Nice to meet you, Botswana

So, I’m safe here in Gaborone!

Pronounced: Ha-ba-ro-nee, if you want to pretend you’re local.

Which won’t work. 

I believe I was the only white person on the Intercape and perhaps the only one I’ve seen here, save for Andy. Moreover, as such, most will assume you are from South Africa and can at least give general pleasantries in Setswana.

Not this girl. Dumela (Hello!) is all I know at the moment. 

I’ll learn quickly though!

I find the people here marvelous. They’re all smiles and think it is hysterical that I can’t speak a word of their language.

Andy, Dad’s public health colleague from Maine, is so generously hosting me here for the week. His daughter, Alice (a senior at GW) is also in town for the summer.

At his compound, courtesy of the U.S. government, he has planted 63 fruit trees!  Though most of them look like this, he has harvested a few fruits of which he is quite proud.

There are also chickens. I made myself breakfast from two of their eggs yesterday.  Delish.

Finally on the animal front, there are two dogs, Dips,(the big boy) and Enya,(the Jack Russel) plus a cat (Zuzu) so it feels nearly like home.

Tshireletso, the gardender, Tigele, her baby daughter, and Talent (her baby-daddy?) are also usually around but I have yet to meet them.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Nenguba, Andy’s spirited, diminutive house keeper who I believe runs the show. And marathons.

Nenguba took me around the city yesterday.

For me, we successfully procured internet and a sim card, only after some heated words with Verizon. 

For her, we shopped for a flat screen, a PC, a stereo, and a pretty awesome wig.

But don’t let the mild consumerism fool you.  Nenguba is amazing.  She has intense gumption, works two jobs and does very well for herself.

Bostwana is oft labeled “Africa lite” (largely for its success as a peaceful democracy since its independence in 1966) and/or “the poster child of African development.”

And it’s true—Gaborone, the capital city, is small, sleepy, and secure.  It’s relatively developed and is still growing impressively.

But, outside the city, poverty still reigns.  Most rural villages still have no water, no electricity.

So yes, Botswana is peaceful, but it still has battles to fight.

Today Andy and I went for a 4 mile run with the dogs around the city’s game reserve at sunrise.

 I struggled but the red sun rising over the quiet African bush kept me going.

Love from Gaborone.