What we are doing in Botswana

There are three goals for the Peace Corps.  They are the same three goals that were established 50 years ago when the Peace Corps was formed.  Those are…

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.
2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.
3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

This blog that you are reading is one way I meet the 3^rd goal, letting you back home what Botswana and the people of Botswana are about.  When we return we will have a lot to share about our experience which will also fall under Goal #3.

The 2^nd goal is achieved every day when I have interactions with the people of Botswana; on the street and in the workplace.  Through those interactions they learn what America and the people of America are about.  (Hopefully I will be a good example)

Most people only think of the 1^st goal, the part about working and training, though the other two are equally important.  Our 1^st goal project is HIV/AIDS Capacity Building.  We are to build the capacity, the abilities, the knowledge of the people we work with so that they can do their jobs better.  We are working in areas that touch on those infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.

Tish works with an NGO called Stepping Stones International, whose goal is to help orphans and vulnerable children (OVC).  A few of these kids are infected with the disease because their mothers were infected and passed the disease on to them.  Many of them have lost one or both parents to the disease and their caregivers are now a relative, sometimes a grandparent.  I do not know what exactly she will be doing there; she can post on that later.  I do know she has been interviewing staff to find out just what they do and how they do it to learn about the organization.  She also mentioned that there was a Teen Book Club that used to be active and needs to be revitalized.

I work with the District Aids Coordinator’s office.  This office is for the purpose of helping the community’s efforts to deal with the disease.  To that end they assist community based organizations, support groups, NGO’s, etc.  They help them plan their workshops, trainings and activities; and they help them with funds.  My job description also leaves me free to go out on my own into the community and participate in any other project I want to that is HIV/AIDS related.

To give some examples of my first attempts at capacity building, not surprisingly I have been helping them with IT issues.  No one in Botswana knows how to type.  If you can type just 20 words per minute, they marvel at your typing skills and want to know how to do it.  Also, they have laptops but do not know how to use them, and have allowed them to become thoroughly infected with viruses.  I downloaded some freeware typing tutor programs and have a few of them started learning to type.  Also, I downloaded some freeware antivirus software and the latest definitions and have been working to clean up their computers.  Today I worked with them as they hosted a workshop to teach about the problem of Multiple Concurrent Partnerships (MCP), which is one of the reasons for the high HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in this country.

The first two months of service we are supposed to devote about 50% of our time to capacity building and the other 50% to community integration and assessment.  It is a time to get settled, learn about Mochudi, meet the chiefs, meet the stakeholders, etc.  We are two weeks into that and I haven’t done much of that because our housing situation has been so confusing.