Feet on the Ground!

If you have ever had life change so drastically in one week that it was hard to recap the events of the transformation, you have an idea how we feel! We are one week into training in the “Windy City” of Botswana, the historical village of Serowe. Our minds are packed with information from our intensive staging in Philadelphia, orientation in Gaborone, and several days of training all day and homestay all night.

We feel small. After conflicting stories about Peace Corps and development, we have been blown away by the work experience, degrees, technical skills, and education of the others in our cohort. One of our colleagues worked with USAID in Bangladesh and Pakistan, she also survived the Rwandan genocide, marking dead bodies for the Foreign Service. She is solemn, kind, and humble- an important friend. Another worked directly for the vice president. We have especially connected with some of the older couples, and feel honored to be working alongside of them.

Homestay life has been an adjustment as we learn to navigate some of the cultural (and also personal- this is way different than living with the Mpopangs in Old Naledi) differences in lifestyle. Our host mother and extended family have been welcoming and enormously helpful in improving our Setswana very quickly! I cannot wait to connect with old friends here in Botswana, but for now, am extremely thankful for intensive training. Who knows? I may yet learn to speak fluently!

If anyone is interested in contacting us, we do not have much access to Internet except on rare occasions at the college, but you can reach us by mail or on our cell phones via Skype:

Owen: (267)75907970

Becky: (267)75908012

Owen and Becky Carnes

c/o Peace Corps Botswana

Private Bag 00243

Gaborone, BOTSWANA