Fire Fire Fire!

Short version recap of the past few days: Lost in the city, wonderful kids, cleaned up a field, boys got electrocuted, started an electrical fire, Danielle fell in a trash pit, blackout night, Oodi Weavers, Bull 'n' Bush, attempt to go to church, relaxing day laying around, lost in the city again, movie time...start all over again.

I love living life here.

Friday morning us girls had an appointment at the women's shelter, showed up via taxi (aka didn't really know where we were), were told that no one was there to meet with us, they had no phone to call for another taxi, attempted to find a taxi, got taken to the wrong combi station. No worries though, we navigated quite well and again, the people in the city never cease to be the friendliest ones in the world. We finally arrived at Tlamelo, where we spent another day loving and running with lots and lots of kids, and also chopping up lots of raw raw meat for the lunch of the day (my cooking skills are becoming superb haha). After we were done with Tlamelo, Champ took us to a field that will be the site of the new offices of The Tlamelo Project, and we cleaned up a lot of trash that was there. With 7 of us, it didn't take long at all. They put all of the trash into a big pit which Danielle kind of slid into and lost a flip flop, but no worries, it was returned!! When we were pretty much finished, the guys went to try to get this pole out of the ground that was in the middle of the field. The four of them pulling on it all of the sudden jumped back really fast and kind of yelled...turns out the pole was connected to the electrical line which was not turned off as they thought it was!! They tried again to get it out of the ground (boys boys boys...) and got a little shock again and quit. We then were ready to move on when Champ realized there was a smaaaalll electrical fire going on at the electrical pole right around the corner that was presumably set by us. Oops!! No harm done though, just a little bit of scary-ness for a while, but it burned itself out and the electricity company came soon enough. Champ then took us to visit The Tlamelo gardens that they have started, where they will attempt to grow all of their own food for the lunches they serve, and maybe have the kids help out with the garden? I'm not quite sure about that. It seems so cool, and it is a pretty big plot of land, so hopefully it will work out pretty well. We're going to probably do some gardening there when they need us to in the next couple weeks or so.

Friday night was Black Out night again, except this time the Black Out lasted from 6p-9p which was a little too long for our likings. It was fun though, we all played hearts, had some great convo and enjoyed being here...

Saturday we went out to Oodi, a village outside of Gaborone. There is a community of women there that run a business called Oodi Weavers, where they support themselves fully by weaving these beautiful tapestries and wall hangings. It was a great trip, and we all ended up buying something, mostly because the work is so incredible, but I also just really like the idea and concept of the business.

Saturday evening we all went out to a really fun and cute restaurant called Bull 'n' Bush, and had a nice dinner and dessert...very nice to relax and hang out all together at a nice restaurant. I remember a moment that evening and I just sat there and realized I still can't believe this is where I am...and that it's just so much more amazing than I could have ever imagined.

Yesterday we attempted to get to the Old Naledi church, but couldn't figure out transportation in time. Hopefully next week we'll have it figured out, because I'd really like to check it out soon. We ended up having a very relaxing day around here, played hearts and read. We went to a movie last night here (our Sunday night ritual now!) and then came back and relaxed some more. A great Sunday...

Today I got up early and went with Marinda to the Old Naledi school, to see if they could use me in any of the classrooms. They immediately put me to work in Standard 6, the second highest level in the primary school there. I don't quite understand the school system here yet, but I am sure I will learn soon. I really like the teacher I am working with, and the kids in my class seem great. I ended up teaching some math this morning and writing a science test AND I brought home some compositions to grade...so I think my work is cut out for me! (My mom will be so proud...!) I really like being in the school there, and hanging out there all day. Their school goes from 7:50am to 1pm, so after school gets out I will go hang out with the younger kids at Tlamelo and have a perfect day!

Hope this catches everyone up...sorry I've taken forever to blog all of this. I miss every single person back home and would love to hear from you. Hope you all are enjoying the pictures and everything...thank you again for everything!!

Every Day Better than the Last

Things here...just keep getting better and better. If you don't want mushy (Danielle...) stop reading now! : ) I still can't pinpoint exactly what it is that is making this place so easy and perfect and fun and alive, but I do know that I am so at peace with being here and things everyday are great. An adventure, and a crazy and chaotic one, but perfect. Everyone here, really, everyone is so helpful and friendly and nice and I think that has a ton to do with the comfort I feel here. The entire city is a friendly community and even sitting on the Combis in the morning, every person who gets on greets you and smiles, and I still am getting used to that level of joy. It is a perfect peace, and even though we still haven't nailed down where and what we will be doing day in and day out, it is not bothering me, and we are still serving wherever we are each day, even though it's not a consistent location yet. So...again. Thank you to everyone back home supporting and praying and backing me up in being here, because I know that is a huge part of how great this trip is so far, and I am so incredibly grateful for that. But...what I think I'm really trying to say here is, Mom, Dad, family, Charlie, Bffs? Can I just stay for a few more years? I'll come home eventually...
Tuesday we had orientation here at the University in the morning and then did laundry/lounged in the afternoon. It was a nice day, but I started feeling kind of stir-crazy again and ready to get out into the city again by Tuesday evening.
Wednesday we spent the day at Tlamelo again, this time doing more work in the kitchen and more time with kids. My roommates and Charlie will be so proud to hear that I peeled some potatoes AND cut (chopped? I dunno.) them! AND did dishes!! So, I think it is well-known that was definitely a well-accomplished day for me. Also, we spent more time getting to know the kids, ran around with them, held them, and talked. I really enjoy being able to talk with the older kids (the 8-13 year olds) and getting more of a picture of their lives and their days. I would really like to go on some home visits with Matata or any of the other directors to visit these kids' homes and see their worlds. After making the dinner we spent some time with the littlest kids who had just been let out of school and were SO adorable with their little backpacks on. Then some of the older ones arrived, and they had a group gathering under the tree before lunch. The leader of the kids asked for one of the people in our group to do a Bible story for the kids, and somehow I got thrown into that one and did a VERY brief version of David and Goliath. I was so embarrassed because I'm pretty sure these kids knew the story way better than me already. Jack and Leslie acted out the story for me though, so that was nice! (one of the pictures shows this little play we put on!) After it was over I apologized to their leader for my story being not so great, and he said "oh, it was fine, just very short." : ) I'll know better next time. Then it was lunch time, and Jack helped all the kids wash their hands and I attempted to keep order in the hand-washing line. Apparently, it's quite the thing to be able to get your hands washed first. Who knew?!
Today Matt and I decided to tag along with one of his roommates, Michael, to the Holy Cross Hospice to see if they were in need of any volunteers. This however entailed leaving UB at 7am, which was QUITE early for me. It was okay though, I was excited for the opportunity to visit. It was FREEZING this morning, but we walked from the Combi station to the Hospice and then stood outside for a while waiting to talk to an administrator. It turns out that they would like us to submit a resume and a letter letting them know our specific interests and areas of experience, so that they can match us, and I'm not even sure they are in dire need of volunteers right now, as it seemed to be quite the place to help out early this morning. But I enjoyed seeing it, and meeting the people there, so no problem getting up early. After that Matt and I ventured back to UB and left again around 10am with another of his roommates, David, who is a law student at Penn and is here doing an internship with the Ministry of Justice. His ride didn't show up this morning though, so he decided to come along with us to Tlamelo, and that was great.
We ended up getting on the WAY wrong combi though (if I haven't mentioned before, there is no route map or anything for these things, and the "station" is basically like a couple streets that are packed with combis and you are expected to figure out which one goes where you would like to go...) and ended up riding it for about 50 minutes until we got back to the station, and finally got on the right one to get to Tlamelo. The long ride was great though, gave us a chance to see another area of the city or outskirts, and it was nice getting to know David.
Once we arrived, it was another day of cooking and playing with kids. I met Luke, a guy from Canada, who is a coordinator for a missions organization here. He works out of his office on Thursdays and volunteers at Tlamelo. He's probably like 28 or so, and it just seems so cool that he's moved here and serves and works...sounds like the life to me! (Again...sorry mom!!) Tlamelo has started a rugby team with the kids under 13 and they were able to take their rugby team to England a month ago for a huge tournament, which I think had to have been just an amazing experience for these children. Today a few of the older boys and Luke were throwing the rugby ball (is that what it is called?) around, and I attempted to learn how to throw it. Luke taught me one way, and the boys taught me another, but I didn't get it either way, so I ended up looking dumb and having them laugh, but they were all good sports about it, so I definitely enjoyed myself!! Anyway, I am starting to feel more at home there at the Tlamelo Project. I also kind of feel like after the third day of being there I am recognizing more kids, and maybe they are recognizing me, and it is SO great to have someone to look forward to going back to, and I feel good that they can have us there on a somewhat consistent basis.
Matt talked with Charity (our contact at UB) again when we returned home and she has set up a meeting for us tomorrow with a women's shelter, and so I think a few of us girls are going to go tour and visit over there, so I am excited for that opportunity. At this point, I just am really enjoying visiting as many different organizations as possible to figure out how their businesses run and what specific things they do and are in need of. It's so interesting!! Charity had also set up quite a few more appointments and contacts, so the next half week or so should be filled with those, and I will keep everyone updated.
I am SO sorry my blogs always seem to be so incredibly long, please forgive me and definitely feel free to skip over any parts that may bore you!! : ) Thank you to EVERYONE again for the support and love backing me up...miss everyone, and cannot wait to share this incredible amazing experience in person when I get home.

PS: If you want to see more pictures, you are more than welcome to visit my Picasa WebAlbum at http://picasaweb.google.com/jayneaubreylong

You don't need this, I can take it?

AH! I've been looking forward to today, and getting started with our service exploration for a while now and now that the day is coming to an end, I couldn't have asked for a better experience.
This morning we took a taxi to our first appointment at Mokolodi Game Reserve, which is right outside of Gaborone. We got there and met with Peter, and man who is from Massachusetts, but came to Botswana 31 years ago through the Peace Corps and has stayed ever since. He started out the morning by showing us his Barack Obama for Pres shirts which we all enjoyed!! We then got a quick tour around the Education Centre which hosts schoolchildren of all ages for day trips or overnight trips, and they teach them a lot about conservation and wildlife. I really loved the mission and focus of the education they provide and think maybe they've got this whole "go green" thing down! After the tour we went on a safari! Okay...well not exactly a real safari...but a ride in one of those open truck things with benches! We drove around a portion of this game reserve and the tour lasted about an hour and a half. The scenery itself was just gorgeous and none of my pictures can do it justice. It still was so weird to be sitting in that truck and think "I'm in Africa...in the desert with the animals!" We saw a variety of wildlife, including warthogs (which Jack and Matt were extremely excited about), impalas, many ostriches (which are HUGE!!) , cheetahs, wild horses, different kinds of monkeys or baboons...many others but I can't remember. Right before I left to come over here, someone told me that hippos kill more people in Africa each year than any other year combined...I shared this with my grandma and scared her...but I just thought that was such a weird statistic! But today we went to a part of the reserve that is a river, and the guides told us that two hippos and one crocodile live there...but we had no sightings. No worries! I kiiinda wish I could have seen them though!! : ) We're going to return on Thursday to help them with a class that they are teaching to pre-schoolers and see where we can fit into their organization best. After all of that we decided to go back to a mall that was kind of close to the reserve and have some lunch before our next appointment.
Our next meeting was at the Tlamelo Project, a feeding project for all children in a village called Old Naledi, that is kind of inside Gaborone, and kind of on the outskirts. Old Naledi is a huge village, and it is pretty much enclosed from the rest of the city, but it is definitely a more destitute area than the rest of Gaborone. Walking in there though was kind of cool, because everyone seems to know each other and it is a huge community.
We found the Tlamelo Project, and the second we walked in the gates about 50 kids came over and immediately one literally jumped into my arms. When that happened, I just felt like...this is where we are and why we're here! It was so exciting! We just played with the kids for about 20 minutes while we waited for the director, Champ, to arrive, and it was great. They all kept coming up and the older ones who know English would ask various questions and it was SO amazing being able to interact with these kids. They kept asking our names, and trying to pronounce them, and it got easier for them to spell them out in the sand so they could see what our names looked like and then call us their version. Mine is apparently Jayney, which is fine as Danielle and Les are calling me that anyway now!! The younger ones didn't really know English yet, but they just wanted to be held, or to hold your hand or to get on your back or on your shoulders. They loved all of our watches and kept trying to take mine off saying, "You don't need this, you can get a new one, I'll take it for you..."! I think Jack taught the boy on his back to grab my hair so that was an adventure! I walked out of that place looking rough, but NO problem!! : )
When Champ arrived, he sat us down and talked to us a little about Tlamelo, explaining to us that it feeds about 170 children each day from Old Naledi, and they come to Tlamelo after they get out of their school, which is just down the road. Tlamelo gives them a good meal (which for many and most of the kids is their only real meal for the day) and also gives small lessons, has a few volunteers that meet almost daily with each child to talk to them and consult with them, and they play sports and games with these kids. He just kept saying that we are so welcome there and they are so grateful to us for coming, and I felt so great about being in this place. He told us to be at home, not just feel at home, but to "be at home" with these kids, and do what we want to love and help them and to serve them...it's so incredibly exciting!! That's such the way that I've felt the whole time we've been here...not to feel at home, but to be at home, and it was just great to hear that from Champ, just further reinforces the kindness and attitude of the people of Botswana.
As we left Tlamelo the kids stayed attached to us and we told them we'd see them Wednesday when we are going to return. I can not WAIT to get back there. Kids are kids everywhere, but these kids seem incredibly happy and enthusiastic and just simple. I'm so excited to see where this leads us and the work that is being prepared for us.
We also conquered the Combi system today (public transportation! - little white vans that pack like 18 people in!) and it wasn't as scary as I thought, but it definitely helped that Jack and Marinda and Les and Meeka had a little precursor the other day!! I feel so comfortable here...and I still can't pinpoint it, but am so glad that this is where I am and what I'm doing and who I'm with. Each day just gives me more excitement and I can't wait for the next day, and I think I'm really enjoying that kind of living.