The Zenner's Move to Africa: Still Kicking

A Short Explanation

Dear Readers (in Chris’ words),

So it’s April and our last blog was sometime in November, it’s been a while. I guess I’d like to say we have been so busy changing lives and impacting the community we haven’t had time to write a blog, but that’s not really the case. The reason why we haven’t updated the blog more frequently is because we’ve been doing a lot of the same things we’ve mentioned in our previous entries and we don’t want to keep writing the same thing over and over. Not to say we aren’t enjoying ourselves or helping our cause, just saying it’s not always that exciting.

Language and Cultural Dilemmas

The following are a few situations caused by cultural differences and the inability to understand Setswana fluently:

I was sitting in a workshop that was being conducted mostly in Setswana. The current conversational topic has been going on in Setswana for about an hour, that’s beyond my attention span so I start writing an email. The people talking sounded as uncomfortable as their facial expressions looked. I thought about why that could be for a second and returned to my email. Suddenly I hear my name, “Tumelo” caught of guard I look up and respond, “Yeah”. “What are your thoughts on masturbation?” After giving out a slight laugh I say, “Ummm, well, what do you want to know?” Needless to say I don’t care to repeat the answer I gave to that question. I later found out that the topic was changed because one lady said that to discuss masturbation in front of women was sexual harassment.

This situation is a reoccurring one for us and I don’t know if it’s a cultural norm to put people on the spot or what, but it’s starting to feel like it is. On one occasion not more then a week I ago I was going to the Registry Office to check for mail – as I’ve been doing for the past 8 months. This time the lady at the counter points to her co-worker and says “Tumelo! Do you know her name? You should!” I laugh nervously and say, “No, I have a hard time remembering Setswana names.” To which she replies, “But you should know it, haven’t you shared a ride with her to Gabs?” At this point it comes to my mind that I don’t know the name of lady who is questioning me. I try to read her nametag but it’s tiny and angled toward the ground. I say “Yeah I really should know her name, if you tell me I promise I’ll remember.” She gives me a glaring look and asks, “What’s my name?” At this point I’m just hoping she stops asking me peoples’ names. I then admit, “I don’t know your name either but next time I come for mail I promise I won’t forget.” After some playful harassment they finally let me leave with their names permanently engrained in my memory.

Another similar thing happened to me a while back. I was returning from the bathroom when I heard my office supervisor yell, “Tumelo, come here!” I walk over towards him and see that he’s talking to a guy I had met previously at a workshop. My supervisor asks, “Tumelo, do you know this man?” I casually reply, “Yeah I met him in a workshop.” The man smiles and shakes his head in agreement and my supervisor turns toward me smiling, “What’s his name?” I laugh nervously and say my usual excuse, “I have a hard time remembering Setswana names.” My supervisor smiles again, “But Tumelo his name is Jeff.”

Burning Man in the Pan

Our Peace Corps group recently celebrated our one-year anniversary since arriving in Botswana. So a large portion of our group went camping on the Sowa (the bushmen word for salt) Pan and burned a wood shaped man (We copied an annual event in the US called the Burning Man). The reunion ended up being a lot of fun. It was nice talking to volunteers we hadn’t seen for a while, relaxing and celebrating our one year in country.

On our way to the pans --------- Our burning man

The night we camped on the pan ended up getting a little crazy. Most of us had pitched our tents outside by the pan; the others pitched their tents in a giant pavilion like shelter. As the night went on most of us were assuming it was going to rain and it did, but before the rain came we got an intense windstorm. Out of the 15 tents that were pitched outside only 3 of them remained staked into the ground. Ours didn’t get blown away, but only because when the wind came I was inside our tent looking for a cup. I don’t recall if anyone lost a tent but I know one was lodged in an Acacia tree (thorny tree). In the end everyone brought their tents into the pavilion.

Camping on the pans --------- Chris and I (and Meg)

One of the most memorable moments for us at the one-year celebration was when our group sang our national anthem while we were standing around the bonfire. It was definitely a bittersweet moment. Oh yes and we will not forget the tarantula spider (the size of our cell phone) that visited our camp.

Scary spider

Things to Come

We have a few fun things lined up for us in the next two months. Next week we are going to be heading to Germany to meet up with Shelly’s mom and sister. We’ll be traveling throughout Germany and Austria for two weeks. We are really excited about that because we haven’t seen any family since we left home. Also my parents, my sister Mel, her fiancée and my sister Jo are coming to Botswana in the end of May for two weeks. They are going to stay with us for a few days in our village and then we are going to tour the country and see all the famous sites. We cannot wait!

On the work side of life things are definitely easier said than done. Especially when it comes to working on projects with members of the community instead of just doing them on our own. We are capacity builders which means we are not suppose to do things that cannot continue once our service is completed. We have been apart of several projects that have fallen through because often times the person “leading” the project leaves Hukuntsi with no notice. So now we are trying to do a project with our local District AIDS Coordination Office. This project will involve the surrounding settlements, HIV/AIDS education and family photos. The settlements are often ignored regarding HIV/AIDS prevention/awareness and we know very few people who have photos of their families. We feel by offering photos it would be a good way to gather people because they love having their pictures taken. Also often times children are left without any tangible memories of their parents if they are orphaned.

Along with that we will continue to try and do some fundraising to get a basketball court built in the village. The school has one hoop that is bolted to the wall in the school hall, but the bolts fall out often. We coach basketball and we have had to cancel practice many times because we felt it was no longer safe to play.

Closing Remarks (in Shelly’s words)

We would like to end this blog by saying that we miss many things about home. We miss our family and friends very, very much. We miss things like having a car, being able to cook something that doesn't take more than 20 minutes and Subway sandwiches (just to name a few). However missing things and people "helps" us realize just how lucky we are to be from where we are from.

Random Images of Our Life in Botswana

Chris played in a volleyball tournament for a Month of Youth Against AIDS event