Sit, Tracy, Sit

Picture the blue cloudless skies, the wild animals, and the picturesque hills that make up the serene Mokolodi Game Reserve. Now picture trying to show this beautiful nature to 40 preschoolers! That was what Leslie, Jack, Danielle, Meeka, and I tried to do today as we volunteered at the reserve. We wanted to see firsthand what it was like when a group of school children were there.

The young children were so adorable! They referred to all of us helpers and their teachers as Aunties or Uncles! So, we were Auntie Leslie, Uncle Jack, Auntie Danielle… and so on! They started the day with learning about the crocodile. We then moved into the cafeteria where the children had hot tea and a sandwich. Quite shocking to us, 2-, 3-, and 4-year-olds were drinking hot, and I mean steaming hot, tea! And no one seemed to burn his or her little mouth! It’s just one of those cultural differences that everyone here, including the little ones, are accustomed to drink tea.

After the snacks, we moved on to the safari part of the day. Yes, about 40 preschoolers rode on these vehicles like the one pictured below…what an experience to get them all to stay seated! The ride was quite bumpy and the maternal side of me came out, because I didn’t want any of the children to fall out! But, the tour guides, Naledi and Kenzy, and the preschool teachers didn’t seem too worried about it, other than telling them to “sit properly” when the children stood up. There were no seatbelts for these wee ones and I happened to be sitting in the back next to a sweet little girl, Tracy. Oh, but Tracy did not want to stay seated. After telling her to “sit, Tracy, sit” numerous, numerous times, I just sat her on my lap and seat belted her in with my arms. She got used to it eventually!

Here is Tracy...trying to squirm out of my arm seatbelt!

The little ones were so quiet when we spotted any animal and then they would always tell the animals bye when we drove off! We even spotted three elephants and a giraffe this time out!


After running out of petro (fuel) in the bush, we eventually got back to the Education Centre for lunch. After helping serve lunch, the little ones were on their way back to their preschool. But, before they left, all in unison, they said, “Thank you, aunties. We love you, aunties. God bless you, aunties!” What a great end to a great day!

Many of us, including myself, are interested in volunteering at the reserve once or twice a week. The work there could range from helping with the school children to working in the Permaculture Garden to doing conservation work in the bush. Besides all of those opportunities to volunteer, there is always a beautiful view at Mokolodi!

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!

"Like the Drink?"

We all know that my name is quite original. While I love its uniqueness, I am used to repeating it during introductions. After repeating my name to Hope at the football game, he replied, “Oh, like the drink!” I was confused and had no clue what drink he was speaking of, but he knew my name, so I just let it go at that.
Sunday we were in the grocery store picking up a few items when my teammate, Matt, handed me a can of soda. It was called Mirinda! Yes, it's spelled differently, but I believe it may be pronounced the same, according to Hope! Of course, I bought a can and it was good! It tastes a lot like the orange soda we have back at home! So, maybe now I should just say "like the drink" when introducing myself!

The Proposal

Saturday afternoon we walked the short way to the football stadium for the World Cup qualifying game between Botswana and Madagascar. We got there about 2:15 for a 3:00 starting time. Not many people were there early, so we sat in a fairly open area. Two guys asked if they could sit by us and sat down. We soon began chatting with them. Lucas and Hope (a nickname for a much longer name) were quite interested in coming to America and asked if we ever wanted to come back to Botswana after this summer. Jayne, Danielle, Leslie, and I all gladly said we would love to come back to Botswana someday. Then, Lucas said to me to marry him, because then I could take him to the United States and he could take me back to Botswana! Quite the proposal, but I passed! That is Hope and Lucas in the picture with me and (from left to right) Leslie, Danielle, Jayne, Matt, and Meeka at the football game.

Then, more people about our age came and sat by the four of us girls and started taking pictures with us with their phones! We really didn’t know why they wanted our pictures so badly, but we just gladly smiled along as they snapped shots with us! It was a good time to chat with them about their culture!

Being midday, it was about 75 degrees with an occasional breeze. It was a beautiful day, slightly warm, and we were all in capris or skirts and light t-shirts. However, the Batswana (the word for the people of Botswana) were all dressed in jeans, sweatshirts or jackets, and some even had stocking caps on! I asked if they were hot, but they said no and gave me a slightly funny look! It is their winter season after all!

The game finally started and it was fun to watch the game, but also to watch the spectators! They were proud to be Zebras! The Zebras were a much better team, but couldn’t get on the scoreboard, so the game ended up 0–0. Lucas and Hope said the Zebras will now go play at Madagascar for the next round. Wouldn’t it be cool if the Zebras made it a long way on the road to the 2010 World Cup?

Defensive Driving

Friday was another day to adjust to our new surroundings and that it was for sure! We woke up and again walked to Riverwalk to use the wireless internet there. Internet had worked Wednesday evening when we got in, but the university unexpectedly lost connection Thursday morning. Some of the team had not been able to really contact many back home, so we thought we’d use the wireless at the mall. After lunch, we were all able to send a few emails and check a few things online before half of us headed to speak with Charity about our appointments and the other half went to buy tickets for the Botswana Craft festival that was taking place on Saturday. The Botswana Craft Festival is a festival that exhibits the traditional Botswana food, culture, dancing, and homemade crafts.

Jack, Leslie, Meeka, and I were the group that ventured off to buy tickets for the festival, while Danielle, Jayne, and Matt went to meet with Charity. My group tried to find a taxi to take us to Botswana Craft, the place of the festival. However, there were no taxis to be found there at Riverwalk. We then headed to see if a combi, which is the public transportation here that looks like small Volkswagen buses/vans, could take us there. A man said to just first go to the station and then get on another one to take you there. So, us four hopped on a combi, along with about 12 others, to go to the station. The station wasn’t a station, though. It really was just a bunch of combis in a parking lot. There wasn’t really a map of routes either. So, we started asking around. However, everyone kept telling us to go the combis that took us to the airport! Botswana Craft and aircraft is the only connection we could make. But, we knew that wasn’t right. After walking around a bit, we got back on a combi to take us back to Riverwalk --- the place we just came from! We made it back to Riverwalk and miraculously there was a taxi driver there that knew where Botswana Craft was!

We had been in taxis here before, but never had a ride like this before! This driver was, well, let’s call him a defensive driver. He was swerving in and out of traffic, making new lanes of traffic, honking the horn, and much more! The speed is in kilometers per hour here so I don’t know how fast we were truly going, but sometimes it may have been a little excessive for the situation. After about 20 minutes of this ‘defensive’ driving, we made it to Botswana Craft. Yay! We headed inside to buy our tickets, but the woman there said that they were sold out! They had been sold out since Tuesday! We weren’t even in Africa at that time! We had a quick laugh and got back in the same taxi to go back to UB. Again, very ‘defensive’ driving, but we got back to UB in one piece and without getting in any accidents. It’s no surprise, though, that according to a billboard, 50 accidents happen on the roads every day!But, in our few days here, we haven't seen one yet!

We were a bit disappointed that we wouldn’t be attending the cultural festival, but we found out that on Saturday, the national football team (a.k.a. soccer) was taking on Madagascar at the stadium across from UB! Change of plans for Saturday!

Getting Adjusted

Thursday morning was spent with the graduate student, Riley, who is helping us get adjusted to the campus, and going through a safety orientation. UB (University of Botswana) has gone to great measures to ensure the safety of the students on the campus. It was reassuring to listen to their safety precautions and to be aware of any dangers to avoid. We all found it comical, though, that according to one of the handouts, singing in the shower is strictly prohibited, as it is a noise violation! I guess that’s one habit that I’ll have to kick fast! :)

We also discussed our service options with Charity, our contact at UB through the International Students Office. Charity then offered to make the appointments with our potential project sites! One step closer to our project selection! It is much more credible when the arrangements are made through UB, too.

We then met Anna and Jessica, two girls that traveled here last year with the International Service Team who are returning to do service work on their own, for lunch in Riverwalk. Riverwalk is a very nice outdoor mall, with all types of restaurants and shopping to do. So far, though, all the meals have been fairly close to the meals back home. There has not yet been a traditional Botswana meal as such. The rest of the afternoon we spent shopping for the necessities to live --- groceries, dinner plates, cups, pots, pans, towels, flashlights, and so on. I don’t know if it was the afternoon of shopping or still jet lag, but sleep came easily that night!

Finally in Africa

My team left Monday from KCI to fly to Detroit, then to Amsterdam and finally to Johannesburg, South Africa. Considering I had only been on a plane once before, I now feel like a pro after approximately 19 hours in the air and many more just waiting in the airports!

Once in South Africa, a van from the backpacker’s lodge that we were staying at for the night picked us up at the airport. So here I was in Jo-burg, as the locals call it, riding in the front passenger seat, which is quite awkward to get used to as it is on the left hand side of course. But, then I suddenly hear sirens, so I looked in the side view mirror, and sure enough, there was a police car, blasting its lights and sirens. However, either our driver honestly did not see and/or hear it or he just wanted to ignore it, because he just kept driving on for what seemed like miles! Ok, maybe just a couple of blocks, but still… Eventually, the police pulled up right beside us in the (empty) lane of oncoming traffic and then the driver pulled over.

The police officer came to the driver’s window and started talking fast in his native language. The driver then stepped outside. They were outside discussing the matter for quite some time. Meanwhile, we just sat in the van, without any knowledge of what was really going on. Eventually, though, the driver got back in the vehicle and drove off. The rest of the ride was quite silent! Later we found out that the driver got pulled over because the trailer that held our luggage didn’t have lights. Whoops…not a major infraction, but quite the first experience of South Africa! Nothing too risky for us, but it was hard to not know what was going on!

We stayed at the backpackers lodge for the night and left around noon for the bus to Gaborone. 8 hours on the bus seemed to go by quickly, as I had the most breath-taking scenery to admire the entire way to Gaborone. Huge hills covered in picture perfect trees with blue cloudless skies overhead. I also saw some fields, even a few with irrigation systems, and cows, horses, goats. I was excited to see bits of the farm here!

After one of the most amazing sunsets, the dark night with its bright clear stars soon fell upon us. It was only 6pm, which seems early, but it is the winter season here, so dark comes much earlier than back at home. Around 8 that night and after having a ‘discussion’ of sorts with the Botswana border control to let us in the country, we finally arrived in Gaborone! After 3 days of traveling, we were finally in Africa!