Missing Mochudi

Living in Botswana, I have continually been surprised by how quickly people can adapt to situations and habits previously unfamiliar. I was convinced the bugs in the shower and the locks at UB would inconvenience me forever, until I stopped noticing them. Likewise, I would not have predicted how quickly I would have adapted to living in Mochudi with a Batswana family, until it’s over and I find myself wishing I had a six a.m. bus to catch from the village to UB tomorrow.

To pick up where I left off, the rest of the school week went well with only one bus mishap in which I saw my morning ride pulling away while I was still several meters from the stop. Luckily, Batswana bus drivers as a whole are pretty willing to pause if it means picking up another passenger, so after several seconds of me madly running down the street, arms flailing, I was allowed on and we continued on our merry way. Generally speaking I’d get home just in time for dinner, which we ate outside under the very bright (no light pollution) stars before either playing cards or simply enjoying the balmy night air. Despite a great deal of surprise at my vegetarianism, my mother continued to do an outstanding job of accommodating my eating habits. Setswana food translates rather well to vegetarianism, particularly for a cattle country.

Some delicious dishes! (white stuff is pap, sticky mealie stuff that's sort of like mashed potatoes)

Sour pap! Then the orange stuff is just called "soup" and the green is "morogo"-a spinach thing

My oldest brother, Mmpho, who I thought would be rather inconsistent in his presence, turned out to be around all the time so I got to talk to him as well. One of the things that makes Mochudi one of the more traditional villages in Botswana is that it recently brought back bogwere and bojale—traditional rites of passage from childhood to adulthood (it was banned by colonialists). For these initiations, boys and girls go off to “the bush” in separate groups for two months. In the past, there was a certain age at which you leave to do bogwere or bojale, but as it had been banned, it’s now open to anyone so that many older men and women who missed their chance earlier in life have gone back to do it. Mmpho was part of a group last year and he brought out some of the traditional items you get for completing bogwere.

An impala skin and a staff with feathers.

This weekend I also had a chance to take better pictures of where I was living (during the week I got home around sunset so most of the pictures were too dark). So hopefully these give a feeling for what the Sebolawe house is like!

Some of our noisy chickens!

Our bathhouse and toilet (left and right respectively). To my delight, I only added Ginny (another cockroach) to my Weasley family, and Percy did not make reappearance!

A final shot of the front of my house! While I was there, Mmpho paved the front in a single day.

On Saturday morning, I rose at 5:30 again to go to another funeral. From what I could tell there are a fair number of funerals in Mochudi (this one was for a 97 (!) year old woman). I think that it’s because so many people attend each funeral that they aren’t really quiet, private affairs. The service was organized the same way the last one was, despite the families being from different churches, and after the morning food the ends the funeral my mom and I went to visit one of her friends. While her friend was grabbing us tea my mother – who proved to be more devilish than I originally thought – urged me to climb her friend’s tree. So I did, skirt and all!

I’m wearing the traditional wrap on the head and around the shoulders because we just came from the funeral.

My mom walking back from the funeral. These yellow flowers are everywhere in Botswana! I have the sneaking suspicion that they’re the equivalent of dandelions, but they’re so pretty I don’t care.

After spending some time with my mom’s friend, we went to visit Tsholofelo (correct spelling) and her family, who had opted out of the funeral in favor of some quality sleeping in. Hopefully she can give you a more detailed description about her family and home stay, but here are a few pictures to introduce you!

Her family is a bit larger than mine with three sisters and her mom as well as a fair number of visitors. The youngest sister is a real character – as these photos demonstrate!

We have about five group shots, all with little Taboka doing something crazy!

I stayed with Ani for the afternoon where we relaxed outside (a well-honed Mochudi pastime where, in the absence of AC, it’s much cooler to sit under a tree than under a roof) before we headed back to my house for dinner. In a community that’s so interconnected, there seems to be a sort of rotating daycare policy, where if someone else’s children arrive at your house you keep track of them until they go to someone else’s place. Thus Ani and I were seamlessly fitted into the rotation. Once back at my house, we engaged in some ridiculous picture taking with my siblings – Banyana and Moloki.

Modeling Ani and my sunglasses (not many people wear these in Mochudi)

Ani and Banyana being ridiculous

Moloki showing off his wink (he’ll be trouble in a couple years! :D)

After watching the Mochudi Chiefs crush another team in football at UB’s stadium on TV, Ani went home and my sister braided my hair. She had ambitions to do my whole head (I explained this might take too long) and didn’t really get that my hair wasn’t going to hold the braids once I went to sleep, but we got a fair few in before bedtime. The next morning we were scheduled for another funeral, but the general consensus was that we’d gotten up at 5:30 enough, so we slept in instead. The next morning, Ani and I, along with our sisters, braved the Mochudi combis to go shopping because Ani was designated the task of making lunch for her family. Then Banyana and I went with one of her neighbor friends to visit the friend’s school. (I don’t know her name because her family just called her “the fat one” to me – in Botswana, this is not an insult, but a compliment!) Unbeknownst to me, her school was about a half hour to forty-five minute walk away! We passed termite hills and goats, as well as grocery stores and other neighbors before finally arriving there.

Termite Hill

Goats in a football field.

The friend’s final class assignment was to successfully grow a patch of onions and spinach (both feature heavily in Setswana food). Michelle Obama would have been delighted to see all the plots of gardens!

School projects: much cooler (figuratively speaking) in Botswana

Gathering water

Alas, because I hadn’t anticipated such a lengthy walk, I didn’t apply sunscreen. I now am thoroughly burned with rather amusing red marks everywhere. I’m planning on simply wearing the same outfit for the rest of the semester to avoid displaying my ridiculous burn lines!

All in all, the week in Mochudi was wonderful! Not only was it an opportunity to experience how life outside of Gaborone can be, but it also gave me the chance to practice my Setswana (still pretty weak) and really connect with people in different age groups and places in life. Hopefully I will get to return to my life as Neo, if only for a weekend or so. However, the next couple of weeks promise to be crazy ones, so don’t expect an update for a little while. This is the last week before our first break and Ani and I have hopes of visiting Victoria Falls before CIEE whisks us off to the Okavango Delta. For those who don’t know, Vic Falls looks like this:

aka INCREDIBLE

And Okavango Delta is Botswana’s biggest claim to fame (along with diamonds). It’s the hotbed of Botswana wildlife, so expect more photos of crazy southern Africa animals! It’s time for the big safari!