Exploring our Options

Monday we woke up early to travel to Molokodi Game Reserve, which is about 15 or so miles outside of Gaborone. We met with Peter, who was quite the character! He is the head of the Education Centre, but there are other offices there, too, such as conservation and even animal rehabilitation. The Education Centre primarily focuses on educating preschool to junior/high school students who visit. It seems like there are many options of service to do there. We are going to visit again this Thursday when about 40 preschoolers are there for a visit!

After our short meeting, we went on a tour of the reserve. Our guides drove us all over the reserve! We went to the top of a hill that overlooked the reserve and the Gaborone Dam and the Mokolodi Dam. It was a breathtaking sight!

On our tour, we saw impala, ostriches, warthogs, cheetah, kudu (a kind of antelope native to here), snakes, monkeys, and a crocodile. Some of these animals, like the cheetah, snakes, and crocodile were in cages, thank goodness! We also visited the injured or hurt animals that were being taken care of in the rehabilitation centre. It was so exciting to be on the lookout for animals! There weren’t any large animals, like a lion or elephant, in this reserve but hopefully we will see those on some other adventure!

Later that afternoon, we traveled to Old Naledi, the poorest yet most overpopulated village, to meet with the coordinator of the Tlamelo Project. The Tlamelo Project is a feeding project that feeds a noon meal to at least 150 orphaned children each day. Various activities are also offered to the children. Many of the team members from last year’s team helped out at this project last summer. The coordinator, Champ, was busy when we got there, so we joined Anna and Jessica with the children. The meal had already been served and just about one-third of the children were still hanging around to play when we got there. Upon the arrival of our 7 new faces, the children instantly wanted attention! And we gladly gave them that attention!

The older children went around asking us our names and our ages, while the little ones just wanted held or to cling to our legs. Others wanted piggyback rides or to do flips. The children were so adorable!

Champ told us that there was definitely work there for us if we wanted to volunteer. We also were introduced to Mma Phama, the principal of the Naledi Education Centre. Botswana’s education system is a bit different than ours. At the end of each grade, if a student doesn’t pass the standardized test, then they are no longer allowed to attend the free government school. They then are forced to go to a private school, which costs money, in order to get their education. The Naledi Education Centre is one of the private schools, except it is considerably cheaper than other private schools. We have an appointment to meet with Mma Phama on Wednesday morning to discuss volunteering at the school. We then plan to spend the day at Tlamelo playing with the children and helping serve lunch. Wednesday afternoon is allotted for rugby at Tlamelo, so we will be able to experience that as well! So many exciting options for service!