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.
