Hello Seattle.
On Friday, just as Bafana Bafana scored their goal against Mexico and the airport erupted in wild cheers and the trumpeting of vuvuzelas, I boarded my plane to come home after what I would call the best and most rewarding experience of my life. My travels took me from Joburg to Dakar to DC, and 27 (mostly sleepless) hours after my initial departure, I looked out the window to see snowy mountains, evergreen forests, and sparkling expanses of water. That could only mean one thing: I had arrived home, in (my humble opinion) the most beautiful city in America. Goodbye Okavango, hello Puget Sound.
My last few days in Joburg, spent with my cousin-twice-removed (I think) Vivienne and her 18-year old daughter Alissa, passed wonderfully. We hit the museum circuit (the Cradle of Humankind, where a majority of hominid fossils have been discovered, and the Apartheid Museum), saw the Soccer City World Cup stadium, and enjoyed home-cooked family dinners every night. Our most exciting excursion was to the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve in Gauteng, a private game park where I saw my first rhinos in Africa (they're not common in Botswana), as well as buffalo, gemsbok, eland, and other good stuff. Most of the predators are kept in their own enclosures, so not "wild," but I still saw a leopard there to complete my Big 5 sightings. Then, there were 2 adorable lion cubs named Lilo & Stitch, and for a meager R30 they allowed you into the enclosure to play with them! Alissa and I both went in and got 5 mins of quality lion time. For the record, lion cubs are the cutest and softest animals I have ever encountered. Lilo quite enjoyed biting my fingers and arm, but luckily he's still a little guy without the capacity to break skin.
After playing with the cubs, we went to watch a cheetah running demonstration on the lawn. A retractable line was criscrossed around the lawn with bait at the end, so that the cheetah would chase it when it started to move and thus show off his speed skills. The trainer began the demonstration by asking for 3 volunteers, who were then assigned to race the cheetah when it started to run. This was too cool, so when the first 3 had lost badly and the trainer asked for 3 more volunteers, I was the first out onto the pitch. So yes - I raced the cheetah. I held almost level with it for maybe 10 meters or so, but as soon as the line turned the cheetah cut the corner and I was left in the dust. Cheater. (Or should I say, Cheat-ah?) Basically I had the time of my life surrounded by animals that afternoon, which allowed me to be in denial that I was leaving the following day. But leave I did.
Now that I'm immersed in a land of freeways and free wi-fi, it's hard to reflect on life in a place that seems worlds away. American city life feels so normal to me again - I did spend 20+ years in this setting - but I'm also vaguely unsettled by it, since it's no longer the only way I've experienced. Maybe this will all become clearer to me in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, though, I can come up with a short list of things that Africa has given me a better appreciation of:
1. Cooking meals
2. Communication
3. Family
4. Patience
5. Clouds
I've chosen quite a busy time to come back home. (Side note: what does "home" even mean? I haven't lived in any one place for much more than a month this year, but I've called them all "home.") My cousin graduated from college the day I got back, the next day was Talia's last concert with the Garfield Jazz Band, and now she has her graduation on Wednesday. Then we're taking a celebratory trip up to Vancouver BC for a couple days (also for my parents' anniversary). And pretty soon I'll be shipping out again - I'll be spending the rest of the summer as a camp counselor at YMCA Camp Orkila (in the San Juan Islands). For a couple of the weeks I get to teach marine biology, which is exciting. And that takes me all the way up to mid-August, when I'll go back to Pomona to lead an orientation camping trip and then write my thesis fall semester and then enjoy being a second-semester senior and then graduate and then... let's not go that far into the future. Anyhow, one thing at a time. Currently that thing is unpacking and uploading my thousands of pictures from Botswana, which will go up on Facebook soon-ish.
Thank you all for sticking with me through these rambling stories of my time in Africa, and I hope I'll get to talk to you all soon (and listen to your stories!) in person. Since I'm closing the book on this adventure while I open many others, that's gonna be it for my first foray into the blogosphere. Hope you've all enjoyed it as much as I have! Of course, I'm sure I'll be right back here soon enough, because if there's one thing I'm positive of right now it's that I'll find a way to make it back to Africa. (And any or all of you are invited, too. You've really got to see it to know what it's all about.)
So, wherever you're reading this from, go siame! Adios! Sayonara! Shalom! Shapo! (That last one is a Setswana-fied version of the English word 'sharp,' and can mean anything from 'OK' to 'I'm full' to 'goodbye.' In this case, it could mean any of the above.) Bye!!!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Va-CAPE-tion!
And just like that, my study abroad in Botswana was over. Crazy and amazing experience, I'll certainly never forget it, and I'll be collecting my thoughts and reflections on the whole time for a while - maybe by the time I post from the States I'll have some coherent conclusions. But not yet - for now, the adventure continues!
I took a bus out of Gabs the morning of Friday the 28th, bound for Joburg, where I would meet the others who had flown in - Peo, Lily, Sam, Andrea, and Matt - for the trip down to Capetown. (As you may remember, my original intention was to travel after the program on my own, theoretically to Namibia, but I decided to change my plan to Capetown about the same time the rest of the group came up with the idea of extending their stay. Worked out pretty great, and traveling with friends is always fun.) My bus to Joburg was supposed to arrive at 1, but we broke down by the side of the road and waited 2+ hours for a replacement bus (which was a double decker, for small consolation), so I ended up getting in at 4:30. Lucky we'd had a 4-hr layover to begin with, so it worked out ok. From there, we took a 20-hr bus trip to Capetown, putting my total travel time at 31 hours. Not something I'd like to repeat soon... oh yeah, I'll be flying around the world next week. Anyway.
Our exhausted selves were met at the Capetown station the next day by Katie, my friend from Pomona who'd been studying abroad there for the semester; it was nice to be in the company of someone who knew their way around the city, because after Gaborone, we were all going through major culture shock in the most developed city in Africa. I went home with Katie to the 20-person mansion she'd been living in (stairs? chandeliers? rooms the size of small houses??) while my friends got settled into their hostel. We ate dinner all together, at a restaurant ten times classier than anything I'd set foot in all semester, and we had SUSHI! Hello, Capetown!
During our wonderful week-long vacation, we hit all the major attractions. We took the cable car up Table Mountain, which towers over the whole city, and did some hiking on top. (One area of the mountain, appropriately called Echo Valley, has the best echoing I've ever heard; we spent 20 minutes shouting into the abyss and getting a kick out of the friendly replies.) We took a tour of Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for many years. We took the train to Boulders Beach, which is a gorgeous area on the coast famous for its colony of penguins! Spent quite an enjoyable couple hours climbing on rocks and chasing penguins around the beach. Possibly the most exciting excursion though, which I accompanied Katie on, was cage diving with great white sharks. Yes - SHARKS. So close I could have touched them, if I were stupid enough. Katie and I were driven out to the shark spot (Shark Alley), and then with a few others, rode out in a boat to find the sharks. The crew threw tuna heads and chum (tuna, fish oil, and seawater) over the side of the boat to attract sharks, and then as soon as we saw the first one we pulled on wetsuits and scrambled into the cage hung off the side of the boat. No snorkels or scuba was required, as the cage rose a few feet above the waterline, so we just had to duck under and hold our breath when the captain yelled, "Down!", meaning there was a shark for us to see. Turns out the Atlantic is pretty damn cold, and I was in the cage for an hour and a half - more than twice as long as most other divers, just by coincidence - so I was really more concerned with shivering and swallowing seawater than being attacked. (Only 5 people a year die from sharks, so I assure you, Mom, we were really safe the whole time.) But when we did see sharks, man, were they impressive! It's really an indescribable experience to see a ten-foot-long great white swim directly toward you to snatch some chum directly outside your cage. It was kind of like a reverse zoo, actually, if you think about it. But way cooler. We brought a disposable underwater camera with us, so once Katie finds somewhere to develop it there'll hopefully be some photographic evidence for this adventure!
Ending vacation is never fun, and it sucks times a million when you have to say goodbye to the friends who have been with you for four months through thick and thin. Especially those Colby girls, since it's unclear how or when I'll see them again. But ke botshelo - that's life. We all had an amazing time together, from Manyana to Capetown. Most of them are State-bound now, but I've got one last leg of my trip: I flew back into Joburg today to spend a few days with my cousins - well, second cousins actually, or something like that - who live here and have kept in contact with my family for several years. Just as every one of my Botswana families has been, the Gritzmans have been incredibly gracious in settling me into their home, and we've spent this afternoon planning activities for every day from now til I leave on Friday. Should be a great farewell to Africa - what a time it's been here!
p.s. In case you're living under a rock, or a pile of boulders, the World Cup starts Friday! I may not be a soccer fan in the traditional sense (or the non-traditional one), but nevertheless: Go Bafana Bafana! Ayoba!!!
I took a bus out of Gabs the morning of Friday the 28th, bound for Joburg, where I would meet the others who had flown in - Peo, Lily, Sam, Andrea, and Matt - for the trip down to Capetown. (As you may remember, my original intention was to travel after the program on my own, theoretically to Namibia, but I decided to change my plan to Capetown about the same time the rest of the group came up with the idea of extending their stay. Worked out pretty great, and traveling with friends is always fun.) My bus to Joburg was supposed to arrive at 1, but we broke down by the side of the road and waited 2+ hours for a replacement bus (which was a double decker, for small consolation), so I ended up getting in at 4:30. Lucky we'd had a 4-hr layover to begin with, so it worked out ok. From there, we took a 20-hr bus trip to Capetown, putting my total travel time at 31 hours. Not something I'd like to repeat soon... oh yeah, I'll be flying around the world next week. Anyway.
Our exhausted selves were met at the Capetown station the next day by Katie, my friend from Pomona who'd been studying abroad there for the semester; it was nice to be in the company of someone who knew their way around the city, because after Gaborone, we were all going through major culture shock in the most developed city in Africa. I went home with Katie to the 20-person mansion she'd been living in (stairs? chandeliers? rooms the size of small houses??) while my friends got settled into their hostel. We ate dinner all together, at a restaurant ten times classier than anything I'd set foot in all semester, and we had SUSHI! Hello, Capetown!
During our wonderful week-long vacation, we hit all the major attractions. We took the cable car up Table Mountain, which towers over the whole city, and did some hiking on top. (One area of the mountain, appropriately called Echo Valley, has the best echoing I've ever heard; we spent 20 minutes shouting into the abyss and getting a kick out of the friendly replies.) We took a tour of Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for many years. We took the train to Boulders Beach, which is a gorgeous area on the coast famous for its colony of penguins! Spent quite an enjoyable couple hours climbing on rocks and chasing penguins around the beach. Possibly the most exciting excursion though, which I accompanied Katie on, was cage diving with great white sharks. Yes - SHARKS. So close I could have touched them, if I were stupid enough. Katie and I were driven out to the shark spot (Shark Alley), and then with a few others, rode out in a boat to find the sharks. The crew threw tuna heads and chum (tuna, fish oil, and seawater) over the side of the boat to attract sharks, and then as soon as we saw the first one we pulled on wetsuits and scrambled into the cage hung off the side of the boat. No snorkels or scuba was required, as the cage rose a few feet above the waterline, so we just had to duck under and hold our breath when the captain yelled, "Down!", meaning there was a shark for us to see. Turns out the Atlantic is pretty damn cold, and I was in the cage for an hour and a half - more than twice as long as most other divers, just by coincidence - so I was really more concerned with shivering and swallowing seawater than being attacked. (Only 5 people a year die from sharks, so I assure you, Mom, we were really safe the whole time.) But when we did see sharks, man, were they impressive! It's really an indescribable experience to see a ten-foot-long great white swim directly toward you to snatch some chum directly outside your cage. It was kind of like a reverse zoo, actually, if you think about it. But way cooler. We brought a disposable underwater camera with us, so once Katie finds somewhere to develop it there'll hopefully be some photographic evidence for this adventure!
Ending vacation is never fun, and it sucks times a million when you have to say goodbye to the friends who have been with you for four months through thick and thin. Especially those Colby girls, since it's unclear how or when I'll see them again. But ke botshelo - that's life. We all had an amazing time together, from Manyana to Capetown. Most of them are State-bound now, but I've got one last leg of my trip: I flew back into Joburg today to spend a few days with my cousins - well, second cousins actually, or something like that - who live here and have kept in contact with my family for several years. Just as every one of my Botswana families has been, the Gritzmans have been incredibly gracious in settling me into their home, and we've spent this afternoon planning activities for every day from now til I leave on Friday. Should be a great farewell to Africa - what a time it's been here!
p.s. In case you're living under a rock, or a pile of boulders, the World Cup starts Friday! I may not be a soccer fan in the traditional sense (or the non-traditional one), but nevertheless: Go Bafana Bafana! Ayoba!!!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Doing it savanna-style
I really can't believe I forgot this part on my last post - I was way too distracted, given I wrote it just as we were meeting our former teacher at a restaurant to say goodbye. But this event was so good it merits its own post, before I start up with my Capetown news. Because... on that last day of our safari in the Okavango, along with everything else, we saw another pair of lions, a male with a magnificent two-colored mane and a female. And as we watched them for several minutes, the guy got up, bit his girl on the neck, and mounted her. Yup. They had sex right in front of us. Surely a high point of the entire semester...
(In case you're wondering, mating lions do it for seven days straight, every 30 minutes, without eating all week. Now that's a rigorous schedule. And yes, we got pictures and video.)
(In case you're wondering, mating lions do it for seven days straight, every 30 minutes, without eating all week. Now that's a rigorous schedule. And yes, we got pictures and video.)
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Lions of the Okavango
Wow, what an amazing safari we had last week into the Delta. Actually, it was a lot of ups and downs, but totally worth it. It's the most beautiful place I remember seeing ever, with the water and lilies and clouds and reeds. A brief recap:
Lowlight: Our safari almost never got going. We'd met our guide the night before, and he promised to call us when he would pick us up the next morning, around 9 or 10. 10 o'clock came and went, and we finally tried calling him, only to find the entire cell network was down, and no communication possible. We eventually went out to the main road in the wild hope he'd be driving by, and waited there for awhile. I then ran back to my apt to grab something I forgot, and what do I see passing by but a safari truck! Somehow, some way, our guide (Ike) had found where I lived, so only an hour late, we hit the road.
Highlight: Just after entering Moremi Game Reserve, we went straight on our afternoon game drive, and came upon an entire PRIDE OF LIONS. They were laying a ways off the road, but Ike, being awesome, just veered off the beaten track and drove right up to them, and they watched us nonchalantly from 5 feet away. Ridiculous welcome to the park.
Lowlight: We'd been driving out of camp for about 5 mins just after sunrise the next morning when our truck hit a deep patch of mud (the entire park is basically flooded) and instantly sunk. It tilted so much we had to struggle not to fall out. When Ike's attempts to get the truck free failed, three of us had to walk through the park to the nearest gate to find help to tow us out, leaving the other three alone with the truck. I was terrified we'd be stranded all day (that can happen if vehicles don't go by), but luckily we got ourself out within an hour.
Highlight: The following morning, as we were on our way out, we detoured around on another brief game drive, and just as the sun came up found the pride of lions again! We stayed with them for almost an hour, in a beautiful sunrise photoshoot. When we finally left, we then found, from a distance, six cheetahs out in the Delta. An unbelievable ending to our final safari.
Anyhow, it is now unbelievably my last day in Botswana. Too many thoughts to put into words. Tomorrow the adventure continues, with a 2-day bus trip to Capetown!!!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Home Stretch!
I'll have to be brief here, since I'm back to paying for internet in a cafe, but I wanted to update everyone on the last few weeks of my independent study. I went on a couple more trips into the bush: first was a weekend trip to the Chili Project run by the Dept., which cultivates chili peppers (Tabasco kind) to distribute to farmers to protect their fields from elephants. Each of the 3 days I was there we harvested the peppers for 3 hours in the morning, and then... did nothing for the rest of the day. I read a lot, and listened to a lot of Setswana conversations. Worthwhile, I guess, to see the home base of this important project (chilis are considered the only semi-effective means to keep elephants away from crops), but not the most exciting of times.
Then, last Thursday, I joined up with the Parks division for a 5-day trip to Moremi Game Reserve, the prime wildlife-viewing park in the Okavango Delta. I stayed with Banele, a pretty cool 30-some-year old guy who is head of staff for the park's South gate, in the staff housing which has no electricity or phone reception. I didn't get to see much in the way of animals while I was there - mostly baboons who played around the gates, some impala, and a couple hippos at the river - but I did get to accompany the staff to pull a tourist's truck out of the mud and fix a bridge. Most of the time, though, I was stuck in the office along with most of the staff, because there are virtually ZERO vehicles available to the park staff. There are supposed to be 2 or 3, but they're generally broken, in Maun, or out of fuel. It's a ridiculous situation, which I'll be writing to the Botswana government about (along with many other management problems) when I get home.
In between all this I've been working on some reports, since the end of the semester is next week. Crazy, to be almost done studying abroad, and so close to leaving Botswana.
Yesterday was a very happy day, as 4 of my friends from the program who have been in Gabs came up to visit. it was the first time I've seen any of them in 5 weeks, and boy was I in need of some English-speaking American company! Mma Moruti is out of town for the week, so they crashed at my flat (shh... don't tell), and tomorrow we're going back to Moremi, on a real safari this time! Yay, finally I get to relax and have some fun. Then, on Thursday-ish, it's back to Gabs to wrap things up!
Then, last Thursday, I joined up with the Parks division for a 5-day trip to Moremi Game Reserve, the prime wildlife-viewing park in the Okavango Delta. I stayed with Banele, a pretty cool 30-some-year old guy who is head of staff for the park's South gate, in the staff housing which has no electricity or phone reception. I didn't get to see much in the way of animals while I was there - mostly baboons who played around the gates, some impala, and a couple hippos at the river - but I did get to accompany the staff to pull a tourist's truck out of the mud and fix a bridge. Most of the time, though, I was stuck in the office along with most of the staff, because there are virtually ZERO vehicles available to the park staff. There are supposed to be 2 or 3, but they're generally broken, in Maun, or out of fuel. It's a ridiculous situation, which I'll be writing to the Botswana government about (along with many other management problems) when I get home.
In between all this I've been working on some reports, since the end of the semester is next week. Crazy, to be almost done studying abroad, and so close to leaving Botswana.
Yesterday was a very happy day, as 4 of my friends from the program who have been in Gabs came up to visit. it was the first time I've seen any of them in 5 weeks, and boy was I in need of some English-speaking American company! Mma Moruti is out of town for the week, so they crashed at my flat (shh... don't tell), and tomorrow we're going back to Moremi, on a real safari this time! Yay, finally I get to relax and have some fun. Then, on Thursday-ish, it's back to Gabs to wrap things up!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
In the Bush
I know it's been a while since my last post, but the reason for that should be clear from this entry. Also due to the fact that I can't get free internet anymore (except in rare cases like now, when I'm monopolizing the computer at work to "enter data").
So let me back up. Two weeks ago Saturday, on the tenth, I bade farewell to the wonderful city of Gaborone with all its restaurants and malls and wi-fi, and to my wonderful friends there, and to my wonderful family, and got on the public bus for a ten-hour ride to Maun to begin my Directed Independent Study Project (DISP). Actually, I wasn't alone on the trip up; my sister Banyana from Tlokweng came with me to visit her uncle in Maun for a couple weeks (that will be important later).
It had been arranged that I would stay in Maun with a woman who's a family friend of the Modumedisi family (who hosted me in Tlokweng), Mma Ntshadi Moruti. (I'm not real clear on how to pronounce her first name, but I think it's something like nchah-chee.) She's in her thirties and lives alone, in a nice flat on the edge of town that serves as employee housing for the Maun Technical College, where she works. It's far from town and my work, but otherwise it's a pretty sweet deal; I get my own room with 2 beds and an exercise bike, there's a nice tv, and I can cook for myself (provided I buy food, since her pickings are pretty slim).
On Sunday, the day after I got in, Mma Moruti went on a work-related trip to Gabs for four days, so I quickly found myself living alone in a new town. I wasn't completely isolated though - Mma Moruti had arranged for her neighbor/coworker Mmusi to show me around Maun and take me to work in the mornings, so I was covered ok, and I enjoyed being able to work on my own schedule (and menu) at home.
The next day, Monday, I began my internship with the Maun Department of Wildlife. I first met with the director, who apparently had been sent the original research proposal I'd written for the study abroad app about human-elephant conflict, so he attached me to the Problem Animal Control (PAC) division. Basically what happens in the PAC office is that people (mostly farmers from nearby villages) come in to report damage to their crops, fences, or livestock from wild animals (usually elephants, or lions killing livestock). My first day on the job, I learned how to take these reports - challenging when there's a language barrier involved. I also helped to weigh and measure the entire ivory stockpile (about 40 tusks) held in pretty intense security here.
The next couple days were more of the same, and since reporters come in irregularly the office did start to get boring. My boredom finally evaporated on that Thursday, when a head officer came in to ask me if I'd like to accompany him on a call to investigate a problem hippo, which had been raiding veggie crops. I went with him in the morning to scope out the situation, but since the hippo only came out of the pond at night, we had to come back then to try to shoot it. (I know, it sounds awful, but I've been assured that the officers here use fatal measures only as a last resort. This particular hippo had evidently been reported before, and refused to be scared off.) We went back at 6pm, posted ourselves by the pond in the truck, and waited. And waited. Four hours later, no sign of the hippo, and so, tired and cold, we had to give up for the night and head back.
It was a rather anticlimactic first trip out, but I didn't have to wait long for my next trip - this time a real outing, camping and all. I left that Friday with 2 officers to attend to PAC reports of fence damage caused by elephants. The officers were going into the bush for 3+ weeks, but they kindly allowed me to come for a more reasonable 3-day period. During that time, we camped at two game farms that had been busted up by elephants (though unfortunately we didn't see any game to speak of, elephant or otherwise) and also attended one field farm. The process consisted of measuring the broken length of fence, counting the busted poles, and spray painting them to show we'd already counted them (that was my job). Once all this info is processed, the landowners will be compensated by the Dept. for 50% of the cost of the damage.
For me, the most interesting part of that trip was meeting the owner of one of the game ranches. He was white and in his forties, but had been born in this area of Bots and spoke fluent Setswana. I realized almost instantly that he was not someone to take any BS, and he had views about wildlife conservation that I'd only seen expressed as counterpoints in books. To sum it up, when I said that I really wanted to see the animals on his game ranch, he replied, "Come with me, I'll show you how to fucking kill those animals." Did I mention his ranch is for safari hunting only? Needless to say, I disliked him right off the bat, but I was also curious how he could be so nonchalant about shooting lions, elephants, and wild dogs that came through his fence, so I talked to him (or, rather, listened to him) some more. As it turned out, he did have some valid points - the predators come in and eat the game animals that he's paid richly for, and though the government will compensate for livestock losses, they won't compensate for game. Apparently some species of antelope are more common on game ranches than they are in the wild, so he does a conservation service too. And he does tolerate some predators on his land, just as long as they're in balance with the numbers of prey animals. I was really interested by the dynamics of all of this, and I'm currently trying to figure out how to condense all these political and ecological aspects into a question I can research more for thesis next fall. (Just in case anyone's interested.)
Anywho, I returned from that first trip into the bush last Monday, had one blessed night in my bed at home, and the next day went out again - this time with a team assessing elephant crop damage. We camped in a rural village 30km out of Maun, in the backyard of the Agricultural Demonstrator there, who was working with us to measure the fields for compensation purposes. On this trip we got through 8-10 fields a day, sacrificing lunch to work from 7:30 to around 3. I did get some free food out of it - maize, groundnuts, and sweetreed (kinda like sugarcane, you chew the stalk to get sugary juice out of it, it's all the rage with locals) - but otherwise I was actually pretty bored the whole time, because there was nothing for me to do. Ah, well, it was only another 3-day trip for me. My last night, however, was pretty miserable: the weather changed, bringing ferociuos thunder storms and floods of rain, and rained all night into my tent without a rain fly. It kind of put a damper on my gung-ho-ness for camping anymore.
One more much-needed night at home, and then I left again early Saturday - not for work this time, but on a weekend trip to Ghanzi (a village 4 hrs south in the Kalahari desert) with Banyana and her uncle. It was nice to have some time to chill with Banyana and not be doing work stuff for a change, but the weather, thundering and raining, was distinctly un-desert-like. The uncle took us for a game drive in one of the private game parks there, but not much to see through the rain.
I came back yesterday, and now I'm waiting to see where my internship will take me next. Also meeting with a prof at UB Maun who does conservation research this afternoon, so that should be interesting. Whew... I think that about catches me up to date. To those of you who managed to read this whole thing, bye for now, hope everything is well, and I'll update again (more briefly) as my six-week DISP continues. Go siame!
So let me back up. Two weeks ago Saturday, on the tenth, I bade farewell to the wonderful city of Gaborone with all its restaurants and malls and wi-fi, and to my wonderful friends there, and to my wonderful family, and got on the public bus for a ten-hour ride to Maun to begin my Directed Independent Study Project (DISP). Actually, I wasn't alone on the trip up; my sister Banyana from Tlokweng came with me to visit her uncle in Maun for a couple weeks (that will be important later).
It had been arranged that I would stay in Maun with a woman who's a family friend of the Modumedisi family (who hosted me in Tlokweng), Mma Ntshadi Moruti. (I'm not real clear on how to pronounce her first name, but I think it's something like nchah-chee.) She's in her thirties and lives alone, in a nice flat on the edge of town that serves as employee housing for the Maun Technical College, where she works. It's far from town and my work, but otherwise it's a pretty sweet deal; I get my own room with 2 beds and an exercise bike, there's a nice tv, and I can cook for myself (provided I buy food, since her pickings are pretty slim).
On Sunday, the day after I got in, Mma Moruti went on a work-related trip to Gabs for four days, so I quickly found myself living alone in a new town. I wasn't completely isolated though - Mma Moruti had arranged for her neighbor/coworker Mmusi to show me around Maun and take me to work in the mornings, so I was covered ok, and I enjoyed being able to work on my own schedule (and menu) at home.
The next day, Monday, I began my internship with the Maun Department of Wildlife. I first met with the director, who apparently had been sent the original research proposal I'd written for the study abroad app about human-elephant conflict, so he attached me to the Problem Animal Control (PAC) division. Basically what happens in the PAC office is that people (mostly farmers from nearby villages) come in to report damage to their crops, fences, or livestock from wild animals (usually elephants, or lions killing livestock). My first day on the job, I learned how to take these reports - challenging when there's a language barrier involved. I also helped to weigh and measure the entire ivory stockpile (about 40 tusks) held in pretty intense security here.
The next couple days were more of the same, and since reporters come in irregularly the office did start to get boring. My boredom finally evaporated on that Thursday, when a head officer came in to ask me if I'd like to accompany him on a call to investigate a problem hippo, which had been raiding veggie crops. I went with him in the morning to scope out the situation, but since the hippo only came out of the pond at night, we had to come back then to try to shoot it. (I know, it sounds awful, but I've been assured that the officers here use fatal measures only as a last resort. This particular hippo had evidently been reported before, and refused to be scared off.) We went back at 6pm, posted ourselves by the pond in the truck, and waited. And waited. Four hours later, no sign of the hippo, and so, tired and cold, we had to give up for the night and head back.
It was a rather anticlimactic first trip out, but I didn't have to wait long for my next trip - this time a real outing, camping and all. I left that Friday with 2 officers to attend to PAC reports of fence damage caused by elephants. The officers were going into the bush for 3+ weeks, but they kindly allowed me to come for a more reasonable 3-day period. During that time, we camped at two game farms that had been busted up by elephants (though unfortunately we didn't see any game to speak of, elephant or otherwise) and also attended one field farm. The process consisted of measuring the broken length of fence, counting the busted poles, and spray painting them to show we'd already counted them (that was my job). Once all this info is processed, the landowners will be compensated by the Dept. for 50% of the cost of the damage.
For me, the most interesting part of that trip was meeting the owner of one of the game ranches. He was white and in his forties, but had been born in this area of Bots and spoke fluent Setswana. I realized almost instantly that he was not someone to take any BS, and he had views about wildlife conservation that I'd only seen expressed as counterpoints in books. To sum it up, when I said that I really wanted to see the animals on his game ranch, he replied, "Come with me, I'll show you how to fucking kill those animals." Did I mention his ranch is for safari hunting only? Needless to say, I disliked him right off the bat, but I was also curious how he could be so nonchalant about shooting lions, elephants, and wild dogs that came through his fence, so I talked to him (or, rather, listened to him) some more. As it turned out, he did have some valid points - the predators come in and eat the game animals that he's paid richly for, and though the government will compensate for livestock losses, they won't compensate for game. Apparently some species of antelope are more common on game ranches than they are in the wild, so he does a conservation service too. And he does tolerate some predators on his land, just as long as they're in balance with the numbers of prey animals. I was really interested by the dynamics of all of this, and I'm currently trying to figure out how to condense all these political and ecological aspects into a question I can research more for thesis next fall. (Just in case anyone's interested.)
Anywho, I returned from that first trip into the bush last Monday, had one blessed night in my bed at home, and the next day went out again - this time with a team assessing elephant crop damage. We camped in a rural village 30km out of Maun, in the backyard of the Agricultural Demonstrator there, who was working with us to measure the fields for compensation purposes. On this trip we got through 8-10 fields a day, sacrificing lunch to work from 7:30 to around 3. I did get some free food out of it - maize, groundnuts, and sweetreed (kinda like sugarcane, you chew the stalk to get sugary juice out of it, it's all the rage with locals) - but otherwise I was actually pretty bored the whole time, because there was nothing for me to do. Ah, well, it was only another 3-day trip for me. My last night, however, was pretty miserable: the weather changed, bringing ferociuos thunder storms and floods of rain, and rained all night into my tent without a rain fly. It kind of put a damper on my gung-ho-ness for camping anymore.
One more much-needed night at home, and then I left again early Saturday - not for work this time, but on a weekend trip to Ghanzi (a village 4 hrs south in the Kalahari desert) with Banyana and her uncle. It was nice to have some time to chill with Banyana and not be doing work stuff for a change, but the weather, thundering and raining, was distinctly un-desert-like. The uncle took us for a game drive in one of the private game parks there, but not much to see through the rain.
I came back yesterday, and now I'm waiting to see where my internship will take me next. Also meeting with a prof at UB Maun who does conservation research this afternoon, so that should be interesting. Whew... I think that about catches me up to date. To those of you who managed to read this whole thing, bye for now, hope everything is well, and I'll update again (more briefly) as my six-week DISP continues. Go siame!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Gaaaabs
We've had quite the week here. It's really not school at all, we go on some field trip each day to take a tour or here a lecture and that's it. No one here's complaining, though - the wireless in the office is finally working, so for the first time we've got reliable and regular internet access. And now that it's finally sunny again today, we can use the pool out back!
Last Thursday before the Easter holidays started we had quite an intense field trip, to the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) in Lobatse. That's the slaughterhouse that produces the majority of beef for the country, as well as exporting a lot to Europe. We went in, got dressed up head-to-toe in sterile white uniforms, and got a full tour of the slaughterhouse. I haven't seen Food Inc., but from what I hear I may have seen the real-life version. Sooo nauseating and graphic (WARNING, you might want to skip ahead to the next paragraph) - we saw the entire process in action, from the kill floor where they stun the cows (though some apparently weren't stunned enough to stop kicking and mooing), hoist them up by the back leg, and slit their throats, all the way through the process of hacking the meat off the carcasses and gouging the eyes and brains out of the skull, to loading the meat in boxes into the freezer. Quite the experience. Definitely nothing you could ever do in America - and they let me take pictures (which I haven't had the stomach to look at yet) of the whole operation.
Friday and Monday we had off for Easter. On Saturday, some of us went to Lion Park, an amusement/water park about a half hour outside of Gabs, in coordination with the first sunbreak of the weekend. There was a huuuge water slide and wave pool and those swings that make you fly around in a circle... so much fun. Then on Sunday, after a fun (not so much) morning at church for Easter, we got together for a quesadilla fiesta. (Mexican food has been an eternal quest for a lot of the group this trip.) Everyone stresses here how it isn't safe to walk outside after dark, even in a group, so three of us had to wait for my parents to come drive us. Unbeknownst to me, though, they'd gone out to a braai, and didn't come to take us home til after midnight - far past all our bedtimes here.
During our last day off on Monday, Peo (Heather) and I took a bus into Manyana to visit our first host families. It was so weird to be back in the village we'd lived in for a month... all the rain had made the scenery a lot greener than I remembered, but otherwise everything felt familiar. While Peo went to play with her adorable five-year old sister/best friend Tshiamiso, I went back to the Mangope house to say hi. As it turned out, my entire family was home: Mme and Rre, and my bros Labo and Mogolodi. It was great to see them all again! Mme had just made samp and stew for lunch, so I ate my fill, and also feasted on maize and watermelon that they'd harvested from the lands. I stayed and talked and watched soccer with them for a few hours, but Peo and I had to leave in order to catch a khombi home before dark.
This week so far has been more of the same, field trips and eating out and hanging out at the mall. Passover ended on Tuesday (I actually tried to stick to the basics, i.e. not eating bread, so my sister and I experimented in baking matzah at home), and Wednesday Peo insisted we go to a coffee house at Riverwalk to get the most heavenly chocolate cake in the world. Totally worth it. This was after we'd found what may be the only pad thai in Gabs.
Tonight we're having a slumber party at the office (which is actually our program director's old house), so we can leave eeearly tomorrow to go to the Jwaneng Diamond Mine. Should be fun, even though I somehow doubt they give out free samples. And then.... this weekend I'm leaving the group, heading out on my own to Maun (near the Okavango Delta) for independent study. Everyone else is doing research or internships in Gabs, so it'll be sad to leave, but they're already talking about coming up to visit one week so we can go on safari together. I'll be in Maun for six weeks. It's not finalized what I'll be doing there, but as of today I've gotten two offers: I can intern with the Bots Dept of Wildlife, and/or I can do field research with a prof at UB Maun who I think is doing work in conservation, land use, and tourism. Gonna call him today to find out more.
So, I guess that's it for me in Gabs. It's been a great couple weeks here, I've gotten to spend more time with some of the others and bonded nicely, which only makes it harder to leave. Still, I'm super excited to get out and see more of the country, and of course spend more time with the animals around there. ;-)
Last Thursday before the Easter holidays started we had quite an intense field trip, to the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) in Lobatse. That's the slaughterhouse that produces the majority of beef for the country, as well as exporting a lot to Europe. We went in, got dressed up head-to-toe in sterile white uniforms, and got a full tour of the slaughterhouse. I haven't seen Food Inc., but from what I hear I may have seen the real-life version. Sooo nauseating and graphic (WARNING, you might want to skip ahead to the next paragraph) - we saw the entire process in action, from the kill floor where they stun the cows (though some apparently weren't stunned enough to stop kicking and mooing), hoist them up by the back leg, and slit their throats, all the way through the process of hacking the meat off the carcasses and gouging the eyes and brains out of the skull, to loading the meat in boxes into the freezer. Quite the experience. Definitely nothing you could ever do in America - and they let me take pictures (which I haven't had the stomach to look at yet) of the whole operation.
Friday and Monday we had off for Easter. On Saturday, some of us went to Lion Park, an amusement/water park about a half hour outside of Gabs, in coordination with the first sunbreak of the weekend. There was a huuuge water slide and wave pool and those swings that make you fly around in a circle... so much fun. Then on Sunday, after a fun (not so much) morning at church for Easter, we got together for a quesadilla fiesta. (Mexican food has been an eternal quest for a lot of the group this trip.) Everyone stresses here how it isn't safe to walk outside after dark, even in a group, so three of us had to wait for my parents to come drive us. Unbeknownst to me, though, they'd gone out to a braai, and didn't come to take us home til after midnight - far past all our bedtimes here.
During our last day off on Monday, Peo (Heather) and I took a bus into Manyana to visit our first host families. It was so weird to be back in the village we'd lived in for a month... all the rain had made the scenery a lot greener than I remembered, but otherwise everything felt familiar. While Peo went to play with her adorable five-year old sister/best friend Tshiamiso, I went back to the Mangope house to say hi. As it turned out, my entire family was home: Mme and Rre, and my bros Labo and Mogolodi. It was great to see them all again! Mme had just made samp and stew for lunch, so I ate my fill, and also feasted on maize and watermelon that they'd harvested from the lands. I stayed and talked and watched soccer with them for a few hours, but Peo and I had to leave in order to catch a khombi home before dark.
This week so far has been more of the same, field trips and eating out and hanging out at the mall. Passover ended on Tuesday (I actually tried to stick to the basics, i.e. not eating bread, so my sister and I experimented in baking matzah at home), and Wednesday Peo insisted we go to a coffee house at Riverwalk to get the most heavenly chocolate cake in the world. Totally worth it. This was after we'd found what may be the only pad thai in Gabs.
Tonight we're having a slumber party at the office (which is actually our program director's old house), so we can leave eeearly tomorrow to go to the Jwaneng Diamond Mine. Should be fun, even though I somehow doubt they give out free samples. And then.... this weekend I'm leaving the group, heading out on my own to Maun (near the Okavango Delta) for independent study. Everyone else is doing research or internships in Gabs, so it'll be sad to leave, but they're already talking about coming up to visit one week so we can go on safari together. I'll be in Maun for six weeks. It's not finalized what I'll be doing there, but as of today I've gotten two offers: I can intern with the Bots Dept of Wildlife, and/or I can do field research with a prof at UB Maun who I think is doing work in conservation, land use, and tourism. Gonna call him today to find out more.
So, I guess that's it for me in Gabs. It's been a great couple weeks here, I've gotten to spend more time with some of the others and bonded nicely, which only makes it harder to leave. Still, I'm super excited to get out and see more of the country, and of course spend more time with the animals around there. ;-)
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Livin' the Life
My last week in Mochudi passed excellently. I tried some more to teach the kids at BBM some things, such as singing "heads, shoulders, knees, and toes" (they mostly just stared at me funny). Unfortunately Mama came down with a throat infection during my last few days there, but my sister Rafilwe came to take her to the hospital and got her antibiotics. My last night at the Mantswe house was wonderful; my oldest sister Sheila came to visit with her husband and 2 kids, and then Rafilwe came with her son and brought my sister Lemo, who works in Lobatse and wasn't expecting to come home til Friday (when I left). It was like a big family reunion. My mom got out of bed and made herself up for the occasion, and we spent like an hour taking family pictures. Only McPherson, who was busy studying at UB, couldn't come home, but he and I have been talking about him coming to visit in Seattle when I go home in June! So exciting, I'd get to return the hosting favor.
On Friday I said goodbye to Mama and my favorite 1-year old Palesa (who I love regardless of whether she scribbled all over my essays) and caught the bus to Gabs. We had one lovely night in a hotel, and then the next day were rushed out to our new families in Tlokweng (a village right down the road from Riverwalk mall, kind of like a suburb). My new host parents are Mma and Rra Modumedise, and they're my youngest yet (around 40). I have an 18-year old sister Yolanda, a 14-year old brother Papi (who's a huge MJ fan and was dancing to This Is It the night I arrived), and our live-in helper girl nicknamed "Zee". It's a nice enough house but really tiny; my siblings and Zee sleep in one room, though when I cam Yolanda and Zee volunteered to sleep in the living room. I've enjoyed my time so far with the new fam, but unfortunately I only get 2 weeks with them; while the others in the group are staying in Gabs for their independent study, I'm heading on the 10th to Maun (I think). My actual internship hasn't been arranged yet, which goes to show the level of organization in the program and Bots in general, but I do know I'll be heading north, leaving my Americans behind.
In the meantime, we have an awesome schedule for these two weeks. Each morning we go on field trips to have lectures around Gabs; today we visited Parliament, and tomorrow is the meat-packing plant (a big part of Bots' economy). We have all the afternoons free, so we've been spending a lot of time eating well at the malls in Gabs, Riverwalk and Game City. Monday we went to see Alice and Wonderland, which was pretty entertaining. (Johnny Depp has an excellent moment near the end, which you'll know if you've seen it. Let's just say his head spins around.) I'm really enjoying all this delicious food that hasn't been a part of my life for 2+ months; I'm also excited to start work in Maun, as sad as it'll be to leave everyone. Until then, though, I've got the good life!
On Friday I said goodbye to Mama and my favorite 1-year old Palesa (who I love regardless of whether she scribbled all over my essays) and caught the bus to Gabs. We had one lovely night in a hotel, and then the next day were rushed out to our new families in Tlokweng (a village right down the road from Riverwalk mall, kind of like a suburb). My new host parents are Mma and Rra Modumedise, and they're my youngest yet (around 40). I have an 18-year old sister Yolanda, a 14-year old brother Papi (who's a huge MJ fan and was dancing to This Is It the night I arrived), and our live-in helper girl nicknamed "Zee". It's a nice enough house but really tiny; my siblings and Zee sleep in one room, though when I cam Yolanda and Zee volunteered to sleep in the living room. I've enjoyed my time so far with the new fam, but unfortunately I only get 2 weeks with them; while the others in the group are staying in Gabs for their independent study, I'm heading on the 10th to Maun (I think). My actual internship hasn't been arranged yet, which goes to show the level of organization in the program and Bots in general, but I do know I'll be heading north, leaving my Americans behind.
In the meantime, we have an awesome schedule for these two weeks. Each morning we go on field trips to have lectures around Gabs; today we visited Parliament, and tomorrow is the meat-packing plant (a big part of Bots' economy). We have all the afternoons free, so we've been spending a lot of time eating well at the malls in Gabs, Riverwalk and Game City. Monday we went to see Alice and Wonderland, which was pretty entertaining. (Johnny Depp has an excellent moment near the end, which you'll know if you've seen it. Let's just say his head spins around.) I'm really enjoying all this delicious food that hasn't been a part of my life for 2+ months; I'm also excited to start work in Maun, as sad as it'll be to leave everyone. Until then, though, I've got the good life!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Lunch at the Chief's
Last Saturday, I was ushered out of the house by Mama nearly as soon as I'd woken up. My older sister Rafilwe had come in from Gabs, and together with my brother McPherson we were going to a kgotla meeting (a bit like town hall, I guess, but more cultural to the village). I was pretty confused to see my brother put on an animal skin cape as we were piling in the car to leave, and even more surprised when we got to the kgotla and saw all the men wearing antelope-type skins. It turns out the skins are a symbol of tribal initiation, an old practice that was banned with independence but has now been resurrected by the Bakgatla tribe here in Mochudi. There are traditional "schools" for the men and women (though attendance is now voluntary): in the men's, they march out 80km into the bush, bringing nothing but a blanket and maybe some T-shirts, and camp with a group of about 2,000 for 8 weeks, hunting and learning about tribal culture. McPherson told me he'd done it last winter. Pretty intense!
The kgotla meeting began when the kgosi (chief) pulled up in his H3 Hummer, and took his official seat draped with a leopard skin. It lasted 3 hours and was all in Setswana, and so all unintelligible to me, but there was a traumatizing moment when the MC asked me to stand in front of all the hundreds of people there and formally welcomed me to Mochudi, and invited me to a luncheon afterwards at the chief's house. News photographers rushed over to take my picture, and this morning my friend's mom said she'd seen me in one of the papers. (Guess I'm a minor celebrity here now...?) As it turns out, the meeting had been called to introduce a new squad of crime-fighting civilians on horseback, and to present the chief with a gift of cattle.
Lunch at the chief's was pretty interesting - the food was good, salads and tea sandwiches - and though I didn't actually meet the chief, I talked to the MC guy and found out he'd been to Seattle before through Boeing. Small world. Other than that I just stuck close to Mama and ate my food as inconspicuously as possible (pretty difficult for the only white person at a giant event).
This work week has been hot and pretty busy; the organization has been hosting a workshop for 50+ people, so we've had a lot of cooking and cleaning and chores to do. It's gotten pretty frustrating at times, because the staff all speak to us in rapid Setswana and somehow expect us to understand (we obviously don't 90 percent of the time). We have a Setswana lesson tomorrow, though, so no work; afterwards we're thinking of checking out the local museum.
Got one more week in Mochudi, and then it's off to Gabs, so I'll keep you all posted! Also Happy St. Patty's yesterday. As one could guess, it's not actually a holiday here.
The kgotla meeting began when the kgosi (chief) pulled up in his H3 Hummer, and took his official seat draped with a leopard skin. It lasted 3 hours and was all in Setswana, and so all unintelligible to me, but there was a traumatizing moment when the MC asked me to stand in front of all the hundreds of people there and formally welcomed me to Mochudi, and invited me to a luncheon afterwards at the chief's house. News photographers rushed over to take my picture, and this morning my friend's mom said she'd seen me in one of the papers. (Guess I'm a minor celebrity here now...?) As it turns out, the meeting had been called to introduce a new squad of crime-fighting civilians on horseback, and to present the chief with a gift of cattle.
Lunch at the chief's was pretty interesting - the food was good, salads and tea sandwiches - and though I didn't actually meet the chief, I talked to the MC guy and found out he'd been to Seattle before through Boeing. Small world. Other than that I just stuck close to Mama and ate my food as inconspicuously as possible (pretty difficult for the only white person at a giant event).
This work week has been hot and pretty busy; the organization has been hosting a workshop for 50+ people, so we've had a lot of cooking and cleaning and chores to do. It's gotten pretty frustrating at times, because the staff all speak to us in rapid Setswana and somehow expect us to understand (we obviously don't 90 percent of the time). We have a Setswana lesson tomorrow, though, so no work; afterwards we're thinking of checking out the local museum.
Got one more week in Mochudi, and then it's off to Gabs, so I'll keep you all posted! Also Happy St. Patty's yesterday. As one could guess, it's not actually a holiday here.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Day Camp in the Big Motse
It's been one week now since we moved to Mochudi, and I'm getting used to life in a big village (40,000 people big, to be exact). Living here is so much different than in Manyana - there is more than one paved roads, sometimes even with traffic; I have to take a khombi (Botswana public transportation, vans that drive on bus routes) to get places instead of walking everywhere; but the best part is that there are actual grocery stores here. The range of my diet has improved dramatically since getting here; I even bought Rice Krispies!
Before coming to Mochudi I was pretty nervous about getting a new host family. I was still really attached to the Mangopes - my brother Labo even visited us at our lodge in Gabs before we left for Mochudi. But my new family here is excellent, and super easy to live with. My host mom is Colleen Mantswe, a typical matriarch type in her 60s who likes to mother me and shows off my Setswana skills to everyone we meet. I have two grown and married sisters, both of whom live in Gabs. We visited them over the weekend; both have really nice houses, and one took me to her work, at the library where journalists do research for the national newspaper. I also have a 23-year old sister, Lemo (once again, my Setswana name is oh so perfect for my family), who works in Lobatse but comes home on weekends. She has an almost-2 year old daughter who lives with my mom at home, Palesa. Palesa is super cute, and I really enjoy having a baby around, even though her favorite activity is to steal pens and draw on any and everything. She can even say "Lebo" now, and runs to see me when I come home! Finally, I have a 19-year old brother, McPherson, who goes to university but comes home every night. He's an awesome guy, and we cook together most nights. I also showed him my iPod, and he proceeded to watch all the videos I have on it that I'd made in high school and college, and then raved to me how they should be on TV! Basically I love my family here.
During the day I'm not going to school anymore, except for Setswana on Wednesday afternoons. Instead we're all doing internships: I'm working at Bakgatla Bolokang Matshelo, an organization that cares for people with HIV/AIDS, along with Naledi (Breanna, from Scripps) and Amogelang (Andrea, from Colby). Every day young kids (3-5) and old people come to the center and basically just hang out or play all day. Our job is basically just to be with the kids; we've kind of started a mini-day camp for a couple hours a day where we try to teach them a little English (numbers, animals, etc) with the help of a Motswana girl who also started volunteering. It's pretty challenging, since they only speak Setswana; I actually managed to explain duck-duck-goose with marginal success the other day, but on tag I quickly gave up. Since we're only doing that stuff for a couple hours a day we generally just sit around and talk to each other the rest of the time, which is questionable internship behavior, but as far as I can tell there's really nothing else to do. Oh well... it is a Botswana internship, and I've come to find they play by different rules here.
I'm excited for this weekend, since I should get to hang out with McPherson and see more of Mochudi. We have two more weeks here in our internships, and then we're off to Gabs for another short homestay. In a word, things here are monate (Setswana for good/great/nice/excellent/etc) despite the heat, which today is up to 35 degrees C. Several people in our group think that "sauna" was actually derived from "Botswana," and they do have a point... all I'm saying is at least we have fans at home now.
Before coming to Mochudi I was pretty nervous about getting a new host family. I was still really attached to the Mangopes - my brother Labo even visited us at our lodge in Gabs before we left for Mochudi. But my new family here is excellent, and super easy to live with. My host mom is Colleen Mantswe, a typical matriarch type in her 60s who likes to mother me and shows off my Setswana skills to everyone we meet. I have two grown and married sisters, both of whom live in Gabs. We visited them over the weekend; both have really nice houses, and one took me to her work, at the library where journalists do research for the national newspaper. I also have a 23-year old sister, Lemo (once again, my Setswana name is oh so perfect for my family), who works in Lobatse but comes home on weekends. She has an almost-2 year old daughter who lives with my mom at home, Palesa. Palesa is super cute, and I really enjoy having a baby around, even though her favorite activity is to steal pens and draw on any and everything. She can even say "Lebo" now, and runs to see me when I come home! Finally, I have a 19-year old brother, McPherson, who goes to university but comes home every night. He's an awesome guy, and we cook together most nights. I also showed him my iPod, and he proceeded to watch all the videos I have on it that I'd made in high school and college, and then raved to me how they should be on TV! Basically I love my family here.
During the day I'm not going to school anymore, except for Setswana on Wednesday afternoons. Instead we're all doing internships: I'm working at Bakgatla Bolokang Matshelo, an organization that cares for people with HIV/AIDS, along with Naledi (Breanna, from Scripps) and Amogelang (Andrea, from Colby). Every day young kids (3-5) and old people come to the center and basically just hang out or play all day. Our job is basically just to be with the kids; we've kind of started a mini-day camp for a couple hours a day where we try to teach them a little English (numbers, animals, etc) with the help of a Motswana girl who also started volunteering. It's pretty challenging, since they only speak Setswana; I actually managed to explain duck-duck-goose with marginal success the other day, but on tag I quickly gave up. Since we're only doing that stuff for a couple hours a day we generally just sit around and talk to each other the rest of the time, which is questionable internship behavior, but as far as I can tell there's really nothing else to do. Oh well... it is a Botswana internship, and I've come to find they play by different rules here.
I'm excited for this weekend, since I should get to hang out with McPherson and see more of Mochudi. We have two more weeks here in our internships, and then we're off to Gabs for another short homestay. In a word, things here are monate (Setswana for good/great/nice/excellent/etc) despite the heat, which today is up to 35 degrees C. Several people in our group think that "sauna" was actually derived from "Botswana," and they do have a point... all I'm saying is at least we have fans at home now.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The best day of my life...
...was last Thursday, the day we drove into Chobe National Park. We'd made the 12-hour drive from Gabs to Kasane (right on the Zimbabwe border) the day before, and now we were going into the park on a safari truck to camp for 2 nights. Even before we got to the park entrance we saw several elephants browsing off the side of the road. It felt like we had entered Jurassic Park; the elephants may as well have been dinosaurs for how amazed we were to see them. As we drove through the park along the Chobe River, though, elephants became commonplace: there are some 60,000 in the park, the highest concentration in the world, and we saw multiple herds bathing and drinking at the river. Giraffes, hippos, antelope, and baboons were also all around us. I had my head stuck out the side of the covered pickup the entire time, taking more pictures than I know what to do with and marveling that I was now doing exactly what I'd wanted to do for 21 years.
After 3 hours we arrived at our campsite, right on the Chobe River. This was camping as I'd never experienced it before: our tents had been already set up and filled with mattresses and blankets; there was a dining table with tablecloth all set for teatime; and the campsite staff were busy cooking us dinner. Luxury in the middle of the wilderness - now that's the life. While we ate at camp a hippo came out of the river just beyond our campsite; the next day I saw a herd of elephants come to bathe at the same spot. Really, the best camping ever.
For our full day in Chobe, we had two game drives, morning and afternoon. Unfortunately it was cloudy and rainy off and on so there weren't as many animals as there might have been, but now we were on a mission. Or should I say, a lion hunt. We followed tracks in the sand unsuccessfully during our first drive, but then in the afternoon found a lioness just as she ran under a bush to lie down. The real kicker, though, came on our morning drive out of the park the next day, when we found a male lion laying in the grass! He lifted his head to look at us for a minute, and I got some nice pics. One of the trip highlights for sure.
That afternoon we took a river cruise down the Chobe, riding up next to hippo pods and crocs. The next day we crossed into Zimbabwe to visit Victoria Falls, which is actually a bunch of connected giant waterfalls that you walk around a paved pathway to see. It was sooo beautiful. Some of the falls even created their own rainstorms, so we got thoroughly drenched. Pretty nice when you're in what feels like a tropical jungle.
On Monday we came back to Gabs for another orientation before we go to stay in Mochudi tomorrow. Mochudi is a village of about 40,000, and we'll each be working full-time with a social organization for the three weeks we're there. I'll be working with an HIV/AIDS care group, which seems very interesting but also makes me nervous - I have no experience that could prepare me for working with terminally ill patients every day. We start on Monday.
I also just got the name of my next host family. I have a mom (no dad), grown siblings (the youngest is 20, and studies at the U of Botswana), and a one-year old granddaughter. Should be interesting.... it's so weird though to think about living with another family when I still miss my Manyana fam! But my adventure continues. Once I get settled into Mochudi I'll hopefully be able to update on life in the Big Motse! Sala sentle for now.
After 3 hours we arrived at our campsite, right on the Chobe River. This was camping as I'd never experienced it before: our tents had been already set up and filled with mattresses and blankets; there was a dining table with tablecloth all set for teatime; and the campsite staff were busy cooking us dinner. Luxury in the middle of the wilderness - now that's the life. While we ate at camp a hippo came out of the river just beyond our campsite; the next day I saw a herd of elephants come to bathe at the same spot. Really, the best camping ever.
For our full day in Chobe, we had two game drives, morning and afternoon. Unfortunately it was cloudy and rainy off and on so there weren't as many animals as there might have been, but now we were on a mission. Or should I say, a lion hunt. We followed tracks in the sand unsuccessfully during our first drive, but then in the afternoon found a lioness just as she ran under a bush to lie down. The real kicker, though, came on our morning drive out of the park the next day, when we found a male lion laying in the grass! He lifted his head to look at us for a minute, and I got some nice pics. One of the trip highlights for sure.
That afternoon we took a river cruise down the Chobe, riding up next to hippo pods and crocs. The next day we crossed into Zimbabwe to visit Victoria Falls, which is actually a bunch of connected giant waterfalls that you walk around a paved pathway to see. It was sooo beautiful. Some of the falls even created their own rainstorms, so we got thoroughly drenched. Pretty nice when you're in what feels like a tropical jungle.
On Monday we came back to Gabs for another orientation before we go to stay in Mochudi tomorrow. Mochudi is a village of about 40,000, and we'll each be working full-time with a social organization for the three weeks we're there. I'll be working with an HIV/AIDS care group, which seems very interesting but also makes me nervous - I have no experience that could prepare me for working with terminally ill patients every day. We start on Monday.
I also just got the name of my next host family. I have a mom (no dad), grown siblings (the youngest is 20, and studies at the U of Botswana), and a one-year old granddaughter. Should be interesting.... it's so weird though to think about living with another family when I still miss my Manyana fam! But my adventure continues. Once I get settled into Mochudi I'll hopefully be able to update on life in the Big Motse! Sala sentle for now.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Goodbye Porridge, Hello Pizza and Ice Cream
Whoa... today has been such a rush. At 9 this morning we caught the public bus from Manyana, the village that had become my home for the past month, to Gaborone, the capital city, which has malls, pizza, real bathrooms, and other white people. I never would have thought I would gawk at every "lekgoa" (as they're known in Setswana) passing by, but I am. We counted, and outside our group we'd seen 5 white people during the last month.
Despite how utterly euporic it was for us to order three pizzas, garlic bread, and chocolate ice cream here at Gaborone's Riverwalk mall, it was pretty sad to pack up and say goodbye to all my friends and family from Manyana. Last Friday we had our going away party at the school, and all our parents and some siblings came, and it was so great to see everyone together! We also got in touch with a traditional dance group from the village, and they performed in full costume at our party. We also did a group skit (which involved me playing a drunk donkey cart driver and running over a bunch of kids) and read thank-you speeches in Setswana to our parents, which was really nice even though I still couldn't understand too much of the others' speeches.
This weekend was a rush to finish all the various assignments we had for school, but that all got done yesterday - a nice relief. I spent my last night at the Mangope house talking with Labo and playing a couple games of chess together (both of which were stalemates, neither of us are very good). I'm hoping to be able to visit my family there again in April, when we spend two weeks in Gabs; there's a bus that goes straight to the Manyana bus stop down the road from house, and there's really no question I need to see Mme and Rre and Labo again before I leave for good.
We've got the day today to shop and eat in Gabs, and tomorrow we have a 3am wake-up call for the 12+ hour bus ride to Kasane, where we'll see elephants and lions and who knows what else on our 5 days of safari. And we're going to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls!!! Unbelievably excited for the next week, dreams comin' true right here and now. And Manyana, with its chickens and maize meal and delicious fried dough balls and all its wonderful people, will always have a special place.
Despite how utterly euporic it was for us to order three pizzas, garlic bread, and chocolate ice cream here at Gaborone's Riverwalk mall, it was pretty sad to pack up and say goodbye to all my friends and family from Manyana. Last Friday we had our going away party at the school, and all our parents and some siblings came, and it was so great to see everyone together! We also got in touch with a traditional dance group from the village, and they performed in full costume at our party. We also did a group skit (which involved me playing a drunk donkey cart driver and running over a bunch of kids) and read thank-you speeches in Setswana to our parents, which was really nice even though I still couldn't understand too much of the others' speeches.
This weekend was a rush to finish all the various assignments we had for school, but that all got done yesterday - a nice relief. I spent my last night at the Mangope house talking with Labo and playing a couple games of chess together (both of which were stalemates, neither of us are very good). I'm hoping to be able to visit my family there again in April, when we spend two weeks in Gabs; there's a bus that goes straight to the Manyana bus stop down the road from house, and there's really no question I need to see Mme and Rre and Labo again before I leave for good.
We've got the day today to shop and eat in Gabs, and tomorrow we have a 3am wake-up call for the 12+ hour bus ride to Kasane, where we'll see elephants and lions and who knows what else on our 5 days of safari. And we're going to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls!!! Unbelievably excited for the next week, dreams comin' true right here and now. And Manyana, with its chickens and maize meal and delicious fried dough balls and all its wonderful people, will always have a special place.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Dumela from Botswana!!!
I am currently at Sonia's house - the Peace Corps volunteer here I just met - who owns the only Macbook for I don't know how many miles around. I am also eating the first CHEESE in almost a month, it is heavenly, I really can't believe what is going on right now.
OK, let me back up a bit. The 8 of us on the program (4 Pitzer, 1 Scripps, 2 Colby, and me) are staying in Manyana, a village of 3500 south of Gaborone. We've been here for 3 weeks now, living in homestays and walking to Setswana lessons (in a hut at the horticulture field) every morning. When we arrived here and met our host mothers, we all got Setswana names: I am now Lebo Mangope. My host family is really great - I have an older brother who works in Gabs with diamonds, and a 19-year old brother, Labo, who is outgoing and fun and also does most all of the housework around my house. My house is here is actually unusually nice - I'm the only one of the 8 of us who has running water and a toilet indoors. Making progress in Setswana - I can do simple sentences, past, present, and future tenses, and I can usually get my point across with the help of a little English. Everyone in my family except my dad speaks a fair amount of English, though, so the majority of communication is still on that familiar turf.
I live next door to Melissa, from Pitzer, who lives with my cousins, and I do the 20-minute walk to school with her every morning. The scenery here is beautiful and green; a tiny river runs through the village, and mountains/hills border the village. Last week we visited the Manyana Rock Paintings, made by the San some 2000 years ago, and the Livingstone Tree, which has giant branches in every direction and was a lot of fun to climb. A couple days ago (the day after my 21st birthday) we got the opportunity to play with cow dung, using it to pave the patio of the house of one of our school cooks; afterwards one of our school staff delivered me a belated b-day cake! The food here is rather unvaried, and generally consists of a giant heap of starch (rice, pasta, or paleche, made from maize meal) with a couple bites of meat. Thus the cheese and ice cream cravings, and the utter bliss I'm experiencing right now. I've also been to masimo (the lands / cow post) with my family a couple times, so I've gotten to try cow herding and weeding the maize crop.
We've got one more week here in Manyana, during which time we have a crap load of written assignments to finish for school. Next week we're going to Gabs for a night, then taking the 12-hr trip to Kasane to go on SAFARI! Can't wait. Sorry I can't write more, but hopefully I'll find an internet cafe in Gabs or Mochudi, where our next homestay starts in March. I am loving Botswana, though, the people here are so friendly (and most of them know me now by my family's name), and it's definitely as far as possible as I could be, physically and mentally, from Pomona. More coming soon-ish, hopefully with news of animals other than chickens, donkeys, cows, and goats! Go siame, and sala sentle! (In Setswana, stay well.)
Saturday, January 16, 2010
I'm leavin' on a jet plane...
...and I'll be back June 12. Three months after I found out I was going to Africa this semester, it's now my last night in Seattle. It's only hit me in the last few days that I'm leaving home to go to the other side of the world; thinking it is one thing, feeling it is completely different. Also crazy to think that after 20 years of reading African animal books, collecting stuffed African animals, sketching African animals, decorating my room to be "African," and writing about African wildlife conservation, I am going to Africa TOMORROW. See? Dreams can come true.
Actually, though, I hardly have any idea what living in Africa will be like. I know that I'll be living in three month-long homestays, starting in a rural village, then moving to a small town, and finally in Gaborone (the capital, pronounced ha-buh-ROH-nay, goes by "Gabs" for short). During the last month of the program I'll be doing an independent research project, hopefully having something to do with wildlife conservation. Then, after my program in Botswana ends at the end of May, I'll be traveling solo through South Africa and Namibia for 2 weeks before flying home.
That's my semester in a nutshell, I guess. Whereas I'd usually be lugging two 50-pound suitcases back to school right about now, I've just about finished packing a small suitcase, duffel bag, and backpack. I won't really know whether I've overpacked at all til I see what everyone else on the program has brought, but I do know it's the lightest I've ever packed for 5 months.
We're getting a bright and early start tomorrow around 5 am. I've got a 7:30 flight to DC, and from there (after a 2-hr. layover) I have an 18-hr. flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. I get in there after 6 pm Monday, which I just realized is early morning over here - there's a 10-hr. time difference. I've booked a room at the Green Palms Guest House for Monday night, so if all goes according to plan they will send someone to pick me up at the airport (holding a sign with my name, which for some reason I think is hilarious. Maybe because it seems like that one Seinfeld episode where Jerry and George lie their way into a limo...). Then, back to the airport Tuesday morning for the hour-long flight to Gabs!
Given that I'll be starting the program out living in a rural village, it's unlikely that I'll be able to update my wonderful blog much in the next several weeks. I believe there's an orientation in Gabs before the home stay, so if I can I'll post my first impressions of Africa, but either way rest assured I'll update it when I can! Alright, I'm going to go run around the house some more, collecting things to pack last-minute. Signing out from Seattle, on my way to Africa!!!
Actually, though, I hardly have any idea what living in Africa will be like. I know that I'll be living in three month-long homestays, starting in a rural village, then moving to a small town, and finally in Gaborone (the capital, pronounced ha-buh-ROH-nay, goes by "Gabs" for short). During the last month of the program I'll be doing an independent research project, hopefully having something to do with wildlife conservation. Then, after my program in Botswana ends at the end of May, I'll be traveling solo through South Africa and Namibia for 2 weeks before flying home.
That's my semester in a nutshell, I guess. Whereas I'd usually be lugging two 50-pound suitcases back to school right about now, I've just about finished packing a small suitcase, duffel bag, and backpack. I won't really know whether I've overpacked at all til I see what everyone else on the program has brought, but I do know it's the lightest I've ever packed for 5 months.
We're getting a bright and early start tomorrow around 5 am. I've got a 7:30 flight to DC, and from there (after a 2-hr. layover) I have an 18-hr. flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. I get in there after 6 pm Monday, which I just realized is early morning over here - there's a 10-hr. time difference. I've booked a room at the Green Palms Guest House for Monday night, so if all goes according to plan they will send someone to pick me up at the airport (holding a sign with my name, which for some reason I think is hilarious. Maybe because it seems like that one Seinfeld episode where Jerry and George lie their way into a limo...). Then, back to the airport Tuesday morning for the hour-long flight to Gabs!
Given that I'll be starting the program out living in a rural village, it's unlikely that I'll be able to update my wonderful blog much in the next several weeks. I believe there's an orientation in Gabs before the home stay, so if I can I'll post my first impressions of Africa, but either way rest assured I'll update it when I can! Alright, I'm going to go run around the house some more, collecting things to pack last-minute. Signing out from Seattle, on my way to Africa!!!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
My Address in Africa
For anyone who would like to send some snail mail to me over on the other side of the world, here is my mailing address abroad:
Alex Rudee
c/o Pitzer College in Botswana
Box 1482
Gaborone
Botswana
My program packet says regular airmail is reliable, and should get there in 7-10 days. Assuming I can get to a post office, anyone who sends me mail will get an African postcard back! Or, if real mail seems too daunting, send me emails or facebook messages - I'll check those whenever I have internet as well.
I can't believe I am leaving the country in 4 days! ...Read, I'd better start packing tonight. I'm sure there will be last-minute errands to run once I've figured out once I don't have.
One other exciting update: I reserved a room at a guest house in Johannesburg for next Monday, since I have an overnight layover there before flying up to Gaborone. So, I should have a place to stay after getting off my 18-hour flight across the Atlantic! Good news indeed.
Alex Rudee
c/o Pitzer College in Botswana
Box 1482
Gaborone
Botswana
My program packet says regular airmail is reliable, and should get there in 7-10 days. Assuming I can get to a post office, anyone who sends me mail will get an African postcard back! Or, if real mail seems too daunting, send me emails or facebook messages - I'll check those whenever I have internet as well.
I can't believe I am leaving the country in 4 days! ...Read, I'd better start packing tonight. I'm sure there will be last-minute errands to run once I've figured out once I don't have.
One other exciting update: I reserved a room at a guest house in Johannesburg for next Monday, since I have an overnight layover there before flying up to Gaborone. So, I should have a place to stay after getting off my 18-hour flight across the Atlantic! Good news indeed.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Get ready, get set, Botswana!
I will be studying abroad for spring semester in Botswana. My plane going halfway across the world (10,099 miles, to be exact) departs one week from today. I've wanted to go to Africa, to see its amazing wildlife up close and experience the awe of standing on the endless savanna, since before I can remember. Now that I'm finally getting the chance to "live the dream," as they say, I hope to keep everyone back home up to date on my latest adventures. And so, I give you... my Africa blog!
For those of you who don't know, Botswana is a landlocked country in southern Africa (right above South Africa, gold on the map). Given that the northern part of the country - where most of the animals are - is above the Tropic of Capricorn, it tends to harbor a lot of tropical diseases. Getting deathly ill isn't really part of my itinerary, so I've had the pleasure of getting more shots than I know what to do with (my last of 3 rabies shots comes this week!) and a virtual medicine cabinet full of pills. One of the highlights of winter break, actually, was getting a mail-order bottle of Malarone (the #1 anti-malaria med) for $30 under insurance instead of dropping $200 on it at Walgreen's. And of course, I wouldn't really be protected from those nasty mosquitoes without a full range of anti-insect clothing, from socks to a safari hat, from Ex Officio. (That was my Hanukkah present, actually...) So I'm hoping that I've now accumulated formidable enough defenses against whatever bugs Africa tries to throw at me.
Aside from all that fun stuff, winter break has been nice and relaxing. A couple days ago we took a family road trip to Walla Walla to visit Whitman College, where my sister Talia now has her heart set on going to school next year. It did have a pretty impressive campus, but I knew I chose Claremont and its 70 degree winters for a reason. It started snowing on our way home, so I finally got a taste of real winter weather before leaving for Botswana, where its high temperatures are currently around 90.
Today extended family came over for brunch as an early 21st birthday celebration - one month exactly until the real event, but by that time I'll be in a rural African village. We had spinach frittata, pumpkin waffles, coffee cake and blackberry pie - yum. Also bloody maries, because you only turn 21 once, right? Or I guess twice in my case.
For those of you who don't know, Botswana is a landlocked country in southern Africa (right above South Africa, gold on the map). Given that the northern part of the country - where most of the animals are - is above the Tropic of Capricorn, it tends to harbor a lot of tropical diseases. Getting deathly ill isn't really part of my itinerary, so I've had the pleasure of getting more shots than I know what to do with (my last of 3 rabies shots comes this week!) and a virtual medicine cabinet full of pills. One of the highlights of winter break, actually, was getting a mail-order bottle of Malarone (the #1 anti-malaria med) for $30 under insurance instead of dropping $200 on it at Walgreen's. And of course, I wouldn't really be protected from those nasty mosquitoes without a full range of anti-insect clothing, from socks to a safari hat, from Ex Officio. (That was my Hanukkah present, actually...) So I'm hoping that I've now accumulated formidable enough defenses against whatever bugs Africa tries to throw at me.Aside from all that fun stuff, winter break has been nice and relaxing. A couple days ago we took a family road trip to Walla Walla to visit Whitman College, where my sister Talia now has her heart set on going to school next year. It did have a pretty impressive campus, but I knew I chose Claremont and its 70 degree winters for a reason. It started snowing on our way home, so I finally got a taste of real winter weather before leaving for Botswana, where its high temperatures are currently around 90.
Today extended family came over for brunch as an early 21st birthday celebration - one month exactly until the real event, but by that time I'll be in a rural African village. We had spinach frittata, pumpkin waffles, coffee cake and blackberry pie - yum. Also bloody maries, because you only turn 21 once, right? Or I guess twice in my case.
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