Botswana

Here goes a quick summary of exploring Botswana ... Dan, Helen, Emily and I – all fellow VSO volunteers – squeezed into a Toyota Rav 4 surrounded by camping equipment, sleeping bags, pillows, crisps, fruit and biscuits, and various other items that kept falling down on us. First stop was Chobe National Park and a leisurely late afternoon boat cruise along Chobe riverfront spotting hippos, elephants, crocodiles, kudo and brightly coloured birds, and enjoying a pretty sunset too. Next we drove ourselves through the park itself, stopping and starting, shouting and pointing as more of the same animals came into view as well as giraffe and gazelles but sadly no big cats.

We took off to the Okavango Delta, discovering that the water level was at its highest for around 30 years, and then covered a tiny bit of that water by taking a traditional (well ours was made out of fibreglass to protect the environment) mokoro canoe. Our guide punted us through endless reeds, hearing little but buzzing insects and being baked by the sun. As a birthday treat for Helen we splashed out on an hour long flight over the Delta with a pilot called Ziggy who needed a booster seat to reach the plane controls. Touring over the Delta we caught glimpses of elephants and giraffe roaming around, and lots of beautiful patterns made by the water and greenery below. Our last night in Botswana was spent at a community campsite run by a tribe indigenous to this part of African called the San. One member of the community took us on a bushwalk explaining the different uses of various trees and herbs below darkness fell as we slept in the Kalahari dessert.

Tour guide around Maz

VSO has been visiting this week and they brought with them a number of HIV and AIDS stakeholders from other parts of Zambia who wanted to know more about the work going on in our district; so we organised a tour of some of the key people that we work with. Whilst there was lots of running around for me and a bit of worry trying to get everything set up, it was really interesting to actually go and visit some of the stakeholders’ projects that I had been hearing about but not yet had a chance to see their work. In a packed schedule, with everything running according to Zambia time (i.e. fairly late), we visited stakeholders providing home based care, carrying out voluntary counselling and testing, running trials on a new protective gel, encouraging people to live positively and offering programmes for orphans and vulnerable children. We also paid a visit to Chieftainess Mwenda at her palace to learn about her early involvement in supporting HIV and AIDS activities. It felt like a visit your grandmother, being served drink and biscuits in her cosy, friendly little home which is far from what you would normally understand to be a palace.

Lighting candles

Today we joined many others around the world in commemorating the 27th International AIDS Candlelight Memorial. The event was held at the Anglican Church in Mazabuka and was a mixture of emotional reflections, powerful speeches and sermons, drama and some beautiful singing by different church groups. The main aim was to remember and honour those family members, children, friends and neighbours who have lost their lives because of HIV and AIDS. And to also show our support to people, and their families, currently living with HIV and AIDS. The phrase that has been used a number of times since my arrival here is that you are “either infected with or affected by AIDS” and with a prevalence rate in Mazabuka of 19% (likely to be a sizeable underestimate) this saying applies to everyone.

The theme for this year’s candlelight memorial was “Many Lights for Human Rights”. The testimony given by one woman who found out that she was HIV+ in 1992 was moving and impressive. In her speech she chose to emphasise that the virus is not a death sentence given the current treatment available but also she strongly advocated people to disclose their status as a warning of the dangers of HIV and AIDS to others. One of the local drama groups acted out a short play on the mis-treatment of orphans and vulnerable children who having lost parents to HIV and AIDS and then suffer again through poverty, abuse and neglect. The national electricity company (kindly!) turned the service into a truly candlelight occasion with the power going off twice. There was the obligatory march around town but in the dark, by candlelight and with music and singing this seemed different to the usual marches. All very sobering.

Labour Day in Mazabuka

Mattresses, blankets, bed sheets, fans, carpets, TVs, suitcases, bicycles, microwaves, pots and pans, wardrobes, fridges, sewing machines, cement and cheques . . . No not my shopping list of all the things that I would like to buy, instead these were some of the gifts given out to workers as part of the Labour Day celebrations in Mazabuka. It began with a march, continued with a number of speeches at the Boma (Council offices) which reassuringly the fight against HIV and AIDS was mentioned a number of times by officials, and was followed by dancing and music. A number of organisations including the Police, Zambia Sugar, a local security firm and a group of teachers performed marches for the guests. The most amusing was seeing doctors and nurses marching up and down in their in white uniforms. Then came the awards with certificates given out to the rewarded workers (which are almost as prized as t-shirts in Zambia) alongside announcements of what the gift(s) they were receiving. My personal favourite was 10 bags of cement though how this worker was intending to carry that home I was not too sure!