Wednesday, May 18, 2011

A Little Blessing

So today, on a day that we were not supposed to be in Kanye and at our training site, we received a very special visitor... A man came to us today that was part of the very first group of Peace Corps Volunteers in Botswana, and who was actually stationed in Kanye. He had not been back to the country in 40 years. Just by happenstance or kismet, he and his wife (also a RPCV in Brazil) stumbled upon us. He spoke to us about his time in Botswana and how truly meaningful and powerful it was for him. He teared up telling us stories about his time here (and, as I'm sure you can assume, I teared up as well). He remembered his basic Setswana ("Dumela borra le bomma, o tsogile jang? Ke tsogile sentle.") and his Setswana name, which we are all given at homestay (mine is Kamogelo). He talked to us about making the most of our time and about maintaining the relationships we make here. It resonated with each of us. It was uplifting, inspirational, and transcendent. It was exactly what we needed today. I feel extremely blessed to have had that moment.

1 comment:

  1. That's such a cool and exciting thing to have happen! It's kind of interesting to think that if the riots hadn't been going on, maybe you guys would have missed the opportunity to meet this guy cause you would have been traveling to your sites. He's right.. make the most of this time.. it's a once in a lifetime experience!

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