Peaceful Pathway☮

So...funny story...I woke early this morning to hang my laundry. Scrubbin' at 6 a.m., my mom would have been so proud! And lo and behold...it downpours. It hasn't rained in Gobojango since I've moved here five months ago, and yet it was raining so hard the ground was flooding. Just. My. Luck. At least the garden got some rejuvenating natural rainfall!

The other day, a woman came into the clinic on her last leg of strength.   The doctor even said he wasn’t sure she was going to make her next appointment.   It was so disheartening seeing how, by not adhering to her medication, this beautiful twenty-seven year old woman was allowing the vicious virus infesting her body to take over.   I’ve seen her vivacity and vigor diminish over the past few weeks, and am at a loss at trying to understand why she won’t simply take her medication.   HIV is truly a brutal virus that, if left untreated, will consume every last healthy cell in your body.   Though I have lived amongst and interacted with people who have been affected directly by this virus for the past eight months, I still feel as if I am a novice to understanding the influence it has upon its victims.   Deaths are a common sadness that occur, and funerals are just about as normal to attend here as weddings. I wonder why some women are so hesitant about discovering the stat

Aish, it has been far too long since my last post, and for that, I apologize! Usually when so many good things are happening, it’s hard for me to take the time to sit down and reflect over them! However, this cloudy/rainy morning, I’m curled up on my couch with Caesar, listening to some good music and ready to dispense an overview of the past month!           Let me first begin by saying that the Peace Corps is a journey that has lead me through some of the most trying times of my life.   I’ve learned so much about myself and the world that we live that it’s oftentimes been extremely difficult to digest it all.   I’ve worked so hard to come this far, and in doing so, I feel as if I cannot allow myself to fail.   So when a small project is unable to see its completion, I feel like I’ve failed on a personal level.   It’s been a learning experience to be able to grow and not take the fault in small disappointments.   I’ve learned that a lot of times there are so many outlying

Whew! What a past couple weeks I’ve had! It’s busy busy here in Botswana, lots of great things are happening, and the rainy season is a’comin’! Let me keep you abreast of the recent going-ons in Gobojango alone.   First of all, I’m in the process of writing a Peace Corps Partnership Program Grant for the primary school to get shade in their newly built playground.   The students of the school out-scored every other school in our district on their 2011 aptitude tests and therefore, the school received a sum of 30,000 pula to put towards the development of the school. Well, after buying a new copy machine, updating a roomful of computers’ software, spending money on some small prizes to encourage kids to continue athletics, and building a new playground, the development money has run out.   The only thing is that, though the playground is beautiful, the sun scorches the equipment so quickly that children are not able to use it or play on it during the summer months.   So all

“Come, my friends. ‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world For my purpose holds to sail beyond the sunset And though we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven That which we are, We are. One equal temper of heroic hearts Made weak by time and fate But strong in will To strive To seek To find And not to yield.”                              -Alfred Lord Tennyson                 With each passing day, I’m faced with more opportunities to seize the world in new ways. Yesterday, I ate lunch with President Sir Ian Keretse Khama.   It was wonderful, and flattering to feel so important, but the most inspiring thing was the president’s willingness to listen to the citizens.   During both ward meetings (both in Semolale on Wednesday and Mathathane on Thursday), he alloted as much time as necessary to allow the villagers to come up to the microphone and tell him the dilemmas they are faced with in their everyday life.       

I awoke this morning from a splendid night of sleep and opened my curtains to a stunningly sunny morning.   Ceasar, my growing puppy, stuck his nose under the mosquito net hovering over my bed, and looked at me eagerly to take him out.   I made a quick breakfast of earl grey tea (thousands of thanks to my wonderfully generous mom) and set off to the primary school down the road. I arrived just in time for the morning assembly, in which the children line up according to shapes outlined by rocks in the ground, and sing a medley of songs.   I followed the standard 6 teacher to his classroom and got a brief summary of what they were learning.   As we approached the front door of his classroom, he turned to me and said “So if you could teach about the present continuous tense, that would be great.   You have an hour until the next class comes in…there will be three classes total.” I stared at him blankly, caught my composure and said, “Well, how about you start the class and I

Before I left, many people parted some words of wisdom with me that have kept with me very well.   Though I appreciated and accepted each word with eagerness and open ears, none have resonated better or have made more sense to me than those shared by my dad: “You will feel the loneliest you’ve ever felt and learn more about yourself and the world than you had ever truly anticipated.   But take it with a grain of salt, and live it to its fullest, ‘cuz it’s only going to happen once.   Once it’s over you’ll think, wow that went by fast” You know, I’ve held a lot of animosity towards my dad for moving away when I was younger, and more recently for opting to move to the Middle East for a second time.   More and more, I’m discovering that in an ironic turn of events he has been one of the individuals in my life that has understood what this process feels like.   As a result, I’m discovering a sense of guilt about making him feel blameworthy for all these years.   It’s pretty funny wha

The Goat Incident: This afternoon I walked home from the clinic and found a single white baby goat trapped inside my compound.   Eyes wide, the poor little goat trotted around aimlessly searching for a way out.   I smiled to myself and opened the gate thinking I would just be able to chase the little guy out so he could go find his mom. What I thought would be a simple task turned into a 20 minute fiasco.   The stupid goat wouldn’t even let me get near it without scampering off in the wrong direction.   After sprinting around my yard, having the neighbor children laugh at me, and clapping and jumping at the goat, I watched as it FINALLY scuttled outside the gate.   I wiped a drip of sweat off my forehead and couldn’t help but feel a small sense of accomplishment. I smiled, as the one word that swirled around my head was, “FREEDOM!” Just a normal afternoon in Gobojango. ---------------------------------- Doing Laundry: I’m not sure if I’ve shared with you my dis

Today has been such a great day! Which is pretty odd..considering it’s a Monday.   Let me fill you in a bit on what’s been going on in Gobojango this past week: My counterpart is still on leave, which makes me sad, because I usually just sit in the consulting room with him during the day and talk and joke. But it’s given me an opportunity to actually accomplish some work in the clinic.   I scheduled a series of health talks to begin today (which they did) and also arranged an aerobics class (to begin tomorrow). I’ve met with the Village Development Committee, the Social & Community Development Officer, and Primary school and have begun to make arrangements with them to focus on some goals to accomplish during my two years here.   Near-sightedly thinking, I am hoping to build shade for the Primary School’s new recreational park, and in the future, I would love to begin the arrangements of applying for funding for a new Library in Gobojango. This would not only help the out

You can kiss your family & friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time, you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world, but a world lives in you. -Frederick Buechner There have been a few times since I’ve arrived that I wish more than anything I could be back home with my family, sitting on my comfortable bed in my wonderfully-smelling house with Geoffrey playing games in the room next to me, my mom watching Ellen downstairs, and my dad cooking a delicious dinner.   This moment is out shadowing all of those times. The shooting in Colorado only makes it more real how far away I really am.   I’ve spent the majority of the day pondering the episode in my mind, and it hasn’t really hit me until now that it really happened.   I can’t stop thinking about my poor cousins, what they’ve seen, the unfortunate families who have suffered losses, the pain everyone must be feeling, and all of the ha