Botswana, Africa

Botswana, Africa
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed on this blog are our personal views and are not representative of the Peace Corps or the U.S. government in anyway.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Sick of Chickens!

Today I tore down my garden. It is sad to think that it is all coming to an end so quickly. I remember the very first thing I did when I came to Mmadinare was scope out a site for the Thomas family vegetable garden. I nearly broke my back digging down through the incredibly hard soil and it seems that within the matter of a weekend I had the whole garden just the way I wanted it. So many wonderful meals came out of that garden. It connected me to my neighbors as I would stand outside tending to it around 5 o'clock each night when everyone was out and about on their way home from work. Envious women of the neighborhood would stop by on a weekly basis to see what was growing or even to see if I would give them some fresh veggies for dinner. This was truly one of my fondest memories of my time here and I will truly miss it. Although we have a little over 3 months left in the village the summer heat has beaten down anything I have attempted to grow and whatever the sun left the chickens were sure to clean up. Between the chickens constantly flying over the fence to mow down any new shoots and termites constantly turning my fence posts into saw dust I decided I have had enough. The rusted chicken wire fence and all of my remaining seeds went across the street to our neighbors house where she will attempt to provide fresh vegetables for her family.

In the remaining days I find myself more busy than ever. I am official managing two building projects, both of which are going really well. At the pre-school I am in the final stages of my garden project. The shade net is nearly up, over the 300 square meter garden and all of the supplies for the rain gutter drip irrigation system are ready to be assembled. With any luck I will have the whole thing finished in 2 weeks! Secondly, I have been spending most of my afternoon time at Home Based Care either overseeing the construction of Lindsey's new conference center or I am traveling to the building supply store to buy more materials. This project is moving really fast and it seems like we will be able to hold several meetings in the new building before we leave.

I keep saying that I am ready to go home because I have truly accomplished everything that I originally set out to do. When I first arrived at my NGO I spent some time getting to know the issues, then I worked to set some goals of what I wanted to accomplish before I left. Well as of Wednesday that list is complete! I wanted to see that our teachers were certified, purchase a school bus for income generation, and secure licensing for the pre-school. Actually, we only obtained a conditional license until April so I am now working hard to make updates to the school that have been requested. They are easy things like replace door handles and such; most of which I accomplished today. So I guess I will get this garden built, make sure the license comes through and then basically sit back Botswana style until June.

Now doesn't that sound like a lot of work... And you just thought all we did is go on exotic vacations!

Mark