Bots 13 PST

This isn't going to be a long post, but I promise a better one within the next week. Met Bots 13 for the first time yesterday, and I must say that the wonderfully high standard of the Botswana Peace Corps Volunteers has been met. :)

Rata Thata,
Claire 

Feedback

Thoughts on white text versus grey text for the posts? Have been getting some complaints about visibility. Also, please check out www.3rdgoal.blogspot.com and let me know what you think! Its a website I'm trying to get off the ground that will let volunteers write mini lesson plans to kids back home in the US. Not much there right now but its going to get going!

Rata Thata,
Claire 

A Thank You To Tech

Dear Technology,

I think it is high time I tip my hat to you and my only regret is that it took me so long to do so. You see, I was one of "those people"; those people who thought that maybe the world was getting ahead of itself, that we needed to spend less time in front of screens and more time running out of screen doors and into the wild blue yonder, that we needed to slow down and stop focusing so much of our energy into technological advance, and maybe I was right in thinking all of those things... but then I left America.

You see not everyone in the world has gotten to the point that we, as Americans, have reached. Not everyone knows how to use a computer, or turn one on, or even what one looks like. Not everyone has a television, or spends all their time attached to a game console or a black berry, or an iPad. Sometimes the true beauty of technology can only come out when you live in a place where it is not an overwhelming presence. Kind of like how you don't know how wonderful a lake is until you are in a place that doesn't have any water.

At this point in the letter I would like to introduce you to some people: these are the kids at the village preschool and twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I go in and teach their class for about an hour. To give you an idea of how that works, let me fill you in on what we learned today.

Today I went in and we reviewed parts of the body by singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" a few times in English and then singing the Setswana equivalent called "Tlohko." We played a game that went over body parts not mentioned in either song and then danced around the classroom for a bit.  After that, I brought out my laptop, and used a wonderful little piece of software that allows me to download youtube videos, to show them an educational clip that has pictures of different animals and their young, with a lady that has a British accent, stating out loud each one. I played the video through once and then on the second go around had them act out each animal around the room and make the noise that, that animal makes. In order to really push the point home I plugged in my hard drive, and showed them the beginning scene of "The Lion King", pausing occasionally to ask them which animals were on the screen and what noises they made.

This is what makes technology beautiful, this is what makes technology wonderful, this is what technology should be used for. Sure, I could have taught the entire class without the use of my laptop, and in previous years, and in different sites currently, that is what any PCV would have had to do. The kids still would have learned and they still would have had a good time, but they wouldn't have seen an animated version of their country (I'm pretty sure the setting of The Lion King is a mix between Botswana and Tanzania.) And when I teach them about fish on Thursday, if I didn't have access to technology I wouldn't be able to show them a clip from "Finding Nemo" or even a picture of what a clown fish looks like.

If I didn't have technology I wouldn't be able to skype with my friends and family at home, but more importantly I wouldn't be able to set up a skype conversations between 4th graders here and 4th graders in the US. I wouldn't be able to check my facebook, but I also wouldn't be able to help a co-worker at the clinic sign up for online classes. I wouldn't be able to write this blog, and I also wouldn't be able to write www.3rdgoal.blogspot.com which is the other blog I run for classrooms of kids in the US to learn about Botswana.

So thank you technology, thank you for helping me educate, communicate, and postulate these types of thoughts. I haven't even touched all the many wonders you accomplish when it comes to health care or science or travel, but we will save that for another time. 

Love, Claire

P.S. Thank you also for creating things like spaghetti seasoning in a pouch that can be sent to me along with ipod speakers, cumin, crystal light, a day planner and a wonderful card from fabulous people like my cousin Alex. He is the shiz nit and I wish him many many fat cakes. :)

Hot Showers and Sunglasses

So I was thinking, and I came up with a really good idea (which happens more often than you would think.) Anyways, my idea was that every time someone sends me a care package, I am going to post a picture of me posing with some of its contents. This way I can give an awesome shout out to all you fabulous people who send me care packages, and I can also entice everyone else to send me stuff too! But really, I want this to be more of a thank you to those that take the time to send me packages, I know it isn’t cheap, and yall are awesome.

The first shout out goes to my good friend Rune! Thank you so much for the candy, magazines, arts and crafts and bad ass sunglasses! Your wedding was dope, your service to our country is honorable and you are the bomb diggity. May your life be full of many fat cakes.

I know there have been a ton of packages prior to this one so I also want to thank Mom and Dad, Aunt Martha, Grandy and Grandpa, Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Beth and Uncle Bill, Mom and Dad again, and Mom, Dad, Zoe and Adam. If I have forgotten someone, please message me and let me know, it was not intentional, and I am thankful to all of you.

Moving on, I know everyone is wondering how IST went, so here is the scoop home skillets. I was in Gaborone for close to two weeks in order to attend In-Service Training. What IST entails is a lot of recap of what we went over in PST as well as additional language lessons, information on filling out paper work for Peace Corps, and a few insightful lectures on grant applications, and possible programs we can run in our communities. The more important thing though was that I got to see all my wonderful Bots 12  group members, and see how their lives were going. It seems that for the most part everyone is doing alright. There have been issues with housing, and some problems with organizations or counterparts, but to some extent that can be expected from our first few months in country. 

Can we take a moment to be shocked that in about a month I will have been here for half a year...?

So we partied like rock stars, ate food we didn't have to prepare ourselves, used toilets, and sat in the glorious hot showers for hours on end. I also had a chance to jump in the pool a few times which was fan-fricken-tastic since I miss large bodies of water. My only sadness was that the pool was not big enough to accommodate an 8+ and that Botswana doesn't have a rowing team anyways. I joined my first fantasy football tournament, which I am super pumped about. I think the majority of us aren't exactly what you would call "football fanatics" but the trash talking alone should be worth it.

After all was said and done we bid farewell to everyone until MST (next June) and promised we would do our best to get out to each other's sites. I'm going to miss the piss out of every single member of Bots 12, but I am really happy to be home in my own space. I didn't quite realize how much I love my house until I had been away from it for an extended period of time. There is a ton of stuff to tell you about the three visitors I had last weekend, as well as all the new projects and planing that is going to happen over the next four months, so I promise to post again soon and keep everyone in the loop. :)

Rata Thata, 

Claire

Rando

Hey Yall,
I totally plan on writing a nice long post about how IST went once I get back to Rams, but for now I wanted to leave you with these pictures (I will fill you in on them during my next post, that way I get to be all cliff hangery):

And let you know that even though I have been sick THIS ENTIRE FLIPPING WEEK AND A HALF, that having a shower, internet and the love and company of my fellow volunteers has still made this an absolutely wonderful experience.

Claire

Language

What up hillbillies and hobos, today’s topic for discussion is going to be language! Believe it or not this is kind of a big thing in my universe, and you won’t have any idea of how much until you live in a place where your native language doesn’t do jack diddily for the locals. Let us start out with Setswana, since that is the lingua franca, and then we can move on to English.

Setswana is a wonderful language and I am having fun trying to come to grips with even a rudimentary grasp of it. With all 14 different noun classes, things can be a real hoot! But who are we kidding? I don’t actually take into account all 14 classes, most of the time I pick one or two and just hope people understand what I am saying; it’s easier for me and just tickles the ladies I work with. But there are a few nouns that I feel particularly attached to, and ones I am now going to warn you about should you choose to take up one of the many colorful languages of the Tswana peoples.

Seytuna- this is a name and in most circumstances means “flower”, then again there are those few times when it also means....take a moment to guess right here, what could a word for flower also mean? If you said “gun” you win a prize! You did say gun right? Who wouldn’t have guessed that flower and gun are the same word??

Madi- one of the few words in the Setswana vocabulary that kinda sounds like its English translation. Madi means “money” in English and most often comes up in my day via small children holding out their hands and saying “mpha madi” which means “give me money.” In case you wanted to know, “no” works in pretty much any language. But what else could this word mean? What is the first thing that comes to mind when I say “African _____ diamonds”? Blood! Yes, madi also means “blood” which is kinda interesting when you know that the Botswana pula (currency of Bots) means “rain.”

Lastly, and this is my absolute favorite, we have lebele- Lebele is a common grain in Botswana and when you are saying it, it should sound like “lay-bell-eh” with the final “eh” going down in pitch. If you pitch that last “eh” up though you are saying “breast.” In a country where homosexual acts are illegal you can imagine how tricky it is when one is attempting to say things like “Ke rata ja lebele” which can mean “I like to eat grain” or “I like to eat boob.”

Now let us move on to English. And we aren’t talking about good ole Americana English, we are talking about the wonderful world of Motswana Accent English! My first hilarious example comes from none other than “why don’t you buy something for me because you are white” dude! I was walking to the library, minding my business, waving and saying hello to the neighbors when Why Don’t You Buy Me Something Dude approached. He then proceeded to tell me how much he needed me to buy him, what I could only interpret as “a Grandfather.” Now most of the time I can figure these out, but for the life of me I have no idea what this young man was saying. The conversation went something like this:

Guy: Hallo! Hi, yes, I have no money, I need grandfather. You will buy?

Me: Ummmmm, hi. You need what?

Guy: I need grandfather, from shop, kwa (he points behind himself at the hardware store)

Me: What? Ga ke tlhalogani (I don’t understand) You need a grandfather?

Guy: Yes grandfather, I need

Me: *very perplexed look*

Guy: Only 5 pula, I need grandfather, you buy me. Give me 2 pula

Me: I’m sorry, I don’t know what you are saying. Ga ke na madi (I have no money)

Man do I love communicating!

As enthusiastic as I am to speak Setswana, there are many children in Rams who are just as enthusiastic to speak “sekoga” or English. There are a few young ones that see me and instantly want to show off their skills. In doing so they essentially word vomit every scrap of English they have stored up in their heads. While shouting out to me from their yards, they sometimes sound like this:

Child: HELLO!

Me: Dumela!

Child: HI! THANK YOU! HOW IS YOUR MORNING? (It is 5pm)

Me: It is nice, how is your morning?

Child: (pause) THANK YOU! MY NAME IS PILOT! YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND!

Me: Ke bidiwa Tlotlo, dumela Pilot! (My name is Tlotlo, hello Pilot)

Pilot: (pause) HELLO! ...(having run out of English)...mpha sweets! (Give me candy)

Me: Ga ke bua Setswana, ga ke tlhalogani (I don’t speak Setswana, I don’t understand you)

Pilot: (As I am walking away) HELLO!

Me: Go siame! (good bye!)

Oh what good times there are to be had in the Peace Corps J

Rata Thata,

Claire

My Brain

So there is a good chance that this particular post isn’t going to make any sense to you if you aren’t a PCV or RPCV but I’m hoping there will be some level of mild amusement for the rest of you as well.

Some random looks into the daily mental monologue of Claire P./ Tlotlo Kenalemang:

Okay, time to leave the house! Wallet, check. Sets notebook, check. Lunch, check. Keys, check. Water bottle full, check. I’m totally going to change the world!

This mosadi mogolo is totally going to come up and talk to me, stay cool, try and remember as much Setswana as possible. Oh crap, we are past the ‘hello, how is your day?’ and now I have no idea what she is saying, I will just say ‘eh’ and smile an hope she was asking me a yes or no question. Crap that didn’t work and now she is just repeating herself loudly...something about it being cold? Maybe about water? Goats?

Butt face I forgot my water bottle.

Baby weighing time! There is nothing I love more than babies. Oh crap that one is crying, but only after it saw me. This child totally thinks I am a white devil. I’m sorry small crying child; I promise I am not going to eat you. This one isn’t crying, awesome! Coochie, choochie, coo... great, now she is peeing on the floor. 

Walking to the library, man is it hot outside. Why are all of these children touching my hand? I swear to all that is good on God’s green earth if I hear one more teenager use that stupid nasally voice to say “hi” or call me lekoga I’m going to freak out and start screaming.

Facebook time, I am only going to send a few emails and see how people are doing, I swear. Oh look, someone is getting married and or engaged and or pregnant and or having a kid. ‘My life is cool, my life is cool, my life is cool.’ YES! (fill in the blank) sent me an email! I FREAKIN LOVE EMAILS!

Man I hope the water is working when I get home, I really want to be able to take a bucket bath. Hahaha who would have thought I would be having that thought a year ago?

I love it when little kids give me high fives, and most of them are starting to call me something other than lakoga...even if they are using the name of the last volunteer. All white people look alike, no biggie.

Home at last, now for the big decision: rice or lentils? Well, I had lentils yesterday...then again I had rice the day before. I’m thinking lentils, it feels like a lentils day.

Second biggest decision of the day: can I get away with going another night without a bath? Well the last time I had a bath was the same morning I ate the last of the rice crispies...good lord that was like four days ago. *sniffs self* Well I can't actually smell myself so I should be good for another day, I will just put on a hat and make sure my underwear is clean...yeah, that's pretty much the same as taking a bath.

‘Brushing my teeth, brushing my teeth, singing in my head because I’m brushing my—‘HOLY SHIT THAT IS A GIANT COCKROACH! Oh dear lord that thing is going to eat me in my sleep. Shit, and that’s a lizard, why is mother nature taking over my house?!? Alright Mr. Lizard, you can stay but only if you eat the roach.

If I pull my sleeping bag over my head the bugs cannot get to me

Dear God, take care of my friends and family at home and abroad. Watch over my actions and keep me sane enough to make it through another day. I just want to do some good in this world.

*metal giggle* I’m in Peace Corps in Africa *mental grin* 

So You Want To Be A PCV?

So you want to be a Peace Corps Volunteer?

There are going to be a few things you need to know/ know how to deal with. Here is a list:

1.       Roosters are going to be your new alarm clock…an alarm clock that you set while drunk, that has a repeat function. Be prepared to wake up at least three times, anywhere between 9pm-6am. At some point you will learn to sleep through all but the needed alarm.

2.       Your amazing super power of American efficiency only works in America, don’t try to bring it with you. A “productive day” (and you will hear this time and again) could mean sitting under a tree and counting goats.

3.       Just because people “no speak Americano” does not mean that they are stupid, in fact, they are probably smarter than you in more ways than they have the ability to tell you…because they no speak Americano.

4.       You are like Godzilla to small children, you are fun to watch and point at from far away, but scary as hell up close. Be prepared for babies and infants to break into screams and attempt to waddle away at the mere sight of you.

5.       Your name is not Claire, your name is Tlotlo, whether or not you can pronounce it correctly.

6.       Imagine that someone who is 7 feet tall and tattooed bright blue had moved into your neighborhood. You would know where that person’s house was, right? That is how everyone in your village knows where you live, and knows your name even though you haven’t met them.

7.       In my experience it’s not really about being lonely in Peace Corps; you are going to be surrounded by people who want to interact with you constantly. It’s more about the fact that you have to be “on” all the time. You get the best and worst parts of being a celebrity.

8.       At some point, and I am sure this will have a different timeline depending on how quickly you get settled in; it is going to strike you how comfortable you are in a place that was so foreign just a few months ago. You might be texting in a different language or riding in a truck through the dessert, either way it’s going to be a weird feeling.

9.       When left to your own devices (especially when those devices aren’t usually examined on a one on one basis) your brain is going to wander to places previously unknown.

a.       Favorite places to wander: past relationships, future plans, food, nostalgic ponderings over amenities no longer accessible, how you are going to spend your readjustment allowance, food, overly ambitious projects that your community probably doesn’t need nor want, food, home and food…mostly cheese.

10.   Music is universal, social etiquette is not. True story: there was a day that I woke up to Mariah Carrey and Celine Dion, which would have been great had it not been 5am in the morning on a Saturday.

11.   Things you swore you would never do, and things that you vowed to continue doing in the states will at some point get jumbled up. This includes, but is not limited to: shaving, working out, cooking, journaling, budgeting, shopping, focusing on “the moment”, internet usage, meditation, reading, and taking any and all “you” time you need so that “you” doesn’t go insane. I will let you think about which of those I’m doing and which I’m not.

12.   You are going to be a grandma when it comes to bedtime. Seriously people, I was in bed at 7:30pm last night and sleeping an hour later. Hell my grandmother stays up later than that, so we will just change it to “a grandma’s grandma.”

13.   Clean is going to take on a whole new meaning. The “pits and crotch” hand washing method, as well as the over use of baby powder in your hair to get rid of the oil are concepts you will be overly comfortable with.

14.   This is going to be the last one, but it is a big one. As determined and passionate and driven as you were to get into Peace Corps (and you are going to have to be) so is everyone you are serving with. At some point you are going to read about their accomplishments and their projects and the schools that they built and for a second you are going to feel jealous/ inferior/ inadequate... but then you are just going to feel damn proud.

I had this last one a few days ago while reading some posts on facebook. It isn’t a completely new feeling to me, and it’s something I have had a chat with a few people about, but here is what I am hoping: I am hoping that after a few hundred times about hearing about projects like that, and there will be at least a few thousand since everyone here is their own superman, my first emotion will be to be proud. I’m not a saint, and to say that I am there now would just be lying. It doesn’t mean I love my fellow volunteers any less, it doesn’t mean that I’m not confident in my own abilities to change the world (even though some days I’m not); but we have been raised to think that there is always a hidden addendum, that there is always a ladder to climb, and that has crafted my life view.

But here is the thing; Peace Corps isn’t about that, because the end game here is not to raise up one, but 

many. This means every accomplishment, every school, program and support group created by one of my amazingly smart and talented peers, is a win for me too. Reprogramming always takes a little bit of time, but I’m working on it. I want to dedicate this particular blog post to my fellow volunteers; former, current and future. You are a damn fine group of people and the caliber of your character gives me confidence in my own.

Rata Thata,

Tlotlo

Bots Cribs

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to the first (and probably only) addition of Cribs Botswana. I wanted to be able to show everyone where I am living so that you can get a better idea of my little piece of Bots. Though I cannot speak for every volunteer, my home is the one place in the village where I don’t have to be “on” or have people constantly staring at me. Maybe this is why my house is the only dwelling place I have ever lived in that I have been able to keep remotely clean on a regular basis. So anyways, let me give you the virtual tour:

This is the view from my compound on my way back from work, at my gate. You can’t see her but Bambino comes out to greet me pretty much every day. It’s wildly cute and as close as I can get to Beaver Cleaver, while in Africa. 

This is the outside of my house on laundry day! The house you see to the right in the foreground is that of my landlady, Mma Monyatsi. The lovely tin roof is where the devils doves live and the window on the left is my bedroom. As you can see my porch doubles as a dryer (which is apt because my bathtub doubles as a washer.)

Welcome to my dining room! My kitchen table is a bit of a clutter because I just went to the general dealer to grab some groceries and a mixing bowl so I can make bread. The pictures on the wall are a collage that I made from a magazine Peace Corps issued us and the other things posted up are an assortment of maps, pictures and letters. I have a bunch of you wonderful people to thank for that :) 

Turn slightly to the right and you are in my kitchen! 

That wonderful little drawer/ cabinet thingy is my prep, station, my fridge is fully functional and even has a little slide out freezer. Behind it is the giant gas tank that powers my stove top and oven!

The picture below (the blog is not letting me format on the other side of the page) is when you take a few steps forward and turn around. Voila! My living room! You may think that I forgot to take the paper towel out of the picture but it is, in fact, there to prove to my mother that I occasionally clean my house :)

You turn around, walk the two steps down my
“hallway” and this is the sight you will see while looking into my bedroom. I have my calendar on the world, my scarf hanging off the open door of my wardrobe thingy (I keep it open because there isn’t much space and I hang my sweatshirts off the door.) 

My bed! The lovely blanket thing you are seeing is standard, Peace Corps Botswana issued, and comes in only one color pallet but has a few different center pieces. I’m really glad I don’t have the horses because it would remind me too much of the Godfather, which I finally watched!

Yeah…so if this is any testament to how well I take panoramic photos, you should never trust me to take one again. It gets the point across by way of what I see whenever I look in the mirror next to my bed though, which was really the only point.  

So that is about it when it comes to my house. I could show you the spare bedroom but it is currently acting as a storage space/ extra drying rack for my undergarments since it’s not really culturally acceptable for women to hang their panties on the line in Botswana. I don’t think our relationship (the one between myself and the internet) is ready to go there yet.

There you have it, my house! I hope you enjoyed this episode of Botswana Cribs, and I look forward to seeing you again in the near future. Until then, many hugs and smooches!

~Claire/ Tlotlo

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Hello my fellow worldwide wanders! Today’s blog is going to be on a topic of mass importance in the life of any Peace Corps volunteer; transportation. After almost three weeks at site, and 10 days short of three months in Botswana, I may not be a complete expert on a topic such as this but I felt inspired to give it a whirl after this weekend. Let me start out by breaking down the main modes of transportation available to Peace Corps Botswana (PCB): taxi, kombi, bus and hitch.

Taxi- Standard issue taxis as well as “pirates” (personal taxis driven by people without taxi paperwork) are widely available in major city centers in Botswana. Though I don’t have access to them here in Rams, they are one of the best ways to get around otherwise. What is super nice about taxis in Bots is that they are flat rate. Mind you this also means that if your destination is way far away, a driver can tell you to go take a walk. Taxis come in the standard ride for p4, which means your driver will pick up anyone he can in the process of getting you to your destination, or you can request a “special” which means you pay p20 to ride alone in the comfort of your own cab.

Kombi- So we don’t have these in the US, but I have had experience with them during my time in Turkey, (except that they were called dolmuʂ.) The best way I can describe these vehicles are as middle sized, 15 passenger vans (kind of like the ones you would take to the airport) that run certain routes at different times during the day and that are usually cheaper than catching a taxi. The down fall to this mode of transport is that a.) they don’t leave at specific times and you have to wait for them to fill up before they will depart for whatever destination and b.) When I say “fill up” I don’t mean the legal limit of people in the kombi, but however many bodies/ luggage/ children/ produce/ chickens the space above the four wheels can accommodate, not necessarily comfortably. A kombi is the most reliable way for me to get to my shopping village of Palapye.

Bus- Again, something most people are familiar with, and this is the most popular way to get between larger city centers in Botswana. Example: I went to Mahalapye for a meeting on Friday, and it just so happens that I took a bus, since Maha is a large city, and the best way for me to get there is to grab the one that comes through Rams from Seleka. The major debate on the bus is where the best seat is (this is assuming of course that you have the option to sit, and aren’t standing the full trip.) If you sit in the back, on a non holiday, there is a chance you will get the whole set of seats to yourself. Then again air doesn’t get to the back of the bus as easily as the frot. Also, going over rough road in the back of a bus is a bit more jarring than the front. If you sit in the front you will certainly have a seat mate but it will probably be a mosadi mogolo who will want to make friendly setswinglish chat for the duration of the ride. You are most likely to have someone standing in the aisle way crowding your space, but if you came to Peace Corps to have comfortable traveling, you came to the wrong organization.

Hitch- Let me preface this by saying that the US Peace Corps, nor Peace Corps Botswana, endorse this mode of travel, but that in certain situations it is the best way to get in or out of a remote area. This would also be a good time to point out a super great cultural difference! In the US, starting at a very young age, I had it drilled into me that hitchhiking was a great way to get killed. It goes both ways: if I attempted to hitchhike somewhere, the person who would pick me up would undoubtedly be the hockey mask wearing Jason who would chop me to bits and leave me by the side of the road. If I were to pick up a hitchhiker, it was probably Freddy Krouger who would torture me senseless only to chop me into bits and leave me next to the pile of bits Jason had left earlier. I had heard stories from my Grandmother about the golden age when she and her girl friends could hitch up into Canada by making friends at the border, but as an 80’s baby I knew that a cruel and twisted fate that awaited anyone in today’s day, who tried to catch a ride from the side of the road with a stranger.

Fast forward to three months ago, almost every currently serving volunteer who came in to help with our training had to catch a hitch for some leg of the journey to make it to Kanye. Mind = Blown. Having to deprogram close to 15years of safety school training has been difficult, and if we are being honest (because we all know the internet is the best place to spread truth) I am still a little uneasy about catching rides, but I have done it. The idea in Botswana is that there are many more people than there are cars, and that, on the whole, people are good and friendly and might even be the person you have to catch a ride from the next time your car breaks down. If you aren’t Jason or Freddy, why would you assume others to be? Hitching is a great way to catch a more direct and comfortable ride to where ever you may be going. Botswana has “hitching posts” that are usually the local bus stop; if you wait long enough someone will come by and if they are heading your way you just jump in. Most of the time you will pay them whatever a kombi/ taxi would have charged, but sometimes they don’t ask for money at all. They are great ways to meet new people, and have interesting conversations.

As a quick idea of what my daily travel might look like, I will take you back to what started this whole idea, for a brief segment I will call: “How I Got Around This Weekend.”

I walked to the Rams kgotla to catch the Maha bus that supposedly was going to get there at 8am, but didn’t pull in until 8:40am. Pulled into Maha around 11am (a full hour late for the meeting I was going there for) and walked to the park to meet up with everyone. After the meeting, myself and my friend Jada got a ride back to her place from a Motswana friend that she had the number for. Later on we went back into town to go shopping, and caught a ride from a “pirate taxi” that we waved down from the road. Since Jada lives outside of the Maha proper, she got into a kombi that would take her back to her neighborhood, while I boarded the bus to take me back to Rams. In one weekend, I utilized every popular form of motorized transportation that is available to a volunteer (we are not allowed on motorcycles.) 

I am going to try and get pictures of each of these types of transportation and then add them to the blog later.  Hope this finds everyone happy and healthy. 

Love, 

Claire

p.s. sorry to those of you that read this post in the last week. I don't know what happened but the top part didn't load which is why things were a bit funky. Seeing as I had to edit it anyways, I would also like to add that "donkey cart" is a viable option for transportation in my village. I have yet to ride one, but have been promised by numerous colleagues and neighbors that they will take me on theirs. I will let you know how it goes. :)