Day 329

I spent my last morning in Gabs (for this trip) at the Baylor Clinic and I can't believe how fast time went by, a combination of having tons of fun with the kids and whenever I'm leaving home it feels like the last few hours fly by!

Two other volunteers joined me this morning and we had about 15 kids to hang out with. There were a lot of different activities going on and I was surrounded by a few younger kids - we made cars out of lego and had car races, caused accidents, and drove all over the tables and benches! The kids then drew pictures and wanted to show them off as soon as they got done drawing so I went from one to the next praising their creativity - they loved the extra attention!

Before leaving I sat with one of the younger boys as he read a short story book with me. I asked him questions after each story and he was excited each time he got the question right.

I had a great time meeting the kids and hanging out with them. And I look forward to going back some day! Now back to packing :(

Day 327

I had my largest group of kids at Baylor Clinic today, and it was a lot of work keeping up with them! The kids come to the clinic about once a month for their check ups. It's coming up to a month since my first visit there and today I had three kids from my first week. It was wonderful seeing them again and even more fun because they know me and were eager to talk and play.

I started the morning playing soccer with some of the younger girls - I'm defs getting better :)

Games of Jenga and the world puzzle are my favorites so of course there was a lot of that.

And while all of this was going on I had one little girl who demanded attention for showing off her hula hoop skills! It was a morning of being everywhere all at the same time, but still a morning filled with the kids laughing and smiling - so worth it!

Day 325

Like Jiten said, the internet has been down for the past few days so I was unable to blog yesterday. But here is how my Monday morning went:

I spent the morning hanging out with the kids at Baylor Clinic and had a wonderful time. This was the smallest group of kids I've had, as well as some of the oldest. There were several teenagers in the group who were content kicking around the soccer ball, while teaching me some fancy kicks. I soon left them though to hang out with my newest little buddy.  He's an adorable 5year old. We pushed around hula hoops (which were almost as tall as him); he soon became confident in his skills and started rolling out three at a time, and every time they collapsed would burst out in laughter.

We both then moved on to work on a puzzle. He was adamant about doing it so I helped him and one of the little girls put it together. They were so serious while doing it and had the proudest smiles once it was done.

Day 315

Aarti joined me at the Baylor Clinic this morning, along with one other volunteer. We took out the usual games and activities, and the kids helped take everything outside.

I started with the now famous puzzle of the world. A 14year old put it together today, and while he worked on it we chatted about some of the countries and he told me about one day wanting to visit the UK.

Once he was done with the puzzle, I taught him how to play Jenga, and he loved it! As we were playing some of the other kids caught on and joined in. They were all trying to be really careful because they didn't want the tower to fall over. The higher the tower went the more hands would shelter it in case it was going to fall.

Day 314

Time flew by at the Baylor Clinic today! Two volunteers from the University of Botswana were also there. We met in the toy closet and picked out toys/games for today's group.

Once outside the kids just started picking up the toys/games they wanted to play with. Two young boys took the world puzzle to another table so I joined them in putting it together. As they completed the countries we talked about the ones we knew about - I'm going to try take some pictures in tomorrow of the different things we talked about (rainforest, pyramids, kangaroos etc).

Once they were done I walked to another table where a young boy was challenging the volunteers to a game of Jenga. He was really good and won most of his games. Anytime the tower collapsed he would burst out laughing. Everyone enjoyed watching the game and before we knew it, it was time to pack up.

Day 313

Today I met another volunteer at the Baylor Clinic; he's been going there to volunteer every Wednesday for the past two years! He told me a little more about what the Play Group started out as...each day of the week taught a different lesson (hygiene, oral care) and each day was about building the children's confidence, self-esteem, conversational skills, and creativity. They started the morning with an introduction circle where the kids introduced themselves to each other, sang some songs, and did some easy exercises to warm up. They then played some group games centered around that days lesson. The second hour was unstructured and the children could play with any of the toys brought out and were encouraged to be creative in making up their own games. Before they left they cleaned up the area, picked up trash, and helped put all the toys away. He said that things have slowly changed to where the play group is now more just about playing and less about the lessons they were trying to teach.

We talked about how the play group could move back toward what it was initially meant to be, hopefully we can do something more meaningful for the children! And hopefully, administratively, there will be some support to help with this.

Of course the children were out today and they were very creative in building houses using Lego; one of the girls put together a puzzle of the world and we talked about some of the different countries, she also shared that she wants to be a doctor when she grows up; before we ended the group, two of the kids showed off their skills with the hula hoops!

Day 312

Back at the Baylor Clinic this morning. Today's group of kids were very artistic and most of them wanted to draw and colour, so I had the majority of them creating beautiful pictures.

I had a couple of boys who couldn't sit still for too long so we kicked around a soccer ball (wearing flip flops wasn't the smartest idea!). Once we got a few more people kicking the ball around we switched to little bean bags and attempted to throw around 3-4 of those. We just ended up all throwing them at the same time, but they loved it.

Towards the end of my time there I rolled around hoola hoops with some of the girls and a bubbly 3 year old. Again, we rolled around multiple hoops at the same time and the 3 year old would burst into giggles when the hoops collided.

Today went a lot smoother with having multiple activities out at the same time. Tomorrow I'm hoping to find a few more fun things in the toy closet - really wish there was a Dollar Store here!!

Day 311

It was my first day at the Baylor Clinic. Their mission is to conduct a program of high-quality, high-impact, highly ethical pediatric and family HIV/AIDS care and treatment, health professional training and clinical research. The Clinic is staffed by Botswana and U.S. health professionals, the center of excellence provides primary and specialty medical care and social services for HIV-infected infants, children and their families. BIPAI Botswana maintains an annual mortality rate of <1%, a rate as good as any Western nation, and the majority of its patients are thriving.

This morning I got to spend some time with these patients, kids aged 7-13. While they waited for their appointments I kept them entertained with games of Uno, soccer, tag, and Twister. I was nervous going in because I wasn't sure what to expect. But once there, I got some materials together and walked outside to the play area, and the kids just followed me. Most spoke to me and told me about themselves, I had two little girls who sat by me the entire time but didn't say a word! They were adorable!

One of the boys, 7 years old, was the most energetic! He ran around everywhere, played with everyone, and had so much energy! He was always laughing and smiling and really made some of the other kids more comfortable.

I had a good time and am hoping to be a little more prepared with games and activities for them tomorrow :)

Day 309

Being home is presenting some interesting opportunities to give back. This evening I am going to the annual Guy Fawkes celebration at the Gaborone Cricket Club. It's a night of fireworks, food, music, and lots of socializing. The money raised from the event goes towards cricket development and upkeep of the club facilities. I'll post pictures tomorrow since it's going to be a long fun-filled night :)


I also took the opportunity of a quiet afternoon to visit care2.com and thehungersite.com
I went through the usual click to donate tabs on both sites. 

I took today's daily action to "like' San Diego Zoo Global on Facebook and spread the word about their wildlife conservation efforts. For nearly 100 years, San Diego Zoo Global has been actively caring for wildlife. Whether it is their giant panda study in China or their African elephant work in Botswana (how could I resist), they are making the world a better place for wildlife.

Hope everyone has a good weekend!!

Day 61

Jiten filled in for me again today, here's what he has to say:

"Went back to books for africa today and helped with the final packaging for the botswana book project. There were about 20 volunteers there today (the spring break chics were still there :D lol). I worked with an older couple today, Chris and his wife Connie. They are currently helping Pam with her project whilst also trying to make a difference by doing a similar thing in Zimbabwe. They were excited to meet me after hearing that a motswana was helping out on Monday. We were basically just packing all the boxes for shipment today. And also received about 5000 books from a high school in St. Louis, which was totally awesome. We managed to pack about 100 boxes of books and encyclopaedias which will be going to Maun Senior Secondary school. It was a fun day and I was really excited that in a few weeks these books will be all over public schools in Botswana.

Will be looking forward to the next time I'm back there to help out."

Thank you sooooo much for filling in for me kid!

Day 59

Jiten filled in for me today since I am out of town. He went to Books for Africa where they were sorting and packing books to be sent to Botswana (home for us)!! The last time I went I told him I wish I could go when they are sending books there, and the first time he goes that's where they sent books to! Since it was his first time I asked him to send me his thoughts:

"It was fun. I helped sort some books out and also packed a few boxes for Botswana . There were about 20 people helping out today. Some of the volunteers were students on spring break from Michigan State. It was good to see people helping out during their holidays. I met a lady, Pam, who used to be a librarian and then moved to Maun (we lived here for a while!) and decided to start the botswana book project (http://www.botswanabookproject.org/index.html) to help set up libraries in the public schools in Botswana. To date she has helped create over 300 libraries from this project. Overall it was an awesome experience, really enjoyed it and definitely looking forward to going back on Wednesday."

Check out the website for other ways to help the Botswana Book project. Its neat being able to make a difference at home even when we're not there :)

Thanks for filling in for me kid!