What am I doing?

 

This is a post I should have put up at the end of January, but a lot has happened since then that has changed my service dramatically. I want to get you caught up before I go into what happened in the middle of January and got me to where I'm at today.

I wrote this in January, but never posted it.

I'm just starting to write my proposals for all the projects I'll be working on. The Peace Corps wanted us to take 3 months to do our community assessment, and write a 7 to 12 page report before we start any "real" work or projects, OK, so my assessment is over 20 pages and I also did interviews of people affected by HIV and AIDS, I will post the video later. I've written a proposal to raise money for a conference on how people infected with HIV are at a high risk for contracting TB and organize a fund raiser at a nightclub to raise money for the conference, what a fun event! Everything I do needs to revolve around HIV/AIDS or ways to help people live healthier more productive lives and avoid getting HIV. So much to do here it's crazy!! There are some people that just don't seem to care that much about contracting HIV, or maybe they don't understand how bad it is and how they might be at risk? They drink like fishes and have sex like dolphins. 

I'm working directly with 2 organizations and supporting the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) working with HIV/AIDS in my region, which is about 115,000 people and 40 villages. The 2 organizations I'm working with are: District Aids Commission (DAC) the government org that oversees a region and makes sure the government mission and mandates around HIV/AIDS are being met and implemented and Vision Support Group (VSG), an organization under an NGO umbrella that gives support for people infected, or affected by HIV/AIDS and other diseases. The DAC supports NGO's, community based organizations and government organizations in the district. The DAC is responsible for monitoring, reporting and evaluating all the programs and stats around HIV/AIDS and anyone infected, or affected by the disease and Vision Support Group (VSG) supports people in the demographic the DAC is responsible for. VSG helps connect people with services from testing to meds and psychosocial support to home care. Anything I do needs to help build capacity to help prevent HIV infections and help people infected and affected by the disease like orphans, single mothers, sex workers, youth… etc. The idea is that when I leave they will have more skills to support reaching their mandates and any projects I will have worked on can continue without me. I'm still doing my community assessment, so I don't know where all the needs are and everything I'll be doing, but here's what I do know...

The DAC, help make the organizations under the DAC successful through supporting them with meeting their mandates, setting goals and helping to build a strategic plan to address these needs and meet the goals. 

My work with VSG will revolve around helping to develop fundraising strategies, creating a strategy to rebuild the organization and in general build a more stable organization. I hope to be doing this with all the NGO's and community based orgs under the DAC. I will be having workshops on writing proposals, grants, messaging, marketing, grant search, fund raising etc... They all have relied on the government for funding that didn't take much effort to get and now that funding is getting slim. It would be great to leave something like Parasol Foundation, an umbrella that supports not for profits in getting grants, fund raising and training, at the DAC. I think it's feasible to get a computer with a grant search database and some online courses.

The government has done a great job in setting up the structure to support the needs of it's people, but the people don't know how to take advantage of it, or aren't able to because they live in remote communities. I’ve found many Botswana need some hand holding when it comes to absorbing all the information and time management skills are a bit lacking. They have mostly relied on their government and global funding sources to support them, but those global funding sources are pulling out because they have become a middle income country. They need to learn to be more self-reliant.

There are also, what the Peace Corps calls, secondary projects. These are at my discretion, but still need to address the needs of the HIV/AIDS groups. I’ve started one woman’s support group to help empower women to find jobs, go back to school and become more confident and independent. 

Mission
 

The mission is a support group of woman by women. We come together as sisters to support each other in fulfilling our dreams and passions of becoming strong, confident and independent women. Empowering each other with the confidence and support necessary to become a business owner, a merchant, a trades person, a chef, a farmer, or to fulfill a dream of higher education.

Vision

The vision of the woman's support group is to empower women of Botswana to be confident, independent, and productive individuals of the world.

Projects

Together we nurture ideas growing the strong ones into prosperous projects. A group project will be birthed every 2 years and we will work together to make is a success. The first project will be a coffee shop bakery that is also a space to share, teach and sell traditional, and not so traditional, woman's crafts. 

I have met 2 counterparts that will help me build support groups. There are also some very poor communities that just don't know how to take advantage of the programs the government has to offer. Women have been repressed for so long that many lack the self esteem necessary to advocate for themselves. 

One of my other secondary projects is helping to coach the Botswana Railways Cycling Club.

I got a used mt. bike that came from Mikes Bikes in Marin of all places! I've done a few rides with the Mahalapye cycling club and I'm going to start helping the coach develop a stronger team,  and more members. They are sponsored by the railroad and have many bikes, helmets etc... but have more riders than bikes and more bikes then helmets, gloves, shoes etc...

There are about 9 women and 20 men between the ages of 17 and 40, so it's perfect for doing HIV/AIDS work and gender work. They tend to discriminated against the women a bit, but it's also the women not advocating for themselves. All the best equipment goes to the men and most of them have bike shoes that were purchased by the bike club, but the women who have shoes have purchased them themselves.
 

 

I'm so grateful that I've been able to get a mt. bike here and enjoy all the dirt trails. In Gaborone there are some hills to climb and one of the game parks, pictured above, has some great trails developed by The Bike Shop! There are so many people that want to "grow up," that's what someone called it, learn, and be like us in America, and so many Botswana that keep asking me for help, it's exhausting! I take Sundays as me time and have been riding a bit lately. On this last Sunday I found some great trails! There are some very small hills near by, but not much climbing and I did find some good technical trails that need a little work. I hope to be able to put together about 25 miles of fun trails and dirt roads with some pretty technical sections. One of the boys on the bike team is going to bring a machete to cut back the thorny trees, of which there are many, and I have plenty of scratches to prove it! There's only a couple of mt. bikers on the bike team, but I hope, with their help, to get some good trails going. Finally starting to loose the 10lbs I gained since I came here.

Sometimes I feel there is so much to do here that I don't have enough time and things move so slowly.

The Botswana Railways team and I thank you all for your generous donations and help getting items to Mike's Bikes in Novato. The container is starting it's 3 month journey across the Atlantic this week, Feb 1st. And thank you to all of you trying to help Jerry get on a team in the US.