“Sala Sentle” (stay well)

It’s been five weeks since we arrived in Kanye and were introduced to our host families.

It has been an intense five weeks of learning how to get around the town of Kanye on foot or in taxies, learning how to live as a member of a Batswana family, adjusting to new foods and to inconsistent water supply.  

At the education center they keep the schedule moving from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with language study and training in the goals and objectives of Peace Corps in Botswana.  We also attend classes on Saturday mornings. 

Last week we were all sent out of Kanye for four days of “shadowing” a current Peace Corps Volunteer, in order to have first hand experience of the varying living conditions and responsibilities that volunteers are managing.  I was sent to Maun which required a 12 hour trip by bus.  Consequently, I got to see a lot of the savannas and semi-desert terrain of Botswana.  I traveled with three other trainees who were going to nearby destinations.  

Returning to classes this week, it has been exciting to hear the reports of the differing climates, work settings, and experiences that were observed during shadowing.  Many trainees reported that it was a profound experience to see volunteers serving in some difficult environments and yet still reporting satisfaction with the lives they are leading there.  Conversations this week have been more focused on plans for managing food and water challenges and anticipating how to manage interacting within the systems to which we will be assigned. 

This group of volunteers is unique because we are the first group that will be assigned completely to schools.  All of us will serve alongside guidance and counseling teachers and we all will be assigned to sites that are south of Gaborone.  We may be in primary or secondary schools, or even boarding schools for children whose parents are not settled in one location.  

Some of us will have to learn another language in addition to Setswana.  We won’t know until Friday afternoon this week, who those persons will be.  Friday, October 19 is when we get our site assignments. 

As for me personally, I am finding that each day is a moment by moment experience. There’s little time for contemplation and no time for boredom.  The days start at 4:30 a.m. in the household where I stay, though I may sleep in a bit later.  I’m usually on my way to the education center between 7:00 and 7:30 a.m.  

Time away from school is a mixture of routine chores (like bathing, hand washing clothes, housekeeping tasks) and interacting with the children in the home and helping them with homework.  Weekends have usually included the long walk (takes me about an hour and a half so I get a ride one way) to or from Kanye town center, in order to shop for needed items and/or study language with classmates.

I attended church one Sunday at what is called the London Mission Church, which my host said had been established by David Livingston.  I thoroughly enjoyed being there and heard some of the most beautiful singing I’ve ever heard.

I look forward to writing you again at the end of this week with the news of where I’ve been assigned.  

Til then, let me say “sala sentle” (stay well).