"Africa is..."

I’ve spent the last few weeks walking around my village, hanging out with the kids in my village, seeing their homes and getting to feel a bit more comfortable and slowly settling in. I had an interview with my village’s nurse who gave me all the stats in Metsi and filled me in a bit on the HIV/AIDS situation and other clinical issues in the village. It was good to find out more about what needs to change and what I can maybe work on while I’m here. It was a little daunting while I was watching the nurse flip through here record books which are basically journals that they just hand write in and each patient has a page. She was counting up how many people in my village are HIV positive and as she was passing by each page right in front of me, about every ten pages or so as she was counting she would hit a page that had written in big bold letter, “DEAD” on it. It was pretty eye opening. I mean, I hadn’t met any of these people that had died and didn’t know who they were, no personal attachment, but it makes me think a lot about what that book or records is really about. It’s a book all of people in my community that are HIV positive. Its scary to think about. There are wonderful things happening with treatment and people certainly can and do live happy healthy lives even though they are HIV positive, but typically that those people will still probably die younger than they would if they didn’t have HIV. It was just intense to see and realize that while I can’t stop HIV/AIDS, I am here to help it and help these people.
I’ve had meetings with the village chief, the elders, and the social worker of my village and I learned a lot about Metsibotlhoko. I can now say that according to the census done in 2001 (and there won’t be another one done until 2011), my little village has 355 people in it. IN THE WHOLE VILLAGE….355 PEOPLE!!! Oh my lord! HAHAHA There was about 4 times that just in my high school. The social worker, named David, says that he thinks its more like 500 or 600 by now…but that’s not confirmed. However, I guess its good to be smaller. In theory I’ll get to know people better with less people. So that’s a plus. Learning Sekgalahadi is a bit of an issue and very slow going but people are pretty nice about it and laugh at me, but smile and seem to like that I’m trying. There are large number of families that are registered “destitute” with the government, meaning that they receive one food basket a month pure family and about 100 pula cash for any possible expenses. 100 pula is about 15 dollars American. Its something but its not much. Just to get a ride out of my village is 6 pula for 1 person. So just for one person to get I and out and not even go very far, only about 12 miles would be 12 pula. That’s a lot of the 100 pula already gone for not even going very far or getting much. Its hard! There are a few registered orphans and a lot of “Needy” children. A lot of children that are orphans are taken in by other family members, so then they aren’t considered orphans anymore. So a lot of children are “orphaned,” but not considered so legally.
Talking to the social worker made me realize that there are a lot of programs that are supposed to be going on at the school but they aren’t...so that’s where I come in apparently. David told me about a program called 4B, which is basically like our 4H in America, but here its all agriculture! Basically the kids all year work on plowing and growing food and then can use that food for their families and also put it fairs and competitions. So I’m going to try to start that up in the next few months. I have no idea how to do any of that, but I guess I’ll learn. There are other programs such as “Circles of Support” which is to help HIV positive students deal and feel supported by others about their status. From my understanding, the percentage of HIV positive students is pretty low, but everyone is affected by it. Everyone knows a family member or friend that either has HIV or has already passed away from it. Unfortunately it’s hit that many people in Botswana that everyone has felt the effects of it somehow. So, I’ll probably start Circles of Support too. There are a few other programs that I need to start as well, but I haven’t learned as much about them yet. The biggest issue that I have learned that my village struggles with is poverty and lack of income and food.
When I had my meeting with my Kgosi (chief of the village) and the elders they told me that the people in the village rely on the “Drought Leave” program for possible temporary income. Its what they call “piece jobs” here which is that at random times for a short amount of time I job might come up that people can sign up for and get a little bit of money for a short time. Like a road might need to be paved or a bulding built so people will be given 300 pula for 30 days of work…and then that’s it. Then people don’t know when they next job might come. Most people have no money and little food. A lot of the kids don; have shoes or cloths without holes in them. People are struggling to eat and to get what they need. The Kgosi stressed the importance for me to get a business started in the village so that some sort of income can be in the village and people can eat regularly. I’m nervous about that because I don’t know how to start a business or how to get a sustainable source of income for my village, but I’ve learned that it needs to be my secondary project. It is what is most needed here. I have a few ideas so I’m going to try to think of more and talk to more people about what they think and what seems plausible…and we’ll see what happens.

“…often faced with two choices: turn away from the reality of Africa’s intimidating complexity, or conquer the mystery of Africa by recognizing the humanity of Africa’s people.”

“Every time you say ‘Africa is…’ the words crumble and break. From every generalization you must exclude at least 5 countries.”

“I believe that to change the world you had to go there, live with the poorest and change their lives.”