But we still have a lot to do (Part 2 of 2)

I worry sometimes that there won’t be enough time and sometimes I doubt whether I’m making the right decision by leaving at the end of my service. Should I have applied to extend for another year? I strongly considered it. I feel responsible for this project and my greatest fear is that the project won’t be sustainable and that people will consider it a waste of resources. But I also feel that there is only so much I would be able to do in another year. There is a strong group of volunteers working on this project, and we are fortunate enough to have a village institution (the Village Development Committee) that has been supporting this project from the beginning. I really believe that working on the reading room will be a great opportunity for the Peace Corps volunteer who replaces me in October and that there’s nothing I can bring to the table that the next volunteer wouldn’t be able to. Still… sometimes I can’t help but feel uneasy about my choices.

Right now, this unease is tied to my current greatest hurdle (it feels like there’s always something): internet. Once the electricity is connected and the computers and printers are installed, our dream is to have internet available on the three computers. We want to charge people a small fee for using the internet and use that money to pay for the room’s upkeep (electricity, paper, ink cartridges, etc). Not only would internet add to the room’s sustainability, it would be such a game changer for people in my village. Right now, the people who are lucky enough to have nice enough phones that have some access to internet essentially only have access to facebook and whatsapp. Both of those applications are incredibly popular and add many opportunities for people to explore their interests and keep in touch with people from all over. However, having complete access to the internet could add so much more. Just being able to google things and ask questions. To do research for school projects. To look up job postings. To learn a new skill. I get so excited whenever I picture it.

Still, internet is not cheap. We’ve been so focused on just putting these two rooms together that we haven’t done enough to find a feasible method of getting internet to the reading room. There is a wealthy businessman from the next village over who does a lot of philanthropic work in the region. He is a huge supporter of education and I have been telling about our project every step of the way. I have told him about our dreams for internet and asked him to consider supporting us. I am also thinking of writing requests for support to the three major internet companies in Botswana. Maybe one of them could sponsor us as part of their philanthropic work. The issue, once again, is time. Everything takes so much longer than I hope it will and I am running out of time. Any ideas or words of wisdom from people with experience with this sort of thing would be very much appreciated.  I tend to paint a fairly rosy picture of my experiences during my service, mostly because I am an optimistic person in general and do not find it constructive to focus too much on the negative aspects of life. But I thought it was important to write a post about some of the doubts and struggles I’ve experienced along the way.

Progress

We are making progress (Part 1 of 2)

It has been a long time since I updated this blog. I sincerely apologize for the extended silence.

Finding out that we had fundraised the full amount for our PCPP grant for the reading room was a moment of indescribably intense joy (especially since I had some family visiting that could celebrate with us). I had spent much of the last 5 months trying to find that delicate balance between painting a hopeful picture of the future to inspire the people I work with while also managing expectations to avoid disappointment. The PCPP grant is especially difficult to explain since it isn’t a traditional grant. Once you are approved, you still have to fundraise all the money from back home. And that may or may not happen.

Fortunately for us, we managed to get the full amount! I could finally tell the members of the reading room committee that all of our hard work had paid off and that after months of talking and planning, we could turn this idea into something tangible. Unfortunately for us, our grant money got temporarily lost in the bureaucratic shuffle and it took much, much longer than expected to get the money. In fact, the money landed in my account the day before I was leaving my village for a two week vacation home to see my brother get married! Picture a mad scramble to find help with free transportation so we could go to the hardware store that’s thirty minutes away. A police officer from the next village over came through for us like a knight in shinning pickup truck. Time and time again during my service I have been surprised by the kindness of strangers. My counterpart and I made it to the hardware store and back with all the supplies for the new ceiling and the fence. It honestly felt like a small miracle.

The next day I got on a bus and started my two-day journey to get from Botswana to Florida. I actually had to stop myself from laughing out loud when I realized how delighted I was by my airplane food (There are even olives in the salads!!) Anyway, my trip home was a two-week whirlwind of emotions. I had the chance to see friends and family that I hadn’t seen for almost two years, and best of all, I got to watch my brother get married.

Now I am back in Botswana and finishing up the last three months of my service in a mad dash to complete the reading room project. I am proud to say that we have made a lot of progress over the last few weeks. The old fence that was full of holes was removed and replaced by a shiny new one. The ceiling was put in place and painted over. Last week we repainted the exterior and this week the interior was finished. We just have a few windows to paint and then we can begin my favorite part: decorating!!! I really want this building to be colorful and interesting looking as a way to attract as many visitors as possible.

This morning I called the headmaster of our village’s middle school to ask if we could use his school’s machine to cut the big boards we have into shelves. Not only did he say we could use it, he immediately sent over two teachers with the machine to help us make the shelves right now. I am consistently blown away by how supportive this headmaster is. When we were struggling to find transportation to pick up the 11 boxes of books we received from Books for Botswana, he took a school vehicle that was in a neighboring town hours out of its way to pick up the books for us.

We still have a lot of work to do: we need to install the shelves, finish painting, build a shade for outdoor reading, and buy the computers and electronics in a city three hours away and find a way to bring them here. Last week I went to Botswana Power Corporation to pay to have the electricity connected in the room, but we still need to get an appointment for someone to come here and connect it. We were told that it can take anywhere from a few weeks to three months.

Once the shelves and tables are in the room, we’re going to have librarians from the library in the next village over come and help us organize the books and teach us about Botswana’s lending system for running a reading room. The people I have spoken to at the library have been very supportive and even found two boxes of books to donate for our reading room!