Blogs from Gaborone, South-East, Botswana, Africa - page 5

Well I do not know where I left off last so here is the last week in review: Went to the Baylor Clinic for Pediatric AIDS, brought items to donate to the "morning playgroup" interacted a bit with the kids then spent a few hours making their area more organized, clean and not filled with boxes (considering their space is basically a cubby under a stairwell). Spent the rest of the day going through government medical clinic, taking 18 year old Mati' that struggles with bone cancer, to get chemo. Went to take Bokang to his Speech Dr but she canceled so we still went to the city to pick up medicine for his caregiver, after waits and 2 clinics we only got half the medicine. Bokang hooted and hollared at every big truck he saw ... read more

0 degrees centigrade is a bit less than I bargained for in my light packing, however thankfully Gloria has given me a heap of blankets (5 to be exact) and a couple extra fleece type pullovers. At night I sleep like a fetus in the middle of the bed with pants, a hooded sweatshirt (pulled tight), gloves and fuzzy socks then I bury myself under 5 blankets and put a pillow on each side as a barracade. Did I mention it is cold? The day time feels rather warm, but 17 c is actually probably not too warm and I think that has been the max. The flights getting here were many and the waits were long but stepping off the plane in to the chilled air was refreshing. Gloria greeting me with her lovely accent, ... read more

I'm having quite an interesting experience in Botswana. It's still hard to believe that I'll be here for 4 months, it feels more like a 2 week vacation. Right now I'm staying in Gabarone and we have been doing these things called Drop-offs where we are dropped off in the city and told to visit a certain village and learn about the culture. It is a really a great way to submerge yourself into the everday life of the people. We went on a game drive in Mokolodi where we saw Rhinos, Ostrich, Kudu, baboons, and wild boars. Herds of kudu and impala would gather around our lodge at night when we were staying there. I'm not sure if I'll have enough time to contribute to my blog on a regular basis but I may just ... read more

Hey all. :) It's been a few days and I don't blog or journal nearly enough as I should, but I'm tryin'!!! There's so much to tell and I honestly don't think I have that much time to type. So, again, lots has been going on. First- started my volunteer work at SAPSSI (Salvation Army PsychoSocial Service Initiative) and it's been really great. I enjoy interacting with the people and visiting schools and kids...first- the "office" is basically in the GHETTO...and I'm not kidding. It's the "projects" of Gaborone...but I'm not scared. ;) I work there during the day. On our first day, our boss said, "OH yeah- this place can be dangerous...but no guns. You might get knived or stabbed, but you definately won't get shot." LMAO. WHAT?!?!?!?! At any rate, that funniness aside, I ... read more

We arrived last Saturday- took a whopping 30 hours to get here, but all in all it wasn't bad. Plane itenerary changed a bit from what we orginially thought, but it was interesting! We went from Columbus to Atlanta, Atlanta to Dakar, Senegal, Senegal to Jo-burg, South Africa and then Jo-Burg to Gaborone....landed at night- which was cool... :) Palm trees, dust, stone and desolation. It's really strange here- but not strange "bad"...just strange. It was exactly what I was expecting, yet not at all what I had expected. Wow- that was really weird. lol. ;) Anyway- I thought it would be a bigger city, but in reality it's just a few malls and then about 5 miles from the malls there are government buildings- that's it. Very different from what my imagination had in mind. ... read more