Kgope!

Where to start! As I’m writing this I’ve now been at site for a little over six weeks. My village is called Kgope, and is a small place in Kweneng North region. By private car I’m about an hour’s drive away from Gaborone the capitol. Without a private car it can take anywhere from one and a half hours up to forever (more on this later). The 2011 census says Kgope has 368 people although I’ve been told it’s wrong and there are around 550; like I said, it’s small. Kgope is what people call ‘the lands’ meaning that it’s mostly farms. In Botswana if you are a citizen you can apply to the Land Board and after a long process they give you land. It’s a radical idea compared to our private property America. This leads to many people having their house in one village, and their lands in another. I’ve been told Kgope founded because people decided to stay and live at their lands.

Needless to say, Kgope is very spread out. I know I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface. I’ve been told some of the kids walk almost 10k to get to school. The good news (the best news!) is that there are a lot of fresh vegetables and water rarely runs out. Life in Botswana really drives home the fact that water is life. We are very lucky in the U.S. to have not only easy access to water, but plenty of it. Botswana is in large part a desert. Water is taken from boreholes in the ground. I am lucky in Kgope because I’ve been told we rarely lose water and if so, it’s only out for an hour or so then its back. I know people in villages where the water will be out for days, come back for a few hours, and then be off again. In that time they frantically have to fill up every bucket/container on hand. Enough about water right now though, because like I said Kgope is fine on that front.

In Kgope there is one primary school: Kgope Primary School. For all other educational levels the children have to go to another village. In my two years of Peace Corps service I will be primarily helping at the school. My focus is Life Skills. I will try to explain this as best I can, but it’s a bit vague and up for interpretation. In every school there is a teacher called the Guidance and Counseling teacher. In primary schools it’s just a title and that teacher also teaches one of the standards (remember these are grades). Every class once a week has a guidance and counseling class. In primary this, like every subject, is taught by the main teacher. The Ministry of Education in Botswana has created a syllabus called Living; it’s a series of Life Skills books. They want these books to be taught not only during the guidance and counseling class, but infused into every subject. They believe that if children are taught better life skills, it will lower their chance of contracting HIV. My main task is to help with this ‘infusion’.  I’m also supposed to help with community projects, and bridging the school and community together.

One good and bad thing is that ‘life skills’ is extremely vague. Whenever someone asks me ‘what is life skills?’ I always have to think about it. It could be almost anything. In upper levels Sex Ed would definitely fit in here, but that would take some sensitivity to address it with the young kids. I’d like to focus (if it’s even possible) on confidence, decision making, and communication. I’m not sure how I’m going to tackle life skills yet – but I have two years to work it out, right?

Back to Kgope. There’s one school like I said, with one class at each level. There’s a health post with one nurse, a health educator, and a cleaner. There’s an agricultural office, one church (only the Roman Catholics have their own building), one general store, one bar, two depots (drinking places, but only selling the cheap Chibuku alcoholic drink I’m not sure how to describe), and the kgotla. The kgotla is a traditional center for village meetings with the kgosi (chief). In Botswana, instead of throwing out the old system of governance, it was adopted into official law. Each village has a kgosi who is in charge, and is (usually) the eldest son of the previous kgosi. There is a book of law, and within that law he can rule on disputes in the village. One example I heard of (from the police officer) was if a man was beating his wife/girlfriend. They would collect evidence, and then bring the two before the kgosi. If the man was pronounced guilty the kgosi could decide to fine him, or order him lashed. Maybe it’s wrong, but I find something really satisfying about the idea of someone getting lashed for beating another person. It’d be like castrating child molesters: that’s justice you can feel. But I digress…

 There are two police officers in Kgope and they’re both extremely nice. One has been here for many years and one came just a few weeks ago. It’s nice for me because the old officer is taking the new one around to show him the village. It’s the perfect opportunity for me to tag along. They’ve been very nice about accommodating me.

The last thing about Kgope I’ll mention today is my house. I love it. The government provides housing for the teachers, and it worked out that a house was free and I am staying in teacher’s housing. I’m right across the (dirt) road from the school and can see the health post from my house too. I have a kitchen, three rooms, and two-ish bathrooms; the toilet and a sink are in one small room, and the bath tub and a sink are in another. I have running water, but no electricity. I have a gas stove in the kitchen. I really don’t mind not having electricity. At the moment I get by using my headlamp, flashlight, and candles. Everyone keeps telling me to get a paraffin lamp which I’m sure I’ll get around to eventually. At the moment I’m content with my candles.

One thing I’ve noticed about not having electricity is how much more aware of the sun I am. You get a feel for exactly when the sun sets, and what a difference it makes. It’s amazing that the sun can be setting for some time, but once it hits the horizon it could be a ten minute difference between light and pitch dark. I could write a whole blog entry on the sky here and sunsets. When I look at the pictures I’ve taken of Kgope so far they’re mostly of sunsets; and the pictures don’t even do them justice. The sky at all time of day mesmerizes me. Try to think of how many times in a day you look at the sky. Most days it’s probably not even once. That’s kind of sad isn’t it? Here the sky is so vast and so beautiful it can’t be ignored. At night it’s equally amazing. I won’t go into how many stars I can see at night, because that’s a whole other wonder.

I think this is a good introduction to Kgope. Everyone has been very nice and I’m enjoying myself. I read a lot. All the time I’ve been too busy to read for pleasure, is finally being equaled out by the massive amount of reading I’m doing here (via the lovely Kindle Martin gave me). Life is good.
Don’t forget to write me letters!

Elizabeth Wallis (or Elizabeth Tshepo Wallis)
Kgope Primary School
Private Bag 24
Lentsweletau
Botswana