a really cool thing to see and the kids were great.
In terms of personal travel I haven't done a whole lot. I am booked for a week long to Cape Twon over Easter, wh
ich I am really looking forward to. However, the second week of March all the WUSC interns took part in a 5 day retreat to Ghanzi and Maun. It was an 8 hour bus to Ghanzi. It was really cool to all hang out together, and in Ghanzi we stayed in Bushmen style huts and were takn on a Bushmen tour and had a traditional dance performance (some of us even joined in). It was definitely really cool, but also a really strange experience as these people where demonstrating their traditional way of life, which is being destroyed. On the Bush walk I also saw my first snake in the wild (A Green Mamba). A nice surprise in Ghanzi ( a semi-arrid desert) was this natural quarry we were brought too. In the middle of this rock quarry was this natural underground water that filled up and provided this beautiful little watering hole. The water was a great temperature and those who had underwater cameras took a ton of pictures which I will be getting some copies of soon.
From there we were off to Maun which is about 3 hours away. However, since we were a group of 12, transport proved to be a bit of a challenge. There was only onw WUSC vehicle so straws were drawn for who got to go ing the car and who would take the bus. I and a few others were left out of the car are were not up for taking a sticky hot bus midday. So we opted to hitchhikie along the main road between the two towns. Before everyone freaks out, hitching is extremely commin in Botswana and is relatively safe. My friend Sarah and I managed to get a ride with two women in a nice air conditioned car and have a lovely nap along the way.In Maub we stayed at a really nice backpacker's right on the river of the Okavango D
elta. The next day a bunch of us took a ride on a dugout Canoe steered by a local with a large stick (extremely hard work) into the Delta which was a beautiful but scorching hot and little shade. Hence the head wrap. Apparently at the right time of year you can see plenty of corcs and hippos, but we saw none. Probably for the better, especially because we were taken to a spot in the Delta that was 'safe' to swim. How is it safe? I asked thiis question to our guide and the answer was "because you can see the bottom" Right!! Hahah. It was actually suprisingly really clean and really refreshing after being out on the water in the sun for 2 hours. The next day we just relaxed by the river before catching our afternoon flight back to Gabs a comfortable 1.5 hours vs taking the bus which would have been over 10.All in all that has been my life in Bots thus far, I am sure I am missing tons of little things that make up the best parts of these experience, the people I have met, the restaurants I have been too and the lack of customer service or seperate bills and everything else in between. Most of the WUSC volunteers are leaving at the end of this month and there will just be a few stragglers here until May. It's going to be sad to see them leave, but luckily most of them live in Ottawa.
So that is that, I apologize again for failing to blog more regularly, its hard to take the time to sit and write about what has been going on in your day to dat life. Its easier when you are travling, but I will update again soon, especially after Cape Town...
So until then Happy Easter....!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
First Full Week
Hey Friends,
So it was my first official FULL week of work including a Teen Club event on Saturday here in Gaborone. Overall, I have to say I am really enjoying myself here in Bots. I am up early every morning for work and that has transfered over to my days off where I cannot sleep past 9 am. Its actually not that bad, in fact it is quite amazing to see how long the day feels when you are up that early. haha. Also, this week I started running and workingout (told you I would Heather!). The plan for now is running 3 times a week at a track that is walking distance to my house and then situps, pushups and all that fun stuff in between. I am also going to check out the gym thats not that far from my place, because apparently they have a full sized outdoor pool, which in this heat would be awesome.
As for the weather it has been hot, but that has also meant some intense, IN
TENSE! thunderstorms. While I have seen some crazy storms before the sound of the thunder was as if the sky was ripping open. It was crazy, yet awesome. Maggali one of my roommates who also works across the street from me have been going out for lunch occassionally trying some of the different places to eat around here. So far we are impressed with the local food at the Main Mall, which is dirt cheap and you can fill your container quite full. The food mainly consists of rice, pap, stewed chicken or beef, fried chicken of beef, coleslaw, beets and cabbage and this thing called chakalaka...which I cant really explain but it tastes great mix of a bunch of stuff (beans, cabbage, carrots). Anyway its good. Still on the topic of food, me and the roomies have been cooking almost everynight barring we have power (it has been cutting out a lot the last week). We cook up pretty decent meals and its great.
Moving on...Some of you have asked me to put some pictures up of my house so here are some of them....I really havent taken enough pictures here yet, but its hard to remember when its just everyday life. However, I promise to post somepictures on Facebook, once I have enough pictures worthy of an album
Moving on...so besides working this week I also was at work on Saturday for my first Teen Club event...(if you dont remember what that is check out the links ------>)
The teens were split by age and I was with the younger group at the sports field. While waiting for the balls to show up the volunteers decided to play Red Rover with about 80 teens. It turned out really well and there were luckily no accidents. As I remember from when I was younger Red Rover had a tendency to turn ugly. After that it was free sports play. Tennis, Badminton, Volleyball and Football (soccer). I am still awful at volleyball but really enjoy it hahah. Luckily for us it was overcast which kept the weather cool and it didnt rain. Yet, somehow I still got a little bit of a sunburn. Nonetheless, the day was a success and you can read more about it on the Teen Club blog again over there ----->
After that we went to a BBQ (Brai) at our new friends from the German development agencies. Grilled some steaks, hamburgers...(I still cant get over how good the beef is and how cheap) Anyway, we had some great food (notice a theme) and swam in the pool.
On Sunday, I was up at 9am and some volunteers from Mochudi and Jwaneng came back for the weekend to be back in the city. After some French Toast and a trip to the grocery store we were off to the Botswana Premier League. Mochudi vs Gaborone. Sarah's friends from Mochudi got us tickets so we sat on the Mochudi side, which worked out best since they won 3-2 after being down 0-2. It was fun, not the greatest level of soccer, but everyone seemed really into it and it was 25 pula so you cant go wrong.
So that basically sums up the week and a bit since I last wrote. As of now some volunteers are heading to Chobe and Vic Falls next week, I have decided to pass, because thats where I hope to go when Johnny comes and visits!!! So he BETTER COME!! I am also looking forward to visiting some of the other Teen Club Satellite Locations and see some other parts of the country, because you can get far too comfortable in the luxuries of Gaborone.
So thats about it for now, I am sure I am forgetting something but....hope everyone is doing well.
So it was my first official FULL week of work including a Teen Club event on Saturday here in Gaborone. Overall, I have to say I am really enjoying myself here in Bots. I am up early every morning for work and that has transfered over to my days off where I cannot sleep past 9 am. Its actually not that bad, in fact it is quite amazing to see how long the day feels when you are up that early. haha. Also, this week I started running and workingout (told you I would Heather!). The plan for now is running 3 times a week at a track that is walking distance to my house and then situps, pushups and all that fun stuff in between. I am also going to check out the gym thats not that far from my place, because apparently they have a full sized outdoor pool, which in this heat would be awesome.
As for the weather it has been hot, but that has also meant some intense, IN
TENSE! thunderstorms. While I have seen some crazy storms before the sound of the thunder was as if the sky was ripping open. It was crazy, yet awesome. Maggali one of my roommates who also works across the street from me have been going out for lunch occassionally trying some of the different places to eat around here. So far we are impressed with the local food at the Main Mall, which is dirt cheap and you can fill your container quite full. The food mainly consists of rice, pap, stewed chicken or beef, fried chicken of beef, coleslaw, beets and cabbage and this thing called chakalaka...which I cant really explain but it tastes great mix of a bunch of stuff (beans, cabbage, carrots). Anyway its good. Still on the topic of food, me and the roomies have been cooking almost everynight barring we have power (it has been cutting out a lot the last week). We cook up pretty decent meals and its great.Moving on...Some of you have asked me to put some pictures up of my house so here are some of them....I really havent taken enough pictures here yet, but its hard to remember when its just everyday life. However, I promise to post somepictures on Facebook, once I have enough pictures worthy of an album
Moving on...so besides working this week I also was at work on Saturday for my first Teen Club event...(if you dont remember what that is check out the links ------>)
The teens were split by age and I was with the younger group at the sports field. While waiting for the balls to show up the volunteers decided to play Red Rover with about 80 teens. It turned out really well and there were luckily no accidents. As I remember from when I was younger Red Rover had a tendency to turn ugly. After that it was free sports play. Tennis, Badminton, Volleyball and Football (soccer). I am still awful at volleyball but really enjoy it hahah. Luckily for us it was overcast which kept the weather cool and it didnt rain. Yet, somehow I still got a little bit of a sunburn. Nonetheless, the day was a success and you can read more about it on the Teen Club blog again over there ----->
After that we went to a BBQ (Brai) at our new friends from the German development agencies. Grilled some steaks, hamburgers...(I still cant get over how good the beef is and how cheap) Anyway, we had some great food (notice a theme) and swam in the pool.
On Sunday, I was up at 9am and some volunteers from Mochudi and Jwaneng came back for the weekend to be back in the city. After some French Toast and a trip to the grocery store we were off to the Botswana Premier League. Mochudi vs Gaborone. Sarah's friends from Mochudi got us tickets so we sat on the Mochudi side, which worked out best since they won 3-2 after being down 0-2. It was fun, not the greatest level of soccer, but everyone seemed really into it and it was 25 pula so you cant go wrong.
So that basically sums up the week and a bit since I last wrote. As of now some volunteers are heading to Chobe and Vic Falls next week, I have decided to pass, because thats where I hope to go when Johnny comes and visits!!! So he BETTER COME!! I am also looking forward to visiting some of the other Teen Club Satellite Locations and see some other parts of the country, because you can get far too comfortable in the luxuries of Gaborone.
So thats about it for now, I am sure I am forgetting something but....hope everyone is doing well.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
the start of a routine...
Hello Friends,
So it has been a while since I wrote last. This is due to the hectic week of training that just ended. Everyone has more or less left for their placements throughout the country, there are a few stragglers
leaving tomorrow morning.
I started my first day at work on Wednesday. It was a slow start, just getting oriented around the facility and figuring where exactly I will fit in. However, everyone is really nice and I am looking forward to really get into things. Seems like there will be some great opportunity to do some traveling in Botswana for work at the satellite projects for teen club. Here is the website to see what sort of things I will be doing. http://botswanateenclub.wordpress.com/
Apart from that there is also the morning play program for the kids who are waiting hours in line for their appointment to see the doctor. Between 9:30 and 11:00 volunteers come and play with the kids and run some activities and lessons. There are no appoitnment at the clinic, its simply fist come first serve, so naturally the lines and the wait are extremely long and the clinic lobby is always full with kids and their parents. I will hopefully be working on expanding this program and writing some proposals for some more funding. Should be interesting.
Aside from work, let me tell you what we were doing the last week and a bit. Most definitely saturday was one of the busier days. It began with us waking up at 4:30 am to get ready for a hike up Kgale Hill in Botswana. The reason for the early rise, was to avoid the heat, trying to hike any later would have been suicidal. The hike took about 2 hours to get up, and naturally I won the award for sweatiest person, however the other intern Tony came a very close second. The view from the top, was great. You could see all of the city of Gabs and also got to see the Gaborone Dam which surprisingly has a yacht club (at least thats what the sign said). Apparently you can go kayaking and such there, will have to check it out at some point.
The walk down was nice, and then from there we went back to the house and then off the lunch at river walk. The mall not far from our place. We all decided to eat at Nandoo's Chicken which is normally delicious and famous for its piri piri chicken/sauce. Well today I decided to be bold and order the Hot chicken wrap along with a few others. Basically the mild was what should have been the hot and the hot was as Jeff said "Lava in his mouth". It was a challenge to finish, but I was starving after the hike and got it down. My stomach was on fire!
From there we got our own Combi ta
ke us to the Mokolodi Game Reserve in Gabs. Which is an animal sanctuary, housing a few domesticated elephans, kudu, rhino,zebra, giraffe, 3 cheetahs and leopards.
It is a small and mimimal park in comparison to Ngorongoro or the Serengeti in Tanzania, but its still awesome seeing these animals. (unfortunately the Rhinos and Leopards have eluded me yet again). If Johnny comes and visits we will head to Chobe national park where there are a plethora of Rhino (hopefully).
Then from there it was off to the expat bar Bull and Bush, which was hosting a University of Botswana dj party, but we just stayed for dinner and a dance or two.
Another component of this week was the plethora of MEAT! Beef here is in abundance and is really REALLY good. On Sunday Kathy Stiles, the regional director of WUSC invited us over to her house for a Brai (bbq) and a swm in her pool. The steaks were delicous, so were the burgers and the sausages. She also had an awesome newfoundland dog.
Besides that it was two days full of Setswana lessons, and workshops on HIV as well as speakers form a number of local NGO's and governemnt agencies. Overall, it was a productive week, kind of tiring but great. Everyone has gotten along great and as much as I am excited to have some routine, the house will seem a bit empty for a while. However, we will see each other again in a few months for our mid term work/training in Maun (near the Okavango Delta). Work holiday SWEET!!! Besides that the only other traveling, is probably a trip to Cape Town over the Easter long weekend.
So thats it for now
Go Siamme (ho-see-a-meh)
So it has been a while since I wrote last. This is due to the hectic week of training that just ended. Everyone has more or less left for their placements throughout the country, there are a few stragglers
leaving tomorrow morning.I started my first day at work on Wednesday. It was a slow start, just getting oriented around the facility and figuring where exactly I will fit in. However, everyone is really nice and I am looking forward to really get into things. Seems like there will be some great opportunity to do some traveling in Botswana for work at the satellite projects for teen club. Here is the website to see what sort of things I will be doing. http://botswanateenclub.wordpress.com/
Apart from that there is also the morning play program for the kids who are waiting hours in line for their appointment to see the doctor. Between 9:30 and 11:00 volunteers come and play with the kids and run some activities and lessons. There are no appoitnment at the clinic, its simply fist come first serve, so naturally the lines and the wait are extremely long and the clinic lobby is always full with kids and their parents. I will hopefully be working on expanding this program and writing some proposals for some more funding. Should be interesting.
Aside from work, let me tell you what we were doing the last week and a bit. Most definitely saturday was one of the busier days. It began with us waking up at 4:30 am to get ready for a hike up Kgale Hill in Botswana. The reason for the early rise, was to avoid the heat, trying to hike any later would have been suicidal. The hike took about 2 hours to get up, and naturally I won the award for sweatiest person, however the other intern Tony came a very close second. The view from the top, was great. You could see all of the city of Gabs and also got to see the Gaborone Dam which surprisingly has a yacht club (at least thats what the sign said). Apparently you can go kayaking and such there, will have to check it out at some point.
The walk down was nice, and then from there we went back to the house and then off the lunch at river walk. The mall not far from our place. We all decided to eat at Nandoo's Chicken which is normally delicious and famous for its piri piri chicken/sauce. Well today I decided to be bold and order the Hot chicken wrap along with a few others. Basically the mild was what should have been the hot and the hot was as Jeff said "Lava in his mouth". It was a challenge to finish, but I was starving after the hike and got it down. My stomach was on fire!
From there we got our own Combi ta
ke us to the Mokolodi Game Reserve in Gabs. Which is an animal sanctuary, housing a few domesticated elephans, kudu, rhino,zebra, giraffe, 3 cheetahs and leopards.It is a small and mimimal park in comparison to Ngorongoro or the Serengeti in Tanzania, but its still awesome seeing these animals. (unfortunately the Rhinos and Leopards have eluded me yet again). If Johnny comes and visits we will head to Chobe national park where there are a plethora of Rhino (hopefully).
Then from there it was off to the expat bar Bull and Bush, which was hosting a University of Botswana dj party, but we just stayed for dinner and a dance or two.
Another component of this week was the plethora of MEAT! Beef here is in abundance and is really REALLY good. On Sunday Kathy Stiles, the regional director of WUSC invited us over to her house for a Brai (bbq) and a swm in her pool. The steaks were delicous, so were the burgers and the sausages. She also had an awesome newfoundland dog.
Besides that it was two days full of Setswana lessons, and workshops on HIV as well as speakers form a number of local NGO's and governemnt agencies. Overall, it was a productive week, kind of tiring but great. Everyone has gotten along great and as much as I am excited to have some routine, the house will seem a bit empty for a while. However, we will see each other again in a few months for our mid term work/training in Maun (near the Okavango Delta). Work holiday SWEET!!! Besides that the only other traveling, is probably a trip to Cape Town over the Easter long weekend.
So thats it for now
Go Siamme (ho-see-a-meh)
Thursday, January 14, 2010
2 days later...
Dumela! (setswana greeting)
Hello everyone,
So I finally made it to Gaborone and I have to say its surreal. After two days of relatively smooth traveling, despite having to take 4 flghts, there were no serious delays and all my luggage made it to Gabs even though I came a few hours late.
I arrived early morning on Wednesday and it hadnt really hit me until I saw the trees from the airplane and all the memories came back of first landing into Tanzania a few years ago. The airport in Gab was the smallest thing ever, but they were building a new terminal, which looked like it was a chinese company that had the contract, because all the construction workers were Chinese.
The weather here is hot, as expected but its a nice and dry heat, not crazy humid like Dar. Me and another intern who arrived at the same time were taken to our house, which is SO NICE. Its a 3 bedroom house, Air conditioned, full kitchen, two bathrooms (HOT WATER!!!), living room/dining room, front and back yard. Right now there are 10 of us in the house, but next week there will only be three as the others will be heading out to their placements throughout the country. It is a little weird living in a house with an electronic gate and brick wall, alarm system and electric fencing along the tops of the walls. All the houses in my neighbourhood have it, despite the fact that its a really safe neighbourhood, but its just standard with nicer housing in the city. Met with the other interns, began training and went to an awesome Indian restaurant buffet for lunch, which I am sure I will be visiting often.
So basically, as I am writing this I am struggling with how different it is here than Dar. Every car on the road is a luxury sedan or suv. Range rovers, BMW's, Mercedes its crazy! Your allowed to drink the tap water and it tastes well. I live walking distance to work, which I will start next week. The WUSC head office is also just around the corner, where there is internet access.
That being said there are definite similarities. The Cobi's (mini buses) are just like TZ Daladala's, except they only allow one person per seat and no one is allowed to stand (kind of nice). The bus routes are kind of confusing right now, but I am sure I will pick it up in a few weeks. There are also tons of fruit stands, pop stands and things being sold along the road, but Botswana love their malls or shopping centres.
I just quickly stopped by my work yesterday and the centre looks amazing. Really new since it just opened in 2002. So I am excited to start. I am going to get a cell phone today and will be sharing the number for whoever wants it. TEXT ME!!! Also, I get free incoming, so grab a calling card once and a while!
I have already found an expat bar in the guide book that had satellite TV that plays sports, so I will be there for two weeks straight during the Olympics Im sure. Go Canada Go!!!
Anyways, thats all I can think of right now, I am sure I am missing some things, but I will try to update this as much as possible, as long as I have something interesting to say. A few more days of training until Wednesday then I wiill be on a regular schedule. So hope everyone is doing well, enjoy the cold! hahah
talk to you soon.
Pavlo
Hello everyone,
So I finally made it to Gaborone and I have to say its surreal. After two days of relatively smooth traveling, despite having to take 4 flghts, there were no serious delays and all my luggage made it to Gabs even though I came a few hours late.
I arrived early morning on Wednesday and it hadnt really hit me until I saw the trees from the airplane and all the memories came back of first landing into Tanzania a few years ago. The airport in Gab was the smallest thing ever, but they were building a new terminal, which looked like it was a chinese company that had the contract, because all the construction workers were Chinese.
The weather here is hot, as expected but its a nice and dry heat, not crazy humid like Dar. Me and another intern who arrived at the same time were taken to our house, which is SO NICE. Its a 3 bedroom house, Air conditioned, full kitchen, two bathrooms (HOT WATER!!!), living room/dining room, front and back yard. Right now there are 10 of us in the house, but next week there will only be three as the others will be heading out to their placements throughout the country. It is a little weird living in a house with an electronic gate and brick wall, alarm system and electric fencing along the tops of the walls. All the houses in my neighbourhood have it, despite the fact that its a really safe neighbourhood, but its just standard with nicer housing in the city. Met with the other interns, began training and went to an awesome Indian restaurant buffet for lunch, which I am sure I will be visiting often.
So basically, as I am writing this I am struggling with how different it is here than Dar. Every car on the road is a luxury sedan or suv. Range rovers, BMW's, Mercedes its crazy! Your allowed to drink the tap water and it tastes well. I live walking distance to work, which I will start next week. The WUSC head office is also just around the corner, where there is internet access.
That being said there are definite similarities. The Cobi's (mini buses) are just like TZ Daladala's, except they only allow one person per seat and no one is allowed to stand (kind of nice). The bus routes are kind of confusing right now, but I am sure I will pick it up in a few weeks. There are also tons of fruit stands, pop stands and things being sold along the road, but Botswana love their malls or shopping centres.
I just quickly stopped by my work yesterday and the centre looks amazing. Really new since it just opened in 2002. So I am excited to start. I am going to get a cell phone today and will be sharing the number for whoever wants it. TEXT ME!!! Also, I get free incoming, so grab a calling card once and a while!
I have already found an expat bar in the guide book that had satellite TV that plays sports, so I will be there for two weeks straight during the Olympics Im sure. Go Canada Go!!!
Anyways, thats all I can think of right now, I am sure I am missing some things, but I will try to update this as much as possible, as long as I have something interesting to say. A few more days of training until Wednesday then I wiill be on a regular schedule. So hope everyone is doing well, enjoy the cold! hahah
talk to you soon.
Pavlo
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