Francistown’s 1st HIV/AIDS Civil-Society Organization Unification Forum

My first year in Botswana was spent soaking it all in. Working in Francistown, I’ve met and collaborated with people from different HIV/AIDS organizations who all have different perspectives on what the city needs the most. Throughout my time here I listened and observed, trying to pinpoint exactly what it was that I would do [...]

Teen Club Feedback Meeting and Subsequent Realization of Winning

It’s been said most Peace Corps Volunteers don’t fully begin their real work until about a year into their service. In most situations, PCVs are dropped off at their home after training and basically given the green light to “begin service,” whatever that may be. Some PCVs have a very open ended service, while others [...]

5-a-Side Football Tournament

The day after the big storm the DAC office driver, Bob, picked me up from my house in a government truck and drove me, the DAC office supplies keeper, Albert, and about 200 meat pies over to a residential part of town called Area W.  We were headed to the sports field to fulfill some [...]

It’s a Cultural Exchange

Democratic societies are unfit for the publication of such thunderous revelations as I am in the habit of making. – Salvador Dali For the two plus months I’ve lived in this town and worked in the wonderful office I do, I’ve spent most of my time soaking up the surrounding culture and keeping my thoughts [...]

Work

Like a friend and fellow volunteer once said to me, many people leave well paying, horribly lit cubicle jobs to join the Peace Corps, and are disappointed when they arrive to the same fluorescent environment in a foreign country. People don’t join the Peace Corps to become “Cube Dwellers.” That’s why my job is new. Revamped. [...]

27th Worldwide HIV/AIDS Candlelight Memorial – FTown District

Last week I helped plan my first event. As a PCV, I’m not really supposed to be planning or leading, but more acting as co-facilitator. Whatever it was, leaders from the Catholic Relief Services, District AIDS Office, Ghetto Artists (an amazing local acting troupe that specializes in promoting messages of healthy living), and the Francistown [...]

Site Announcement!!!

“To affect the quality of each day is no small improvement in”….. Francistown! On Saturday we finally had our Site Announcement Ceremony. The quote above was what I read just before discovering my name on a large map of Botswana. The announcement was especially exciting for me because, at the request of Peace Corps staff, [...]