Dumela

Dumela from Botswana!!!
Dumela means hello in Setswana, and it is a beautiful sounding word. I have heard it many times in the last 5 days. I arrived in Botswana on Tuesday July 28th at around 4 pm after well more than 24 hours of traveling. The trip went very smoothly and amazingly all of my baggage arrived without any problems at the Gabarone airport. The airport is pretty small, only one baggage claim area. Here is one of my first views of Gabarone. It is a picture of me and Julia (a fellow PAC doctor) on the runway at the airport with our small prop jet in the background.


I am currently staying in Gabarone, but I will be moving to a town called Serowe in a few weeks. Gabarone (or Gabs as everyone calls it) is a very modern city. There are several movie theaters here which are showing Harry Potter, Bruno, etc (basically the same movies that are currently out in the US). Already I have eaten pizza, Italian, Indian, Chinese, and today I even found veggie burgers for sale!!!! I hear that Serowe is much more rural, so I'm getting my fill of these luxuries now. However, it is only a 3 hr drive away, so hopefully I will be able to come and stock up periodically. For now I am living in a wonderful house with three bedrooms. However, only one room has a heater and since it is freezing, (by that I mean 40-50 F at night, as it is winter here) my temporary roommate (Steph) and I are sharing a room.


On the left is a picture of the front of the house. It is in a complex with several other PAC doctors and other families. We do not have internet in the house yet (they are working on it but it may take some time, which is why I have not blogged before this, and why this blog is so long!).

The Center of Excellence in Gabarone is pictured above. It is a very up to date clinic, they even have ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS!!! There will be more pictures and details of the clinic to follow, as I officially start there next week.