Walking along the Thamalakane River

This morning, I left Jump Street at 7 am, and walked along the Thamalakane River that flows lazily through Maun.  The sun was just rising over the trees along the river at that time, turning everything into an orange glow.

I had been looking forward to stretching my legs this weekend.  Normally on Tuesdays and Thursdays back home, my BFF and I go for walks at Stanley Park after work.  I sorely miss those walks along the seawall, uninterrupted by traffic.

The walk along the Thamalakane River in the cool morning air was so pleasant.  The path was well worn by foot traffic and tire tracks.  Cows and donkeys grazed along the path, and hundreds of birds chirped and chased each other.  I took a detour into the educational park, but only saw some impalas. 

Then I walked into town to wander around taking pictures.  Two policemen came up and said I shouldn’t be taking pictures of buildings without proper authorization.  I had this image in my head that I was going to be thrown in jail in Botswana.  I chatted with them and they eventually left me alone.

Everything in the Old Mall fascinated me.  Local people set up little stands selling everything from candies to telephone services.  I looked curiously at everything, and all the vendors all looked at me with curiosity.  I greeted people with “dumela”, and that always make them looked surprised that I said hello in their language.  They always turn to each other and either giggle or say something in Setswana with a big smile.

I wandered over to a table covered by this leafy green plant in bundles.  I asked what it was and bought a batch of rape leaves for 5 Pula.  The lady told me to cook it with some tomatoes, oil and salt.  The rape leaves became a part of my dinner later and they were delicious!

By the time I walked back to the lodge, I had been walking for 3 hours.  I occupied the rest of the warm day indulging in reading a riveting book (The Book of Negroes).  It always blows my mind how humans can be so cruel to each other.

In the early evening, I walked back down to the bank of the river to stretch my stiff legs.  Two very friendly young men were fishing and I chatted with them.  They let me take pictures of them, and I shared my trail mix.

Here come more random thoughts completely unrelated to the walk along the river.  On the walk back to the lodge, I thought about the difference between my visit to Tanzania 8 months ago and Botswana.  In Tanzania, our activities consisted of climbing Kilimanjaro supported by porters we rarely talked to, and a safari drive with a guide who spoke perfect English.  We were surrounded by Canadians the whole time.  I never had to cook a meal for myself or figure out where supplied came from.  I was spoiled rotten, and no wonder I felt so at ease and so in love with the country.  It was probably more like a teenager’s crush.

This last week spent in Maun gave me many opportunities to live like, or close to, that of a local person.  Aside from my accommodation in a lodge, my day-to-day life is not so different from others in the WAR office.  I had to be at work on time, abide by the office rules, get my own groceries, cook most of my meals, and walk everywhere if I wanted to save the taxi fare.  It certainly doesn’t make me love this continent any less.  It just made me more aware of the reality that people live through everyday.  Being this close to the Okavango Delta—a world-renowned safari destination—most residents of Maun cannot afford to go visit the Delta.  While the country boasted rich with its diamonds, 33% of the pregnant women are HIV positive.

I don’t have any profound conclusions of these thoughts.  I am just grateful for the opportunity to learn about Botswana in more depth than I did with Tanzania.  I am also very glad that I’m doing a tiny bit more here than just spending money as a tourist.  At the end of the day, I think I will still walk away with more gained than given.

Sun rising over the Thamalakane River:

A very nice house along the river:

A young man fishing: 

A poler pushing his boat across the river:

The revolving door at the educational park:

Animals along the river:

Goats around a giant termite hill:

Interesting Things about Maun

This posting is a list of random things I found interesting about Botswana, but some may only apply to Maun rather than Botswana as a whole.

 

Donkeys

There are donkeys roaming the streets of Maun everywhere.  They are not tagged, and have no saddles.  Apparently they are branded or marked somehow, but I haven’t gotten close enough to find such evidence.  They just meander around the streets, eating garbage, taking dumps, and blocking traffic.  

The donkeys are used to pull heavy carts or plow the fields, but these carts or fields are outside of Maun.  The donkeys walk into town on their own and roam the streets.  Apparently the owners let the donkeys forage for their own food.  When the owners need a donkey to pull a cart, they walk all over town looking for their donkey.

You can buy a donkey for about C$50 to $80.  A lot of office employees would own donkeys but allow their farming family members to use their donkeys.

Traffic swerves around a donkey crossing the street:

 

Donkeys hanging out in town:

Driving

Vehicles travel on the left side of the road in Botswana.  It’s similar to most countries in Africa.  Speed limits serve as guidelines but not reinforced.  Pedestrians do not have the right of way.

 

No bicycles

There are no bicycles anywhere.  I initially thought I could get a bike and ride to/from work.  But nobody here rides a bicycle!  They either walk, or take a combi or a taxi.

 

Dogs

There are lots of dogs wandering around, and they are all skinny.  It’s hard to tell if they are pets or strays.  I haven’t seen one with a collar on.

Dogs scouring the garbage for food:

 

Milk

In the supermarkets, there are shelves full of "long life milk" in tetra packs that does not require refrigeration.   I find that disturbing.  What kind of milk can just sit on the shelf for 2 years?

Fresh milk is available in the refrigeration area.  But there is only one type—full cream milk.  I have not been able to find skim milk.

Sour milk is very popular.  From what I’ve heard, you just let good milk sit long enough and it turns into sour milk.  In my discussions with someone, they insisted that letting milk go sour makes it taste better.  She was appalled that I would throw out milk that has gone sour because it is a waste of perfectly good sour milk.

Long life milk at the supermarket:

 

Cell Phones

Not many people use land lines.  Everyone has a cell phone with prepaid minutes.  To buy additional airtime for cell phones, you can buy a prepaid card with a PIN you enter.  

Or, you can just walk up to someone wearing a cell phone company's bib, hand them some cash, give them your cell phone number, and they enter some codes on their cell phone, and your airtime is refilled right on the spot.  You get a text message confirming that your airtime has been refilled by $x that you just gave the person.

Hair Extensions

You can get hair extensions done for about C$15 flat fee.  They do not charge by the hour like in Canada.  You only have to get it re-done once every 2 or 3 months. 

A typical hut for barbers:

Foreigners

Regardless of your skin color, foreigners are assumed to be rich.  Most of the hotels, charter airlines and safari companies are owned by Caucasians.  I have not seen a single Chinese person here in Maun, but I hear that Chinese people own a lot of the small shops in Gaborone.

As a Chinese person, the locals still refer to me as “white”.  When I tell them I’m not white, they just dismiss my comments.

Real Estate

To rent a 2-bedroom house, the cost is roughly C$170 a month.

A plot of land goes for 5,000 Pula, which is just under C$850.  To build a 2-bedroom house with all the labor and material is about C$5,000. 

If you want to be fancy, you can spend C$8,000 and buy a very high end home.  Or you could splurge on a mansion with style for C$15,000.

 

Time

For 2:30 pm, nobody says “two-thirty”.  They say “half two”.

 

Cattle

Cattles are prized possessions.  The more cattles you own, the more you are respected as a rich person.  Anyone can own cattle and hire a head boy to raise the herd at the cattle post.  The cattle post are generally a few hundred kilometers out of town where the pasture is.  You can pay the head boy per month (about C$80/month) and buy them food.  Or, you can strike a deal with him to work for no pay, but each year you give him one animal from the herd.  The latter generally works better, as you are essentially giving company shares to an employee to work harder.

One of the ladies in the WAR office owns 8 cows.  Another lady owns 12 goats.  The lady with 8 cows is considered well-off.  She told me I could join her wealth by purchasing a cow, and she promised to send me pictures of my cow on FaceBook.

People love buying cows because they reproduce.  But bulls cost more to buy.  You would generally buy a cow for about 1,500 Pula, and sell them once they are fattened up at about 4,500 to 5,000 Pula.

For holidays, some people take their family to the cattle post.  They would slaughter a cow or goat, and feast on the meat during the holidays.  The cattle post can act much like a vacation home for familied.

If someone is caught for stealing cattle, they can be sent to jail for a long time as a severe punishment for this cattle-loving country.

 

 

Financial Policy

I'm making a quick posting before going off-line for the weekend.  

So far this week, I've had a number of meetings with various stakeholders of WAR's financial and accounting system, and I have done a first draft of the financial policy for the organization.  When the finance officer comes back next week, I'll be able to seek her input and work on finalizing the policy.

The next step for me is to ensure a proper training program is developed and delivered so that the employees would adapt to the policy.  The written policy is a reflection of many things that they are already doing, but with some modification so that there is better accountability.

I will be posting more pictures and interesting things about Botswana on the weekend.  There's an educational park in town I'll be checking out, and hopefully have some pictures of animals for you to see soon.

By the way, I really appreciate the comments and e-mails.  Please keep them coming!  I love hearing about your thoughts on this blog.

Storm in Maun

It normally does not rain in the winter in Botswana. 

But a storm just arrived, and brought bucket loads of rain.  A dam building project in Southern Botswana just got washed out with all the equipment either washed away or under water.  Giant puddles formed everywhere, and the dirt track leading to Jump Street is covered in water.  I don’t see evidence of a drainage system in the roads.

The effect of heavy downpour is interesting.  People are late for work; water supply is erratic; power supply gets cut out; even the internet connection is intermittent.

After having no electricity for two days at Jump Street, I am very grateful to use my hair dryer today when the power came back.  Cooking by candlelight was only so romantic the first few times.  I’m so spoiled by modern conveniences!

The girls in the office jokingly blamed me for bringing the rain from Vancouver.  I argued that Vancouver was hot and sunny when I left, but they will hear none of it.  Many claimed that they have never seen weather like this in their lifetime.

These are some of the most interesting storm clouds I've ever seen:

 

 

Now, a bit more about work.

I finally met the finance officer at WAR today.  She had been away at various meetings since I got here and just returned to the office today.  We met briefly and she gave me some ideas of what I can help with.

My mandate here is quite broad and there is room to tweak things along the way. Given the laundry list of things suggested to me, I definitely have to focus on the areas I can be effective in, and leave a list of outstanding items or recommendations for the next person to handle.

I feel that it would be a good use of my time to help them put together a financial policy, set up the safehouse sub ledger, and maybe start with bringing the donor reports up to date if time allows.  There is just not enough time to make everybody happy.

I’ve always had this mental picture of what it means to volunteer in Africa.  I should be rolling up my sleeves to get down and dirty to build a school or orphanage.  But a big focus of the Leave for Change program is on capacity building.  I’m not supposed to come here, do something, and leave.  I have to train the employees here on how to continue on the tool or system I have set up for them, so that they become self-sufficient.  It requires a shift in my mindset, and I do believe capacity building is more important in the long run.

Being on this assignment will go down as one of the most interesting things I have done with my life.  It’s an intense learning experience of a completely different culture and work environment.   I could not be more excited about this opportunity.

Another volunteer and myself:

One of the counselors and myself:

First day at WAR

Promptly at 8 am, the staff meeting began with the receptionist lady leading a song in Setswana and a prayer.  Mpho went on to make a number of announcements, and read a scripture from Psalm 119.  I had expected this format of staff meeting from what Adriaan had told me about WAR.  It was certainly an interesting start to the day.

Mpho took me to her office and we tried for an hour to put together a work plan for me.  She had so many interruptions during the hour that we barely got anything accomplished.  Just based on that hour, I can tell that matters big and small all ran through her, and she is expected by the staff to solve all problems.  Mpho has this calm air about her.  Regardless of how many interruptions come up, and how her schedules get changed on a dime, she dealt with each person with a tremendous amount of patience.

Mpho gave me a stack of miscellaneous financial reports to look through, along with the prior year financial statements.  I was given an office to work in.  The office is a basic room with a desk and a chair, but it had one thing that made me giddy—a high-speed internet connection cable!  I sat down to read the reports, while plugging in my laptop to let all my out-going e-mails upload.  It was so satisfying to watch the progress bar move as the e-mails are uploaded.  Ah, such joys in life!

The president of the WAR board of directors came by, and had a list of concerns for me to address.  As typical of a NPO with budget constraints, there’s a certain tension between the board and the management.  The president’s concerns were valid, and I felt like I can help put things on the right track during my assignment.  At lunch time, Kabo, a peace corps volunteer with WAR took me to a local restaurant for lunch.  He is half way through his 2-year assignment in Botswana.  He conveyed his concerns about the financial well being of the organization.  I added his concerns to my list.  In the afternoon, the fundraising coordinator came by, and shared with me her concerns about budgets and expenditures.  At the end of the day, I had a list I can really sink my teeth into, and I was very excited.  I wrote up a proposed work plan and sent it to Mpho for her approval.

Around 4 pm, the sun went away, the winds picked up, and the sky turned a stormy grey.  Lightning and thunder followed.  I rushed outside with my camera trying to capture the lighting, but was always too slow pressing the shutter.  I ended up taking pictures of the staff and goofing off in the front yard for the last few minutes of the day.

Another volunteer in Gaborone told me one of the things she loved the most about being in Botswana is that it is so easy to build a network, and I’m already seeing evidence of this.  Every person I spoke with offered me their phone number, and introduced me to another person whom they think can help me with my job.  People are very helpful and are quick to offer assistance.  The inter-cultural training we received from WUSC also stressed the importance of building relationships, and it is one of the most important things for the Botswana culture.   I am loving this!

Stormy sky:

Some of the staff at WAR:

 

First Weekend in Maun

The dirt tracks leading to Jump Street:

Jump Street complex:

My room:

My "kitchen":

A corner of my room:

My first weekend in Maun is almost over.  I arrived on Saturday morning and settled into my accommodation.  This morning, I ventured out to the Old Mall to get groceries.

I knew the approximate direction of the Old Mall, but wasn’t clear on exactly where it is.  I could just order a taxi to take me from Jump Street straight to the Old Mall.  But to complicate things, I decided to walk from Jump Street to the tarred road and wave down a taxi myself.

The cheapest way to travel is taking a mini bus called combi.  It’s a van that crams in 12 to 15 people.  I believe it’s only 2 or 3 Pula to get across town.  But when I asked the hotel lady how to take a combi, she strongly discouraged me to take it because she was afraid I would get on the wrong combi and get lost.

It was a balmy 20 Celsius at 8:30 am.  When I first came out of the Jump Street gate, I was marveling at all the colorful birds chirping away in the area.  The sky was clear and cloudless, and the sun was shining.  The air was warm and comfortable.  I was happy, and started down the dirt track.

The walk down the dirt track which is covered in fine sand took about 25 minutes.  I got to the tarred road, and took my runners off to dump out the sand.  A few minutes later, a taxi honked at me and I waved him down.  I asked if he can take me to the Old Mall, and he said yes.  There are already two other people in back seat of the taxi, so I got in the front.  The taxi started driving, and stopped 100 ft later to pick up another man.  With a full car, he drove us into town, and dropped people off at various spots along the way.

This type of taxi is a very common as the mid-range travel method.  My ride cost 3.20 Pula, which is about 50 cents C$.  The drivers pick up and drop off people along the road.  No one is ever really in a big rush with this type of travel.  Once in the taxi, it took less than 10 minutes for me to get to the Old Mall area.

I remembered that in the old days in Taiwan, this is a cost effective way to get from point A to point B.  They called it the “wild chicken” taxi.  The taxi would stop at the busy areas in town, such as a big train station or bus loop, and call out the route they are taking.  If you hear a driver call out a route close to your home, you jumped in the taxi with 3 or 4 others, and the driver dropped you off close to your home at a fixed fee.  I always wondered if the “wild chicken” referred to the passengers in those taxis.

In Botswana, you can also take a taxi that is private.  All it means is that the driver will not stop for others along the road.  This is used when you are going off the main roads for more than a few blocks.  You negotiate the rate before you get in.  After I got groceries, I had to take one of these for 15 Pula, because Jump Street is quite a bit off the main roads.

The taxi driver dropped me off at ShopRite, a big grocery store.  It looks a lot like a supermarket in North America, dated perhaps 10 years back.  I managed to get everything on my grocery list, including feta cheese and Thai green curry paste.  The cashier lady was not impressed that I didn’t have the weight sticker for my potatoes.  It really showed my ignorance assuming that my bag of potatoes will get weighed at the check-out. 

A lot of the shops in town are not open today because it is Sunday.  So after getting groceries, I took a taxi back to Jump Street to hole up in my room.  It feels odd not having a bunch of errands to run on a weekend.

I made some chicken curry for lunch.  I also attempted to cook some samp for the first time, and burned the whole pot of gooey mess.

It will be my first day at work tomorrow.  I'm both excited and a bit nervous.

Maun

I’ve arranged for a taxi to take me to the airport at 6:30 this morning to fly from Gaborone to Maun.  I had a sneaky suspicion that he wouldn’t show up, as he was ½ hour late to pick up Richard and I last night for our dinner arrangement.  So when I called him at 6:30 am, I wasn’t surprised to hear that he was still sleeping.

The great thing about being in this continent is that when one plan fails, someone else is usually happy to help out.  As I was asking the hotel receptionist to help me, her boss overheard the conversation and decided to drive me to the airport himself for a reduced rate.

Upon check-in, I was told to go pay an excess baggage fee.  My bags were not THAT heavy!  Secretly, I’ve always made fun of people who pay excess baggage fees.  I peg them for mostly women who have no control over what they pack.  Have I turned into one of those?

Mpho, the director at WAR, who would be my boss for the next 3 weeks, happened to be on the same flight going back to Maun.  I met up with her at the airport.  When we landed in Maun, Mpho took me to the WAR office across the street from the airport.  The blinding sunlight felt so great on my back.  The heat is intense and dry, which reminded me of my trip to Joshua Tree last summer.

The WAR office is made up of two buildings on the same plot of land.  Between the two buildings is a flat, sandy courtyard.  The sand is fine and grey, as Maun sits on the edge of the Kalahari Desert.  Under the blazing sun, the inside of the buildings are actually cool.  From the front yard of the office, one can see the planes land on the landing strip.

The front office door:

WAR reception area:

The front of the building:

Front of building again:

After a quick visit to the WAR office, Mpho took me to Jump Street, which would be my home for the next 4 weeks.  Jump Street is an accommodation complex made up of individual huts with thatch roofs.  Each hut is a standalone unit.  My hut has a bed in the middle of the room with tiled floor.  There is a small 3-piece bathroom with a stand-up shower.  I also have a small kitchen, which has a sink, a bar fridge, and a toaster oven with two heating elements on top.  The walls are painted an earthy orange.

I quite like my new home.  Aside from having no internet access, I believe I will enjoy it here immensely.  At this moment, I am feeling like an addict in need of a fix.  I keep clicking on my browser, only to be reminded that I am not connected to the internet here.  Adriaan, a previous WAR volunteer from Vancouver, had advised me to bring lots of books to read.

Tomorrow I will set out to explore the surrounding area, and promise to post more pictures.

Gaborone

From the Deloitte family, Richard and I are being sent to Botswana, although Richard will be staying in Gaborone for his assignment with a different local organization.  We took the same connection flight from London to Johannesburg, then the same flight to Gaborone.

At the Johannesburg airport, we had a 9-hour layover.  Richard got a hotel room to get some sleep.  I took a shuttle to the Emperors Palace and treated myself to a massage and facial.

The Emperors Palace in Johannesburg:

Chilli from the Gaborone WUSC office picked us up from the airport and got us settled into a hotel last night.  Today is the official orientation day.  Chilli got copies of our documents, took us to get the local currency (Pula), and went shopping for the correct converter.  Both Richard and I showed up with the same type of converters that do not work for the local outlets.  It threw me in a bit of a loop looking for one that would work with my Mac’s three-prong plug.  Anyway, all is well at the end as we found what we needed.  Then we had a quick visit with the Gaborone Deloitte office before lunch.  We met Claire who is originally from the UK.  We visited the museum in the afternoon to get some background on the natural history of the country.

Deloitte Gaborone office:

The temperature was quite cool in the early mornings and late evenings, hovering around 9 or 10 Celsius.   The afternoons are quite warm at about 26 or 27 Celsius.

The interesting thing I found here is that the sun is extremely bright.  On a sunny and cloudless day in Vancouver, I may have to squint a little or wear sunglasses.  Here, I could barely keep my eyes open without sunglasses.  I wonder if this has anything to do with the angle at which the sun hits the earth.  Perhaps the sun hits Gaborone more directly than it hits Vancouver.  It is wonderfully blinding!  Solar energy is often harvested to heat water.  Solar panels are fairly commonly found on roofs of homes.

Solar panel on a rooftop:

View from my hotel room in Gaborone:

We have dinner plans with another volunteer who has been here for a number of months now.  Then I am finally flying out to Maun tomorrow morning.  I will write more once I get settled in at my accommodation in Maun.