Drotsky’s Cave

I’ll start with a little history of this

amazing place. In the !Kung San language, bushmen named the cave ‘Gcwihaba’ which means ‘hyena’s hole’. It was

a San secret until 1932 when

Martinus Drotsky, a nearby farmer was shown the cave. Of course, he na

med it after himself and 2 ye

ars later it became a nation

al monument. It has legends of treasure as well as witchcraft which is why it is such a mysterious yet intriguing place.

Katie, John and I were the brains behind a caving trip. To our surprise, we found 4 other interested volunteers, so the trip was made final. We took public transport to the north western corner of Botswana and met with some people who offered us a reasonable price for transport out to the caves. The cave is a good 120K from the nearest paved road and even further from medical help. In the guide book, it recommended a fully equipped 4WD, preferably one with high clearance, long-range petrol tanks, water reserves and a GPS system. We headed out with all the water we could carry in a regular SUV. We were prepared but knowing that only 1-2 cars visit the cave a week made us a little more careful. The drive alone was an adventure. We nearly got stuck several times and saw bat-eared fox, gemsbok as well as experienced the occasional engine overheating. During these times we g

ot out, we stretched our legs and let the thermostat reset itself. The road was so ruff, at times the backseat passenger wor

e his bike helmet to keep his had from smacking the ceiling. A

fter what seemed an endless sand snake of a road, we pulled into the designated monument area. Our headlights picked up some well marked signs.

The next step was to find some tent pads to make camp on. Not a soul was around for hundreds of kilometers. It was a little uneasy but that just added to the experience. Our hungry bunch settled down for some walking tacos for dinner. (All the regular taco fixings mixed into a bag of choice flavor chips and eaten with a spoon…Yum) After some time we found one of the cave entrances and decided to get our tents pitched. The boys, being boys, decided to enter the cave as soon as camp was s

et. I figured, daylight or nighttime, the cave is dark inside so we might as well get familiar with it before tomorrow.

My plan was to spend 30 min to 1hr max exploring and then I’d come out and get some sleep. The entrance was one of the most difficult, tactical parts of our whole exploration. As we approached the entrance I could hear things whooshing by my head. The closer we got, the better I understood the noise to be the thousands of Commerson’s leaf-nosed bats (with a wingspan of up to 60cm/23in.) that exit the caves every night to feed on insects. If you are clam and slow they never even get close to you. Having poor vision but exquisite eco-location, they have no trouble avoiding objects and maneuvering in the pitch black of the c

aves interior. Once inside, the bat traffic was low and the cave opened up into some huge caverns and chambers. We explored for an hour, trying most of the time to find our bearings. We found our later that the 2 ½ hours we spent in the first ¼ of the cave was actually the other end of the map we were looking at. I’m glad we found that out the night before our team of 7 went in. As we exited the warmth of the cave into the coolness of the night, I spotted a coiled Puff Adder snake. One of Botswana’s most poisonous snakes, the Puff Adder was fat and coiled for attack just outside the entrance. We steered clear and took some photos. Close one! With this short preliminary visit, I felt more comfortable and had a better understanding of the vastness of this cave.

Katie and I have been caving many times before, but Gcwihaba cave was by far the biggest, longest and least used cave we had been in. Explorers of this cave were so rare that there weren’t even foot prints. We slept soundly that night but anticipated the dawn. Shortly after breakfast our team was ready to enter the depths of the Botswana earth. Half the group had never been caving before so I was excited to see how they liked the experience.

Now that we knew where we were on the inadequate map, it made the adventure more enjoyable. Our plan was to stick to the right side always and eventually we would come to the other end. The stalagmites and stalactites were amazing. They were so pure and unadulterated by vandalism and over-exploration. There was even some glorious ‘flowstones’ which look like waterfalls of rock. Some of the caverns were 10m high and over a hundred meters long. Some passages were so narrow that we had to squeeze through them and on the other side they would open up to giant chambers.

I’ll just mention a few of the unique cave features in this particular cave. I love how each caving experience is different. I was actually amazed how dry this cave was compared to those I’ve explored in the states. The floor was covered in the finest dust and in some areas the bat droppings must have been several meters thick.

The map we had was labeled with chambers and passages like: Ice Castle, Graceland, Gas Chamber, MOAB (mother of all bat) Chamber, Rope Pit, Sonar, and the Enchanted Forest. Our first true challenge came when we stood at the entrance of the Gas Chamber. Bats were poring out like pepper from its shaker. We couldn’t muster the courage to crawl through the exiting bats and squeeze through the small entrance to see what the chamber held. It was early in our trip and we needed to build our confidence. The next obstacle/potential hazard was a hole that went straight down 12’ into an unknown passage. I went in first and all but one of us followed. We were entering the MOAB, but first we had to crawl hands and knees down past numerous bats hanging inches from our backs and helmets, not to mention crawling over dead bat bodies. Adrenalin rush for sure. On the other side of the crawl, it opened up into an enormous spiraling ceiling that held bats on every imaginable surface. Our group stood in aw as we watched the bats flying around us, the heat was almost unbearable with all those tinny bodies putting off heat. We all turned off our lights and listened to the acrobatics around us. It was absolute blackness. We flipped our lights back on and climbed our way out.

At one point Katie lead the charge into a potential passage that would decide which way the group went. Her portrayal:

I’m a fan of adventure but this was a little much for me. Like Lucas said, the cave was very dry. Since there were two entrances, loads of sand gets blown in and settles on the cave floor. The hole I crawled down was so slim, at least two sides of the cave were touching me at once. It was so narrow and dark; there was no way to see where I was going. I literally fell into the next chamber twice. So much sand came falling on me; I had a hard time breathing. The passage just kept getting narrower. It was quite terrifying. I’m ashamed to say I punked out and crawled back out.

When it was deemed impassable, we went up and over. This passage was the Rope Pit. For good reason too, because it would have been much easier with ropes. This was the first time we had to do actual rock climbing. Everyone made it down the 15 foot drop and up the other side with no problems. We felt like the fist explorers of this cave our entire time. Most state side caves are so used that if you look close you can tell which way to go by how smooth the rocks are from people traversing them.

On our way out we entered the Enchanted Forest. This place was magical. That’s the only way to explain it. It was no less than 30 rock towers where stalactites had reached their opposing force, the stalagmite. It was truly like a stone forest; so beautiful and forever in our memories.

We spent over 3 hours down in the cave and once we exited, it only took us 20 min to walk around to our car. Caves are so interesting.

The Storm

After a lovely Thanksgiving weekend/ GRE testing/ Katie’s birthday celebration, we returned to a broken Salajwe. There had been a disastrous thunderstorm while we were gone. Roofs were blown off of homes, glass windows were blown in, trees up-rooted, and paths flooded. The incredible power of blown sand destroyed our gardens. We even found a 50 gallon metal drum barrel inside our fenced-in yard. The Botswana Defense Force (BDF) arrived to provide tents for those whose houses were damaged. A building team from Letlhakeng arrived the next week to repair damage to the clinic and primary school. I spoke with a man who has a farm. He said the hail was piled up on the side of his hut and the storm had managed to kill some goats.

Thankfully, there were no reports at the clinic of serious injuries. We’re kinda disappointed we missed such an event.

Thanks Again!!

Brysons and Rosses

We were bombarded with six (6) boxes at the post office. These boxes covered Thanksgiving, Katie’s birthday, and Christmas from parents and sister/brother-in-law. Mom, you paid more attention than I thought when I told you we don’t get to have much meat in our diet. We have like 12 Hormel amazing dishes, meat included. We cant microwave but there is a boiling option! Thanks to all of you for the instant mash potatoes, cheesecakes, and candy. Amy, smores is always a safe bet. Mom, even though we are in a constant state of perspiration, we are getting into the Christmas spirit with all the decorations. We broke out our baby tree and stockings from last year. We have all the Christmas cookie goodies in a box ready to party in a few weeks. Amy, your pickles and candles are amazing. We have no sense of self control. If the candles make it to Valentine’s Day I’ll be surprised. They smell great! And we very much appreciate the Operation Christmas Child donation. I’m loving the CD and Lucas appreciates his flashdrive. It was the same size as the one stolen out of his bag. We have so many great camping food (trail mix, just-add-water meals, dried fruit, bagged tuna/salmon) that we’re set for Lesotho hiking trip.
I hope you guys get as much enjoyment putting the care packages together as we do receiving them. You guys are the best, we couldn’t ask for a more generous family. We love you and cant wait to be back home next year.

Halloween and a Haircut

I held off as long as I could. In 2005, an acquaintance told me he had been growing out his hair and donating to Locks of Love for several years. I thought it was brilliant. I decided then that I would donate my hair, cut it off, and donate again. That way I would never have to bother with the latest trends or decided how long/short to keep my hair. The last time I donated was in 2006. I was hoping to hold off until my close of service to donate again. But the start of the summer was wearing me down. I thought maybe I could wait until my birthday. As it turned out I could only make it to Halloween.

Costumes are hard to come by in Botswana. I decided to borrow some of Lucas’ clothes and go as boy. Cutting off my hair would be the perfect touch. Nothing fancy. Lucas basically took a pair of cutting scissors (brought from home) and hacked off a braided ponytail. I stuffed the braid in an envelope and am mailing it to Locks of Love.

The haircut didn’t really turn out. But the evening did. Lucas took second place in the costume competition (as a baby). Cheers!

Girls MMA Club

I’m using this blog to update people about what became of the Girls MMA Camp last December. It took a good six months of meetings and proposals to convince Lempu Jr Sec School to allow us to hold a Girls MMA Club on campus. We posted signs advertising for the club, made announcements in our Guidance Counseling classes, and claimed an unused classroom. We managed to obtain use of only half the mats. It didn’t matter much because for two weeks, no one showed up. I would try and recruit girls passing by the room, make announcements at the morning meeting, I even brought candy. Finally Lucas brought in a few girls from his PACT Club so interested girls wouldn’t be reluctant to enter if she was the only one.

For a while the PACT Club girls were the only ones coming (all 4 of them). But at least I was teaching someone. One week we went from 4 to 14. The deciding factor? Dodgeball. Lucas hand-stitched 2 balls from cloth found around the village and stuffed them with bubble wrap. We split the group into two teams and had them back up against separate walls. We drew a line in the middle of the room and placed the two balls on the line. Girls would race to the ball and attempt to hit each other with it. Girls were ducking, jumping, and having a great time. Pretty soon there were 50 sets of eyes looking in. We invited girls to join, and thus became the start of our club.

The following weeks we taught basic punches, defense, kicking (they love kicking the pad), and started showing wrestling takedowns. Boys constantly try to sneak into the room. I think the girls get a cheap thrill out of telling them it’s for girls only. I’m hoping the club encourages the girls to feel better about themselves and build some self confidence. Most of our girls are boarder students who are more at risk because they have no adult figure to look up and confide in. And they are trapped on campus 24/7, with other boys. Girls that age (14-16) across the globe struggle with self esteem issues. In a country where teenage pregnancy and HIV rates are high, it can be a threatening situation. The club offers them a chance to be physically active and provides an environment where they can be encouraged and excel at something.

We just started the club for Term Three of the school year. Classes end in late November. We plan on hosting another Girls MMA Camp this year in December and picking the club back up the start of Term One next year. It’s unlikely the club will continue on after we leave in June, which I took into consideration before we started this project. But my hope is that the few girls I do reach in the two years I’m here will make some sort of an impact in their lives and somehow improve their chances of living an HIV free life.

Entertainment Show

When you read entertainment show you think, well ,that could be anything. That was exactly what it was. So it all started with an idea my PACT (Peer Approach to Counselling Teens) club came up with for a fund raiser. They said, ‘Hey lets have an entertainment show. We could have singing, dancing, a fashion show and an eating competition.” These are some ambitious kids. So I put together some program plan ideas and then put pairs of PACT members together to be in charge of the different aspects of each act in the entertainment show. I’m not sure if I was unclear, the language or the kids just thought I was going to do everything, but nothing happened. So the next meeting, I brought contracts that each member pair had to fill, stating that everything was in order for their part of the event and then sign it. I handed them out and that was the last time I saw them. Hmm.

At this point the show date was a week away and the general feeling was that I was the one who was going to make this happen or it would never happen. These kids are still young and had probably never been put in charge of an event. So in one hand I had, just let it fail and teach them the lesson of preparation and follow through, or, to just swallow my pride and tie up the loose ends and get this show on the production line. I chose the latter and got things in order for the benefit of the kids.

I had the kids spread the word about the show, make posters and tell the participants that we would hold practice the two days prior to the event. Things started coming together at the first practice. We had a hand full of kids for each event that needed practicing like the fashion show, dancing and singing. The PACT pairs took charge of their groups and organized the routines, times, and the judging. My imitation of a fashion show gave them great ideas of how the runway walk would go.J We made a stage, hired a teacher for our DJ and scrambled to get everything in order before the doors opened at 6pm.

It was like a real event. Everything came together in the main hall. The stage was built, tables were propped against windows to prevent free onlookers, and the DJ was hooked up. We had extra PACT members stationed at the single entrance door and the broken windows to prevent sneak ins. Doors opened at 6:30pm, the most on time program start I have been a part of. All participants got in for free and were given a school stamp on their arm. (I swiped it off a teaches desk and promptly returned it after) It cost 1P per person to enter ($0.15). We organized an assembly line; one guy letting people in, a money taker, and a capturer who raised the students sleeve and I stamped them. By the time the line had run dry we had made over 300P. The place was packed when it started. I made a schedule for the event and I was amazed by how the PACT members truly stepped up at the show. They started by introducing themselves, the PACT club and others that were in charge. Because it’s a boarding school the students spend their time wondering the grounds doing a lot of nothing so the energy at the entertainment show was electric. You could hardly hear at the start.

Music played and the fashion show began. The participants walk out together in their fanciest outfits, turned around and strutted their stuff. They changed and came out individually doing their special walk in less formal cloths. Then they changed again (all changing was done in a corner behind two tables standing on end) and all come out together for a final walk about. The music died down and it was time for judging. I did it in a way that the crowd was the judge. Each one stepped forward and was judged by the cheering volume of the crowd. We narrowed it down to 3 and choose a winner. We had prizes for 1^st and 2^nd only. For each event we gave some type of dish, ceramic mug, or mirror for first and candy for second.

Next was a bold individual girl who sang her lungs out to a song she knew by heart without any music. It was all in Setswana so I’m not clear on the content but I think I understood it to be a gospel hymn. She obviously won first place and everyone cheered.

My favourite, dancing, was next and it had a lot of participants. More than 8 different groups danced some alone and some with 2 and 3 members. Some even dressed alike. They favoured the song Waka Waka by Shakira, great tune. These kids can boogie for sure. I captured some great video. Katie and I were both blown away by the skill of these participants. The dancing here is 90% below the waste with quick feet and bowing of the knees. The guy who won did the robot and a perfect moon walk. It was actually hard to pick the top 3 because everyone was so good.

Then another bold individual boy read a poem he had written. I was sad because the microphone went out part way through his poem and he had to shout over people to finish. None the less a job well done. I wish I knew the language better, I might have had more to say on the poem.

Last but not least was the food eating competition. I limited the participants to 5 so that we had enough food for everyone. We had the kitchen staff cook a jumbo package of spaghetti and I had bought a bag of apples. We dished each plate with a towering pile of spaghetti, cold but cooked, and topped it with two green apples. The rules were simple; the first one done was the winner. The crowd swarmed the stage to get a better view when we blew the start whistle. It was deafening in there with everyone cheering. The boys tried so hard but some of them, I could tell, just knew that they couldn’t win and decided to just enjoy the food. The boy who won however ate like an animal from beginning to end.

By the time we declared the winner it was late and the deputy school head had shown up and relayed to me that it was time to wrap it up. I saw it as a total success and so did those of my PACT club. Now they can see what it takes to pull off a successful event. I’m proud of those kids.

Mozambique-Trapped in Paradise

This trip was fantastic and amazing but it was also splattered with disasters and misfortunes. All things worked out and it’s the good things that stick in our memory.
Rise and shine, 4:30 am taxi took us to the bus stop for our 6:30 am bus. We were a little early...but better safe than sorry. 6:30 sharp found us sitting in spacious seats on a clean two story ‘Intercape’ bus. At the South Africa boarder things were still going smooth until we were two people away from the immigration desk and Katie realized we had forgotten our exemption certificate. This is very important paperwork that either keeps us in Botswana or keeps us from re-entering Botswana. An honest brain fart kept us from putting them back in our passports after we got our visas at the Mozambique embassy. So needless to say, the bus continued on to Johannesburg without us on it. Our first speed bump led us to contact a network of wonderful people that pulled strings, called in important favours and got us across the border. Plan B was to delay, loose our bus fares, drive back to Salajwe and possibly have to abandon the trip all together. After 3 hours of running around, begging and pleading, and spending extra money we walked across the border onto South African soil. We caught up to our lay over bus in Johannesburg thanks to a racecar driver turned Kombi driver who made quick time of the drive. Our original layover of 9 hours was pleasantly shaved down to 2. The overnight bus ride was excellent in the way buses go.

The morning sun warmed us as we stood in a belligerent line to get our passports stamped to enter Mozambique. At one point, everyone was pushing so hard, Katie said she could have lifted her legs up and been held in place. Our bus driver got all our passports and got them stamped for us so the adventure was just another experience to remember. In Maputo, the Mozambique capitol, we dropped our bags at a backpackers and explored the capitol. We were warned about the 17 hour unreliable bus ride over horribly maintained roads so we decided to seek cheap plane tickets at the local airport. In no time we were holding 2 one-way tickets to Vilanculos. Back in our co-ed dorm room we relaxed and met some world travellers. Paul is an American married to a Mozambique woman who he hadn’t seen in a year of working in the states. He joined us for pizza and we were glad he did because all the menus were in Portuguese. The next morning, the 29th, we taxied over to the airport by 10am to catch our 12:00 flight. The Mozambique airlines, LAM, hooked us up. We had a small sandwich and guava with a beverage while we waited in the lobby. Then on the plane we had another meal, and it was only a 2 hour flight. At the airport in Vilanculos we waited with the other passengers for our luggage. A luggage cart rolled in and everyone started picking up their bags, then everyone left. Where were our bags? We waited, and waited until I finally grabbed the only English-speaking guy on staff who ran after our plane but came back empty handed. There we were, two Americans in a foreign airport with the clothes on our backs, our passports, some cash and some odds and ends.
“This Is Africa” one man explained as we arrived at our backpacker bungalow for two. We finished a dinner of 3 crabs each with salad and chips for just over $3. A lot of labour goes into eating a crab! After a dreamless night of sleep we woke to the crashing of waves not 50 yards from your front door. The entire day was spent in the village, through the market and past all the craft stands. Haggling is a game that everyone plays with the white customer. Caucasian = Money. We stopped at the airport just after lunch but our bags were still not there. We were given ~$50 to compensate for our missing luggage until the bags could be located. We were coming to terms that we may never see our luggage again. But we agreed that that would not stop us from enjoying paradise. We booked our deep sea SCUBA dive for the next day and our 5 am fishing/snorkelling/ island lunch trip for the following day.

The following morning, our SCUBA instructor picked us up and gave us refresher course before we went on Big Blue. SCUBA is like riding a bike; it all comes back once the gear is on. Katie has been certified since she was 12 so she had no problems. I acted like I had done it a million times and it worked out great. We had two dives on Sao Sebastian Reef, both extremely beautiful, full of colour and countless exotic, vibrant fish. The Arches were an amazing collection of coral that was shaped in arch way that allowed the diver to swim through them, gaze into caves, and explore hidden beauty. We love being underwater, especially when a 300lb logger head turtle swims from it hiding place 10 feet from you. We also saw: radial fire fish, crocodile fish, unicorn fish, surgeon fish, honeycomb moray eel, green turtles, and trumpet fish just to name a few. The dives were breathtaking and the simple lunch on an uninhabited tropical island made a great ending to a memorable experience.

We still had no word on our lost luggage. The day wound down with an amazing sea food pizza, and locally brewed coconut beer. The beer showed up late in the evening in a dirty water jug looking like grey skim milk, smelling a little like meat and tasting similar to egg whites but nothing I’ve ever tasted. We suffered through a few glasses, sharing the majority with other backpackers and locals, not once tasting alcohol or feeling the legendary effects. Once was enough for that little beverage. Before curling up on our mosquito net-covered bed, I concocted a sea water/bottled water saline substitute for my contacts. It worked fantastic!
The prospect of huge fish, screaming reels, and a seafood lunch motivated me out of bed at 4:30am. The dawn was trying it’s best to burn off the dense fog that had settled on the bay. Katie backed out of the fishing trip when she saw another guy along to accompany me; a very nice German with a bag full of fishing equipment. Let me summarise our 7-hour fishing trip: got lost and disoriented in the fog; started trolling late; controlled fire on the boat for making tea and fried eggs; guides forgot bait; more trolling; snagged 3 fish not much bigger than the lures; saw whales up close swimming and blowing; and the German tried spear gun fishing to get us bait...no luck. By 1:00p we met up with Katie and the snorkelling crew on Bazaruto Island. We hungry fisherman helped themselves to what was left of an amazing seafood lunch of calamari stew, barracuda fillets, rice, orange and salad. I relaxed for a second before Katie had me breaking the ‘don’t swim after eating’ rule. The snorkelling was absolutely gorgeous. All along the shore was a reef ledge teaming with fish. We saw an active octopus that could change its skin colour and texture to match its surroundings. Katie spotted it and I didn’t see it until it moved out of my clumsy way before I almost stepped right on it...oops. We speared two fish for dinner and headed back to Vilanculos. Our boat erected its huge, traditional African single sale and we rode the wind all the way in; a lovely way to travel. Back at our lodge we paid the kitchen staff to cook us up the fish we had speared plus potatoes. It fed 6 of us with no problem and tasted wonderful. It was only hours old and done to perfection. Yum. Our multi cultural table consisted of Katie and I with English and Setswana, the German guy who spoke German, English, and a lot of Spanish, his Columbian wife show spoke Spanish and German, an Iranian guy who spoke English and Hebrew, a German girl who spoke German and English and a SCUBA instructor who spoke any number of languages with confidence. The news had been playing in the background and we noticed some riots had broken out in Maputo, the capitol city of Mozambique. They were saying it was due to the rise in the price of bread. The footage was fairly violent but the locals around the camp said it should cool down by tomorrow. As expected, we received a call from Peace Corps Mozambique Country Director. She said all volunteers were on ‘Stand Fast’ until further notice. Standfast refers to our Emergency Action Plan which means no volunteers are allowed to travel and must stay put wherever they are until further notice. Well, there are worse places to be stuck. Bags still lost.

Our last day in Vilanculos was meant for relaxing and any last minute things we wanted to do. We made a list of all the gear and the replacement cost of everything in our luggage. The value was in the thousands. The plan was to go to the airport and start the paper work for lost luggage. We went into the village market, bought two cheap replacement backpacks, razors, lotion and some more clothes. The lesson we think God was teaching us was to not be attached to worldly things. We survived very simply on 2 sets of clothes and few belongings. Peace Corps Mozambique contacted us to let us know that the situation in Maputo had escalated to Critical. We were instructed to cancel our flight out of Maputo and were given contacts for the Peace Corps volunteers staying in Vilanculos. I contacted our friend at the airport to tell him we were coming in to fill out the missing luggage paperwork. Much to our surprise, he told us our luggage had arrived! Wholly smokes, better late than never I guess. The bags were just fine, only a few missing items but the bulk was there. Katie lost her Chaco sandals, and I lost a few random electronic charger cords, for reasons I still don’t understand. The paperwork for those losses is still pending. Just when we had accepted our things were gone forever, the universe gave them back. God just wanted us to know what nothing is ours, everything we have has been given to us and when we realized that, He gave us our toys back. This called for a night out in our best attire! That is exactly what we did.

I accompanied my beautiful wife to one of the fanciest restaurants in the village. I had a grouper fillet with rice and Katie had prawns and a salad and we split a piece of key lime pie. We settled the bill somewhere around $25US and had a lovely evening walk home. Before we got to our room I received a text message: “Dear PCVs, hope u r well, plz review yr Emergency Action Plan. In the event the cell network goes completely down, plz listen to Radio Mozambique, 92.3FM for PC-MZ official communications. Plz make sure u have extra phone credit, food & water and money on hand. Stand fast continues indefinitely and we want everyone to continue to remain at site or where u r and be prepared. We r taking all precautions possible in advance and we want u to do the same. Thnx” We knew we would be staying in Vilanculos for a while.
Bless those Peace Corps volunteers for taking us in! The next 5 days were spent in a sloth/slug state. We relaxed in hammocks, read books, we watched season 5 of The Office, walked the beach, swam, toured the village endlessly, napped, we hug with the local volunteers, partied one night, ate raw coconut, ate traditional food, we cooked fish tacos and generally felt like we got out of Vilanculos what it had to offer us. We were in limbo. It was nice in a way but also equally uncomfortable because we were missing our own place. Meanwhile the standfast continued to be extended. After getting permission from Peace Corps Mozambique, we booked plane tickets from Vilanculos to Johannesburg, South Africa, bypassing Maputo completely. The operator assured me we could purchase the tickets at the airport the day of departure. It looked as if we were getting home after all. We just had to wait for the flight date. When it arrived we were more than anxious to leave paradise, for no reason other than we were done with our vacation a long time ago. All was going as planned until we got to the air port. And why would we be surprised, the credit card machine was not accepting any of our cards! One more road bump. What was happening? It was like everything was against this trip. I quickly remembered I had stashed some American cash for emergencies and now it was to the rescue. We pooled together US cash, South Africa Rand and Mozambique Metacais to total the price of the tickets. We couldn’t believe the attendant accepted it. The next thing we knew we were on a large plane leaving Mozambique.

We were landing in South Africa with about $30US between us and a long way to go but luckily our credit cards worked at the ATM. To wrap up this saga, we made it home to Salajwe safe and sound. The only hickup was getting back into Botswana with our certified copies of our Exemption Certificates. It all ended up working out and we almost kissed Botswana soil but were glad to be home in our own village with our own home and bed. We had been living out of the same backpacks for 3 weeks and had only planned for 9 days. Lessons were learned: Always have all your travel papers, Always plastic wrap your luggage for international travel, always keep emergency cash somewhere, and always...always be flexible to what life throws you. We always have this story now.

Guidance and Counseling

When Peace Corps is assigning volunteers a site, they will also assign us a counterpart, that is, a local leader who will work as a partner for us at our organization (DAC office, NGO, school, or clinic). Counterparts can prove to be one of the most rewarding parts of service, or the hardest. And sometimes, they are transferred. Such was the case for Lucas’ counterpart Mma Ramakgati. Mma Rammoi was assigned as acting guidance counselor until Mma Ramakgati’s position could be filled. Unfortunately Mma Rammoi had scheduling conflicts with her current classes and the guidance classes. Lucas and I offered to teach her Form 3 classes.
We chose Form 3 hoping that they would know the most English (they are the oldest class at Lempu Jr Sec. School ~ 10th graders). I had been wanting to promote sexual health and education in the schools and was eager to take advantage of the opportunity. I’m glad that Lucas and I were both teaching. One, we could help to control the classroom. And two, we thought it would make both sexes more comfortable that there was a man and a woman to talk about sex. We planned to avoid lecture-based lessons (only a small percentage of students could keep up with our English) and do more activities in which students could participate. We had 6 40-minute classes, four days a week.
Together we wrote up lesson plans that covered gender identity, sexual biology, teen pregnancy, relationships, communication skills, before sex, and introduction to careers. We got creative with some of our activities, including; having a group of students describe a sexual body part or behavior written on the board to a student whose back was facing the board (without saying the word), having students put posters in order that describes how a woman falls pregnant, and teaching communication skills by pairing up students, having one describe a drawing on the board and the other student recreate the drawing without looking. We taught how to complete a formal letter of application (even if they had no previous work experience). I invited a member of the clinic staff to come and talk with students about what services the clinic offers as far as protection and what to do if you think you might be pregnant. We tried to create a comfortable environment where the students felt they could talk openly about sex and not be judged.
I was surprised how mature the students were talking about puberty and sexual behaviors. One activity we had the students determine what was considered abstaining from sex and what wasn’t, for example open mouth kissing, masturbating, fondling a partner’s sexual body parts, or having sex with a condom. Once they decided, they had to argue the other side why they considered the behavior abstinence or not. It forced the students to decide before hand what activities they were willing to partake in. A separate activity, the class wrote up two lists: reasons why to have sex, and reasons to wait. Our intentions are for the students to decide on their own to wait, not for us to decide for them.
Since we didn’t have exams to give them the last week of Term 2, we brought a game. I gave them a short survey to determine what, if anything, they learned during our class. I wrote the questions in English and Setswana so that everyone in the class could participate. Unfortunately, the students answered in Setswana as well so I’ll be busy translating those… The big surprise was BINGO. No English required, no skill required. It was perfect. The students loved it!

Thanks

Peterson Families

Thanks once again for the box of goodies. It’s so great to be caught up on how things are going state-side. The beef sticks were delicious. The fruit snacks didn’t last very long either! Lucas looks great in the t shirts. And they couldn’t be more appropriate =) Q-tips are addicting; I didn’t bring nearly enough to Botswana. You guys are so thoughtful. Thanks so much for thinking of us.

Cassada Family

Hey guys, long time…. It was such a treat to get your package in the mail. It took a second to figure out who it was from. The KY return address threw me off. Did you guys move? I was excited to find out all about it but couldn’t find a card. But man, the goodies were great. It’s hard to beat Beef jerky, ever. It came at a perfect time. We’re taking a trip where we’ll be on a bus for a long time. The trail mix, cliff bars, and magazines are perfect! Our hearts still race for UFC; great choice! That was very considerate of you. Hope we get to catch up soon. Love you guys.