Who said this was going to be easy?!

FIRST AND FORMOST: Today is Mother's Day, so HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!

Hello everyone! Thanks for tuning into my blogspace while I am away. You will notice that blogs will most likely come in spurts – since I don’t have regular internet access, I am going to pre-type all of my blog entries before hand and upload them online all at once (mostly just to save me money!). Also, as you’ll see as you read on, there isn’t much to do in Botswana and I have found journaling/blogging to be very therapeutic already, so these might get a little lengthy sometimes... my apologies in advance!

Anyways, to start things off:
Week one was great! WUSC put together a very complete orientation for us which allowed us to become familiar with the University of Botswana (UB) campus, as well as get a taste for some of the NGO’s that work inside Bots. It also gave us the chance to get to know the other 16 students here from Guelph that are staying for just 6 weeks. The first week I stayed in a German NGO house, which was alright – there were 3 other people living with me whom I didn’t see very much, however when I did, I was able to have decent conversations with them (you will understand this significance soon). We also went to Mokolodi Nature Reserve and got to go on game drives and get up close to giraffes and rhinos and elephants, etc. It was pretty sweet! Surprisingly, however, already in the first couple of days I missed home...

So a little bit about Bots... it is definitely not what I expected! The capital city, Gaborone, is well developed. In fact, UB has a BEAUTIFUL campus and library, at least at par with Canadian schools! I will surely not get tired of the weather over the next 3 months... it is PERFECT. Being so well developed means that having white skin is pretty normal and I didn’t find much extra attention. One of the biggest shockers, though, is public transportation! You take a combi, which is a minivan that follows a specific route and is very cheap. However, the combi drivers are not very patient and drive crazy! You pack into these things so tightly that anyone who was claustrophobic would definitely have a hard time. Also hitchhiking is quite common... I got my first taste of that yesterday and I hiked from Pakalani to Mochudi... basically you just have to quickly asses the reliability of the driver and then take your chances. Luckily, my first experience was a success and I reached home safe and sound!

Now I am living in Mochudi. Although it is called a village, it’s not exactly rural. They, too, have combis and taxis and grocery stores. My host family is awesome. Mma-Seitei (my Bots mom, who is a retired nurse) speaks extremely good English... her son also lives here, who is very nice, and she has 3 other sons who have already offered to take me to Francistown, the cattle farms, some big weekend race and more. In addition, Mma-Seitei has a helper in the house who cooks all the meals and dishes and laundry etc. Crazy enough, I get all the perks of this as well as Mmane (the nanny’s name) always has a HUGE meal waiting for me when I get home. My mom was worried about me losing weight when I left, but believe you me, I am definitely going to gain a ton of weight while here. And my Dad would be proud of me... I’ve been eating a lot of traditional meat which has A LOT of fat on it... I had goat meat yesterday and today I had “meat from cow” which the exact location could not be specified. My house is very big and my room is bigger than the one I have in Kitchener! My backyard is essentially a barn full of goats, donkeys, roosters, chickens, and dogs. And I might mention that these animals never shut up. The first night I was amused by waking up at 3am to a donkey making his noise outside my window... but that got old pretty fast. As do the roosters who start their cockadoddledoing at about 4am. They are quite funny birds, actually, who seem to operate on a schedule... every half hour starting by 4am they will let about 10 good calls go, every time waking me up.

So far SSI seems very promising. Lisa, my supervisor who is born and raised in the US, is AWESOME. I got to spend a lot of time with her yesterday and got to hear her whole story. I think she will, indefinitely, become a huge part in helping me adjust here and my success at SSI. The staff is made up of only 6 other people who are all very nice and welcoming. In the mornings I will be working on my various projects in the centre... I am essentially heading up the Study Skills Program, as well as working to put together modules and programs on computer use basics for the staff to work through to familiarize them on how to use programs like Word, PowerPoint and Excel. In the afternoon, my time is entirely dedicated to spending time with the OVCs, helping them with homework and playing various sports. There are 60 in total. The students are very shy, especially since I am white, however there are already 4 or 5 who have been outgoing enough to approach me to ask for help. Already I can tell I am going to love working with these kids and I see such potential for my time here.

So those are all of my positive perceptions so far, but rest assured that isn’t without saying I haven’t already had some lows... luckily I was well prepared for the emotions of culture shock, and while I felt like giving up or calling home in shambles, I kept it/am keeping it together and pushing on.

Missing home this much was honestly something I was not expecting. I have an extremely tight relationship with my family and friends, however before I left, I remember thinking “Oh, it’s only 3 months, no big deal” etc. In fact, my mom wanted me to call even twice a week and I remember rolling my eyes and saying “YA RIGHT!”... But to be honest, I CAN’T WAIT until my parents or sister call me. Just to hear them and be able to tell them how things are going is an amazing feeling I can’t quite describe (or understand for that matter). Part of the problem is that it is very dangerous at night and I MUST be inside by the time sun sets (which is by 6pm). There isn’t much to do in the evenings except read and write, so there is a lot of time spent over-thinking things. My worst night so far was the first night I spent in Mochudi. My mother wasn’t home and it was only me and Mmane, who doesn’t speak much English. I didn’t know she didn’t speak English and I tried to ask her some questions and was getting nowhere... nobody was home and I couldn’t communicate with anyone and I felt so alone. All of the frustrations with this new place were piling up all at once; the combis, the language barriers, the lack of communication with home, the giant spiders and cockroaches in the bathtub, the dogs in the backyard growling at who knows what (but they are supposed to be guard dogs so I could only imagine people, etc; and I really didn’t think I was built for this... as I said, I am keeping a journal, so maybe I’ll just type out some of the things I wrote to give you a better feel:
“Today is the fist real breakdown I’ve had on this trip. Over the last hour, I’ve been on the brink of tears the entire time. The raw and torturing emotions I’m feeling right now are much more intense then I would ever have imagined I’d be feeling... while Mma-Seitei was away, it was very quiet and I realized there was nobody in Mochudi but me. It is an awful feeling to feel so isolated and alone—and I was quite panicked in my room as I tried to settle in... I know most of my worries are nonsense, but I have a lack of communication that is killing me. It’s all stuck in my head where the ONLY outlet I have right now is to write it down...” I went into some more detail in the journal, but for my own sake, I’ll save the embarrassment on my breakdown and keep it confidential. Since then, I am already feeling some better... I continue getting to know my Bots family and I have already had the chance to go to 3 funerals. Although it is very sad, it allowed me not only to better understand the culture here, but also meet many people in the community. The more people in Mochudi who know and recognize me, the better. Moreover, I’m alright that I had that breakdown because it’s all about this whole experience and just another thing I will learn how to deal with. Though it was intense, things are getting better and I’m meeting up with Maryam tomorrow who will surely help council me back to good mental health!

Anyways, that’s all from me for now... this weekend was great... i took the bus to Gabs all alone and it was very easy, and we had a big brie (botswana BBQ yesterday). Today when i get home I need to bring in my wash that is hanging to dry (I had to hand wash it this morning, which is much tougher than I though!) and I think I might watch a movie on my laptop. OH, and my mom should be calling me, so I'll be waiting for her call! Either way, thanks for reading! Facebook is really slow here so even if I get to see your messages, I might now be able to respond. A better way may be to write me an email and I better be able to respond easier to that!

Cheers!
Matt

By the way, I've tried adding pictures but because the internet is so slow, it won't work... I'll try to figure something out soon though!