The monkeys are busy scampering across campus and wrestling with each other. Sleepy Gabs is even sleepier as pretty much everyone has cleared out of the city and headed home to their villages for the four-day Easter weekend. This week was a farewell tour with Tess, my Fulbright DAT colleague. We had a last Botswanacraft lunch, a last visit to the Sierra Leonean tailor K-Man at African Mall and a last Sanita's lunch, all in the company of her friends Mandisa and Rati. After a bit of final hours stress when her Air Botswana flight was unexpectedly cancelled, she was able to be rescheduled onto a South African Airways flight from Gabs to Joburg and is now somewhere high over the Atlantic on her way home to Chicago, where she'll be back in the classroom with her learners on Tuesday. Already missing my intelligent, inquisitive, multilingual, fearless partner. This week I interviewed Wame and Senzeni from BOFWA (Botswana Family Welfare Association). BOFWA provides sexual and reproductive health education, advocacy and clinical services, targeting marginalized youth in Gaborone, Kanye, Maun, Kasane and Francistown. The Guardian article How To Grapple With Soaring World Population? An Answer From Botswana explains that family planning efforts on the part of the Botswana government and NGOs like BOFWA have contributed to a reduction in Botswana's fertility rate from 6.5 in 1971 to 2.8 in 2011. There is still an unmet need for family planning, particularly in rural areas and among low income groups and teens. The first step for anyone interested in accessing any of BOFWA's clinical services is an HIV test. Botswana has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS infections in the world, even with the provision of free ARV (antiretroviral) meds to all. Stigma remains. Some people avoid testing, do not know their status and pass on the virus. HIV/AIDS message fatigue, typical risky behaviors of youth, the belief that AIDS is no longer a death sentence, high unemployment and particulars of Botswana dating culture also continue to fuel new infections. On Tuesday I met with Olerato of Sentabale in an office in the highest building in Gabs, iTowers. Sentabale works in both Botswana and Lesotho and focuses on meeting the material and psychological needs of HIV positive youth and on providing a forum for youth voice and leadership regarding HIV/AIDS issues. Sentabale was founded by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho. Thursday evening I attended a Cocktail Launch for YALDA's Citizen's Report at Botho University with Tebatso and two other Banabakgwale Association members. I was really looking forward to the event because the agenda included a panel with representatives of government, education and NGOs speaking about United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) implementation in Botswana. A perfect fit with my project! Just as they launched into the panel discussion portion of the program, goodbye English and hello Setswana. Argh! Hoping to see a copy of YALDA's Citizen's Report (in English) soon.
2 Comments
Gretchen Damon
5/5/2019 10:17:47 am
Your good-byes started. Wow. Seems to be going quickly.
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Anne Damon
5/5/2019 02:17:28 pm
Time to learn Setswana!
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About MeA 9th grade AP Human Geography and Global Studies teacher at Stillwater Area High School in Stillwater, Minnesota, USA, living and learning in Gaborone, Botswana from January to June 2019 as a Fulbright Teacher. Archives
June 2019
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