Cattle Post and Site Visit

May 22, 2011

So…this week as sucked like never before. It has basically been a hell that none of us had ever imagined. It just felt like more shit piled on top of more shit with an extra topping of bullshit. I finally cracked yesterday and had no idea where to turn to make it better. But…I guess that’s life, right? To suck myself out of reality, I watched a Jet Li movie…it was all in Cantonese…and no subtitles. It made me feel a bit better to detach myself from Botswana and kind of transport myself to Hong Kong. Then I watched Slumdog Millionare. Love stories are cute. Too bad they aren’t so much in real life. If they even exist at all in real life. Anyways, got a call from my BFF. And for some reason, that was what did it. I actually went to bed somewhat smiling in a good way. So thank you, BFF. You may not always know what to say, but at least you are always there to listen to it, regardless of the time difference and distance. My one and only steady rock. I have no idea where I’d be without you. <3 you.  And for the first time in a week…I finally slept well. Didn’t wake up in the middle of the night. Didn’t have any nightmares. Didn’t wake up feeling shittier than I had the night before.

And today, I woke nice and late at the hour of 9 AM. Didn’t feel so bad, since my sisters were not awake either. Sweet. Hand washed my clothes. I am no longer tearing up my hands…yay! Then we decide to go to the cattle post.

Batswana are allocated plots of land by the government for farming. This is called the cattle post. Some people’s cattle posts are far from where they live, and others may be nearby. Some people may really do some farming on it, but a majority of people have animals that they tend to. Luckily, my family’s cattle post is nearby so I got to experience it.

First, we go and check out a beautiful lake that is near the lands. It is surrounded by hills, then you come over the hill, and there is a lake. It is still. Beautiful and peaceful, with but just a few ducks waddling around. We threw stones in the lake to try to get them to skip.

Then we head off to the cattle post, my host dad, my two host sisters, and a friend of the family (don’t really actually know how she fits in with the whole family dynamic, but hey…no one really seems to care…I’ll let you mull that one over a bit). We take the rooster that has been tied up and rolling around in the trunk out. It is cawing like a rooster…because it is…and it’s pissed that it’s been rolling around in the back of a trunk for the past hour. We let it run free. I am hypnotized by the baby goats and chicks. I creep up to them…(animal senses are so much keener than humans) and they immediately scamper off. I just wanted to pet them! Lol. We feed the chickens. We chase down the baby goats to give them medicine (they had diarrhea). Basically, we chase them down, and corner them. Then as they try to get away, you grab them by the hind legs and they just BAAAAAAAA and twitch as they try to get away. We give them the shots and watch them limp off….crying. poor baby goats…we were just trying to make them better!

Anyways, I wanted to go see the herd of sheep they had. The way we find them is by following the sound of a bell. We find them…they have a good number of them. They are just baaing…and eating grass, cuz that is what sheep do. Then we are off to try to find the goats. My sisters are talking about how they want nama (which is meat). Meaning, they are looking for the goats so they can bring one back to kill it so they can have meat. Wow. I am in a different world. We can’t find them, the second bell we followed lead us to a cow. Not that kind of meat. We are tired and give up and head back to the post. The father is harvesting maize from the field in buckets. I am stuck shucking maize for the next hour. But you know what, it was nice. With all the constant talking and straining to understand for the past 2 weeks, it was a nice break. The family were having a conversation amongst themselves and it didn’t involve me. I got to sit quietly, listening to house music blasting from the car, zoning out, and shucking maize. It was exactly what I needed, just a mental break.

THEN, the goats are found. They grab a brown and white goat. Lay him on the ground, hold his legs down, hold his head straight, then (please stop reading if you are animal killing sensitive…cuz I’m going to go into detail with this)…

…STAB it in the throat. The goat is twitching/choking on it’s own blood. Blood is squirting out of the neck, as it continues twitching/struggling. The two men (they tend to the farm when the family is not around) are holding the goat down. They put a bowl in front of the hole in it’s neck to catch the squirting blood. After about 5 minutes…it is finally still. 3 minutes later, I turn around, and there is a dead goat hanging from a tree by one of it’s hind legs. The two men begin to skin it. They are finally able to get all the skin off about 30 minutes later. There is a goat skin hide just lying on the ground, with blood dripping from it’s head. Now out comes the organs. They are enveloped in a way by a pouch which is bulbous and looks about ready to burst. They cut around the organs by cutting out this “pouch”. And there are the intestines, stomach, liver, spleen…all but the heart and lungs. Shit, bloods, guts are just oozing everywhere, all over the hide. Awesome sight. My family immediately grabs the liver and the spleen…OH A SNACK…this is the freshest fucking liver/spleen I’ll ever eat (not that I really had ANY desire to eat it)…FRESH OFF A GOAT, never even been refrigerated and still warm…because it was JUST killed 1 HOUR AGO.  By the way, throughout this whole process, I am still just shucking maize. Lol. And I guess what really surprised me, was how LITTLE I was disturbed by this whole ordeal. Not quite sure what that means, I think I just figure this is a part of life here in Botswana.

We make a fire and cook up the liver and spleen, with some paleche (basically it is boiled stiff maize meal, that looks like mashed potatoes but tastes like white rice, just uber stiff…you eat it with your hands). You know how in America, we have a ton of different settings for the fire on the stove? Ya…well in Botswana, when you are cooking over a fire…it’s only one setting…FIRE. Lol. We are cooking in black kettles that are placed on stands that are on top of a fire. It’s just crazy to see and understand the evolution of cooking equipment. I am amazed by this whole process. Some people go through life cooking this way and ONLY this way…not just when CAMPING…but every day. And I applaud them, because it really comes down to the basics and proves that at the end of the day, that is really all you need to survive. It was a good reminder to me how lucky I am or how spoiled I am, growing up with what I had. (YAY! One of my self-made goals of appreciating what I have and what I have been given throughout my life has been realized).

We shove the skinned, organless, goat carcass on a plastic tarping in the trunk. Then we go home. I am supposed to meet 2 other volunteers at my house to cook QUICHE…YUM. They come into my kitchen with a nasty surprise on the counter…ad skinned, organless, bloody goat carcass. They were not expecting this (my bad…I should have warned them). We attempt to ignore it, and cook our delicious broccoli, mushroom, cheddar quiche. We are happy. They go home. I watch Boys Over Flowers (the Korean soap opera), then go to bed. That was one African day and exactly what I needed.

SITE VISIT (May 24 – 29, 2011)

Our site visit was postponed. We had had a rough week of anticipation and lack of enthusiasm with training. We were all on our last mental thread. I get picked up on Tuesday morning at 4 AM. I had had a rough night previously, and my morning had just pushed me over the edge. I couldn’t wait to get to site. I catch the 6 AM bus from Gaborone to go to Selibe Phikewe. Get there at 1030 AM. Then catch the 11 AM bus to Bobonong. I am met by another volunteer from Bots 9 at the bus stop. She takes me to where a few other volunteers are helping to construct a concrete slab for a dining room for a preschool (pretty awesome). I say hi, I’ve met a couple of them before and one I was meeting for the first time. They look tired. It’s ok. I go back to the volunteer’s place that I was staying at to drop my stuff off. She takes me around the village, shows me where the grocery store is, where the “mall” or the center of the village shopping is, where the bank is, where the library is, where the police station is, and where the post office is. This is all in the same area. Cool. People just seem to hang out there. There are some china shops there. This is the place to mingle and meet people in my community. I will definitely be going there to sit in the square to talk to new people. We go back to the other volunteers house and hang out with the other 2 who are visitng/helping the other volunteer with the school and make mac n cheese and have a few brews. Watch the stars come out. Have an argument whether something in the sky is a satellite or a plane. And just chill. Just what the doctor ordered. A refresher and a chill night in what will soon be my new home. Head back to the other volunteer’s house and off to bed.

Wake up, head to the DHT, because that is where the volunteer that I am staying with is stationed. I meet her counterpart. I meet the staff, introduce myself as the new volunteer that will be working at the Borotsi Clinic. We head out to the clinic, meet the nurses that I will be working with. But first, I check out the house I will be living in. It is on a family compound. It has 4 rooms. A bed room. A sitting room. A kitchen. A bathroom. Simple. All the doors are outside. To get to the kitchen from my bed room, I need to go outside. Fucking awesome. That was sarcastic. Oh well. Not much of a choice here. There are kids on this compound. I love kids. But not when I want to get some peace and quiet. oh well again. This is life, right? Don’t always get what you want. Clearly, story of my life. I don’t even know why I bother hoping for anything anymore.

Anyways, back to the clinic. It’s small. It has four very small buildings. 1 is for the delivery and distrubting of child health care (weighing, disturbing meds). 1 is for consultation for adults. 1 is the IDCC (Infection Disease Control Center) where people with infectious diseases go to get counseling (this is normally a nicer term for HIV and TB clinic). 1 is for HIV testing/ARV distribution. There are about 5 to 6 nurses working there. 3 are helping with children. 2 are with the adult patients. 2 are in the IDCC. And 1 is in the HIV/ARV distribution center. I think they all move around, but I’m not sure yet. I guess I will have 2 months to figure out their whole system out. They are receptive to me, and I greet them all and tell them I will be working with them. Cool. I’m not too sure if they know why I’m there or what I’m supposed to do, but at least they smile and are nice. As I said…I have 2 months to really figure what is going on and them to figure out what I am all about and why I was sent there (though, I honestly have no Idea why I am being sent there…but…I guess I have 2 months to figure that out too). I eat cheeseburgers with fries for dinner and watch Knocked Up. Go to bed.

Thursday, I am with the other volunteer. He takes me to the DAC to meet everyone that he works with there. I’m introduced as the new volunteer coming in to work at the Borotsi Clinic. They are all very receptive, but many people are missing because of the strike. We attempt to go meet the kgosi, but he;s not around until Monday. Looks like I’m shit out of luck with that. Then we head to the police station to meet the Head of Police, but of course because of the strike he is out and about. Once again, I’m shit out of luck. Oh well, we head to the China shops…I want to meet some Chinese people! I met a kid that runs one of the shops. He is from some place near Hang Zhou. Cool! I’ve been there. We talk. I ask him what he eats. We talk about dumplings. He says his sister makes them. OMFG. YES. He says he will have his sister teach me. YAY! I ask if they make noodles. He hands us 2 things of ramen. So excited. Then I ask if he has chop sticks. And if he did…how much? He says “you are my friends, you no buy, you buy, you no longer friend. Chopsticks for both!” this kid is gonna be my new best friend. He just gave me chopsticks and noodles. HEAVEN. Lol. I’m going to have him teach me Mandarin and I can teach him Cantonese.  When I leave Botswana, I plan on knowing about 5 languages. Haha. right. I have to go to Africa to get myself interested in learning Mandarin. I swear, there is something wrong with my brain. Oh well, something to do! We head back and I somehow make my way back to the girl volunteer’s house (getting a bit lost, and having to ask an old lady where the hospital is in Setswana. Awesome, she understood me and showed me how to get there).

Friday, get taken to Borotsi Clinic. Talk to more of the nurses. Try to get more familiar, but the clinic is littered with children and their mothers. So no time to talk, must get all the patients taken care of. I go to the children building and find 3 nurses weighing babies/toddlers and squeezing Vitamin A into squealing children’s mouths. They ask me to sit, give me a razor and tell me to start squeezing. Lol. Awesome, not even my official first day, and I am squeeze Vitamin A into babies mouths. They are all so cute. Some look at me perplexed…as if I am some sort of alien…which I’m sure I am to some. Some cry. Some wave. Some laugh. Some actually open their mouths without needing someone to pry their mouths open. Some spit it back out. Some give me high fives. I thank the ones that I don’t need to pry their mouths open. I smile. I wave. I ask the kids if it tastes good. And send them on their merry way. I do this for about an hour, and we get through about 100 kids. Not too shabby. Afterwards, I tell them I will try to find my way to the mall on my own. Cinch. No problem. I get there in 15 minutes, without absolutely no harassment.  Now that is a first, and I love it. Though I’m not too sure how long that will hold for, but I’ll enjoy it while I can. I meet the girl volunteer at the Home Base Care Center which is an NGO in Bobonong, and she is teaching a Yoga class. Why not, I join. Get some stretches in. Feels good. We invite the other volunteers in our area (with 2 hours radius) to come make pizzas. 4 show up (out of 6…not bad), and the pizzas are delicious. Hang out, talk for a bit. Then off to bed, waking up early to go to the Tuli Block to go look for zebras, giraffes, and elephants!

Saturday, wake up at 515 AM, make French toast with powdered sugar. We start out (3 volunteers and I) and pick up another on the way. And off we go to Tuli block. First thing we see...impala. herds of them. Pretty cool. Then we find a family of warthogs (PUMBAS!!! Lol). Then we see a baby giraffe. I didn’t get any pics cuz it ran off super fast. Then more impala. Then we had to give the car a break, and wander around the bush. Climbed up some rocks. Amazing views. Exactly how you would picture Africa. End up at the border of Botswana and South Africa. Take a cable cart ride over the river to see how awesome the river is and to see if we can find any crocodiles. We see two eyes in the river, we think it’s a crocodile, but could really tell. We head back to see if we can find any other animals. Found some more warthogs. Then stopped at a lodge. It’s like paradise in the middle of the desert. It was beautiful. huts, a pool, overlooking the river, and GRASS. We wander and find prairie mice (I think), baboons, and more impala. I would love to escape to this place for a few days. Then we head back out…and find an ELEPHANT. She’s at a watering hole just drinking up. We slowly sneak up to it, about 200 meters away. It starts to flap it’s ears. So we…slowly back off, don’t really feel like getting charged by a gigantic elephant. Then we head off to a local village, and then observe some beautiful basket weaving (some of the volunteers bought some…) There were baskets, bowls, vases, pots. There was even purple in the baskets, instead of the normal brown. Pretty cool stuff. We leave, and climb up some rocks to see if we can find more elephants…unfortunately we couldn’t find elephants, but a gorgeous view of green trees and desert, just flat grounds. By 4 PM, we are back in Bobonong. Site visit is over. Good week. Thank you. That was exactly what I needed. J