Money, Money, Money, Money...MOOOOOO-NEY!

Though I’m not scheduled to leave Africa for a few more weeks, I thought it a good idea to start going through all my belongings and trying to downsize as much as possible.  Believe it or not, I spent a good 20 minutes trying to streamline my wallet this morning.  As a rule, when I travel, I eliminate all unnecessary items from my wallet.  When friends come to visit and I see them carrying a wallet full of 10 different credit cards, their library card, their Red Cross blood donor card, their Social Security card, and countless other cards they will never use, but are highly likely to lose here, I cringe.  When I moved to Africa I brought the following: 1 personal credit card, 1 credit card for university-related/business purposes, 1 bank debit card, my travel insurance card, and my emergency evacuation/I’M IN A LOT OF TROUBLE GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE! supplementary insurance card.  That’s it!  I have since added a Botswana driver’s license.

Despite having the two credit cards and the debit card, I only use these about half the time.  Southern Africa has begun using plastic on a more regular basis, but Zimbabwe and most of central and east Africa still operate on a strictly cash system.  I knew cash would be necessary, so when I came here I brought $5,000 with me and have since changed or used most of it.  Similar to the patriotism displayed in my blog post about how I was proud to be an American and would NEVER give up my passport to obtain citizenship elsewhere, there is a lot to be said about the power of the U.S. dollar.  You know the commercial, “Visa: Accepted Everywhere”?  Not true.  It should really be, “U.S. Dollars: Accepted Everywhere.”  Though I should add that when travelling to Africa if you plan to bring a credit card, choose Visa.  My university card is a Master Card and I haven’t been able to use it several times because Master Card isn’t as widely accepted as Visa.  Apparently those Olympics commercials with Morgan Freeman ARE telling the truth.

As I was organizing my wallet today there was no need to go through my cards as those have remained stagnant.  But my supply of banknotes and coins has changed considerably.  My stash of U.S. dollars is barely enough to get me through the next couple months, but I can now rest assured that if I get stranded in any one of a dozen African countries I can buy a bottle of water, and in some cases, even dinner if necessary.  Here are some of the bills I’ve collected during my tenure in Africa:

(Left to right, top to bottom): Ugandan Shilling, Rwandan Franc, Congolese Franc, Ethiopian Birr, Zimbabwean Dollar (This is no longer in circulation. Zimbabwe has no official currency, so the U.S. dollar is primarily used, but you can now use 8 different foreign currencies as legal tender), Zambian Kwacha, U.S. Dollar, Kenyan Shilling, Namibian Dollar, Botswana Pula, Sierra Leonean Leone, South African Rand, and Lesotho Loti.

None of these bills are worth more than a dollar or two, except for the Rand and Pula which are about $20 and $23, respectively.  But I will definitely spend those as SA and Botswana are where I will be most of the time until I leave. 

Riding in Cars with Strangers

Right now we are in the midst of summer here in Botswana.  However, this is also rainy season.  But when you hear the term, rainy season, it’s not really what you expect.  Basically it means that it seldom rains, but when it does it is a major downpour resulting in flooding.  The good thing about the rain is that it drops the temperature about 20 degrees for a day or two, making the weather much more bearable.

For the past two days we’ve been enjoying a lot of rain here in Gaborone.  Yesterday I taught for three hours.  It would rain for about 20 minutes and then stop briefly, and then start again.  And each time it rains it is a downpour, to the point where my students had to ask me to speak up so they could hear me over the rain.  Yes, the rain really is that loud.

The rain tends to add a little extra chaos to life here.  The streets flood, making it challenging to walk.  The robots (traffic lights) stop working, causing drivers to act even more erratic than usual.  And as I learned last night, the rain also results in miscommunication.

On Monday and Wednesday evenings I take Setswana classes.  I normally walk about 15 minutes each way to and from class.  Last night I made it about halfway to class before the rain began again.  Fortunately I was wearing flip flops so the ankle deep water didn’t cause too much of a problem for me.  By the time my class ended the sky was pitch black and the standing water was up to my calves.  As I exited the building a man said to me, “You live in the Village, right? I’ll give you a ride.”

I got in the car and asked him what language class he was taking.  He looked at me and goes, “Oh! I thought you were the German lady in my French class!”  I looked at him and said, “Oh! I thought you were my neighbor!”  Needless to say, Jun and I had a good laugh and are now friends.  At least I didn’t have to swim home in all that rain.

It’s raining men!

There are two pieces of news I would like to share today, and since I couldn’t pick which one I liked more, I figured I would just combine them together, hence the blog title.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, springtime has arrived, and with it has come the heat.  Though it is only the second week of spring, today the temperature reached 99 degrees Fahrenheit (37C).  Did I mention I don’t have air conditioning?  I was told recently that we needed to pray for rain. “If it rains in October it will be ok.  If it doesn’t rain until December we are in big trouble because the heat will be unbearable.” Apparently everyone got on their daily prayers early because last night we enjoyed some magnificent rain.  It poured and the lightning and thunder was amazing.  Hopefully this will continue and maybe they will ease the restrictions on water.  Currently we only get water 5 days a week, so it will be nice not to have to worry about storing water ahead of time.

My second piece of news: MEN. For more than a century we have been celebrating women.  The earliest women’s day observance on record was in Chicago in 1908, but it did not become a global event until a few years later.  In 1910 an International Women’s Conference was held in Copenhagen with 100 participants from 17 countries.  In an effort to promote a common platform in which to unite females across borders to promote equal rights and suffrage, and to protest employment based upon gender discrimination, the idea of an International Women’s Day was proposed.  A year later the first International Women’s Day was held on March 19, 1911.

Apparently the men are now getting their turn.  In an effort to be equitable the Women’s Affairs Department here in Botswana was recently renamed the Gender Affairs Department.  And in the spirit of fairness, Botswana has announced it will host the first International Men’s Day on November 19^th. Thus far, not much has been advertised about the event, but I will definitely keep my eyes open and report back soon because I am very interested to see this myself.

Six hours and four fingerprints: My trip to Immigration

In the 7^th grade I had the best History teacher ever.  I still consider her the best teacher I had throughout my entire education up until I reached graduate school.  Aside from the content which she taught she was also great at telling stories.  She was very funny.  I remember her telling the class once, “The first thing I do in the morning is go out to my front porch, pick up the newspaper and turn to the obituaries section.  I look for my name and if it’s not there it means I’m not dead, so in that case I have to get dressed and go to work.”  Another time she told our class when some of the boys were acting out of sorts, “You know, when God was handing out patience I thought he was referring to being sick and in the hospital, so I told him I didn’t want any at all.  So, I have NO patience for this kind of foolishness.” Given her self-proclaimed lack of patience, Ms. Brooks would not fare well here in Botswana.

I was reminded of Ms. Brooks and her missing patience yesterday as I was sitting in the Immigration Office.  American citizens are welcome to visit Botswana and can even enter the country visa-free.  However, you can’t be here more than 90 days within a calendar year.  As such I must become a Botswana resident.  In order to do so I had to have a medical exam, provide university transcripts, complete a residence permit application and pay the 1500 pula fee (about $200).  Once those requirements are fulfilled you are taken to the Immigration Office.

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect when I arrived at the Immigration Office, but I came prepared… with a book.  I’ve learned to never leave home without a book to read.  I actually have a list of things I never leave home without, but perhaps I will share those details another day.  But the book is an absolute necessity because you never have any idea how long you will be stuck somewhere.  And stuck I was.

I expected the trip to Immigration might include an interview, or additional paperwork.  I wore my sneakers in case I was expected to complete an obstacle course, or maybe start a fire with twigs and elephant dung (By the way, I’m not making this up, they do that here. See the latest season of the Amazing Race, Leg 7 where teams visit Maun, Botswana and had to fulfill that challenge to progress.)

In the end the only thing they wanted was fingerprints.  And apparently they didn’t want all of my fingerprints.  I kept trying to give them more prints but they were only concerned with my thumbs and pointer fingers.  I will have to remember that in case I decide to commit a crime. “Well, we took fingerprints, but it appears the thief only used her pinkie fingers, so I guess we will never find the criminal.”

Wait a second; you know what those four fingerprints remind me of?  That’s right!  Guns Up Red Raider Fans! Since I can’t be at any Texas Tech football games this season I will be there in spirit:

In the end I was at Immigration for six hours.  I don’t know why it took that long, but I honestly couldn’t figure out the system they were using for seeing customers.  I do know that there were a lot of people who were there when I arrived and still waiting when I left, so it’s not likely anyone line jumped me.

Now I just have to sit back and wait for my residence permit to be processed.  Fortunately I become a more patient person every day.  Since my entry stamp expires on October 23^rd I assume I will receive a phone call informing me the residence permit is ready at about 4pm on October 22^nd.

Third World Problems: Power Outages and Water Rationing

Shortly before I left the U.S. I spoke to a friend who informed me he was “so upset” because his key fob wasn’t working.  Instead of being able to push the button to unlock the door to his car he now had to go through the hassle of putting the key in the door, turning it and then opening the door.  “How terrible! That’s heartbreaking!  How DO YOU make it through the day?”  His response? “Don’t make fun of me, this is serious.”  “Yes, that’s very serious, kind of like famine.” I know I am just as guilty of magnifying my first world problems from time to time, but nothing brings that into perspective as clearly as having real, third world problems.

I do have to say that Botswana is the least Third World country I’ve ever visited.  It has a lot of infrastructure and luxuries which aren’t available in other third world countries.  But, it is still considered Third World.

The term Third World was first used during the Cold War.  First World countries included capitalist countries, such as the U.S. and other western countries that were part of NATO. The Communist Bloc: the USSR, China, Cuba, and their allies; made up the Second World.  Any countries which weren’t part of one of these two alliances were considered Third World.  Obviously, the Cold War is over, so the designation of First and Second World countries is no longer appropriate, but the term Third World is still used to describe “developing” or “least developed” countries as determined by the International Monetary Fund and the UN’s Human Development Index.

Though at first glance Botswana seems rather cosmopolitan and advanced, at least to me, there are times when it’s Third World status is glaringly evident.  In the past 24 hours I’ve experienced two major incidents which reminded me of this.  Last night while I was at dinner the electricity went out.  My dinner companions had already been served their food, but mine was still being prepared.  They continued to eat in the dark, while I waited as my lamb chops sat in the oven failing to cook.  Two hours later, when the lights were still out, I decided I would rather eat the kale chips I brought with me in my carry-on and call it a night.

Today I woke up to find there was no water in the house.  This did not come as a total shock as my neighbors had warned me to save some water the night prior due to water rationing.  We are in the midst of the dry season here in Botswana, so there are designated days each week when the water is shut off for various communities.  If you don’t save water beforehand you better hope your neighbors like you or else it’s bound to be a long, dry, thirsty day.  I never realized how much water I use on a daily basis until I was limited to the five containers I saved:

Water is precious here and the Batswana people know that (Batswana is the plural term for citizens from Botswana- that wasn’t a mispelling.  In case you were wondering Motswana is the singular). Pula is currency here.  It is named after the Setswana word for rain because rain is so scarce.  But pula also means blessing because rain is considered a blessing, and of course, having money is a blessing as well.

I expect by the time I leave Botswana some of these Third World challenges will be routine to me.  Hopefully this will also remind me there are a lot of people in the world who would love to have the inconvenience of my First World “problems” rather than the normal day-to-day goings-on of Third World life.