Where do I start…and where do I finish?
Posted by Spojmai on June 16th, 2009
Finally I decided to sit down and try to put my experiences in Botswana in words.
Where do I start…and where do I finish? I could say things like “Botswana is a beautiful country”, “I love it here”, “This has been a life changing experience”, “I have learnt so much”, “The people of Botswana are so kind, friendly, welcoming, and I have learnt a lot from the culture”, “I like my job…my coworkers are really nice”, etc. But that would not be fair because they would be understatements. But I also cannot think of any words that can explain how I feel about Botswana, the people, my workplace, the patients, my supervisor and coworkers.
So I decided to just take pictures…like they say: pictures speak a thousand words. So I tried to capture the happiness behind the patients’ smiles or the pain in their tears; the heat of the sun in the bare feet of children playing on the streets; the satisfying taste of the yummy fat cakes; the staring eyes at the lekgowa (light skinned); the spread of HIV or AIDS; the lack of focus on diseases other than HIV or AIDS; the patience that takes to braid hair for hours upon hours; patients’ hope to recover from cancer, their confusion about the cause of cancer or them wondering “Why me?”; CAB executive directors’ determination to never give up; the slow pace in workplaces; the 160km/hr driving cars in the 100km/hr roads.
I tried to capture these moments but I failed. I failed to capture them in the camera, but I succeeded to engrave them in my heart and save them permanently in my memory. But if I have to put them in words then I guess all I can say is Botswana is a beautiful country. I am in love with the people, culture, and food. The people of Botswana are really kind, friendly, warm and welcoming. I am lucky to have coworkers like Kelly, Dimpho and Sharon. But keep in mind words and pictures cannot explain my experiences… I guess you just have to live it to know and understand it 
HEyyyyy I hear the shavathon was a huge success, i am greatly missing dimpho and kelly and of course botswana. if you have another blog or anything i would love to read it feel free to e-mail me kba14@sfu.ca