World Map Project

In her first year as a Peace Corps volunteer (1988-1990), Barbara Jo White recalls a fellow volunteer requesting wall maps from National Geographic to post in classrooms for her students. White replied, “The only way you’re going to get a map to stay on a wall is to paint it there.”

Applying the grid method to make her first world map, White says she utilized the Mercator projection method that makes countries further from the equator appear larger. Later she traced National Geographic’s new projection map and World Map Project was born. Pretty soon letters poured in from Peace Corps volunteers around the world asking for gridded map pages.

Enthusiasm for the project continues today due to the project’s simplicity and durability. White explains, “Because few rural schools have maps and many students leave school in their teens, some children never see a world map or have a concept of the world. The only way many schools can get and keep a map is to have it painted on a wall.”

Today World Map Projects can be seen on five of the world’s seven continents. “It’s such a good way to get integrated into the community. So many volunteers work with children and youth and this is a great way to literally draw the connection between you as a foreigner, and the community for the young people,” says Inter-America and Pacific Country Desk Officer Ella Ewart (RPCV/Peru, 2006-2008). She adds,”It was really rewarding to me, as a volunteer, to have a map—something tangible that I could point to and that I created hand in hand with the kids.”

Inspired by this method of mobilizing a community through painting project, Lucas commissioned his PACT Club to create a World Map Project on a wall on the Lempu CJSS campus. Graciously the art teacher at Lempu, Mr. Mosele, supported the project by donating paint brushes and offering to help pay for some of the paint. Along with some of our own contributions and donations from a local hardware store, we managed to collect all materials for almost no cost at all

.

Following White’s instructions on how to trace, label, and grid a world map, we had to be extremely particular when drawing the grid lines, which on a curved wall is not easy. Once the lines were drawn, PACT Club students painted the foundation of the map ocean blue. Lucas had every student practice on separate sheets of paper recreating a gridded square by copying it onto a larger square. Then they began drawing out all the countries of the world. Although the project is supposed to be more about a community coming together for a common goal, many geography lessons were learned by students and staff. Several times people asked which of Botswana’s neighboring countries is America. Then we got to show them just how far our home country really is from Africa. Even many staff could not say where South Africa is (just south of Botswana). Many students assumed Russia was America because it was the largest.

After all countries were painted and labeled, we completed the project by painting Botswana flag and Peace Corps emblem in the corners. Lucas is making up lesson plans to share with teachers on best practices for utilizing the World Map. After all the ups and downs of our service having to address a topic as sensitive as HIV, this project was a breath of fresh air. And we will have managed to leave a physical mark in Salajwe.

Thank you Brandt, Michelle, and Adam.

We got your box and were blown away by all the goodies you included. The beef jerky didn’t last long because we love it and the stuff they have here does not compare. Try hanging a thin slab of meat out in the sun to dry, throw some pepper on in and eat it. That is Botswana beef jerky ‘Biltong’. My favourites were the A-shirts, drink mixes, citronella candles, and the roasted peanuts. Katie loved the candy, the sweat bands, the wet wipes and the fruit shacks. You guys are awesome and we can’t thank you enough for all that you send. Brandt and Michelle, we got your wedding picture up on our fridge. You two look great. Thanks Adam for catching us up on what you have been doing for a past few years.

HIV/AIDS Awareness Dance

One of the best ways to get Lempu Senior Secondary School excited about being at a boarding school is to provide some type of entertainment. It gets old just sitting around on the weekend with nothing to do and no place to go. This in when Katie and I had a great idea.

The month of youth against AIDS (MYAA) was coming up in March and we though an American style school dance would be an ideal event. We wanted to make it an HIV/AIDS awareness dance to go along with the MYAA part of it. So we made up posters for the dace to be on Friday the 11^th, right at the end of the term after all the testing was done as a way for the students to cut loose a little. We can never tell how out events are received until the night of because no one talks about it. On the day of the dance we cleaned up the hall and set up 3 tables that would represent the ABC’s of HIV awareness. A: being Abstinence, B: for Be Faithful and C: means Condomise. Each table had pamphlets and posters that represented the different ABC’s. We also made 200 small red ribbons that had safety pins on them so they could be attached to each person who entered.

We were set up and ready by 7 with all things in order except for kids. The students do something a little different than I’m used to in terms of privacy when setting up the hall. They turned it into an exclusive club by covering each window with either a bench tipped on end or a random poster made in some other class. We had volcano posters and the layers of the human skin posters and much more covering all the windows so that if you were on the outside you couldn’t watch the dancing. It was a fund raising event for both the guidance and counselling committee and the HIV/AIDS club. We charged 1 pula which equates to .12 USD. So when all was set up and music was playing inside by our self proclaimed teacher DJ, a line formed out the door and wrapped around the building. At that price, almost every student could be part of this dance. I think the fact that it was an American “Free style” dance that made it so appealing for the students. Every Batswana kid knows how to dance to some degree so it was perfect.

Kids started pouring in through our assembly line. 1 pula at the door, a stamp on the wrist, and a AIDS ribbon on the shirt was the complete package. When the line ended we had made some 450 pula and the school isn’t much over 500 kids. It got hot in there but the kids were loving just being themselves and dancing. Many were just in their own little worlds, feeling the beating and letting it move their bodies. The teachers kept asking Katie and I what was next on the agenda, as if every event had to be so finely planned that they were surprised and a little worried when I told them there is no schedule...”This is how an American dance is, kid’s just dance and they love it.” This might have been too unstructured for the staff so we did have 3 groups of presenters on the ABC’s, who all did wonderful. During the Condomise piece, I opened a box of condoms on the condomise table but it was quickly taken up by the guidance teacher under the assumption that we were encouraging sex. There was also a planned debate. I was sceptical of a debate at a dance but the 2 teams of debaters had everyone sit down and they debated the topic of weather Anti-retro virus (ARV’s) medications should be free provided by the government. This is currently how Botswana is doing things. It was great and very informative to me and the student body.

I had to wrap it up and do some more dancing before the night came to an end. So I had the DJ form an old school dance circle from middle school dances we all know so well. Some students had practiced for this and gave their dance, followed by Katie and I who showed off our now rusty swing dancing skills, and then individuals jumped in and broke it down until time was up. It was a great success and I could see smiling faces on all the kids who participated. Dances are so much fun when few people hold back or are too cool to just let go and dance.

New Years in Lesotho

Following Christmas, a group of 9 of us drove down to Lesotho for a four-day hike through the Lesotho mountains over the New Year holiday. We started the trip early from Gaborone headed south to South Africa. Once getting across the boarder, our first order of business was stopping at the first McDonald’s we came across. Once it was spotted, we literally swerved through two lanes of traffic to slide into the parking lot, just missing a fender bender. Can you tell we miss America?
After recovering from the gut bomb that is fast food, we continued on into Lesotho. Lesotho is a beautiful, mountainous country literally floating in the middle of South Africa. The citizens have never been under European or South African rule and live quiet lives in the mountains as farmers and herders. We pulled into Malealea Lodge in southwest Lesotho just after sunset. After filling up on dinner cooked over the fire, we settled into our 2-man huts for the evening.
One of the first things Lucas and I noticed about Lesotho was how much colder it was compared to Botswana. Currently the Southern Hemisphere is in the dead of summer. Despite what the packing list suggested, all Lucas and I could think about was HOT as we were packing our bags in Salajwe. We were without sleeping bags, or warm clothes. The warmest thing in my bag was 2 pair wool hiking socks and a raincoat. We felt like such rookies. But we managed to make it through.
A little bit about Malealea Lodge: the guides are selected from the village and trained to take groups of hikers out on trail from day hikes to up to 10 days camping. Most all the groups opt to ride horseback. The guides get paid a certain rate and all other fees are given directly to the community. Every night on trail we stay in a remote village hut. The community provides us with sleeping pads and a hot plate to use for cooking meals.
We hired three pack horses and three guides to accompany us during the hike. This is my first experience hiking without a pack. Although some hard-core outdoorsmen may accuse us of “cheating the experience” I cannot tell you what a relief it is to be able to travel without 30 extra lbs hanging on my back. I was able to look around me at the magnificent views instead on constantly starring at my feet. The hike started off casual and mild. The first challenge of the day it seemed was getting horses to cross a bridge. They put up so much of a fight that eventually one of the guides had to ride them across the river.
It’s hard to not compare the hike to Malawi. I would say Malawi was more lush and jungle than Lesotho but the trails were more steep and muddy. Lesotho had more creeping trails and lots of rocks for footholds. And I enjoyed interacting with the villages. In Malawi we hiked through a national park so we saw no people once inside the park boundaries. In Lesotho we hiked in and out of at least three villages a day. The children, as usual, were very friendly and curious. The national language Sesotho was terribly similar to Setswana and we used it often. The people of Lesotho reminded me a lot of Batswana although their locations were far more remote due to the mountains. Most villages we stayed at were a good two days from the nearest town. Roads were scarce so most people traveled by foot. A unique characteristic of the Basotho were their wardrobes. Most all the villagers wore blankets over their shoulders, rainboots on their feet, and carried a walking stick. I don’t think Lesotho has a dry season. Houses are built warm and sturdy for snow in the winter and rain in the summer.
Every morning we woke to breathtaking mountain views. Meals were simple but satisfying. Days were long but rewarding. The company was perfect and we got a chance to hang out with friends for more than just pleasantries. Our second day of hiking took us past several waterfalls. At one stop we were able to swim in the top of the falls. The water was so cold; it took your breath away. After lunch we were caught in a huge thunderstorm complete with hail. It was tough-going there for an hour or so. The cold really sunk in. I couldn’t even feel my blisters anymore. Although we did not hire the horses to ride, the guides would give up their horse if they thought a hiker was struggling. I should have explained beforehand that I am just a slow hiker, regardless of my conditioning. Although I would have been fine for the remainder of the day, I was happy to climb aboard a horse. It can be a little scary to peer down a steep, rocky mountain ledge on the back of a horse, but I trusted it to make the best choice in which path to take and we made it down just fine. This gave me even more time to look around at the landscape.
At our destination we were greeted by a kind family and a big pig. The pig must have been pregnant because her belly was just enormous. She was walking by Lucas when he reached out to pet her. She immediately froze, and then lay down. He continued to pet her and she just fell over on her side. I though she fainted of fright. But she just loved to be petted. It was very entertaining. The nine of us were split into three groups; each night we were assigned either to filter water, cook dinner, or make lunch for the next day. It worked out nicely. A fellow hiker generously offered me her under armor for warmth. I didn’t take them off for three days. Although all of us were crammed into a hut, I still slept cold. We fell asleep early and anticipated recapping 2010 the next day New Years Eve.
The panoramic view was beautiful as the early morning dew evaporated off the mountains. It was a cold start to the hike but we moved fluidly. We started off recapping not only the year, but the past decade. There was a 9-year gap between our youngest hiker and oldest hiker which made for humorous comparisons. Again, lots of rain. As beautiful as Lesotho is, I think it would be hard to serve Peace Corps. When there is a hard rain in Salajwe, almost nothing gets done. There is very little shelter. And even shelters offer little in the way of security. It’s very hard to escape the weather in Africa.
The last stop before heading back to Malealea was in a small village with loads of kids, in drenched blankets. We kept them warm by teaching them to play Duck, Duck, Goose. The night before, we had been to bed by 8:30. Realistically, we knew there was no chance we could stay up til 12 midnight for the New Year. We agreed we would celebrate at 9 pm and call it good. As soon as the sun went down, we broke out the fireworks. The villagers just loved them. Ladies wrapped in blankets would jump up and down yelling “happy!” in celebration. I’m pretty sure none of them had ever seen fireworks before. We learned to say Happy New Year in Sesotho: Se le mo se secha. We could hear villagers from the next mountain shouting the greeting to us as we handed sparklers to kids. It was a very memorable New Years Eve.
Our last day, the group had mixed feelings. Some had finally gotten over the hump and were ready to rock. For the rest, the last 3 days had finally caught up to them. Surprisingly, I was one of the lucky ones. It was mostly downhill into a village. From there we took the main road all the way back to the lodge. Before we got there, we past a New Years Day celebration with Sesotho traditional dancing. It was quite a treat. Compete with an accordion accompaniment. I really enjoyed watching them.
We were delighted to arrive at the lodge. Unfortunately, with all the rain, the running water ran mud red: showers, sinks, and toilets. The water was treated but not filtered. So it was hard to feel clean after showering. I couldn’t even see my feet in the shower and my hair felt more dirty afterwards but the water was warm which was good enough for me. Dinner was t-bone steak and traditional sides almost identical to Botswana. The beds were clean and with blankets. I had the warmest sleep in four days. This was one of my favorite trips in Africa. Not to mention on of the last while serving Peace Corps. Wow, only 6 months left.

Second Annual Girls MMA Camp

As you know Lucas and I have had great success with girls MMA club at the junior secondary school. The group of girls we are working with are at a vulnerable age, subject to low self esteem and starting to experiment with sex, much like most girls around the world at that age (14-16 yrs old). Unfortunately I wasn’t able to open up the club to primary school students because of location and equipment. We had such a great turn out at the Girls MMA Camp last December that we agreed to do another one.

In December 2010 Lucas and I held the second annual Girls MMA Camp. We opened the camp to all girls of all ages. Last year the intention of the camp was to teach girls the basics of mixed martial arts and to promote the club we were starting at Lempu CJSS. Since we had a solid turnout for the club, we focused our attention on strengthening the girls’ MMA skills and encouraging their participation in physical activity.

Once again we had a huge turnout. The girls eagerly helped sweep, set out and mop the gymnastics mats, and even run warm-ups. Over the week we had 34 participants, seven returning from last year. The girls picked up on boxing punches/kicks well. Their favorite activity was probably using the boxing pads we borrowed from Lempu. They got to actually make contact with their fists and feet vs. shadow boxing. It was very empowering for them.

We went more in depth with Brazilian jiu jitsu, teaching an americana and rear-naked choke. Of course we taught the girls how to safely submit an opponent and how to tap before it caused pain. My favorite is watching the girls perform takedowns. Two girls of similar build are matched up and try to take each other down to the mat. Any wrestler would be impressed with these girls’ determination and form.

One day we had a special guest, the karate instructor from Lempu CJSS. He assisted us in language barriers as well as promoted the girls to join his karate class after our Peace Corps service is finished and we are unable to continue the MMA club. After class he commented on how well the girls responded to us as instructors and also how well they worked to help each other if one of the girls did not understand instructions.

I never intended to teach mixed martial arts to girls when I joined Peace Corps. In fact it was the encouragement of fellow Peace Corps volunteers who saw the positive effects this type of instruction could offer girls in this culture. I’m sad that there is to no chance for the club to continue after the end of our service. My hope is that the girls I was able to reach these past two years will go on to become good role models for others as strong, confident women who demand more for themselves than what was expected in generations past.

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.