Update

It’s time for an update. On the theory that a picture is worth a thousand words, I am also trying to upload a movie to the blog, but it takes a very long time to upload. I tried to do so last weekend but ran out of internet time after uploading for 45”. In any case, I wanted to put up a word post to let you know that we are alive and thriving.
We got back from our shadowing experiences after VERY long bus rides (13 hours for Maureen and 9.5 hours for myself) but both of us got to see another part of the country. The west where I went is Kalahari desert, but unlike the “Sahara shifting sands” vision I had, it is flat and covered with shrubs and small trees. It is sparsely populated and maintains a slower pace of life. Many of the ethnic tribes live out there and several different languages are spoken. The San people are the original natives (don’t call them Bushmen as it is an ethnic slur) and are the low men on the totem pole. Like our own American Indians, they unfortunately get the least and poorest services. They make a beautiful form of jewelry out of ostrich egg shells into necklaces and bracelets so I purchased two as souvenirs of the trip. My Peace Corps volunteer host Mike Wigal was very congenial and has the distinction of having the only elliptical trainer in that part of the country. He is a big runner and has run the Boston Marathon 17 times, so he felt a strong need to have a training machine in his house, but don’t ask me how he got it up there!
The town I stayed in, Charles Hill is very small—only 300 people. I took a movie of the town and will upload it if and when I can. The town consists of houses, several shops, a café, a bar, post office, hardware store, food store and a private junior high school, but no senior high. It is not uncommon for students here to be boarding and 95% of the students are San from the surrounding cattle posts who live at school. The District AIDS Coordinator’s office (abbreviated the DAC office) is small and several of the positions have been vacant. The government of BW can assign employees to any position in the country regardless of where you live, so many of the staff come from cities elsewhere in the country. These employees live in government housing, often without their families, and travel home only on occasion or at holidays. It is not an ideal set-up to say the least.
I will be working in one of the DAC offices somewhere but the assignments won’t be made for another several weeks. What I came away with from the experience is that I prefer not to live in a village of this size. We get to express our preferences to the PC, but they make it clear that there are no guarantees as to where you will go. Couples’ placements are a bit more complicated since they have to find positions for both of us in the same town. Most of the DAC offices are in larger towns and villages. Charles Hill is something of an exception.
Maureen went up north to Kasane. It is a medium sized town and has a lot of tourists who fly in and are based there for river trips to see the wildlife via river boats. She and her fellow volunteers to Kasane went on a river trip and saw elephants, hippos, antelope, crocs, baboons and many beautiful birds. Nice perk! The price for getting there though, is a 13 hour Kombi ride (a 16 seat van) over a terrible road—more potholes than pavement. She also got to visit with Tom and Jana Bergdall, the PC Bots 7 volunteer couple that we have Skype’d several times. They have internet in their residence which is something that we dearly hope we can obtain as well.
A big piece of news that will influence our placement is that Maureen got a call from the Botswana PC Director asking her if she would consider switching programs from the NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) track to the Life Skills track which deals with students in the school systems. Apparently the PC has had her listed as a Life Skills volunteer right from the start but sent us the wrong information on her position. The Director said that this change would give the PC more flexibility in placing the two of us, compared to the options they had if they were to place us with her as an NGO. Maureen was agreeable, as was I. The upshot of this change is that she will be working in a school with teachers and students, and probably speaking English most of the day. English is the required language for classes and exams in all schools. It also means that as a couple we will likely be placed somewhere in the Southeast (more populated) part of Botswana, as that is where the Life Skills positions are posted. All in all, we think a good change for us.
Our Setswana lessons are 2 to 4 hours per day and were very difficult at first. It is simply a complicated Bantu language. Things are gradually beginning to fall into place and we are beginning to be able to make simple sentences. Small differences in one syllable can make a big difference though:

“Molema” is left and “molemo” is medicine.
“Mabele” is sorghum (a grain staple) and “mabele” is a woman’s breast
“Moja” is right and “mojo” means absolutely nothing in Setswana but came out of an old Austin Powers movie.

We had our first practice LPI (Language Proficiency Interview) and were both rated as Novice Mid-level. We will have another practice LPI next week, then the final one that counts in 4 weeks. They are oral exams only. I expected to sail right through, but as with most of the trainees, the person giving the exam was not our teacher and had a significantly different pronunciation accent. Even when I knew 90% of the words in the sentence, one or two small words kept me from understanding the question. The topics focus on greetings, questions about where we come from, where we are staying, what our work is and our activities of daily living. Having a chance to practice twice before the final is really essential to giving us the feel of what they want and how to prepare. The word on the street is that Botswana PC placed dead last of all the PC stations in the world last year in cumulative LPI scores. We therefore, are getting over twice the amount of language training that last year’s group got.
We are getting an excellent crash course in HIV/AIDs including the biology, the means of transmission, myths, treatments, the resources already in place and the BW governmental program to deal with the problem. BW has really made an extensive and multi-faceted effort to deal with HIV. Although all the BW residents with HIV/AIDS get a triple combination of the antiretroviral medications (the treatment of choice in the world) for free through the government, there is still a significant lack of manpower to educate, counsel and facilitate—which is where we come in. Today we had a panel of persons living with HIV who spoke about the stigma and discrimination, as well as how to combat it.
Well, enough for now. If you see another post today for the movie, I succeeded, if not, oh well.

Kip