Kanye, Botswana

Hello all, 

So to start off- this blog post is about my weeklong stay in Kanye, a village of 47,000 located in south Botswana (Kim and Kanye almost have all of their four corners covered-ha). Some of it was written throughout the week and some was written later so I apologize for any gramatical errors or poor tense agreement! Anyway, hope you enjoy the read!

We came to Kanye and entered the education center to see all of our host parents sitting inside awaiting our arrival. Families were assigned randomly by picking their names on crumbled pieces of paper. My host mama's name is Eunice pronounces and she's 58 years old. She's a grandma and a single parent. All of her kids have moved to the city with the exception of one who lives in Ireland. All of the grandkids are also in school so Eunice has been living alone since May when her husband passed away from diabetes. Eunice is really cute as in she calls me darling and baby and daughter and sweetheart. She loves having company around. We had a traditional dish for dinner consisting of pounded and salted cooked beef. I don't really get home sick much but being a part of a family that isn't yours will do the trick. This week, I really miss my family. 

My host mom, Doddy, and I 

Anyway, Eunice has about ten chickens, ten goats, a few chicks, a dog, and a cat. It was interesting to see the goats because we basically walked to her other house which is where her goats roam and she lets them out in the morning/ puts them back gated in the evening. It's about a mile walk to and from the houses. There is a small fire pit to warm up water with to bathe because there is a MAJOR water shortage in Kanye. However, Eunice does have a geyser that should heat the water up but it isn't functioning. Eunice is a Jehovah's Witness and we have had interesting talks about religion and the differences between them. Eunice has already felt comfortable sharing some personal stories with me about her belief system so I have as well. There are some things that we just had to agree to disagree but when isn't there? I also think she enjoys having someone around to tell the stories to. She is very excited because she found out her son his wife and her grandson are coming to visit Botswana from Ireland in August and she hasn't met her precious six year old grandson yet! (Who is so adorable- I've seen pictures) I'm so excited for her because she loves having people around and is a family oriented person.

My first day was interesting because I wanted to take a bath so I turned the geyser switch for the warm water and we went about dinner and closing the gate for the goats. When I checked, the water was still cold if that and barely running (My host mom says she usually warms water through the fire but wanted to try the geyser for me). By the time I got into the bath the water was cold so I decided I would just rinse off. It happens- no big deal. So I put on my clothes and the door was locked but the keys are the old style keys where you can only unlock it with the key. So I yelled for Eunice and she finally came and was in almost of a panic. She just changed the lock and didn't have the old key to open that door. She forgot to tell me not to close the door because it would lock behind me. Luckily, I had clothes on (always a plus). We tried and tried and tried to open it. She brought a screwdriver through the window which I would have jumped out of but it was too high and little and she's not young enough to exactly catch me . So I unscrewed the door knob hoping that would fix things. Nope. So. I kept trying every which way and how and told Eunice to call someone because this thing was not coming undone and I couldn't even bust the door open. So she went to fetch someone and I kept trying and finally I got the frame loose enough to where I could jiggle the lock in just long enough to open the door! Relief. Let's talk about how annoying it is to get stuck in a stranger's bathroom after taking a cold bath and them not having the resources to unlock the door. Slightly nerve racking for a minute there because I didn't have any ideas left. Well, all I can say is shit happens and this is Africa.

Proof- Lol

My host mom's room is right next to mine and all of the doors creak so I can always hear when she wakes up around 5 to tend to her goats. Did I mention the roosters? OH the roosters. My room is right by the chicken/rooster cage so I always hear them. That was rough. Did I mention the roosters? Seriously, I can't stress it enough. Always doing their thing and waking me up at 5 to 6. It's a shame how annoying they are to wake up to because they don't even know it. 

For breakfast, I would have some corn flakes to go with my full cream whole cow long life milk. It tastes... different. 

The clinic was not busy at all and we sat in child welfare  to weigh babies since that is the bulk of patients at the clinic. Don't worry, I asked permission for this picture! This will give a better perspective for how children are being weighed. Notice the fabric sling brought in my mothers to avoid spreading diseases through baby weighings.

Pearl came in for her monthly weighing! 

The doctor comes on Wednesdays and other nurses help out with patients. The facility is relatively nice and was donated in 1995. However, there is a hospital nearby and unlike Gaborone, people don't come in to the clinic for small aches or to get a sick-leave because in the village, you work regardless of if you are tired or sick. After clinic we had Setswana class at a friend's host house. Transportation is a long process because we have a 16 seater van but 27 kids and the village is somewhat spread out- imagine that. 

Later that day my mom warmed up her bath by using the fire outside and mixing it with the cold water from the tap. For dinner she made pap, moroho, setswa, and cabbage so that i could have a taste for traditional foods. Oh also, we didn't have a sink to wash dishes so we used a large bowl with water and soap to wash dishes- the struggle. My host mom also showed me pictures of her son, his wife and their mixed son because they live in Ireland now. We watched the bold and the beautiful as well as Generations, a South African soapie. The soapie is right now about a lady who got pregnant who has been trying a really long time and her husband was not giving her attention and focusing on work. So she didn't tell him the news yet. He has been trying to find out the killer of her dad and working to bring him down. On the other end, a character is trying to win prize money by filming for a reality tv show about a plus size woman. This show is basically THE show to watch in bots and SA.

Inside the Clinic

 I fell asleep by 9 and woke up at around 5 to roosters. Living the life y'all!! I also managed to finish almost two novels this week...not much to do if the electricity is out and no access to internet or the outside life for a week!

We asked the nurses if there was anywhere to get wifi in the village- they didn't even know or understand the concepts of wireless Internet. These nurses weren't even in their thirties. Well, this is the village. 

The best thing on TV was France 24, giving me my fix of international news including everything Edward Snowden, Nelson Mandela's critical state, interracial family style Cheerios commercials  Brazil protesters, the US supreme court ruling on homosexual marriage, Texas's inmates on death row, the Tour de France, and President Obama in Pretoria, S.Africa- about a 6 hour drive from me! It's amazing how many times you can see the same news because that's how long you've been watching it. 

Warming bath water

For some reason, I had become very attached to my host mom by only two days in. She has really opened her house and life to me. I can't really explain it but it makes all of the little annoyances about the village such as water shortages or cold water or no real mall or restaurants liveable. Maybe it's because she makes me feel loved and at home or maybe it's because I feel like I'm helping her in someway. She said how it had been a long time that she had had someone to worry for and come home to. This made me feel differently in some way. It made me feel so happy when she cleaned up my room this morning because she enjoys having the company so much so that she wants to make me happy. Being here has really made me so much more interested in not only learning the culture and language, but also to appreciate the differences in lifestyles, values, society and language barriers. The beauty of appreciating spoken language is something that should be highly appreciated cross culturally . It makes me feel the need to practice my Setswana more and so I do. It also makes me want to truly learn another language. Maybe I'll take one up when I get back to the states!

My host house!

Doddy, my mom's dog ran away for a night and we were worried that someone might have taken him but we found him the next morning thankfully. We tried to search at night but it was especially dark without street lights (or power). My mom texted me saying how happy she was the dog came home. 

The power had been off for 12 hours until 8 pm. It sucks. Don't worry though it came on just in time for the South African popular soapie, Generations! Everyone knows better than to mess with prime time TV!

The stars here are so beautiful. There are no street lights and the lights were out when I looked outside so oh my gosh I just can't explain it's not something I can capture. If there's one positive of living in the village, it's to look outside and have an appreciation for natural beauty. I just can't get over it. I look outside and I never want to stop looking. That must be why people come back to the village- to get a real peace of mind. 

On Saturday, I went to a local wedding and it was also very bittersweet because my (real) cousin is also getting married today in Houston. Man, that was a tough one to miss! 

My host mom wants to meet up in Gabs after I leave so I can meet her entire family and she said she started counting down the days since Wednesday because she was sad her little girl was leaving since she would be alone again. SO CUTE. She even called me three hours after we left just to make sure that I got home safely. I got a bittersweet feeling because the real homesick just kicked in.

Part of our group also took a tour of the village which turned out to be pleasantly surprising! We saw some gorges and the dam. We also climbed to the top of the hill and enjoyed a beautiful view of the entire village!

Anyway, all in all, I really enjoyed my stay in Kanye and couldn't have asked for a better host family. It was also pleasantly surprising because I was sad when my family was assigned to me because I wanted a family with kids. Little did I know, I would form a bond with someone who was searching for a family here as much as I had been. It's odd to actually feel a family-type connection with someone after only a week but it happened and I'm so grateful it did! I really enjoyed learning what the real Botswana is like outside of the city. I enjoyed learning of daily challenges, beliefs, customs, foods, and benefits of the village as well. It's a real difference is culture and lifestyle living out there! I missed taking real showers and enjoying the luxury of running tap water!

I apologize for how scattered my thoughts were in this blog and hoped some of you will be able to follow it anyway! Thanks for keeping up with me and my new endeavors! Below are many more pictures of Kanye that I had to post! Enjoy!

Best,

Komal