Many Men will Drink the Rain and Turn to Thank the Clouds

So much has changed in the last couple of weeks, most notably the end of the rainy season (It was fast. It was furious. It’s over.) and the beginning of winter, but a lot of personal things as well. We thought it was time to stop for a moment to be thankful.

Life can be shifty and scary. The elections in South Africa and the kidnappings in Nigeria have really hit that home this week. But, we have confidence and hope in One who has already overcome and we’re thankful in the midst of changes.

Some of the changes have been subtle, right under our noses, but it took a trip to Mozambique and returning home to realize it. I found that we were actually more settled and integrated than I had thought. This has been a challenge for me in a series of challenges (“dikgwetla”). I feel like the settling in and integration bit has taken me longer than it has in the past. Partly, that’s the nature of the work, and partly its actually not having a car and the social exhaustion that comes with that. As much as the environmentalist in us enjoyed biking and walking around Manhattan, KS, a car has been a safety blanket and comfort to me. It’s more than transportation. It’s dignity, flexibility, efficiency, anonymity, safety, spontaneity, control, and status. Sometimes, with an axe and firewood in the backpack, you’re sweaty and tired and just have a hankering for power tools, and the ability to throw that all in the trunk and not have to be social for the rest of the afternoon. You’re tired and you feel like your people energy is always zapped and you’re doing a bad job of living the communal village life. Anyway, surprise of surprises, coming home to Ramotswa felt just like that-coming home. We walked to the hardware store that’s run by our neighbor, Florence, to buy some lumber to build frames for our new artwork, and we knew all three of the customers inside who welcomed us back warmly. Our friends, Moses and Wendy (who train volunteers for the Botswana Red Cross) invited us over for a barbecue (“braii”) and walked us home in the dark. Ramotswa is big by village standards, but it is the smallest town we’ve ever lived in and belonging to that is something special.

Work changes have been a bit more obvious. Owen’s work at home-based care had been slow at best. In fact, when we arrived, it was hardly functioning at all, which is a challenge for someone whose entire role in development work is capacity building- which means there needs to be some enthusiasm or actual service happening to begin with (the whole perpetuating patterns of inequality and forcing unsustainable projects from the outside). Still, he spent an important couple of months building relationships, teaching computer skills, and just being present (a hard thing for our American minds and bodies to get accustomed to). Recently, he has found a niche working with Mma Kwedi (his counterpart) on a project called STEPS. This is a series of films produced around southern Africa, focusing on issues like multiple concurrent partners, stigma, discordant couples, HIV status disclosure, relationships, children as caregivers, etc. They are provocative true stories that are meant to bring out discussion of issues related to HIV that tend to be secretive and buried here- something that perpetuates stigma and transmission in itself. Owen and Mma Kwedi have been invited into all the junior secondary schools (middle schools) in the district, where they show these films and then facilitate discussions and health talks. Talk about an open door! Owen has met hundreds of young people in the last week and has been able to bring really important issues to light. Ps. much respect to all middle school teachers across the world.

My work at DHMT has gone on a bit of a hiatus. My counterpart, the Monitoring and Evaluation officer for the district left for graduate school in Zambia back in November, leaving me and Mma Machaba frantically working to take his place. We have developed a good system and some effective data processing tools. Then, just before our trip, a new M&E officer was hired. Soon, the two of us will work closely together, but during the training and settling in stage, I have had something entirely new on my plate: Training Design and Evaluation for the next set of Peace Corps workers who will arrive in country in August. This has been a week-long set of meetings in Gaborone with Peace Corps staff- a painful and exhaustive, but hopefully valuable, process so that the next group will get the best language, cross-cultural, and select technical training possible. Training is a funny word for preparing people for almost endless possibilities of jobs and projects under the HIV framework- but maybe a little context helps!