Maun ELCB church

Here's a photo of our church in Maun, from the ELCA website:

Why I'm learning Setswana

There are a number of reasons but here is a big one. Take this quote from a recent Mmegi article: "Days when Batswana would be queueing up for service when an officer was busy eating fat cakes are over. In the past it was common that on Friday at 12 noon go theogela dibaki motho ene a tsamaya ko Dibete a laisitse koloi moroko wa dikgomo aya morakeng, when people were looking at his jacket in the office thinking he is around. Those days are over." - Dr Batlang Comma Serema, BDP Executive Secretary

Now, you can probably get the drift of it without knowing what that string of Setswana in the middle is actually saying. However, the practice of saying the key point in Setswana, even if everything else is in English, is prevalent. I just want to be able to fully communicate in the national language. And, if I'm not fully hearing, full communication isn't happening. Just my thinking on that.

So far, I can tell that the saying has something to do with starting work, coats, a person, going to somewhere, a car and cows.

The Maun Blog

Someone else is blogging from Maun. I thought this would be a fun link to share here, especially since the blog has a video taken at the bridge behind our house:



Another perspective on some of the things that I've blogged about over the past 6 months since moving here.

Couch surfing

We're looking into low-cost travel options for when we're speaking in churches back in the US and Canada. Gotta keep the overhead low, eh? One of the accommodation options that I'm looking into is couchsurfing.


It looks like a great way to stay in all kinds of new places (i.e. where we don't have a friend or family place to crash for the night) and meet cool new people, all at once. I mean, more new people than we'll also be meeting while speaking at a church in a place where we don't know anyone already.

search like a Sni

If you search here, you'll search only the sites that I've designated as regularly searched sites by moi. Therefore, you'll find whatever I would find. Cut out the middleman - search like a Sni!

Air quality

The view to the east


The view to the south


The view to the west

Notice a pattern? Maun is layered with a creamy coating of various air pollutants right now. Happened last year at about this time too. And my sinuses are talking about it. Had to whip out the old sinus irrigator. Then, I did a little online digging to see if pollution is a known issue in Botswana. Known issue? Well, let's just say that a single mine in Selebi-Phikwe is responsible for 90% of the sulfur dioxide emissions in Botswana. Plus, this is the time of year when people start burning the brush, preparing for planting, if I understand correctly. And the trash fires are year round, though not as much of an issue in the rainy season. I'm not a rainy day fan but, this time of year, my heart makes an exception. Rains, come quickly!

Herero festival in Toteng

We only went for a short while as I was attending an Aglow: Generations Project event in the afternoon. It was cool to see the variety of dresses and headwear of the Herero women. Also, there was marching.


Rev. Unazo Uhona and Rob




Marching

Summer arrives

Yes, it's officially summer again. I put clothes on the line and it dried in just a couple of hours. Our computers start to choke up after a few hours of running them. We're having to monitor the internal temp of our laptops constantly, so we don't burn out the hard drive. I put a bunch of old (tops removed) soda cans in the freezer with a little water in them, for making cold drinks out of room temperature water - a luxury on most days, a necessity on others. Made a pasta salad at lunch time so we don't have to eat hot food at dinner time, when the house is at its hottest. Am wearing the lightest article of clothing I own, a little cotton sundress that I picked up at an open market in Gaborone. I regress to this garment most days in the summer, after a morning of being able to wear anything else. Ah, summer.