DAY SIXTEEN: Day of Rest + Supermoon

We were tired.  We attended the Lobatse Ward where Linda and Wendell serve.  Of course, Linda could not stay away from church!  We had Ricardo sit with us.  His mom just had a baby and he and his dad had that dazed look that comes from a paradigm shift in the home.  Ricardo was happily (relatively) quiet as long as he was taking pictures or producing videos.  Madeleine was a patient assistant.  Ricardo was a non-violent protester of the new baby brother until Primary... all bets were off.  Still, a cutie! Aunt Linda on the inadvertent photo-bomb.

After Church and dinner, we journeyed out to see the mission home before the president and his wife moved in.  All was well until we realized the alarm would not shut off. The alarm company seemed completely oblivious to the situation and when the electricity went out in that neighborhood (Phakalane) we threw in the towel on worrying about the security of the place -- the alarm company had abandoned any obligation to send out a technician.  The moon was cool, however, but our iPhone photos could not quite do justice to the scene.

DAY FIFTEEN: YSA Convention in Notwane

Indeed, we were blessed to meet many outstanding folks while in Botswana.  Wendell and Linda had been asked to speak on "Christlike Leadership" for the Young Single Adult convention held in Notwane this day.  Linda was not up to being out and about, so Wendell went it alone and did an outstanding job.  He told the great story of his and Linda's courtship -- you must contact them for the details!  We were happy to meet President Matsuatata, the 32-year-old Botswana Stake President and Elder Jacques A. Van Reenen, Area Seventy.

Strangely, I do not think we took any pictures this day... So I will treat you to a video of the children playing with the blue playdough.

DAY FOURTEEN: Linda's Home! + 2nd Day of Home Visits

Linda came home from the hospital the night before and we were so happy!  She is such an incredible, upbeat force of life.  Wendell is the same.  They are a great, powerhouse couple and hardly missed a beat despite the wild and crazy hospital stay and not feeling too great.  The doctor ordered rest.  Linda tried, but was not completely successful on the restful obedience.

Meanwhile, Mma Williams (said, Ma Williams -- I LOVED it when people called me Ma or Mama -- so sweet!) suggested we go on a couple of home visits.  Ridah went with us to introduce us and interpret.  Most folks in Manyana speak English, but were sometimes more comfortable speaking Setswana.  We never made it past Dumela (hello) ourselves, so were sympathetic to the mono-lingual plight.  These Batswana are amazingly kind and open to new friendships.  We will never forget them!

Linda was definitely feeling much better when she went home.

Reading Freakonomics in the Botswana Private Hospital

Not supposed to have favorites, nevertheless, just sayin'...

DAY THIRTEEN: Blue Playdough + Home Visit + Linda Comes Home

We are from a long line of homemade playdough makers.  My mom made playdough for us kids and I made playdough for my children.  It stood to reason, that if we were talking about the color blue with the kids, we would make blue playdough, a thing I'd guessed they'd heretofore not seen.  In keeping with the new multi-sensory experience concept for the day, we made Rice Krispie Treats for snack time.  After some initial "what the heck is this?" moments, the playdough and Treats were huge hits.

Once the children realized there was no goal other than to play, they loved the playdough!

Wasn't sure how these mallows would work, but they were actually superior in their melting properties!
Pink treats rule.

All told, Madeleine created over 12 large batches of treats.  Some for our Manyana, Place of Hope kids and some for the Kalahari settlement families  Adventures in eating!  Bon appetit!  

DAY TWENTY-SIX: Babies in the Backseat

Our plan for achieving optimal book-making efficiency involved kids in the back seat with our teacher/translator, Ridah. The kids would just hang out in the car (in our plain view) until it was their turn to show us their homes and families while we interviewed them. After our first visit, I got back into the car to find the kids blissfully chewing on something.  Blue gum.  Babs and I laughed as we figured they got into my purse and found the pack of gum. When I looked, however, no gum was missing. Nope, the kids found the wrapped up gum we had chewed earlier that day, and split it between themselves.  Yikes.

DAY TWENTY-SEVEN: US Independence Day in Botswana or Lessons in Capitalism + It's a Small World after All

God Bless America!  Drove to Manyana, rushing to get as many book visits in as we could before we came back for the mission luncheon and US Embassy Independence Day BBQ.  Mads and I sang patriotic songs the whole way and were missing the fam and the traditional 4th of July Church flag raising and breakfast and Flag trip.

As we were driving back, I spotted a family all carrying wood on their heads.  Beautiful profile against the horizon!  We passed them and I drove off the road and coerced Madeleine into running back and getting a photo.  In a true display of capitalism, the woman and children chased Mads down demanding pula for the photo-op.  Mads climbed in the car and said the woman wanted money.  I had nary a pula, but some few Botswana coins and some American money.  I handed her the American money and the Bots coins.  Not happy.  (Does she know something I don't know about American currency??)  Finally convinced her that really, we had no pula.  Her kids were delighted to have the US dollars.  Ah, youth!  

The mission lunch was fabulous and the senior sisters outdid themselves...again.  Afterwards, we ran home, snuck in a very unsatisfying 15 minute nap and went to the US Embassy grounds for a BBQ.  Apparently, the real shindig was last week for all legit dignitaries.  We were hobnobbing with the under 13 crowd, playing croquet.  We understood from Wendell, who is unparalleled in getting to know folks, that the Ambassador's parents had lived in Phoenix and were coming to the event.  Wendell led us over the Ambassador, who was holding her 4 month old son, Max, in a front pack.  And she and Madeleine discovered the great equalizer -- they are both Washington High School alums!  Ambassador Michelle Gavin was unassuming and very nice. We chatted with her and her folks and discovered they used to live around the corner from us.  Small world, indeed.

DAY TWELVE: Manyana + Bananas + Suckers

This day Linda was doing much better and very much wanting to go home, however, the doctor wanted to try to figure out what was causing the trouble, so on she stayed.  Linda was an absolute trouper and Wendell was an exceedingly great caretaker.  Madeleine threw together some cute fill in the blank books for the older children, who need to learn a bit of their letters before going to school.  We subsequently learned that most of the littles really speak almost no English, but Setswana.  Fill in the blanks -- an adventure to be sure.

Mads and I wanted to bring a bit of a treat for snack time for the babies, so went to the local Hyper Choppies for bananas and suckers.  We still were not so clear on the value of a Pula.  Because there are about 63 children at the centre, we decided to buy a large box of bananas instead of the pre-packaged and pre-weighed bananas.  And we bought suckers.  When we went through the checkout, the lady charged us a very large amount for the bananas and I started to question her, but since I really didn't know the value of a Pula (Kyle may now comment about my ability regarding the value of US currency) I opted to just raise my eyebrows and say, "That seems pricey."  She just muttered something about us buying the large box. We paid about $25 for about $10 worth of bananas.  It only took me a week to figure that out.

Note:  We have otherwise been treated with absolute kindness, respect and friendliness.  The people of Botswana are warm and accepting and we have felt a genuine part of things here.  Even the Hyper Choppies has otherwise been great.

Noah, he built him, he built him an ark-y ark-y... 

DAY ELEVEN.FIVE: Botswana Hospital

Darn it!  We were just finishing a delicious, yet of questionable nutritional value, meal when Linda began not feeling well.  The meal consisted of hot dogs (labeled "American Hot Dogs"), buttered and salted popcorn, broccoli and cauliflower salad, and hot cocoa -- yum.  Most of us felt a tiny bit uncomfortable, but certainly not ill.  Within an hour, it was apparent that Linda was not just ill, but in terrific pain and getting worse.  After a blessing from Wendell and good medical advice from Katie, we all trundled off to the hospital.  Wendell drove as quickly as possible to the private hospital in Gaborone.  It was an interesting cultural experience to be sure.  Needless to say, we are all trying to avoid another hospital stay occurrence.  Linda is doing great and we are never ever ever getting back together with the American Hot Dogs or the Botswana Private Hospital.

After 5 hours in the ER.

ER bed.

Sink in ER.  Tools used for another unnamed/unknown patient.

DAY ELEVEN: Orphan Centre

Our main reason for coming to Botswana was to work with vulnerable children and orphans.  We wanted to make photobiographies for the children to give them a better sense of themselves as individuals.  This proved challenging because in the past groups have come ostensibly to raise funds for the vulnerable children and have kept the money for themselves.  Therefore, the government has become very strict about what is and isn't allowed.  It's complicated.  Fortunately for us, Susan Williams, a regional director for the Seventh Day Adventist Church here in Botswana has graciously allowed us unfettered access to spend time with the children at the centre in Manyana "A Place of Hope"  This was our first day.  We are allowed to photo the kids and photographed we did.

Opening the gate for us.

Love them already!

DAY TEN: Kgale Hill + Gaborone Self Serve Game Reserve + Mission Office Baboons + Sam Retreats

Sam's flight home was this evening.  We were so sad to have him go.  Sam is the perfect travel companion and we were not ready for him to leave us so we crammed in as many activities as possible.

Kgale Hill hike at dawn with the Botswana missionaries.  This spot is a much needed landmark for travel in Gabs.  We got a bit turned around on our way back down and ended up in a concrete blasting site.  

res ipse loquitur

Love that Sam!  There was some political graffiti up there and a road sign posted in a rock that said Beijing.

Crafting a dead grass giraffe on the hike OR finding an excuse to rest.

 We hadn't seen warthogs, ostriches or monkeys, so off to the Gaborone game reserve.  This is a self serve reserve where driving yourself can seem like such a great idea.  Wendell, Madeleine, Sam and I drove our newly rented car to and through the reserve.  We went over to a marshy area where we hoped to spot some crocodiles.  The road was a bit wet and Wendell thought it would be a good idea not to go through on it.  Madeleine and I had the stronger voting block.  Thank you, Sam and Wendell for pushing/pulling us out.  No crocs here.

Makes you want to go all Swiss Family Robinson.  

One of the "creepy" monkeys -- Mads quote

Pumba

Baboons behind the mission office.  Yes, we fed them to get them to come closer for photos.

Tribute to one of the truly great traveling companions of all time!  Love you, Sam the Man!

DAY NINE: Sunday Fun-day as I Think Most People Call It + Throwback Lion King Style

Sunday...We went to the YSA Ward here in Botswana.  The whole thing was once in a lifetime, wonderful.  The congregants' singing was loud, on-key and generally amazing; nevertheless the Bishop arose after the opening hymn and prayer to give a tongue lashing about learning the hymns better and that the hymns were not just to be used at church on Sunday.  No small wonder they sang so enthusiastically!  The women who spoke were well-prepared and engaging and the counselor in the Stake Presidency who wrapped up the meeting was direct, yet amusing.  He counseled the young women to not waste their time with a young man that had dated them for 2 or more years with no hint of a marriage proposal because they would just have to start all over again -- wise words, wise words.  Sorry, no pics.

Not to be outdone by the NBA in the USA, we had our own neighborhood futbol finals.  Apparently, 4 teams come to the lot to play, each playing a match. They are very good and draw large crowds.  The lot is marked off with rocks and chunks of bricks. The winners go to the finals that day.  We were approached by 2 ladies supporting the yellow team to see if we wanted to sponsor.  We declined.  We were going for the blue team.

Sam subbing in. JK. He was getting out of the way of my camera and I think he is amazing even then.

Getting ready to score.

TBDN (Throwback Day Nine) This is a little Lion King production we put together on safari...enjoy...

DAY EIGHT: Mom Drives and We Do Not Die + Running like Natives

On day nine we picked up the car; we were told that we owed around $1000 if the car was damaged. After a few minutes with Babs behind the wheel, I was confident that we would be returning home $1000 poorer. The combination of my mother's normal, sketchy driving, my aunt's backseat driving, the normality of cow and goat crossing, the standard transmission, and the whole...opposite side of the road thing did not bode well. However, I am pleased to announce that we are two weeks in and accident free! So Kyle, we might just make it home with that $1000 for ya (:

Later Sam and I decided to take a jog at our neighborhood futbol field (a big dirt lot). While we were running, an African kid asked if he could join us. I was feeling good about our pace and enjoying the conversation when he said, "your pace is stupid...increase," at which point I fell behind while Sam, who had already run over a mile, kept pace. Please note that it is NOT because he is more athletic or in better shape than I am... someone had to take the picture!

Camping in Africa at Game City

DAY SEVEN: Watering Hole + Wild Dogs of Last Night

The watering holes were bastions of activity.  This day we saw over 40 elephants come to drink, mostly mamas and babies.  When the boys came around, the girls chased them off.  The bulls were persistent, but so were the mamas.  The babies were soo dang cute!  One baby was so little it didn't quite know how to drink using its trunk.  A couple of elephants started toward us and our guide was quick to throw the Rover into reverse and circle back around.  Jonny told us these were the true kings of the jungle!

Having a quick swig for the road.

Sam and Mads standing still for another photo -- bless 'em!

Tawny Eagle and Buffalo Weaver nests.

Baby elephant walk.

Twerking, part ii.

Mufasa...oooh...say it again.

This big boy was 9 or 10 feet from our Rover.  Jonny does not carry a weapon.  We all chilled here for about a half hour.  On one side of the watering hole were the elephants and birds and a lion.  On the other, wildebeests, impala and elephants.  The lion would look under the Rover to check out the prey.  We thought we was looking at us.  Really.

So happy to be here!  Seriously loved each minute!

Checking out his dinner options.

Go around me.

Okay then.  The same night of the day of the rhino, we had a crazy once-in-a-lifetime wild dog pack experience.  A wild dog pack was devouring its kill, a poor impala, when 2 honey badgers made an impressive attack to seize the food.  Epic battle ensued, but the wild dogs won.  Honey badgers are vicious.  Our guide said he'd never seen anything like it.  These pics are not for the faint of heart.  I didn't get photos of the honey badgers -- too wily for me.