Still Here

So it has been awhile since I have last written anything about this adventure. I suppose the lifestyle has become a bit common place and some of the excitement has worn off. This does not of course mean that the adventure has ended... no I assure that it continues. Nearly a month ago now my parents came to visit which was incredible. To see them in my village shaking hands and conversing with some of the people that we have gotten to know just puts a smile on my face. Lindsey and I took them on the trip of a lifetime! We rented this huge green machine 4x4 and took it gallivanting through the African bush. We saw elephants like you could not believe. I mean real wild elephants, large bull elephants not more than 30 feet away just looking at us like what the hell are you doing on my turf. We saw male lions resting after feasting on an elephant with their faces still covered with blood! We saw some of the most beautiful sunsets that I have ever seen and the great thing is that we were able to enjoy it sitting with family!

In the past few months we have had fun and exciting times partying with peace corps friends. We had professional times with the Ambassador, well that was pretty fun too. We actually had a nice intimate dinner with the U.S. Ambassador (who is great by the way) and just kind of talked about traveling, children, gardening, and of course HIV. We have had quiet times were you literally have the whole day with nothing to do and you just kind of sit back and take what comes. Life is just slow here sometimes. Walking around the village, greeting people and interacting with the kids is usually the most exciting thing to do.

Nearly 9 months left and so much more to do before we come home. I have just been awarded a 68,000 pula grant for my school! I could not be more excited to get started on my projects. We will be certifying 3 teachers and building a huge garden. Lindsey is also working on a fund raising project that will build an HIV conference center.

Mark

Picture!

Great pic of Mark in the top left, i'm a little cut off at the bottom but I think we will get an even better picture soon from Peace Corps.

Meeting Mma Obama....

Meeting Mma Obama…..

Well the timing could not have been better. Our year of service just passed on June 11^th and last weekend we were honored by a visit from Michelle Obama here in Botswana. At first we were told not to get our hopes up about meeting her or even being invited to an event at which she would be speaking. She will only be here for a few days, we were told, and she is so busy.

Well, I am not really sure what happened but that all changed. Peace Corps has always been important to President Obama’s administration. In fact, several of my Peace Corps friends say that they made the decision to join Peace Corps after hearing him talk about it in some of his campaign speeches. So I figure that this had to have worked in our favor and Peace Corps staff here in Botswana worked with the White House to get us “on the list”. We were so happy when we heard the announcement that 50 volunteers would be invited to an event at the US ambassadors house in Gaborone (the capital city). But at the same time we were told that it would be so quick and there would be no guarantee of getting a picture with her or anything. I think we were all just excited to get included anyway, and if nothing else we would meet the new ambassador (Michelle Gavin who is only like 36 herself and very nice and personable too) and go to her house which is also pretty exciting. So on Saturday morning we woke up and went out into the cold (yes, it is winter here and cold in the mornings!) to the ambassador’s house. We waited several hours outside because of security checks, there were real secret service guys standing around with sunglasses and ear pieces just like in movies!

Finally, Mma Obama (as Batswana call her) came out to deliver her speech. She was very stylish looking with skinny pants on, a jacket, and a scarf tied around her neck. She gave a short but personable speech thanking all of the Foreign Service workers AND PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEERS for the important work that they do for the United States aboard. Then, amazingly, they had all of the PC volunteers get together off to the side and told us we would be taking a group picture with her. We were jumping around in excitement and there might have been a little bit of pushing to get to the front of the picture…..After a few minutes she came over and started shaking our hands and talking to us. She told us that she loves Peace Corps and thanked us again for what we are doing here. She said that she has a nephew that might join and that she would love for Sasha and Malia to have the experience themselves someday! Can you imagine the former first daughters as PCV’S?! Not likely to happen, but still it was a nice thing to say and showed how much she respected Peace Corps as a program. One of the female volunteers in our group who is funny and brave said to her when she was standing right in front of us, “Wow your makeup looks so fabulous!” She was right, because it did and Michelle is really beautiful in person. She just laughed (a real laugh I might add) and thanked her for “getting right down to business”. She made a few other little jokes like telling one of the smaller volunteers that she was too tiny to be standing in the back and had her move up closer to her (lucky girl!).

So overall, it was just a really amazing experience and I’ll always remember it. I’ll remember that she was so personable and seemed to really want to be there with us in that moment. I’m also glad that Peace Corps was given this opportunity, she visited a PCV at his site as well, because Obama has talked about the importance of Peace Corps service for building positive world relationships and this shows that it wasn’t just talk and that they really meant it.

So, Re a leboga Mma Obama, thata!! (We thank you very much Mrs. Obama)

Kilimanjaro, Hakuna Matata!

Jumbo Everyone!

We have had a busy few weeks over here so let me try to recap some of it for you. On February 4th Mark and I and a group of 4 more friends reached the highest point in Africa, Uhuru Peak, on Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It took our group of 6 approximately 24 porters, cooks, and guides and 7 days of hiking to do it, but we did it! Reaching the summit was probably the most difficult physical and, at times, mental challenge we have ever faced before. There were times, especially during the 6 1/2 hour hike to the summit which started at midnight, that I thought..."Am I really paying to do this to myself?! Some vacation!" But when we did reach that summit it was with an incredible feeling of pride and accomplishment. In the weeks leading up to the trip I was especially worried about my ability to get to the top successfully. Thoughts about altitude sickness and just the general physical stamina needed made me nervous. So getting there despite my own self-doubts made it that much more rewarding for me personally.

We took the Machame Route, which is one of the more difficult routes. We summitted on the 5th day and it took two more days to hike down to the base camp. The entire trip was beautiful and diverse. We started hiking through lush rainforests and then went through alpine forests with some crazy looking trees and beautiful rock formations. Every night our porters had our tents and camp set up for us when we dragged ourselves in. Our cook made us surprisingly delicious food at every meal which was very much appreciated! There were also hundreds of climbers at every camp along the way as Kilimanjaro is a very popular mountain to climb because despite it's difficulty you do not need to be a "mountain climber" to do it successfully. Each day we hiked between 3-6 hours, always uphill of course. Some of the days were more challenging than others. On the 4th day we had some scary moments when we were scrambling up rocks with a vertical drop of quite a ways that was just one misstep away! The camp site on the 4th night was literally in the clouds and when we were watching the sunset that evening I remember someone saying that it could only be described as majestic and it truly was. Arriving at Uhuru Peak right as the sun was raising over Africa was also incredible. It was so clear and beautiful. I only wish that we could have stayed up there longer taking it all in, but at that altitude (5,895 meters or 16,795 feet) it was not safe to be there for long, plus it was so cold I was worried that my feet and hands were getting frostbite!

After all of that work to get to the summit it only took 2 days to hike back down to the base of the moutain, but that wasn't as easy as it sounds. I thought it was really scary to go down because it was so steep and you had to kind of run in order not to ruin your knees. The summit "marthan" day was a total of 14 hours of hiking starting at midnight and ending the next afternoon several hundred kilometers down the moutain. We were so sore when we got to camp that day! And so dirty too....7 days without a shower or a real toilet was pretty gross and hard!

Of course, everything was better during the trip because we were with a really great group of friends. Two of our friends from BC, Brendan Collins and Kelli Broekema, came to Africa a few weeks early to do Kili and Zanzibar with us before they went on to volunteer in hospitals in Malawi and South Africa. Two of our good friends from our Peace Corps training group also came, Mark Homco and Matt Leonard. The funny thing was that before the trip no one knew everyone except for us, but by the end of the trip we were all good friends with some great shared memories. All in all, it was an experience of a lifetime and I am so glad that we were able to do it together.

After this we went on to get some much needed R&R on Zanzibar Island...but that is another post entirely!

-Lindsey

Christmas Vacation

Ngwaga o Mosha! Happy New Year!

I can't believe it is 2011! Time is going by so quickly. We just got home from a great vacation to Zambia where we visited the amazing Victoria Falls in Livingstone and then chilled out at a hostel on a small island in the Zambezi river called Jungle Jungle. We went with 9 other Peace Corps volunteers and had a great time. In Vic Falls we had some great adventures. Mark went bungee jumping off the 3rd highest bungee jump in the world. There was no way that I could do that so I went for a slight less scary option and took a microlight flight over the falls, which is sort of like a motorized bike thing. It was really beautiful and fun. We also walked across the top of the falls to a place called Devil's Pool where you can swim right up to the edge of the waterfall! We had to jump from this rock into the pool and we were only a few feet away from the edge! I'm glad I did it though and we got some pretty cool pictures too.

After a few days we left Livingstone and stayed at Jungle Junction which was a great little hostel on an island in the Zambezi River. We celebrated New Year's Eve there and had a lot of fun with friends. There was no electricity on the island so it was pretty low key. We took mokoro (a dug out canoe) trips at sunset and just relaxed.

On our way home we camped in Kasane in Botswana. We took a river boat cruise and saw tons of animals. So many hippo's and elephants! Lots of crocodiles too. It was really nice. So that was basically our whole trip. I was exciting to get out and travel and see more of Africa. Zambia was such a beautiful country and everyone we met was so nice. I can't wait for our next adventure which is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in February! Stay posted for some pictures from the top of Africa!

Chickens and Turkeys

Dumelang Borra le Bomma!

I can't believe a month has gone by since our last blog posting. Time is going by really quickly, which is strange because things generally happen verrrry slowly here.

So, a funny thing just happened to me which made me think that I should write a posting because I wanted to share it with people at home who could have a little laugh about it too. I was sitting here on the computer and started hearing some clucking getting louder and louder. This, of course, is not strange. We are used to all of the chickens, goats, and donkey's that wonder around the village by now. But then I looked over and this chicken and all of her chicks were inside the house! I guess she was just checking things out looking for a snack or something. So I took this picture. I think it is actually funny that more animals don't find there way into the house since the front gate is big enough for a lot of things to fit through. Our little puppy friend, Flea, got too big to fit through the holes but that doesn't stop her from trying and getting her little body stuck halfway in the doorway!

What else has been happening over here? Let's see, Thanksgiving was fun. We had a big celebration with some of our Peace Corps friends. We made four deep fried turkey's! Granted, they were smaller than our American turkey's but it was still a ton of food. I also liked the deep frying method for cooking the turkey...might try it sometime on my own when we get home. It was also nice to reflect on everything we are thankful for here in Botswana and at home. Being here has really made it clear to me just how much we truly have to be thankful for and it has been humbling to think about all of those things that I used to simply take for granted. We still felt a little homesick but our "Peace Corps" family has really helped a lot.

Now we are getting ready for our Christmas trip. We are going to be doing some camping and visiting Victory Falls in Zambia and also staying on a little island in the Zambezi river for a few days relaxing. It going to be a really fun trip and I am excited to see some wildlife and a different part of Africa. So look forward to some (hopefully) great pictures of the trip in the next few weeks.

Merry Christmas!
Lindsey

Good Morn!

Sorry it's been so long since our last update! I guess everything just seems normal and not really worth writing about to us, but I know that it probably does not seem that way to all of you. So I thought I would just give a little update on how things have been going 'this side' as they say here.

Right now I am actually at my office, but there is nothing going on so I thought I would take the time to write a blog. This afternoon I am going to the hospital here in the village to be part of the third meeting of the new support group for people living with HIV/AIDS. No one has actually come yet besides the people at the hospital and myself who are trying to start it. But I am hopeful that people will come and that it will be a strong group because it is very much needed. We also have started an English Club at one of the middle schools. The students are very excited (about 35 of them) to be able to have American pen pals through a teacher friend at our old high school, St. Phil. I think it will be great and hope that the American kids get something out of it too. Our orphan support group continues to go well. The kids are loosing up around us a little more and we have learned that they actually know quite a bit more English than we thought they did! They were just too shy to talk to us the whole time! All of their classes and offical business here is carried out in English, but in general people (especially children) are not comfortable speaking it. I don't blame them at all because I feel silly trying to speak Setswana sometimes too.

I think the little things that happen are sometimes the most amusing and in time maybe the things that I remember most too. Everyday on my walk to and from work I pass by a house with several little children. There is a little girl who is probably about 3 years old. Right now her hair style is little braids that stick up like spikes on her head which makes everything more funny. This is our conversation almost everyday.

Girl: Lakoa, Lakoa, Lakoa!! (jumping up and down)
Me: Dumela
Girl: Good morn
Me: Good morning.
Girl: How old are you? I am fine.
Me: (laughing) I am fine. Go siame (goodbye)

It cracks me up every time. I guess she means to say "how are you" but somehow learned "how old are you" instead. I am tempted sometimes to just say '27' and see what she says...I call her my 'good morn' girl and look forward to walking by that house every morning.