This volunteer is home

Hello internet world! Please excuse the long absence in updates. I needed to take a little time to settle in to my new home and once I did that it took even longer to figure out how to get the internet necessary to post, but I can now proudly say that this volunteer is officially moved in!

I should start with the swearing in ceremony. On Wednesday the 16^th of October, Peace Corps Botswana welcomed 72 new volunteers to the Peace Corps family. The ceremony was lovely, many dignitaries were present, and the US Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission led us in taking our oath. My friend Isaac gave a speech that moved us to tears, and then my friend John gave a Setswana translation of that speech with such gusto that he had all of us shaking with laughter. This day was a particularly proud one for all of us; some volunteers have literally been waiting for this moment since they first started their applications years ago. I was reminded of my college graduation a few months ago and how happy I was on that day too. I really wish my friends and family could have been there, but I know I’ve got a wonderful support system cheering me on from a distance. After the ceremony ended there was nothing left to do but celebrate with my friends and internalize that we were all about to venture off on our own at last.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I am now happily settling into my new home village. Any move requires adjustment, but I think it’s fair to say that this one requires quite a bit more than usual. My house is lovely and perfect for one; I am lucky enough to have both water and electricity, although both sometimes go out from time to time. So far I have met many of my neighbors and they are all warm and welcoming people. Since I mostly lived in big cities before moving to Botswana, being a part of a community is very new to me. Some highlights of my community life include: a neighbor came over on my first night with a plate of food to welcome me, one of my neighbor’s kids came over one night just to drop off some handmade Setswana flash cards to help me learn the language, and my personal favorite, once the neighborhood kids found out I had never been in a donkey cart and wanted to try it out, they showed up one afternoon with one and took me for a ride around the block.

I also started working at the clinic three weeks ago and am trying to learn the ins and outs of how things are run. Gobojango Clinic is actually more of a health post. The regional doctor, Dr. Mashini, comes twice a month for ARV (anti-retroviral) day to check up on HIV patients and do general consults. Dr. Mashini is from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and speaks fluent French, so I get to have someone to speak French with! Anyway, it’s fair to say that those two days are easily our busiest each month. When the doctor isn’t around, things get very quiet by lunchtime and I end up with ample time to read or try to practice Setswana. I was invited to join the student PACT club at the junior secondary school as well, so twice a week I walk over to the school and help the kids plan their projects. PACT club provides peer counseling and support to other students and tries to raise student awareness about various health issues that affect young adults.

Now that I’ve settled into a bit of a routine and have submitted my security forms to Peace Corps, I will begin work on my Community Assessment. Over the next few weeks I will interview members of the community and try my best to learn as much as possible about Gobojango.

I still feel like I have a long way to go in adjusting to being here. It’s hard to find my balance between wanting to integrate and form bonds as soon as possible and taking time for myself to recharge and be alone. It’s also quite an adjustment to go from being around American volunteers constantly to being the only American in a village of 2,200. Furthermore, since there is no guide book for what to do and there’s no one around me to compare with, I spend a lot of time wondering if I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing and puzzling over what kind of projects I can work on next year. For now, I just keep telling myself to trust the process, to stay present, and to stop worrying about what will happen months from now. A quick shout out to my friends and family: thank you for all the love and support, for all the emails and phone calls, and for your patience in waiting for me to update this blog! I couldn’t do it without all of you.