The Village

Zee and I were finally able to start our surveying out in the villages.  Tuesday morning, I woke up and headed over to the dining hall not really thinking anything about the weather.  Then it dawned on me-- there were clouds.  Not just clouds, but it was overcast.  Clearly I've become way too accustomed to overcast skies growing up in Cleveland, that it took me a while to even notice.  These were the first clouds I had seen since arriving in Botswana.

This clock tower in the new student center is 30min ahead.  This could be because everyone operates 30 min behind.

Zee's puppy Rufus.

Some giant beetle we found in the parking lot.  Maren may have freaked out a lot.

We brought along Amber (UPenn) and her UB partner, Unami.  The village was so interesting because there was such a wide range of wealth.  The first home that we spoke with had a small house about the size of my bedroom at my parents' house and no access to electricity.  The mother brought in about P400/month (the currency of Botswana is the Pulo, which is ~ P7: $1).  That's less than $60/month and $720/year.  Across the street, a family lived in a nice house with a gate and front porch, glass windows with bars and was connected to the standard electrical grid.  This woman's kids work in the city and send money home to her.  Next door to this woman was another elderly woman who had 2 traditional circular mud huts.  She was in the process of building the rest of her new home which would then be connected to the grid.  Other families that we spoke with were waiting for their grid connection.  One family was split in two with the elders in one house and the younger generation next door.  The elders in this family didn't want electricity, but their daughter took care of them and would make dinner on her electric stove and bring it over.  Another family sold vegetables, while another sold cigarettes.  One used to farm, but now is over 60 and receives a stipend or pension from the government (P210/person over 60/month).  This family is connected to the grid but hardly uses any electricity because they can't afford it.

No one that we spoke with on this first day in this village had home installed solar systems from the Botswana Power Corporation (BPC).   Every family had a cell phone.  And every family invited us to talk and brought out plastic lawn chairs for us all to sit.  Zee told us to sit as it is rude to stand.  When someone offers you something, you accept it (see story soon to come).

It was a strange experience for me because many of the people we spoke with were older and do not know English.  Zee had to do all of the talking and writing of the questionnaire answers.  Unami helped out too since she knows Setswana.  Basically, I would shake people's hands and say "Hello" in Setswana, and sit and write notes about the house and yard.  If they had animals, what does the house look like, do they have a car, stuff like that.  Zee would do all of the talking and then he would say goodbye and thankyou and we would move on the the next house.  You can see how I may have felt kind of worthless.


Today, Zee and I brought a friend of Zee's along with us since he grew up in the village that we had been in the day before.  We hoped to meet up with the BPC representative who would show us homes that had the home solar systems installed.  The representative was working "on the outskirts of the village we had been to" but really he was a fair bit away, although much shorter drive for us.  This village didn't have access to the power grid so many more people had the BPC Solar systems.  The general opinion about the solar power wasn't very positive though.  Many people did not like that they couldn't have electric stoves or irons with the system.  There are 3 levels, the cheapest having connections to lights, a radio, and a cellphone charger; and the most expensive having connections to lights, a 12W radio, a HiFi radio, 74cm TV, solar fridge, and a cellphone charger.  The BPC rep. knew that a lot of people had some concerns about the solar systems, but he explained it as a result of poor education.  When people learned about solar power, they expected that it would be able to replace or substitute completely for the grid, but that is not the case.  Appliances such as stoves and irons need a lot more power and would eat through solar energy stored in the battery. In villages such as this second one, it is a good option opposed to strictly using petroleum run generators and batteries bought in the city.

The families we spoke with would be willing to pay for the connection fee for the standard grid power, but the government has to decide to run wire out to them.  Zee briefly explained how a representative goes to a budget meeting and makes a statement for the village to be granted access.  While some people complained about the stoves, others just had gas stoves run off of a propane tank.  This is similar to the US.

One household which has 10 people because they take in orphans did not have a solar system installed.  Instead they had some solar powered lamps with LED lights.  They also grew watermelons to sel and offered us some.  We of course took them even though we have no need for more food and Zee hates fruit. Fruit is not common at meals here, but fruit juice (mainly sugar) is at every one.

Here a bunch of pictures from today.

Solar panels are those slanted plates on top.

You can kind of see the panels here.  Also dogs were everywhere in this village.

Firewood stove outside in this nice courtyard area.

Same house as above.  This traditional hut has a traditional courtyard blocked off around it.

The main building from the above house.  Zee's friend S'boo is sporting the matching hat that both he and Zee have.

Zee and I infront of the traditional hut featured earlier.

The cylindrical object on the left side of the roof is a solar water heater.  They are on most of the UB buildings and the water is used for heating during the winter. Yes they heat the buildings when it has been 80s during the day and drops to 50s at night.

BPC rep driving us around quickly.

Propane tank providing this village's chief with gas for a stove.

Best Friends

For cow pens, they circle up thorn bushes.

The older cattle are only allowed out at night, so they come back to the young ones.  The young ones are let out during the day because they will come back.

This small generator powered this home which didn't have solar panels.

The bar collects glass bottles.  Around campus, there aren't many/any recycling bins and few trash cans that are outside.  This makes the ground covered with broken shards of glass bottles.  I will never walk outside without shoes.

A very wealthy family with a PT cruiser in that garage.

Students walking home from school.

Donkey carts are very common when villagers go to their farms or to fetch water.  Buses come out pretty far and bring people into the city.

These 2 brothers are building their new house.  As the one spread the concrete mix, the other tosses him a shovel full which he will catch on his slab.

On the way back to campus, Zee treated me to some Chicken Licken, which was great!! Chicken Sliders, hot wings, and fries.  Good stuff.  We then picked up his neice from school, except this school was on a military base.  It is illegal to take pictures on the base so I don't have pictures of the prison we drove by or of the Disney Characters painted on the wall of the school. I found it crazy that to get past the gate into the compound, all Zee had to do was roll down his window and say he was picking his niece up.  The soldiers didn't even question why an American was in the car and never asked for any ID from any of us.  Blew my mind, because even to get into NASA Glenn, you have to be a US citizen, let them know in advance, and bring your state ID.  Two very different countries as far as security threats.

In the evening, many of the ENGR students and researchers went to an International Friendly between Botswana and Lesotho.  The Botswana Zebras played really well and won 3-0.  It was an adventure going with Lebo to get the tickets.  Lots of people forcing money into the ticket holders face and he chooses whoever has the most.  We were buying 25 so we had the most.  The game only cost P30 wish is just over $4.  Now I haven't been to many US friendly's but I'd imagine it'd be more than that.  The game was a lot of fun and we got to join in the celebrations with the Zebra Fans.

Allen almost made it (CWRU), Andrew (Rutgers), Leslie (Rice), Maren (Yale), Marc not looking (CWRU)

Nikki almost paying attention (UB), Kay focusing (UB), Amber (UPenn), Kameron (W&M), Lebo (UB) 

Zebra's bence

Parade from the rowdy section at half time

Parade

Zebra tunnel

Dancing section making their own half time show.

Brian (Tulane) with his drum sticks feeling a beat during the half time dancing.  Me getting pulled into dance. Note I'm handing my camera off in the middle so there's maybe 10 seconds of nonsense.

Victory dance by a woman near us after a Zebra goal.

I'll be in the villages again tomorrow and then taking a 3 day safari up in Maun, Botswana.
Until next time,
M.e.