Jobs

I finally got to meet up with my counterparts! Another pro to being in Kanye is that since they are so close I was actually able to meet both of my counterparts whereas all the other NGO volunteers who are working with two organizations only got to meet up with one. Both of them seem pretty chill and though there wasn’t a whole lot of time to talk to either one of them (there was an issue with accommodations on the part of the Peace Corps and putting up the counterparts, so there was this very dramatic negotiation secession in the middle of the day that took up a lot of time) it was still nice to put in my mind two faces that I am going to be working with for the next two years.

So let me lay things out for you a bit; BOFWA (Botswana Family Welfare Association) is going to be my “primary” assignment. I don’t exactly know what this means since by the sounds of things I am going to be splitting my time equally, and BORNUS (Botswana Retired Nurses Association) is actually the organization that found my house. BOFWA does a million different projects within the community, including: going to schools to give presentations on sexual reproductive health, running clubs for teenagers on a myriad of different health topics, and they also do the occasional home visit for HIV positive clients. They have six major offices around the country and there are actually three of us working for them (Trevor is working in Maun, and Emily is working in Francis Town.)

BORNUS does a lot of home based care which is going to be really amazing for me since I am going to get personal experience one on one with individuals living with HIV/AIDS. They have also been trying to get some educational talks at local schools off the ground but have been having issues getting schools to respond to them, so I am hoping I can help out with that.

My counterparts (the Motswana that are my partners while on the job) both seem very relaxed and I was happy that they were willing to take my suggestions when it comes to scheduling. Mon & Tue I will be working with BORNUS and Wed & Thurs I will be working with BOFWA. I will have Fridays as a “flex day” meaning that I could either go into whatever office I need to get some extra work done in, or I could use that time to focus on my secondary project. I think it is going to work out really well, and I am excited to hit the ground running. 

Much love, 

Claire/ Tlotlo