Trey's World

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.

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!)

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)

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

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

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.

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...