Dumela mma!

Another trip, another 12-hour bus ride. We only had to stop at a hoof and mouth checkpoint once this time. We arrived at the bus rank in Maun and met our guide, K.G. (short for Kaga), who drove us to our campsite on the outskirts of Moremi National Park. When we arrived in camp, we met our travel hosts – the rest of the Kaga family – who had prepared us dinner over the campfire. And we’re not talking beans and hotdogs here. We were treated to spaghetti, salad, and a delicious caramel-banana custard with a graham-cracker crust. Talk about luxury camp-food. Our camp was adorable. We slept two-to-a-tent and had a small addition built onto the back of the tent that housed a shower and bathroom so that we didn’t have to wander off into the bush at night. Good thing – we had a couple elephants, lions, hyenas, and honey badgers visit our camp each night. Nothing quite like lying in bed listening to the wildlife outside your tent. So cool! Each morning we woke up bright and early to begin our game-drives and move to the next campsite. Our camp crew would pack up behind us, then beat us to the next campsite and be set-up and cooking before we even arrived. Game drives in the Okavango Delta were unlike anything we’ve experienced thus far in Africa. In just the first day, we saw 3 lions, a lake full of hippos, over 50 giraffes, and over 100 elephants! We got within reach of the lioness and almost got charged by an elephant. Luckily, K.G. knows how to scare away the elephants by revving the car engine. Thank goodness. We were almost an elephant sandwich. Safari-ing with a guide in Africa has made me realize how treacherous it is to do it alone. We saw many a car broken down along the side of the road, stuck in sand, or flooded out in the river. And without a guide, no one tells you not to stand up in the car while watching lions. They don’t recognize you as a predator in the silhouette of the car, but break that silhouette and you’re breakfast. On our first day we helped out a car that was trapped in the middle of a flooded river. We’d passed by them before, only to return to check on them later after another car’s towing job hadn’t worked. K.G. noted that, “when the tires go underwater like that, you can’t just tow it out, you can only jack the car up and put it in reverse.” To which we responded, “so you knew the whole time that towing them out wouldn’t work?” He just smiled and laughed and told us “this is Africa.”

Our tent at the campsite (with attached bathroom stall on the back)

Lions at Moremi Game Park

Baby elephant in Moremi Game Park

Hippo in Moremi Game Park

Our third day of the trip, we were treating to a mokoro ride on the Moremi channel. The mokoro boats are small canoes that remind me of gondolas. They’re very sensitive to motion, so you have to be sure not to wobble around too much. During our mokoro ride, we ran into a group of 3 hippos who immediately showed interest in us. We watched as one of them continued to dive underwater, then reappear closer to us than he had been before. He startled us when he suddenly appeared 20 meters away and stared us down. We sighed a breath of relief when we returned underwater and reappeared further away rather than closer.

Mokoro boats

Sitting in the Mokoro watching the hippo

Our final day we were treated to a speedboat (a little more heavy-duty than a mokoro) ride down the Chobe River. The speedboat allowed us to get within 5 feet of a crocodile and 6 feet from a hippo. That extra foot from the hippo helped us when the hippo decided to charge and the group of us darted away in our speedboat.

Taken right as the hippo got up to charge

The sunsets in Africa are more beautiful than any others I’ve seen. We stood and watched them from the different landscapes every night in the delta.

Sunset on the Chobe River

Wish I didn’t have to leave. Africa has been such a life-changing experience. There’s a natural beauty here unlike anywhere else in the world. I’ve created lots of memories and lasting friendships.
This is Africa. I’ll miss it.

It’s president’s weekend here in Botswana, which means 4 day weekend for all its citizens! Time for me, Mackenzie, Alyson, Zoe, and Chrissy to take off to Victoria Falls!
We left Friday night and took the overnight bus to Cascane – the town that sits on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The drive is about 12 hours, so being able to sleep on the bus is a HUGE advantage (as we’d later learn by taking the day bus home). The bus ride travels through the Botswana bush and it’s pretty common to see elephants and other wildlife hanging out by the road. Apart from the 2am hoof and mouth checkpoint in which the entire bus had to be emptied of sleepy passengers who wandered through the murky chemical water, the bus ride went smoothly. We arrived in Cascane at 10am and caught the ferry across the Chobe River to Zambia. The ferry ride reminded me just how much of an adventure it is to be in Africa. You ride the ferry with a couple of transport vehicles, the backs of which people will jump on to and ride on to the ferry to avoid wading through the water since the ferry doesn’t seem to be capable of making it all the way to shore. Unfortunately, we missed the memo and had to wade. Thank goodness for water-proof shoes. A 60-minute taxi ride later, we arrived in Livingstone at our hostel. What a cute place to stay! The hostel was full of other students on holiday. We met some people from China and Britain hanging out by the pool. They even had a campfire they would light every night at 6pm where people can hang out. Livingstone is a very cute town. We wandered out to find lunch and made friends with the owner of the restaurant and his girlfriend who drove us to the local craft market after we were done eating. The craft market was full of cool bags and baskets. But I must say, I can’t explain how frustrating it is trying to mentally convert 1 USD to 4,700 Kwatcha. Imagine trying to buy a bag that costs 40,000 bucks! The smallest denomination of kwatcha is a 100 dollar bill. People on the streets sell 1 million dollar kwatcha bills as souvenirs.
After enjoying a relaxing afternoon in Livingstone, we woke up early the next morning for our elephant-back safari. We got to spend a whole hour riding around on the backs of elephants through the bush! My elephant’s name was Lewa. She’s the result of one of the elephants in the safari family disappearing into the bush for 10 months and then coming back pregnant. The group of elephants that do the safari trips are a very close-knit family. They even have a 2-year old baby right now that one of the female elephants found orphaned in the bush and brought back to the camp to take care of. The baby elephant came with us on our safari and danced around the other elephants’ feet, munching on bushes. We saw some hippos on our safari, and a couple of crocodiles.

Afterwards, the safari company dropped us at Victoria Falls so we could go into the park and see the falls. Victoria Falls is BEAUTIFUL! But people aren’t kidding when they ask you if you’re ready for your free shower. We were smart enough to bring flip-flops and invest in the rentable ponchos because we were drenched! You cross a bridge in front of the falls to visit the island and the mist from the falls crashing into the river below rains down on you like a monsoon. The Niagara Falls boat ride has nothing on the Victoria Falls bridge. But the views from everywhere are gorgeous. The Zambian side is really cool because you’re literally right up next to the falls. At certain times during your walk, you’re literally just surrounded by mist. It’s pretty incredible. You can also walk around to the top of the falls and stand right next to the edge of the falls. Be careful not to fall in!


The safari company picked us up from Victoria Falls a couple hours later and took us to our sunset boat cruise. I was amazed how many animals we were able to see on the side of the Zambezi River! We saw giraffes, hippos, and tons of elephants. And the sunset reflecting off the water was just so pretty.

Our trip home from Livingstone included waking up at 5am to catch the first ferry across the river and arriving in Gaborone at 11:30pm on the last bus from Francistown. 3 hoof and mouth checkpoints, 2 stops on the side of the road from the bus engine overheating, 1 Chicken Lickin’ lunch bought from the Francistown bus rank, and I was grateful to see the lights of Gabz as we pulled in late at night.
The trip to Victoria Falls was wonderful. But with only two days left in the program, it’s time to get packing for the Okavango Delta!

I went back through some of the older blogs and added in photos for those that haven't seen them yet.

The program’s coming to a close, which means our teachers are cracking down on the homework. Unfortunately, I’ve spent most of my free weekend writing papers for my public health classes. Fortunately, one of the bigger malls, Game City, has a very nice coffee shop with free wi-fi and bottomless drinks. It’s a great deal for them though – one and a half cups of coffee and I was WIRED. Guess I didn’t realize how low my tolerance had become. I’m writing an analysis of the home-based healthcare system here in Botswana and it’s turned out to be a very interesting paper. I interviewed one of the home-based healthcare nurses at my clinic last week and learned a lot about how much the program is struggling. It makes you realize how even with government-sponsored healthcare, a lot can fail at the local level. The recent strike has really had an impact on home-based healthcare. Without an available staff of nurses, they’re relying entirely on un-trained volunteers. There’s a lot of work to be done in order to get the program back on its feet.

Saturday night, my friend Alyson came over and helped me cook dinner for my family. We planned to make chicken parmesan, but to our surprise, we arrived back in my neighborhood to find that the only grocery store was closed for the weekend for restocking. Without transportation to try a different grocery store, we salvaged what we could find around the house and actually made a delicious chicken curry. We used cream instead of coconut milk, and amped up the cinnamon so it had more of a Moroccan taste. But all in all, I’d say we did a pretty good job. So good that my mom now thinks I’m capable of cooking on my own and had me cook again on Sunday when she was too tired to do it herself. It’s difficult to cook anything I’m used to cooking here because the available ingredients are very different, but I’ve gotten pretty good at throwing together the typical onion, tomato, potato, and meat stock that they put on either pap (realized I’ve been spelling it wrong – it’s pap, not pop), rice, or noodles. I’ve also gotten very good at cooking meat in water. They hardly ever use the oven here. But it’s nice – it retains a lot of the moisture in the meat so it basically falls off the bone when you’re done with it.

3 weeks from now seems so close. In these past 5 weeks, Africa has become my second home, but I’m ready to go back to the U.S. and see my friends and family again. …Although I may have to bring my host siblings back with me.

We spent Monday-Wednesday in Serowe at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary. Serowe is about a 3.5 hour drive from Gaborone and a 4.5 hour bus ride. The Khama Rhino Sanctuary is home to 37 rhinos, and, for 3 days, 22 CIEE students. We went on two game drives – an early morning game drive from 6am-8am and an evening game drive from 4pm-6pm. I couldn’t believe the number of rhinos we saw! They were everywhere! I must have seen 11 in total, and 3 of them even walked right in front of our jeep! We also saw giraffes, zebras, kudo, wildebeest, springbok, and a number of other animals. It was the best game drive we have been on so far. We spent the night “chalets” – little dorm rooms with 3 bunkbeds. It was just like camp! We had so much fun getting the whole CIEE group back together after our long week in Mochudi. In our free time, we even started a mini workout session. We did a short Indian run in the sand and some 8-minute abs thanks to our friend, Nikki, who has the whole routine memorized. Everyone was so excited to exercise! But boy did we feel it the next day! So pathetic. We invited Batsi, our program director, to join us, but he laughed and said he’d just watch. Wednesday morning we woke up bright and early at 5:30am to go to the station to catch the bus back to Gaborone. The open-air safari jeeps came to pick us up from our chalets and bring us to the entrance of the park. Little did we know they were going to drive us all the way to the station! We pulled our hoods as tight as they would go and took cover for the 15 minute drive down the highway. We must have looked so silly, huddled down along the benches as the bitter cold air whipped by. We were so excited to pack into the bus, curled up under our blankets.
I figured out how to post a couple photos directly into the blog:

Rhinos at Khama Rhino Santuary

Giraffes at the Khama Rhino Sanctuary

Wednesday afternoon we took a field trip to the Botswana Diamond Trading Company where we got to learn about and see some Botswana diamonds! Did you know that 60% of the world’s diamonds come from Botswana? The security at the company was very intense. We had to bring our passports to receive visitor cards, then swipe through a series of doors, undergoing x-rays and security pat-downs at every point. Every door you swiped into would funnel you into a chamber, then open one of two doors on the opposite side – one for security and one for clearance. You never knew which one would open for you. I felt like a top secret spy. The Botswana Diamond Trading Company is located next to the airport and they have a road for exclusive use by the diamond transporters. At the beginning of each day, the diamond sorters receive a box of diamonds that is weighed. At the end of the day, if the weight does not match the original weight, the building is shut down and no one is allowed to leave until the diamond is recovered. Crazy stuff. But overall, BDTC is a very nice company. I really respect what their company is doing to promote safe mining practices and eliminate blood diamonds from the market. They even have a policy to promote business growth in Botswana by providing a greater number of diamonds to companies that will process the diamonds in Botswana instead of shipping them off to India or China. Many of our parents from the home-stays are employees of BDTC, so everyone at the company knew us. We’re basically celebrities – no big deal. It was very cool to see that many diamonds. Definitely an experience I’ll remember!

A pile of diamonds being sorted at BDTC

We booked our bus tickets for Victoria Falls yesterday. Only one week away! Elephants here I come!

It’s been a wonderfully relaxing weekend. On Saturday, I went with my friend Mackenzie’s family to visit their cattle post. It’s about 2 hours north of Gaborone and has no cattle, but there are 1,000 one-week old baby chicks staying there. The cattle post is pretty rural, so no electricity or bathrooms. We arrived around lunchtime and had a mid-afternoon brii (bbq). Mackenzie and I were put in charge of grilling, so we marinated some big steaks and sausages and sat around the grill drinking Hunters Gold (the cider here). It definitely felt like a summer bbq, sitting out in the sun surrounded by African desert. And, for it being the first independent grilling venture for both Mackenzie and me, I’d say we did a pretty impressive job. We served it with pop (maize meal) and some chilli chutney and ate with our hands. SO delicious.

Baby chicks at the cattle post

My friend Mackenzie and her host mom at their family cattle post

My mom showed me how to make fat cakes yesterday. I’ve been buying them occasionally on the University of Botswana campus, but had never made them myself. They taste similar to a doughnut, but it’s basically just fried white-bread dough.
I’ve been working in the rural clinic in the village of Mochudi this week. That’s been an experience. To say that the pace at that clinic is slow would be an understatement. It does mean that the doctor spends a great deal more time with each patient compared to back in Gaborone, leading to more accurate diagnoses, but it also meant that those of us working there didn’t do much. I spent most of my time taking vitals – blood pressure (which is still ALWAYS high), and temperature. To take a patient’s temperature, you must hand them a thermometer and ask them to stick it under their armpit. People who live in Mochudi don’t wear anti-perspirant. One alcohol swab for the thermometer, two for my hand. Bleh! Other than that, we spent a great deal of time in the staff room, playing cards and watching the only TV channel available, which played 4 shows: Sesame Street, Pokemon, My Zoo (which teaches you about zoo animals), and My Healthy Body (which teaches the people of Botswana about diabetes and cholera). The same 4 shows repeat every 2 hours. I’ve got the information on the polar bear memorized. And yes, if you were concerned, the Pokemons do escape the evil trees and teach Duckin’ the meaning of friendship. One of the nurses decided on the last day that she was going to cook us a traditional Botswana meal with beans and pop (the maize meal porridge stuff). We were surprised that she had all of those things with her at the clinic, but agreed to the offer…then watched her walk into the patient rations room and retrieve the ingredients. Eesh. The meal ended up going to waste because it wasn’t done by the time we knocked off (finished work) at 4:30pm. Hopefully a patient (or the government) won’t miss that ration…

The staff at the Mochudi clinic

I’ve been shadowing the doctor at the clinic. The doctor who is staffed at the clinic is unique in that he is actually a Motswana. Most doctors are foreign – from Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, etc. The case-load for a doctor at the public clinics is pretty much lots of the same. My opinion of government-supplied healthcare is changing as the relatively free access to a doctor makes people come in for the most pointless things. We actually saw a woman who came to see the doctor for a cankersore on her tongue. Seriously. You end up with a lot of flu symptoms. I’m not really sure what they’re expecting by coming there – the doctor just tells them to gargle with salt water and sends them home. People ask for sick leave for EVERYTHING. Some guy asked the doctor for a week off for his excema. Another guy asked for a sedative for a scrape on his leg. Painkillers are handed out like candy. The public clinics desperately need a physical therapist, as giving painkillers to a sedentary population for small aches and pains is just not sustainable. There are a TON of STIs. Which is upsetting, since it means that people aren’t using protection despite the high population of Motswana with HIV/AIDs. The men here are just selfish and sleezy, sleeping around and then blaming it on their girlfriends. High blood pressure is a HUGE problem. Just about everyone in the population has it. 130/80 is considered stable, and I actually saw a woman today with a BP of 229/122. It’s a combination of genetics, the amount of salt in their diet, and the total lack of exercise, and it’s a big problem. The sanitation in the clinics is awful. They put sheets on the tables, but don’t change them in between patients, the bathrooms have no soap or toilet paper, and “sterile” is relative. If I ever needed healthcare in Gaborone, I’d definitely be going to one of the private clinics. It is convenient working at the clinic though. The doctors/pharmacist are more than welcome to treat our ailments and give us free doxycycline for malaria.

Doctor's Office

Visiting with a patient in the waiting room

The record books

Bontle, a nurse in the women's health department

Tomorrow we leave for our “rural village” stay, which is really not so rural. It’s more like a suburb of Gaborone where people are allowed to raise animals. I’ve heard the clinics are just as well-off as the ones in Gaborone (which I guess doesn’t say a lot), and apart from being the ONLY white people (as opposed to Gaborone where it’s us + the UN workers), it shouldn’t be much different. My host family in the village is very large. I have a mom and a dad and 7 siblings. Apparently my program director has decided I’m a big family type of person.  I’m actually going to be very sad to be away from my Gaborone host family for a week. We’ve really gotten close. They keep reminding me I’m going to miss watching the Big Brother elimination episode with them this week. The CIEE program certainly keeps us busy, but I like it that way. Lots to see, lots to do.
Anyway, “rural village” does mean no internet for a week. So…see you next Sunday.

Friday 6/17: I’ve received a Setswana name from the nurses at my clinic – “Lerato.” It means “love.” Working at the clinic has been amazing. I’ve been working in the CWC (Child Welfare Clinic). Children ages 1-2 must come in every 4 weeks to be weighed; and once a year from age 2-5. Thursday I weighed 45 children in total. Mothers bring weighing bags for their children, who are then put in the bag and hung from the scale. Most older children are fine with the process (some even think it’s a lot of fun and hurry to get into the bag), but it can be pretty terrifying for the younger ones who kick and scream, upsetting the scale I have to read to get their weight. The work ethic in the clinics is very different than in the states. The two nurses I was working under would regularly leave to take breaks, even when there was a line of people, with no indication of when they would come back. As a result, I was seeing patients on my own mid-day on Thursday. The level of independence I have in the clinic is unlike any opportunity I could have back in the states. I even assisted the pharmacist by sorting pills and filling bottles of allergy medicine. I also worked in the Family Planning Center for a while and got to feel for a fetus’s head and feet inside a belly. Taking blood pressures has been eye-opening. The majority of the population here has high blood pressure – due almost entirely to their salt-heavy diet. It’s not uncommon to see a systolic of 140.

Weighing babies at the clinic

In family news – I have a new sister. Grandma is back in her home village, but my mother’s sister has gone with to take care of her, so her daughter (my cousin) has moved in for the week. African families are constantly changing size. It seems like it would be chaotic, but it’s actually quite relaxed. It’s nice the way people here are so welcoming. Even having only been here 2 weeks, I have no problem adjusting to having a new sister. And she certainly has no problem adjusting to me. She’s been in my room asking me about the US and “which celebrities I know.” Their sense of Hollywood here is a little skewed.

My 13 y/o sister Ofile, 9 y/o brother Emmanuel, and 13 y/o cousin who came to visit

In food news – I can’t find green tea anywhere. The only thing they have is rooibos. Seriously. And their coffee is powdered and decaf-strength. No caffeine for me. But the juice makes up for it. 100% real juice?? No concentrate or sugar?? I’m in smashed fruit heaven. I’ve started helping out in the kitchen at home. It means cutting up cow leg and (secretly) cutting cartilage and fat out of the meat, but I get to help plate my own meal and choose more reasonable balances of carbs, meat, and vegetables. I had equal amounts of butternut squash and meat last night!! That’s something worth celebrating!

Sat 6/18: Today was my first safari! …Outside of Disney World, of course. Our program had arranged for us to go on an evening game drive, but a group of 4 of us went out to the nature reserve early in the morning to go giraffe tracking. We drove around in the jeep for an hour and a half seeing warthogs, impalas, wildebeest, and ostriches before we finally saw some fresh giraffe footprints. We got out of the jeep and followed our scout through the brush, tracking the giraffes, until suddenly, we looked up and there was a group of over 8 giraffes standing only 30 feet away from us! The giraffes just stood there, staring at us across the clearing as we stared at them. There were even baby giraffes! It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen – being that close to them. They are SO tall. And SO beautiful! Giraffe tracking was followed by going to see the reserve’s resident cheetahs. The reserve obtained two baby cheetahs 15 years ago after their mother was killed by a farmer, and after being bottle fed and raised by humans, they are completely comfortable with people. We found the cheetahs sunning themselves and walked right up to them and pet them. As soon as we did, they started purring!! A cheetah purr is much stronger than a cat purr. It’s a rumble that makes their whole body vibrate, but they were so happy to have us petting them! They were the SWEETEST animals! Just like big domestic cats. When our safari was done, we were taken to a picnic lunch by a beautiful lake where they served us chicken, grilled pineapple, and tea. We talked to our safari guides about their previous jobs working in big game round-ups where they literally run huge animals into trucks for relocation. It sounded super intense. We spent the next 3 hours at the restaurant located on the reserve which is run by a Swiss woman and her German lover. We spent over an hour talking to them. They were absolutely hysterical. Michelle Obama is going to be eating at the restaurant on Friday when she comes to visit the reserve, so they were super busy preparing for her arrival. Our program director has been talking to the US embassy since we arrived here in Botswana, and chances are good our program will be able to go meet with Mrs. Obama during her visit here. The rest of our group arrived late in the afternoon and we went on a game drive. We saw some more impalas and some hyenas and the night ended with a big bonfire dinner. It was such an amazing 12 hours. I still can’t believe this is real life. Africa just gets more beautiful every day.

A male giraffe we found during giraffe tracking

Petting Duma, the cheetah

6/19: I got to sleep in and spend the day with my host family. Even though the mornings are cold and it’s difficult to crawl out from under my heavy blankets, Africa has the most beautiful sunrises and there’s nothing quite like waking up with a warm mug of tea. In the afternoon, I rode the bus with my new cousin/sister out to grandma’s village where we met up with my host mom. The village is about 30-45 minutes outside of Gaborone and is quite nice. The air is so fresh compared to Gaborone! I’m growing accustomed to the combination of big city, no pollution/exhaust regulations, and the burning of trash. It’s pretty dirty in the city, but makes for BEAUTIFUL fire-red sunsets! The village was a nice change of pace. The chickens, goats, and donkeys wander through the neighborhoods and I sat in the sun with a group of women from the village who were gossiping about the day. Most everyone in the village only speaks Setswana, so I had limited involvement in the conversations, but they were very patient and would try acting out words I didn’t understand. It’s amazing how excited people here get when you try to speak Setswana though. I’ve mastered the “hello, what’s your name, how are you doing?” conversation, which always brings about a big smile and usually some laughs. We returned home just after dinner time to find my sisters braiding eachother’s hair. They keep asking when I’m going to get mine braided. I keep reminding them I’m white.

I got our travel plans finalized for Victoria Falls mid-July. We’re going to be going on an elephant-back safari and a sunset cruise at the base of the falls! SO excited!

We went on a hike up Kgale Hill on Saturday; elevation approx. 1,500ft. It’s basically just a big rock on the outskirts of town. We saw 6 baboons on the hike and a couple dozen along the road as we were driving back. They like to hang out around the stands where people sell candy and soda and steal things.

The view of Gaborone from the top of Kgale Hill