We hope everyone is well and enjoying the summer time in the US, Germany, Thailand and Korea.
It is winter here with day temperatures in the 50‐60’s and night temperatures in the 30‐40’s. There is no heat in the offices, churches or houses. At night, we stay warm by piling on the blankets. Heda wears two sets of everything when going to bed. During the day, layering is in order. We continue to settle in and are very happy to report we have obtained our two year resident visas and our Botswana driver’s license. The tricky part of the latter was passing the eye test. You look through a viewer and are asked to identify a specific geometric pattern within a larger geometric pattern, stating if the pattern is in the upper, lower, left or right segment of the screen. The pattern becomes smaller with each consecutive screen. You had to identify 7 out of 10 patterns and locations correctly. They black out one eye and then the other. We passed, but just barely.
One night we woke up to hail pounding on our flat, metal roof. Wind and rain were whipping the open and closed windows. Rain was coming between the spaces around the doors. The entire yard was covered with one inch of hail. The next morning we saw that all the plants were shredded. People say they have not seen a storm like that in over ten years.
Ascension Day in Botswana is a National religious holiday, with most people attending church, which for us was in the morning. Some places had services outdoors. We understand that it is like that in most countries in Africa and also in Germany.
We are settling into our jobs at the church. Heda has visited patients in their homes and at the Kgothatso‐Encouragement house and spent time at an orphanage in a nearby village. The care given to the patients and the children at both facilities is excellent. You can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit in their midst. We’re attaching a one page write up of each facility. Ron has been working on the budget and auditing church records. One of the newer projects funded by the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) involves the village of Manyana. It is a joint endeavor of ELCSA and ELCB (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Southern Africa and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana). In the way of history, 30 years ago the ELCB was formed when a faction of Lutherans in Botswana split from ELCSA and formed the ELCB. Both churches profess the same Lutheran theology and have the same teachings and liturgy. The Manyana project will hopefully be helpful on the road to reconciliation between the two Lutheran entities. Philip Knutson, the ELCA representative for the Southern Africa region, who lives in Cape Town, South Africa, visited us for a couple of days in May. At this time we visited Manyana. The scope of the project is to live out our God‐given unity in Christ. A horticultural aspect of the project is to grow food to provide assistance to the needy in the community i.e. HIV/AIDS infected. The crops they were growing were wiped out by the same hail storm that hit Gaborone. They were already replanting when we visited just days after the hail storm. We will keep you informed of the progress of God’s work in our future blogs.
Our visit with Rev. Philip Knutson was most enjoyable. He was our first ELCA guest in Botswana. He has been involved in pastoral work in Africa for most of his ordained life and is a great resource for us, for which we are grateful.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
Hi everyone! We are excited to share the events of the last month with you.
We're starting to learn the names and faces of the people of the congregation of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd and look forward to the Sunday services. The children, all ages, are delightful. They are a part of the service, participating in the singing and sharing of the peace. Then, when it's time for the sermon, the Sunday school teachers take them to the large, separate, one room Sunday school building for their program. They return to the regular Church service for communion.
We are particularly thinking of everyone during the Lenten season. Ash Wednesday was a very moving service. Our ashes were large black crosses on our forehead and a sobering reminder of our earthly existence. We have been attending Lent services on Thursdays. The singing is really beautiful. The services alternate between the three Lutheran Churches in Gaborone. Last Thursday it was held at Itumuleng, where we were greeted by a mother hen with her brood. The church doubles as a day care center to help support it financially.
We moved into a rental house the weekend of March 7-8 and are settling in. We've gotten basic but very comfortable beds for our bedroom and for the guest bedroom. Of the latter-friends and family take note. Also we have a couch for the living room and a dining room table and chairs. We made a special purchase-two hand woven cane chairs. The artist is a gentleman from Zimbabwe who works for Botswanana craft, a shop which sells local African art and artifacts. For those of you who have asked about our dishes and flatware, we've moved to a set of dishes and flatware for four. We are enjoying South African wine.
In the mornings we are on the road by 7am and get home around 5pm or later. By 6pm it cools down. This is when we go upstairs to the balcony. We sit in the cane chairs and watch the 6:30pm sunset. From the front of our house, we have a great West view of the sky. As the sun descends, it leaves spectacular streaks of color. Then a breeze stirs and turns the air cool. It's lovely. By 7:30pm it has turned quite dark. This is the cue for the bugs to come out and for Ron and Heda to go in. We want to share, that while house hunting we learned the following terminology-Acon, which is pronounced acorn and refers to the air conditioning wall united mounted in a room, usually the bedroom. But since it turns cool at night we have not used it. We have a Geyser-the term for hot water heater. It is mounted on the outside wall of the house. We do see solar panels on some of the roofs. Most homes have no heat, even though the temperature occasionally reaches freezing in June and July (winter).
The areas in Gaborone are divided into blocks and plots and extensions. The extensions 1-14 are in the down town area and contrary to what the name implies are the first real planned sites for housing and government buildings. So extension 1 might be the area around the Main Mall, extension 2 the University of Botswana etc. Later the newer areas were designated as blocks. For instance we live in block 8, plot 37124. There are also numbered industrial blocks which have plots as well. It gets interesting trying to find a certain building in a certain block when street names are not used much and not too evident. There is no mail delivery, only PO Boxes. We love to get mail and use the PO box for the church. Our address is
Ron and Heda Christ
ELCB (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana)
PO Box 1976
Gaborone, Botswana
The area where we live is a mixture of one and two storey homes. Almost all are surrounded by brick walls. In addition most of the walls are topped off with electric wiring and electric wired gates. Many of the homes have plantings outside their walls that help to soften the barricade look and feel. Inside the property, yards are landscaped with rocks and grass. Some have kept the dense, desert dirt of the land with flowers, scrub trees and shrubs. In the case of the latter, the dirt gets swept and raked, leaving a zigzag design. You'd think no weeds, right? There are plenty!
Many of the people keep large dogs in their yards and these dogs like to howl during the night and some sound like wolves. Our neighbors diagonally across from us have three dogs who really like to bark at the moon and whatever else they see.
The weekend we moved in, there were large tents in the yards of our neighbors. This means someone died. It is customary that everyone who knows the family is expected to come to pay their respects. This becomes quite costly for the family since they provide the food and drink etc. for all who come. When someone dies here, people refer to the deceased as late. During the announcements at church, we heard that Mr. Kobi was late, meaning he died.
We live in the Northern part of Gaborone, relatively close to the airport. It takes us about 30 minutes to get to most locations. The church took delivery of the white Hilux Toyota truck that was ordered a month ago. Other news, we turned in the paperwork for our work visas. DHL and Fed-Ex came through and delivered our certified diplomas and Ron's birth certificate. Unfortunately we're still waiting for Heda's birth certificate from Germany-sent in February. They are trying to resend it.
In the mornings we listen to the Voice of America on our short wave radio. The reception varies but we really love listening to the news from the US and from around the world, even though the news is still far from good these days. We buy the Economist here at the bookstore and try to stay caught up.
We completed our formal sessions of Setswana lessons. It's a stepping stone in getting to know the people and the culture. The Batswana people are very appreciative when we try to speak the language. They help us and are very forgiving of our many mistakes.
We've finally opened a bank account after five visits to the bank, a huge accomplishment.
We're finding our way around the city. Ron has the driving on the left side down! We have had to tape our map of Gaborone, it's starting to tear from so much use. Most people take kombies, a 12 seat bus that usually crams in more. There are no transfers so each route is a separate fare. We often give rides to the church staff etc.
Also in March, the annual staff retreat was held for the pastors and 'workers' of the Lutheran Church of Botswana. The site, the Lutheran seminary called Woodpecker, is located South of Gaborone. It is a beautiful drive dotted with hills and a river crossing. Ron and Heda were invited by the Bishop to attend. We spent five fulls days meeting staff and learning about the affairs of the Church. Morning devotions in the chapel started the day, followed by work-shops, tea break, discussions, lunch, more workshops and talks and dinner. Most of it was conducted in English and when in Setswana and or Afrikaans, someone was seated next to us to translate. The center, a former lodge, though in need of building renovations, is very lovely. It is on Crocodile Road next to a river which forms part of the border with South Africa.
The following weekend we took a trip to the northern part of Botswana and a city called Maun. The purpose of the trip was to accompany an individual, Polisi Kivava, from UEM-United Evangelcal Mission, an organization headquartered in Wupppertal, Germany. The UEM works in 13 countries in Africa, 15 in Asia and 6 areas in Germany and supports various local programs. The UEM currently supports three projects of the Lutheran Church in Botswana. We-Polisis, Ivy the ELCB church treasurer, Heda and Ron reviewed all three projects and found them at different stages of development. The first one, Thuso (Help) located in Maun, is a large rehabilitation center for physically and mentally disabled youth and adults. It has several activities including agricultural, water purification, weaving and leather crafts, physical therapy and an HIV/AIDS testing station. We also visited the towns of Sehithwa and Kang to review the orphanage-due to HIV/AIDS and counseling centers there.
We traveled 1900 Km, making a big semicircle around the edge of the Kalahari Desert. Although the roads are paved, there are potholes. We had three tire blowouts. When we were changing one tire, we were told to be on the lookout, as lions were in the area. We did not see any lions, but did see several families of ostriches. The biggest hazard was avoiding the donkeys, cows, horses and goats that were standing on the road or grazing along the road.
We have started to move into our offices where we will be working. They are located in the church compound where we first lived. Heda has been assigned by the Bishop to be the HIV/AIDS coordinator for the Lutheran Church of Botswana. The position has been vacant for six months due to lack of funding. It is desperately needed. She will be traveling to various sites. As for Ron's work, the financial department is busy right now with the outside audit and the annual budget preparation.
We are looking forward to our first Easter in Botswana. Happy Easter to everyone.
Ron and Heda
We're starting to learn the names and faces of the people of the congregation of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd and look forward to the Sunday services. The children, all ages, are delightful. They are a part of the service, participating in the singing and sharing of the peace. Then, when it's time for the sermon, the Sunday school teachers take them to the large, separate, one room Sunday school building for their program. They return to the regular Church service for communion.
We are particularly thinking of everyone during the Lenten season. Ash Wednesday was a very moving service. Our ashes were large black crosses on our forehead and a sobering reminder of our earthly existence. We have been attending Lent services on Thursdays. The singing is really beautiful. The services alternate between the three Lutheran Churches in Gaborone. Last Thursday it was held at Itumuleng, where we were greeted by a mother hen with her brood. The church doubles as a day care center to help support it financially.
We moved into a rental house the weekend of March 7-8 and are settling in. We've gotten basic but very comfortable beds for our bedroom and for the guest bedroom. Of the latter-friends and family take note. Also we have a couch for the living room and a dining room table and chairs. We made a special purchase-two hand woven cane chairs. The artist is a gentleman from Zimbabwe who works for Botswanana craft, a shop which sells local African art and artifacts. For those of you who have asked about our dishes and flatware, we've moved to a set of dishes and flatware for four. We are enjoying South African wine.
In the mornings we are on the road by 7am and get home around 5pm or later. By 6pm it cools down. This is when we go upstairs to the balcony. We sit in the cane chairs and watch the 6:30pm sunset. From the front of our house, we have a great West view of the sky. As the sun descends, it leaves spectacular streaks of color. Then a breeze stirs and turns the air cool. It's lovely. By 7:30pm it has turned quite dark. This is the cue for the bugs to come out and for Ron and Heda to go in. We want to share, that while house hunting we learned the following terminology-Acon, which is pronounced acorn and refers to the air conditioning wall united mounted in a room, usually the bedroom. But since it turns cool at night we have not used it. We have a Geyser-the term for hot water heater. It is mounted on the outside wall of the house. We do see solar panels on some of the roofs. Most homes have no heat, even though the temperature occasionally reaches freezing in June and July (winter).
The areas in Gaborone are divided into blocks and plots and extensions. The extensions 1-14 are in the down town area and contrary to what the name implies are the first real planned sites for housing and government buildings. So extension 1 might be the area around the Main Mall, extension 2 the University of Botswana etc. Later the newer areas were designated as blocks. For instance we live in block 8, plot 37124. There are also numbered industrial blocks which have plots as well. It gets interesting trying to find a certain building in a certain block when street names are not used much and not too evident. There is no mail delivery, only PO Boxes. We love to get mail and use the PO box for the church. Our address is
Ron and Heda Christ
ELCB (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana)
PO Box 1976
Gaborone, Botswana
The area where we live is a mixture of one and two storey homes. Almost all are surrounded by brick walls. In addition most of the walls are topped off with electric wiring and electric wired gates. Many of the homes have plantings outside their walls that help to soften the barricade look and feel. Inside the property, yards are landscaped with rocks and grass. Some have kept the dense, desert dirt of the land with flowers, scrub trees and shrubs. In the case of the latter, the dirt gets swept and raked, leaving a zigzag design. You'd think no weeds, right? There are plenty!
Many of the people keep large dogs in their yards and these dogs like to howl during the night and some sound like wolves. Our neighbors diagonally across from us have three dogs who really like to bark at the moon and whatever else they see.
The weekend we moved in, there were large tents in the yards of our neighbors. This means someone died. It is customary that everyone who knows the family is expected to come to pay their respects. This becomes quite costly for the family since they provide the food and drink etc. for all who come. When someone dies here, people refer to the deceased as late. During the announcements at church, we heard that Mr. Kobi was late, meaning he died.
We live in the Northern part of Gaborone, relatively close to the airport. It takes us about 30 minutes to get to most locations. The church took delivery of the white Hilux Toyota truck that was ordered a month ago. Other news, we turned in the paperwork for our work visas. DHL and Fed-Ex came through and delivered our certified diplomas and Ron's birth certificate. Unfortunately we're still waiting for Heda's birth certificate from Germany-sent in February. They are trying to resend it.
In the mornings we listen to the Voice of America on our short wave radio. The reception varies but we really love listening to the news from the US and from around the world, even though the news is still far from good these days. We buy the Economist here at the bookstore and try to stay caught up.
We completed our formal sessions of Setswana lessons. It's a stepping stone in getting to know the people and the culture. The Batswana people are very appreciative when we try to speak the language. They help us and are very forgiving of our many mistakes.
We've finally opened a bank account after five visits to the bank, a huge accomplishment.
We're finding our way around the city. Ron has the driving on the left side down! We have had to tape our map of Gaborone, it's starting to tear from so much use. Most people take kombies, a 12 seat bus that usually crams in more. There are no transfers so each route is a separate fare. We often give rides to the church staff etc.
Also in March, the annual staff retreat was held for the pastors and 'workers' of the Lutheran Church of Botswana. The site, the Lutheran seminary called Woodpecker, is located South of Gaborone. It is a beautiful drive dotted with hills and a river crossing. Ron and Heda were invited by the Bishop to attend. We spent five fulls days meeting staff and learning about the affairs of the Church. Morning devotions in the chapel started the day, followed by work-shops, tea break, discussions, lunch, more workshops and talks and dinner. Most of it was conducted in English and when in Setswana and or Afrikaans, someone was seated next to us to translate. The center, a former lodge, though in need of building renovations, is very lovely. It is on Crocodile Road next to a river which forms part of the border with South Africa.
The following weekend we took a trip to the northern part of Botswana and a city called Maun. The purpose of the trip was to accompany an individual, Polisi Kivava, from UEM-United Evangelcal Mission, an organization headquartered in Wupppertal, Germany. The UEM works in 13 countries in Africa, 15 in Asia and 6 areas in Germany and supports various local programs. The UEM currently supports three projects of the Lutheran Church in Botswana. We-Polisis, Ivy the ELCB church treasurer, Heda and Ron reviewed all three projects and found them at different stages of development. The first one, Thuso (Help) located in Maun, is a large rehabilitation center for physically and mentally disabled youth and adults. It has several activities including agricultural, water purification, weaving and leather crafts, physical therapy and an HIV/AIDS testing station. We also visited the towns of Sehithwa and Kang to review the orphanage-due to HIV/AIDS and counseling centers there.
We traveled 1900 Km, making a big semicircle around the edge of the Kalahari Desert. Although the roads are paved, there are potholes. We had three tire blowouts. When we were changing one tire, we were told to be on the lookout, as lions were in the area. We did not see any lions, but did see several families of ostriches. The biggest hazard was avoiding the donkeys, cows, horses and goats that were standing on the road or grazing along the road.
We have started to move into our offices where we will be working. They are located in the church compound where we first lived. Heda has been assigned by the Bishop to be the HIV/AIDS coordinator for the Lutheran Church of Botswana. The position has been vacant for six months due to lack of funding. It is desperately needed. She will be traveling to various sites. As for Ron's work, the financial department is busy right now with the outside audit and the annual budget preparation.
We are looking forward to our first Easter in Botswana. Happy Easter to everyone.
Ron and Heda
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Life in Botswana
February 10, 2009
Passports and tickets in hand, we're off to Botswana. To our relief 2 suitcases, 2 duffel bags and 3 boxes holding clothing, books, batteries, assorted first aid items and household items, all get checked. And yes, we are carrying a laptop, camera, reading materials and banana bread baked by Deb. The most important item we carry is a baggie given to us by our 6 year old granddaughter Alexis. It contains sparkling fairy dust left by the tooth fairy on Alexis' pillow, when she lost two front teeth. The morning of our departure Alexis said, "Oma and Papa, I want you to have this so you won't forget me." Fighting back tears, we hugged her. "We won't Alexis, we won't." Never, we thought, so please don't forget us.
The journey:
The United Airlines flight took us three hours from Houston to Washington DC. From there we flew the next fifteen hours via South African Airways to Johannesburg, J'burg as it's called.
February 11
After a hectic hike from the state of the art new wing of the airport to the older section of the airport, we waited almost two hours at the gate. The city had been flooded with rain all day and there were many delays. We saw businessmen dressed in pressed shirts, dress pants and immaculate, shiny shoes. Most appeared to be in their mid thirties to forties. Laptops perched on their knees and cell phones pressed to their ears, they sat and waited. The one hour flight on South African Express took us to Gaborone, Botswana's capital. (Gaborone-pronounced Hchaboroneh, the g is pronounced as hch and the e at the end sounds like eh.) Below us we could see the lights. We've arrived in Gaborone, the city where we will live for the next two years.
We went through customs, and claimed our luggage in the single carousel, noting the airport is a compact, one story building, efficiently run and clean. We are met by Ivy, the Treasurer of the office of the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana (ELCB) and Rev. Morekwa, General Secretary of the office of the Bishop of the ELCB. They pack us, our luggage and themselves into an RV. Fifteen minutes later we are at the church office compound. They show us the guest house and help carry in our belongings, give us the key and bid us good night.
We look at the living room with our suitcases and boxes, strewn about. We see a wooden table and three chairs, a kitchen to the right with refrigerator, stove and sink and essentials of cereal, milk and buns for breakfast. We have two plates, two cups, two bowls, two spoons and two knives.
Off the living room to the left, is a bathroom with shower and sink, a separate toilet and lots of built in cabinets. There is no soap or towels. We dig through a box and voila, we find supplies.
Off the living room to the right, is the bedroom. We find a double bed made up with clean sheets, earth red colored pillows and a bedspread. Same colored curtains flare out in the breeze. There is a large built in closet. We rifle through another suitcase, find our pajamas, brush our teeth, using bottled water, and collapse. Good night all.
The next day, Ivy gave us a tour of the compound. It consists of a church, nursery and preK classrooms, a portable building for HIV/Aids staff, two guest guest houses, somewhat smaller than ours for seminary students, and two buildings housing Bishop Moenga and his staff of four, plus himself. The area is on a corner of a busy street and in a transitional neighborhood. The property is enclosed with a high brick fence. A gate is closed and locked around 9PM. The grounds are of packed dirt and gravel and dotted with a plummeria tree, a double red hibiscus bush and cacti. We have had a couple of good meetings with the Bishop. His approach appears to be to let us get settled in before we start the process of our 'jobs'. He is traveling this month and has been gone most of the time.
Saturday, February 21, 09 It's been 10 days since our arrival and every day is a new experience. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but we hope to prove the saying wrong! Little by little we're learning.--
*We've learned to find our way about slowly, driving in a small borrowed Toyota Springer, on the left side of the road, on streets dotted with traffic circles and complicated traffic lights-(round abouts and robots). It's as complicated as it sounds.
* We're in the process of learning to speak and write Setswana and are learning about Botswana customs. (Botswana-the o is pronounced as in ooh or boat-) Our instructor, Phono, teaches us at her home every morning. We sit in a shaded area of her yard and twist our tongues around the consonants and say clever things like, "Dumal rra, o tsogile jang?" Hello, sir, how are you? "Ke tsogile sentle, wena o tsogile jang." I'm well and you, yourself? It's fun to learn and it the highlight of our mornings. When we get back to the compound we practice with Ivy, Julia and Elizabeth and give them many chuckles. Everyone in Gaborone speaks English, but they prefer Setswana.
*We're trying to open a personal bank account and discovered such necessities as an introduction letter by a client of the bank, a letter showing employment or showing income and separate forms for each signer on the account. Each form needs to be correctly signed and officially stamped by the signers. We're working on getting this done along with obtaining work visas. Again, a story of special forms and signatures and official stamps. Julia helps us with all this. Thank you Julia! Thank you friend Pat, friend Sue and cousin Christa and daughter Deb for all your help stateside. We REALLY appreciate it. We will be making our fifth trip in an attempt to open the account!!!
* In the way of history, the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and ELCB (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana) have had mutual exchanges in the past but this is the first time someone from the ELCA has come to Botswana to work with the ELCB. As a result many of the logistic's are a first for both countries and we're all learning.
* The ELCA is providing funds for the ELCB to purchase a new Toyota Hilux truck. We will use this vehicle while in Botswana. The truck will enable the church staff to visit the outlying churches scattered throughout Botswana. The advertisement for the truck is, "Africa is not for sissies." We're in the process of procuring the Hilux. Ron will drive it, Heda will not, Heda is a sissy! :)
*We're looking to rent a two bedroom house, clean but humble, in a safe neighborhood. Rev. Morekwa has called agents and taken us around. So far, no success. We have since met Maria, a church volunteer and Pastor Marjo, both from Finland who are also helping us find housing. The search continues.
*We're learning to be patient. At present we do not have a land line phone and as a result are not hooked up to the Internet. We've come to an arrangement with Elizabeth at the ELCB office, who graciously let's us use her computer and Internet access, while she takes her lunch break. So we do have limited access. We welcome your email! Our cell phones work. Imagine our surprise when Heda's cell phone rang yesterday and her sister Margaret casually said, "Hello, it's Margaret." It was like a voice from heaven. Isn't God wonderful!
*We loved the worship last Sunday, at the Cathedral of The Good Shepherd, ELCB. We drove with Pastor William to the cathedral and attended the 8:30AM service which was in English, followed by the 10:30AM service which was in Setswana. The first sermon lasted 40+ minutes, the second sermon a full 45 minutes. We've emailed Pastor Boldt and explained that he needed to lengthen his sermons. We feel sure that everyone at Hosanna, our home church, agrees. Both services were joyful, interspersed with traditional and African hymns by the the Capella voices of the choir and congregation. When we shared the peace, the congregation wound through the aisles, shook hands, hugged and sang, 'the peace, the peace, the wonderful peace, the wonderful peace of GOD.
After each service, we were warmly greeted by the members, who formed a semicircle outside the church door. The people here in Gaborone easily switch from Setswana to English and back. They shared with us their stories of trips to the US for studies and other various visits. One woman doctor and her husband have been to Houston, where she spent a month at the Baylor Medical Center.
In closing, Gaborone is a city of about 200,000 population. It was built in 1966, following Botswana's independence. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Except for very beautiful, tall, stately government buildings, the remaining structures are one or two story. The spaces are generous and the city is spread out. It's very clean. The people are accommodating and very willing to help if you ask. The side for the city, only 15Km from the South African border, was chosen because of it's proximity to a river and thus source of water. Presently, it's summer here, about 100 degrees and we do not have air conditioning. It's only rained once for a short period since we've been here. The city, at 3,000 feet elevation, has a tall sky. The air is clear and the horizon is bordered by hills in the west, south and east. The edges of the roads are lined with tall grass and red earth, pedestrian walkways. There are mostly scrub trees dotting the landscape.
We've heard stories of funerals and orphaned children and poverty and hardships in the city and in the country overall. We see HIV prevention posters and large buildings marked with a large red bow like insignia, similar to the yellow, 'we care about our troops', in the States.
We bid you good night. Tomorrow is Sunday, February 21, 09. It's time to get a good night's sleep so we will be rested and alert for the long sermons.
Take care, dear family, friends and church friends. We embrace you in love.
Hugs and kisses to our grandchildren, Alexis, Audrey and Tegen. 000xxx
Blessings, Ron and Heda
Passports and tickets in hand, we're off to Botswana. To our relief 2 suitcases, 2 duffel bags and 3 boxes holding clothing, books, batteries, assorted first aid items and household items, all get checked. And yes, we are carrying a laptop, camera, reading materials and banana bread baked by Deb. The most important item we carry is a baggie given to us by our 6 year old granddaughter Alexis. It contains sparkling fairy dust left by the tooth fairy on Alexis' pillow, when she lost two front teeth. The morning of our departure Alexis said, "Oma and Papa, I want you to have this so you won't forget me." Fighting back tears, we hugged her. "We won't Alexis, we won't." Never, we thought, so please don't forget us.
The journey:
The United Airlines flight took us three hours from Houston to Washington DC. From there we flew the next fifteen hours via South African Airways to Johannesburg, J'burg as it's called.
February 11
After a hectic hike from the state of the art new wing of the airport to the older section of the airport, we waited almost two hours at the gate. The city had been flooded with rain all day and there were many delays. We saw businessmen dressed in pressed shirts, dress pants and immaculate, shiny shoes. Most appeared to be in their mid thirties to forties. Laptops perched on their knees and cell phones pressed to their ears, they sat and waited. The one hour flight on South African Express took us to Gaborone, Botswana's capital. (Gaborone-pronounced Hchaboroneh, the g is pronounced as hch and the e at the end sounds like eh.) Below us we could see the lights. We've arrived in Gaborone, the city where we will live for the next two years.
We went through customs, and claimed our luggage in the single carousel, noting the airport is a compact, one story building, efficiently run and clean. We are met by Ivy, the Treasurer of the office of the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana (ELCB) and Rev. Morekwa, General Secretary of the office of the Bishop of the ELCB. They pack us, our luggage and themselves into an RV. Fifteen minutes later we are at the church office compound. They show us the guest house and help carry in our belongings, give us the key and bid us good night.
We look at the living room with our suitcases and boxes, strewn about. We see a wooden table and three chairs, a kitchen to the right with refrigerator, stove and sink and essentials of cereal, milk and buns for breakfast. We have two plates, two cups, two bowls, two spoons and two knives.
Off the living room to the left, is a bathroom with shower and sink, a separate toilet and lots of built in cabinets. There is no soap or towels. We dig through a box and voila, we find supplies.
Off the living room to the right, is the bedroom. We find a double bed made up with clean sheets, earth red colored pillows and a bedspread. Same colored curtains flare out in the breeze. There is a large built in closet. We rifle through another suitcase, find our pajamas, brush our teeth, using bottled water, and collapse. Good night all.
The next day, Ivy gave us a tour of the compound. It consists of a church, nursery and preK classrooms, a portable building for HIV/Aids staff, two guest guest houses, somewhat smaller than ours for seminary students, and two buildings housing Bishop Moenga and his staff of four, plus himself. The area is on a corner of a busy street and in a transitional neighborhood. The property is enclosed with a high brick fence. A gate is closed and locked around 9PM. The grounds are of packed dirt and gravel and dotted with a plummeria tree, a double red hibiscus bush and cacti. We have had a couple of good meetings with the Bishop. His approach appears to be to let us get settled in before we start the process of our 'jobs'. He is traveling this month and has been gone most of the time.
Saturday, February 21, 09 It's been 10 days since our arrival and every day is a new experience. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but we hope to prove the saying wrong! Little by little we're learning.--
*We've learned to find our way about slowly, driving in a small borrowed Toyota Springer, on the left side of the road, on streets dotted with traffic circles and complicated traffic lights-(round abouts and robots). It's as complicated as it sounds.
* We're in the process of learning to speak and write Setswana and are learning about Botswana customs. (Botswana-the o is pronounced as in ooh or boat-) Our instructor, Phono, teaches us at her home every morning. We sit in a shaded area of her yard and twist our tongues around the consonants and say clever things like, "Dumal rra, o tsogile jang?" Hello, sir, how are you? "Ke tsogile sentle, wena o tsogile jang." I'm well and you, yourself? It's fun to learn and it the highlight of our mornings. When we get back to the compound we practice with Ivy, Julia and Elizabeth and give them many chuckles. Everyone in Gaborone speaks English, but they prefer Setswana.
*We're trying to open a personal bank account and discovered such necessities as an introduction letter by a client of the bank, a letter showing employment or showing income and separate forms for each signer on the account. Each form needs to be correctly signed and officially stamped by the signers. We're working on getting this done along with obtaining work visas. Again, a story of special forms and signatures and official stamps. Julia helps us with all this. Thank you Julia! Thank you friend Pat, friend Sue and cousin Christa and daughter Deb for all your help stateside. We REALLY appreciate it. We will be making our fifth trip in an attempt to open the account!!!
* In the way of history, the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and ELCB (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Botswana) have had mutual exchanges in the past but this is the first time someone from the ELCA has come to Botswana to work with the ELCB. As a result many of the logistic's are a first for both countries and we're all learning.
* The ELCA is providing funds for the ELCB to purchase a new Toyota Hilux truck. We will use this vehicle while in Botswana. The truck will enable the church staff to visit the outlying churches scattered throughout Botswana. The advertisement for the truck is, "Africa is not for sissies." We're in the process of procuring the Hilux. Ron will drive it, Heda will not, Heda is a sissy! :)
*We're looking to rent a two bedroom house, clean but humble, in a safe neighborhood. Rev. Morekwa has called agents and taken us around. So far, no success. We have since met Maria, a church volunteer and Pastor Marjo, both from Finland who are also helping us find housing. The search continues.
*We're learning to be patient. At present we do not have a land line phone and as a result are not hooked up to the Internet. We've come to an arrangement with Elizabeth at the ELCB office, who graciously let's us use her computer and Internet access, while she takes her lunch break. So we do have limited access. We welcome your email! Our cell phones work. Imagine our surprise when Heda's cell phone rang yesterday and her sister Margaret casually said, "Hello, it's Margaret." It was like a voice from heaven. Isn't God wonderful!
*We loved the worship last Sunday, at the Cathedral of The Good Shepherd, ELCB. We drove with Pastor William to the cathedral and attended the 8:30AM service which was in English, followed by the 10:30AM service which was in Setswana. The first sermon lasted 40+ minutes, the second sermon a full 45 minutes. We've emailed Pastor Boldt and explained that he needed to lengthen his sermons. We feel sure that everyone at Hosanna, our home church, agrees. Both services were joyful, interspersed with traditional and African hymns by the the Capella voices of the choir and congregation. When we shared the peace, the congregation wound through the aisles, shook hands, hugged and sang, 'the peace, the peace, the wonderful peace, the wonderful peace of GOD.
After each service, we were warmly greeted by the members, who formed a semicircle outside the church door. The people here in Gaborone easily switch from Setswana to English and back. They shared with us their stories of trips to the US for studies and other various visits. One woman doctor and her husband have been to Houston, where she spent a month at the Baylor Medical Center.
In closing, Gaborone is a city of about 200,000 population. It was built in 1966, following Botswana's independence. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Except for very beautiful, tall, stately government buildings, the remaining structures are one or two story. The spaces are generous and the city is spread out. It's very clean. The people are accommodating and very willing to help if you ask. The side for the city, only 15Km from the South African border, was chosen because of it's proximity to a river and thus source of water. Presently, it's summer here, about 100 degrees and we do not have air conditioning. It's only rained once for a short period since we've been here. The city, at 3,000 feet elevation, has a tall sky. The air is clear and the horizon is bordered by hills in the west, south and east. The edges of the roads are lined with tall grass and red earth, pedestrian walkways. There are mostly scrub trees dotting the landscape.
We've heard stories of funerals and orphaned children and poverty and hardships in the city and in the country overall. We see HIV prevention posters and large buildings marked with a large red bow like insignia, similar to the yellow, 'we care about our troops', in the States.
We bid you good night. Tomorrow is Sunday, February 21, 09. It's time to get a good night's sleep so we will be rested and alert for the long sermons.
Take care, dear family, friends and church friends. We embrace you in love.
Hugs and kisses to our grandchildren, Alexis, Audrey and Tegen. 000xxx
Blessings, Ron and Heda
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