My new friend Fee Fee and I at the Kenyan Festival
Our apartments aren't too shabby, huh?
Boulders and landscape in Thamaga, about 35km west of Gaborone
These children volunteer for a project that attempts to uphold certain traditions of the Tswana culture including a dance, which celebrated our presence!

Our guide and friend, Lerox, a child at SOS orphanage, and Stephanie
The elephants of Mokolodi Game Reserve
Preventative signs like this can be seen all over the University of Botswana's campus. A lack of sex education is not the main reason for high HIV/AIDS prevalence in Botswana; the major concern is a lack of behavior modification(s) from the Batswana.
While there is litter everywhere in Gaborone, I have been told that Ghana is much worse! The goats don't seem to mind some afternoon grub!

My peers and partners in crime!

The Counseling Aspects

Dumelang Bo rra le Bo mma!

So contrary to my last blog, which took a long time to post, I am bombarding you with more information because today has been the first day that I have felt a purpose in being here and a true sense of belonging. I realized that in the last week or so I've been a bit down because Stephanie and I felt as though we were lacking direction with our selected organization.

To be blunt, this organization is struggling financially, directionally, and it lacks resources. On the other hand, its counseling efforts are truly impressive. Barbara, who is the lay counselor that Stephanie and I have been observing, is so inspirational. It's interesting how Botswana really has no standards or qualifications that have to be met in order to be a counselor. As a United States citizen and a biased counseling student, it has been hard for me to accept that someone with no formal training could be an effective counselor. In the States this would imply that anyone could get a job as a counselor and my schooling would have been conducted in vain.

On the contrary, Barbara's training at Lifeline reminded me of who I was before the counseling program at Ohio University. While I have learned so much at OU, when it comes down to it, either you have natural abilities that point you into the direction of helping professions or you just do not. I think that I grew so accustomed this academic year to examining so much of my intentionality as a counselor, that I forgot my empathic nature and listening skills that have come naturally.

Blah, I'll get off of my soapbox and tell you about the day instead of continuing to boast about my self-revelations...

I woke up in a rather sour mood, which as I mentioned before has been a theme lately. When we got to Lifeline, we were greeted by the nine women who are counseling trainees and participate in the personal growth group. They're all so warm and friendly, but I was a bit apprehensive having only met them once before to participate in something like Dance Therapy as a collective.

Barbara began the session by having us all close our eyes and giving us a hypothetical situation, which as most of you know, I LOVE HYPOTHETICALS. My mom hates when I do this because it's generally something disgusting or just completely unrealistic. In this hypothetical situation we were to imagine ourselves leaving the building and boarding a bus and driving somewhere for a picnic. Along the way the weather is perfect and we are happy and serene. We begin climbing a hill that keeps going up when all of the sudden the weather changes and suddenly the weather is inclement, and it's storming with thunder and lightning. As we begin to go down the hill the bus driver loses control and the bus slides off of a cliff with only the front or back of the bus dangling off the side of this cliff. In a state of panic, sirens make their way towards the scene and a man appears who tells us that he can only save two of us. The question that Barbara posed at this point is who should be saved on the bus with the Lifeline crew aboard.

Well naturally the hypothetical put me into a total state of anxiety, although Barbara continued the exercise once we opened our eyes and got back to reality. She went around the room and asked all of us who we selected to save, and my choice was Stephanie (obvious choice as she’s a close friend) and also Mimi, who is the youngest of the women in the group. As Barbara gave all of us a chance to answer, I couldn't help but take it a bit further in my mind and imagine if it were all the members of my family or a large circle of my closest friends who I would and wouldn't choose to save. How can you begin to answer something like that?

The point of Barbara's exercise was to demonstrate how most of us chose people to save other than ourselves, and that it's generally in the nature of a counselor or counselors in training to put others first. However, this was not entirely the general opinion. A couple people were honest and admitted they saved themselves. Barbara commended them, noting that as counselors we can't save everyone and that we have to be okay with that in order to be okay with ourselves at the end of the day. When you take on too many problems of other people, you ultimately neglect yourself. While this notion of self care has been preached to us since the beginning of my counseling program, I think this exercise was helpful at putting self care in a different context. Think about it though, really. It sounds a bit new age to put oneself in such a hypothetical, but at least think about this hypothetical. Who would you choose to save? It's hard to begin imagining having to choose!

The next element in our counseling was the dance therapy. We began with a series of stretches and warm up exercises, and then it turned into what mostly resembled an aerobics class for women at a Curves gym. Ha! It was entertaining to say the least. We then had to gather in a circle and one by one enter the circle and do a dance, ending our dance with elements within our lives that we wished to abandon. Whatever those elements, be it negative energy, guilt, fear, selfishness, boastfulness, etc - the rest of the group screamed out that element and for it to be gone. Again, new age and a bit tribal sounding, but it was pretty empowering! The exercise concluded with us taking a piece of paper and writing out all the negative words or feelings that people had attributed to us throughout our lives. We tore the paper up, threw the pieces on the ground, danced all over them, kicked every piece of paper out the door, and closed the door behind us. It was really cool getting to see how therapy was actually implemented into something like dance, and it wasn't just exercising to help reduce stress. It makes me want to put a more comprehensive plan together for the wellness component that I am responsible for during my time with Lifeline Botswana.

The second part of the day Barbara, Stephanie, and I drove across town to an international, private school called Mura a Pula (Clouds and Rain). I told you these people value their water! ;) The school is expensive as far as schooling goes in Botswana. It is 30,000 Pula for a child to attend each year, which is equivalent to $5,000 in the U.S. While this may not sound like much, it is still hard to avoid dropping your jaw at the larger bill amounts here. The school was beautiful, and the group that the counseling session was geared towards was 12 girls aged 14-16.

While Barbara commands a great sense of assertiveness and presence in her counseling, these girls dished out some questions that gave her a run for her money. These girls are smart and feisty. Barbara later told us that about 95% of the Mura a Pula graduates go onto colleges outside of Botswana, mainly in the U.S. and/or Europe.

There was no formal structuring to the group. Barbara generally begins by asking group participants to throw out feeling words that they are experiencing at that moment and the dialogue flows naturally from there. An issue pertaining to child/parent interaction was the main topic, although there was also talk of infidelity and the importance of self respect. I had to bite my lip so as to not laugh when Barbara brought up the subject of sex and used a diamond within a coal to represent the sacredness of a woman's womb. The implication is that when searching for diamonds, miners must carefully scrape away at the coal in order to check for diamonds (i.e. a woman must guard her private parts like a coal protects a diamond). I mean, it was appropriate given that coal mining and diamond trade are vital for Botswana's economic success, but still - a coal and a diamond!? Ha!

Anyway, Stephanie and I were driven back to Lifeline where we finished our day with a meal that Barbara provided - Kentucky Fried Chicken. Oh the irony. Stephanie and I agreed that for the first time since being here and beginning at Lifeline, we feel a sense of purpose and peace. It was also the first time I experienced the sensation that our time here is not nearly enough. Then again, it also reaffirms that counseling is needed everywhere and for everyone. It will be good to get back to Ohio soon and begin a new adventure working in the elementary school.

Getting Serious

Hi everyone! I have been a little M.I.A. because the last week has been relatively hectic. The overall tone of the trip has shifted from my peers and I being bright-eyed tourists to students once again.

Last week we began a series of lectures that took place from Monday through Wednesday. These lectures were primarily conducted by University of Botswana faculty and/or UB affiliates. One of the affiliates, a Motswana woman by the name of Tumie, gave a presentation on the role of peer education in regards to the HIV/AIDS situation in Botswana. While she is no older than 25, it is clear the esteem that the professors have for her. She has been a peer educator for HIV/AIDS prevention education since the age of 13, and today sits on many international committees. Surprisingly, she has struggled to find work in Botswana, but evidentially finding a job is difficult here apart from diamond mining, which seems to be Botswana's one cash crop.

I have noticed that it is not uncommon for many Batswana to move abroad because of a lack of funds and/or job opportunities. Many faculty members have spouses and children that live abroad including our program coordinator in Botswana, Lucky. Lucky (and yes, this is her real name) actually attended Ohio University and received her master's and PhD degrees in counseling. Her husband and children now reside in Chillicothe, Ohio. I can't seem to get all the details why, but it's intriguing.

Tumie is now in a tough spot where if she is unable to find work here, she knows her chances are greater in the States, so she might uproot her newborn baby and husband to seek employment. Ironically, Botswana is considered a rather economically prosperous country, and there is a ton of diversity here. Two of my peers, George and Mary, are Kenyan and they took us over the weekend to a Kenyan festival. It feels so random to be treated with such warmth and hospitality by Kenyans when we are actually in Botswana, and to be honest, most of the natives have been anything but hospitable. While Botswana has given refuge to many foreigners and Western civilization seems to be widely accepted here, there still seems to be an understandable resentment towards anyone who is not Batswana.

Anyway, much of our lectures last week dealt with statistics. While I won't bore you too much with all of this data, one thing that I did find to be interesting was the lack of attention to inmates in the prison systems here. Many inmates go into these prisons HIV- and come out HIV+, yet the prison system seems to make no efforts to promote safe sex. Granted, prisons everywhere have this problem, but in a country whose HIV/AIDS prevalence is 40% of the population, you would think this might raise a few red flags.

Apparently the controversy behind this taboo subject stems from homosexuality. Homosexuality is not recognized in Botswana. Even Tumie during her presentation had no idea how to label homosexuals because it is just not in their vocabulary. I was under the impression when I came here that homosexuality was illegal, which we found out from a legal and ethical firm called BONELA that this assumption was untrue. While homosexual "acts" are unlawful, to admit that you are gay in Botswana is not a crime. Still, this unspoken issue has been overlooked in the prison systems in addition to attributing any statistics towards the gay community.

Reviewing HIV/AIDS populations in Botswana is much different than in the United States. In the U.S., it has been my experience that the stereotypes that exist about people with HIV/AIDS are that either African Americans or the Gay community are the populations at "fault." Just as we need to dispel these myths in the United States, Botswana has similar issues. More than two thirds of the HIV/AIDS population here are women, and for every one man infected with HIV/AIDS, three women contract the virus as well. Understandably, there has been a lot of female empowerment and education, but where the efforts are truly lacking is with men. It's like the old saying goes, "It takes two to tango," and while women DO need education and empowerment (particularly in such a patriarchal society), men need just as much.

In addition to the lectures that we had last week, we also took Setswana lessons. Unfortunately, I did not make it to Thursday or Friday's classes because I ended up getting bronchitis. Boo! I generally have a pretty depressed immune system and I really didn't take many preventative measures apart from immunizations in terms of my health. It comes as no surprise though that traveling, being in a tight group of people, being in a new country and climate with all new allergies that this would happen. It just ended up hindering my weekend a lot, and from Thursday until Sunday, I was pretty much laid up in bed.

Yesterday was my first day at an organization; the main reason that we have come to Botswana. Before I came here I was truly under the impression that I would be working with the children's orphanage (SOS), but the more I thought about it, the less I was appealed by it. It seemed as though the time I would spend there would be a glorified babysitting job, and while the children are beautiful and vibrant, this is not the reason that I came here.

I am working with my good friend Stephanie at a counseling firm called Lifeline Botswana. Lifeline Botswana is a part of the Southern Africa division of Lifeline, which includes Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa. That division is associated with Lifeline International, which houses offices globally.

Each office is its own entity and responsible for its own funding. I guess that the benefits of sharing the company name are recognition and the fact that the offices are provided with training materials. Steph and I were both pretty excited that the counseling theories they adhere to are a person-centered approach. This probably won't make much sense to anyone who isn't in counseling education, but it fits in with Stephanie's and my personal styles.

Ironically, the first thing that we did yesterday was sit on a group counseling session with a woman who led the group using anything but a person-centered approach. She was totally confrontational, short-tempered, yet totally effective. Counselors would say she definitely operates under a Gestalt orientation.

The group was comprised of nine women who are there for counseling training, although this two month training session includes a month of counseling for them, operated on a personal growth model. The women's last group therapy session is on Thursday, and as a special treat, the group leader is incorporating dance therapy, which Stephanie and I are also expected to participate. Should be a lot of fun!

Steph and I are both excited for our time with Lifeline Botswana, but we're also totally overwhelmed. This company has experienced some harsh changes and obstacles in the last year including burglary (15 computers stolen with most of their information and no insurance), budget cuts, the implementation of a new director, and hardly any funds. This operation is sinking and quickly! There are only three women and several volunteers that run this operation and they receive no government funding or help from other Lifeline affiliations. Steph and I have come into this operation at a very vulnerable time, and I think they are expecting us to perform miracles. While Steph has had experience in non-profits, Vicky (the new director) wants us to look at almost every facet of the company and ways in which to improve it. Yikes!

Steph and I have modified our roles there and told Vicky what is realistic. While we are making sincere efforts, there is truly only so much we can do in three weeks. One cool thing that I am trying to implement is a wellness program for the workers and volunteers. The last week at the organization, I will be leading a breathing techniques and yoga class and I am hoping this effort continues after my time here. Self care is so important for anyone, but particularly counselors who undergo so much stress and dealing with other people's hardships.

I will keep you all posted on what's going on. For now though, all my love from Gaborone. I miss you all so much, and while I love my time here, I am excited to get home.
Mark :)

Wrapping up week one

Hi all!

Hope everyone is doing well! It's been an adventurous couple days here in Gaborone. The overall impression I've gotten is how much pride and spirit Batswana people have for their culture and country. As I write this, there is a football (aka soccer match) taking place right across from the University of Botswana where I am staying. I would be there, but the last few days have been busy, and I'm trying to catch up on journaling and some much needed sleep. Besides, it seems as though I'll have several other opportunities to go. My group and I were on our way back from a game park just a few miles north of Gaborone called Mokolodi when we stumbled across the football match beginning. The spirit here is ridiculously impressive! Everyone is wearing the national colors, which are blue, black, and white, and everyone seems to have a long, plastic horn that they use out of excitement. It's pretty intense. One of my peers and I were walking to the library to send emails and the cheering is so loud that it ran chills up my back. It's similar to Ohio State and their Buckeyes I suppose, although the horns are an added touch. It feels more like we're a block away from a Quidditch match! Ha!

Anyway, let me back track a little...

On Wednesday my cohorts and I went to a women's shelter, which specifically deals with women who have dealt with physical and/or mental abuse from their husbands and/or respective partners. Many of these women have HIV/AIDS. The first center that we went to was the drop-in center. Evidentally women from up to 1,000 km travel to this shelter for the care and support the center provides. The center deals with a lot of community outreach, not only for women but men and children as well. All but two full time staff members are volunteer workers. As we sat around the table and discussed the work of the center, it was hard to miss these incredibly designed pillow covers, curtains, and bags in front of us. Some of the women who drop-in are given the opportunity to help make these crafts in order to sell at many of the malls around town; this just happens to be one of the ways that they fund this operation.

The second component to the women's shelter project is the shelter itself. Located near the university, the shelter is well-protected and generally houses a few women at a time. We were fortunate to have the chance of actually meeting four women that were staying there, although it felt a bit obtrusive being there in a large group given the nature of the women's circumstances. The shelter itself was pretty small, and evidentally the women who are allowed to stay at the shelter are first given an need-based evaluation by the counselors from the drop-in center.

We were at the shelter briefly and then returned to school only to leave a few minutes later for yet another mall. I swear, these people love their malls; only these malls are much smaller than ours. For those of us who know Columbus well and how much they love their malls, Gaborone is covered with them! River Walk, which is the mall that we went to on this day, is not on a river at all. We took a look around and then headed back to the university for dinner.

I feel like the kitchen staff is trying to be very gracious in supplying us with more traditional "American" foods such as salads and even the last couple days there has been french fries (or chips). I was most excited to have fish last night, which I didn't realize how much I'd appreciate until I came here and most of their diets consist of beef, pork, and/or chicken. They love their meat in Botswana. We've been served chicken livers, beef livers, minced meat, ox tail, and yesterday the special was cow intestine. I've tried to be somewhat adventurous in trying the stuff, but I'll admit I'm usually sticking to the chicken. God forbid you also ask for a napkin, because here a napkin means diaper, and I learned the hard way when I asked for one and the kitchen staff cracked up at me. :P

Thursday our group went to the Holy Cross Hospice, which is associated with the Anglican Church. This is another NGO that we will be able to work with if we want. We were forewarned that we might see some severely ailing patients, and if we were not comfortable with it, we had our program coordinator's permission to not attend. I felt a little bit strange going, but thankfully we only met with the director and a couple of the social workers. This branch of hospice has approximately 20 AIDS and/or cancer patients that come for daycare services. 95% of the patients are in the more advanced stages of AIDS and they can range anywhere from 20s and 30s up to the elderly. Holy Cross Hospice also has a home care program. While their facilities were very nice, and even felt like a small bed and breakfast, this organization has its share of issues; mainly staff burnout, no full time doctor, a lack of nurse care, and a lack of funds. Interestingly, the Women's Shelter Project receives most of their funding from international donors, but Hospice has a fair representation from both local and international donors. My theory on this is that this is a rather conservative country where Christianity is the dominant religion. Botswana, as I have also mentioned in my past blog, is also a very patriarchal society. I can see how hospice is regarded higher than the women's shelter given the nature of these overlapping factors.

After hospice, we went to Botswana Craft, which as you might have guessed is a popular crafts store. We were warned that it is expensive, so most of us are holding out for street vendors to buy things where you have the ability to bargain. If I'm unable to find the souvenirs that I did at the store though, I'll have to make a trip back. So many awesome masks, fabrics, jewelry, and festive mobiles.

On the way back to the university we drove through two different areas of town: a very poor ghetto called Old Naledi (meaning "no rules), and a very wealthy area, which has a full golf course, club house, etc. Old Naledi is considered to be a "high risk" area for people with HIV/AIDS as there is a lack of funds for education and/or contraceptives. In general, the area is fairly depressed. Most of the houses are cement, very close together, and no larger than an average dorm room. Many of the places also do not have running water and electricity. It was really hard driving in a van around the area. Surprisingly, many of the people have nice cars and are well-dressed, although they clearly reside on the bottom rung of the socioeconomic chain in Gaborone and by the look on their faces, resented our presence. I asked one of the university students how much a place like that would cost to rent and he claimed anywhere from 300 - 1,000 Pula, depending on the running water and electricity status. This amount is equivalent to $50-200 in the States, approximately. Lerox, the student I spoke with and who has been one of our guides, said that anything above 1,000 Pula is pretty decent.

The wealthier areas, on the other hand, are a different story all together. We went to two different neighborhoods: the first had relatively nice houses, and the second was the one on the golf course, and those houses were ridiculously large. The fact that there is real grass throughout the golf course should be testament enough to the amount of money that goes into this area given that all of Botswana and a large majority of subsaharan Africa is covered by the Kalahari Desert (i.e. grass in a desert = time, money, and a lot of water).

Water is highly valued in Botswana, and there is a shortage of it. It is more expensive than gas prices! Batswana people value water so much that it is synonymous with the names of their currency: Pula (primarily bills and a few coins) and Thebe (coins and change). Pula also means rain and Thebe means shield. In fact, the country's moto is "Pula ke Thebe," or the rain is our shield. You find the word Thebe at the University of Botswana as well. The school moto is "Thuto ke Thebe," or learning is our shield.

Yesterday (Friday) was probably my favorite day here thus far. We spent most of the day in a village about a half hour outside of Gaborone called Magorogelo. Within the village and perched up on a hill full of large red rocks is a representation of "old Botswana" known as the Magorogelo Reception. While the chalets and camp site gave me the impression that it's a bit of a touristy destination, the intention of this project is to showcase to visitors what Botswana was like before western influence took place. This includes the traditions, customs, and rituals of Batswana people. Botswana gained its full independence in 1966 after it had been a British Protectorate for nearly a century. Many of the elders that we have met here still reminisce about a time when they can remember when there was no car dealerships or malls, but rather a strong bond to their tribes and traditions. I can tell though that spirit still remains, and the Magorogelo Reception is one of those efforts that continues to tell the story of Botswana and its people. We got to witness a mock wedding ceremony, eat food characteristic of the culture, and learned just so much!

Last night we decided to hit the clubs. We went to a club called "Ozone," but we evidentally arrived a little early. We got there at 9pm because most everything around here closes so early, but apparently not the night clubs. Most people start arriving at Ozone and other clubs after going to late dinners and/or other bars somewhere around 11:30pm. The clubs stay open here until 6am! It was a lot of fun, although I'm really sore today. We literally danced for 4.5 hours solid! Good times.

As I mentioned before, today we went to a game park not too far from Gaborone called Mokolodi. While it is not a large game park, it does have an abundance of wildlife that is characteristic of Botswana and Africa. We saw Impala, Ostrich, Kudo, Game Foul, Warthog, Zebra, Hippo, Leopard, White Rhino, and of course African Elephants. The elephants were probably the most impressive animal we saw as most of the animals (especially warthogs) were totally scared of the safari truck. The elephants, on the other hand, were not scared at all. In fact, the male elephant who also had three female companions, was a mere 20 feet from our truck. I got some great pictures, so don't worry mom!

Now I am here and I've been writing so long that the football match has come to a close. The Zebras (yes, it's the Botswana mascot) beat Mauritania 2-1, or so I have heard from one of my peers. The sun is going down and it's time for another dinner.

Thanks for reading this entire blog if you had the patience! I'd be impressed! ;)

Much love,
Mark

Initial Impressions

Dumelang! This is how you greet a group of people in Setswana, the native language of Botswana. There are various ways that you can greet, but it all depends on if the reference is singular vs. plural and feminine vs. masculine. Anyway, enough with the brief vocab lesson because as of now this is about all I know. Next week we have an hour of Setswana lessons, which I'm super excited about! I was surprised when my classmates and I flew from Johannesburg to Gaborone, Botswana how often the native language is used. While the official language of Botswana is English, most Batswana people that we've encountered tend to stick to their native tongue unless speaking to us foreigners.
Batswana men and women are beautiful! The common features that people seem to share is very smooth, darker skin, full lips, and radiant smiles. The people are very friendly, although we seem to get stared at a lot, which is not surprising. After all, we are a minority, which is very humbling. It seems to make my group of classmates bond together all that much more.
There are 12 of us on the trip, and we're a pretty diverse group. While all of us but one attend Ohio University, there are many ethnic representations including Japan, Korea, St. Vincent, Kenya, and of course U.S. citizens. We've all pretty much been non-stop together since we departed Columbus on Sunday.
After a 30-hour journey from home to our new and temporary home in Gaborone we settled into our rooms. I felt badly because we're staying in graduate housing, but the three of us guys ended up moving in with a guy who is a native Batswana without any fair warning. Luckily for us, Ressaho is very friendly and even participated in some drinking games with all of us Yanks. We snuck into the staff lounge late last night and had a few beers. It seems as though it's hard to get anything but sweeter beers here, although I'm not complaining because for the most part things are very inexpensive coming from America.
The currency here is called Pula (bills) and Thebe pronounced teh-bay (coins). Six Pula is equivalent to one American dollar, give or take with the exchange rate. Needless to say it's weird when you go to the grocery store in search of toilet paper and it says 36 Pula for 10 rolls of toilet paper, when in reality it's only six dollars (approximately).
Today we made our first field trip to one of the 10 NGO affiliations we have here in Gaborone, and incidentally it is the organization I have been looking forward to learning about the most. It is a children's orphanage called SOS, and there is another branch of SOS in Botswana's second largest city, Francistown. SOS houses 190 orphans, ranging from ages 0-23 of whom only 19 allegedly are HIV+ and/or have full blown AIDS. To be honest, given the content of this experience, I was surprsied at how few children have HIV/AIDS, although it somehow made visiting a little less sad. The other component to that and the reason I said allegedly have HIV/AIDS is the fact that the children are not tested for HIV/AIDS until they exhibit certain symptoms. It's unfortunate given that some people do not show symptoms of HIV/AIDS for years. In turn, this is also a sticky subject considering many of the orphans spend their entire childhoods at SOS, and what of the adolescents who become sexually frustrated and do not use protection? There are so many questions I have, and this is one of the main reasons that we are here: to critcally evaluate the NGO's and how we might provide some feedback for a research project that OU's communication and development department is putting together.
The children are absolutely incredible; bright-eyed and full of laughter and sharing. I took lots of pictures and I'll share them as soon as I can. There were actually a few American volunteers from California that were at the orphanage. It seemed as though the Americans were the most excited to be there. There is an English Medium school that the children attend, although the teachers are very unpaid and it seems like their only motivation is the fact that they can't find other work. In addition to teachers, there is a group of women that live at the orphanage called the "mothers." These are the caregivers and surrogate mothers for children. The man that runs the orphanage is referred to as the "father," which provoked a lot of controversy among my Ohio U. cohorts. In general Botswana remains a rather patriarchal society, so the notion that there is a group of women all devoted to caring for the children and one man who oversees the entire operation with his own wife and children present echoed traces of "The King and I."
After the orphanage we traveled to a small village about 45km outside of Gaborone called Thamaga. We got tons of traditional Batswana pottery for super cheap! It's beautiful stuff!
The food has been interesting. Every morning we have eggs, juice, bread, tea, a traditional Batswana soup, and some type of meat. Yesterday it was beef livers and today it was minced meat. We also have peas, carrots, and corn for lunch in addition to chicken every lunch and dinner. I'll admit that it's getting old already eating the same thing virtually every meal, although I won't get on a soapbox because we are being treated very well.
More later...
:) Mark