Over two weeks have passed since we returned to our village after our three-week vacation in America. We had a great time visiting friends and family and eating all our favorite foods. It wasn’t actually a restful vacation, as we did not stay in one place for more than a few days a time, but it was well worth it. We were there for my father’s birthday and we managed to visit NYC, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, DC/Baltimore, Boston, and New Orleans in a short amount of time. We had no trouble adjusting to being in America, which was somewhat surprising, and it was an easy transition back to being in Gumare.

The weather was nice while we were home. We managed to miss the hottest part of the summer and there were only a couple of days of rain. Unfortunately, I picked on of those rainy days to drive to Baltimore by myself, after 2 years of not driving. That particular day, it was pouring so hard I could not see more than a few feet ahead. Luckily, I made it safe and got to see a great friend in DC.

I was expecting the worst weather-wise when we returned to Botswana, since September and October are the hottest months, but it hasn’t been too bad. It was hot the first few days, but then we got a few days of rain, which made it cool. The temperature is starting to steadily rise though! – it is already back in the high 90s.

Unfortunately, our electricity has been going out quite a bit. We have experiencing rolling power outages almost twice a week. We get our electricity from Namibia and there does not seem to be enough electricity to go around. We have also been on drought control, despite the recent rains and the flooding earlier this year, so we lose our water for most of the day, several times a week. Luckily, the water usually comes on in the evening, around the time we typically bathe.

Elections are next weeks so everyone has been gearing up for the big day. We have postponed events, such as a health fair in Xakao, until after the elections since everyone is busy preparing. Most of our projects, such as GIS mapping, are still ongoing, and we continue our work with our respective offices (Orphan Care and District AIDS Coordinator) as well as the basket co-op, Mothers For All, the schools, etc. Richard still continues to work on the same basket. I was chosen to be on the organizing committee for the national GLOW (Girls and Boys Leading Our World) camp in December. I went to a prep meeting the weekend after I returned for America and our organizing committee will be leading a training of facilitators in November.

Since the weather has gotten warmer and there has been rain, all the creatures have been out in full force. There are millipedes and grasshoppers everywhere and we have seen a few chameleons. My chameleon Fido is still happily living in the bush outside our house
He now eats grasshoppers (with his long sticky, tongue) from my hand. Also, there have been brush fires in the area, so some of the bigger animals have come closer to the main road between Shakawe and Maun (Gumare is the middle point between the two places). We see elephants from time to time and an occasional zebra.

It is nice to have our own yard. We have made a 2 nice cactus gardens. Richard started his second (or third) attempt at growing vegetables. He created several patches in the yard in hopes that something will grow. We did have two tomato plants grow by accident (bird droppings) and Richard is quite proud of them.

Last week was a very sad week for us. The health education officer, who I worked with a great deal and who was a good friend to Richard and I, was killed in a drunken driving accident over the previous weekend. The funeral was held last Sunday and over two hundred people came. Besides his family, he left behind a young son. Drunk driving is actually quite common in Botswana and the second highest reason for orphan hood after HIV/AIDS. Unfortunately, this is not an issue that receives enough attention.

The funeral was held in Ikoga, which is about thirty minutes north of Gumare. Traditionally, there are prayers every night leading up to a funeral, which can occur up to a week after the death. The evening before the funeral, the casket is picked up from the funeral parlor and mourners follow the casket to the family’s house. The mourners stay up late into the night praying. In the morning at 5AM, there is a viewing, and then the body is buried at 6AM. Women must cover their heads and wear a skirt/dress to the funeral. The family feeds everyone in the days leading up to the funeral.

Richard and I will be home for a visit in less than two weeks. We are very excited to see our families and friends. It will be interesting going from our village to NYC for those weeks we are home. Richard is already planning all his meals. I will be spending some time looking at PhD programs while I’m home, but I have to admit, I’ll also be spending a lot time planning for the next meal.

It is really starting to warm up here. June and July are the coldest months and September and October are the hottest months so we just watch the thermometer rise every day in August. We have actually been seeing quite a few elephants along the road near Gumare. Last week, when we were going to Xakao for a meeting, we saw a herd of females and babies about 30kms away.

I’ve been helping the Rehabilitation Officer, who works with people living with disabilities, write a big grant to create programming for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, people living with disabilities do not have much access to services and education and are often stigmatized due to traditional beliefs around the nature of disability. For example, many people in our area believe that disability is the result of witchcraft. Most rarely leave their houses and for those are physically handicapped; it is difficult to get around on the sandy terrain.

Richard is making progress on his basket. He is trying hard to finish before we go home. I suspect that the women at the basket co-op add on to it when he isn’t looking. Richard and I are still working on data inputting for our GIS mapping project, but we are making progress. We haven’t had too much trouble gathering the data we need. We are also planning for a health fair in Xakao, across the river, which will take place after we return in September. As a follow-up to the Employee Wellness Day I helped work on in May, I am now on the Workplace Wellness Program committee, which I really enjoy. School is out for most of August so we will resume mentoring and other school activities when we return.

It has been over a month since I last posted a blog entry. July was a very busy month. We had our mid service training in Molepolole. This was the first time I’ve seen many people in our Bots 7 group since our last training in September – it was nice to catch up with everyone. We had 3 days of training, including a language test, and a day of check-up medical/dental appointments.

After returning from Molepolole, my college friend Jen came for a visit. I took two days off of work so I could show her the Caprivi Strip in Namibia, which is very close to Gumare. Luckily, my birthday fell over a four day weekend, so this was a perfect opportunity to relax and show Jen around the area. She also got to experience village life, as she spent a few days in Gumare and I took her to a malaria event in Tsau, a village about 120km away. She was my first (and probably only) visitor and I was happy to see her and show her where I live.

The weather was very cold in July. We bundled up in layers and we were still cold, especially at night. The temperature was in the low 40’s in the early morning and mid-60s during the day. It is now starting to get warmer – actually at an alarming pace. I’m quite sure that it will be very hot again in a few weeks. Unfortunately, September and October are by far the hottest, most uncomfortable months. The good news is that my chameleon has hung around all winter and is still living in my front yard.

We continue to work on several ongoing projects. Right now, Richard and I gathering health data, such as HIV, TB, STIs, Malaria, Mother to Child Transmission, and Unavailability of Medicine for our sub-district and entering the data in excel spreadsheets. We are then going to use the data to make a GIS map, which looks at health trends in the area and where resources need to be targeted. We are also planning a health fair in Xakao and I am collaborating with a NGO in Shakawe to do a Needs Assessment of adolescent orphans. In addition, my Orphan Caregiver’s paper bead jewelry group is starting to sell to Mothers for All – they have made amazing progress.

This time next month, we will be in the United States for a visit. Looking forward to it!!!

Monday was Richard and I’s 6th anniversary. Since there are no fancy restaurants, (though we do love the Chicken House take-away), it was a pretty low-key day. Friday was our 1st anniversary in Gumare, which was also a pretty uneventful day. Time really does fly, though.

The weather has gotten much colder, which means winter has arrived. There has been quite a decrease in bugs, to the detriment of the chameleon that has happily taken up residence on the bush in our front yard. Chameleons aren’t usual visible in winter – many believe they hibernate – so he is a welcome surprise, especially since he has stayed for over two weeks. I try to help him out by gathering grasshoppers and he thanks me by extending his long tongue. Funny enough, the UN volunteer found him in her back yard. She called me to collect him and said that it is a belief in Botswana that when you see a chameleon, it will rain. Sure enough, it rained the next day and a couple days after that, which is unusual for this time of year.

Richard has been learning to weave a basket and he is progressing quite well. He provides the ladies at the basket co-op in our village with a lot of entertainment, though they have been quite helpful and patient with him. The women in our area make beautiful baskets and Richard and I have spent a good portion of our living allowance buying them. Richard is actually helping the women assemble a catalog right now, in exchange for the basket-making lessons. The bead-making project for orphan caregivers is progressing well. There are 7 women in the group. Last week, 2 women from the Mothers-for-All NGO came and taught them how to assemble different types of jewelry. Hopefully, they will be able to start selling the jewelry next week.

June 16th marked International Day of the African Child, which commemorates this date in 1976 when hundreds of black school children were shot in Soweto, South Africa, as they demanded their right to equal, quality education in their own language. This day also brings attention to children’s rights, such as the right to education, health, lack of poverty, etc, in Africa. This day is celebrated in most schools in Botswana. Our office sponsored a commemoration in XaiXai, a mostly San village near the Namibia border. Richard attended the event, while I went to the celebrations at the Primary School and Junior Secondary Schools in our village. I keep forgetting that every time I go to an event at the primary school, they ask me and the other PCV in Gumare to lead an activity, without time to prepare. We ended up teaching (i.e. demonstrating in front of the whole school) the Hokey Pokey. I’m not sure if the kids got more fun out of learning the Hokey Pokey or watching us – actually I know the answer .

Time has been flying as usual.  It is June tomorrow, which means we have been at our site for almost a year now.  When we were in training, the PCVs that came before us kept telling us how the second year of service gets much easier and is much more enjoyable.  I definitely am comfortable at my site now and have established good relationships with co-workers and others.  These relationships definitely took a long time to develop, but have been worth the effort. 

I just finished spending a week in Molepolole with the new group of PCVs who arrived in April and who will be in training for another 3 weeks.  I was there for peer support since I am on the Peer Support and Diversity Network.  The new group was amazing and asked lots of great questions.  They had their site placement yesterday so they now know where they will placed.  We will have a few new people in our area, which we are excited about. 

It was interesting to think that we were in training this time last year, dealing with all the frustrations that go along with it.   Training was definitely the hardest part of the last year.  However, spending time with training staff this week, made me realize what a hard job they have.  While in Molepolole, I stopped by and visited my host family.  They were very happy to see me and told me how fat I have gotten (a complement here). 

Richard was in Gaborone the week before me.  He was helping to set up an internal Botswana website for PCVs as part of the PCV ICT (Information, Communication, Technology) committee.  While he was in Gaborone, he was invited to the Gaborone Senior Secondary School (GSS) to talk to a Business class and answer their questions for a couple of hours.  I have been working with the Tommie who teaches the class, as well as computer classes, at GSS.  Tommie has helped start several Students Against Malaria groups in Botswana and teaches students ICT skills.  We invited him to train a group of students in Gumare and he was finally able to come a couple of weeks ago.  Tommie is very dynamic and the students really respond to him.  Unfortunately, the internet is still not hooked up at Gumare’s junior secondary school so Tommie wasn’t able to show the ICT skills, like how to communicate with students around the world about issues like HIV and Malaria, that he would have liked.  Richard has been working the 2 last weekends, though, to demonstrate the internet and sign students up for email in his office at the RAC.  Hopefully, when the internet is working at Gumare’s junior secondary school, the students in this new group will be able to communicate with other students around the world about their work. 

The women I am working with in the Orphan Caregivers beadmaking group are becoming very good at making beads out of paper from magazine, boxes, etc.  In a couple more weeks, they will be given the equipment from the NGO Mothers for All to  make jewelry with the beads and the NGO will start buying from them.  The women in the group are wonderful and very enthusiastic.

Richard has started helping the local basket co-op with business development.  A couple of the women are actually teaching Richard how to weave a basket, which is fun to watch.  Richard and I have also started mentoring 4 students each at the junior secondary school, which we hope will be a valuable experience for them.  

The last month has sped by. We had a very nice 10 day vacation in Namibia. We went to the capital of Windhoek, the big sand dunes at Sossusvlei, the seaside resort town of Swakopmund, the rock paintings at Twyfelfontien, Brandberg Mountain, and Etosha National Park. We camped most of the nights, except in Windhoek and Swakopmund. I really enjoyed seeing how beautiful the desert can be. We saw lots of creatures like chameleons, a sidewinder, geckos, weird insects, etc. Namibia is very beautiful and much more hilly/mountainous compared to Botswana. We really liked Etosha National Park because you can just sit by the watering holes at the camps and see tons of animals like rhinos, elephants, warthogs, lions, zebras, etc. without having to get in a car and drive around for hours.

Since we returned from Namibia, we have been busy. The bead making group, sponsored by Mothers for All, for orphan caregivers has been trained and the women are working hard at practicing making jewelry from magazines and other types of paper. We finally had the Employee Wellness fair on Thursday and it went very well. Lots of people came for HIV testing, BP screening, Diabetes screening, BMI calculation, oral health screening, eye screening and information on STIs, nutrition, breast cancer, cervical cancer, etc. I was elected as the one to give nutritional information, while Richard did the opening prayer.

Last weekend was a three day weekend so we went to the Maun music festival. We had a great time connecting with friends. This week, we had a couple from the new Peace Corps group shadow us for a few days. We took them, along with the District AIDS Coordinator and a couple other volunteers, to Tsodilo Hills yesterday to see the San rock art paintings. They also got a good view of how the area has flooded because the water was all the way to the road in some spots. The water in our house is still going on and off. Even though the rainy season is over, it rained a few times in the last week, though the flooding is coming from Angola.

A wonderful thing happened this weekend- we got water back in our village. There has been a lot of flooding in the Okavango because of heavy rains in Angola and DRC. Several villages in the area are heavily flooded and we hear there is more to come. We are not close enough to the water to be flooded; however, the water plant in Sepopa, which supplies our water, flooded a couple of weeks ago. As a result, we didn’t have water in Gumare for two weeks. We are luckier than most because we have a Jo-Jo, which collects rainwater, in our yard as an alternate source of water. We have been sharing with people in the village who do not have an alternate source, although we have to be careful not to run out of water all together. Unfortunately, the toilets at work weren’t working and there was no alternate place (i.e. pit latrine) to go the bathroom all day. The village finally got the back-up generator up and running this weekend so we have water now, although off and on.

We had a 4 day weekend because of Good Friday and Easter Monday. We spent a couple days in Maun visiting friends and hanging out, then spent a couple days reading and relaxing at home. We are headed to Namibia this weekend for vacation for a little over a week. Although we are sad it’s not Madagascar, it is still much needed time away.

This weekend marks one year in Botswana. I can’t believe how time flew!!! The new group (Bots 8) will be arriving this weekend for their 2 month training and most of the group that arrived the year before us (Bots 6) will be leaving at the end of next month.

May will be a busy month. I arranged for teacher from Gaborone, who does work with the Malaria Foundation, come do malaria training for 25 students at the junior secondary school so they can form a Students Against Malaria group and provide education in the community. Then a NGO called Mothers for All, started by a PCV, will be coming to train 2 groups of 6 orphan caregivers in Gumare on how to make beads from magazines and paper for the purpose of income generation. We are hoping to get those groups going strong after the initial training. We are also holding an Employee Wellness Day in May, which I am helping organize. The schools are on break now until the first week in May so I hope to get the GLOW club going again when the students return. I am fundraising now for a regional GLOW camp in our district in August so I have been doing a lot of calling and emailing around for that.

more MYAA

Month of Youth Against AIDS (MYAA) is wrapping up. The second week of March, we hosted a HIV/AIDS Youth Forum in Gumare. We had 31 students show up. Surprisingly, it wasn’t hard to get students to come on a weekend. The teachers attribute it to boredom, although I think part of it has to do with the fact that the teachers tell them they have to come. 2 other PCVs and 2 counselors from the Gumare Counseling Center help facilitate the workshop.

We used interactive, learning activities and games to teach the students about HIV myths versus facts, risky behaviors that transmit HIV, how HIV affects the immune system, and how HIV spreads through sexual networks. The students also learned about topics like STIs, the ABCs of HIV prevention, healthy living, behavior change, gender-based violence, decision-making and communication skills. Discussion was especially animated around topics such as Love, Sex, and Dating and Gender. We also did condom demonstrations; unfortunately, there is nowhere for youth to access condoms, even though 33% of 15-29 year olds are HIV positive and 33% of all pregnancies in our district are teenage pregnancies. Some of the issues that the students brought up as problems in schools were teachers who have sex with students and young girls having sex with men in the village for “presents”. At the end of the forum, the students discussed how HIV/AIDS affects their community and strategies they can use to help work against HIV/AIDS in their school and in Gumare.

Last weekend, Richard, the other PCV in Gumare, and I helped the GLOW/PACT club at the primary school do two mural projects to commemorate Month of Youth Against AIDS. One of the murals carried this year’s MYAA message One Me, One Partner, One Life (which is aimed towards reducing multiple, concurrent sexual partnerships that are fueling the HIV epidemic here) and the other one was a AIDS ribbon with We Want Life written in Setswana. The kids were very proud of the murals when they were done. Next week, they are going to do a drama and read a poem to the school to teach the other students about HIV/AIDS.

Things in the office have really picked up for me. I am usually busy during the morning/afternoon. We have been working on reports, following up on the Child Welfare Networking Forum by creating a directory for our area, etc. There will also be an Ark for Children Therapy Camp for orphans, sponsored by our office, next month. I’ve also been trying to get funds to hold a GLOW regional camp in our district in August. I am also helping the Health Education Officer plan an Employee Wellness Fair in May. We have already assembled a committee to help us arrange activities. Richard has been busy helping his office coordinate all the MYAA activities going on this month, as well as prepare for the upcoming quarterly TAC (Technical Advisory Committee for the DMSAC) and the District Multisectoral AIDS Committee. He is also working to raise funds to renovate the village’s community center so people have a social outlet, other than bars, and kids can relieve some of their boredom.

I have been going to the schools in the late afternoons, a few times a week, to work with the PACT/GLOW clubs at the primary school and the junior secondary school. I am also starting to mentor seven Form 3 (equiv to 9th, 10th grade) students from the Junior Secondary School. Richard is also mentoring four Form 3 students. Hopefully in May, I will be able to get a Students Against Malaria group going once the students are trained by a teacher who will come from Gaborone.

The weather is starting to get a lot cooler now since it is almost winter. It goes down to the low 60s at night, which is nice because I no longer start sweating the minute I get out of the shower. It makes sleeping a lot more pleasant. We are still fighting to get a refund for our plane tickets to Madagascar, but it doesn’t look promising. I think we are planning to go to Namibia next month instead. We finally bought our plane tickets to visit home in September. We will arrive in NYC on September 1 and leave September 14th. We are really looking forward to seeing our family and friends, as well as eating at all our favorite restaurantsJ

For those who are keeping tabs, we are up to 3 dogs and a cat. The third dogs we dubbed Not Our Dog even though he is looking mighty comfortable in our front yard these days. Unfortunately, all three dogs (two have been in our yard since we moved in) are dogs people left behind when they moved. Since they are very loyal to us, we don’t have the heart to eject them from our yard; however, we don’t claim ownership. I guess it doesn’t help that we go around collecting scraps for them whenever we can (they refuse dog food).

MYAA

It is Month of Youth Against Aids in Botswana so we have been busy with several events in our district. Last weekend, we did a mural project with the PACT/GLOW club at the junior secondary school. First, the students had an art contest to pick a winning drawing. They then took the winning drawing and sketched it on a wall at the school. Finally, on Saturday, the club members took turns painting the mural. It was a fun day of painting, playing Frisbee, and having a group discussion about HIV/AIDS. It started raining in the afternoon, but luckily we were able to get the majority of the painting done.

On Friday, we will be attending an HIV/AIDS event for students at the junior secondary school in Sepopa. This weekend, we will be facilitating a 2 day HIV/AIDS Youth Forum in Gumare for 30 junior secondary students. Next weekend, we are going to have the PACT club members from the junior secondary school help the PACT club members at the primary school paint a mural.

On Thursday and Friday, February 26 and 27th, we held the Child Welfare Networking Forum in Shakawe at the Fishing Lodge. After weeks of preparation, the two days went very well. We had 28 people come, representing S&CD, the DAC office, and 10 NGOs involved with orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in our district. There were a lot of relevant discussions about how NGOs can work with each other and come together as one voice to advocate for OVCs. This was also an opportunity for S&CD (Social and Community Development office- gov. organization that provides benefits and services to OVCs and their caregivers) to clarify some issues pertaining to its role. The forum ended on a positive note, with all organizations expressing interest in meeting again in the near future, although no specific action plan was created. We are now working on a directory so that the organizations have each others’ information, including focus area and services offered, so it will facilitate referrals in the future.

The Saturday after the forum ended, Botshelo Trust, the NGO I was working with to produce the Child Welfare Networking Forum, sponsored an event called Shakawe Music Festival/Have a Heart for Kids day. At this event, all the NGO’s who came to the networking event had a booth where they provided information about their organization to the public. There was also talent show and traditional dancing, which people enjoyed. Unfortunately, it ended up raining quite a bit and the star act Chris Monto7 ended up backing out at the last minute.

The weather has not been nice for the last week. It has been raining heavily nearly every day. As a result, the roads have been hard to walk on because of all the mud and huge puddles of water. Luckily, the temperature has cooled as a result of the rain.

Sadly, my planned trip to Madagascar next month has to be cancelled due to the riots that have been happening in the capital. Peace Corps could not approve our trip due to safety concerns. I was really looking forward to seeing all the creatures (especially the chameleons and lemurs). We are not sure if we will go somewhere else yet, although we will be ready for a little R&R in the near future  The good news is that Jen P. has booked her flight and will be come visiting us in July, which will be a nice birthday present.

The weather seems to be getting a little cooler now, although it is still hot. Since it is still the rainy season, there are occasional downpours which leave huge puddles of mud. I’ve never seen rain come down as it does here in Botswana. We are still dealing with occasional power outages because of shortages of electricity from Namibia. For example, our electricity was out all day yesterday. Since the water pumps, which also filter the water, run by electricity, we also lose water when the power is out for more than a few hours. When the power goes out during the work week, it is hard to get work done at the Rural Administration Center (RAC) where I work. Luckily, the power outages usually occur on weekends. When they do occur during the week, they usually post signs alerting what times the electricity will be out.

Richard is very proud that vegetables are now starting to grow in our yard. His watermelons are getting quite big and the tomatoes plants have started to sprout. We have also been working on getting a nice garden growing in our front yard. We occasionally have to get our yard cleared because all the weeds grow fast and big during the rainy season. It is nice to see everything green though because during the dry season, everything is brown. I had a happy moment this morning when I walked out and there was a chameleon staring at me in the tree in our backyard.

Work has really picked up for Richard and I. Richard really enjoyed his workshop in Lesotho in which he gained lots of ideas for technology projects aimed at HIV/AIDS. He is hoping to pass these ideas on to our fellow PCVs in Botswana. For instance, using soda cans to give cell phone coverage to places without network. This goes along with a project that uses SMSs (text messages) to remind people to take ARVs.

We have several projects planned for the Month of Youth next month. We are going to do HIV/AIDS mural projects with the primary and junior secondary schools as well as a weekend HIV/AIDS youth forum in Gumare, in which we are going to provide HIV/AIDS education and have the youth come up for strategies for combating HIV/AIDS in the community.

I’ve been going back and forth to Shakawe to help plan a Child Welfare Networking Forum in which all the local NGOs and government offices will meet to strategize on how they can cooperate and work together. The event will finally occur on Thursday and Friday this week, followed by a musical festival on Saturday where all the organizations will have stalls to present their organizations to the public. I’m hoping that after all the work we put into planning, that things work out smoothly.

We have also been planning health fairs. This week, we went to Gudigwa, the furthermost village in our district. It involves going to Shakawe, crossing the river by ferry, then driving down an un-tarred, bumpy road for 2.5 hours then returning, all in one day. We tried to go on Thursday, but the ferry wasn’t working because someone forgot to anchor it and it floated away and they were working on retrieving it. Instead, we ended up doing the trip on Friday, leaving at 6AM, getting back at 6:30. We were hoping to do a health fair there in a few weeks, but we will have to wait until next quarter because they want more time to set up their Village Multi-sectoral AIDS Committee (VMSAC). There will, however, be a health fair in Ngarange, also across the river but much closer than Gudigwa, in the first week of March.

There has been a lot of focus on malaria since our district has the highest rate in Botswana. Several organizations, along with our district health team, are doing door to door bednet distribution in our district. I’ve sat in on one of their planning meetings. The plan is having teams go out to the villages in three stages: first to educate and sensitize, second to distribute the bednets, and third to make sure the people are using the nets. Last time I was in Gaborone, I met up with a wonderful and devoted teacher who has started Students Against Malaria groups in Botswana. He invited me to go out with a group of students from Maun two weekends ago to a village called Shorobe. The students formed teams to go house to house to educate families on malaria and ways of prevention. Tommie and I are hoping to start a group the local junior secondary school in Gumare in the next couple of months. I’ve been coordinating with the Health Education Officer for our district to find out where are students will be most useful (which right now looks like working with students at other schools).

Richard and I took our first out-of-country leave since coming to Botswana. Last week, we went to Dahab, which is in the Sinai, in Egypt. We were gone Sunday to Sunday. It is winter in Egypt so it was refreshingly cool. We had a nice week of diving and snorkeling in the Red Sea and camel rides in the desert. We even climbed Mt Sinai- all 3750 “steps” to the top. The reefs of the Red Sea were beautiful and amazing- so many fish and healthy, colorful coral. One of the dive trips we went on involved a 1.5 hour camel ride since the site was inaccessible by vehicle. We also took another camel trek to a canyon and a Bedouin village in a desert oasis. In the evenings, we relaxed and dined in the restaurants by the sea. Since there are so many cats in Dahab, the restaurants give you a water bottle to squirt the cats because they try to the steal the food from your plate. They actually got food from our plates one night because we felt guilty about squirting them. On the way back on Sunday, Richard met his counterpart and a Peace Corps staff member in Johannesburg airport so they could fly to Lesotho for a week long Peace Corps sub-regional meeting on using technology to address HIV/AIDs.

The week and a half before we left for vacation was quite busy. Richard was helping his office prepare for upcoming DMSAC and TAC (Technical Advisory Committee for DMSAC) meetings and several upcoming events, like health fairs and VMSAC formations. We had a veterinarian, from a NGO in Maun that does free vaccinations and spaying/neutering dogs, stay with us for a week. Since the vet did not have an assistant, I helped her prep dogs for surgery and monitor the dogs during the actual surgery. It was quite interesting to be able watch the whole process. The vet was able to sterilize an average of 3-4 females and 2 males a day, which will greatly influence the dog population in Gumare. As a favor, she neutered our cat Mufasa.

The three days before we left for Egypt, I was in Gaborone to be trained for the Peer Support and Diversity Network (PSDN) for Peace Corps volunteers in Botswana. There were 10 of us chosen from within our Bots 7 group to provide peer support for other PCV’s. One of our first responsibilities will be spending a week each with the new group of volunteers coming for pre-service training in April. We are providing on-site support to the new group because pre-service training tends to be a time of stress and a lot of adjustment.

At the end of the month, there will be a 2 day Orphan and Vulnerable Children Stakeholders Networking workshop in Shakawe. I am currently helping a NGO in Shakawe prepare the workshop, which will provide an opportunity for S&CD and NGOs in our district to get to learn more about each other and problem solve, as well as share ideas, successes, and best practices. We are hoping this will lead to greater cooperation and collaboration in the future.

Happy New Year!!! New Year’s Day in Botswana is a big holiday. It is a time to get together with your family, braii (barbeque- since it is summer here and not cold and snowy), eat, and celebrate. New Year’s Eve was actually very uneventful since most of the celebrating is done here on New Year’s Day.

Since it was a 4 day weekend because of the New Year’s holiday, we decided to go on a mokoro (dug-out canoe) trip through Back to the Bridge Backpackers in Maun. It was a lot of fun, as we got to camp overnight on an island in the Okavango Delta and do bush-walks. We were able to see giraffe, elephant, zebra, wildebeest, waterbuck, hippos, all kinds of great birds, etc. Plus, I’ve always wanted to try riding in a mokoro, which is made from a large tree and is a traditional form of transport in the delta’s waterways.

Our Christmas was also very nice- quiet and relaxing. We had a PCV friend come visit us. We took a couple day trips around the area, including a boat ride in Shakawe, where saw lots of hippos, crocs, and birds, a visit to a crocodile farm, and a boat ride in Sepopa. There was a huge storm on Christmas Eve so we didn’t have power that night. We also lost power for most of Boxing Day and the day after. Our neighborhood was quite empty Christmas weekend through New Year’s weekend because everyone went home to their home villages to visit family.

The last two weeks of December were very quiet in the office since many of our co-workers took their annual leave and the schools were out for the month. Now that it is a New Year, we have started planning for the months to come. We are going to try to do a health fair in Gudigwa (a remote village on the other side of the delta from us), another Sexual Health celebration in either Gumare or Seronga, a regional GLOW camp, a fish-a-thon for PLWHAs (people living with HIV/AIDS), and an orphan stakeholders workshop. We will also be taking a week vacation at the end of January for a little R&R and diving in the Red Sea. When we get back from vacation, Richard is going to Lesotho for a sub-regional Peace Corps meeting on how to use informational and technology to address HIV/AIDs.