"Prevention is better than cure"

The second meal program proposal has been turned in and officially proposed! Now, we’re just waiting to hear from all the people in the Ministry of Education and the people in charge of the food to get back to us and let us know if we will be getting aid. I spoke to the Education Secretary (which is an important title/role, its not the same role we think of when we think secretary) and he said it was a really great initiative and shows that I’m clearly working on valuable things that will show everyone outside of Metsi what is really going on in Metsi. He said that he believes that if I keep working on things like this that Metsi will be a whole different place by the time I leave. It was really nice of him to say those things and I was so glad that he responded well to the proposal. I didn’t know if I would just be laughed at and told it won’t happen…I was kind of expecting that actually. We’ll see though…we haven’t been approved yet and I have no idea how long it will take. The Education Secretary told me that they just put together the list of the few schools that are getting help for a second meal and that it didn’t occur to them to put Metsi on it, but now they will have to really look into it and all the data we gave them and he said he will write a letter to put with my proposal to really help sell the idea to all the heads. I’m excited and really hoping that it works!!! Its needs to. Behavior change in the village needs to happen, but that can be a very slow process….but in the meantime, people need to eat. I’m not a miracle worker which is why I can’t just feed the village, but I can at least try to feed the children and guarantee that they are eating. The village is going to be a bigger struggle….but with that I just wrote and turned in the request to the Ministry of Agriculture to get the school enrolled for 4B Club (the agriculture club; growing crops, plowing, poultry, bee keeping, etc…) for January. I’m hoping to get 4B out into the individual homes of the village so that people can produce food and possible money from selling the crops and honey for themselves. It’s the big picture at least.
My school is suppose to have Prize Giving this month and it’s like the equivalent to our end of the year assemblies where kids get awards for best attendance and whatnot. It’s a big deal here. The Ministry gives schools 500 pula to buy awards for the kids and to help fund whatever reception a.k.a. food that they need to get people to come. People will not come to anything in less you promise they will be fed. 500 pula is a good amount, but my school has no funds. Our fundraising really needs help and I’m trying to think of ways to get outside funding. The village/parents do not have enough money to be helping us with funds, so we need to go outside the village. Which is where maybe having the kids learn to make beads and sell them or sell the products from 4B will come in. We will get the 500 pula eventually from the ministry for the awards, but we don’t have any extra finds currently to get food to them get speakers out to the school…which is fine. We have plenty of time and I’m working on getting funding from the District AIDS Coordinators office to help with future workshops and speakers coming to the school. The teachers and I decided we would just do awards and make more awards and just spend all the money on that. It was really cool because all the teachers got together and spent the whole time trying to figure out what would be the best motivators for the kids and how we could praise them. They are really starting to do some of these life skills things on their own which is so great! We’re going to have a hygiene award and then give those kids toothpaste and tooth brushes. Most of the awards are usually plates…that’s a big thing here! We’ll still do plates I’m pretty sure but we’re going to try to do other things and I’m still fighting to find a way so that every child can get some sort of prize, even just a tiny thing.
I just got back from Maun for the GLOW (Girls and Guys Leading Our World) Camp Facilitators Training. It takes about 10 or 11 hours to drive there. I was lucky enough to get a ride with a few other volunteers and their school bus rather than having to take the public bus which is rather painful for that long of a distance. It was really nice. In December however I’ll be going even farther North to have Christmas with some friends up there and we’re planning on going to Victoria Falls for Christmas. Anyways, not the point…the training was good and a lot of fun. It was really good to see some other PCV’s that I don’t get to see very often and plan the camp. I think the camp is gonna be awesome. As facilitator’s we really are like camp counselors basically. We have night duty to watch the kids, planned camp activities from 6am to 10pm including a scavenger hunt, campfire, awards ceremony, ice social, sports, crafts, and then all the educational sessions throughout the day. As facilitators we are all leading and in charge of conducting and planning the educational sessions. Each pair (delegations) has their own topics and will present a 90 minute session on the topic to teach the kids. My topics are Human Rights & Discrimination, Goals & Values, and a Problem Solving & Decision Making Activity. We used some of the training time to start planning our sessions and figuring out what will be the best way for the kids to really learn about everything. I’m a little nervous to facilitate in front of the other leaders and the 56 children that I’m now teaching all about these things, but I think it will be fun and a really good experience for me. I’m looking forward to it….I’m going to camp! Haha I think the girls going to the camp will really love it…this is gonna be so big for them.
Maun is a really nice place! Its big and has a lot of stores and shops which is always a nice break to get some civilization around me. One night we all went out to a back packers lodge that was so beautiful and on the water…oh, I miss water so badly. We all freaked out when we saw water! It’s the little things that count…and speaking of that, my new obsession and one true love are ice cubes! Ice cubes are the single most amazing thing in the world. My house has no insulation and never gets below 90 degrees…EVER!!!! I also have no fridge, which means I have no freezer, which more importantly mean I have no cold water or ICE CUBES! What a girl wouldn’t give for some ice cubes! I’m tellin’ you! It’s just bad! I now go nuts over ice cubes or cold anything these days. I think my friends here think I’m nuts….but mostly they get it. EXCEPT, they have fridges…so maybe a little crazy. Oh well. I’m learning that more than likely I’m not going to be getting a fridge at all. I was told I would get one, it’s looking like it probably won’t happen. I’m keeping fingers crossed and fighting hard for that one though…I need ice!!!!

scary but true fact: In Botswana, 29 people become HIV+ everyday!


“The experience you create is a statement of who you are –and who you want to be.”