Mochudi Part 1

Dear Friends and Family,

Sorry for the long time span between this post and the previous one.  Let me start by explaining why.  Starting at the end of last week UB installed something called “Websense” which makes it so you cannot access anything on the internet, non school related between the hours of 7:30am and 6:30pm.  It also means that you cannot access some things at all.  For example say I am researching or studying on the internet for my HIV/AIDS class.  If I was to search “modes of transmission” and the word sex or sexual activity were to be in the URL or subject matter of the website it would be blocked.  UB also blocks academic papers because as I hear it plagiarism is a large problem here so they simply make it impossible to read online academic journals, unless you go through the UB library site which is awful and maybe has a quarter of the options of OSU.   So as you may have guessed I am unable to access my blog to upload new updates, unless it is early morning or in the evening and for the last week, I have not been living on campus, but rather staying in the village of Mochudi.

Mochudi

When I say village, Mochudi is not what I would describe as a village, but that is what the people of Botswana call it.  Mochudi has the full spectrum of socioeconomic standings in its population of 40000 people, from dirt floor huts with no water or electricity to houses nicer than the one I grew up in with all of the above plus satellite TV and domestic worker.  I out of the group have been one of the luckier ones.  The family I live with is fairly well off, living in a house made of concrete that is currently under construction, so every day I come home from school a new portion of the ceiling is installed so a wall is painted.  I think it will be a very nice house one everything is no longer grey.  I have running water and electricity however, the power goes out about a dozen times a night, so some nights and mornings are darker than others.   Mochudi is 40km from Gaborone, however this translates to 2 hours on public transportation or 1 hour by car, making my commute much longer than I prefer.  My family is very kind and welcoming.  I have two host sisters, one 3 and the other 7.  The 3 year old is named Baone.   She adores me more than I thought possible for anyone to adore someone.  When I am at the house I cannot escape her and she tries to sleep with me every night except her mother will not let anymore after she tried twice and both times woke up at 2am to go sleep with her mother.  Baone also insists on bathing with me whenever she has the chance, which is often as my Mme (mom) insists that I bath at least twice a day.  My seven year old sister’s name is Gaone.  She keeps a nicer distance but still fills me with stories of her day at school, and what she likes to do for fun.  I have played more Barbie’s and Lego in this last week than I think I have in the last 10 years, because every moment I am not eating or bathing we are doing one or the other.  While my family is wonderful, and I plan on visiting them again before I leave Botswana I will be happy when I get to live at UB again and don’t have to wake up at 5am every day, nor force myself to eat beets and coleslaw with every meal.  Last weekend in Mochudi was very busy.  On Sunday Mme and I attended church, however because they are installing a new chief this weekend the service was at the kgotla (traditional court) and every church in Mochudi was there.  It was also 3 hours long, and we arrived a little late so we didn’t have a seat and had the privilege of standing.  Luckily for my Mme felt that the 10min sermon her preacher gave was not long enough to feel the word of God so we got to leave early.  After leaving the Kgotla we went to a Braii (it's like a South African BBQ) at an Americans home in a nearby village.  The American however had married a Motswana and lived in Bots for 25 years.  By a strange coincidence he is also an exploration geologist meaning it is his job to go out and drill holes to look for water, diamonds, ores, etc.  He told me the next time he went out in to the bush to do this he would give me a call so I could tag along and, “learn more in a weekend than in a term at UB,” as he put it.  I hope he follows through on his offer because that would be a cool experience.  This week of traveling back and forth everyday has taken a toll on my health.  For the first time in Botswana I had horrible stomach issues with everything I put in coming out both ways.  That was not an enjoyable 3 days but I seem to be over it and certainly hope I am.  It was difficult to stay hydrated and I didn’t eat for over 48 hours.  Well I must be off and back to Mochudi; I will update everyone again about the installation ceremony this weekend sometime early next week. Oh and I will also mention my travel plans for spring break, I just need to work on learning Portuguese first. J