Right now we are in the hottest time of the year, where it is over 100 degrees during the day and still in the 80’s at night. We did have a brief rain shower the weekend before last. It was the first rain I’ve seen since leaving the United States over 6 months ago. Recent creature sightings include a small scorpion in our bedroom last week, as well as a plethora of other bugs.
Richard’s office has been busy preparing for the next fiscal year. Richard was working on our district’s HIV/AIDS profile for the 2 day evidence based planning workshop we had two weeks ago. At the planning workshop, DMSAC (District Multi-Sectoral AIDS Committee) members got together and used statistics from the district HIV/AIDS profile to help identify the five most pressing issues to focus on in our district during the next fiscal year, as well as select objectives and activities that address these issues. The 5 chosen issues for our district include High Teenage Pregnancy, Low HIV testing rates, Low Participation of Men in HIV/AIDS, Myths and Misconceptions, and high rates of STI’s.
Richard is now busy helping organize a health fair in Qangwa, which is a small village near the Namibian border. The health fair is this weekend so we will be camping out on Friday night so we can help run interactive HIV/AIDS educational games with the other Peace Corps volunteers from our area on Saturday.
Last weekend, I attended a two day workshop in Maun. A local junior secondary teacher and I applied to bring 4 girls to a GLOW camp in December so the workshop was to teach the two of us and other selected Peace Corps volunteers and local leaders how to facilitate educational sessions at the camp. GLOW stand for Girls Leading Our World (though there is also a Guys Leading Our World) and is an initiative to create adolescent leaders who can teach peers about HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence. I really excited that our 4 girls were chosen since it such a great opportunity for them.
We finally got our new kitten who Richard named Oscar. It is 2.5 months old and very cute (although our dogs seem to want to kill it). Cats are not popular pets in Botswana because some people associate them with bad luck. Richard is hoping the cat becomes good at killing snakes and bugs.
An account of our time in the Peace Corps in Botswana
About Us
- Richard and Stacy
- New York, NY
- Richard and Stacy have been married since June 2003. They will be serving in the Peace Corps in Botswana from June 2008-June 2010 (with in country training from April - June 2008). Richard's assignment is working with a District AIDS Coordinator and Stacy's assignment is Community Capacity Building for HIV/AIDS Project in Home-based Care and Orphan Care/Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission.
LINKS OF INTEREST
About Botswana and the Peace Corps
According to the BBC's country profile, "Botswana, one of Africa's most stable countries, is the continent's longest continuous multi-party democracy. It is relatively free of corruption and has a good human rights record. It is also the world's larger producer of diamonds and the trade has transformed it into a middle-income nation. Botswana is trying to reduce its economic dependence on diamonds. Safari-based tourism- tightly-controlled and often upmarket- is an important source of income."
Independence: 1966 (there has been four decades of
uninterrupted civilian rule since)
Capital: Gabarone
President: Khama
Population: 1.9 million (UN, 2007)
Area: 224,607 sq. miles (slightly smaller than Texas)
Major languages: English (official), Setswana
Life expectancy: 40 years (UNAIDS, 2007)
Literacy Rate: 81 percent (CIA Factbook)
According to the CIA Factbook, "Botswana has maintained one of the world's highest economic growth rates since independence in 1966, though growth slowed to 4.7% in 2006-2007. On the downside, the government must deal with high rates of unemployment and poverty. HIV/AIDS infections are the second highest in the world and threaten Botswana's impressive economic gains."
According to PEPFAR, which Includes Botswana as one of its 15 focus countries, "At the household level, families face increasing health expenditures to meet the needs of family members with HIV/AIDS. At the same time, they are experiencing loss of income as productive family members become sick and die. Botswana's workforce is being depleted as many productive adults develop AIDS and are no longer able to work. Between 1999 and 2005, Botswana lost approximately 17 percent of its health care workforce due to AIDS and by 2020 the loss in agricultural labor force could be more than 20 percent. High levels of HIV/AIDS among teachers reduces both the quality of education and the number of hours taught. School enrollment is expected to fall as children drop out of school to care for sick family members, to contribute to household income, or become too sick to attend school. Finally, stigma continues to be an issue that needs to be addressed."
National HIV prevalence rate among adults (15 - 49): 24.1%
Adults and children (0 - 49) living with HIV in 2005: 270,000
AIDS deaths in 2005: 18,000
AIDS orphans at the end of 2005: 120,000
According to the Peace Corps website, Peace Corps started working in Botswana in 1966, but closed the program in 1997 due to the country's economic success. "However, in 1998, the government declared HIV/AIDS a national crisis, and President Mogae dedicated his first five years in office to fighting HIV/AIDS, poverty, and unemployment. The government of Botswana has enlisted the aid of civil society, international agencies, governments, and volunteer organizations to help the Botswana people address the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In 2003, Peace Corps returned to Botswana. Currently volunteers are:
-Helping build capacity at the district and village levels in HIV/AIDS service organizations
-Assisting in mainstreaming HIV/AIDS prevention activities into development projects
-Providing technical assistance to the government's home-based and orphan care programs
-Helping to promote the prevention of mother-to-child transmission in four selected districts
Disclaimer:
The views/contents included on this website are solely that of Richard Rain and Stacy Wallick. It does not reflect the position or views of the U.S. government, the Peace Corps, or any other persons and organizations.