Week 4

This week started with yet another trip to the clinic! The Doctor wanted to check up on me after I am allergic to Kang so off me and Faye Tray trotted at 10am promising Mr T we would be back before lunch to sort out lessons. 3 hours later we were still waiting in the que; it turns out the elderly women of Kang are right old nobbers who were pretending to help us out with clinic decorum and instead were just screwing us over! It wasn’t until a girl from Matsha came and sat next to me and had an argument with the old people that we finaly got in; only for the doctor to say I am fine! However he did try and prescribe me suncreme for my epic burn - fairly embarassing but luckily he decided I could handle sun burn without medical intervention ..... it did take some convincing though! 

Monday was made a hell of a lot better after the disaster of the clinic WE GOT PUPPIES!!!  Simon; a teacher at Moutang’s dog had a gazillion puppies and after Esther and Emma spent a week convincing him he gave us two for free. We have to give them back before we leave but thats a technicality! We called them Biggie and Nala and they are just the cutest. They are clearly going to be the most looked after dogs in Kang.

Tuesday we worked at Moutang again but today Mr T was on duty at lunch time so we had to help him out with dutys. Most of the students at the schools here board as this is a “hard to reach area”, so all students get all their meals at school. Tea break was a chunk of bread and the worlds worst tasteing juice - think banana flavoured medicine from childhood! We helped give out the food to the kids then the matron insisted we stay for food afterwards, in fairness they did put peanut butter on our bread so it was a bit nicer but the drink is horrific! This was the first time we have seen Botswana discipline in action. We got told at Matsha that if the students use their books for anything other than the set subject they got whipped but didn’t really believe it. However today Mr T gave a boy ‘3 sweets’ (3 lashes of the whip!) in front of us! It was horrible but neither the kid nor Mr T seemed faised by it. 

If you’ve been reading my blog you will have heard about how boring the events and meetings are around here. Today we naively agreeed to go to a Khotla meeting. (The Khotla is like the village hall where the leaders meet to make decisions and have meetings, the meetings are open to everyone hence why we went). Yet again it went on forever in Setswana so we snuck out and went to Moutang for a meeting with the head to discuss our programmes.  Afterwards, we spent the afternoon teaching Mr T sayings such as ‘your bang tidy’ and ‘smash your back doors in’.... Video’s will follow (it’s amazing).

Thursday we were back at Matsha and had to make mind maps with the students about what kind of topics they want to learn about - some great ones included beastiality, murder and prostitution! 

Friday we woke up super early to get the bus to Gab’s to visit the guys who are staying there.  It was Samira’s birthday in the week so we had a bit of a party at the guest house then went to a club, then went onto the nicest house in the world for an after party. Saturday was hangover central!!! After spending the morning moaning about being swiney we finally mustered the energy to hike to game city to buy shampoo; suprisingly in Kang white hair shampoo is hard to come by! I’ve no idea why I never though of this before I came but its all for afro hair! So we spent like 30pula on a cab to the shops then as we walked out of the car they all closed! It was devastating to say the least... so we went home and got Nandos. On sunday we basically spent the day watching come dine with me and variou shiz on MTV. We did help B (Wairumu’s son) write his personal statement for university. He is the most inspirational person I have ever met, he has made so much of his life after a horrible childhood and really shows what you can achieve if you are given a chance. In a nutshell he grew up on the streets and didn’t start school until he has 13, passed primary school in 3 years and has now been given a full scholarship by the Botswana government to any university in the world. He is so grounded and kind and if there were more people like him in the world it would most deffinatley be a better place. 

Week 3

Week 3 was the first week of proper placement. Wairimu had abandoned us in the middle of the Kalahari desert to fend for ourselves so off we went to attempt to do some teaching in the local schools! We have decided that the two schools where we can make the most difference and the ones that appear to need the most help are Matsha Collage (for form 4 and 5 - basically Sixth Form ages) and Moutang Junior School (form 1 - 3, so like high school age). The first time we went round these schools we were surprised by how westernised they looked and appeared to have everything they needed. However, we have since realized that they literally have no resources for the children, the chalk boards probably haven’t been painted since the 1990’s and the children are using out of date text books. There is a Science lab at Matsha that was set on fire about 5 years ago and stills looks exactly as it did after the fire had been put out, the school just hasn’t been given the funding by the government to repair the damage so its just at the end of the corridor and no one is allowed in!

The first lessons at Moutang were eventful to say the least. We started off teaching about HIV/AIDs and its safe to say the kids knew a lot more than we did! At the end they started asking really random questions such as “who was the first ever person to die from AID’s?” In the afternoon me and Faye Tray had our first experience of a Botswana hospital! We had to go because I had this horrific rash all over my arms and was convinced I had contracted some tropical disease, it turned out I was allergic to the desert!! Bit of a bummer but he gave me some pills, and an injection so its all gravy! The people in the doctors are fair sketchy, one guy called Chester sat there the whole time taking pictures of us and trying to convince Faye to let him have her number and be his girlfriend, then another lady asked my if we would breast feed her child (who looked about 5!) and then tried to steal my dress. So hopefully no-one will get ill again as I do not want to head back again unless we are on deaths door.

On Tuesday it was Labour Day, so after being told the chief would be there we all put on nice dresses and sandals and prepared for a day of partying and food..... turns out we were actually taking part in a 7k march then a 5 hour speech giving event. The events in Botswana, whilst being fairly interesting for the first 5 minuets literally go on forever in Setswana so we never have any idea whats going on or being said, they never run to time and the only good bit is the free food - which is unfortunately at the end so we have to wait for about 4 hours for a free meal! Seeing as it was a national holiday all the teachers were off work so we had arranged to go and meet with some students at Matsha Collage in the afternoon. Its a boarding school as some of the kids come from as far away as 700k so about 80% live on site. Usually they are left alone from half 4 until school starts the next morning and whatever they get up to is a mystery. But today they had literally been left alone for the whole day, there was no supervision at all and they had to sort out all their own food etc themselves.... we were amazed that they hadn’t destroyed the school and had instead set up football tournaments. The girls showed us around the dorms which were sparsely furnished and its safe to say I would definitely not want to be living there. It was good being able to chat to the students without teachers being there as they were able to tell us about how they felt without being worried about being overheard. In a nutshell they said that the teachers don’t give a rats ass about them or their education and just do the bare minimum, they don’t have any equipment, no support systems for outside of lessons and they feel that they have just been forgotten about by the government. Matsha is the worst school in Botswana, its 28/28 on the league tables and to be honest talking to the kids and how they feel they are treated its not suprising. It almost broke my heart when on the Friday at the careers fair a boy said “it’s almost as if they want us to go nowhere”, they genuinely want to achieve all these amazing things but no-one cares enough to try and help them achieve them!. 

Wednesday was TXY day. We spent the morning with the kids in the school, doing some lessons and some songs, then helped out at tea time and served the porridgy-looking stuff. We had a meeting with the VDC (Village Development Committee - basically if you want anything doing in the surrounding area you have to get these guys onside as they approve and fund projects) in the afternoon which revealed some interesting information. Basically the shit hit the fan and we have some epic work to do to sort out the fence situation. Today was however an epic day because I finally got my own bed! If any of you know, me and Faye Tray have been sharing a bed for the past two weeks whilst we found another and today was the day! Bernard (the little lamb) helped us bring it home, the joy of having my own bed was well and truly ruined when we realized it is like sleeping on a piece of wood!

Thursday was our first day of proper teaching at Matsha. Like at Motaung were working in Guidance and Counseling (basically PSE lessons) as the children really need a lot of help with things that we take for granted. We were told by the Peace Core volunteer Jan that in a lesson she asked the kids ‘What would you do if you fell out with a friend?”, the first answer was to commit suicide. Especially in Matsha, there is a real issue with suicide. At the end of last term 3 students committed suicide in the space of a week! I think today has been the most stressful and emotional day of the trip so far. It was annoying seeing how little the teachers cared about the kids and how blasé one was when he informed us that a form 5 student had said they were having suicidal thoughts.... it was genuinely said as if it was a run of the mill everyday occurrence! Today in lessons we worked on goal setting for the future which was really interesting. The kids have such high ambitions so were hoping to work on things like sorting out the right courses for career options and applying to university with them in the future. The kids are clueless about all sorts of things we have had millions of lessons on throughout school - careers, university, higher education, simply because they are not allowed on the internet at all. In keeping with all the planning for the future stuff in the afternoon, we helped to organise the careers fair which was happening on the next day (Friday). We expected this ‘planning meeting’ to just be organising final touches for the morning, but no.... they had absolutely no idea who was and wasn’t coming, the students didn’t have a clue it was even happening until someone whipped up a poster half way through the meeting. It was such a shambles, they genuinely couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery with a leak in the beer kegs!

Against all the odds, the careers fair, organised less than 24 hours in advance was a success (according to the students ... I still had such qualms). Skillshare had a small stall where we were meant to chat to people about higher education and about volunteering and just give general advice. It was amazing to see how keen the students were to work with us on study skills and sorting out university applications. They have so much more enthusiasm and drive than any kids I’ve ever met in England, yet at the moment it sucks to say but is true that they have very little chance of ever realizing their potential simply because no-one gives a shit about them! I think that as much as my first two days working properly at Matsha annoyed me and made me angry at the Botswana education system, its made me so much more passionate about the pupils and making sure that we do something to help them reach their potential and to prove to them that they are valued and have not been forgotten. It may sound simple to solve but the issues run far deeper than lazy teachers and not enough funding so hopefully we will get to the bottom of it and sort out these kids, we’re even genuinely talking about going to see the President to make him help us out. I want to go in guns blazing and yell at him but at the moment were trying to figure out how to say “your a douche, come look after these kids and give them a chance” without sounding rude as I do not want to be barred from Botswana.

Saturday and Sunday we took part in a PACT workshop for the local schools. PACT Club is a counseling service run by students for students. The PACT kids are some of the most amazing inspirational people I have ever met, they are so happy and enthusiastic about everything and just put a smile on my face. The workshops dealt with stuff like HIV/AIDs, teenage pregnancy, stress and other things that affect the students but as usual it was all in Setswana so we all spent the majority of the time trying to look like we weren’t falling asleep. Saturday night we went to one of the teachers houses and she made us Mopane worms and pap to eat, they were actually really nice, then we went to a mixer for teachers. Sunday night has to be one of the best nights of my life. We met up with some friends and went into the bush (the actual middle of the desert), made a bonfire and had a BBQ and drinks. It was amazing, all the stars were out in the sky and looked beautiful and we just chilled playing volleyball, music and drinking. I think it is one of those things that you will never forget, I will always remember peeing in a circle with Emma and Faye Tray being scared we were about to be eaten by a lion!

Week 2

Week two in Botswana was pretty exciting but super tiring. After a week of am starts I am so ready for the weekend!

We spent last weekend just exploring around Kang. Sunday we went to the Salt Pan which is really beautiful. Its the only watering hole for miles around so all the animals go to drink there and its such a nice place to relax and reflect on where we are. We also saw some chipmunks which we scared into their burrow. After getting lost in the desert on the way we finally found the way there and spent some time taking pictures and following a donkey with a snapped off broken leg as it limped around ....

The working week started early with an assembly at 7.20 am at one of the local primary schools! We have been in meetings all week with the schools and collage to organise a timetable of when and where we will be working. We have been in bed by about 9 every night as we have been leaving the house about 6 to walk the 5 miles into town! We made the mistake of eating out on monday lunch time and got mobbed by an old woman demanding food... its really hard to get used to people just walking up demanding money off of us.

We’ve had some progress on the TXY project, we have organised to get measurements for the fence and have decided upon what we will be building - brick wall with broken bottles on top. We turned up on wednesday to find the fence had been trampled (apparently by goats!) but it just made us realize how much effort we need to put into sorting out the fence issue asap. We have also begun to paint the ‘sick room’ at TXY, were going for a night sky with moons and stars - because non of us can draw! At the moment we’ve only done the base coat so I will put up some pictures of it when its finished. I have been covered head to toe in dark blue paint for the past two days! 

We met the village chief this week! We expected him to be some old cute man but in reality he was fairly sleazy. I accidentally called a man ‘thick-shit’ when he was telling me his name (which was actually fiction) ... but that was what it sounded like with his accent!!! However I have promised to help him find a British BMW..... so if anyone knows where I can find one either in Botswana or one that can be transported over please let me know :) 

Week 1 Adventures

Blog Week 1.

Nantwich - Heathrow - Nairobi - Gaborone - Kang. 

After what seemed like the longest plane journey in the world which consisted of playing ‘I’ve never’ so loudly we got told off by the air hostess, watching ‘Happy Feet 2’ on mute and commentating on the penguins ..... we basically spent 16 hours pissing off every other person on the plane with our Africa joy, we finally arrived in Gabs the capital of Botswana! 

The first week was spent in Gaborone, just being major tourists and then having some lessons which basically taught us to avoid being eaten by any wild animals! However, we did have some epic trips out. 

Saturday was spent exploring Gabs and shopping for some souvenirs. It was also the first trip in a Combi! The combis are Botswana’s version of a combination of a bus/taxi. As many people as possible squeeze into a mini van and just shout when they want to get off simple as. So we took the first combi to a recycling centre just outside of the city centre where they use waste to make the most amazing jewellery and random objects. It was fairly distressing at first as none of us knew the appropriate combi decorum and looked like such nubes. We were just lucky to have our amazing tour guide/ Setswana teacher Yvonne to help us out! After that we attempted to try local food which was ruined when we realised that what we thought was chicken salad stuff turned out to be tuna and cold baked beans then a bee jumped in my drink and a man made me throw it away. It is surprising how westernised some of Botswana is then in other parts you feel like you’re in Africa. In the malls its just like being in the Bullring then you waddle down the road and there’s women selling individual sweets for 1 pula! I also saw my first lion!!!! It was just the skinned fur for sale in the market but I touched it so it definitely counts.

Sunday was lil David’s birthday the big 2 - 0! Today was “a day’s cultural visit”. We went to a small village about an hour outside Gabs called Thamaga. We went to the Khotla (basically the meeting place where the community comes together to discuss issues etc) and were given the most amazing and overwhelming welcome! All the local young people put on a show of traditional song and dance in traditional dress (I will attempt to put up the videos!). It was so amazing and the atmosphere was intense. We were all flattered by how welcoming they were and how much effort they had put in just to entertain us. In return we did David’s classic making melodies....... doubtless they weren’t that impressed! The local kids were just as excited to see us as we were to see them and followed us around making videos on their phones! After that we went to a local woman’s house who brews local beer, we learnt how to make it and had a small taste, it wasn’t that good but is far better than frosty jacks! Our lovely guide for the day Tonic then took us back to her house for a picnic in her front garden where Kesh fell in love with her dog Bobby. We then made fat cakes; a Botswanan staple which we are going to attempt to learn to cook. When we got home we attempted to make home made Nandos as it was so expensive for actual Nandos..... it was an epic fail! Then we went out for drinks for David’s birthday, accidentally got a little worse for wear then came back and threw cake in his face and had a mini food fight.

Monday and Tuesday was just more Setswana lessons and placement information. Wednesday we left for Kang. It was horrible saying goodbye to everyone that we had grown so close to in such a short time. The journey was exciting to say they least..... we saw a donkey get hit by a car, almost hit a donkey ourselves and all of 2 seconds later killed a bird with the car. I also saw my first monkey munching on the side of the road. There are so many animals just roaming around on the motor way. Cows, donkeys and goats just saunter across the road as if there aren’t cars speeding by at 150 km! The journey was made all that better by the fact that Wairimu is just absolute jokes! After telling us about her life (which is just inspirational and her son who is going to university after only 5 years schooling [he was a street child and missed primary school]) she then turned to Faye Tray and said “Faye tell me about yourself” and continued to question us all about everything. So after hours of discussing really random things we finally arrived in Kang. Kang is on the Tans-Kalahari Highway which runs from South Africa to Namibia and is literally like the Lion King (scenery wise... I’ve not yet met any talking lions or singing warthogs!). Its a small town with a few shops and schools but is by far not as I imagined it. 

We spent the rest of the week meeting almost every single member of the community individually, going to the schools and collage. People were either delighted to see us or didn’t care at all! On Friday we were invited to an event at Kang Primary School for the reception of some computers donated in memory of the ex-Head Teacher. it proved to me how far behind in terms of technological knowledge and resources this area is, and also highlighted how much these kind of gifts mean to them in terms of future opportunities. At the post ceremony lunch we met the Education Secretary for Botswana then he introduced us to the PSP (Personal Secretary to the President) who is basically 3rd in command of the country. They seemed really interested in what we were going to do with our time here and in Skillshare as an organisation so we will hopefully be bombarding them with demands in the future! In the afternoon we went to visit the TXY Pre-Primary School which is our core placement. Its  such a small little school with about 20 - something students, it was good to see how much work the previous volunteers had already done however they are still in desperate need of a more secure fence as people are breaking in at night to use the playground as a space to drink in. There was beer bottles and broken glass all over the floor, and the playground which people worked so hard to create has been damaged. So the school is really in need of something more secure to keep people out and make sure the kids are safe during school hours. We met the little kids who ranged from 6 months to about 6 and they were at first really scared of us but within 5 minuets we were all racing around with hopping races, and playing the hokey kokey. But by far the BEST bit of the day was Faye Tray face-planting the floor when she fell over the snake toy and a tiny little girl with the best pink sparkly sunglasses literally wetting herself with laughter at her! The weekend isn't going to be that exciting, just a well deserved lie in after a week and a half of 6 am starts and catching up with people from home. Start placements on monday so will be able to let you know about all the things we have planned!

Crimeny I am going to Africa tomorrow :S

Well basically the title says it all!

I've set up this blog so that all you wonderful people back in chilly rainy England can see all the exciting things I get up to in good old Botswana! Today I had to repack everything as my bag was popping at the seams and I was too weedy to lift it. Packing is officially the most stressful thing I have had to do so far, I think I may leave as much as I can behind just so there is less to cram back in in July. This time tomorrow I will be on the 20 something hour plane journey and I canny wait :D.

That's about all I have to say today as nothing has happened yet but keep on reading to see if what I think will happen (I will basically spend the 3 months making friends with a monkey like Rafiki from the lion king and adopt a baby leopard!) actually does happen! I'm already fairly sure that wont happen but we will just have to wait and see! Until then please visit my just giving page http://www.justgiving.com/Faye-Jackson0 and if you can spare anything then please donate to Skillshare International, it does some amazing work and I can't wait to be apart of it.

Hopefully my next post will be more exciting and actually say something other than complaining about packing :)