I can’t believe Xmas is a week away. I admit it is kind of refreshing not to have to fight for a parking space at the mall, brave hordes of people who do their shopping last minute like me, and listen to the same Xmas songs over and over everywhere you go. I do however miss the light spectacle that is New Jersey at Xmas time. We will have a few PCVs visiting us over the holiday so we may go camping nearby our village for a day or two.

Since the rains have come, there have been substantial changes in the environment. Everything has turned green. I was away last week for GLOW camp and when I returned our yard was green. Well, all the weeds that sprouted now cover most of the sand. Millipedes are still everywhere you go but now they are getting bigger and bigger. I’ve been lucky enough to find two more chameleons. Fortunately, we haven’t seen any snakes yet. Actually, the only Setswana words Richard knows are the words for all the poisonous snakes in our area.

Last week was GLOW CAMP (GIRLS and GUYS LEADING OUR WORLD) in Gaborone. I went with four junior secondary girls and a teacher from Okavango JSS in Gumare. After weeks of struggling, we got a government vehicle to transport us at the last minute. The vehicle picked us up at 6am on Saturday(4th) and we were on our way. Unfortunately we got stuck in Ghanzi for five hours because they had to fill the government fuel pumps, which temporarily stopped working after they were filled. Unfortunately, you can only fill government vehicles at government filling stations so we had to wait for someone to get the pumps working again. We did not end up getting to Gaborone until almost 10pm.

The week at camp went really well. There were seven girls delegations and seven boys delegations. Each delegation contained a Peace Corps Volunteer, a local leader, and 4 boys/girls aged 12-17. The delegations came from all over Botswana although I believe our Gumare delegation came from the furthest point. The goal of the camp was to create adolescent leaders who can educate their peers on HIV and gender based violence, as well as address gender inequalities. The Peace Corps volunteers and local leaders facilitated the different sessions. My local leader and I facilitated sessions on Our Bodies (focusing on reproductive health) and on HIV and STI’s. Other sessions at the camp included leadership; love, sex, and dating; friendship; communication; peer pressure; human rights; decision making; and etc... There were also activities like a scavenger hunt, a talent competition, a dance off, a mock protest, a debate, movie night, etc.. I was able to do a craft session where I taught girls how to make beads from magazine pages. A few of the girls really got into it and started making necklaces and bracelets. On the last day of camp, everyone got to meet Unity Dow, a well known Botswana writer and first female justice of the high court. Unity Dow hosted our GLOW camp group at her home, where the boys and girls where able to meet professionals who provided advice and guidance on success. In the afternoon, the boys and girls participated in a mock trial in one of the courtrooms in Lobatse.

I must say by the time I left on Sunday (14th) I was exhausted because our days lasted from 5:45am to 10:00pm. I did get a half day off on Thursday when I roamed the malls in Gaborone and chowed done on good food. I am looking forward to working with the girls from Gumare when school resumes in January. Eventually, we would like to have a regional camp in Okavango so we can create GLOW clubs in other Junior Secondary Schools in the district.

It’s hard to believe it is only three weeks to Christmas. Since it’s been so hot here, it has been hard to get into the Christmas spirit. It may be also be due to the lack of thousands of Christmas lights on people’s houses and blow up santas on people’s lawn. For Christmas, we are expecting a few other Peace Corps volunteers to come celebrate with us in Gumare.

We spent the weekend before Thanksgiving in Maun at a Peace Corps regional meeting. We stayed at Audi Camp, a nice camp with permanent tents with attached bathrooms. We met with other PCV’s from the Okavango, Maun, and Ghanzi districts to share what has been going well and what has not been going well, as well as strategies. It was good to see the other PCV’s in the area and find out how they are doing and what they are working on. It was also good to eat real food- I must say I do miss restaurants at times. That Sunday, we found a cheap flight (resident rate) from Maun to Kasane. We flew on a very small plane (Cessna) that did not feel so sturdy, especially when it started to rain. I was gripping on for dear life, but we made it in one piece.

Once we got to Kasane, we had “language week.” We stayed with one of the volunteers in Kasane, who a very nice view of Chobe river from her front door, and had language lessons with a Peace Corps language instructor and 4 other volunteers (three from Kasane and one from Nata) from Monday to Friday. It was very helpful to have more Setswana lessons because I feel that as hard as I try, my Setswana is not improving as fast as I would like. On Friday, we had a half day of Setswana lessons so we were able to fit a game drive in very early in the morning and a boat cruise on the Chobe in the evening. We saw lots of creatures like elephants, a lion, African buffalo, a jackal, hippos, crocs, monitor lizards, meercats, big birds, etc. We took the bus back to Gumare on Saturday. Actually it took us three buses and 14 hours to get home, but it was worth the trip.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving in Kasane. There was no turkey, but we had chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, veggies, etc. It was nice to share the day with friends since we couldn’t be with our families. We all got to talk to our families that day though, which was nice.

Tomorrow, I am headed to GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) camp in Gaborone. I am going with a teacher and four junior secondary school girls for the week so the girls can learn how to be leaders and peer educators, with an emphasis on gender equality and HIV/AIDS. It was a bitter fight to the end (yesterday) wading through bureaucracy to get transportation to Gaborone, but we will be on our way tomorrow.