Day 80- Feb. 26

So last week I had my 1st primary school life skills camp!!!
I had 3 other PCVs help me out with the facilitation and content of the workshop. There were 20 students from 3 primary schools. There was 1 mishap; but overall I think the camp went really well. Here are some pictures!!!












All the photos can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100465495904349.2595980.7813917&type=3&l=2fb54e6264

Day 69- Feb. 15

Happy belated Valentine's Day!

Today I met with one of my teen clubs...and since its a new school year; there's a whole new set of Form 1 students!

I was slightly overwhelmed when I walked in to find 112 students sitting and waiting for me!! Believe it or not...that was ONLY the Form 1s and 2s!! AH!!!

I LOVE that there are SOOOO many students; but at the same time its way too many for me to handle!! I was constantly telling them to stop talking and listen. We didnt exactly get done what we were supposed to. But we'll have to wait and see how things span out.

Day 65- Feb. 11

These are actually photos that were taken last weekend by another PCV but I really liked them.



We were doing condom games and demonstrations. This particular one was getting the students to open up condoms; get a feel for what they look and feel like; and to get them to see how much they can be stretched without breaking. And it helped show all the boy students out there who claim the condom is "too small"...that clearly...the condom is NOT too small!!



And this is Rachel, Mary and Me the night before; as we got ready for bed. Just thought it was a cute picture!

4 months!!!

So I had decided to mostly do pictures from here on out. But I figured I should fill you all in on what I have been up to! (Since it’s a lot!)

So it’s a brand new year…2012!! Woop! Woop! And I’m coming home this year!!! YAYAYA!
With a new year brings…new adventures, new stories, new goals, new friends, and new perspective.

Here in Botswana, the new year means the same but also the end of the fiscal year. (Funding is given in 4 quarters; the last being January-March.) So that means…activities that were not done in previous quarters or money that wasn’t spent before…needs to be done and spent now NOW! (I promise that is not a typo! People always say- “now now” or “soon soon” when they mean right away.) So since my office has leftover funding that needs to spent; I proposed a small workshop for my teen club students. Instead…I am now in the process of facilitating TWO 2-day workshops!

I will have 1 workshop on Feb. 22-23 for about 32 primary school students; and 1 on March 3-4 for about 30 junior secondary school students! They will both cover team building, communication, STIs/HIV, contraceptives, relationships, etc. The primary school one will also touch on leadership and have more of a focus on abstinence and basic sexual health topics. The JSS one will also include condom demonstrations, and have a bigger focus on preventing teenage pregnancy. I’ll be inviting several other PCVs to help me facilitate sessions and it will allow them to get an idea as to what kind of workshop could be done in their villages. I am SUPER excited to be having these but I am also starting to stress. The preliminary savingram/letter writing and quotation finding is getting tiresome. I am sooo ready to just START!

But before I get into what else I have coming up…Ill tell you about what I’ve been up to!

For the past month or so I have been working on doing more STEPs screenings. I am now working on screening films to all Standard 6+7 students at 5 primary schools in my village. I really noticed how far I have come…when I went to ask permission to screen students at 2 schools. In one day, I went to 2 schools and sat down with the schools heads and the heads of the guidance and counseling classes. At BOTH of those schools; I walked out with exact dates and times for me to come for each class!!! It only took ONE meeting!! When I first got here; I used to have to stop by like 5-10x before getting an answer on when I could come!

I have completed 12 screenings at 2 schools; reaching about 350+ students so far. I was pretty nervous about screening to the primary schools; since I feel like they are so young! I felt like I was talking to babies!! We’re talking 10-14 year olds. Although my discussions were pretty different compared to my JSS students; they were still relevant and important. I had a couple of students come up to me after class; asking for advice on boyfriends and sex in general. I had a young girl (about 13-14) come up to me and ask me if I could tell her about what it means to have her period, how babies are made, and why people have sex. I had another girl come up to me telling me all about her boyfriend drama and how she wants to have sex with him. Ay! After that I really realized, they are NOT too young! Still hard to think that when you see how small they are!

The past 2 weekends I was in Gabane and Mmathethe with 2 other PCVs facilitating PACT training workshops. PACT Club (Peer Approach to Counseling Teens) is generally the same as my teen/abstinence clubs. The goal of the workshops is to help students start up a PACT club at their school; and benchmark from what we have done at our schools. They were both one day workshops covering topics like what is PACT, qualities of a good PACT member, issues our peers face, and how we (as a PACT Club) can address these issues. We talked about HIV, condom demonstrations, public speaking, active listening, team building, and what they envisioned for their PACT Club.

I have also started up again with my two teen/abstinence clubs. On Monday, I met with the new Form 1 students who joined at 1 school…and ah there were 66 of them!! My Tlokweng JSS club is at some 90+ students! And im heading to my Matlala JSS one in about 30 minutes…so heres hoping there are some new faces!

Along with all this I have been planning and getting ready for my
projects/meetings/workshops coming up!

I have 2 regional PC meetings that I will be at for the next 2 weekends. Nothing too exciting to share. I’ll be at two since I will be representing PSDN at both.

I currently have two cats at my house. Keyara’s sister is here but she will be getting ready to go to the states next week! So I’ll be taking her to the vet for her health certificate and I have to go to the Dept. of Agriculture to get her a clearance. Then she’ll be picked up on Wednesday! Even though it took more than a month for the 2 of them to be together…I think Keyara is going to be sad to see her leave. She’s had some company to play/fight with. Ha.

I also have PSDN training coming up. Since I am co-chair of PSDN; I am working on the training and excited to “pass the torch” to the next group. We’ll have a day and a half training at the end of February for them.

Like I mentioned before, I am working on two life skills camps for the end of Feb and beginning of March! Im so ready to START! Enough of this preliminary work!

I have about 9 vacation days leftover and if I want to use them, I need to before March 11th. So it’s looking like Im going to head to Maun (up north by the Okavango Delta) for a few days right before our COS conference (Close of Service). I figured if I don’t go now…I most likely won’t go ever. So I think I’m going to head up there for a few days to relax and maybe see some animals. Nothing crazy.

March 11-14 I have my COS conference!! YAYAYA!!! I don’t really know what to expect but I hear it’s mostly a celebration since we’re obviously finishing up our service!! I should also be getting finalized information as to what day I can leave Botswana!!

My best friend here, Mary is also getting married! So she has asked me to be her “best lady!” She is going to have a traditional ceremony here; so we’re getting ready for that, which is on May 5th! I was just with her a few days ago; picking fabric and patters for both of our dresses! I’ll have to put up a whole post about her wedding later! But we are both getting 2 dresses made; and she has picked yellow and pink as her colors. She jokes around (since she knows Im not a big fan of pink) saying she is going to tell the seamstress to make my dress BRIGHT/NEON pink with bedazzled jewels all over it. Ha I told her if she does that…Im out! Haha But I am VERY excited!! We’ll be having all PCV celebration for her and I’ll be hosting a small bridal shower for her as well. We’re both learning the ropes to how the wedding is going to go; but we do know that we change twice; the wedding party will be dancing; I’ll be sitting at the head table with her, her husband and his best man; I will give a speech at the wedding; and I think all of Botswana will be at this wedding. Ha jk. But it definitely is the TALK of her village!! Alright…more to come on the wedding later!!

So as you can tell…I have been very busy and will be until about March! This is probably the busiest I have been ALL service!! But its also pretty awesome!!

I’ll end this incredibly long post with what some of you have been asking me a lot lately. That is…what am I going to do after Peace Corps?

Well I am not 100% sure if I will travel before coming home; but it’s looking like I probably won’t. I really want to visit some people out in UT and CA; so I might just save my money for that! But I will be getting home by June 23rd (and most likely earlier) for my friend’s wedding. I will be at home for about a year….so all those people in the DC area, you better let me know! I’ll be looking for a job so I can earn some money…just have no idea where yet.

I am still planning on going into grad school for Occupational Therapy; but I did not apply while I was here. So this fall, I’ll be trying to refresh my brain by taking anatomy+physiology at NVCC or Mason; studying for the GREs, shadowing more OTs, and applying for grad schools. I’m hoping to start summer or fall 2013. Im looking at UNC-Chapel Hill, some in Chicago, VCU, JMU, LSU, and some in Philadelphia. Not really sure where I want to go…more like whoever wants to take me!

I am REALLLLLLLLY looking forward to starting grad school. Well except for the fact that I haven’t been in school mode or work mode in quite some time. But I told myself when I applied to the Peace Corps that I should still go, even if I couldn’t work with people with disabilities. I told myself that I had my entire life to do that! And while I am glad that I branched off and did something pretty different…my time here has also made me realize JUST how much I really miss working with that population! I cant quite explain it…but needless to say, Im excited to finally (hopefully) be starting OT school!!

Alright, well I think I’ve written way too much! But that’s whats up with me…so be sure to let me know what’s up with you!!

Day 59- Feb. 5

So like I said in my last post; I went to Mmathethe this weekend for a PACT workshop. Myself and 2 other PCVs were asked by a Bots11 volunteer to come facilitate a workshop to help jump start the PACT (Peer Approach to Counselling Teens) club at their school. We went a full day from about 8:30-3:30pm.

So we facilitated sessions on active listening, public speaking, HIV/AIDS, condom demonstrations, team building, etc.

We pretty much just did the same as we did last weekend in Gabane.


(Students getting ready for an ice breaker, first thing in the morning)


(Students singing Bazooka bubble gum)

Day 58- Feb. 4

SOOOOOO sorry for the lack of pictures...
From here on out I think I should just say that this will no longer be a "picture a day" ha...I think its going to be more of "picture...when I get a chance to post."

But it's now February!! And this month is going to be CRAZY for me!! I have something going on every weekend until around mid-March.

On Friday, I headed to Mmathethe; a village about 2-3 hours away. On our way there we packed into a combi.

And since many of you have asked what a combi is...Im finally going to give you an answer.

A combi is a 16 (sometimes 18; and sometimes just 12--there may be 1 less row) passenger van. It usually consists of a driver and 2 passengers in the front; a row of 3-4; a row of 3-4; a row of 3-4; and a final row of 4.

Combis are used for public transport (except places that are farther away usually have bigger buses). In Gaborone, the combi's run to all the various "neighborhoods", including Tlokweng. It now costs P3.30 for a ride. It can be very tight, especially if you are carry groceries or bags. There's no organization as to where people should sit in regards to if they will be getting out 1st or last. So it always seems as though the people in the very back row...always seem to be getting out last. And that usually requires 3-4 people having to get out (to let that person out) and then back in.

There will also be times (lots actually) when the combi stops to let someone out. And then LITERALLY 2 ft later...someone asks to get out! haha drives me crazy sometimes! I dont get why that person just DIDNT get out when the person before them did!

The combi drivers are pretty crazy. They drive on the wrong side of the road, they go over islands in the middle of the road, and they usually speed (or sometimes...they crawl at a pace barely over walking speed).

I have had to carry hula hoops on a combi a couple of times. And after this one time in December...I swore I wouldnt do it again! ha I had 2 hula hoops with me and there was no room for them at the front; and of course the next spot open was for me to sit all the way in the back. So I had bring them all the way to the back with me (keep in mind I also have my BIG pack with me). They kept hitting people; and the person trying to fold down the chair...couldnt. Finally after like 3 stops (of me getting in and out)...they moved me to the front ha. And as I was getting out at my stop--the conductor muttered under his breath "freakin lekgoa." (Lekgoa is a term used here for "white" people. It literally means "vomit from the sea." nice, right?) haha whoops...dont think people were very happy with me!

And today on my way home; I had a "white" guy stop and get in. And you could tell it was probably his 1st time riding the combi. Because he got in; and then stood. He didnt realized there was a fold down seat to sit in. The whole time you could tell he was tense and constantly looking out the window to make sure he got off the right stop. It made my laugh and it also made my realize how far I have come!! I remember riding a combi for the 1st time and being terrified!! Now I ride them ALL the time. Some of the drivers/conductors(guys who take your money)even know my name now!

I have always wanted to get a picture of a "full" combi but usually people are staring at me. So on Friday, the 2 other PCVs blocked me while I finally took a photo! haha but we laughed and said that it really didnt do it justice.



Anyways, so this is how I get around! And yes...I most certainly miss having my own car and being able to drive!