'Our house. In the middle of the bush'

The house we're living in is a tradional african build with gumpoles and a thatch roof. It was built by volunteers in 2006 and is really very cool. Our long commute to teach is about 600m. It's also 300m to the main kitchen and we still get the boys to bring food to the house...life's tough...I think the pictures tell you the rest...

  

 

 

BB5. Getting post!

 

It's always great when there's a letter for you in the post bag - admittedly it's only happened a small number of times though (hint, hint haha). It was even better when there was a parcel, especially when written on the side was the contents, 'shoes and sweets' and were posted more than a month ago. The family must have also been in a rebellious mood as socks were also hidden in my shoes! Sneaky devils! Safe to say the sweets didn't last long but I've never had nicer Haribo and jammy dodgers!

 

 

 

Thanks a lot!

Fooooood

Here’s a quick look at whats on offer at the Bana ba Metsi kitchen. All meals come beautifully served in my large plastic dog bowl. (I keep forgetting to take pictures so some will come later). There’s not a lot of variety but the boys shouldn’t go hungary on the diet, that’s providing others don’t steal more than their fair share.

We have 2 ‘house boys’ that bring our food to the house which saves the trip to the kitchen (it’s quite a stressful place!). Richard and Mmereki taking full advantage of being in the house:

 

 

 

The menu. Every morning its tea and either bread or soft porridge for breakfast with the other one being served at break time. Then the 3 alternating lunches are: Pap, meat and soup. Rice, soup and salad. Samp and beans. In the evening it’s then more bread with beans being served twice a week. Theres also milk once a week and the occasional orange.

 

'soft' porridge - soft being an interesting way to describe it.

 

Samp and beans

Although it’s not that interesting it’s definitely edible and does keep you full - we do however cook ourselves an evening meal and buy quite a bit of extra food and drink.

No hair...

Before...



 

 

During.....

 

 

no hair...(except for the caterpillars above my eyes)

 

Back to School

Our slightly longer than anticipated weekend in Maun is coming to an end. Immigration is just about sorted (after hours of waiting at the police station and immigration offices - blog post about that to come), a few errands for the school have been completed, lot's of lovely food has been eaten and slightly too much money has been spent on alcohol. It's been bloody brilliant!
We've met some weird and wonderful people, played a lot of pool and used an unhealthy amount of internet at Wimpey's but I'm really looking forward to getting back to the school!

The 2 new German volunteers are arriving tonight so we'll be driving back up tomorrow morning.

Will speak again in around a months time! I've a feeling it's going to go verrrry quick like the first month did!

BB4. Shower.

Vanilla scented candles burning and the most stars that you've ever seen above you're head...sounds like a pretty romantic shower, right?

mmmm maybe not.

The mood quickly nose dives when you turn the water on.....It's unbeliveeeeebly cold....and even then you're lucky that some water is actually coming out.

Your romantic shower date has quickly turned into a quick hello followed by a swift exit. To top things off you've got to dry yourself with a towel that's the size of a dwarfs hankychief and refuses to get wet.

Ok, apologies for sounding like a prat. I'm very grateful that previous volunteers built a shower right next to the house and actually...I'm starting to quite enjoy them...

BB3. Sunset.

The Sun sets at around 6.30pm and it goes dark quick! On the odd occasion we're not busy at sunset, there's an amazing view of it just a short walk out of the gate towards the river. The pictures don't really do it justice so here's a photo of my feet...(again)

BB2. Riding in the back of a truck.

I've lost count of how many times I've done this now. Not a whole lot to say about it apart from the fact that it's pretty freaking cool (minus the sunburn and the occasional bit of dust in the eye).

 

 

 About 6 hours after the picture above...

Botswana Byte 1. Magwinya.

These are going to be mini posts about small things which really tickle my pickle in Botswana. Enjoy!

BB1. Magwinya (ma-guin-ya).

(Also known as fat cakes). These are Sugarless chewy doughnutty things sold at little road side stalls out of cool boxes. They are AMAZING and costing 50 thebe each (about 4p) I'm sure mannnny more will be consumed this year.

A School Day

There are 3 classes in the school, Standard 5, Standard 6 and Standard 7, only the S7's take the leaving exam at the end of the year then new S5's arrive the following January.

We've just moved onto the summer timetable which means lesson start at 7.30am, and that's even after registration and assembly so it's an early start. There are then 4 lessons before break and 4 after each lasting 35minutes and finishing at around 12.45. It's then lunch until 3pm when the meeting starts followed by manual work until 5.30. Sports and swimming are slotted into the timetable on various days as well.

So what are we actually doing?

We're both teaching a subject to S5 (Jack maths and me science), this involves teaching one period each day with one double period a week. It doesn't seem that much but it can be pretty hard work when you're trying to teach the solar system to boys that are more interested in throwing things across the classroom and constantly wanting go to the toilet. When a lesson goes well though it feels amaaazing and keeps you in a good mood for the rest of the day.

After our lessons we've got free time in the morning to help out somewhere in the school or just chill out. We then have a group during manual work, so far this has involved going to collect firewood (this is really quite fun especially as we get to drive the Toyota cabstar), collecting river sand, bush clearing, painting the classrooms, fixing the lockers and a few other things. There are maybe 6 groups during manual and most jobs involve improving the school in some way. After manual we've free to chill out by ourselves...wait ..that never happens, it's usually time to try and entertain the boys through playing games, music, going to the computer lab, the TV tent and anything else that's remotely interesting.

After cooking our evening meal using our complex culinary skills, a favourite being chakalaka sauce and rice with corned beef if we're lucky, we're usually pretty knackered.

Bana ba Metsi

The school we're at is called Bana ba metsi and is located near the village of Ngrange on the east side of the Okavango panhandle...in other words....the middle of nowhere. The nearest proper town is called Shakawe which is 50km down a dirt road and a ferry crossing away. The school is then 1km from the road down a slightly more bumpy dirt road and is surrounded by a perimeter fence. Being in the middle of nowhere makes it all the more special though (untill you run out of nice fresh food that is).

 

 

 

The school targets 'boys at risk' throughout Botswana. These boys come for a variety of reasons, through poverty, lack of positive role models, criminal behaviour......you get the picture. The age of the boys ranges from 12 to 19. The school then tries to teach them as many manual skills as possible and aims for them to pass their Primary School Leaving Certificate. Sounds like a pretty sweet plan...

'Mister, mister, borrow me your ipod?'

If somebody gave me 1 pula every time one of the boys asked me this then I still wouldn't be a very rich man...I'd be getting close though.

It's already been a month! Soooooo much has happened and I still haven't written a blog post yet so brace yourselves, they're gonna come thick and fast. (hopefully)

We're currently in Maun eating unbelievably nice food and using internet that works (WOOO!) on our long weekend break, its amazing! (every month staff are entitled to a long weekend off and most come to Maun - it's only 6 hours away on a good day). Also, Peter (Bana ba metsi director) is letting us stay in his place for free which is a massive help.

  Speak soon!

GET READY FOR DA COUNTDOWN

It's getting closer...

I'm sure it'll be an interesting day 2 weeks from now... It's also starting to become VERY real. Clothes have been bought, equipment ordered (just about) and more importantly it was my final 'The Sportsman' pub quiz last night (hence the title) and guess what? -we didn't win.

The plan for the next 14 days then. Help Helen celebrate her graduation tonight, recovery on Saturday. On Sunday afternoon the Europe trips begins, only 8 days for me however, to end on Monday the 29th giving me 3 days to pack and try not to think about what important thing I've no doubt forgotten about. Then when Friday the second arrives it means there'll be a drive down to London with a final stop at the Aunties to consume an unbelievably good last supper....oh... and to say some goodbyes. Boom

Speak soon.

Matthew 

BOTSWANA TIME!

Ok this may take some explaining...(apologies Guyana fans)

If you're in a rush this post summarised in 4 words is - I'M GOING TO BOTSWANA!

So basically when I was on selection back in September I had to choose the countries I'd consider volunteering in and then Project Trust would match up volunteer to project. However some countries only have very few volunteers so PT only select these at the end of all selection courses (about March time). There's only two of us going to the project in Botswana so when I chose it on selection I knew I'd be pooled and told whether I was successful many months later....

NOW is that time and earlier in the week a phone call from Ingrid (desk officer for Botswana and CEO of Project Trust!) confirmed I'll be going to Botswana. Wow. The project looks amazing and I cannot wait! - More info to come.

Hawkshead 17km 27/04/13

Sponsored 17km compleeeeete! Finished in 1h27m - it was unbelievably knackering!(photos below)

Thank you very much to everyone who sponsored and supported me, my original target has been smashed leaving me on the home straight to complete fundraising! 

A welcome site to see after the hardest run I've ever done. Thanks everyone!

1km to go and the mud appears.

This may mislead you to think I'm smiling....It's definitely a grimace.

Amazing Responses!

Along with a fair few rejections from trusts I've been unbelievably successful and can't thank these charitable trusts enough for all their donations. I'm well over halfway of my target with the website 'easyfundraising' still making a substantial contribution and there's a sponsored run in the planning.

Also, EXAMS ARE OVER! for now at least...