Top Ten Surprises About Botswana
Number Ten:
You can drink the tap water straight from the tap and it tastes great
Number Nine:
I live in a nicer house than almost anywhere else I have lived, complete with a swimming pool, microwave, wireless internet, and monkeys instead of raccoons!
Number Eight:
Driving on the left side of the road is not that bad after awhile.
Though learning stick, left handed in the bush is not so easy
Number Seven:
It gets really cold here in the winter, especially when you don't have central heating!
And man are the summers hot!
Number Six:
All produce comes from South Africa, almost nothing is grown here except cattle (which I hear are really good, though being vegetarian I have not had the pleasure of tasting the grass fed beef).
Number Five:
Above mentioned cattle (as well as donkeys and goats) are everywhere (in the city, on the highway, in the middle of the road)! There are more cattle than people here and the cattle are not afraid to cross the road (or stand in it) at any time of day or night, despite the fact that cars are coming at them at 120kms/hr
Number Four:
It is possible to get very close to some really dangerous animals and live to tell about it.
Number Three:
The hospital wards are never "full" (there is always room for mattresses on the floors) and the mothers are expected to act as housekeeper, laundress, cook, nurse, and monitoring system.
Number Two:
The fact that the hospital can run out of Normal Saline, Iron tablets, and Bactrim (all basic medications) but have Vancomycin and Cefotaxime (more expensive antibiotics) in stock.
Number One:
The unbelievable resilience of children and the incredible size that a smile can grow to when a child is presented with a sticker and a complement on a job well done!
My first year in Botswana has been filled with many great surprises, numerous trials and tribulations, and more learning opportunities and adventures than I can count. There are many, many more than ten, but I thought the above list was a good start. I feel so lucky to have been able to have this experience and am looking forward to all of the surprises that year number two will bring.
Fabulous, Leah! Can't wait to visit and swim in your pool...Number three reminds me of the care giving role that is a mostly unrecognized hardship due to AIDS, one that is ignored by government policy: The need to take care of family members in hospital because of the lack of nursing care, which removes the mother or another key family member from looking after children at home and doing other necessary daily tasks. A skeptical Tanzanian government member once dismissed the arguments of a Tanzanian gender expert when she was argued that the of unpaid care work/economy was a huge drain on the larger economy itself. She told him to just stand outside the Muhimbili hospital (in Dar) for a day and he would see the women going back and forth with food etc., taken away from the heavy toll of their daily work. Who is doing that work? Who provides for the family in her absence? Who looks after the children - older children who must miss school to do so? Who provides the food, washes the clothes etc. of the other members of the family, mostly male, that work in the workforce, and so forth.
ReplyDeleteI don't know Leah, my last vegetarian friend who spent time in Botswana came home eating steak... Congrats on all that you have accomplished in your first year!
ReplyDeleteI love your blog, Leah! Can I put a link to it on mine? (My google account name is Woco, but this is Caitlin) :)
ReplyDeleteGreat commentary. Steph, right on!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you've been there for a year!! It seems like just last week we were having indian food with Julie in Montclair. Crazy!!
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