Running Blog: Weeks 3-5

My body hurts. Everywhere. 

Running Blog: Week 2

My Dad, using satellite imaging of my village (who knew?), tracked out different distances in my village for me to run. Turns out, what I thought was 5k turns out was actually a 10k. I was running about five miles every morning, not 3. Hence why it took me about an hour.  I feel much better about my general level of fitness now.

It is getting easier to get up in the morning and run. However, because it is winter, it is also getting darker in the morning. The sun doesn’t come up until about 6:30!

Running Blog: Week 1

For those of you who don’t know, I am training for the Victoria Falls Half-Marathon. About half of the Bots ‘14 group (my intake group) is going, and it is going to be ridiculously fun. The run in on the Zimbabwe side of the falls, and the race route follows the edge of the falls. Therefore, I am not really sure how much running I will be doing, as I anticipate I will be taking photos every few feet. It might hinder my race time.

Training in my village presents two main problems. First, the sand. There is one paved road in my village. It runs from one side to the other, and splits Sefhare down the middle. To get to the main road takes about 10 minutes of running in sand. Running in sand is difficult, and you have to train carefully to be able to run in sand well. Therefore, I make sure that I really stretch my ankles before running, as I don’t want to twist an ankle while running in the sand.

The second problem about running in my village is the distance. I don’t have a clear measurement of how far I am running. According to the combi driver at the Red Cross, from the Hospital to the Immigration Office in my town (from one side to the other, following the paved road), it is about 2.5k. Which means, there isn’t really anywhere to run except from one side of my village to the other. It is very boring.

Today I did my first 5k training run. It took me 1 hour, based on what I was told on distances. I usually can do a 5k in about 30 minutes, and even if I was walking, I don’t think it would take me that long. And I am not that out of shape. I swear.

Therefore, problem number two: I don’t know how far these distances are! The race is at the end of June, so I have a lot of time to train. So, fingers crossed it goes well! 

Creepy Crawly Things: Part 2

Cockroaches are now falling from my ceiling now. I kid you not. I wake up to them lying on their backs because they have fallen and cannot turn over. It would be hilarious, if it was not so terrifying at the same time. But I am getting used to it. I've gotten used to most of the bugs by now, but there are still some creepy crawlies that manage to surprise me. Please see below, for what I am referring to:

Beetles: These beetles are scary. While they don't actually do anything, I have woken up several times during the night because they have been trying to scratch their way under my door. They sounds like mice. There are also flying versions of these that crash against my windows at night.

Tarantula: This one was in my sitting room. It is all mangled because I killed it by stomping on it a few times. I have no regrets.

 Centipedes: This one is as long as my foot!

Sotojane: These creepy crawlies look like blue lobsters. In English, they are called "Corn Crickets." They are, in fact, pests that eat sorghum, maize and almost anything else at the fields. I took a picture of this one on my house.

Camel Spider: These are fast, and very juicy when you kill them. So oftentimes, they are as gross alive as they are dead.

Water Is Life

Water is life. A coworker said that to me recently. And I never really understood it until recently. As a PCV, we often ask ourselves the question, “what would we rather have: electricity or water?” Until recently, I would have said electricity. Now, my answer would be water. 

A neighbor came to our compound to fill up water at my landlady's jojo.

 It has been 8 weeks since I have had running water. At first, it was difficult because the large jojo that my landlady has that stores water was empty. Thankfully, the Red Cross was wonderful and helped me fill up buckets with water and drive them to my house when I need it. 

The jojo that my landlady uses to fill up with water.

After my landlady was able to fill up her jojo, it was a lot better, and I could access water in my front yard. However, the jojo water is not drinkable. There are far too many worms and other bacteria in there for me to drink it safely without boiling it. It is OK to bathe in and flush my toilette. To drink, I either have to boil the water and then filter it (which takes a long time), or I go to the Red Cross with water bottles and carry the water back to my house. I opt for the second choice, as it is much more convenient. Unfortunately, Red Cross sometimes runs out of water too. 

The containers that I store water in.

I have become very good at conserving water. I can now bathe with half a bucket of water. Three weeks ago, the water came on for a few days, and when I was bathing, I had about half a bucket of water left each time after my bath that I didn’t know what to do with. 

 Thankfully, my water situation isn't as bad as it could be. Having access to water in my front yard is wonderful, and I don't mind carrying water to and from work to drink. There are a lot of PVCs who have worse water situations that me. 

And, when all else fails, I do this: 

Trying to collect enough water to bathe in.

Thankfully, it's the rainy season. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I spent most of January in in Gabarone, Botswana (the capital city), attending In-Service Training (or IST). IST is an intensive training after volunteers complete our Community Assessment period. The Community Assessment period (in colloquial terms for us PCVs, it is referred to as “lockdown”) is the first two-and-a-half months when volunteers are at sites, and they compete a report about the community, and what needs the PCV finds in the community. During IST we were trained on various tools to implement in our communities, such as Grassroots Soccer, STEPS films, and more. I will dedicate future blog posts to explaining these types of tools and how they benefit the community I am working in.

IST, just like Shadowing during PST, was a wonderful break from site.  It was the first time I had seen all 56 of my fellow PCVs since our swearing-in ceremony in October. It was so great to talk to my friends about their sites, the hardships they had faced, and the friends they had made. In addition to seeing my friends, a wonderful bonus was the amenities: our room had air conditioning, a shower (no bucket baths! No having to heat up water to bathe!), a pool, and catered food. It was a great break.

One of the best parts was exploring Gabarone. And by exploring, I mean going to the malls! Walking through the malls felt very weird. And normal. I went into a bookstore, a store called Hi-Fi (akin to a Best Buy), and found Nutella and gluten free pasta. There was even a movie theater! 

However, even at the hotel we were staying in, I couldn’t forget I was in Botswana. On night two, the AC broke in our hotel room and we had to open the windows to let cool air in. While my roommate was opening the curtains to get to the windows, a cockroach fell from the curtains. We then spent a few minutes trying to catch the roach as it scurried about our room. Once we opened the window, mosquitoes flew in, and kept us up the rest of the night. The next night, I killed a cockroach in our tub. Because it was late, I didn’t move it out of the tub. The next morning, our bathroom was swarmed with ants carrying off pieces of the cockroach. It was gross.

For the most part, IST was a welcome relief from village life. Here are a few things I didn’t miss about village life:

·     Chasing chickens out of my house.

·   The rain falling on my tin roof as I try to fall asleep (it sounds like the sky is falling when it rains, it is so loud!).

·     There were about 5 dead cockroaches on my floor when I came home.

·      Sand – it gets everywhere!

·   Lack of running water. Last night, after making a dinner of canned chicken and gluten free crackers (courtesy of my aunt – thanks!) I put the dishes in my sink to do in the morning. Well, the next morning the water went off. Having to boil water before doing dishes is really tedious.

·      The birds on my roof.

·      How hot it is!

While I enjoyed IST, I am very glad to be back in my Sefhare. I have many ideas of projects I want to implement in my village, and now, I finally can!

The Botswana Red Cross: Sefhare Stimulation Centre

Please find below a brief history and summary of the NGO that I work with: the Botswana Red Cross located in Sefhare, Botswana. 

The Sefhare Stimulation Centre was founded in 1998, because Red Cross volunteers in the community saw a need for a centre for the disabled, and Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs). The original Stimulation Centre program hosted about 6 students daily. They were brought to the Centre by their parents, and food and transport were not available. The current building that Red Cross (RC) operates in was built in 2006, by a local Catholic Church Nun, Sister Frances Boston. It started with 20 children in 2006, and has now grown to 43 children, with the capacity for 45. Red Cross staff includes: two teaching aids, an Administrative Officer, a cleaner, the Chef, the Field Officer, the Rehabilitation Officer, a combi driver, and the Principal/Stimulation Teacher. 

There are two programmes at the Red Cross in Sefhare. There is Branch Development (which is run by the Field Officer) and Community Based Rehabilitation (which encompasses the Pre-school and Stimulation classes). The Stimulation Centre services OVCs and disabled ages 2-12, from seven villages in the Tswapong South region. OVCs and those with special needs are referred to the Centre by the S&CD (Social and Community Development) office, the hospitals, or health workers. There are two classes taught at the Centre. The first is the Stimulation Class. This class is for the children with special needs. Those with special needs include those with physical disabilities, speech difficulties, mental illnesses, and poor fine and gross motor skills. The most common disability is Cerebral Palsy. The second class is the Pre-school Class. This class hosts mostly OVCs, and those children with special needs who have graduated from the Stimulation Class because they have gained enough skills to participate fully in the Pre-school Class. Those students with special needs are evaluated before entering primary school to determine if they have acquired the skills necessary to succeed in a primary school environment.

The topics that are covered in the Pre-Primary Curriculum Framework, and subsequently incorporated in the curriculum at the Centre, include: Personal, Emotional and Social Development; Language development and Early Literacy; Health, Nutrition and Safety; Mathematics and Scientific Thinking; Physical, Creative and Aesthetic Development; Moral and Spiritual guidance. Because Botswana does not yet have a standard Pre-Primary Curriculum, the teachers at the school adapt the lessons to fit the needs of the children.

As a result of these topics, children at the Centre are trained, among many other skills, in Activities of Daily Living (ADL) (this includes toilet training and learning how to eat by themselves), fine and gross motor skills training, physical education, and pre-literacy skills. The children learn many of these skills through story-telling, rhymes and songs, colouring and painting, and playing games. The Stimulation and Pre-School classes are occasionally combined, and daily lesson plans are loosely coordinated.

The Red Cross provides breakfast and lunch to the children every day. The meals are designed to provide a nutritious, well-balanced meal for the children. In addition, children are picked up and dropped off at home in a special Red Cross combi. Children living in Sefhare, Chadibe and Borotsi attend school Monday through Friday. Those who live in villages farther away are brought to the Centre twice a week.

In addition to the services provided above, RC provides rehabilitation services to the children with disabilities at the Centre. RC also has an extensive Community Based Rehabilitation program within the communities is Tswapong South that is supported by trained RC volunteers. 

Stimulation Centre Rehabilitation Room for the children.

The Red Cross has an extensive network of trained volunteers. These volunteers are trained in areas such as: First Aid, Disaster Management and Community Based Rehabilitation. In particular, volunteers are vital to programs run by the Red Cross, such as Kids Club and the Mentorship Program. The primary objective of the Kids Club is to break the stigma between children with disabilities and those without. The secondary objective is to create a safe environment, which allows children to receive and give support from RC volunteers and their peers, and to develop Life Skills.

The children who are registered in the Mentorship Program are children who have been identified by the S&CD program as children who are OVCs. Each child/family has a mentor (a RC volunteer who has been trained for this program) who visits the child/household twice a month to talk with the child/children. The goal of this program is to provide vulnerable children with a mentor in the community who can be a positive role model and provide support and guidance to the children.

The RC in Sefhare is home to some amazing people. The teachers, volunteers and students are some of the most resilient, dedicated, and talented people I have ever met. I cannot wait until after In-Service Training, when I can finally start implementing projects within the community, and start giving back to the people who have helped me become part of the Sefhare community.