A Place to Call Home

Owen's (Kabelo's) beard- the subject of great controversy in Ramotswa. Let your voice be heard in the comments. Every vote counts!

We have a home! It is a small (though larger than the Little House on the Pierrie) house, nestled in the northeast corner of the beautiful, hilly town of Ramotswa, a stone’s throw from South Africa. The people here are so closely knit with their kinsman across the border, that they have been known to jump the fence on occasion to drink bojalwa (traditional beer) with their brothers of identical ethnicity and contrasting nationality.

A couple of smart and inquisitive boys (Nick and Tate) have asked some thoughtful questions about our new home. The answers are posted below.

1. Are there soccer, basketball, or tennis leagues there?

Totally! Soccer is the favorite sport of Botswana, home of the national soccer team called the Zebras. There is a youth group in town that plays soccer and teaches about good health practices at each of the schools. The DHMT (Becky’s work) also sponsors an organization for the disabled that has its own basketball team. Owen is excited about that!

2. Have you seen any giraffes or elephants?

Not yet. Ramotswa is mostly full of goats, chickens, cows, warthogs, and occasionally baboons. We keep the doors and windows open in our house to let in the breeze during the coolest part of the morning. This morning, a rooster wandered into our kitchen by mistake!

3. Did you get to keep some diamonds?

Sadly no. We feel like the diamonds are serving a good purpose though because they help to pay for health care in this country, which is working hard to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS and other devastating diseases.

4. Do you have skateboards and bicycles to play with?

We do not have any skateboards because our road is very bumpy and far from the tarred road (asphalt or cement). We DO have bicycles! Mountain bikes were an early Christmas gift and will help us get to work faster and carry all of our gear and groceries.

5. Do you like climbing trees in Africa?

We do love to climb trees! Most of our trees are acacia trees, a special, drought-resistant tree that is covered in thorns. We don’t climb those, but Owen plans to collect the branches for a fire pit, so that we can cook dinner under the stars. Instead, we like to climb the rocks and hills around Ramotswa. We live close to the cattle pastures (called cattle posts and lands “masemu” here in Botswana), so we like to go for walks out there in the evenings. There is always a beautiful sunset. More pictures to come shortly...

Freshly baked tortillas- We're home.