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.
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.