28/10/10

I spend the morning designing the Christmas decorations for the craft fair, and Tapiwa asks to help also. We are joined by Keddi - and just before lunch we can all be found in the Youth Centre, ripping egg boxes to make the paper Mache with.

I have a 'working lunch' and then at about 1 I hear lots of noise coming from the youth centre so I pop across and there are around 25 children there! When they see me they all move to sit themselves at the table in anticipation for more colouring, as we completed the previous day. We cannot yet find any shade to take the children outside to do some school games, and a TV program starts, which the children all seem to know as they start singing the theme tune. I ask Keddi if this is a children's program as all the children are now crowded round the television and she says yes……. But then I see someone being stabbed and a fight and hear creepy music - it's the adults that seem to love the program after all!! Luckily the program is short and so we go outside with the children. As we walked out to the volleyball court, the children push each other to walk next to me and I end up holding the hands of two children and one has hold of my arm. I laugh out loud as I am carried along….

We spent the next hour singing, clapping and completing school rhymes and dances. It was lovely to be a part of and although I could not join in with much of the singing as I do not know Setswana - I was able to grasp a few words and so joined in when these needed to be sung. There were about 40 children in a big circle, ranging from 3 years old to 13. Some of the children were wearing ripped, dirty clothes; others looked smartly dressed with shoes matching the colour of their outfit. It was fascinating to observe the behaviors' and personalities of the children. Some were shy and reluctant to join in; others were more confident and strutted their stuff! One child (called Patrick) I observed had a real little attitude on him (one trouser leg pulled up with a swagger as he walked, frowning). Observing all of this made me wonder what the children's home life was like. I wondered which were orphans and which had parents. I wondered what their role models were like as they grew up - if indeed they had any.

After about an hour or longer we went inside. Most of the children drew pictures and they took great delight at bringing over their finished pieces of art. I praised, exclaimed and encouraged each child for the drawings that they had produced. At one point I was being crowded by children and was forced to lean back against a cupboard - but this did not seem to stop the children and they practically climbed on top of me!

After this I went outside as Thande was with about 20 of the children playing on the big blue gym mat. Once I arrived they were all keen to show off their skills and then got really boisterous! It was a pleasure to watch them laughing and screaming, doing somersaults on the mat, and playing on the monkey bars close by. It was really hot and already 4pm. They had boundless energy and I wondered where they got it all from! Lovemore told us that there had been around 50 children that day - lets hope there will be as many next week!

Once dropped off back at the house, I make a coffee and sit on the porch this has now become my daily routine and I enjoy the hour sat there, watching Tshesebe as the sun goes down. I see Khelina walking in towards the house, and when she arrives she sits with me for a little while. She has been working as part of the drought relief team and it has been a hot day, so she has had a difficult one. As she waters the garden, I stay with her to keep her company and she tells me a little bit about her childhood - she was born crippled (which causes her much pain) and a stutter. The story is rather horrific and I think just how lucky I have been with my own childhood compared to this. Again, I am surprised at the similarities between Botswana and the UK - it would seem that those in a position of power are difficult to find guilty of certain crimes, wherever they may live in the world …. As this is the last night that Khelina will be staying, I give her 20 pula to say thank you for staying with me. She is surprised and says that she will miss me - and I think is very sweet of her to say so!

As I have a lot to do to prepare for my weekend in Francis Town I let Khelina watch a DVD on her own, and give her some food and juice. I have been a little surprised at myself for the way I have reacted about certain things over the last few days. I like to think of myself as being a generous person. Stinginess is not a quality that I would like to be a permanent feature with me, so I'm hoping that it does not……

29/10/10

What a thunderstorm last night! My goodness it was shocking! Had I not been so scared I would have looked out of the window as I wanted to see the lightening. I think it started at about 1am and ended at around 4.30am. I kept falling asleep and then waking up again and each time the thunder and lightening was still going. It actually got quite cool in the room for once!

When I awoke the next morning at 6.00 it was really fresh. The air had cleared and I needed my fleece on. Poor Sally - she was absolutely soaked, as was her bed. The cats did not impressed with me at all, as they had been out all night. As promised I got the lead and told Sally we were going for a walk. She was overjoyed! We headed out and I did not put the lead on her as I knew that she was well behaved (not like our previous black lab 'Max'). She was engrossed in the smells, sights and sounds of the village as had not been out for two weeks. It was only a short walk (20 mins) but enough to make Sally feel like she had had a bit of adventure, and hello to a few friends!

So this morning off into Francis Town we went. On Pay day, all of the staff go into Francis Town in the work truck so that they can get what they need for the month. This means no work on that day and day after. Petros and Lovemore were kind enough to wait for me at the Orange store as I needed to get some 'airtime' and I would have got lost trying to find my way to the place I needed to meet Charmaine. Due it being everyone's payday and end of the month, the shop was very busy with a long queue. Luckily Denise had explained the queuing system before she left…. So you join a queue, but then can leave it to go and do other bits, only to return later and join back in to where you would have been if you had not left!! And people accept this! Can you imagine how that might work in England?

Anyway I got the airtime (oh and at the end of the month you can receive 100% free time dependant on the amount you put on your phone! Good hey?) And met Charmaine and off we went to a craft fair at her daughters school. She introduced me to a number of people (all whose names escaped me the minute I had been told) who were all expats living in Francis Town. After this we went back to Charmaines beautiful house where she let me use the internet (savior!!). Once her husband arrived home from work, we went to the rugby club and I had my first glass of wine in a bar! Unbelievably one of the expats I was introduced to had a rather northern English accent and when I asked him where he was from he said 'Lancashire', when I asked where…. He told me the village that is about 15 mins from where I grew up! 'Bolton-Le-Sands'! (Rachel Robinson / Anna - can you believe it?!). Oh it was so lovely to hear a northern voice and we laughed and reminisced about all the hotspots, Morecambe Bay being mentioned of course!! ;-)

We moved onto the main sports club and it was brilliant to see that they were having a Halloween Party! There were lots of pumpkins, decorations and loads of people dressed up! I didn't expect to see that here at all.

30/10/10

I slept like a log and when I woke up had a phone call from Nezza which was lovely. The plan then was to go to the feeding programme at Monarche (where 250 children are fed by a charity). Unfortunately we got there at the end of this, but I was able to meet more volunteers and find out a little more about what goes on down there. The area seemed much poorer with the children looking much more malnourished. After this we went to the library and I met yet more expats! One of these and this is even weirder…. Used to live in Nether Kellet! How very bizarre! She said that the most people she had ever met from Lancashire were across the other side of the world! Another used to live in Morecambe and I enjoyed hearing now they had come to live in Botswana. For many it was that their husbands had taken a job over here.

Following the library we went to 'Paradise' - a friend of Charmaines called 'Ann' who has the most beautiful garden and you would not believe that it was in central Francis Town amidst so much dust! I have taken plenty of photos but not sure how long it will be before I can get them uploaded. Mum would have loved it! And what was even better, was that she had a pool! And a dog and 5 cats, and a rescued bird!

Ann had a number of friends round. One of which had lived in Botswana for around 30 years I think. She was passionate about Aids/HIV support and we had a very interesting conversation around this. She had said that there were probably two different types of people that lived in Botswana - those that wanted to help themselves and make a better life for themselves - and those that didn't. And those that didn't were the rule, rather than the exception to this. She said that the government had done so much for its people and that years ago you used to have to pay for schooling. She was inferring that this had worked quite well as it had meant that families were working to afford to send their children to school and had that to focus on. She believes that now the incentive for work has now gone - or been dramatically reduced.

Once back at Charmaines she very kindly brought me a glass of wine and I was treated to homemade fishcakes, salad and (wait for it) … homemade chips!! Yum! We then watched a film -I think it was called 'Rabbit Proof Fence', and it really taught me a lot about the Aborigines and how awful the English were to them. If you get chance - you must see it!

31/10/10

Happy Birthday Anna!

We had a thunderstorm last night and I kept on waking up every few hours. I wasn't scared this time though! I woke up late and ran through to the main house to see Charmaine only to completely forget that I had put toothpaste on my spots the night before and forgotten. To add to this, I had told myself NOT TO FORGET LIKE I DID AT MY OLD WORK…. How embarrassing! Luckily she either didn't notice or was too kind to mention it! We went into town, enjoyed pancakes, I got some much needed supplies and then I was given a lift to the bus station. It had been a great weekend and I was really grateful to Charmaine and Dave for having me.

On arriving at the bus station (much much more interesting than our UK ones) I was taken by a man to find the bus to Tshesebe. We went from one bus, to the next and to the next. In the end I was told to wait with a group of people….. and it wasn't that long (45 mins and a touch of rosy skin later) that the bus turned up. That is quick for Botswana! There were women walking around selling bananas, chicken and chips, lighters, perfume etc and if I hadn't such heavy bags I would have walked around the little stalls before the bus had turned up. People were walking around with umbrellas to give themselves some shade and I was gutted I had left mine at the house.

When the bus arrived, piles of people started cramming around it and I wisely jumped in the front next to the driver - good for two reasons, 1. Less squashed, 2. I could nudge the driver when I needed to get off! I had my now very full and heavy rucksack (ah actually that's not strictly true…Nezzas rucksack!) on my lap and another shopping bag on the floor by my feet. My bare legs were pressed on the front part of the seat, and as the scorching sun had been on it all morning, was boiling hot and now burning my legs! I was wondering whether I might get 3rd degree burns! The driver jumped on board and asked me where I was going. He was a friendly, chatty man (and although clearly married) asked me to take him back to the UK. I said I already had a long list so he would need to get in the queue! He said that I might marry over here and I laughed and said 'definitely not!'. The journey was quite pleasant really - aside from the burning legs…..

When I got back Sally was soooo pleased to see me bless her. Emily and Khelina had been looking after her, but I think she does get lonely. I pottered around and attempted a red Thai curry with spinach from the TOP Banana Vegetable garden. It was actually really lovely!

I was surprised to see Khelina again (as had thought Emily would be staying now), but it was nice to see her again. Had a very hilarious moment which I am not going to write on here but I was so shocked I nearly swallowed my tongue!! Thanks Nerys for your text about that!