School AIDS Fair Competitions

Knuckleheads


In March we had our School AIDS Fair for our Sub-District in a village called Maokane. We took about 15 representatives from all the schools in the area and had the students compete in various exercises incorporating HIV/AIDS including an oral quiz, drama, art, essay, and debate competitions. I helped train the debate team from Maiteko Junior Secondary School, which is in Mabutsane, and they did such a wonderful job! It never ceases to amaze me how much young teens have to offer intellectually.

Here are some of the questions from the oral quiz. Can you answer these correctly?

What does HIV stand for?
What does AIDS stand for?
What is the difference between HIV and AIDS?
How does HIV hurt the body?
How many people in the world are living with HIV/AIDS today?
What are the four body fluids that HIV lives in?
What is the appropriate type of lubricant to use with a male condom so that it won’t tear? (there is only one right answer)
a. Body lotion
b. Vaseline
c. Baby oil
d. KY Jelly
What is an “AIDS Defining-Illness”?
What AIDS Defining Illness is responsible for the deaths of more people in Botswana than any other?

Answers are at the bottom.





Here are some of the controversial debate topics we had the students discuss.

1. Male circumcision has been shown to correlate with a lower risk of contracting HIV. Thus all males must automatically have the procedure performed at the time of birth.
2. All patients who come to the health facilities for treatment regarding any problem must be mandated to test for HIV.
3. All pregnant women must be mandated to test for HIV.
4. The current age requirement in Botswana to be tested for HIV without the consent of a parent is 16 years old. This should be lowered to 12 years.
5. Condoms should be made available to all students at junior secondary schools.


Tetlanyo rocks it during the debate

Just so you know…

Currently, circumcision is not widely practiced here, but I think it is becoming more and more accepted. In Botswana today HIV testing is never mandatory, it is always optional. In my opinion it should not be made mandatory for the general public. But it is also not mandatory for pregnant women to test, which I think is criminal. At the office where I work we collect data from all over the district about new cases of HIV. It really pisses me off when we get numbers showing HIV positive babies whose mothers were HIV positive but refused to test. I think they should be forced to test because it is not just their life at stake, it is their child’s life too. The government should step in to protect those babies if the mothers fail to do so. In the PMTCT (Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission) program here in Botswana, if a mother who is HIV positive takes all of the correct medications her baby has a 96% chance of being HIV negative.

Also, condoms are not currently made available to students at school, which I also think this is a mistake. I also think the age requirement for testing is a mistake given the general inadequacy in terms of parent to teen communication here. Teens would never ask their parent to accompany them to get a test! They would probably get a whipp’n if they did, so I think the age requirement should be abolished.

What do you think???









Answers to quiz questions:
Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
HIV is the virus that causes the disease AIDS (you are technically considered to have AIDS is if your CD4 count is less than 250, otherwise you are just considered HIV positive)
HIV infects and kills key parts of your immune system (white blood cells, specifically, CD4 cells) which makes you susceptible to diseases you would otherwise be able to fight off
About 32 million people according to UNAIDS (24 million in Sub-Saharan Africa)
Vaginal Fluids, Seminal Fluids, Blood, and Breast milk
KY Jelly
An AIDS Defining Illness is a disease that is found only in people with compromised immune systems, such as those who are HIV positive. They are also called “opportunistic infections”
Tuberculosis (TB) is the most deadly AIDS Defining Illness in Botswana (and in most of the world)

New Addition to the Family

Talama relaxes underneath my mosquito net

Meet my cat. My new best friend. I named her Talama, which means “Button” in Setswana, a very girly name. Then she grew balls. This took me by surprise. Talama is not a she, but rather a he! How could I have known? In light of this new information I started calling him “Uncle Dunkle” or sometimes just “Dunkle”, or sometimes “Herman” (short for hermaphrodite), but everyone else already knew him as “Talama” so now I have a fruity male cat with a girly name. (Just like your “Cleo” Chelsea!).


Taking a nap and representing Palestine simultaneously

Setswana Proverbs

One of the great things about the Setswana language is that it is rich in proverbs. Proverbs can speak volumes about the culture and the people and are commonly used in communicating certain ideas (and frequently used by Peace Corps V’s to win over the audience during speeches). Here are some of my favorites followed by a translation into English and an interpretation of what the proverbs are actually trying to convey:


“Pelo e ntle ke leswalo la motho”

“A good heart is a person’s best medicine”

If you are light-hearted and happy, you will be healthier. This is common wisdom that is found the world over.




“Pelo potsane, e tshwarwa ke mong wa yone”

“The heart of the hater has no healer”

This one is pretty self-explanatory. It means that hatred is self-consuming, and that someone who is filled with hate cannot know peace




“Mosadi tshwene o jewa mabogo”

“You can still eat from an ugly woman’s hands”

I love this one. The phrase used for “ugly woman”, “mosadi tshwene”, literally means “baboon woman”. I have heard some conflicting ideas about what this one means, but I suppose that is one of the nice things about proverbs. Their meanings are subjective, and are very much open to interpretation. Most people have told me that the proverb is trying to say that you shouldn’t choose your wife based on looks because it doesn’t necessarily mean she will be good to you. Others have told me that it is referring to the fact that most of the women who really contribute to the country’s well being are not considered extremely attractive, but they are still an essential component. And a few guys have told me that the proverb is giving you advice for the bedroom: just because a woman is ugly doesn’t mean that she isn’t extremely good in the sack. (this last interpretation is, needless to say, my favorite).



“Moroto wa o esi ga o elele”

“The urine of one person does not flow”

To use the words of my coworker Nkaiwa, this is basically saying that “cooperation is most essential”.





“Leitlho le losi le tshabelelwa ke selabe”

“A one-eyed person is always affected by a splinter in his eye”

People have several different interpretations of this one. It can be understood as to simply be conveying the importance of teamwork. It can also be taken as a warning that you are vulnerable when all alone and it is preferable to be part of a cohesive group, and is thus encouraging cooperation. It might differ in the previous proverb in that it encourages mutual aid but for selfish reasons.





“Sepa legolo ke la moeng, la monggae pipitlwane”

“The feces of a visitor is large/offensive, but the host’s is of no significance”

If PCVs remember only one Setswana proverb, this should be it. It is basically saying that a foreigner who does something that is taboo, offensive, or impolite is in big trouble, but if the host does something wrong then it is no big deal.





“Boammaaruri ga bo jelwe pheko”

“You can not chew charms to kill the truth”

This proverb makes a reference to the traditional medicine in which people chew certain “charms” in order to bring about some type of healing. It means that the truth cannot be killed as other illnesses can. It is a warning that if you are trying to hide something, eventually you will be found out no matter what you do to try and suppress the truth.





“Letlotlo le bonwa ka matlho, molomo o sa tle go le ja”

“Abundance can be seen with the eyes, but the mouth will not eat it”

I really like this one because it is an important thing to remember here in Botswana! It means that you can’t be sure of anything until you actually have it. There is an epidemic of false promises here. Yes, I will be there. Yes, I will bring it. Yes, it will be done by Friday. Yes, the bus will be leaving at 2 pm. But they do not come, they do not bring it, it is not done by Friday, and the bus will not leave until 5 pm! Obviously this type of thing happens a lot in the U.S. too, but it is much more severe of a problem here. A lot of it is logistical, there are just fewer resources to work with in BW. For example, if the bus breaks down, in America they would just send a replacement bus, but here that might not be an option given that there is only one bus for that route or company. But much of the problem begins with peoples’ attitudes. I have had many people tell me that if someone invites you somewhere and you know that you won’t come, you should never say that you won’t make it, rather, just say that you will come and then don’t. This is completely acceptable in regards to social occasions. Sometimes I really like this rule and I take advantage of it, but obviously it is not a very good standard of practice in the long run, especially for business affairs. There is an analogous proverb in English for this one: “Don’t count your eggs before they hatch”.



“Mofufutso wa phatla ga o tlhobogwe, go tlhobogwa wa dikgodukgotshwane”

“Sweat from the brow brings help; behind the knees sweat is useless”

This proverb is saying that if you are sweating because you are being productive than that is “good sweat”, but it is “bad sweat” if you are just worrying all the time and sweating as a result. I think this one is partly analogous to “Don’t sweat the small stuff”. I also think it is super funny that Setswana has a word for “the area behind your knee”. Complicated language!




“Even though the eland can have beautiful stripes, it may be itching on the inside” and “A person cannot be known like the bush”

These proverbs were actually used in an HIV educational advertisement as they are perfectly applicable to the idea that many people just assume someone is HIV negative because they look healthy, rich, well-educated, etc, but the truth is you never really know. An “eland” is like a very small, striped zebra/deerish but cuter type animal (that’s a scientific term, mind you). To say that you can “know the bush” just means that you can know the wilderness: where to go for water, what roots and berries you can eat, where the best hunting grounds are, etc. The proverb itself, used in a more general non-HIV related context, is saying that you cannot tell what a person is really like just by judging their outward appearance. The analogous proverb in English, something we all learned in kindergarten, is: “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover”.

A Delta Christmas

Watching a beautiful sunset from the boat in Seronga.


A glimmer of a rainbow on the road to Xakao.



For the holidays I traveled up north for a bit to check out the Okavango Delta, which is the largest inland river delta in the whole entire world. All the rain water from Angola comes flooding down into Botswana and the Kalahari, transforming part of the desert into a beautiful, lush waterworld with an overwhelming abundance of wildlife. I had been to Maun (the "gateway" to the Delta) many times before, but this was my first time to actually go up into the Delta. First I took a 6 hour bus ride from Maun up to Shakawe to meet my favorite Peace Corps couple, Kezia and Zach, otherwise known as Kezac, where we ate some beans at "the Pakistani" guy's restaurant while watching on TV that Benazir Bhutto had been assassinated. We then took a ferry over one of the rivers which leads to the inside of the delta where Zach's village, Xakao, is located. But Xakao is 14 km from the ferry crossing and there are very few cars in this area so...we walked 10 km for 2 and a half hours before we got a ride. Xakao is beautiful, but there is absolutely nothing there! We got to Zach's house where we ate some more beans and got a good night's sleep. The next day, Christmas Eve, was filled with flash thunder and lightning storms. When we woke up Zach's yard was filled with kids. Apparently he had asked a lady to come and weed his yard for him as a "piece job", a short one-time job, but this lady had decided to send all of her kids to come and do the work instead. They thought it was pretty funny to see not just one, but three makgoa in the same place, so they spent most of their time not pulling weeds but rather staring through the windows. I gave them an English lesson. Words they already knew: "Hand, mouth, eyes, ears, red, yellow, blue and green". Words they didn't know: "Tongue, purple, finger, cheek, leg, the difference between foot and feet" (which is very confusing for kids.) Zach and I then took a walk around the village to look at the Delta, and we saw lots of pretty birds and elephant poop, but no elephants, which is probably a good thing because sometimes wild elephants will trample you.

Downtown Xakao. Seriously. That's it.


The Delta waters in Xakao.

These kids stayed in Zach's yard the entire day. We are such interesting entertainment.


Around 4 pm we foolishly decided to try and hitchhike down to Seronga, a very remote village about 100 km deeper into the Delta where many of our PCV friends were celebrating XMas. We filled one Nalgene bottle with water and the other with vodka and pseudo-Gatorade (to celebrate our decision of course) and stood out in the rain for an hour and a half waiting for a ride. We finally got one around five pm. Only 100 km away. only an hour's ride, right? No problem, we will be there by 6:30. No! Nyaa! Non! Nein! It is 100 km down the bumpiest, muddiest, cow-crossing infested isolated road ever known to man. Kezac and I are crammed into the back of an old pickup truck with 6 other people (for a total of 9), and after about two hours into the journey, just after it gets completely dark, it starts to rain hard. Needless to say, worst Xmas Eve ever! I just folded up into a ball, trying to protect my tailbone from being broken when going over the big bumps, cursing our decision to leave Xakao (cursing my decision to come to Africa really- I was a little emotional, it being Xmas eve and me being in the freezing rain and all). As we were making our way down this lonely rod in the dark, in the middle of the wilderness, where there are few people and no electricity, up in the distance I see Xmas lights and hear music. Seriously. What is this apparition I wonder? Parked alongside the road there is a "bar", a trailer hooked up to an electricity generator which is powering the sparkling lights and blasting Dolly Parton dance remixes as people get drunk outside. It was the most random and unexpected thing I've ever seen! I felt like Martin Sheen when he sees the Playboy Bunny stage set up in the middle of the jungle in Vietnam (how many times have I referenced "Apocalypse Now" on this blog??). Very bizarre. We stopped at this light of life in the middle of the dark, dense wilderness to use the pit latrine, then we were on our way. We finally arrives, thoroughly soaked, filthy, and beat up from our rough and tumble ride around 9:30 pm. Of course I was instantly happy that we had decided to come to Seronga (and that I had decided to come to Africa), and my homesickness melted away with the shot of whiskey that my friend Marni handed me to warm myself up. Kezia and I were joking that one day when we are granny's we will look back on Christmas Eve 2007 and laugh about how "young and stupid" we were. "We thought we were invincible!" we'll say!

Some super cute kids in Seronga.

I stayed in Seronga for a few days before heading back to Mabutsane via Maun. We played lots of Scrabble, ate lots of delicious Indian food, courtesy of Chandni, drank lots of wine, took lots of nature walks, went out into the Delta on motor boats, and I finally heard songs by Amy Winehouse on my friend's Ipod (I had been reading about her in all of those People magazines that my friend Sheri mails me (thank you Sheri!) and thinking, who is this Amy everyone is talking about, all tatted up with her interesting throw back style and bouffant from hell?). We had a great big afternoon feast on Christmas day, and even performed our own blasphemous version of the nativity play. (notable performances: Skye as Steven Spielberg (director of the play), Mike as Jesus' mother Mary (with a Mexican accent), me as Mary Magdalene (whore), and Hunter (aka "Slicey") as a mix between Jesus/Pax- son of Angelina Jolie). Quite possibly the most bizarre Xmas ever, but lots of fun.

Hey, did you know that one of the gifts the Three Wise Men brought baby Jesus was a memory stick? Weird. I didn't know that either.

Friends.

Camp GLOW Stories

I am happy to report that Camp GLOW was pulled off successfully and that the kids all had a lot of fun, hopefully while learning a thing or two. One of my favorite things we did was our trip to the University of Botswana, where we were given a tour of the very impressive central library. I think it really made an impact on the students, particularly on the boys, who were normally very rowdy but who became abnormally silent when we were inside. I think they were genuinely affected by the power of the library and wanted to show the proper respect by behaving well. And to actually see all of the students there who were working on computers and running off to their classes, I think a few light bulbs went off saying “Hey, that could be me!”.

But the best part about the camp was watching the girls really open up, both to us PCVs and to each other, and to watch as they became more and more confident as the days passed. Although the average age for the girls was around 14, there were a few girls there who were very young, about 11 or 12 years old. These girls, due to their age, tended to be more shy then the older ones. At the outset of the camp, some of them would just look down at the ground and not respond when you talked to them (a ubiquitous problem here with kids, many of whom are not traditionally encouraged to speak or give their opinions). There was one girl in particular who was painfully shy, insecure, and self-critical. She was from a very rural area, a teensy tiny village called Kole which is out in the desert very close to the border of Namibia. It was like pulling teeth to get her to say anything or to even get her to look at you. On the second day of the camp we were doing dramas with the girls to demonstrate important decision making skills. The other campers were trying to get her involved but she was so scared she started to silently cry. (The silent cry, another hallmark of some of the kids here- the tears just roll down their cheeks but you would never know that they were crying unless you looked at them carefully because they have obviously trained themselves not to make any noises). But after a couple days, she slowly started to change. I swear it was like watching a flower come back to life after giving it some water. She began to open up more and more as we encouraged her. And I will never forget, we were doing a session on what makes a strong woman and the girls were calling out adjectives. She raised her hand and gave us an answer, the first time she had spoken in front of the group, probably one of the first times she had spoken in front of any group! And we said “Yes! Correct, good job Kgomotso”, and the instant transformation was so profound. She had this huge smile on her face and you could tell that she felt so proud! Tears actually came to my eyes in that moment (cheese overload, sorry, but it is true!). Then she was raising her hand and answering enthusiastically and smiling and laughing and just feeling free to be a happy kid. As the days passed it was like she was a different person entirely. I swear she was like this little angel who came down to remind me that the work we are doing here is important and worthwhile.

We tried to create a positive and 100% encouraging environment in which the kids could open up. In Botswana, I have observed that some, I could say many, but certainly NOT ALL, of the teachers can be very discouraging at the worst, or completely apathetic at the best. And these teachers will never be fired because there is no accountability or because it is not considered a big deal, or a combination of the two. Teachers can even get caught having sex with underage students and they still will not be fired. Most of them are just transferred to another school. This happens in the U.S. I know, but at least the teacher will definitely be sent to jail! Also it is a much much bigger problem here given that most of the young girls live in hostels on school campus right next to the teachers’ houses. But the preeminent problem is discouragement on the part of the teachers. I have heard some teachers say things like “These kids are stupid, hopeless” and especially they complain about them being “naughty”, and this is used as justification for corporal punishment. Yes, they can legally beat kids with branches, and they do. I wouldn’t say excessively, but in my opinion, any beating of children is excessive. For example, if a kid is late to school they will be beaten. In Mabutsane in particular, the ethnic groups which are minorities here, the Bakgalagadi and the Basarwa, who speak Sekgalagadi and Sesarwa, respectively, are looked down upon as being “stupid” or “naughty” by the predominantly Tswana teachers. Again, I would like to emphasize that not all of the teachers are like this, but many can be. I was very happy that we had some delegations at the camp which were made up entirely of Basarwa kids, like the groups from New Xade and Karakubis. You might have heard about the Basarwa, who in America are referred to as the Kalahari “Bushmen”, although this term is not favorable because it can be perceived as being derogatory. There was a very famous court case which was widely reported in the west of the “Bushmen vs. the Government of Botswana”. The government had forced the Basarwa to move out of their traditional lands within the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and had put them into many different settlements outside, but they fought the decision and won the right to go back. There are many interesting aspects and consequences of this initial resettlement and subsequent court case, and you should definitely look into it if you are interested. Another rule that Peace Corps has is that PCVs are supposed to be completely apolitical during their service, giving not even their opinions on political situations, so that’s all I am going to say about the Basarwa! Anyway, we were glad to have good Basarwa representation at Camp Glow.

So all and all the camp was wonderful. From forming new friendships to visiting UB to meeting Unity Dow (the first female judge in Botswana) and watching the kids grow right in front of my eyes, everything was absolutely wonderful. But of all the potential life changing information we passed on to our campers, I still seriously have to admit that the thing I will always remember the most, my proudest accomplishment at Camp Glow, was when Kezia, Kara and I taught the kids how to do the Napoleon Dynamite dance. Sweet.

Ke Kopa Dikwalo! (Please Send Me Mail!)

My apologies for the blatantly selfish content of this short blog post. So the bottom line is this: I really love getting things in the mail. Even in America, I was always ridiculously happy to get a letter. I really love it here, but I am not immune to homesickness or feelings of isolation here in my tiny village, so mail from home really helps (did that make you feel guilty enough to send me a package?? If so, here are the things I want the most):

1. The New York Times- especially Tuesdays and Sundays, which have the Science Times and the Book Review
2. Books- any good book will do; I also want some copies of the book “The Secret” to give to my GLOW girls
3. CD’s- especially burned CD’s with a variety of music, but please write down the names of the songs and artists, as I am a curious creature
4. DVD’s, movies - burned Sex in the City would be fantastic! Also Dvd’s that kids will like- Shrek, Pixar stuff
5. Scented candles- it’s an obsession that not even rural village life will cure me of
6. Magazines- especially Oprah, Scientific American, National Geographic, Dream Homes, Architectural Digest, Shambala Sun and Vanity Fair (We also use the magazine pages to make jewelry beads for an income generating project here with an HIV/AIDS support group- I will write more about this later)
7. Dark Chocolate- you totally can’t find that here
8. Anything fun you want to send that I can give to kids in my village- small toys, stickers, journals, fun pens or pencils, whatever! Some of these kids have practically nothing
9. CHILDREN’S BOOKS- I really need these!
10. Art Supplies- markers, crayons, coloring books, kid-friendly stuff, especially paint brushes, paints, water colors
11. Soccer balls
12. Green Tea- My favorite brand is Yogi
13. Vitamin E Oil from Trader Joes
14. Raw walnuts and almonds and dried blueberries
15. Letters! What is up with you?

My address is:

Andrea Lorenze
P.O. Box 161
Mabutsane, Botswana
Africa

This address sounds fake but it is real. There are no zip codes, street numbers, or street names here (not really any streets for that matter). Just make sure you write Africa because people don’t know where Botswana is! I promise you will get a response if you send me something, I will be super grateful. Thank you!


And Feliz Navidad!

Vacation!!! Kasane and Zambia, with a touch of Zimbabwe

Me and my new friend in Zambia

One of the major perks of being a Peace Corps Volunteer: Vacations! For all of those who are curious about joining the Peace Corps, you do receive 48 days vacation during your 27 month stint as a volunteer. This includes “vacation pay”, but don’t get too excited as it is only $28 per week (that’s how much I used to make in one hour as a waitress). I recently went on a ten day vacation with Sa’eed, who graciously came all the way to Africa to see me (and to ride an elephant- he was emphatic about not leaving until he had rode an elephant). We started our trip up in the northeast of Botswana in a large village called Kasane. Kasane is famous for being the only place in the world where the borders of four countries come together and touch (Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe). This is also the location of the world-renowned Chobe National Park, which has the largest concentrations of elephants in the whole entire world- 60,000 elephants, only 20,000 people! We went on both a boat cruise on Chobe River as well as a game drive through the park where we had the pleasure of watching a whole herd of elephants pass right in front of our safari vehicle. We also saw a pride of lions, crocodiles, hippos, water buffalo, kudu, waterbuck, baboons, monitor lizards, warthogs, and a whole slew of amazing birds. September-November is the best time of the year for game viewing as it is the very beginning of rainy season and Chobe is bone dry, having had almost no rain for seven months. All the animals are forced to congregate along the river in order to quench their thirst. Next month, the rains will be in full force and there will be lots of other permanent water sources; they can then dissipate throughout the park so as to not be annoyed by all the tourists shoving cameras in their faces.

Feeding vervet monkeys some banana at Kubu Lodge in Kasane, Botswana.

From Kasane we went to a village called Kachikau (on a very “sad” bus, built in 1979, which lumbered approximately 20 mph down a dirt road through the bush- the bus was in it’s death throes right when we arrived, I doubt it made it much further after that- it took two hours to drive 40 miles!). Kachikau, pronounced “Catch a Cow”, is where another PCV, Kara, lives, in the middle of the bush, just south of the boonies, a little north of oblivion, an hour away from nowhere, and about 100 km away from absolutely nothing. There is no cell phone service there, she has no land line, no internet, and no post office. (Props to Kara for keeping it “real and “rural” and “really really rural”- she loves it there though).

About an hour outside of Botswana, by way of Kasane, is Livingstone, Zambia, which is about 10 km away from Victoria Falls. We left our posh chalet on the river in Chobe to come here and stay at the ultimate cliché backpackers hostel, aptly named “Jolly Boys” (this name is funny to me for so many different reasons…) There you will find Peace Corps volunteers from all over Africa, backpacking 20-somethings from all over Europe, Asia, and America, and a multitude of dread-locked, peace-loving stoners of the world: all were coming to have a good time and unlock some of the mysteries of Zambia. There are so many things to do there!! Sa’eed went bunji jumping off the bridge connecting Zambia to Zimbabwe (the 2nd highest bunji jump in the whole world), we both went on an elephant-back safari through a game park (a dream fulfilled), but my favorite part of Zambia was our trip to Livingstone Island.

Elephant back safari through a game park outside of Livingstone, Zambia.

So as I mentioned earlier, November is the driest month of the year, when all the water from last year’s rains are gone and this year’s rains haven’t really started. This makes it a horrible time to view the falls, as they are at only a fraction of their full glory. But there is one perk: this is the only time of the year that you can go out to Livingstone Island, at the lip of the falls, and go swimming at the very edge of the waterfall. This is easily one of the most amazing things I have ever done in my life! I couldn’t even believe my eyes when I was up there. This is a must do if you ever find yourself in Zambia in November. In fact, GO TO Zambia in November just so you can have this experience.

We also went for a day trip into Zimbabwe to go to a place where they breed lions in order to reintroduce them into the wild. Here, you can “play” with these lions, although they are not really tame so it can still be a bit dangerous. They let us hang out with two lion cubs, both 11-months old, and they seemed so friendly and cuddly, like huge cats. But it is very deceptive. The day before they bit a tourist in the leg and she had to get 33 stitches. Their paws were as big as dinner plates! They could very easily rip your face off. But it is so odd, because their faces look so friendly! I just wanted to put my forehead to theirs and pull on their ears like I do with my kitty (I resisted the temptation though).

A note on Zimbabwe: Peace Corps actually doesn’t let you spend the night there due to the unstable economic and political situation (If you are caught breaking this rule you will be sent home). There is also a lot of crime there, especially if they see some white people who are obviously tourists (we're such easy targets, except Mike, who knows Capoeira). But all the people I met there were absolutely wonderful, quick to laugh and smile despite the dire economic circumstances there. The currency is comical (although the situation is not). The most common bank note is the 100,000 bill, which comes with an expiration date. One million Zimbabwean dollars is equal to less than one American dollar. Consequently, Zimbabweans want to get their hands on more stable currency, so ALL foreign tourists (even if they are not American) are required to pay in American dollars.

All and all, it was an amazing vacation. Now I am back in my little village, happy to be home for sure, but profoundly missing swimming pools and seafood.

Victoria Falls: The locals call it “Mosi o a Tunya” which means “The Smoke that Thunders”. It is over one mile wide and 360 feet high, making it the largest sheet of falling water in the world.

Did you know that Victoria Falls is one of the seven natural wonders of the world? Can you name all seven?

1. Mount Everest (Nepal)
2. Victoria Falls (Zambia/Zimbabwe)
3. Grand Canyon (USA)
4. Great Barrier Reef (Australia)
5. Northern Lights (Somewhere up there…)
6. Paricutin Volcano (Mexico)
7. Harbor of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)




I take a dip with some other tourists in the world’s most dangerous swimming pool, appropriately referred to as “The Devil’s Armchair”. Where we are sitting, the rocks along the edge of the falls prevent you from being pushed over, but about five feet to our left the rocks end and the water rushes over unhindered.




Our guide (the one holding my feet) let’s me take a peek over the edge.




I cautiously pet the backs of some lion cubs in Zimbabwe.