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!

One week

So I have been in Botswana for one week and wanted to share what I found to be noteworthy of my first week in Africa:

1. I am able to maneuver myself in and out of a jammed pack Combi without making too much of a fool of myself PLUS I can navigate the Combis so I get on the RIGHT one going RIGHT direction (all the streets are one-way)

2. Being in the minority for the fist time in my life

3. Only locking myself out of my room once (it was quite the ordeal...I called the RA who then told me to call the warden who then said she would send her maid)

4. Being told, since I was in the front sit of the combi, to put my seat belt on, while the other 17 passengers don't EVEN have seat belts

5. Remembering what it is like to work for a small, underfunded, overworked, no office space NGO

6. Realizing and seeing the direct impact HIV/AIDS has had on a community

7. Falling into the "rain gutter" (they are really deep,more like mini tunnels. I am not normally this clumsy but it gets dark really early here)

8. Pineapple and Mango flavored yogurt

9. Finding proof that having a satellite dish is a human right (My IRC friends will understand) pretty much every house has one (see picture below)

10.Being surrounding by a beautiful people and culture

Who knew?

That musical chairs was a universal game; although the rules were a bit different. I had a fun time playing with some local youth, even though I didn't win!

36 hours,10,000 miles, and 3 continents later.....

I made it to Botswana! Getting here was very tiring and adjusting has been interesting. There are things I love about being in Africa and there others that will take getting use to.....I took my first combi ride today, a minibus (really they are vans) that jam as many people into them, drive erratically and honk to pick you up. This was in preparation for my 1 hour combi ride to work tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!

Graduation

So after 2 LONG years I finally graduated with my Masters! It was great nigh; Derek and Linzy drove down from Boise, Dev made the super long trip from Wyoming and of course Darin and my mom were there.

My talented brother

The very creative Derek created this graduation announcement for me.....