Heading to the Sea

Emancipate yourself from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
~B.Marley

I’ve been in Botswana for nearly 11 months now, and today – for the for the first time – the dog I have been feeding since day one has allowed me to pet her. When I arrived she looked rough – her saggy udders swinging from side to side, tail eternally tucked between her legs – but after some good ol’ fashioned guilt-induced feeding I’ve managed to help her look like a dog again, albeit still a fairly ugly one (as 99% of the dogs here are). It took about 9 months to get her to even wag her tail at me, so I was actually quite shocked today when she tucked her tail between her legs, slowly got down on all fours and then rolled over on her back with her tucked-tail swaying slowly in the dirt. 11 months. And in dog-time that’s, what?- more than 6 years? LOL. They say dogs are unforgiving but it took this dog ‘6 years’ to ‘forgive’ what previous people had done and to trust again.

Of course this small incident rippled into a whole day of thought – as things tend to do here – and still has me awake at near midnight on a Tuesday, which I think is the latest I have ever been awake in Maitengwe. It took a dog (a creature incapable of reflection, logic, and long-term memory) that long to ‘get over’ its conditionings and here I am working on “behavior change” in a community with a history older than my own and an educational system younger than me. So of course, I had to wonder – how colonized is the mind?

Colonize (v):
• to settle among and establish political control over
• to appropriate (a place or domain) for one's own use.
• to establish itself in an area*

Establish (v):
• to set up on a firm or permanent basis
• to achieve permanent acceptance for (a custom, belief, practice, or institution)

The thought of the day, I guess. But it surely makes working with human behavior change, particularly sexual behavior change, a very daunting task.

Well, it happened. I’ve moved into my new house, and am enjoying its luxuries. I have a lot more privacy in addition to the amenities. Although I have to admit, I am enjoying it a bit less than I thought I would – which makes me even happier, knowing that my accommodation really isn’t that big of a deal; I’d hate to think my happiness depends on hot water and black tile flooring! Haha.

My son has found the new house and we’ve continued breakfast as usual. Gosh, he is growing. There is so much less need in his actions (for instance he no longer cries when I drop him at school) which I admit I selfishly miss a bit, but it’s nice to see him progress. The teacher at the orphanage gave me such a wonderful compliment the other day – one that wasn’t necessarily designed to be a compliment (as the best ones usually are). She told me that when he first came to the school, she was scared for him; that he was just lifeless and fragile, and that now he looks so healthy and lively. “You brought him to life,” she said, in broken English. Just hearing that alone makes these 27 months worth it. Then this yesterday afternoon he walked into the clinic after school and said in English: "Kagiso, I love you," as if rehearsed. But it was so cute I had to die. I guess he had learned it in school that day.

But not much is new in the work department. I want to branch out of the clinic and start getting involved in the schools, so I am going to make that a project in the upcoming months. Apparently our secondary school has an active Drama Club, so I may try to put my hand in and see what we can do together.

At the end of this week I will be going to Mozambique and Swaziland (you may have heard of the former, but I bet you haven’t heard of the latter lol) for holiday. I want to soak up the sun before winter hits. Mozambique is known for excellent beaches, fish, and amazing calamari – not to mention Portuguese-speaking Africans. It will also be my first time seeing the Indian Ocean, which is an interesting little tidbit to look forward to. Swaziland is one of the continent’s smallest countries, and one of the world’s few remaining monarchs. The King has 20-something wives and picks a new one each year. It’s with no surprise, then, that Swaziland has perhaps the highest rate of HIV in the world (it ‘competes’ with Botswana for the highest prevalent rate… it all depends on who you read). Anyway, small as it is, it’s said to be quite an experience so I am looking forward to it.

Until then, be well.