End of Week 1

Our orientation week of “hakuna matata” has come to an end. I had written a very impassioned post earlier this week but I decided to hold off on drawing such harsh conclusions about American media until the end of the trip. Anyway just this week I have learned so much about America, Botswana, and myself from the numerous excursions we have taken. In the last few days, we visited their national museum, a battered women’s shelter, and what they call the “Main Mall”, a place where they sell hand-made crafts and, for some odd reason, American college sweatshirts (the one on display was WVU…I almost threw up). I really enjoyed a visit we took to the local hospice, in which they explained that 95% of their patients were suffering from HIV. In America, our hospices are usually reserved for cancer patients, but here they are filled with patients dying of AIDS. I was fascinated to here that this hospice, which is supposed to be providing end of life care for people, did not have one physician on staff, or even have a doctor they were affiliated with. It seems to be a common theme in the places we visit that the people and government of Botswana are not supporting the efforts of non-profits, which is a shame because for the hospice it must be very difficult for them to provide adequate end of life care without at least a physician on call.

The impassioned post I have held off on had to do with our visit to the wealthy and poor areas of Gaborone. Our program director took us out of our way in order to visit these places, and I found our presence extremely disrespectful as we basically used these people’s houses as a tourist attraction. When driving through the ghetto, we saw many of the reasons why Westerners consider all African people to be so poor. Their living conditions were very sad for us, but the people really didn’t seem to care. They all smiled and waved to our vans, and a bunch of small schoolchildren even jumped up and down screaming “Legkowa” which means white people in Setswana. Even though some African people are extremely riddled with poverty, I realized that maybe they don’t want our help, that their primitive life styles suit them just fine. We later visited a rich area, where houses were worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars, houses that never get shown in the magazines documenting Africa. Gaborone remains an anomaly in that sense to me, as there really seems to be no middle class…the people are either very wealthy or extremely poor. I still haven’t figured out if that’s a good thing or a bad thing for the city.

The last two days of our orientation were a lot of fun. First, we visited a traditional village, where they showed us how the people of Botswana used to live (and how the people of that village still live). I was even married to one of our guides in a traditional wedding ceremony. The ceremony was very intricate, as the two hours we spent there were dedicated to my new bride and I, with traditional dances, chants, and such. The people of the village talked of how before the wedding, the bride and groom would go to their significant other’s parents’ house and confess as to whether they had been cheating. The villagers felt this method stemmed the spread of HIV because of the belief that if one lied to their in-laws, they would die. Well I completely disagreed with their assessment and thought that the belief demonstrated the fact that if Botswana ever wants to curb its HIV problem, its culture needs to evolve.

We then went on a safari that was pretty sweet, but not as exciting as I thought it would be. We saw zebra, rhinos, and elephants, but I felt that it was basically a glorified zoo, as some of the animals (the elephants and cheetahs) were led out to us with workers next to them. I’m much more excited for Kasane, the small village in Chobe National Park, that we will be staying in at the end of our trip where the animals will be seen in their natural environment. After the safari, my Kenyan friend George and I went to the National Stadium (also the place where I was able to get a gym membership) where we saw the Botswana National Soccer Team play Mauritania. African soccer is extremely graceful and Botswana, who has quite a bit of potential to make the 2010 World Cup, ended up winning 2-1. I was really disappointed in the turn out of the local fans, as already a small stadium by international standards, was only half full. The ones who did show up were very passionate though, as at one point one fan threw a bottle onto the field, hitting one of Mauritania’s players. Well obviously this occurred right in my section and a mini riot erupted. I decided that the center of the riot wasn’t the best place for seemingly the only white person at the match to be, so I did the man thing to do and ran. I’m not ashamed.

I have really enjoyed the company of my two Kenyan friends on the trip who have taught me a lot about Kenyan culture, even giving a tribal name (Carioke, meaning the one who never dies…that sounds pretty sweet to me). With such diversity on my trip (besides the Kenyans, there are people from Japan, South Korea, and the Caribbean), I have learned about more cultures than just those present in Botswana. From discussions with all these people, I have come to the conclusion that America does a very poor job in teaching us to go anywhere other than…well America. All the people in Botswana and those from a foreign country in my program with me are fluent in English, as well as their native language. They know how to deal with the over-friendly people who are proposing marriage to the white girls in our group because they understand that these people are not as threatening as we perceive them to be. They also know how to deal with not having the technology of America (my Kenyan friend was extremely skilled in hand washing my clothes…I failed pathetically in my first attempt and instead enjoyed watching him). It seems much harder for my fellow Americans and I to adapt to these cultural differences than the foreigners…so Ke a leboga, America (that means Thank you, America in Setswana)!

Next week is really the only week we have classes, as after that we go to work with our HIV organizations. I haven’t quite decided what organization I’d like to help, although the hospice was very desperate for people, and it seemed like I would be doing things very similar to the work I do at home. My research with Harvard will probably begin next weekend, although I’ve been talking with a girl from Harvard who works there and stays in the hostels we are in, who says I should try and avoid it at all costs…so we’ll see. Until next time…