The Week in Review
October 23, 2009
Like most of you, Friday is a sort of finish line for the week’s work and a time of reflection. Our friends Chuck and Janet Wilson joined us for dinner this evening. The Wilsons own the guest house in Gaborone where we lived our first two months in Botswana. After dinner (at the local restaurant) they came by our house for a look around. They commented that we had accomplished a great deal in terms of household setup in the first five weeks. That was some refreshing perspective because every day is such a grind around here that many days it feels like we accomplish little. It’s always good to take a step back and see the progress God has given through all those little steps forward (and backwards sometimes).
The past week has been interesting. National elections were held here a week ago. By Saturday evening the winners were known and out here in Kang the opposition party known as BNF won both parliament seats up for grabs in our area. Campaigning in Botswana is a lot like I have read elections and so forth were in early 19th century America. The party was much more the focus rather than the individual candidate and folks went out and campaigned on behalf of the party and its platform rather than their particular candidate. Sometimes candidates themselves made no public appearances. So too, here in Botswana, campaigning was a lot more about the party. The three major parties all have a certain color scheme and proponents of those parties wear their colors and have huge rallies and people drive around in trucks with bullhorns campaigning through the villages. So, being expats it is important for us to not make political statements etc, so in addition to not talking, we had to be careful not to go out in public wearing t-shirts or dominant color outfits of red, yellow, or green lest we appear to be supporting one of the political parties.
We were reminded at church on Sunday of the huge blessing to have the will of the people be heard in the vote and the next day have a government in existence based on that vote. In many places in Africa that does not happen. It does in Botswana as in our own dear USA, but that is truly a gift from God – men and women who put the greater good of the nation above their own quest for power.
In other news, we hired a domestic employee this week (the term ‘maid’ is to be avoided). We have had some good natured ribbing about this from friends in the US, but the fact is that as outsiders coming into this village community we are seen as people with significant wealth (and compared to many of our neighbors we are indeed significantly wealthy). It is expected that people in our position will help out the local economy by employing workers and to not do so is considered stingy and standoffish. So we have hired a woman named Margaret (her traditional name in Bothelo which means ‘life’). It has been a huge relief having someone dedicated to keeping sand out of the house, dishes cleaned, and laundry moving. It has enabled Maya to focus more closely on the younger children’s schooling and continued unpacking.
I have been given an office space at the Lutheran church here in Kang. It has no electricity or water but it is my own office space! It has enabled me to draw a clearer line between home projects and ‘work’. Work consists mainly of learning and practicing speaking Setswana. I have a language assistant, Elizabeth, who works with me an hour per day to help with pronunciation and comprehension. She and Esther, the deaconess at the church, both say that I am learning well and progressing rapidly, so that is good. I still can’t say a lot on the street yet though, but it is coming little by little.
We thank you for your prayers and ask you to remember us continually and regularly in prayer. There is much darkness here and spiritual things happening that we don’t understand. There is great poverty around us. HIV/AIDS is a quiet killer in this community. We personally know people who struggle with what sounds like attacks from evil spirits. Pray for us that we may remain firmly rooted in Christ, serving Him, loving each other, and serving the community around us. Pray also for this very foundational work we are doing at getting settled and learning language so that it will be effective and lead toward one day the Bakgalagari people having God’s word in their own language. Take care! Rich & Maya