Close of Service Conference and Public Praise for PC Botswana

My intake group, Bots 9, is getting ready to head home. Last week we completed our Close of Service Conference, which is intended to give the group one last time to reunite and get acquainted with administrative and medical procedures needed to leave country. It’s also intended for Volunteers to feel rewarded for (almost) completing their service. [...]

Wrapping Up 2011

It feels strange and significant to say, “I’ve spent all of 2011 living in Africa.” It’s the same thing as saying, “I’ve spent a whole year living in Africa,” but the turning of a numerical year seems to mark it more clearly in my mind. It’s one of those things where I can look back [...]

In-Service Training

Just a quick note to mention I haven’t abandoned this blog – haha, that would be ridiculous.  At times this blog is the most accessible concrete expression of my growth and experiences during my service, and the support I’m getting from readers is always heartwarming. For the past 3 weeks I’ve been in the capital [...]

President’s Day Weekend

So Botswana just celebrated its President’s Day, which is different from Sir Seretse Khama day because this time we received two whole days off from work.  So some friends and I took advantage of this by doing the following: Cooking an exorbitant amount of food Macaroni, failed attempts at rice krispie treats and caramel corn, [...]

Shadowing Cont’d – Birthday Braai and the Flood Plain

One of the most mysterious things to me before joining the Peace Corps was the daily schedule of the average community development volunteer. What do they do all day if they are not in an office from 8:00-5:00? Watching my host I learned that there is some downtime, usually around lunch, but the mornings and [...]