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!