Busy? It's strange, but wonderful

Something seems to have flipped in the last month or so because for the first time since I arrived in my village, I’m busy! I have a lot to do! It is inexplicable and wonderful and sometimes even stressful.

I am still working with the clinic in the mornings. My focus is still on supply chain management for medicine. I introduced a 4 point plan for improving supply chain at the clinic and got approval from my supervisor to get started! Among other things, I’m going to create an excel database on our medical consumption and provide informal training days for staff on monitoring stock at the clinic in the coming months. I also now have double the number of students I use to for computer lessons. My first student successfully completed the beginner-typing program and has graduated to intermediate level typing!  I am so proud of all of their progress and am convinced that I want to expand on these lessons and bring them to the primary school as well.

These days I’m also busy working at the primary school. I started out small with the world map project, but the relationships I have built there have opened doors to new activities. Last week I had my first King’s Pack session at the school. We played tons of games and my voice was hoarse by the end. I plan to make King’s Pack a regular Wednesday fun day. We played an amazing, albeit dysfunctional version of baseball. We used a cricket bat, tennis balls, and beanbags as plates and it was endless fun. I had difficulty explaining the difference between a strike and a ball, but the kids trusted me not to cheat them out of their swings.

Hula hoops are also extremely popular with the younger kids

My favorite activity involves the rainbow parachute. I played with the same one in elementary school gym class and apparently it’s the same everywhere: when that parachute comes out the squeals are instantaneous. Everyone grabbed a handle and we started to wave the parachute up and down. Some kids couldn’t resist and lay down under it to watch the colors flow. After a few minutes we then played cat and mouse. One child is chosen as the mouse and runs under the parachute. Another is the designated cat and steps onto the parachute. Everyone else is in charge of shaking the parachute as much as possible to hide the mouse from the cat. The mouse runs around and the cat chases furiously after it while everyone cheers them on.

For my next project I have secured permission to begin my first GrassRoot Soccer class with two counterparts when school comes back in session in early August. GrassRoot Soccer will give me the opportunity to provide sensitive health education on HIV and malaria for young people.

I love that I have the freedom and trust from the people I work with to come up with my own project plans and implement them. Six months ago, starting projects on my own was incredibly intimidating, but now I feel lucky to have this much independence in my work, especially as a younger person.

So those are just some of the things I’m up to! Tune in next time for updates on malaria work, mapping, and a potential community project that I’m really excited about.

Exhausted, but really happy

World Map Project - Going Strong

I started working on the world map project at the primary school back in April. This project has been wonderful from the start. I really needed a creative outlet and a way to feel accomplished when I started working on it, but it has turned out to be so much more. Without this map I would not have gotten to know the teachers at the school nearly as well and I would not have spent as much time with the students. Heading over to the school in the afternoons has rapidly become my favourite part of the day.

At first it was just three of us working on the map. Lorato and Rex have been my counterparts and helpers from the start. Lorato is my neighbour and good friend, Rex is a standard 7 teacher at the school (the American equivalent of 6th grade, I think). They have helped me with everything from getting funding and paint to drawing out a (somewhat) even grid.

 

Rex creating the outline for the map

As we progressed, more and more teachers came out to help or just to watch. It became almost like an afternoon tradition. When the colours started to show from a distance, more and more people began mentioning the map to me. Curious people started visiting while we painted or just came to voice their support. Friends and neighbours started helping out. Kids would gather round and would point to countries for me to name. 

Rex after we finished pink!

After weeks of work, we are now getting close to the finish line. We only have one colour left to complete painting the map (dark green), and then we'll begin labelling the countries and major oceans. I still haven't quite worked out how to label the countries. Some are so small that I just don't think there is enough space. Should I try to paint the names on? Use a stencil? Make a key? Write them with a whiteout pen? If anyone out there has some advice it would be much appreciated! 

We have also started discussing having an unveiling ceremony. This event will actually be my first foray into Botswana protocol. I had originally wanted to just throw a sheet on the wall and invite a few people to come see us unveil the map with the students, but that is not the proper way to do things! The headmistress kindly told me that we'll need to provide some food for the guests and send out invitations to all the heads of associations in the village to make it a nice event. I definitely want to make the school proud and celebrate with some good geography games, so now I'm working on finishing the map, finding some money for the food, and figuring out  how to write nice invitations in Setswana. 

I'll post some pictures of the final event and the map when it's all done (and if I find some strong wifi)!

p.s. I challenge you to learn the countries of Africa! There are great geography quizzes on www.sporcle.com for anyone interested in learning more about this huge continent.