Showing posts with label Garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garden. Show all posts
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Gardening success!!!
If you have been following along, you will know that my NGO's garden was tripled in size in October as a result of a partnerships with the Office of the President. There was a big event, complete with speeches, presentations of donations, a massive community service day, and attendance by His Excellency Seretse Khama Ian Khama and his entire cabinet. It was absolutely remarkable. And I am here today to let all the good people out there know that the efforts made on that day were not in vain.
Today, ladies and gentlemen, Gabane Home-Based Care sold its very first stock of vegetables to the community! In fact, we produced so many vegetables that we were able to feed our children, provide our most needy patients with food, and still have enough left over to put up a stand down by the combi rank to sell an abundance of extras. Not only that, but after cleaning all the vegetables and preparing them for sale, we added up how much we stand to make. I won't get into exact figures but our profits should be enough to buy all new seeds to re-plant, some saplings to continue planting our fruit tree orchard, and still have money left over to put back into our programs! Now if that's not a success then I don't know what is! Hooray!
Saturday, October 20, 2012
A Community Effort: President Khama Event A Success
The event began with introductions of key visitors - the President and his entire cabinet, among others (protocol observed) - and speeches by the village's Kgosi and other donors. And then the main event was announced... a huge overhaul of our center's garden! This would be a hands-on project and require the participation of all the visitors in attendance.
Our previous garden was small and barely produced the greens we needed to feed the children at our pre-school. And, if the weather got too hot (which it almost always does in the summer), then the vegetables were fried because our net covering was in disrepair. In our new strategic plan, we hoped to expand the garden by the end of 2014. This, we hypothesized, would be a stretch but was a reasonable one. By the end of the day, with the help and support of the Gabane Community and the government employees present, our garden was transformed into something truly magnificent. Two years and two months before our proposed deadline. Amazing.
It was a beautiful thing to watch the community come together to help the center and make our dream a reality. They took turns shoveling dirt, tilling the land, and planting seedlings. Support Group members joined hands with Ministers of Parliament and children ran around playing games, reminding us why we were there. It was a joyous day.
In the end, the new garden is triple in size and has an irrigation system that utilizes rain water runoff (courtesy of a new water collection/pipe system that was also installed that day). Whats more, the new garden will produce enough food to feed the pre-school and the home-based care patients. That means so many more people that are in need will be helped by this new garden! And, on top of all that, fruit trees were donated so we could start a small orchard and our old netting was replaced with beautiful new netting to keep the elements and the animals from harming our produce. (And they used our old netting to create shade cover over the children's playground equipment!)
Other donations on this day included food from a local grocery chain as well as fifty new wheelchairs to be used by home-based care patients that have trouble getting around (donated by the Botswana-China Partnership). This will be invaluable for the families of our home-based care patients. Our gratitude goes out to Mr. Nan for his generosity.
Of course, many thanks are extended to everyone that came out to help, especially the Office of the President, the Gabane Support Group, Peace Corps Country Director Tim Hartman for attending, and my boyfriend Tuan (who helped with preparation before the event and with day-of activities). From the bottom of my heart, thank you. You have made this center so proud. We are forever grateful.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
President Khama to Visit GCHBC
This morning I had a meeting with Botswana's Office of the President. We discussed my NGO's needs and our impact in the Gabane community before they made a major announcement... Botswana's President Lieutenant General Seretse Khama Ian Khama would like to award Gabane Community Home-Based Care with a "Community Service Day" to be held this Friday at the Center! He is dedicated to giving back to organizations throughout the country that are make a positive contribution and he has selected my NGO to be the next recipient of this support. His Excellency will be accompanied by the Vice President, Members of Parliament, and others at this event.
The event would be a community service project facilitated by His Excellency and assisted by staff from his office, other government employees, and the Gabane community. The main project would be expanding our garden. This decision was a result of our meeting. During a tour of the Center, they asked about our garden, which is small but provides enough vegetables to supplement the meals for our Pre-School program. I told them that we aspire to triple the size of our garden by the end of 2014 so that we can provide fresh vegetables to our home-based care patients as well as to the children. We had not started the expansion project, however, because manpower is limited since everyone at the Center is volunteer. In response, they told me that the President would like to ensure that we achieve this goal and that the vegetables flourish. Therefore, they would provide the resources for us to triple the garden, including providing the labor, materials, seedlings, etc. They would also put in an irrigation system since water in this dry country is a problem. The President will work alongside members of the community to make sure this project is a success and our garden is able to provide for those we care for.
Everyone at Gabane Community Home-Based Care is overjoyed and grateful for this opportunity. Having an expanded garden will me exceedingly beneficial to our Center and to those we work so tirelessly to help. With sincere gratitude, we welcome the President of Botswana to our humble little Center and thank him for his contribution. This has been a big year for us - first meeting President Bush and now President Khama - and we are forever appreciative of it. It is because of this type of support that we have the confidence to keep pushing forward.
The event would be a community service project facilitated by His Excellency and assisted by staff from his office, other government employees, and the Gabane community. The main project would be expanding our garden. This decision was a result of our meeting. During a tour of the Center, they asked about our garden, which is small but provides enough vegetables to supplement the meals for our Pre-School program. I told them that we aspire to triple the size of our garden by the end of 2014 so that we can provide fresh vegetables to our home-based care patients as well as to the children. We had not started the expansion project, however, because manpower is limited since everyone at the Center is volunteer. In response, they told me that the President would like to ensure that we achieve this goal and that the vegetables flourish. Therefore, they would provide the resources for us to triple the garden, including providing the labor, materials, seedlings, etc. They would also put in an irrigation system since water in this dry country is a problem. The President will work alongside members of the community to make sure this project is a success and our garden is able to provide for those we care for.
Everyone at Gabane Community Home-Based Care is overjoyed and grateful for this opportunity. Having an expanded garden will me exceedingly beneficial to our Center and to those we work so tirelessly to help. With sincere gratitude, we welcome the President of Botswana to our humble little Center and thank him for his contribution. This has been a big year for us - first meeting President Bush and now President Khama - and we are forever appreciative of it. It is because of this type of support that we have the confidence to keep pushing forward.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
The past two weeks in Bots...
A lot has happened since my last post... It is time to catch you all up on my happenings in Botswana.
In-Service Training (IST):
For a week and a half I joined my fellow Bots 10ers in a neighboring village, Mogoditshane, for what is called in-service training. Basically what that means is we continue working on our language acquisition, delve deeper into cultural issues, and participate in skills training seminars on topics such as program design and implementation, proposal writing, and monitoring and evaluation. Unofficially, it is also a time when we can reconnect with other volunteers. This second part may have been the most beneficial part of IST for me. I say this because it was an opportunity to talk with my colleagues about their experiences at site. In hearing everyone's stories, I was relieved to learn that many of us are having similar issues and dealing with the same emotions. The difficulty of working in a developing country, even one that is as seemingly progressive as Botswana, is evident in each of our stories. (Having cell phone coverage and electricity does not accurately indicate Botswana's state of development. It is merely a facade. Take this cover out of the equation and the reality is that Botswana is nascent. The challenges are very real and we have a lot to contend with and are being heavily impacted.) It was a time to share coping strategies, to learn from one another, to gain new skills and valuable insight, and then to let go of our worries and have a little fun too.
In addition to our classroom sessions, we saw movies, ate good food, drank cocktails, caught up on gossip and stories, sat in the sunshine reading magazines, watched television (mostly Animal Planet), and took long hot showers. It was all the things we had been missing out on for four months. Bonus: we were together. Although it was a little overstimulating (going from two months of solitude to constant interaction), it was so reviving to be among my friends. Along the way we have gotten closer and it truly felt like family as we roamed from room to room to visit one another. The last time we had been at that lodge, we had just arrived in country and were on our best behavior. Now we are just ourselves and that felt pretty perfect.
Also, we had another Language Proficiency Interview (LPI), which is a fancy term for language test. I didn't realize how much Setswana I had learned during lockdown. Being in my village and muddling through with the neighbor kids, the OVCs, and the rest of my community has really rubbed off on me. It felt good to be at a point where I can converse and be comfortable in Setswana. It also gave me some confidence and has encouraged me to push myself to use the language even more. Overall, not too shabby.
Puppies:
Seven puppies were born on my compound about a month and a half ago. They are ridiculously adorable and so so sweet. I've been documenting their growth through pictures and was absolutely shocked to see how big they got while I was gone at IST. They are adventurous and playful and extremely cuddly. (As I type this, there are puppies wandering into my house to explore and to get some quality snuggle time in.) They have been vaccinated and are ready to go to new homes. Three of Bots 10ers and one of the language teachers are adopting puppies so I will still get to watch them grow up over the next two years. So excited, so precious.
Local Artists and their Beautiful Work:
I went with a few friends to the neighboring village of Gabane a few days ago. There are a lot of signs on the main road for arts and crafts, pottery, local fruits, etc. I pass the village whenever I go to buy groceries and have always meant to stop and check it all out but hadn't yet so I was so excited when my visitors wanted to go too. We wandered through Gabane, stopping to greet villagers on our way to find the shops. Once there, we were welcomed by artists and potters and craftsmen alike all working on their particular trade. We got to watch as they threw local clay to make beautiful bowls and pitchers and various other sundries. It was a site to behold watching them create. (If anyone comes to visit, we will certainly be going there and you will undoubtably buy some amazing local art.)
Garden Project:
Yesterday I broke ground on a garden for the village OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children) and people infected with HIV. The garden is about the size of a football field, has amazing soil (a rarity in Botswana), and should produce a lot of food to feed all those affected by and infected with HIV. To help me with the project, a rotation of friends from the Bots 10 group are coming to my village and putting in a few days at a time. They are joining me, a few members of my NGO's staff, and a flow of community members and children. We are all getting our hands dirty in an effort to help the Kumakwane community.
These past two days have been designing a plan for the plot, which will have eight 24'X24' plots (inside a covered area) and a small fruit tree orchard beside the enclosed structure. We also spent four painstaking hours digging the initial trench system to route the underground water source and irrigate the garden. By the time we were finished, we were covered in mud, our hands blistered, and thoroughly exhausted. We are also invigorated because we are starting to see the potential come to life. Tomorrow we will plant the trees, continue digging trenches, and (hopefully) get a few beds in one or two of the plots ready for planting.
The garden is going to be a huge undertaking and it will probably take months to get it entirely put together but, in the end, it's something that will last and will sustain those in need. It's something viable, substantial, and impactful.
Evening of Cultural Exchange:
Before last night, I had never been to a bar in my village. (Actually, I'm never out after dark because the Peace Corps scared the bejesus out of us... unnecessarily it seems.) But yesterday I saw a sign on a bar that I've been curious about since I moved to site (it has monkeys painted on the side and picnic tables) that was advertising "Jazz" starting at 4pm. Having four Bots 10ers with my to work on the garden project, we decided we had strength in numbers and would venture out to check out the jazz. Everyone stared at us when we walked into the compound (read: large fenced yard reminiscent of a beer garden) and we made our way to the bar (aka one-room house with a bar and a few fridges). We ordered drinks (in Setswana) and went outside to listen to the DJ playing local music. Everyone was dancing around and sitting at tables talking among their friends. The occasional person would come over and introduce themselves to us and chat for a little while. It was cordial, comfortable, and really really nice (so unlike what we had been told).
I met a girl that was orphaned at six-years-old and who utilized services at my NGO as a child. We talked about what it's like to lose a parent, about her goal to visit another country some day, and her fears about the future. She is raising her young cousins who were orphaned. She's only 20. She has a dream of starting a small support group for youth to provide them with clothes and toiletries and help them come of age as an orphan. I am going to help her get started.
We met a handful of other people and then we got to watch traditional dance and listen to local music. It was a really fun time.
On our way home, we were walking down my earthen road when a truck suddenly went off the road and rolled into a ditch and onto its side. We ran over to see if the driver was okay and to help him get out of the vehicle. Within minutes there were four cars shining their headlights onto the rolled car and two dozen people all clambering to help. It didn't take long before the driver was out of the car, completely unharmed, and we started to work at getting the truck out of the ditch and back on the road. Everyone was calm as we brainstormed ways to move the truck, knowing that we could do it if we all worked together. And it did take all of us pulling and pushing and wrenching to get the truck back on the road but, about 45 minutes later, the man was heading home.
What inspired me most was how everyone came together, literally crawling out of the woodwork, to help. I have rarely seen such collectivism and community. It was a testament to the type of people the Batswana are. I felt pretty proud to be a part of this community last night. It's wonderful to be a part of something that is so unified, resourceful, and charitable.
In-Service Training (IST):
For a week and a half I joined my fellow Bots 10ers in a neighboring village, Mogoditshane, for what is called in-service training. Basically what that means is we continue working on our language acquisition, delve deeper into cultural issues, and participate in skills training seminars on topics such as program design and implementation, proposal writing, and monitoring and evaluation. Unofficially, it is also a time when we can reconnect with other volunteers. This second part may have been the most beneficial part of IST for me. I say this because it was an opportunity to talk with my colleagues about their experiences at site. In hearing everyone's stories, I was relieved to learn that many of us are having similar issues and dealing with the same emotions. The difficulty of working in a developing country, even one that is as seemingly progressive as Botswana, is evident in each of our stories. (Having cell phone coverage and electricity does not accurately indicate Botswana's state of development. It is merely a facade. Take this cover out of the equation and the reality is that Botswana is nascent. The challenges are very real and we have a lot to contend with and are being heavily impacted.) It was a time to share coping strategies, to learn from one another, to gain new skills and valuable insight, and then to let go of our worries and have a little fun too.
In addition to our classroom sessions, we saw movies, ate good food, drank cocktails, caught up on gossip and stories, sat in the sunshine reading magazines, watched television (mostly Animal Planet), and took long hot showers. It was all the things we had been missing out on for four months. Bonus: we were together. Although it was a little overstimulating (going from two months of solitude to constant interaction), it was so reviving to be among my friends. Along the way we have gotten closer and it truly felt like family as we roamed from room to room to visit one another. The last time we had been at that lodge, we had just arrived in country and were on our best behavior. Now we are just ourselves and that felt pretty perfect.
Also, we had another Language Proficiency Interview (LPI), which is a fancy term for language test. I didn't realize how much Setswana I had learned during lockdown. Being in my village and muddling through with the neighbor kids, the OVCs, and the rest of my community has really rubbed off on me. It felt good to be at a point where I can converse and be comfortable in Setswana. It also gave me some confidence and has encouraged me to push myself to use the language even more. Overall, not too shabby.
Puppies:
Local Artists and their Beautiful Work:
I went with a few friends to the neighboring village of Gabane a few days ago. There are a lot of signs on the main road for arts and crafts, pottery, local fruits, etc. I pass the village whenever I go to buy groceries and have always meant to stop and check it all out but hadn't yet so I was so excited when my visitors wanted to go too. We wandered through Gabane, stopping to greet villagers on our way to find the shops. Once there, we were welcomed by artists and potters and craftsmen alike all working on their particular trade. We got to watch as they threw local clay to make beautiful bowls and pitchers and various other sundries. It was a site to behold watching them create. (If anyone comes to visit, we will certainly be going there and you will undoubtably buy some amazing local art.)
Garden Project:
Yesterday I broke ground on a garden for the village OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children) and people infected with HIV. The garden is about the size of a football field, has amazing soil (a rarity in Botswana), and should produce a lot of food to feed all those affected by and infected with HIV. To help me with the project, a rotation of friends from the Bots 10 group are coming to my village and putting in a few days at a time. They are joining me, a few members of my NGO's staff, and a flow of community members and children. We are all getting our hands dirty in an effort to help the Kumakwane community.
These past two days have been designing a plan for the plot, which will have eight 24'X24' plots (inside a covered area) and a small fruit tree orchard beside the enclosed structure. We also spent four painstaking hours digging the initial trench system to route the underground water source and irrigate the garden. By the time we were finished, we were covered in mud, our hands blistered, and thoroughly exhausted. We are also invigorated because we are starting to see the potential come to life. Tomorrow we will plant the trees, continue digging trenches, and (hopefully) get a few beds in one or two of the plots ready for planting.The garden is going to be a huge undertaking and it will probably take months to get it entirely put together but, in the end, it's something that will last and will sustain those in need. It's something viable, substantial, and impactful.
Evening of Cultural Exchange:
Before last night, I had never been to a bar in my village. (Actually, I'm never out after dark because the Peace Corps scared the bejesus out of us... unnecessarily it seems.) But yesterday I saw a sign on a bar that I've been curious about since I moved to site (it has monkeys painted on the side and picnic tables) that was advertising "Jazz" starting at 4pm. Having four Bots 10ers with my to work on the garden project, we decided we had strength in numbers and would venture out to check out the jazz. Everyone stared at us when we walked into the compound (read: large fenced yard reminiscent of a beer garden) and we made our way to the bar (aka one-room house with a bar and a few fridges). We ordered drinks (in Setswana) and went outside to listen to the DJ playing local music. Everyone was dancing around and sitting at tables talking among their friends. The occasional person would come over and introduce themselves to us and chat for a little while. It was cordial, comfortable, and really really nice (so unlike what we had been told).
I met a girl that was orphaned at six-years-old and who utilized services at my NGO as a child. We talked about what it's like to lose a parent, about her goal to visit another country some day, and her fears about the future. She is raising her young cousins who were orphaned. She's only 20. She has a dream of starting a small support group for youth to provide them with clothes and toiletries and help them come of age as an orphan. I am going to help her get started.
We met a handful of other people and then we got to watch traditional dance and listen to local music. It was a really fun time.
On our way home, we were walking down my earthen road when a truck suddenly went off the road and rolled into a ditch and onto its side. We ran over to see if the driver was okay and to help him get out of the vehicle. Within minutes there were four cars shining their headlights onto the rolled car and two dozen people all clambering to help. It didn't take long before the driver was out of the car, completely unharmed, and we started to work at getting the truck out of the ditch and back on the road. Everyone was calm as we brainstormed ways to move the truck, knowing that we could do it if we all worked together. And it did take all of us pulling and pushing and wrenching to get the truck back on the road but, about 45 minutes later, the man was heading home.
What inspired me most was how everyone came together, literally crawling out of the woodwork, to help. I have rarely seen such collectivism and community. It was a testament to the type of people the Batswana are. I felt pretty proud to be a part of this community last night. It's wonderful to be a part of something that is so unified, resourceful, and charitable.
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