The Nitza Family African Adventure

Two Other Blogs to See

2009-05-11T02:01:00.001-07:00

We have had the pleasure to meet two other bloggers that we recommend you check out:

www.dumelafromgabs.blogspot.com

...is authored by a fellow ex-pat living down the street from us. She gives some great insight and perspective into Gaborone and Botswana. There is a good picture of Eden on the April 16th entry.

www.leatoto.blogspot.com

...is authored by James Butler. We met him on our recent trip to northern Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe (more on that later). He is working for World Teach in rural, rural Namibia (the country to the west and north of Botswana) after being a kindergarten teacher in inner-city Austin, Texas for six years. World Teach is a non-profit, non-governmental organization placing volunteer teachers in developing countries.

A desert???

2009-05-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

So here is the rest of the story of our camping visit to the Kalahari desert. First detail (of interest to Ted and Todd),

The Trucks:

We were well equipped again with two (twice as many as last time) huge 4x4 diesel powered monsters. One even had a truck cap (called a 'canopy' here) to keep vicious, wild animals (or blankets and jugs of water) from escaping. We mowed down everything in our paths. Because of park rules, though, we were restrained to the roadways. So, we mowed down lots and lots and lots of sand. We did spend most of our time in 4L (meaning low 4 wheel drive).

Inside the park, the girls were given a nostalgic treat - riding in the back of a open pick-up truck. We wouldn't think of letting our kids bounce around urban streets but bouncing around the wild, rough pathways with blind turns and the constant threat of lions, hyenas, jackals, snakes and big-clawed falcons seemed within reason. Eden said she felt 'free'. Hope got a bump on her head after one surprise bounce. We kept Trey inside the cab with us (he is within the carrying capacity of some of the birds of prey).

The Landscape.

Even knowing it has been a very wet rainy season, we were surprised by the extent of vegetation. It looked more like harvest time in Kansas. The grass was at least 2 feet tall in most all areas concealing most animals (like the similarly colored lions).

Most pathways appeared as below.

The Kalahari covers 80% of Botswana and creeps into nearby Congo, Angola, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. This part of Africa (millions of years ago) used to be dotted with lakes. These lake beds are now mostly dry and called 'pans'. Large concentrations of salt are sometimes found in the central areas of pans from past evaporation. The first picture below captures the edge of one of these prehistoric lake beds. The brush gives way to the salt tolerant grasses. Further out, the concentration of salt is even too much for scrub grass leaving white dust.

We stopped at the edge of one of the pans for drinks.

What staggers you when you stand there in these pans is the 'vastness'. There is nothing but solitude and silence for miles for the entire 360 degrees around you.

The Water Feature.

This was a 'good news' 'bad news' sort of thing. In an effort to quell foot and mouth disease as well as other cattle ailments, Botswana erected long fences across many parts of the Kalahari. This prevents the spread of disease but interrupts migration paths of wild animals to find water. As a result (and to prevent wide spread death of the wild populations), the Khutse Park had two boreholes (groundwater wells) installed to make sure two separate locations have a permanent watering source. Solar powered, cellular data sending and control, squirrel guards and posts to prevent a errant 4x4 from backing into them complete the unfortunate lifelines.

The Wildlife.

We really did not see much. Below is a lonely springbok (the Rugby mascot of the South African national team). A beautiful small gazelle with a porcelain white face. very shy.

Off on the far side of a random pan were a couple of ostrich and a gemsbok (also known as an oryx).

The gemsbok is quite stunning: a large, stately antelope that prefers the dry desert climate. The horns are more than 3 feet long and have been known to impale lions.

Ground squirrels here are tough. They live without drinking water and could break our North American brown or grey counterparts into pieces. They make underground borrows more than a football field in length. The Afrikaans word for them is: waaierstertgrondeekhoring. We will just call them squirrels.

The yellow hornbill is a smart bird featured as 'Zazu' in the Lion King. The golf-ball sized beetle can be seen first chasing Ted but then he saw our trucks and heads for the safety.

The Camp Site.

Below is pictured our campsite. Ted picked up a nick-name on this trip, "Sir Packs a Lot". [In my defense, I will state that we were prepared for anything.] We did not see any lions (or hyenas, jackals or any other predator) but at night we did hear the lions roaring. The first night they 'seemed' far away and we listened. The second night, they were noticeably closer and for some roars you could correspondingly feel the ground vibrate. There is not really a lot you can do when it is pitch black and you hear lions roaring but a lot goes through your mind. Our much discussed plan was to run to the pick-up trucks if anything happened. We all played dead instead. In the most hair-raising moment of our rather undramatic trip, one evening at dusk we heard a low growl on one side of the campsite. We all looked at each other and then went about our business. A few minutes later: same growl - other side of the campsite. At this point Amy was a bit freaked out - obviously something was walking quite close. Then, a few minutes later still: same growl - right behind the tents. That was enough for Amy and Deb to grab the children and head to the trucks, while Ted and Todd played 'find the creature'. They saw the grass moving as whatever it was walked through, but as noted above the grass was so tall we could not tell what it was. Probably a good thing.

The Park Warden knows how to get a message across. This sign is posted in the bathroom in front of the user. I felt compelled to build a couple of barns for the owls to nest in after reading through the information.

The girls noticed a curious 'White-browed Scrub-robin' hanging around our camp. They named him, 'Twitter'.

Sunsets were incredible and the stars were even better (but dont show up well in pictures). We could clearly make out a satellite as it trekked across the sky, saw a couple of shooting stars and pointed out several constellations rare to the northern skys like the Southern Cross.

Walking with the San.

We were excited to spend a couple hours with a San bushman on a walking safari where he showed us many things of his culture and way of life. The San once roamed over most of Africa. Archaeology finds in the Kalahari show their presence as far back as 30,000 years ago. Some linguists even credit them with the invention of human language. The San were nomadic hunter-gatherers who travelled in family groups. Decisions were reached by group consensus. Everything they needed for their daily existence they carried with them. (Note - San is not the name that this tribe refers to themselves as - there is some disagreement about how to refer them most respectfully. We use this term as it is a common reference to them.)

Botswana and Namibia are privileged to retain some of the only remnants of the San communities. It is a struggle though, much like that of the Native American, Innu of Canada and Aborigines of Australia. Most all are poor and alcohol is a problem. They have largely been discriminated against for a long time. They are a controversial political issue in Botswana, as the govt. has made some attempt to relocate them off of the Kalahari and 'resettle them'. Sadly, this has had a very bad impact on them and their way of life.

Our guide started by making a fire with nothing but two sticks of wood and his hunting knife. He then showed us how to build a bird trap (below in the video) and later how he gets water from an underground root of some sort.

Later, he showed us a typical home and some hunting techniques. Finally, he took three hemp leaves, stripped them down, made rope out of them, and created a bracelet for Hope. All this - start fire, set trap, find water, make rope, find food ('sandpaper raisins - not pictured), in less than an hour, with absolutely no disruption to the environment. Takes us that long to find what we need at Target! It really was a humbling experience, actually. Oh, and when we asked how long it takes to build one of these shelters, the answer was 'in about an hour if the rain is coming'. Amazing.

The outlook for the San is uncertain. It is a political 'hot potato' for Botswana and one of Africa's greatest dilemmas: How to preserve old cultures and traditions while accepting and adapting to the new.

we survived

2009-04-27T04:18:00.000-07:00

We promise to post a longer description of our weekend soon, but for now - enough to let you know we are alive.

We (Ted and Todd) wanted to see this :

(pictures are courtesy of past visitors of the park that hung their snap shots on the walls of the reception area at the main gate)

The Park Manager was very friendly. One of us (not Ted or Todd) explained that there was 'some concern about lions'. His response was, "then why did you come here??". He was not a big help.

But all we really saw was this:

We survived and had a great time. more later....

Todd and Ted's Excellent Adventure {also known as: If my Fate is to be Eaten by Lions, this Weekend may be when it Happens}

2009-04-23T11:57:00.000-07:00

So, in a previous post (about the campus unrest, I believe), I mentioned that this semester I have an office-mate. His name is Todd, and he is a professor at Cornell College in Iowa. He is here with his wife, also a professor, and their two kids ages approximately 9 and 6 (one of whom's name is Eden, believe it or not). Anyway, what I failed to mention at that point was that Todd seems to bring out the extreme adventure side of Ted - the side I try to keep a lid on when it involves me and the kids. Todd was the one who invited Ted to climb Kgale despite all manner of warnings and rumors that it was a bad idea (see the post below). Having conquered Kgale, Todd's next big idea, which took no convincing on Ted's part, was that we should all go camping together in the Central Kalahari, where lions and hyenas roam freely and have been known to explore campsites at night. Guess where we are going this weekend...

When we told some other friends this is what we are doing, they promptly went to their computer and pulled up a picture of a big male lion coming out of one of the bathroom-type facilities at the campsite. It should be noted that they did not take this picture themselves, but said that they found it posted somewhere at the entrance to the Reserve or something like that. It could be fake. But still...

So, this is how the conversation went from there.

Me: I am not taking my kids to the Kalahari unless you have a firm plan for what we do when lions come into the campsite.

Ted: Lions are not going to come into the campsite.

Me: They might. Have you not read Cry of the Kalahari??? Lions were in their campsite all the time. {BTW, this is a very great book by two Americans about the three or four years they spent in the Kalahari studying the lions and hyenas, back when virtually no one had done that. They eventually made the government mad and are now banned from the country. Recommended reading.}

Ted: Ok, well we will just be safe.

Me: JUST BE SAFE?? What kind of plan is that?

Ted: Ok, I will look into it.

Me: I am not going unless you have a plan.

Me to Todd the next morning in our office: I am not taking my kids on this trip unless you and Ted come up with a plan for what to do if lions come into the campsite.

Todd: much laughter.

Me: I am serious, and I KNOW you have read Cry of the Kalahari. Then I tell him about the picture of the lion coming out of the bathroom facility.

Todd: Oh, that is not good. If we are going to be eaten by lions, it will be much cooler to do it while fighting them off at our campsite then to just be surprised by them while going to the bathroom.

Me to myself: I am going to die.

Since this time, Todd (but not Ted, I should say) has managed to identify two strategies: firecrackers, and lots of really strong bug spray.

Deb (Todd's wife and I) on the other hand, have tried to think of how we will design the layout of the campsite to have the quickest escape route from the tents to the trucks. Deb also came up with the most intelligent and creative, yet practical, strategy of all: buying Depends for late night emergencies, so as not to have to wander out of the tent in the middle of the night and risk being surprised by a big ferocious beast...

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Mountain Climbing

2009-04-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

There is a mountain at the edge of town. The top of the mountain (called Kgale Hill, pronounced kahl-ay) stands at 1280 or so meters above sea level. That is pretty high except that most of Botswana sits on a plateau averaging about 1000 meters. So, the 'mountain' is about 900 feet tall. The urban areas of the southwestern part of Gaborone run right up to the base of the hill. You can see the popular 'Game City Mall' in the shadows of the hill below. The hill itself is protected as a vast park area.

It is well known that there is a trail to the top of the hill. In fact, there is a cell tower's red light that acts as a beacon at night. You would think the bulb burns out from time to time. There are many legends and stories about Kgale. For one, security types warn of robbers waiting in the bushes ready to take everything from unsuspecting climbers. Amy's security briefing at the Embassy last year warned of this and stressed not to go there: "A while back a couple drove to the foot of the hill. Husband says 'lets go', wife says 'no'. Husband goes up. Husband comes down in nothing but boxer shorts." Also, there may be man-eating leopards. Officials from the United States (even Peace Corp) are not allowed to enter the area. This of course made finding a way to the top even more intriguing... I (Ted) should bring some of the kids too. To complicate things, the girls' school is nearby. Everyday I dropped off the kids, Kgale would taunt me.

The next round of US expats that went through the Embassy briefings early this year heard of no such warnings. Also, we found out that Kgale groupies scale the peak every Saturday and Sunday morning as the sun rises. Taking the Embassy's silence and the safety of groupies into consideration - I made a plan. A nearby family from Iowa has two girls about Eden and Hope's age. With the increased security of the 'buddy system' we could not fail. Early one Saturday morning (about 7am), the girls and I set off with the family from Iowa. I had enough granola bars and water to last a week in my backpack.

This was the sign at the parking area (one of the lower lower peaks in the Kgale area is an aggregate mine):

There were several dozen empty cars in the parking area, so we figured they had pressed on in spite of the warning. We noted it was Saturday and they likely were not using dynamite on the weekend and started our climb...

The trail is worn and well traveled. The climb is a mixture of large boulders, rocky-rough terrain, sandy trail, and some paved pathway. You start by scaling a lower peak and then back into a valley before scaling the Kgale peak.

In the valley between the two peaks, we saw a troop of Chacma Baboons. They were curious and watched us closely.

The old, grumpy, leader of the troop was hanging out in the shade along the trail. I would like to say his 3-inch canines were safely far away and behind a strong fence, but he was not. He sat less than 20 feet away. We could smell him. By this time, though, we had seen more than fifty climbing groupies heading back down the mountain. The baboon was probably already full of tourists by this late in the morning.

After about an hour, we reached the summit. A bald expanse of an area where groups mingle, rest, and take pictures. We were no exception.

This view (above) looks to the southeast over the main highway 'A1' and the Gaborone Dam. The highway is the main route south and leads to the villages/towns of Otse, Labotse and Mokolodi (the subject of previous posts). Otse is where the mountain cliffs that house the Cape Griffon vultures are located. This is the highest point of Botswana at 1500 meters. The Gaborone Dam is the source of drinking water for the capital city. Gaborone was selected almost fifty years ago to be the capital of Botswana in part because the water supply was considered more reliable. The lake created by the dam is considered more than 110% full this season. The summer rains have been plentiful.

Here are Eden and Hope at the top. Note the power line to the cell tower light in the background. I checked, the bulb was burning brightly.

The trip down the mountain is almost more challenging than the climb up. The rocks are very loose and you really need to concentrate on each step to avoid a spill. Once we returned to the bottom of the mountain, ours were the only cars left. We headed off for breakfast.

We enjoyed the climb so much, we returned a couple of weeks later with the visit of my Aunt Alice. She is well traveled but this was her first time in the Southern Hemisphere. On Easter Saturday, we climbed the 'Sleeping Giant' (what Kgale means) again in spite of the many dangers.

This time, we did not see any baboons. I picked the picture below because of the near-complete green landscape it shows. It is the end of summer now in Botswana and the entire area has exploded with vegetation. When we arrived almost nine months ago, everything was brown and dusty. Local residents say that Easter usually marks the end of the wet season. It will now be dry and near cloudless until October. In that time, the landscape will return to brown, dusty and parched.

Finally, we met a couple of dogs at the summit the second time around. They were traveling with a South African family who do the climb often. The dogs were happy to see us and rested with Eden and Hope.

As Aunt Alice and I caught our breath, wiped the sweat from our face and revelled in our accomplishment; we made a discouraging discovery: The dog pictured above had made it all the way up the mountain - hopping on three legs. Even with a head start, we couldn't beat them back down the mountain. Next time, less granola bars and water bottles in my backpack.

[Footnote: This blog post is dedicated to George, one of our most loyal followers who has been subtly reminding us that it has been a very long time since our last post - even sending suggestions for how to overcome bloggers' block. So, we sincerely apologize for the long delay in posting, if we even have any readers left to apologize to...]

Tuli Block

2009-03-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Recently, it was mid-term break for the girls ('Spring Break', except its not Spring here). In our ongoing effort to see as much of this country as we can before we leave, we took a road trip to the Tuli Block region of Botswana. We chose Tuli Block for a couple of reasons.

It is at the eastern most point of Botswana, right at the tip where Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa meet. This is along the Limpopo River, and it is geologically different than the desert-like conditions of most of the rest of Botswana. We thought it would be pretty and interesting.

The real reason: It gave Ted an excuse to rent a massive 4x4 diesel truck for the trip. The 6 hour road trip to get there includes very rural and rocky terraine that Ted insisted required the use of the crew cab Toyota Hilux pictured below. It actually was more of a necessity than we knew - the Corolla simply would not have made it. The last 50 kilometers of our trip were on some very challenging, axel-breaking rocky dirt roads and included a washed-out bridge that required us to literally drive through a river. Ted was in heaven.

We stayed at the Mashatu lodge (http://www.mashatu.com/). Much like other lodges, it includes a morning drive to seek out wildlife and an afternoon/evening drive. A drawing point, though, was that the lodge also houses scientific researchers. Three scientists are currently there, studying wild dog re-introduction, lions/leopards, and elephant populations. To raise money to fund their research, you can hire them to ride along with your drive and explain their research.

The elephant research is lead by Jeanetta Selier. She has been at Mashatu for more than ten years and is studying elephant population management. Her work counters the prevailing choice to cull (kill) elephants when their populations seem too high. She is attempting to document that the elephants have the ability to monitor and control their own populations.

We spent a morning with her and learned more about elephants and the intricate social interactions of their daily lives. The video below captures a moment when a juvenile bull thought we were a little too close.

We also saw giraffe.

We spent an afternoon and early evening with Andre (we didn't get his last name) who is researching the terrritorial tendencies of lions and leopards. He has several lions and leopards fitted with radio collars. He taught us how he uses his equipment to track them. In the video below, Eden is trying her hand at it as we track a male leopard:

We were on the trail of a leopard named "Skebangwa" (which means 'fearsome'). By dusk, we finally caught up with him, although he was cleverly evasive and we were always looking at him through trees or tall brush. (no pictures turned out - too dark) We first found him jumping out of a shephere tree where he had been feeding on a baby impala he hid there. He had a severe eye wound (from being scratched by a female, according to Andre), and Andre noted that it was getting worse each time he finds this leopard. When we got back to the lodge he showed the girls lots of photos he has taken of this leopard over time, including the progression of the wound. Despite their ability to do so, they do not interfere in the lives of the animals, unless the wound is man made. In this case it was not. They do not expect that he will survive the wound.

As an added treat, two hyena (a mother and cub) waited near the shepherd tree for impala leftovers. It was the first time we had seen hyena in Botswana. They are Amy's favorite, but she appears to be the only person in the country who feels that way. Of the thousands of animal souvenirs of all types (figurines, shirts, posters, photos, etc., etc) for sale in this country, you can not find ANY hyena souvenirs anywhere. Apparently not much of a market; someone told us they are a symbol of bad luck (recall the nasty and evil hyenas in Lion King...). Oh well, we have this photo.

A special interest for Ted was getting close to a Baobab tree (Adansonia digitata). They are more familiar to people in the dry season after they have dropped their leaves (it is late summer in Africa now). Without the leaves they appear to be upside down with the roots instead sticking high into the sky. Our guide explained that folklore throughout the area says that God made these trees last and instead of carefully planting them, he tossed them down to the ground and they landed upside down. These giants live for thousands of years and dot the horizon if you know what to look for in the area we were visiting. Our guide took us to the foot of a very young Baobab at the top of ridge. They estimate the age of the young tree at 500 years. A short time after Columbus discovered America.

Near the Baobab tree, we stumbled across an almost entirely complete giraffe skeleton. We explored the skeleton and even matched up some of the bones to ours (thigh bone to thigh bone). Ted says the neck bones were as large as his waist.

In the picture below are our guide and driver, Mallman, and our tracker, Morgan, with the giraffe bones. The are both Batswana who have worked at Mashatu for several years. They knew their stuff.

Another unique experience was the ability to actually get out of the safari vehicles and hike. Mallman carried his rifle and Morgan stayed far back with the Land Rover. We had to stay in single file formation so that Mallman knew where we would be if a hungry warthog jumped out at us (the only animals we saw on the hike - upwind).

We tasted wild berries, smelled minty leaves, saw more bones (below of an unfortunate male impala):

And no safari would be complete without examining some poop. First, elephant. Apparently those who spend their time thinking about such things can tell from the composition of the elephant waste about the quality of the previous summer's food availability. The grassier the better, or something like that.

Perhaps more interesting (again, if you spend your time thinking about this kind of thing) is from the hyena:

Hyena have the strongest jaws in the animal kingdom and eat their prey like we do a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. The grind and crush the bones as if they were crust on the bread. Becuase of this, their waste is powdery white from the ground calcium that is left behind.

Shortly thereafter, we decided it was time to get back in the Land Rover.

Lastly, we (Ted) saw a buried water pipe (daughters grumbling). The terrain is very rocky so the piping is buried very shallow. The rocks were added in this area to protect the piping (the only water supply to our camp) from the heavy footsteps of elephants.

The Rest of the Story & An Ode to German Print

2009-03-07T11:13:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since we have posted, and a few people have pointed out to us that we have left a couple of stories unfinished. So, here you go:

The Rest of the Story Part I: Campus Unrest
After they closed the campus in the middle of the week due to the violence, it was announced that the campus would stay closed for the rest of that week and the whole following week. To make up for it, the mid-semester break was cancelled, and the semester was extended by a week. Then a couple days later, it was clarified that this cancellation did not apply to graduate students or international students. Now, if you are paying attention, you will have noticed that means that if you teach both graduate and undergraduate classes, you have had your mid-semester break taken away, your semester extended by a week, AND you did not get the week off for the cancelled classes. And, if you are an international student or an exchange student, enrolled in undergraduate classes - do you have class during the off week, or do you not? None of this made much sense - totally poor "planning", if you can call it that. So, there was a bit of confusion and mild unrest on the part of the faculty at that point. Honestly, I think most faculty just made up their own minds of how they would handle the schedule situation, without broadcasting it to administration.

When students returned after the semi-closed week, the unrest actually started right back up. This lasted a couple of days, in which some classes were again disrupted, sand thrown in the face of professors, etc. At this point the faculty and staff had lost their patience with the administration and called a meeting to organize a bit of protest of their own. They confront the Vice Chancellor, took a vote of no confidence in him and called for his resignation. At that point there was some talk that the university would have to close for the entire semester.

Then...suddenly...it all got quiet again. Things for the past week have seemed completely normal. I finally asked my grad assistant what had happened, and she said that they (the govt. or the university, not sure which) had given the students money. Problem solved. (?)

The Rest of the Story, Part II: The Dogs.
Mama (the dog) had her puppies. Only two this time, not eight (thank God!). She had them in her own front yard, not ours (thank God, again). The SPCA did finally come for a visit, but it happened to be a day in which the owners had taken a tiny bit of interest and moved the puppies to the back yard, where it could give the appearance that they were being tended to. We reminded the SPCA that the reason none of the dogs were starving was that we were feeding them (not the owners), and that it is not a sustainable situation once we are gone. They took no action but promised to come back. In the meantime, we have not seen or heard the puppies in a week or so. We are not sure they are still there. If they are gone - and we absolutely hate to think of how that was done - it happened much sooner than with the last batch, and before the girls could get completely attached. So, life goes on with us having two informal foster dogs that do bring pleasure to the girls and a combination of pleasure and terror to Trey. And, they bring us gifts. Today I got a chewed-up but otherwise lovely pink slipper - just one - from who knows how far away...

An Ode to German Print:
Now, a bit of fun Tswana culture. The traditional clothing of the women here is known as German Print. The fabric comes in three colors (blue, brown, and red) and a seemingly endless variety of patterns. You can buy the fabric in any of a large number of fabric shops, then take it to any one a very large number of tailors to design you a dress or skirt. (There are some street vendors that sell pre-made dresses, but the vast majority seems to be made-to-order). This is seemingly done by even the poorest of people, and german print seems to be in style for every occasion. You see people wearing a german print skirt with an old t-shirt and slippers, or very elaborately decorated for a wedding or other special occasion. Once you figure out what you are looking for, German Print is everywhere.

Way back in November, Charles (my Fulbright colleague) and I were invited to the wedding of one of Esther's relatives (Esther is the director of the Centre). Weddings are much more drawn out affairs here, with festivities one weekend at the bride's family home, followed by festivities at the groom's family home the next weekend. The roles and responsibilities of the extended family in family life here are extensive. This includes weddings. The extended family women, on the bride's side, lets say, prepare all the food, serve it, and clean, while acting as gracious hosts to the family of the groom. Then, the next weekend, it is the groom's family's turn to do all the work (the women, that is).

The fun part is that each side picks out a specific german print pattern and all the women on that side have dresses made from that pattern, each trying to quietly outdo the others with ornateness and originality. At the wedding that Charles and I went to, we didn't know anyone but Esther, and she was busy with the extensive hosting responsibilities. So, we amused ourselves by seeing how many different interesting german print dresses we could find. I forgot my camera, but thanks to Charles, here are some interesting photos to give you the idea.
This wedding took place in the village of Molepolole (mow-lep-e-low-lee), about 50 km from Gaborone. In addition to giving you some good representations of the german print style, I hope they will give you a good feel for village life in Botswana, which to me can feel very different, strikingly different at times, from life in Gaborone.
Above is a fancier brown print. The cut of the skirt and top suggests it was made just for the wedding. It may be from the print chosen by the women of the groom's family, but I can not tell for sure.

Two good representations of the blue print. Charles and I were both in agreement that the red sash and collar on the left were quite unique, and quite striking. The one on the right is a much more traditional look.

The picture above is a pretty good representation of what I would call the "classic" german print style. A small print fabric, with some details added at the neck, shoulders, and around the bottom. The white shawl indicates she is from the bride's family, and is therefore a guest of honor at the home of the groom. The weekend before, the groom's family members would have been wearing the shawls at the home of the bride. I just love this picture, it seems like such a classic representation of Botswana village life or something.

Another brown. I call this the "button" print, just totally my own made-up term. I believe this was the print chosen by the groom's family, You will note the woman is wearing an apron, as she was probably clearing the tables and doing dishes as this photo was taken.

There are three separate prints in the shot above. The "button" style with the yellow t-shirt underneath, the blue stripe (which is a bit more unique, or at least I do not see a lot of the stripe when I am paying attention), and another brown in the background, with a matching hat trimmed in the same fabric. You do see a lot of coordinating scarves for daily wear, and hats for fancier occasions. This morning we went to a tailor (to get a pea costume made for Hope for book week - more soon on that). We found out there that you can also get shoes made with the fabric as well. I asked if you had to buy the shoes and he just covered them with the fabric, but the tailor said no, just tell him what size foot you have, and he makes the whole shoe himself. How cool is that??

Above is a member of the wedding party, in a lovely brown print mixed with a lot of white. The wedding party started out in a more Western style of gowns and tuxes. After the food and some dancing, they left. Charles and I thought that was odd. Then maybe 30 minutes later they returned. This time the women were all in german print and the traditional leather sandals with goat hair (I have been assuming it is goat - it could be any number of animals, I suppose). The pattern was all the same, but again each woman's dress was unique.

Two other members of the wedding party in their own versions of the same print, with the men in the background. They are doing what could best be described as a line dance of sorts. It was a lot of fun to watch. We were told the wedding party had been getting together and practicing for weeks to prepare for it.

And finally, a nice red. I think red is the least frequently seen of the colors, but it is a bright and fun contrast to all the blue and brown. In the background is another "button" style of brown.

The girls have become quite interested in the whole german print idea. So, we are having dresses made for each of them. I took Hope to the tailor last week, and she had such fun as the lady got a pad of paper and a pen and started sketching out ideas, while asking Hope for input. It will be a two-piece skirt and top, in a red rosette-like print as the main color, but with layers of blue and brown in the same print at the bottom of the skirt, finished off with a bit of lace. Once hers is finished, we will take Eden to do the same thing. Today at the fabric store we found some prints with elephants, others with zebras. Guess what Eden's dress will probably look like?

Ted and I seem to have caught the bug ourselves. Today at the fabric store we decided we might get some of it to bring home and recover the seats of our dining room chairs. We are thinking brown, with a variety of different prints - maybe even a different print for each of the six chairs...

Trey's World

2009-02-15T05:27:00.001-08:00

A Ted Post:

Trey is now 3 1/2 years old. When we arrived in Botswana, he was still struggling to tell us in words about his world. Now, I often call him a chatter-box. He uses words like 'actually', 'tremendous' and phrases like, "Lets think about it." and "That is not a good idea". The last one usually right after we tell him to go to bed.

At his nursery school, they usually do a couple of pictures to take home. We have an entire wall full of his art. When I picked him up the other day, I was especially interested in his most recent work (above). Keep in mind that for over six months now, all of our laundry is done by hand in the bathtub. When I asked him what he had just colored, he answered:

"Its a TV, Dad!".

Amy and I looked at each other in confusion for a moment, then realized the kid probably has no memory, mental image, or word for something called "washing machine".

Puppies and Poop.

2009-02-07T07:36:00.000-08:00

A Ted Post:

A long standing issue at our flat is the dogs next door. You may remember shortly after our arrival stories of the mother dog and her eight puppies. There has not been much good news to report except for the tremendous love that Eden, Hope and even Trey (at times) give to them.

Seven of the puppies left our neighborhood in November but one (by name of 'Mocha' if you ask Eden or Hope or 'Cheese' if you ask Trey) remains. The mother and son duo wander around the nieghborhood, hang out in our yard, eat some of our table scraps, hide on our front porch when it rains and steal the occational shoe or toy from us.

Amy and I are worried about what happens when we leave. The neighbors aren't showing much interest and the doghouse in their backyard hasn't been available to both dogs in months. There are too many beer bottles and trash.

We considered 'adopting' Mocha-Cheese and bringing him back to the states, but then found out the cost. For anyone considering transporting a dog halfway across the world, a full service company will handle all the details for around $7,000. Then we noticed a couple of weeks ago that 'Momma' (the dog, that is) is again pregnant. We stepped up our search for options.

To our suprise (and relief) their is a Botswana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA). Eden and I checked it out during the week.

They house lots of cats and dogs, some bunnies, three donkies, some goats, and a sheep.

Eden, Hope and I returned on Saturday to volunteer. I was thinking we could walk a couple of dogs, pet some cats, sit with the bunnies. They had different ideas...When we checked in at the office, Kay (the office manager) said she was glad to see us and asked if we were ready to work. We said yes. She had me pick from two different shovels (an odd tool for walking dogs, I thought). She then lead us to the donkey/goat/sheep pen. It was empty (they were wandering around the entire place). The shelter however, was not entirely empty. It was full of poop. Lots of it. This was our task. Good thing I wore my brand new (birthday gift) white shirt.

While I shoveled and dumped, Eden and Hope helped feed the several dozen animals at the shelter.

After feeding the animals, Eden even chipped in to help with the poop - see video below.

We came home dirty, tired, but feeling good about the place itself. We wish we were also feeling good about the fate of the dogs and future puppies next door. The BSPCA has promised to pay the neighbors a visit, but so far they have not come. We have heard the neighbors may be leaving and the dogs going to the village where the neighbors come from, but if that does happen, it almost certainly won't happen before the new litter of puppies is born. Eden and Hope have already picked out names for up to 10 of them...

Strikes & Protests & Riots (Oh My!)

2009-02-04T09:30:00.001-08:00

Today at 1:30 p.m. they closed the university. We got an email from the Vice Chancellor at 1:00 informing us we needed to leave our offices immediately and everyone had to be completely gone by 1:30. The reason? The police were coming in to take control of the university to end the student strike. Good enough reason for me to leave. I promptly did so.

This has been building all semester. First, some background. The government pays for students to attend university here. They get their tuition paid, plus their room and board and a stipend. Obviously in most ways this is a very good thing. Many kids from the small more remote villages get to come to school that most certainly wouldn't otherwise be able to do so.

The current uprising started a couple of weeks ago. Apparently this year the Ministry of Education made a decision to not provide stipends to students who were retaking a certain number of classes, and to not adjust the stipends of students moving off-campus. Students have been upset about this. They petitioned the Ministry, filed a case with the High Court, etc. When all this failed, they went on strike. At first they just stopped attending classes, then escalated to disturbing other classes so that other students would not attend class either. They disrupted classes in session, and chased students walking to class carrying books - in some cases knocking the books out of their hands and such. They also blocked students from entering the library and in some cases the dining halls. A couple of international exchange students had their plates of food knocked from their hands, prompting their universities in the U.S. to recall them. The rest of the exchange students were moved out of their hostels and into a hotel 8 kilometers from campus. They were told not to come to campus until it is over, and they have no means of transport anyway. I am sharing my office this semester with a professor from Cornell College in Iowa who brought over a group of students. Needless to say he was a little distressed and was concerned that his students were going a bit crazy being basically locked down in a hotel.

This week it has gotten more physical. They have started using sticks and rocks, surrounding security guards, physically threatening people trying to hold class, and destroying property. I have actually witnessed very little of this. There a number of disadvantages to having an office in a place known as Siberia, but one advantage appears to be that student riots don't really make it out that far. I have heard them chanting, and on Monday morning I ran into a professor I know right after she had gotten chased out of class - she was pretty shaken up.

The worst part for me has been the disruption of classes. On Tuesday mornings I meet with a group of students who wanted to take my Monday night class but couldn't because of schedules. So, I agreed to meet with them separately. Our routine has been that they come to my office on Tuesday mornings and then we go to the conference room at the Centre to meet. Yesterday they showed up without any paper, pens, or other school supplies because they said they would have been followed if they looked like they were going to class. We went to the Centre and I asked for the key to the conference room. The woman who had the key asked if I was having class in there. I wasn't sure what the right answer was to that question so I told her I was just meeting with a group of students. She said the rioting students were sending in "spies" to walk through the buildings to see if people were holding classes in alternate locations. She told me she would open the room for me if I wanted, but that we were risking being caught and harassed. At that point I really would have held class anyway except it was very clear to me that she was uncomfortable with us being there and I didn't want to prompt students to bring their chaos and destruction to the Centre. So, we disbanded.

All afternoon Tuesday there were rumors they would close the university, but it did not happen. I teach a different class on Tuesday nights, and again I really wanted to be defiant and hold class - I HATE getting behind in my syllabus, but after consultation with the department I decided to cancel it. I showed up this morning and things seemed normal from my view from Siberia, but then while sitting in a meeting with Bagele Chilisa at 1:00, both of our phones started ringing with people telling us the news. We quickly wrapped up our meeting and I went back to my office to shut off the air conditioner and get some things. This was the first time of the whole process that I was a little spooked. There were people, mostly students, running around every which way. I wasn't sure if they were the rioters or just regular students running back to their hostels to grab their things before they left. I left through the back gate and walked home as quickly as I could. It was a bit exodus-like. I have never walked home surrounded by that many people before.

The non-rioting students are the ones I feel the most sorry for. They have to leave campus too, and these are not the kind of students who can just jump in the car that Daddy bought them for graduation and drive home. Nor are they the kind of students who can just stay in a hotel for a night and charge it to their credit cards. For many of these students home is a full day's bus ride, followed in some cases by a long walk. For others, home is in Lesotho, Swaziland, or Zambia and going home is not even an option.

So, that is where things stand. I am told that faculty and staff can go back tomorrow if they have I.D. to get past the police guards. Students are not that lucky. There is no end date, but I am told classes will be shut down for a week, possibly two. The worse news: we will have to make up the lost time at the end of the semester. That is just annoying on a number of levels.

Please note that at no time have I felt like I was in danger, and certainly now that they have removed the students, any possibility of danger is gone.

Ted asked how we ended up in Berkeley instead of Botswana.

Robben Island (a.k.a. Christmas in Cape Town pt. 2)

2009-01-18T05:09:00.000-08:00

Note: This first intro was written by TED - not me: During our visit to Cape Town, we visited Robin Island. I did not see a single Robin. In fact, I did not see any Cardinals or Blue Jays (known accomplices of Robins). I did see a Penguin. Go figure...

Now, a more serious intro: Robben Island is just off the coast of Cape Town, in an Alkatraz-like manner. It has been home to a number of different types of things, most of them not good. The most famous is the prison where the apartheid govt. of South Africa imprisoned leaders and activists of the African National Congress. The most famous of these is of course Nelson Mandela. He spent 27 (or so) years there. The boat ride to the island is about 45 minutes long. We were on one of the boats they actually used to use to haul prisoners back and forth. After arriving, they take you on a quick bus ride around the whole island. You see the prison from the outside, as well as the mines where the prisoners worked. They worked digging limestone out of the side of a big hole every day. They were not allowed sunglasses, and the stone was so bright it was hard to look at for just a few minutes. Needless to say, it ruined the eyesight of many of the men, including Mandela.

Below is one of the more moving scenes from the island. Some years back, Mandela and many of the former "residents" of the island went back for a reunion of sorts. When they visited the mine, Mandela took a stone and dropped it on the ground, followed by the others. A makeshift memorial to so many years of pain and suffering.

Our tour guide is standing in the doorway in the pink shirt. He, and all the other tour guides, are all former "residents", which is the highlight of the experience as far as I am concerned. The room we are in here was his cell - that he shared with 30-40 other men. He talked about his experiences and how they continually worked to keep each other's spirits up and to undermine the prison authorities. One thing that stands out in my mind is that they all shared everything they had. The guards would try to divide them by allowing some more favors and books and such than others, but they were all so committed to each other that when one person got something, it became group property immediately. He referred to his fellow residents as "comrades". They also kept each other's spirits up by playing soccer. Our guide said his team was referred to as the "international squad" because they happened to have 2 men from Botswana and 1 man from Zimbabwe on the team.

All of the ANC leadership, including Mandela of course, were kept separate from the rank & file ANC members, in a (futile) effort to keep the ANC from continuing its work from inside the prison. Our guide said he saw Mandela once in the prison, and talked about how gracious Mandela was, he asked how our guide was doing and seeming genuinely concerned. Below is Mandela's cell - an individual cell in the maximum secuirty section of the prison. Unfortunately, you just had to file through and look at it quickly - not a lot of time to stand and reflect on it.

Below is the last room of the tour. Previously, it was the Study Room and Guard station for the Maximum Security portion of the prison. Mandela was able to write letters and read in this area for an hour a day during his confinement. It is now used to allow visitors to ask questions before the boat ride back.

Below is us with our guide. I hate that we never got his name. Ted would like to point out that he and Trey also met two other former prisoners when they had to walk through the prison to find a bathroom for Trey.

And, last and also least in this case: Ted's penguin. This one was hanging out inside the prison grounds. Not sure how it survives. I guess the penguin is sort of metaphorical now that I think about it.

It's Official: Centre for the Study of HIV & AIDS

2009-01-15T10:27:00.000-08:00

Although the Fulbright award I applied for was to work at the Centre for the Study of HIV and AIDS (CSHA) at UB, the Centre was just getting off the ground over the past year, and had not officially been launched. After much work on the part of a large number of people, the Centre was launched last Friday. It was a nice big event in the library auditorium, with over 200 people in attendance. People in this country are very proud of their university, and they turn out to celebrate and honor its successes.

The Centre was developed with a great deal of support (intellectual and financial) from the University of Pennsylvania. U Penn has a major AIDS research center: The Center for AIDS Research (CFAR). The director of that Center - Dr. Jim Hoxie, is a physician who has been instrumental in helping Esther and UB develop the Centre here. He came all the way to Botswana just for the launch, and seemed genuinely delighted to have done so. U Penn and Baylor and Harvard all have medical research and direct service programs here in Botswana, but Penn seems to have the most direct relationship with the university. Their support of the Centre has been impressive to me.

The picture below is from the reception immediately following the formal speeches and such. It was nice - food and wine and my personal favorite: a marimba band. You can see the marimbas in the background. In case you were wondering, the fact that my shirt matches the tablecloths is not an accident. The director wanted the theme to be green, and told me to wear "that one green shirt that I have", so I did. I was surprised how precisely I matched...

With me is Dr. Charles Gossett, the other Fulbright who was appointed to the Centre this year. Charles is a political scientist from Cal Poly Pomona (California State Polytechnic - Pomona) - I think I got that right -sorry if I didn't, Charles. Charles also completed another Fulbright and taught at UB in the 1970s, when the University was just separating from Lesotho and Swaziland.

The CSHA banner in the middle shows the new UB logo at the top. It represents cattle (as valuable as money here), books/knowledge, and sorghum, a major crop. Can you make all that out in the abstract design? Random detail: the young woman standing up in the picture (in the orange top) was one of my students last semester.

The evening after the launch, the Centre Director, Dr. Esther Seloilwe, also hosted an informal reception at her home. It was a well-earned celebration for Esther, who worked incredibly hard to pull the launch off successfully. It was also, sadly, a goodbye party for Charles who was here on a six month Fulbright only. He is now traveling in Tanzania and Dubai before heading back home to California.

The kids adore Charles. He brought back nestle chocolate chips from a trip home to the states and made cookies with the kids - can't beat that!. Trey picks up the phone and has imaginary conversations with him. They will miss him a great deal.

The picture below is from the informal reception at Esther's place. From the left is Harriet Okatch, a chemistry professor and member of the CSHA management committee, followed by Charles. Next is Bagele Chilisa, a professor of education who has become a great colleague. She has a major (5 million dollar) NIH grant in conjunction with Penn to study HIV prevention among adolescents. She invited me to help her analyze some of the data and collaborate on an article for a local journal. That work sparked the idea for another article for a journal in the U.S. - we submitted a proposal for that one and hope to hear back in February. I am enjoying and learning a great deal from working with her.

Below is (at present) the entire staff of CSHA - From left to right is Charles (who is technically gone now, but I am choosing to not really accept that) followed by Esther Seloilwe (the Centre director). Esther is a nurse who got her Ph.D. at Univ. of California San Francisco. Coincidently, in one of those very small world experiences, my mother's cousin, Dr. Charlene Harrington, is a professor of nursing and sociology at UCSF and worked with Esther there. I think I was here about 2 months before I connected the dots on that. Anyway, next to Esther is Queen Seleka (I may be misspelling her last name) our dear secretary. Not a very big staff. U Penn has donated some money, to be matched by UB, for the hiring of a manager for the Centre - someone to oversee day-to-day operations. They have offered that position to someone, who hopefully will be joining us in March.

So, the Centre is off and running. Hooray! I am posting a link to the Centre's webpage on the right under the "Other Sites of Interest" column if you want to check it out.

Freedom for Hope

2009-01-09T12:51:00.000-08:00

Ted here: Hope is free of her cast! It was cut away this week. Here are some pictures of the doctor's office and procedure.

They cleaned her leg up pretty well. They also did an x-ray. The doctor says she is not allowed to jump, run or participate in gym class for 30 days but she can walk and swim. After that, another check up and likely complete recovery.

To celebrate, we are going to a new water park in Gaborone this weekend. A water park in the middle of the desert... For Hope, it is certain to be better than our beach efforts in Cape Town:

Christmas in Cape Town - Part I.

2009-01-04T04:11:00.000-08:00

Because the Christmas break here is also the summer end-of-the-school-year break, it is about 6 weeks long. Even in the extreme heat we were all getting cabin fever. Plus, without family or the other familiar surroundings of Christmas time, we decided it would be best to just get away. So, we spent 9 days in Cape Town, South Africa over the week of Christmas. Before we left a Muslim colleague of mine said that if a person didn't believe in God before visiting Cape Town, they certainly would after visiting Cape Town, because nothing as beautiful as Cape Town could have been created by accident.

It was beautiful, very beautiful. The contrast between Gaborone and Cape Town could not be greater. The coast, the mountains, the weather, the dense population (there are almost twice as many people in Cape Town as in the whole country of Botswana), the wide variety of activities... It was hands down the best vacation we have ever taken. Below is a sample of some of our favorite things.

1. The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront - a working shipping harbor that is also full of shopping, restaurants, and tourist attractions. Our hotel was very close, and we went several times. Below is Hope from the top of a ferris wheel, with the harbor in the background.

More activities at the Waterfront: Giant hamster-like balls that you get in and try to navigate through a large wading pool. Eden is in the middle one.

2. Cape Point. The very tip of the Western Cape, where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. This was a very beautiful and amazing place to visit. We took a cable car-type thing to the top of the cliff. The view is to the south, where the next land is Antartica. The drive down the peninsula to the point was quite interesting. As it got narrower and narrower, we could see the two oceans on either side of us. Check out the video below for Ted's demonstration of this effect.

There were signs all over the peninsula warning about the Chacma baboons. The signs said the baboons had become very skilled at stealing food from people, from parked cars, and from cars with the people in them (they could open car doors). We did see several of them. The baboon below is is sitting on top of one of the signs with a warning about the baboons. He did not steal our food.

The picture below just makes us laugh - for obvious reasons. (Look closely - Trey's mouth is covered in some unidentified food substance.)
3. The Beach at Simon's Town (Indian Ocean). Simon's Town is a port/base for the South African navy. It was a neat little town, sort of felt like we were on Cape Cod or something. The kids had a lot of fun exploring the rocky beach there - they found live starfish and sea anemones and such. There was also a groovy little Tibetan Tea House that overlooked the water, but I was not successful in convincing everyone else that it was worth some time away from the beach to check it out.

The other highlight of Simon's Town was the wild penguin colony. They are African Penguins, also known as black-footed penguins or jack-ass penguins. They are only found on the southwest coast of Africa. They created their own colony on the beach here in the 1980s. Since then, the town has dedicated some space to them and built some wooden walkways and staircases to allow people to get very close to them. They appear to be a very popular attraction.

The one below had strayed a bit far from the colony. It appears to be having fun playing hide-and-seek with Eden.

5. Kirstenbosch Gardens. This is a huge botanical gardens that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. At the risk of repeating myself, this was an absolutely beautiful and amazing place. It had two outdoor restaurants and shops, along with lots of open spaces for picnicking, birthday parties, etc. It sits on the side of Table Mountain, making the views just stunning everywhere you looked.

Within the gardens there were several different gardens dedicated to different types of plants. My favorite was the "useful garden" where all the plants were useful as medicines and treatments or for other purposes. The bush below was in the "endangered and extinct species" garden - the concept is self-explanatory. The sign says this particular bush is extinct in the wild.

In the picture above, Trey is sitting on a fossilized Dadoxylon tree section. You could clearly make out the growth rings - they seemed much wider than modern trees. The nearby sign indicated the tree fossil was 200 - 300 million years old. Trey did not damage the specimin during our visit.

We had so much fun on this trip that my husband suggested we try to extend our stay by a few days. For any of you who know how hard my husband works, you will understand what a big deal it was for HIM to suggest we extend our vacation. Unfortunately, the travel agent was also on vacation, so we were not successful in extending our stay. But, it has quickly become one of our very favorite places - somehow we will have to arrange to come back some day.

There was actually much more to our trip than this - Christmas in Cape Town Part II is coming soon...

A Notable Discrepancy

2008-12-14T13:17:00.000-08:00

A recent report by some international agency listed Botswana as among the countries in the world with the largest income discrepancy between rich and poor. That is something that has been strikely evident to us since we arrived. In Gaborone, you see a lot of Mercedes, BMWs, and Jaguars on the road - definitely more per capita than in someplace like Fort Wayne. But these expensive "status cars" drive right by some incredibly poor looking areas where people clearly struggle to even meet their basic needs. Below is a brief video clip of one of these areas that we took from the car. It goes quickly - you may need to watch it more than once to get the full effect.

There are obviously very rich and very poor people in every city, but for some reason it stands out so much more here. As best we can tell, there are two main reasons for this. First, the money in Botswana is very new relative to some other places. Before Botswana gained independence in the 1960s, it was one of the 10 poorest countries in the world. Then, they found the diamonds. This money has generally been invested well in both people and services. Botswana pays for students to go to college, and sends people to other countries to get advanced degrees. The government provides a lot of other services to its people, and the government itself is also one of the biggest employers in the country. (Actually, I think it is the biggest employer but I am hesitant to assert that since I can not verify it. I need some sort of fact checker for this blog. Hey George, how about it?).

Anyway, this leads to point number two, which is that since the generation of people with money is new, the people with money are not removed and disconnected from those without money. There seem to be big income variations even within families. In Botswana, people generally identify their "home" as the village they were born in. Since Gaborone was built up to be the capital, no one is really "from" Gaborone. People with money in Gaborone still go to their home villages regularly, where the family may still be quite poor. Even in Gaborone itself, the town is not completely segregated between rich and poor areas, with a few exceptions, like the area in the video above. There are not a bunch of suburbs where all the people with money flee too, leaving an abandonded inner city for the poor (although there are signs that this might be coming). So, it seems as though those with and without money interact more regularly, making the income disparity stand out more.

On another point, some of you have asked how you could help support S.O.S. - the orphanage we posted about previously. We actually made a trip out there several weekends ago and while we were there I asked about this. I was told we had to check at the main office in Gaborone, so I will try to find that office and visit soon. When I do, I will post info about how you can donate to them or otherwise support their work.

A Series of Random Events

2008-12-07T10:20:00.000-08:00

There is no coherent theme to this post, just a bunch of random things.

Random Topic One: The Weaver Bird.

We have all been fascinated by the range of bird life here. Ted has been doing his best to turn the backyard into a bird sanctuary, and high on his list of things he hoped to attract was a weaver bird. They are very fascinating creatures. We first saw them when we were staying at the Sun Hotel when we first arrived in Gaborone, before we were able to move into our flat. We saw dozens of nests there, which peaked Ted's interest.

Pictured above and below is the Masked Weaver (there are several kinds throughout Africa). They craft these intricate hanging nests, with the opening in the bottom. We still aren't sure how the eggs manage to not fall out. Sometimes they build a new nest hanging from the bottom of the nest from the previous year.

And finally, we succeeded. Below is a weaver bird nest from our own back yard.

Random Topic Two: Thanksgiving.

We have seen virtually no turkey of any kind the entire time we have been here. There is no turkey in any deli section of any grocery, and no turkey on the menu at restaurants. So, we assumed we were not going to be able to have a turkey on Thanksgiving. Then, the Sunday before Thanksgiving we went to the grocery store, and much to our surprise there were two freezers full of whole turkeys. Apparently there are enough American ex-pats here to justify the importing of a truckload of turkeys each November. We bought one, and planned an impromptu Thanksgiving celebration with our familyand my mother; Charles, my Fulbright colleague from California; Julia, another professor from the U.S. who happened to be here for a week doing some research, and Keb, a Motswana professor of political science who is a friend of Charles. We ate at Charles' place because he is here by himself and thus has much more space in his flat. On the menu:

*Turkey (see the photo below)

*Dressing (made by Mom - almost like home except the only sage she could find also had rosemary in it - not too bad)

*Scalloped Potatoes (not mashed because we had nothing to mash with)
*Sweet Potatoes (which are white here, not orange)

*Green Bean Casserole

*Cranberry Relish

*Apple Pie (made by Julia)

**Corn on the cob - This was Ted's contribution. He decided he wanted to buy some corn from the street vendors and grill it and serve for Thanksgiving dinner. He worked on this project most of the afternoon. Depending on who you asked, this was either a huge success (Ted) or an unfortunate failure (everyone else). Something was off. We are not sure what, but it didn't taste like corn on the cob in the traditional sense. Charles suspected maybe the corn the vendor was selling was meant for cattle feed not for human consumption.

**Watermelon (also Ted's contribution - from the same street vendor. Ted wants to say that he redeemed himself with the watermelon. It did not get eaten on Thanksgiving because we were too full, but when we did eat it, it tasted just fine.)

Random Topic Three: Belated Halloween and other Care Packages

They do not celebrate Halloween in Botswana, so that evening we went to see High School Musical 3 at the theater instead. We just didn't mention it much, and the kids didn't seem too disappointed. However, when Ted returned from his trip back to the States in November, thanks to the thoughtfulness of his colleague Gina, he came bearing three pumpkins FULL of halloween candy. The kids were thrilled (Thanks, Gina). It actually worked out well. All of the sugar rush, none of the hassle of costumes and the whole trick-or-treating thing.

Thanks also to everyone else who sent gifts and treats for the kids back with Ted, and/or have sent care packages. They have all been a welcome touch of home: Alice, Abbey (and the entire PDS department), Debbie and the Kennedys, the 2402 Nitzas, Aunt Heidi and the Cripe family, and Grandma Kathy.

Random Topic Four: Caterpillar in Botswana (Will, this is for you).

The city spent the past couple of months re-paving the road next to our house (the one between our house and Choppies and the old prison). Ted and the kids had fun watching all the big machinery - although much of the work was also done by hand with pick and shovel - I have no idea how they managed to do that in the intense heat and sun on the blacktop. The pictures below are of the big machines. My brother Will is a long-time Caterpillar employee who was - well - let's just say less than thrilled with the idea of me taking his nieces and nephew to live in Africa. See Will, this place can't be that bad...

Hope Trivia

2008-12-01T10:02:00.001-08:00

A quick guessing game: Before you scroll down any further, can you guess what is depicted in the photo below?
a. Ted's new blue sledgehammer that has toes
b. An ancient Tswana artifact we found in the back yard
c. Hope's broken leg
(now scroll down)

If you guessed (c), you are correct. I got a call a week ago from the school nurse that Hope had fallen from the jungle gym and bruised her leg, asking permission to give her Tylenol. By the time we got there to pick her up, she would not put any weight on the leg, but there was still no actual bruise to be seen. By the next morning she was still in a great deal of pain, but still no bruise. We took her to the doctor who ordered an x-ray. We were told there was no fracture and she would be walking on it by the end of the weekend. Five long days (three of which we had sent Hope to school encouraging her to try to walk on it) and five almost sleepless nights later (because she would continually wake up in pain), we called the doctor back. He sent us to an orthopedic specialist who examined Hope's leg, looked at the EXACT same x-ray, and said "Of course it's broken" and pointed to the spot on the x-ray that we were told was a blood vessel the first time. He immediately put her in a full leg cast for six weeks. She picked the blue color herself - see below. Thank goodness the pain is nearly gone, as you can tell by the smile on her face. However, her frustration with the limitations of the cast is high. I have to say she has been an absolute trooper given that she went almost a week on a broken leg without the cast. She went back to school today for the first time with the cast and did well, but was thoroughly exhausted when she got home, and slept the rest of the afternoon. School is out for the year on Friday, so fortunately most of the six weeks will take place over Christmas break.

Despite the major diagnostic error, we have been very impressed with the medical system here through this process. We called, got an appointment the same day, waited in the waiting room for about 5 minutes, and the doctor himself came to call us back to the exam room. He later sent a text message to my phone asking how she was. When I called back after she was not getting any better, the receptionist said the doctor wasn't in so I should just call him on his cell phone. I think I responded by saying something like "Are you serious?". And, I should add that for the WHOLE experience, office visits to two different doctors, x-rays, putting on the cast, buying crutches and pain meds, and everything else, cost us a total of around 300 dollars. I have no idea what the right answer is to the health care situation in the States, but the simplicity and low cost of the experience here suggests to me there has to be a better way to do it.

Scenes from "The Village"

2008-11-08T00:18:00.001-08:00

We thought we would give you an idea of what our neighborhood looks like by taking pictures of what I see on my walk to work everyday. Photography by my husband.

Starting in our front yard, below you will find a lizard at the base of the tree. Lizards are everywhere, like squirrels in our yard in Indiana. We have not been too successful in learning what types of lizards they are, but there are many kinds. (Since the rains have started there are also lots of frogs; sometimes when it is raining they come out so heavily that it is hard not to step on them).

Below is another shot of the corner of the front yard; Grandma Cheryl, Eden and Hope are looking at the lizards. You can see the fence and gate behind them. At night we pull the car up into the front yard and lock the gate behind us. Not sure why, other than that is what everyone else does, so it seems like a good idea.

Below is a shot from the outside of our gate, looking down the street to the right. The entire right side of the street is university flats like ours. The entire left side is a big field that is the property of the Thapong Visual Arts Center.

Below is the Thapong Visual Arts Center. It is what we see when we look out our front door. Besides these different statues and such, there are a number of bigger works throughout the property, including a life size elephant made of rusting metal. There are all different types of artists working all the time, and you can just go in and wander around and watch them work. There is also a trailer on the property that is a secretarial service/internet cafe. For a while I stopped there daily on my way to work for printing of class notes and such, because for quite a while I could not print or copy at my office or at home.

I should add here that our neighborhood is called "The Village" because it is where the British headquarters were located when Botswana was still a protectorate. When Botswana gained independence, they located the capital around this existing area, so our area is really the oldest part of the city. Gaborone was really not in existence until it was built up for purposes of being the new capital. I am told that Thapong sits on the site of the actual original British administration building.

Below is the most interesting building to me. It is the old prison. It sits to the southeast corner of our flat. We were told that the tower was used for hanging people. The spot does not appear to be actively used, and is starting to be quite run-down. I wish I had more of the history, but you now know everything I know about it. It would make a great museum.

Moving north, you get to Choppies, our neighborhood grocery store. This little stand is in Choppies parking lot. They sell the African version of hot dogs, and drinks. These stands are everywhere around the university, and for all practical purpose they take the place of vending machines. There are NO vending machines on campus, but if you walk outside the university gate in any direction you will see many of these stands. Actually, if you go in any direction outside any place where a lot of people work, you will find many of these stands. Most just sell candy, drinks, and cell phone minutes. Some sell hot dogs like the one below, and a few sell full Botswana meals: beef seswaa, pap (like mashed potatoes made from sorghum), and chicken and rice. None sell coffee. I have gotten used to a lot of things here, but I still struggle with not being able to get a cup of coffee during the day when I need one.

About a 10 minute walk from Choppies, I arrive at my office building. Block 244A/021. It is one of the "portacamps" in an area they refer to as Siberia, because it is on the remote edge of campus, where administrators never wander. Many of these "temporary" buildings were put up quickly when the university separated from the joint university with Lesotho, which was located in Lesotho. I am not sure the reason for the split, but Botswana had to come up with its own university facilities rather quickly at some point (in the 1970s I believe, but this might not accurate). There are now of course some much nicer facilities on campus, but many of these original building remain.

And, my office. Not bad, actually. Very big - at least twice the size of my office at IPFW, with more book shelves than I know what to do with. I have my own window heating and air conditioning unit, which I would not survive without. It can get kind of quiet, dark, and lonely at times, because everyone keeps their office doors closed almost always, so you never know if anyone is actually around. I keep mine open mostly, because - well I don't know why - habit I guess. So, I get a regular influx of students who are lost, or in a panic to turn stuff in to their professors and can't find them, DHL delivery guys trying to find someone, and people asking to borrow toilet paper. (They provide you with a supply, but it is brought to your office by the cleaning lady. There is none to be found in the bathrooms themselves.). I digress, but my point is that keeping my door open has allowed me to meet all kinds of interesting people that I would not otherwise meet, and they generally seem very greatful if I go to the trouble to look up an office number for them or something.

A Post by Eden

2008-11-06T08:11:00.000-08:00

MOKOLODI FIELD TRIP
For our unit of inquiry on plants and the ecosystem, we took a field trip to Mokolodi Game Reserve for two days and one night. I only took one small bag; one girl took six. All the 5ht grade girls slept in one big dorm. I slept on a bottom bunk.

The first thing we did was see some snakes. I was sitting so close that the man asked me why I was not scared of snakes. I was one of only three girls that were not scared of them. I asked if we could hold them. The man said "weird girl" to me. I loved holding them. We learned that they have almost the same organs that we do. I asked if we could disect one, and everyone laughed.

While we were out, a warthog got into our dorm. It ate one person's bag of marshmallows. I couldn't find my water bottle after that either. I had no water for the nature hike up the mountain. It was fun though because we got really close to the elephants. At night we thought some of the girls were teasing us by saying "whooo" to everyone. It kept on going on and on and people were screaming. In the morning one of the teachers told us it was probably a barn owl. Everyone laughed.

At the game drive we saw most of the animals they have: eland, impala, giraffe, blue wildebeest, waterbuck, red hartebeest, and lots of ostrich. I really wish we could do it again.

During our free time, we went to the pool. It is very hard to fit 44 kids in a 10 ft. by 4 ft. pool. We really didn't have room to swim, we just stood there laughing. We still did cannonballs and had fun landing on each other.

THE PUPPIES NEXT DOOR

The female dog next door gave birth to 8 puppies. They were born a week or so before we arrived here. Hope and I adored them. We would go to the owner's house sometimes and hold them. Their little eyes just stared at us. We gave them names: Pugface, Dark One, Blondie, Little One (the runt), Little Man, Light Spot, Wrinkles, and Maple. Five were females, 3 were males. They seemed like our only friends when we first got here. The owners didn't feed them and kept them outside at all times. We would feed them all our table scraps by throwing them over the fence. I worried about them a lot. I pulled one tick from Little One's ear. They were so thin you could count their ribs sometimes. Just a couple weeks ago we went out of town and when we got back all of them were gone except one, Dark One. He is still the only one there. I miss the others a lot and I wish I could play with them when I am bored.

That is all I have to say.

Giraffes and Half-Term at School

2008-10-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

1. We successfully uploaded our first video. This was taken during the Khama Rhino Sanctuary trip a while back. It is a little rough, but it is a video. The content is self-explanatory.

2. We have reached the mid-term of the semester for the girls. The assessment system is so different here; they are much less focused on testing and grades. In general I love this approach, but on the flip side, I don't have any objective feedback on how they are doing.

Eden continues to love school. They just finished up their unit of inquiry on the human body, where her assessment was to make a model of the nervous system out of recycled materials. The unit of inquiry for this new half-term is plants and ecosystems. I do not know what the summative assessment will be, but she is doing some sort of creative writing project about plants, and had to design her own ecosystem on paper. She seems to be really catching the international education bug. She spent the entire morning this morning on the website of Cambridge University in England, (where Jane Goodall got her Ph.D.). She sifted through a big list of descriptions of the different colleges within the Cambridge system. The enormous history of the place seemed lost on her - some of the colleges were founded as far back as the 1400s, but that history and the related old architecture that was fascinating to me just bored her. I am not sure exactly what her actual selection criteria were, but she settled on one called Murray Edwards college, which is an all women's college with an environmental emphasis. She then started looking at admission criteria and everything... If anyone knows where I can borrow a WHOLE BUNCH of money to send my daughter to college, please let me know.

I have to add how proud I am of Eden and her after-school activities. She chose perhaps the two least popular activities, at least for girls her age, but has stuck them out with integrity. She does developmental swimming on Mondays, which is non-competitive swimming practice. She does this purely because she realized she was behind the other kids in swimming and wants to catch up. She is the oldest kid in this activity, no friends her age, but she gives it her all every week. She also chose science club, which turned out to be her and three high school boys. This has not gone as she had hoped. The boys, and even the instructor, have been irregular in their attendance. The project the boys chose, before they started not showing up, was to build an electric generator. This was not what Eden was hoping to do, but she felt too shy to say anything. I have offered her the opportunity to drop out several times, but she refuses. After last week where she was the ONLY one there (not even the instructor showed up) I had had it, and went to the principal and was pretty angry about the situation. So... this week the instructor showed up, but no other kids. She sat there with him anyway and worked through the steps to making the generator, including making a list of materials, and having to quickly try to convert to the metric system to estimate measurements and quantities of these materials. I watched this from outside the room, and it felt painful to me as a mother... I again said she could quit and hold her head high that she gave it her all, but she still insists she is going to stick it out. Given that we have rolling blackouts here due to electricity shortages (our scheduled outages are Wednesday evenings; they happen at other unforeseen times as well), her generator-making abilities may be a very practical skill. Now that I think about it, maybe she could start selling generators to fund her Cambridge ambitions...

Hope just finished a unit of inquiry on transport, which concluded with a "wheels day" in which they were all to bring their bikes or other wheeled transport to school for a big celebration on the tennis courts. This required an emergency trip to the store the night before, as we brought no wheeled riding devices with us. At the weekly assembly later that day, she got up in front of the whole primary school and showed a picture she drew of her "transport" and talked about sharing it with her friends on wheels day. I was very proud of how she handled this presentation. She didn't seem to flinch a bit, and said she did not feel nervous at all. Her new unit of inquiry is also plants, and they have already had a field trip to Sanitas (the fancy nursery/restaurant we wrote about several weeks ago) to draw pictures of plants and have a milkshake. She does struggle with separating from us some mornings, which started immediately after her teacher left for a week or so to visit her daughter's new baby in Hong Kong, but didn't go away as soon as her teacher got back, like I had hoped. It seems to be slowly fading... She does seem to still love everything else about school, it is just that 5 minute period between walking into the classroom and watching us leave that is hard.

Hope chose "Mad Science" as her after-school activity. This is different from Eden's Science Club, and is a for-profit organization that comes and does different science activities each week. She comes home each week with a whole set of materials for further activities at home, and the environment in the room is clearly designed to be really fun in order to get kids excited about science. But, they seem to be really doing some good teaching at the same time. Hope has explained to me what an eclipse is and how it works, and last week they built rockets. Ted is really excited about this program also, and has talked about how he would love to try to bring the program to Ft. Wayne. Hope does not seem as naturally interested in science as Eden is, but she really gets excited about the stuff she does in there, so I would definitely call it a success.

Trey may love school more than the other two combined. He is still quite focused on the lunches, and starts talking about what he is going to pack in his lunch for the next day as soon as he gets home each day. He also loves monkeynastix, and asks every day if today is monkeynastix day. For those of you wondering, when I stayed to watch the other day, monkeynastix was a bunch of very low trampolines covered with jumping children. They are supposed to perform the "big finish" when they jump off of them, which was very funny to watch. He also loves his art projects, and is very, very proud of them when he brings them home. Finally, he clearly loves his teachers, but in a clear pecking order. He walks straight through the gate each morning looking for "Auntie Natalie", but as soon as he sees "Auntie Eva" he will quickly bail on Natalie, even mid-sentence, to run to Eva. He also loves the third one "Auntie Tiny", but only after the other two. This is not to say that Tiny is not important. Earlier last week he asked if he could take his new Spider Man phone to school because "Auntie Tiny is goint to love this!" Once he has hugged the three of them, he is completely done with me or Ted, and has to be reminded by one of them to say goodbye to us. Ultimately that feels good, because he clearly feels comfortable, safe, and loved there.

For me, there are two weeks left before the end of the semester. All in all, I feel good about both my courses, especially given where I started: I taught two courses instead of the one that we had agreed on, neither course was the one I had been told I would teach (and therefore brought none of my materials for), and I took on one of the courses three weeks into the semester, with the students having no instruction at all during that first three weeks. Given all that, I feel good about the outcome. I think I have taught some good content and ideas, prompted some new thinking, and offered some good mentoring. The informal mid-term evaluations I conducted seemed to reflect that my teaching is style is different from what they are used to, but that they have appreciated it and maybe learned something from it. The main complaints were that I keep them too long and have too many assignments. In other words, I work them too hard. (This is very familiar feedback to me; I am not sure if these students were somehow able to consult with my students at home or something...)

On the down I think I may have failed to effectively grasp the British assessment system and the specific things that are required of me under that system. I can't tell conclusively yet, but I am getting the feeling that I may not have done my assessments and finals correctly. Therefore, I am dreading the upcoming faculty meeting where apparently we have to report all our scores for our students on all our assessments and have them "approved" by the rest of the faculty. Or something like this. This is a completely new way of doing things for me, and I am not looking forward to finding out I did not do it right. I guess the good news is I have next semester to redeem myself?

S.O.S.

2008-10-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

S.O.S. is a children's organization that runs orphanages throughout the country, including one in Tlokweng, which is a small town or suburb of Gaborone, sort of. There are over 270 kids in this one orphanage alone. They hire women full-time to serve as "mothers". However, the child-mother ratio is very high, and there is a great deal of turnover in the position. This is of course very bad for the kids from an attachment perspective, and they are therefore less likely to develop a good relationship with the next mother, which makes that next mother's job even more stressful, and the cycle continues.

A week or so ago a group of really good students from my undergraduate class came to me to ask for ideas for a field experience they were doing for another class, in which they were to spend a Saturday morning with the younger kids (ages 2-5) from the orphanage; their assignment was to create activities that would promote resilience in the kids. I talked to them about some possibilities, and decided to sponsor the purchase of supplies so they would have something to work with.

In exchange, I asked them to come report back to me on how it went and what they learned, and to bring me pictures of their experience, which they did. I was proud of what they came up with, and it was interesting to hear them process the experience. They primarily talked about how difficult the kids were to manage, how angry many of them seemed, and how cruel they were to each other. They also found some of them to be very distant, detached, and withdrawn, including the little boy above.

We talked about why this might be the case and what it might mean.

They also talked about how sneaky the kids were to get what they wanted, like extra snacks. I proposed that they consider this might be a coping mechanism, developed as a survival skill to get their own needs met in the midst of the chaotic environment of having 200 other kids around competing for what is available.

It seems in terms of material things, they are provided for to a satisfactory degree. The government here has a reasonably effective process for registering orphans and making sure they can stay in school and such. The lucky ones have sponsors who send money to care for them, and those kids get put in the better schools and seem to be getting a decent education. My students commented that the kids seemed intelligent despite their environment.

Where this system falls short, from my persective, is in meeting the kids social and emotional needs. Not that they are not trying, but there is just no way to help kids develop a healthy sense of attachment, which is really the cornerstone of healthy development, and no sense of social competence. A person probably does have to get somewhat manipulative in order to get your needs met. That kind of skill will help them survive in the short term, but they will pay a heavy price for it later. I am not sure what the answer is, but there are SO many kids like this who really need us to figure out an answer.

The picture below stands out to me. The students said that the older girl at first told them she worked for the orphanage, which the students found hard to believe because of how young she seemed.

They later found out that she is actually one of the orphans herself, but has taken on the role of caretaker of some of the younger ones. I am not clear if this is an official position or simply a self-appointed one. In either case, it seems like she has been able to maintain a degree of empathy and connectedness to others, and found a sense of purpose. Perhaps she will make it.

Ft Wayne meets Ft Wayne in South Africa

2008-10-10T02:21:00.000-07:00

Since before we came, we have been following a blog called "African Daylight" that is by a couple, Brandon and Rachel, who are serving in the Peace Corps in South Africa. They are nearing the end (in December) of more than 2 years in Africa. Brandon grew up in Ft. Wayne, and they both went to school at Taylor. So, during our recent school break, we took our longest road trip yet to pay them a visit. This was a 5 hour trip (one hour of which was the very cumbersome border crossing process). But, it was well worth it. Brandon and Rachel (who we had never met except through the blogosphere) are great people doing great things there. The experience of interacting with the kids in this very poor village was a good way for the kids to see a part of Africa that is starkly different from the game drives and such (although we did see some warthogs on the side of the road along the way). And... Ted and Brandon were able to swap stories about their glory days in Wildcat Baseball.

The village (see the name on the sign below), is about 1200 people or so, and was just down one long strip of very bumpy, dirt road. Ted says the Google Earth coordinates are: 23 degrees 16' 57.89" S, 28 degrees 00' 21.73" E.

If you look at a map of S.A., the nearest town you may see is Ellisras - almost an hour away, which is where we spent the night. Brandon and Rachel live in a tiny out-building of a village lady and her two granddaughters (side photo is their bedroom/living/office/storage area). They work in the village school, running after-school programs and supporting the work of the teachers. I won't be able to do their work justice here; I encourage you to check out their blog to read about all the work they have done:

http://www.africandaylight.blogspot.com/

They also have an Oct 5th post about our visit and many more photos of us and the kids in their village in their 'Gallery of Photos'. Look in the upper left part of their page. While you are there, check out the aprons shown on the website. They are made in the village by some of the teachers in a program organized by Rachel to help fund the girls' after school programs.

When we went for a walk around the village, Rachel told the kids that they were the first white kids the village children had ever seen, and that Hope's hair would be the first blonde hair they had seen. Sure enough, as we started to walk, we soon had a large crowd of kids, some as young as two I think, following us around. They were hesitant at first, but by the end of the walk they were holding hands with our kids, running, chasing, having a blast. It was a very neat experience. They all wanted their pictures taken, and then wanted to see the pictures.

There is no running water in the village, but there have recently been some new bore holes installed nearby. What would a Nitza family blog be without a good picture of our children by some water-related device? Ted note: this is a 'standpipe'. Several standpipes serve the village and are all connected by underground piping to a nearby borehole (groundwater well). In America, standpipes are instead large (thousands of gallons), storage tanks shaped like a cylindar standing tall. These village standpipes are simple faucets that generally serve a surrounding 6-8 homes. If you need water in your home for any reason, you need to grab a bucket/pail/jug and walk to the standpipe. Imagine how much more you could do if you didn't have to spend time fetching safe water to drink? Back to Amy:

You may be weary of reading about how dirty my children get here, but Trey absolutely set a record this time. The dirt there was much more red than in Botswana, so it showed up in an almost alarming way. Rachel commented that he was truly the dirtiest kid she had ever seen, but on reflection she realized the dirt just probably showed up more on his white skin.

We have seen people using donkey carts in several places in Botswana. (In Hope's unit of inquiry on "transport" at school, she had to make some form of transport out of clay, and she chose to make a donkey cart, which I thought was awesome. She did a great job with it). However, this was the first time we had seem them in use really close up. This man drove by while we were on our walk:

There were some heartbreaking moments to this experience. Rachel took an informal survey of her students and found that 40% of them live without their parents for various reasons. The family right next door to Rachel and Brandon is just three children. No adults whatsoever. The parents live and work in Pretoria (about a 4-5 hour drive from this village), and come home once in while to bring some money. I am generally pretty open-minded and can accept a wide variety of life choices, but I have to say I struggle with this one. I am sure the parents have their reasons for doing so, and I can not begin to put myself in their position. They must have some very difficult choices to make. However, I simply can not get myself to imagine what circumstances would make me leave my children at home to raise each other. It brings me to tears thinking about it, and about those three children. Of course, there are lots and lots of kids living like that for various reasons in Africa, but largely because they have lost their parents to AIDS. In the literature they are referred to as OVCs (orphans and other vulnerable children). But meeting them and walking around the village with them brings it home so painfully. I gave the little boy a juice box and opened it for him. It was the most motherly gesture I could come up with.

There are, of course, organizations that support OVCs. Some of them do great work, others keep the money for themselves and give the kids virtually nothing. If you have the opportunity to donate to a trustworthy organization that supports OVCs in Africa, please do so.

Monkey!!!!!

2008-10-08T03:12:00.001-07:00

Ted post: We had a visitor to our flat last week.

It was about 9am and we were getting ready to go on with our day. School was out (Botswana Independance Day) and we were planning errands and other shopping to get ready for the arrival of Amy's mom.

We imagine the Vervet Monkey came from the nearby riverbed. We have noticed a monkey along the roadway nearby the past couple of days. Otherwise, our neighborhood is very urban and it is hard to imagine the monkey surviving long.

It began its visit by raiding our mulberry tree. Eden and Hope enjoy picking several berries a day and so do the birds. Our monkey visitor started by sitting in the tree for several minute and taking all the good ones. Then it saw the apples and oranges on the ledge. It scampered across our backyard (over the Aloe Veras we planted) and up to the ledge. It quickly tossed aside the oranges and spent the rest of the time eating apples. We all watched from the backdoor until he left. Here are our other thoughts:

Amy thought its backhair looked like a nice shawl.
Ted wanted to know if it could do the dishes.
Eden feared the monkey would eat the puppies (8) next door.
Hope was amazed at the length of the tail (see below picture).
Trey waved hi.

We also have some video and we hope to post that footage later.

Happy Botswana Independance Day (October 1). Botswana turned 44 years old.

Of Vultures, Mental Institutions, and the Open Baptist Church

2008-09-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

Seriously, this was our weekend. On the recommendation of Charles, my Fulbrighter colleague (the one that is not also Ted's Professor) we headed for a day trip to Lobatse on Saturday. Along the way we stopped at this village called Otse, to see the Mannyelanong Cliffs, which are home to the very endangered Cape Griffon vultures. According to Lonely Planet, Mannyelanong means "where vultures defecate" in Setswana, but I have not been able to confirm this with any native speaker yet. It is hard to make it out in the picture below, but the side of the cliff is almost completely white. Hence the name...

This place was just one giant cliff with many, many vultures resting, nesting, and flying around. I really don't know why, and I didn't expect it, but this was actually one of the coolest things I have seen in a really long time. They seemed to fly in pairs, and you could see them take off from the cliff, circle around overhead for a while, and then go back and land in the cliffs and be completely hidden immediately. The pictures don't do it justice, really.

Some vulture facts from Ted: These birds are huge, with six foot wing spans when fully grown. The cape griffon vultures are more rare than most other types of vultures. There are between 70-100 nesting pairs at this site, with only a few other sites known in the country or the world (we are not sure which). Their habitat needs include remote, south facing cliffs. The remoteness is important because they are very sensitive to noise. Even quiet noises, like donkey carts going by, can startle the birds, knocking babies and eggs out of the nests to their death.

The picture below is my favorite. At several points the sky was just full of the birds like this, maybe thirty of them or so.

We have also included some pictures of the surrounding terrain and village, just to give you a sense of it.

Note the donkey in the picture below. The instructions said to register at the wildlife office, but we didn't really find any such office, despite the sign. Just a teenager in a house - I think we woke him up - and no actual registering took place.

In the picture of Otse village below, you can make out a couple of the traditional round houses or huts with thatched roofs on the left.

The kids sitting on a giant boulder next to the cliffs. Can you make out the inch-thick layer of dust on them? It has become semi-permanent at this point.

Besides the vultures, we drove on into Lobatse and had lunch at the Cumberland hotel (which to me sounds like it should be in West Virginia instead of Botswana. I couldn't find anything to tell me why it had that name.) There was truly little else to see in the town, but it does boast the country's mental hospital, which I was very curious about. We found it, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it didn't look much different, at least on the outside, from something you might find in the States. It had several small buildings and all the doors opened directly to the outdoors. It seemed to be visiting day, and there were lots of cars coming and going, which I was also pleased to see. I was hesitant to take pictures of the actual place, just out of respect or perhaps in fear of a HIPAA violation, so I am representing it with a hastily taken picture of the roadsign pointing to it (the sign says "Mental Hospital").

Lobatse's other claim to fame is the meat processing plant. Seriously - it even says so in the guide books. Here it is: the Botswana Meat Commission.

Aaahh, the ride home. This is actually quite deceptive, as the sleeping only came after Ted insisted on complete silence because they were picking on each other so much and so loudly...

On Sunday, we were invited by my friend Lesego (who I have known since Bloomington; she was in the States doing her Masters at IU the same time I was doing my Ph.D. there) and her family to attend their church: the Open Baptist Church. We had a lovely time, but it was also full of interesting contradictions. It was a very multicultural place, with a big row of flags outside representing all the nationalities of the congregation - there were over twenty at least. Below each flag was a list of needs and prayer concerns of that country (poverty, corruption, AIDS, war, famine, etc). The sanctuary had one entire wall of glass that overlooked this giant wooden cross set in a waterfall outside- beautiful. The pastor was a white man from South Africa, named Norman. Here is where the contradiction came in for me... Honestly, if it weren't for the South

African accent, this pastor could have been preaching at any small protestant church in the middle of Kansas. The sermon had some pretty conservative messages in it that rubbed me the wrong way, but for some reason it felt very comforting to me - like sitting in church in Concordia Kansas, or Hunter Kansas for that matter. So here we are in the middle of Africa, in a church that clearly strives to be multicultural and multinational, and yet I felt like I was 10 years old again, sitting in church in small town Kansas. Interesting.

The kids loved it and said they want to go back every Sunday. This probably had to do with the donuts the church ladies insisted they eat several of; I don't think they realized the donuts were reserved for first time visitors only...

First Day of School Pictures.

2008-09-15T01:50:00.001-07:00

A few pictures of the first day of school. The hats are a requirement when going outdoors because of the heat and sun. No hat = no recess.

The skirts had to be purchased at the school. For the shirts, we were told to go to Woolworth or PEP and by white school shirts. This didn't seem like enough info for me, but sure enough, along the wall at both places were rows and rows of "white school shirts" in little packages, for the equivalent of about $2.oo each. It is a good thing, because we have already ruined two of the four we bought for Eden - one was stained when she decided to climb a mulberry tree during recess, and the other I burnt a big hole in while ironing it...

The look on Eden's face below represents our entre into the world of middle school. She really wanted to get the picture thing over with, and was more concerned about just getting us out of the way so she could start her day.

Below is the giant wall-size world map in the administration building (which is the building in the background in the picture of the girls above). Note that Africa is in the center of the map - surprisingly, the United States may not actually be the center of the world... Ted really wants to point out how small Greenland is on the map. I have no idea why this is relevant, but he insists that I include it. So, please take careful note of Greenland.

The school campus is very large, with all the classrooms opening directly to the outside. Eden was disappointed to find out that despite that fact that there are no hallways to speak of, there is still no running allowed. She doesn't think this is right: how can you have a "no running in the hallways" rule when there are no hallways???

Not to be outdone, below is Trey walking out the door with his lunchbox in hand for his first day of preschool. Check out the big boy haircut (where did my baby go???). The lunchbox is hands down his favorite part about preschool, but he did come home singing "Row Row Row Your Boat" and they have an old golf cart the kids can play on in the playground, so they apparently do more than eat. He is also signed up to participate in "Monkeynastix" (I can not think of a more appropriate name for a Trey activity), and a music program similar to kindermusik.

The playground at Buzy Beez is below. Trey is at the top of the slide, looking at his teacher "Auntie Natalie". It seems to be a nice and well-run place with very nice people. However, he is still not completely comfortable there. Over the weekend he asked several times a day if he had to go to school today... But as best we can tell he does fine when he is there - he doesn't seem upset when we get there to pick him up, and he likes to show us the pictures he draws for us every day. This seems to be the thing that he focuses on (other than the lunchbox). He has never done anything other than a home daycare with the same woman his whole life, so this is a big adjustment, but I think we will get there.

The girls continue to do well. Hope seems to be making some friends and is able to relax and be herself. Eden continues to love it. Tonight when I was tucking her in she said that she would like to just stay here and have her family and friends move here and attend this school with her. She stated she wanted to start by getting Lyra here, and decided she would start saving money to buy Lyra a plane ticket...

School, and a Terrible Loss

2008-09-11T11:18:00.001-07:00

The two aspects of the title of this post are not related at all. I know some of you are curious about how school is goingfor the kids, and it is going well, but before I post on that I want to share about the loss. Earlier today Pinkie Thlabiwe, who was the coordinator of the Counseling Program in the Dept. of Educational Foundations (where I teach) was killed in a car accident. This is a terrible loss to everyone around her. I had only known her since I arrived here, but she was clearly a wonderful woman who worked very hard and gave a great deal to the department. As the coordinator she had been a great help to me and was very supportive; I had definitely come to think of her as a friend. In addition to being notified by the department chair, I have received phone calls from two students and my teaching assistant already this evening, so it was clear that she was cared about by many people. From the details that these people have shared, it seems that she was in South Africa today, registering for a Ph.D. program (she had received her Masters from Ohio University some years back). Apparently she had taken public transport (which I take to mean some kind of combi or small bus) that was involved in the accident. Pinkie had shared with me several days ago that both her mother and father had passed away in the past few years, and that she was an only child. I have asked about her children and apparently she has three grown or almost grown children, who now have no mother and no family on their mother's side at all. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

This is a scary phenomenon. AIDS and car accidents are the leading causes of death here, and in the month and a half that I have been here, the university has posted death notices for 4 students and two professors, 3 of the students from "illness" and one student and the two professors from car accidents. I am not sure how this compares to death rates at other universities, but it seems incredibly high to me for less than two months time.

Ok - on to school. The tone of this may not be as positive as it should be because of my sadness over Pinkie's death, but school is going very well, better than I had hoped, I think. Eden is very happy. She loves her teacher, Mrs. Van Nikeirk (or something close to that) from South Africa. She seems to have made several friends and fit right in. There is one other American girl, from California, one girl who Eden said was from "Wales, Mozambique, and South Africa" and a girl that just started today who is from Canada and speaks only a bit of English. She doesn't know yet where the other kids are from. She told me that several of her classmates are fasting for Ramadan, which is a whole new experience for her, coming from Catholic school. She takes French in addition to "cultural setswana"; she said the French teacher spoke exclusively in French, which of course Eden had no clue about, but she just seemed to go with the flow. She hasn't really found anything she doesn't enjoy about it yet, other than the potential of being embarrassed by her parents... I am delighted with all the multicultural exposure, and mostly just delighted that she is happy.

Hope is doing well, better than expected. Given that her very first day of school was about a zillion miles from home, and that it was not the first day of school for anyone else (this is the beginning of the third term of the year here; the new school year starts in January) I thought she handled it like a champ. Her teacher is Mrs. Moss, who is British. There are 15 kids in her class, a pair of twins from India I met; I'm not clear on the other nationalities yet. There have been no tears, and she wakes up in a good mood and ready to go back, which is a huge relief. I think Eden's excitement about it helps a great deal, but I also think she is feeling genuinely comfortable there. Last year in preschool it seemed like she never did come out of her shell all year, like she just never really found her stride. So far, it seems like this will not be the case this year. She does ask interesting questions about how to start being someone's friend, so she is trying to figure out how to engage people socially, which I think was the problem last year. But as I said, this seems to be coming along much quicker this year. She stated she did not like P.E. ("the teacher was mean"), but seems fine with the rest of it.

School starts at 7:00 a.m. and dismisses at 1:00 except on Fridays when they dismiss at 12:15. This means we get up at 5:30 to be out the door at 6:30. The kids have adjusted to this much better than Ted or I. Ted stated this morning that he doubted he and I would get adjusted to the time schedule all year. They pack snacks and have two snack breaks during the mornings. In the next couple of weeks the after school activities will start, which are optional extracurricular things. All in all I am just incredibly proud of both of them. What we have asked them to do - leave their home and start the school year in a completely new place within a totally different culture and totally different school structure, and jumping into a new grade level 2/3 of the way through the year - they have just been amazing in their ability and willingness to adapt.

We have pictures of the kids in their uniforms which I will have Ted post later. He is in class right now, and the professor (Dean Kashiwagi, who is another Fulbright) has gone back to the U.S. for a few weeks. Dean and Ted have become friends, and he actually asked Ted to run the class tonight for him, which is a review for the exam next week. I am anxious to hear how it went...

We hope all is well with all of you there. Thanks for reading this - it means a lot to us.

More Home Life.

2008-08-31T01:35:00.001-07:00

We thought you would appreciate more pictures of the kids.

First, after eating PB&J for lunch (the J comes in a can), Trey does a little reading before heading off to nap. He pages through 'his books' until he falls asleep. He calls this book, his "tree book" for the trees on the cover. He has now moved on to fairy tales (one of Hope's books).

During Trey's naps, Hope and Eden look for things to do. On the day this photo was taken, they wanted to build a fort fit for hibernating. The two and three layers were meant to make it pitch black (for effective hibernation). Hope decided it was too hot to hibernate. This past week, both girls have spent most of their time with the 7 puppies next door.

Eden is next to one of our new Aloe Vera plants that we planted in our backyard (they call them all 'gardens' here). They are both doing fine.

School starts Tuesday for the girls. They both can't wait.

Please take care.

Road Trip!

2008-08-30T22:55:00.001-07:00

This weekend we ventured outside of the city for the first time. We set out for Khama Rhino Sanctuary (KRS) in Serowe, a 3 1/2 hour drive from Gaborone. We rented a chalet for Friday night, and then went on a 6:00 a.m. game drive Saturday morning. We had been warned by the Embassy about driving outside the city after dark. This is because people here are poorly trained to drive. This is especially problematic on the weekends, because drinking and driving is very common, and most especially on the last weekend of the month, because the last Friday of the month is payday. We set out early to avoid this situation, but let's just say it did not go well. Our 3 1/2 hour drive turned into an almost 6 hour drive, and so we found ourselves breaking all three Embassy guidelines - driving outside of the city after dark, on the weekend - the last weekend of the month. AND, we did not know where we were going. Ted and I were - well - tense, and the kids were crammed into the back seat of the Corolla, antagonizing each other for something to do. (Eden wants me to add here that Ted and I were arguing like this: Turn the light on! No, turn the light off! No, turn the light on! and so forth). So, after what was quite possibly the most unpleasant family drive we have ever had, we arrived successfully at KRS. I think we are (now) all in agreement that it was worth it.

KRS is a fantastic place. It was established in 1989 to reintroduce white rhinos to Botswana. They started with about 4, and now have 36, so the breeding is very successful. They also now have 3 black rhinos, which are much more endangered. They have 4300 hectares of land, and have many other animal species as well. The rhinos have veterinary care and protection, while Mother Nature is left in charge of the rest of the animal species.

Eden wants to point out that our game drive ranger was a woman - the first woman ranger we have had. She is very happy about this. We saw 7 or 8 rhino, one of which we all agreed was as big as an elephant - just this massive creature that ran right in front of our jeep. The rest seemed to be more "normal" rhino size. We saw several other interesting animals: giraffe, zebra, gemsbok (a.k.a. oryx), eland (the biggest antelope in Southern Africa, and something Ted ate for dinner when we were in MalaMala), steenbok, springbok, kudu, wildebeest, duiker. Eden got to see the kudu very close up, as it wandered into a clearing near the restaurant while we were eating breakfast. She walked with one of the employees up close to take some pictures. Below is a sampling of the photos Ted took.

These are 3 juvenile male white rhinos (with a fourth one right behind the one in the middle). This was a group that we were able to get quite close to, and they let us watch them for several minutes before they went on their way.

Black rhinos are much more rare, and they have only 3 in park; we did not find them.

More rhino pictures....

We saw probably a dozen zebra. The birds in the background are either guinea fowl or crested francolins.

One of two giraffes we saw. (Carla - this one is for you and Nicholas)

A wildebeest. We drove through a whole herd of them. Not a mad stampeding herd like on Lion King though; they were just kinda' standing around watching us.

A sad footnote. A big area of the park was scorched - the ranger said the fire had just occurred within the past week. She said that the fire was started by a lady who was cutting brush at the side of the road - not in the park itself (people here are hired by the government to do this job, and they do it by hand with this little sithe-like instrument). I am not clear why she started the fire, but it got out of hand and swept through a big chunk of sanctuary land. (The only animals killed were some steenbok.) The woman was arrested, and was facing two years in prison. She committed suicide instead.

Weekend Update

2008-08-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

So, we had a good weekend. On Saturday morning, we got up and went to the Main Mall, which is downtown. This is a much more "African" experience than going to the Riverwalk Mall near our house. The Riverwalk feels much more Western, while the Main Mall is an outdoor mall with a long corridor where people sell there wares on the sidewalk, and then lined with interesting shops, including the Botswana Book Centre, and to Ted's delight, the Gaborone Hardware Store. There were also several purely African places to eat. However, I must admit, we lunched at ... KFC. I think it was good for all of us to eat somewhere that felt familiar, if nothing else. It was the first time Eden has been able to find mashed potatoes anywhere here, which was a high point.

We then went way out to the north part of town to Botswanacraft, a store that sells primarily locally or regionally made and traditional items, including pottery, baskets, textiles, and much more. The girls each got a stuffed animal, Trey picked out a handmade paper book, Ted got books on the trees of southern Africa and historical buildings of Botswana, and I got a neat little leather purse. We also got some marula candy (yummy!) which is made from marula fruit - something only found in southern Africa. (You can also get a liquour made from it called Amarula, which is quite good, eh Scott?)

Later in the afternoon, the girls and I went to my friend Kanana's house, so they could play with her kids. Liam is 7 and Khutlo is 4. Eden and Liam have become good friends, they play together very nicely. Hope is a bit more shy around Khutlo, but they did watch Mulan 2 together, and by the end of the afternoon Hope seemed to have had a good time.

This morning we went to church for the first time. Most of the churches have 2 services each Sunday, one in English and one in Setswana. We thought we were attending the English service at a UCC church, but it seemed like most of it was in Setswana, other than the more formal parts. It was 1 hour and 45 minutes long, with about 40 minutes of that being the sermon! However, all in all it was very lovely and we actually enjoyed it. The music was particularly lovely. With no piano, organ, or anything, people here are able to easily break into 2 or 3 part harmony that is just amazing to listen to. To my kids delight, one of the hymns was "Jesus Loves Me", which I sing to them often, but had never actually heard it sung in church before.

After church we went to this place called Sanitas for lunch. It is a teagarden in the middle of a nursery and garden store. It is all outdoors, under some big lovely trees, with a giant treehouse/playset for the kids, and several decorative fountains going - just a lovely place. We will definitely be going back.

After lunch when we came back here, the girls were playing a game in the living room and Eden complained that we did not have a vacuum for the rug. I suggested she could take it outside and beat it if it was dirty, and she said "Um, no thanks.". Aaahhh, I have my kids back :-)

A note to readers: Ted is now telling me that since I have posted this, he is concerned that no one is going to scroll down to read his posting below about the trip to the game reserve, so please make sure you read his post so his feelings are not hurt...

Gaborone Game Reserve (Park)

2008-08-23T05:27:00.000-07:00

Ted: The kids and I spent several hours at the Gaborone Game Reserve (GGR) on Tuesday, August 19th. We were greatly surprised at the variety, number and quality of the animals we saw there. We saw several species for the first time. First some background: Gaborone was selected as the capital city for Botswana in the mid 1960s when they gained their independence from the British. At the time, Gaborone was barely a town. They pretty much started from scratch to build a capital, parks included. The GGR was sited along the Notwane River in 1978. It is very small by any Africa game preserve/reserve standards - only 5 square kilometers or 1250 acres - but it is on the edge of town and 15 minutes from our flat. Their goal was to provide a place were local folks could see animals native to the area. From their brochure, "A large number of people from Gaborone, both adults and school children, never see wildlife in its natural habitat". It is open every day, cheap (about $5 for all of us) and we get to use our own Toyota Corrolla as our safari vehicle.

We were there for about 3 hours but ran out of battery on my camera after the first 30 minutes. It is just one large fenced area with roads, a couple of picnic areas and the vacant Visitor Center (picture above). We drove up and down, across the roadways all looking in different directions going, "oh, look there. oo, over there... ohmygosh, look at that one". During our entire time (during the day on a weekday) we saw no more than a total of 5 other vehicles - otherwise, just us lost in the wild. For those in Fort Wayne, it was an super-sized African Velt at the Zoo, except in your own car. The most common animals we saw were Impala, Warthogs and Vervet monkeys. Lots of Kudu and Ostrich.

The Vervets let us get pretty close with our vehicle. They went on with their day picking bugs from trees and caring for their young. The monkeys were sometimes no more than 5 feet outside our car window. Toward the end of our visit we stopped at a picnic area to stretch. After a couple of moments, a family of Vervets piled out of a nearby tree and began moving toward us. They just kept walking toward us (I think they are used to picnickers tossing them food), the male first followed by the females and tailed by the babies. After I realized they were as tall as Trey (and Trey has no fear) we decided to get back in the car. It ended with us running and giggling/dropping the keys, screams of, "Daddy, daddy, they're still coming" and slamming doors all around.

Some of our firsts included the rare Hyrax (below, left of the water well. They are the only living mammal related to the elephant),

Zebra, Wildebeast (below photo, but very far away), and Thessape (a long-horned type of antelope).

We saw a monitor lizard and all kind of birds.

The Warthogs were sometimes alarming. The park has no predators, so they grow big. One, I swear, was as big as a small pony. Several mom warthogs with 2-3 young. Eden and Hope thought they were pretty cute at that age.

We plan to go back soon and often, next times with fully charged camera and more apples and toys for Trey. We will likely eat our food in the car...

Of Birthdays and Sadness

2008-08-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

Birthdays: Trey Thomas Nitza turned 3 yesterday - just don't tell him that. Some of you will remember the phase he went through in which he completely rejected the idea of the letter "W", and screamed "no, M!" every time someone got to the letter W while saying or singing the alphabet... Well, this is similar. He accepted that it was his birthday, and seemed to enjoy himself and his party. However, when anyone mentions that he is 3 now, he yells "No, I am 2!" with the same intensity he did about the whole W versus M thing.

Nevertheless, we had a nice day. The girls were VERY excited about his birthday, moreso than he was. I think this just gave them something new to focus on. We invited the little girl Harley that we met at the hotel over for a little party, which the kids were also all very excited about. Harley and her parents are staying at the Sun Hotel while her dad is filming the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, which is based on the book series by the same name. If you have not read them, they are by Alexander McCall Smith and are set in Botswana. All the settings in the books are real places, and the books give a neat look at the culture here. The TV series will appear on HBO.

Back to the party... Trey and I made cupcakes (cooking with me has become one of his favorite things - he will tell you that he can cook hamburgers, rice and broccoli with cheese). The girls decorated the front gate with clothespins to look like streamers. When Harley arrived we had cupcakes and ice cream, presents, and then the kids and Harley played outside. We got him gifts that we were able to find around here: a ball, a book, a Noah's Ark set, a little kitchen set, and a couple scary wrestler action figures which, sadly, have become his favorites. We then went and got some pizza for dinner, and he played with his various toys for the rest of the day.
I am back to being unable to get pictures to upload this evening despite my success earlier today, so stay tuned for birthday pictures in a future post.

Sadness: The newness is wearing off, and I think it is starting to drag us all down a bit. At various times in various ways we are all missing the people and comforts of home. The girls are talking more about missing specific people. When Trey sees them get sad, he immediately says either "I miss Angie" (sorry Scott, I know he misses you, too), or "I miss Grandma and PoPo and Tulip". After we were able to talk to Scott's family tonight, Eden got very tearful, she misses Lyra so much. After I put her to bed this evening I saw she was still up, so I went up there to find that she was basically making a shrine to Lyra - a pile of all the things she brought with her that she knows Lyra loves. Sigh...

The kids have made a few friends - Harley, mentioned above, plus the son and daughter of my new friend Kanana, (who is the sister of my department chair here). Kanana lives quite close to us, and her kids go to Westwood also; I think they will really be able to enjoy each other. Kanana was raised here, but has spent the past several years in the Phillipines, so her kids are away from their home as well. School starting will be very good for all of them. I am trying to think of things for the girls to do during the day to keep them busy, but as I said, the newness is wearing off and you can only beat the dust out of the rugs so many times a day before it loses its excitement...

We Finally Got Some Pictures Uploaded!!

2008-08-17T06:55:00.000-07:00

We have tried since we got here to upload pictures and this is the first time it has worked. Ted tinkered with the router, which seems to have sped things up a bit. Plus we are trying it on Sunday afternoon, when perhaps the volume of "traffic" is slow. It is still taking about 10 minutes per picture, so we are going to have to pace ourselves. But, here are a few to get us started. From top to bottom:

1) Ted standing in our front courtyard area by the front door. He is feeling proud of himself for having rinsed some clothes by hand and hung them to dry. Sadly, that little sink has a huge leak, so our cleaning lady, Catha Bigboy, washes most of our laundry by hand in the bathtub.

2) Trey examining the new landscaping in the back yard. Ted and the kids put in the whole rocked area around the trees.

3) The kids working on the backyard landscaping. They got the plants from Mokolodi (same place as our first game drive), which has a nursery that specializes in sustainable, native, drought-resistant plants. The girls have had fun discovering the joys of aloe straight from the plant.

Plot 4715-26, The Village, Gaborone

2008-08-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

This is our neighborhood.

From the bottom right-hand corner of the picture, proceed up (north) to the first left. On the right hand side, it is the first building, third door (west end of the building). If we knew Google Earth better, we would fly you in - but for now you may be able to see the Lat-Long in the bottom left hand corner.

We have a couple of trees in the front yard (south side), a couple in the back (north side). There is a passage along the west end of the building to get back and forth. The white item on our roof is not a chimney but a solar assisted hot water heater. In the desert, you see these all over the place.

The building in the top right of the picture is 'Choppies' our main grocery store. Just a short walk away. Just enough to survive, but we can't find trash bags or spaghette sauce yet. There is a bigger store at the nearby mall for the bigger shopping needs.

Right out our front door (southwest corner of the intersection you turned at to get to our flat) is the Thapapong Visual Arts Center. It seems to be an artistic co-op of some sort. Several small buildings with sculpture, welding, chain-saw, stone-chipping artisans. In the main building, are several small galleries with mostly oil and some other media hanging pieces. Also on this plot is a semi-trailer turned internet cafe (with no coffee). For P15, you can surf for an hour.

Out our back door (north) is a telecommunications station. Within the last year, a cell tower has been installed. The base is 5 feet from the back of our back yard fence.

A couple of blocks from the upper left-hand corner of the picture is the edge of the University of Botswana campus.

Some New Experiences

2008-08-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

We have done and tried several new things since we have been here. Here is a sampling of my experiences.

1. Driving on the opposite side of the road. So far, this has been easier than expected. The first few days I continually chanted "keep myself in the middle" the entire time I was driving, and it has worked. My brain seems to have been able to make the shift. However, retraining my brain to look the opposite way when crossing the street has not been as easy. I simply can not get it. This may be what gets me killed.

2. Going to a U.S. Embassy. I had to go for my required security briefing. Of course, when one goes to an Embassy, which is completely locked down and heavily guarded with a combination of Marines, BDF (Botswana Defense Force), and private security guards, if one expects to get inside, one should have some I.D. For those of you who know me at all, this may come as no shock at all... but I go there with no I.D. whatsoever - expecting just to be let in because I had an appointment, I guess. Not surprisingly, this did not go well. After many questions and much fuss and embarrassment, Naomi, the publice affairs officer responsible for Fulbrights (and my new favorite person) managed to pull several strings and they allowed me in, but not without me being scolded sternly by all the different security types listed above.

3. Having a security briefing. This was interesting, not so much for the info I got, but for the process. They have a security officer who is in charge of keeping the Ambassador advised of security issues. This guy was nice enough, but sort of a tough guy as you would imagine. They rotate them around from country to country every 3 years, so that they do not stay in one place to long and "go native". This seems counter-intuitive to me. If you really want to understand the security issues in a country, I would think you would really want to develop relationships with people on the ground. Knowing people well and how they think would seem to me to give you the best info. If you are locked down inside a fortress and shuffled around every few years, I am not sure how you ever develop such relationships. Ok, I am going to stop there on this one, as I feel a long and unnecessary rant about all the other foreign policy screw-ups we have made in the past 8 years coming on...

4. Riding a Combi. These are like little mini-busses that look like they should hold about 6 people, but carry about 12-15 at any given time. They are everywhere, and there are several routes they run, but there are no published maps of such routes - you just kinda' figure it out. I took one downtown to the Embassy because I was pretty sure they were not going to just let me pull up into their parking lot (of course, while thinking through this, the whole I.D. issue never came up for me...). I got advice about which combi to get on, so I went for it. For 3 pula (less than 50 cents) you can ride them as far as you want to. They are quite crowded as I mentioned, and if you are in back and need to get out, everybody in front of you has to get out to let you get out, everyone climbs back in, and the route continues. As an uninformed outsider, this all seemed superchaotic and scary, but I must say it was just the opposite. Quite orderly and cooperative actually. The most unorderly thing that happened was when I got back on one to come home from the briefing, a woman carrying a live chicken got in with me. The chicken never made a sound, and nobody else seemed to pay any attention, so I just went with it. Flexibility and open-mindedness are the name of the game for survival around here.

In other news, Ted has registered for a class that will be taught by another Fulbright who is a civil engineering professor. After a couple of weeks of full-time-daddyhood, I think this will be very good for him.

Ups and Downs

2008-08-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

We have had some interesting experiences this week. On the downside, Eden had some problems she wants to talk about:

When we were riding in our car, a guy driving a combi made some absurd gestures at me. Then, when we were at Chickin' Lickin" (kinda like McDonald's), Hope and I were sitting at a table while Dad was in line. This guy sat down at our table and started talking to us and smirking. We immediately got up and went over to Dad. Then when we were all sitting down, the guy kept bumping the back of my seat. Then, when I was outside climbing on our cement wall, a guy walked into our yard. I jumped off the wall and ran into our kitchen with Mom and Hope. He was actually asking for money. Since these things happened I have been scared when we go out.

On the upside, Eden says:

We went to Mokolodi Game Reserve on Sunday. It was not as fun as Mala Mala in South Africa (from our trip in 2006) but it was good. The predators are kept in a separate enclosure. The hyenas are there because they were rescued from a farm when a farmer was about to shoot them. They will be released and relocated in a few months. The cheetahs were rescued from a farm after a farmer shot their mother. They will be there for life because they do not know how to hunt. We saw their three elephants who are being trained for elephant-back safari rides. We also saw lots of ostriches, kudu, impala, and warthogs. Halfway through the tour drive they let us out to stretch our legs and I went exploring down by the pond. It was really exciting because there were lots of slippery rocks to climb on. The money from Mokolodi goes to teach local kids about animals so that they grow up loving them (I did not need to be taughtto love them!).

Another awesome thing I noticed is that a lot of the restaurants have jungle gyms for kids to play on while we are waiting on our food. The restaurant at Mokolodi had a jungle gym that was falling apart. The swings were only half hanging and the handles were all wiggly. But, it was actually fun because it was more dangerous!

When we were driving to Mokolodi we saw baboons and termite mounds along the road.

That is all for now. We created links to Mokolodi and Mala Mala if you want to check them out.

Westwood International School

2008-08-06T13:30:00.001-07:00

For whatever reason, I can not get this site to support a link to Westwood. However, you can check out their website at the following address. Clicking on the link below probably won't work, but if you type the address into your browser, you should get it.

http://www.westwoodis.com/

Stuff is Happening

2008-08-06T12:22:00.000-07:00

After a long week of snail's pace movement on almost everything, we are finally getting somewhere:

1) School: And the winner is... Westwood International School - by a nose. We were very impressed with Thornhill. It was a beautiful school with all kinds of neat activities. Hope liked the younger kids' playground, and Eden liked that the Thornhill swim coach is currently coaching the Botswana swim team at the Olympics. We also liked that it had a pretty balanced ratio of local kids to international kids.

However... Westwood is equally as lovely, and also has two swimming pools and strong swimming program (minus the Olympic coach). It does not have as high a ratio of local kids, but it has students from 46 countries (!), and the biggest draw was the IB (International Baccaulareate) curriculum that extends from High School all the way down to Reception (kindergarten). International schools all over the world follow this curriculum; I added a link for the IB organization below so you can check it out. That put Westwood over the top for us (Amy and Ted). For Eden, I think it was that the teacher she met reminded her of her beloved 4th grade teacher Mrs. D., and Hope decided that the Westwood playground was even better than that at Thornhill.

School will start on September 9th. It goes from 7:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., mostly due to the heat. There are then lots of optional after school activities each day. Hope will do the 3rd term of kindergarten and then start Year 1 in January. Eden will do the 3rd term of 5th grade and then start Year 6 in January. This is jumping ahead a bit, but this is where Thornhill also would have placed them based on the assessments they completed there, so we are comfortable with it. Ted and I both still want to ensure that the kids have lots of interaction with local kids as well, so will look for some weekend activities or programs to ensure that this happens.

2) Work: I have a class to teach, with a time and a place and everything. The class is EFH 648: Counseling Across the Lifespan. It is basically like it sounds - it will cover development during childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and then discuss the counseling needs and appropriate interventions for each stage. I have taught similar content, but not in this form, so there will be some prep work. It will be Thursday evenings from 5:00 - 8:00 - which is basically the schedule I am used to. As for the HIV/AIDS center, my first project is to undertake an evaluation of the current prevention and intervention programming on campus. They want to know how effective it is, how students perceive it, and what other services students are looking for. Should be a good project.

3) Housing: We are in our flat!! It is not the fanciest place, but it feels good to have a home. We are all enjoying it, and finding it refreshing to be in a place with less stuff and living a simpler life, if at least for a while. Example: Today Eden hung up the throw rugs on the clothesline and beat them with a broom to clean them. She had a blast. We also have a back yard and a front courtyard that Ted and the girls have taken on as their first big projects. We will post some before & after pictures for you.

I haven't mentioned much about Trey yet... He seems to be having the hardest time adjusting to the time and the lifestyle changes, but he seems to be eating and sleeping better since we have been in the flat. He has developed quite an attitude. He will approach the girls and then hit them or pull their hair, and then walk away, talking in this scary Darth Vader voice, saying "I just hurt Hope and Eden!" and grin. It is a bit disturbing. However, as I said, he seems to be coming back around. We have gotten several recommendations for good preschools, which we will look into next. I fear if he doesn't get some socialization soon, we could be in for a long year...

That is about it for now. We will post some pics of the house and such as soon as I figure out how.

Editorial note: In the interest of avoiding blogosphere plaguerism, I should say that all the cool little gadgets I am adding, like the time counter and the weather girl are ideas I copied directly from my dear friend Carla's blog. I will post a link to her blog below so you can see the original..

Week 1: We Are Here

2008-08-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

We have arrived, or as Eden says "We are walking on African dirt". We are staying in the Gaborone Sun Hotel while our "flat" is being painted and repaired.
Here are some of the girls' observations so far:

We found a lizard with a blue head and yellow and black polka-dotted body and tail. It was on the tree outside our hotel room balcony. It was doing a mating dance with a couple of females.
There are also very small lizards that are very fast. We saw a couple of bulls on the road, and some other cows, goats and chickens beside the roads as well.

Our hotel room is cramped with all of our stuff. Thankfully, we have two rooms and we should only be here a few more days. The hotel pool is f-f-f-freezing, and there is a log playground with a big blow-up dinosaur slide that we played on. We went on a nighttime hike through the hotel grounds with Dad. It was s-s-s-spooky.

There are three choices for international schools for us to attend. There are Thornhill, Northside, and Westwood. We drove by them today and our favorite so far is Thornhill.
We have appointments at the schools this week for assessments. Then we will choose. We go to Thornhill tomorrow.

You can check out all three schools using the links below. Let us know what you think.

Here We Go!

2008-07-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

Hope and Amy leave in 5 days. We will fly from Indianapolis to Atlanta, and then take a 16 hour flight through Dakar, Senegal to Johannesburg. There we will spend the night and then take a short flight to Gaborone the next morning. Here is what Hope is thinking about our trip:

"I am excited about all the animals that are going to be there. I am excited to see what kind of people are going to be in my school. I am excited to fly in the plane and see all the different parts of the world we are going to fly over. I am excited to see the Atlantic Ocean. That is what I am thinking about!"