CIB (Cait in Botswana)

It’s the middle of February. While many of my friends and family are seeing tons of snow – here in Mahalapye, Botswana its hot as…well you can fill in the blanks. Yesterday the rumor was that it reached 38C, that’s 100F…with a sun that literally makes you feel like you are living in an oven. I came home and the heat inside my house was so overwhelming I went and stood back outside.

Beyond the heat though, February is definitely a month of transition. For months, many of the Peace Corps Volunteers have been counting down…but now the number is something very tangible, very real. Next month we will have our Close of Service (COS) conference. It’s the last time that all of us (minus the 13 who’ve left along the way) will be together before we leave Botswana and head off to the next chapter of our lives. After COS we are on lockdown again, not supposed to leave our sites until we leave country so that we say “good-bye” in our communities properly.

Wait, I’m supposed to say good-bye?! Part of me is so excited that my Peace Corps service is coming to an end. These 2 years have been long and hard…and awesome. I’ve had some of the best (and worst) moments in life here.

The kid pushing a wheelbarrow with 3 toddlers in it yelling at me and trying to catch up with me as I walked home…little Dudu as she puts her face against the burglar bars on my door with big puppy dog eyes and asks for a cookie…the teens at my teen club as they tell their stories or share a laugh…laying on the bed in my room wearing a wet t-shirt with the fan blowing on me and still sweating…hearing stories about why I shouldn’t play with the wild chameleon I found outside…the stars in the sky…welcoming the new volunteers as they arrived in country…saying goodbyes to the ones who have left…and that doesn’t even begin to cover it…

I’m not sure what’s next…but I think I will figure it out. For now, I am preparing to say good bye, but not before I get a few more projects finished up.

At the end of the month our Teen Club is going to Mokolodi Nature Reserve for a weekend trip! The planning has been crazy intense, but I think it’s going to be a ton of fun! We will be doing leadership activities, health sessions and, of course, a game drive. Hopefully the weather won’t be too tortuous…ha.

Still trying to finish up some work with an NGO in a neighboring village – gotta love those projects that end up being a much bigger undertaking than you anticipated.

So, for now, that February and that’s life. We’re allowed to begin leaving country May 18th…still haven’t picked the date I will leave yet – but I know the time to make that choice is rapidly approaching. Until then I will keep living

the Peace Corps life.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!