A couple of weekends back, we had a holiday on Monday and Tuesday. Instead of planning a vacation, a couple Volunteers and I planned to travel around the area to see what we could find in the way of souvenirs. While I complain often that the tourist industry isn’t much developed in the Southern part of Botswana, I did manage to find a couple of places worth noting. Firstly, we ventured to Thamaga, the closest village to me. They have a large pottery facility there (with a discount shelf). Of course I’m drawn to the flawed works for both their price and their idiosyncrasies. The woman working mentioned how they didn’t have much business at all. That wasn’t hard to imagine seeing as though we perused the shop for a good 20 minutes before anyone bothered to notice. That’s how I like to shop anyway: unattended.  There is no advertising that would draw tourists to these parts of Botswana. If you bother to travel to Botswana you stop in Gabs only to catch a flight north to Maun or Kasane, the land of the expats and world-renowned safaris.

After Thamaga, it was on to Gabs to catch a bus to Oodi. Oodi is a village about 20 km outside of Gaborone. I’d call it a suburb, but that might be a stretch being that it doesn’t conjure up images of picket fences and pristine houses. Instead, it is actually relatively less developed in the way of styled housing and there is no grocery shop or china shop selling even your most basic household items. There is, however, an amazing weaving facility in this small village. Oodi Weavers is a women’s cooperative started by a group of European folks in 1973, at which time they taught several Batswana women the craft of weaving, including spinning, dying, and weaving their own wool.  Since that time, the facility has become a self-sustaining one. The weavings are often tapestry-like images of village life with traditional housing and intricately woven landscapes. In the nature of the craft, the figures are a bit angular…think Clementine Hunter got back on the boat to Africa, dropped the paintbrush and decided to pick up weaving amongst her repertoire of skills…and that’s what these weavings look like.  

There are still several places I intend to visit here in Botswana before I go. For one, there is a facility for disabled adults, Camphill, in Otse (Southern Botswana), which includes a plant nursery and sells items like hand-knit hats and scarves. All of the items sold are made from the Camphill participants and proceeds go back into their organization.

http://www.camphill.org.bw/index_files/Page361.html

Also, Alexander McCall Smith’s novel series was made into a TV series and the town center where the show was set it preserved for viewing just outside of Gaborone. While I only read one of the books and watched an episode just before packing my bags and boarding a plane to Botswana, I feel like it might be an interesting little excursion for an afternoon in Gabs. Although like most everything else, it would be much easier with a car.

Being 16 months into my service, I have hit somewhat of slump. It doesn’t feel quite as a confusing or devastating slump (as it was earlier on) as much as it is one of boredom if not a bit of laziness, just wanting to live the day to day and embrace the kind of complacency I have accomplished since being here. I know what effort and motivation it takes to start a new project and what all that entails. Sometimes I don’t want something so committal, as terrible as that sounds. Using an analogy a former Volunteer shared with me, working on projects is like putting a bunch of pots on the stove and you just stir the ones that boil. Right now, I’m stirring one big pot (GLOW Camp), pouring some water into a smaller pot, cleaning a used pot, and contemplating putting it back over the fire once more.         

Earlier on, I was so intent on having a schedule and some form of regularity to my lifestyle, and now I recognize that it’s better to embrace the slow pace of life and learn to operate like the locals do, taking it as it comes. Sometimes the mentality is “why rush?” other times it feels like “why bother?” Again I’m balancing my ambition with my reality. In effort to spruce things up, I agreed to work on another world map project with a friend in her village, Khakhea. Khakhea is a relatively rural and remote village with only about 2,500 people occupying the area. My friend, Britt, volunteers at the Khakhea Youth Centre in the village and has been working hard to get youth to attend and partake to use the center to its full potential. What’s particularly difficult is that 1. Youth in Botswana include ages 15-35 2. With such high unemployment, older “youth” don’t see the value of volunteering and contributing to a community cause without any monetary incentive. When asked if they would partake in preparing the wall and painting the mural, they refused, demanding that they be paid to do that.  Needless to say, we are working with a group of about 7 younger girls on this project. It’s still so amazing to me to see these girls improve their drawing and painting skills in the course of a project and build a new kind of confidence in the process. I also enjoy spending my day being outside and letting my mind wonder while my hands are occupied with painting. It’s rejuvenating and relaxing and I get to do it in the company of the community around me. The map is going to be a part of the launch of the Kids’ Club program, which brings more kids to the center for various after school opportunities. In this village there is little else to do and Britt has the benefit of working with a couple of golden Batswana that are motivated, energetic, and good intentioned, which really makes much of the work she does there a little bit easier and enjoyable.

I have loved being in Khakhea and experiencing another pace of life (if that’s even imaginable). There is one reliable bus that passes through and maybe two, depending on the day, the weather, what have you. There are few cars here and no façade of the urban hustle and bustle you get in Moshupa, where I feel like there is some unspoken competition with Gaborone.  Here, most ride on donkey carts or horseback to get around to even the further outlying villages surrounding Khakhea. I enjoy the pace of life and the general feeling of slowness in the village. It doesn’t aspire for the chaos that an urban environment entails. There are more traditional houses here and if you sit long enough watching people come and go through the day (realizing there is only a bar, small convenient store, and a post office to even bother visiting) you can see the directional flow of the village throughout the course of the day. This is the kind of setting I imagined living in, but maybe it just makes me appreciate it all the more having only the opportunity to visit for a short time.

Amongst the other self-explanatory photos, these are a couple of photos from one of the general dealers (small convenient store) in Khakhea. While the selection of goods is clearly limited, it has most basic essentials. Britt grocery shops in Jwaneng each week, traveling and hour and twenty minutes each way to get things like cheese or yogurt. You can also get NOVELTY food items like couscous! A diet of maize meal and cabbage and potatoes can get old FAST.

ALSO, don’t forget to click the GLOW CAMP link above and donate to the project if you can!