What have I gotten myself into?

About 2 months ago my co-worker suggested that I run a 1/2 marathon with her (please note neither one of us are runners); I quickly said yes since it was kind of a "life time goal" of mine. It was decided we would aim for the SLC race in April, but then we found the Canyonlands race in Moab, Utah. What could be better than running along the river surrounding by the amazing red rock? Even though the race was a month earlier than SLC I went for it, secretly hoping that our team wouldn't be selected. I mean what is the likelihood that we are one of the 4000 chosen?

Well as luck would have it our team of 5 was selected. Even better I found out by waking to a text from that same co-worker that read "time to start training seriously. We're in!"

What have I gotten myself into?!?!

My Grandma's 76th Birthday

For my grandma's 76th birthday, Dev and I treated her (well Dev did) to a yummy lunch at Pepe's.......

Wyoming Weekend

Maris and Me

"Crazy Cousins" Nicole, Bailey, and Siera

Grandma kicking butt in Chinese Checkers

Dev was asked to make this sign as part of his work in Northwest's Welding Program

Trailway Cafe where my great-grandma and grandma both worked

House in Greybull where my mom, her parents, and four siblings lived. I am not sure how 7 people all lived in that tiny house!

AmeliaAnn Self, MSW

So its official....I am a master of social work (whatever that means)at least according to the email I received yesterday

Dear AmeliaAnn,

Congratulations on your graduation from the University of Utah. The following degree has been posted to your academic record:

Master of Social Work

Bostwana Holiday Part III

VICTORIA FALLS

Botswana Holiday Part II

I've been a bit slow getting these pictures posted, well its really due to the slow internet in Botswana.....with that said "Part II"-my trip to Kasane and Chobe can be viewed here

Home

I am home.

I was a bit naive thinking that what I have termed my "African Adventure" would come to an end once I got to Sir Sereste Khama International Airport. My flight that was scheduled to leave at 5:30 didn't even board until 6:00 and leave until 6:30. Apparently since Monday was a Holiday in Botswana, the airport staff decided not to come to work on Friday, leaving one staff member to handle everything. I was of course worried that I wouldn't make my connecting flight in Jo-burg to London, so the crew allowed me and the other girls in the same situation to sit up in Bushiness Class in order to get off quickly. Once we landed I was off the plane, loaded the bus to get to the terminal, and then ran a sprint through the Jo-burg airport only to arrive at my gate to find a long line. I breathed a sigh of relief thinking that I was safe and made the connection however as I handed my boarding pass to the agent I was told I had been "offloaded", a term that I didn't understand. It finally dawned on my that I had been bumped! Since our flight left Gaborone late Jo-burg assumed we wouldn't make the connection and gave our seats away (how nice of them). I was then directed to another gate, stood in line, pulled out of line, checked in for the new flight, boarded the new flight, and settled in. Just as we were about to leave the pilot informed us that for whatever reason our luggage would not be on this flight and would instead be on the next flight, which happened to be Saturday night. For some reason in the 2 hours I was in Jo-burg they were unable to get my 2 pieces of luggage on the plane. AHH what a way to start a 40 hour trip home! (at the time of this post I still am missing 1 piece of luggage)

Fortunately the rest of the trip home went without any drama and I safely arrived in Salt Lake early Sunday morning. Darin was there to pick me up with the subway sandwich I requested (I had the oddest craving for one while in Botswana).
Everything that has occurred in the past 40 hours was quickly forgotten as I lay down in MY LARGE and COMFORTABLE bed.

I was HOME!

Botswana Holiday Part I

Check it out here

Have you ever wondered

what dried caterpillars taste like? Well I have....


mopanie/panie worms which are boiled caterpillars with their insides removed, dried and then salted. They are a traditional snack here in Botswana

Am I really going to eat this?

Here goes nothing!

Not too bad, it tastes like the shells of sunflower seeds.....
Anyone want me to bring them some panie worms?

Holiday

I took a holiday to northern Botswana this past week to enjoy what is claimed to be some of the best wildlife viewing and natural beauty in the world. You be the judge.

Okavango Delta







Kasane and Chobe National Park









I also made a quick trip across the border into Zambia to visit Livingston and Victoria Falls. My first view of the Falls was from a helicopter!!!







My trip ended with a great night enjoying sundowners along the Chobe river

Reality

So reality has definitely set in (which of course happens the day after I blog about having nothing to blog about). Reality in regards to the presence of HIV/AIDS in Botswana. Sure I knew that Botswana had the 2nd highest prevalence rate in the world before coming here and sure I knew that my work would bring me directly in contact with those that are effected by the disease. And while sitting in the clinic day in and day out watching all the young people come in for HIV testing I realized, or so I thought, the impact that HIV/AIDS has on Botswana. This all changed today when I began providing pre and post counseling for those testing for HIV.

Through out the course of the day while meeting with young person after young person 2 things became REAL:

1.Even though the majority of the people testing could tell me the ways that HIV is passed and even though we clearly established that when they tested 3 months ago they were negative and since then haven't put themselves at risk to be infected since then they were still insistent on being tested! The myths and misconceptions about HIV in the community are powerful! Anything from sleeping with a virgin will cure your HIV to being with something at is on treatment will kill you. And so today as they insisted that even though they hadn't participated in any of the risky behaviors they might have contracted HIV some other way...what was I to do, but test them

2.Most of those that tested today either expected to be positive or were "fine" with either result. As I asked them if they had given any thought to the possibility that their test may be positive many responded "well either way it is better to know" "I will be happy with either result" or they just shrugged their shoulders as if to say "I will most likely test positive at some point if not today". I didn't know how to respond, was this a cultural thing where they didn't share their true feelings OR was HIV/AIDS such a common thing in their life, that it really didn't matter whether the test was positive or negative. This really hit home when one women tested positive, she simply looked at the test, said "I am positive, good now I can get treatment while I still can work", thanked me for my help and walked away. My heart broke....I tried to be as brave as her....and realized HIV is real!

Today's experiences got me thinking even more about the government of Botswana's response to HIV/AIDS. Yes they provide free testing for all citizens, free condoms, and free ARVs, but are they really helping curb the spread of HIV/AIDS? But where does one start in a country with the population of 1.7 where 23.9% of the population aged 15-59 is living with HIV, 15.3& of women aged 15-24 are infected, there are over 95,000 AIDS orphans and the government is spending over 203.8 million (USA) on HIV related issues.
That's the REALITY of HIV/AIDS in Botswana and where one starts to prevent, curb, halt, end the transmission of HIV/AIDS I have no idea and unfortunately that is REALITY.

My worst fear

has come true, my worst blogging fear that is: I have NOTHING to blog about. This is why I vowed never to blog in the first place How can that be you ask, aren't I in Africa, there HAS to be something to blog about. Well my days are pretty routine and nothing of worth has happened since my last post so no I really don't have anything to blog about. I guess I will have to resort to the mundane in-and-outs of my daily life.

Let's see...

-I have been sick for the past 2 weeks. Flu the first and now a lovely head cold

-The combi driver shut the door on my foot today (they have these ropes rigged to pulleys on the sliding doors so they can shut them quickly, well my driver shut his a little too quickly this morning.
-I finished New Moon (yes I am reading the Twilight series) in a day and half (think what you will).
-Have ran out of ideas of what to cook and have resorted to easy, quick and satisfying (see picture below)
-I handed out a bunch of condoms to 18 year old boys today while watching and learning about hurling (an interesting sport).

So that's about it, no fun pictures or exciting animal encounters, BUT I am headed north to the Okavango Delta and Chobe National Park in a few days so that will for sure make for a more interesting blog post!

(carrot balls and a chunky Kit Kat)

MoKoLoDi

So the rain finally let up! Bright and early Saturday morning a group of us made the quick trip to Mokolodi Nature Reserve, which is about 15km outside of Gabs. We boarded our safari truck and took off!


And this is what I saw






Oh, and did I mention I got to PET the cheetah!?!?

Here comes the rain

According to all sources, Botswana's winter (May to August) is "is also the dry season when virtually no rainfall occurs. Winter days are invariably sunny and cool to warm" well this has NOT been the case. It started raining Monday night and hasn't let up yet. All the rain has made getting around Gabs quite interesting:

-Less than stellar windshield wipers make it virtually impossible for the driver to see where is he going
-Added to that is the fact that either the the defrost doesn't work or is just not used. You can imagine how steamed up a combi can get with 16-20 damp people crammed in.
-The combi drivers already have little respect for pedestrians and with the rain it is worse as one can become thoroughly soaked as the combi pulls up splashing through huge puddles
-Wet, slick roads+erratic drivers makes for an "interesting" drive to work

Hopefully the rain will stop soon, in the mean time I just prayer that I will arrive safely at my destination

My work

So I really do work (in case anyone was thinking otherwise). As I previously posted I am with BOFWA (Botswana Family Welfare Association) which is a full member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. The organization's goal is to provide youth friendly sexual and reproductive health services with a special focus on HIV/AIDS and help reach the goal of a HIV free generation.

Botswana has been hard hit by HIV/AIDS and has the 2nd highest adult prevalence rate in the world at 23.9%!!


A number factors contribute to the rate of HIV/AIDS infections: the stigma associated with the infection and thus people are unwilling to find out their status, alcohol use, and a persistent misconceptions about the virus and how it is spread. In response the government became the first in Africa to offer free ARV for all its citizens. While people are living longer with HIV this also contributes to the high prevalence rate and also may have a negative impact on efforts to curb the spread of the virus as many see that you can live for a "long" time with treatment, so its really not "that bad."

This is where BOFWA comes in. The 4 clinics throughout the country provide youth with accesses to HIV/AIDS testing, family planning, STI treatment, and other general health services. They also provide young people with the opportunity to become involved through their peer educator program and work to educate the community through outreach. My experience so far with BOFWA has been a mix of things. I am currently helping HQ create an plan/tool to evaluate the effectiveness of their 12 programs. I also help out in the clinic where I conduct health talks and take part in home visits. These are fun! It reminds me of street tracking as a missionary but instead of teaching about religion we are teaching about prevention methods and helping as it is advertised here, "condomize" the people.

Saturday is a special day, its the day we

DO EVERYTHING. Since me and the other social work students work 40 hours a week, 50 if you count the travel time we really only have Saturday to get out and explore. This Saturday we were up early to catch the combi to the flea market at BBS Mall.

(waiting for the combi)
I had a successful outing by finding a much needed scarf, an adapter for my computer and treated myself to a fat cake(these are tasty scone like treats).


Afterward we headed back to UB(University of Botswana) for lunch, only to find out we had no water!

(University of Botswana)
Then it was off to climb Kgale Hill, which turned out to be quite an adventure! We were first greeted by a family of baboons and then attempted to hike to the top, but since we couldn't find the "marked" path we only made it up about a 1/4 of the way.



I did however manage to get some pretty good shots of the valley.



After all that we were off to Game City for a yummy dinner at Wimpys and a cheap movie at the cinema. Life can't get better than encountering baboons in the wild and then being able to relax at a movie. It was quite the day!