My New Home

November 25, 2012       

Well, the news is that I am settling into my new place.  I have 3 rooms that do not connect.  I have to go outside on the covered veranda to access each room.  My place is just outside the kitchen door of the family whose compound I live in, and since it is mostly too hot to stay inside, they spend all their time in the shade outside their kitchen door.  That means that every move I make from one room to another has an audience.  So I am always on display except when I am in a room with the door shut.

Red Arrow - My Compound  Blue Arrow - My School

The family is very nice.  They are not intrusive at all.  They are a husband and wife with 4 daughters.  The oldest is 25 and has cerebral palsy.  The next is 23 and attends a technical school to learn tailoring.  The third is 18 and attends Senior Secondary School in Lobatse, and the 4th is 14 and attends Ntwalang Junior Secondary School where I work.  I think I couldn't ask for a nicer family.  I feel very safe here.  There are chickens on the compound and a big dog that looks like a greyhound.  He's very curious about me, but I ignore him. I think he is looking for food, because he's especially curious and assertive when I am carrying something that looks like it might have food in it.  I went to church with the youngest daughter on Sunday at the African Evangelical Church.  Other family members attend other churches in town.  

The staff at the school have been very welcoming and they have done their best to get me the minimum items I need like a bed and a small table and an old stove with a gas cylinder.  The landlady loaned me a couch and chair.  The Ministry of Education is supposed to provide furniture, but when I arrived on Friday they had only delivered a refrigerator.  I thank God for that because if they could only deliver one thing, I am glad it was the fridge.  It is wonderful to have a fridge here where it is so hot.  Right this minute there is no electricity, but it will probably be on again before tomorrow morning.  Today we had water, so I was able to fill my containers.  Peace Corps gave me a Katadyn water filter.

This is the same filter we used in Ethiopia

Last week, when my counterpart and I attended a meeting at the local Kgotla, also called the customary court, I was asked by the acting Kgosi (judge) to end the meeting in prayer.  I thought that was a nice way to say welcome.  

During my first week, I was asked to see a student for a counseling session.  My counterpart, the guidance and counseling teacher, has been trying to get her an appointment with a professional counselor for some time, but there were no appointments available any time soon, so she asked if I would see her.  She has issues from some traumatic events in the past.  The session went well and I think we are a good match.  She was quite articulate, even in English, so it went well.  

So I am well, and doing OK. It looks like I am going to be camping out in these rooms for awhile. The two larger rooms have windows on three sides so there's plenty of light and good breezes when the windows are open.  The rooms have a tin roof with no ceiling, which makes for a great audio experience when it rains.  

I have slowly gotten my things arranged over the last five days in the small room that I use as a kitchen and one of the bigger ones that is my all purpose room. There are no closets or shelves to put things on so my clothes are remaining in my suitcases.  I am using the refrigerator box as a table and a storage place for things I don't use every day.  I got a couple of apple cartons yesterday that I have put on top of the fridge to use as shelves for food.  I bought a microwave, and I'm using the box it came in as a cupboard.  I bought a big plastic tub I can bathe in and wash my clothes in.  I did buy a non-stick skillet and a set of three ironstone saucepans, but I haven't used either of them yet.  I am sitting here in the dark now typing this, but I am feeling more at ease today as I am beginning to figure out my schedule/routine.  So today was a good day.  

I am wanting to establish some positive connections before I whip out my camera and start taking pictures of everything (trying not to act like a tourist), but I hope to have some photos for you before long.  

At "home" in Botswana,
Barbara