It's overrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Oh heyyyyy!

Sooooooooooo.
Eight months ago, I found out I was accepted into the Coady International Institute's Youth in Partnership Program, and would be sent to Botswana for SIX WHOLE MONTHS! At the time I was half excited, half terrified. And here I am! I can't even believe that my time here will be all over in a few short days!!!
Today is Sunday. We work Monday to Thursday and first thing on Friday we're on a plane!
I just can't even believe it. 

I've been off the GIF train since getting here since they take so long to load, but since this is my very last in-country post (the 25th Botswana entry, to be exact), I'm a big ol soup of emotions. Remember that one chick from Mean Girls? She is me. 

Well okay, maybe that's a LITTLE dramatic. I haven't had public outbursts of emotions. Yet. On Thursday the kids are having an "exams are over/farewell Shila and Kate" party, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be a puddle of tears.

ANYWAY. This post is going to be all over the map. Let's do business stuff first. At work this week:

- I was hoping to be entirely done the fatherhood research by now, but we haven't finished incorporating everyone's edits for the final write up. I only have a few more days to work with, so it's going to be pedal to the metal. Gahhhhh I hope I can finish this in time. I don't want it to be stressing me out during debrief. BUT, on the plus side, since the results are already analyzed, I finished the powerpoint and the executive summary, and they look great if I do say so myself! Check it out, here's a draft of a quick 4-page summary of our findings (and ten gold stars to me for being all tech-savvy embedding PDFs and stuff):

Cool, right? The actual report is way more detailed (like, 60 some pages detailed) so get at me if you want the full write up. There are some super interesting things in there! 
- I had a chance to do a trial run presentation of our research at the couples workshop this week. I was SUPER pleased to hear that locals felt that the research was representative of their community, and it was even better to have wives of the men there, nodding and "mhm"ing to things I was saying. I'll do a presentation on Tuesday for the Stepping Stones staff and another on Wednesday for some gender people from South Africa- looking forward to it! 
- I broke the news that I'm leaving to my readers. It was really sad. But they are enthused about another staff who has agreed to read with them, so that's a great thing. 
- There was a two-day couples workshop for the MenCare program, and it was super interesting! My lovely co-worker Des is being featured in a South African documentary about gender movements in southern Africa, so there was a crew here filming some of his sessions. Way to go Des, you are SEW FAMOUS! 

Our life outside of work:
- This week was pretty routine. Our biggest thing this week: these GOD AWFUL juicy black ants that came out after a big rain. This is going to sound really over the top, but these ants literally ATTACK us by our gate. I kid you not, Kate and I have been running everywhere lately to escape these devils. Kate actually BROKE HER TOE trying to kick these blood suckers off. They are definitely out to get us! It's like they sense our vibrations or something and all run to bite us. But it isn't even the bites. The worst part is, after they chomp on us, they stay latched on! We have to take them off. It's awful. They seem to be dying down, so hopefully they only come with heavy rain. 
Giant moths have also been a thing, but they're just annoying. I woke up with one stuck in my hair.
These bugs. It's too much! 
- On Friday we had dinner with a few peace corps people. It was deeeelish and the company was lovely! Saturday morning we went to help set up a BBQ for the MenCare fathers fun day. Our next stop was buying a few last minute mementos to take back. It felt weird to be those white tourists buying the African keepsakes. We aren't just visitors, we've LIVED here! Anyway. Then we saw the Hunger Games with a handful of peace corps people who I'm honestly going to miss. The movie was excellent! Soooo intense. I want to re-read the books. 
- Today we went to Gabs to see a friend one last time. It was a lovely afternoon/evening with delicious food and vino! 
- A crazy thing happened: there was a FULL ON wind and sandstorm, so strong that everyone had to run for cover! I've never seen anything like it. You couldn't even see anything in the distance the sand was so severe. The wind was SOOOO powerful! I left my windows open at home in Mochudi, and even though Milena closed them shortly after the storm started, every single thing I owned was covered in a film of sand. The best part was, it rained and rained after the storm. The temperature is SO NORMAL today! 
- Otherwise, we've been slowly getting our acts together for packing. We plan on leaving a tonnnnn of stuff behind. It's going to feel awesome! I'm so tired of the clothes I've been wearing. 

Top five things that served me incredibly well these six months:

1. My beloved Birkenstocks. They are in ROUGHHHH shape, like, falling apart, missing straps, but they were the perfect shoes in the world for this place.
2. My amazing green water bottle, which has come with me practically everywhere since getting here. 
3. My yoga mat, which I have been thankful to have each and every day.
4. My USB, which held 99.9% of my emails and work for this trip. I've never used a flash drive so much in my life.
5. My crazy magic backpack, which  took a total beating but is still in amazing shape. It's from Eddie Bauer, and it's one of those bags that folds up into a tiny square. I'm SO happy I brought it with me. I can't believe how durable it has been.

- We're in the process of making individual cards for the kids to give as goodbye gifts (with balloons and candy). It has been a task and a half getting all 60 something cards finished. I actually felt pretty emotional writing messages to some of the kids. I wish they could understand how wonderful they are as humans and how much of an impact they have had on my life.

So, about us leaving.
For those of you who are curious, here is our insanity flight path back to Canada. We have 24 hours and 15 mins IN AIR, so I don't even want to know how many travel hours total it will be. Our schedule is: 

Gaborone (Bots) -> Johannesburg (South Africa) = 1 hour
Joburg -> Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) = 5 hours 30 mins
Addis -> Rome (Italy) = 6 hours 
Rome -> Toronto = 9 hours 45 mins
Toronto -> Halifax = 2 hours

Following that, we have a two-week debrief starting on the 2nd at the Coady in Antigonish, and then our internship will be complete! 
Pretty wild hey?

I don't know. I wish I had some super insightful things to say, but I'm still in the processing phase of everything. And let's be real, this blog already has enough cheese in it!

It's just crazy how things have turned out. The other day I was thinking back to other jobs I've had. When I was in high school, I literally had a job at Superstore as a price-checker on roller blades (heheh, 100% true story. I almost ran people over every single day). Way back then, I definitely did not have big international plans. I didn't have a CLUE what I wanted (other than a job that wasn't on wheels). Since then I've figured out so many things! And though I still have a zillion more things to sort out, this experience has certainly been the key to a lot of questions that didn't have answers.

This really has been an incredible adventure. I have experienced so much, I have grown so much. I've gained perspective and direction. My work with Stepping Stones has been so rewarding and worthwhile. It has been the best thing I've ever invested my time and energy into. I'm going to miss the kids terribly! 

I have a feeling that the true impact of this won't sink in until I'm back. 
I'd sum up these six months up in five words:

Powerful.

Challenging.

Impassioned.

Transformative.

Significant. 

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. 
Wish me luck on my last few days. I'm sure I'll have some travel stories when I get back to Canada. I'm so excited to be back home!

OH MAN and to those of you who took the time to write me every few days, or even just one single time to say hello, THANK YOU SO MUCH! You have no idea how wonderful it was to have an inbox with lovely things to read in it! I'm eternally thankful!

Peace and love! 
shilaleblanc@gmail.com

Shila 

Apparently I have a knack for capturing super cute father-son moments :)

One of the MenCare pariticpants showing the other dudes how to change nappies (diapers)

Talking about the fatherhood research. I didnt know I'd be presenting, so I wish I had dressed a little more professional

My audience

Hilarious role playing. This guy was giving birth!

Getting footage for the South African documentary- way to go Des!

Apparently I'm into climbing trees lately. I was loving it until a local came and warned me about snakes hiding in trees.

Getting set up.

Poor Kate's broken toe!

A super scary Santa

This picture does the sandstorm NO justice

The aftermath- INSIDE the mall.

Cards for the kids 

Yoga, rain, museums, braai, open mic

Eeeeeeek! I go home in 12 days! 

It's all a lot to take in. My emotions are all over the map! 

This past week FLEW by, there were a lot of things on the go!

This week at work:

- On Tuesday I ran another yoga session with the kids. I wasn't prepared (no mat, sports bra, nothing) but it ended up working out really well regardless. The kids have done enough yoga with Milena and I that they're starting to know the poses. It was awesome!

- In a kind of hilarious moment of delegation, I was asked to write a letter to the president! The MenCare program is putting together a documentary to celebrate fatherhood in Botswana (International Men's Day is November 19th), and wants to interview the president about his experience with his own father. It seemed pretty funny to me that they got the random Canadian to write the request. Hopefully he'll be persuaded by my words and agree to the interview!

- The European Union came for a visit on Friday as they're about to fund a program we're piloting that focuses on street-involved youth. Part of their visit was to see some of the work we do at Stepping Stones International (www.steppingstonesintl.org), so a colleague and I did a quick run down of the literacy program we've been implementing. It was pretty great to showcase some of the incredible progress we've made. I'm such an enthusiastic supporter of the sessions we do! I got one of my readers to do a quick demo for them and he did exceptionally well considering he had a dozen people watching him intently. I was proud :)

- The first draft of the fatherhood research is completed!!!!!!!!!! It's a good 60 pages at the moment, and it feels SO good to have the brunt of the writing done! We only have one week to incorporate all the edits and finalize the study, so it's going to be a push, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Some of our findings are SUPER interesting. I just wish I had more time to do some polishing, but considering I had only two months to throw it together, I'll take it. More to come when it's done next week! 

As for my life outside of work:

- I've already written extensively about the heat, so this week I'll leave you with a mere two words on the subject: 

Scorching. Oppressive. 

- Frozen water bottles have proven to be super useful. They're great for cold drinking water, for a cooling pack, and especially to snuggle with when sleeping. They have really improved my quality of life!

- We bought watermelon! It was a splurge, roughly 5.50CDN, and probably the most labor-intensive thing ever to get back to our place, but it was DEEELICIOUS! 

- On Saturday we had a super fun (although way too hot) time adventuring around the village. We visited our Botswana grandmother, the woman we lived with for a month, and then Kemelo, Kate and I went to check out the one museum in Mochudi. We've been meaning to go for aaaages. 

It ended up being kiiiind of a gong show. The museum, which was originally a school that opened in 1921, is on the top of a mountain (a big hill?) overlooking the entire village. Apparently the chief (or their family or something) of the bagKatla tribe, the main tribe here, lives on the road leading to the museum, and got mad that the through-traffic was making noise, so they made the road private access only. At first we were told we had to climb up the mountain to get to the museum, which was SO not going to happen in this heat. Then we were told we could call and get permission to drive up if we called the chief, but as if we had the chief on speed dial! We ended up taking a cab halfway up the mountain, took path through the woods, walked through a little neighbourhood, climbed a stairwell, and finally made it to the museum. Of course, the museum was closed. But it was totally worth the trek because the view was amazing! We climbed a cool tree, and had fun checking out the huge rocks. 

- The cockroaches have been really bad lately. I hate hate hate hate hate them. This week, I was showering when a cockroach appeared on the curtain right beside me. Of course I jumped out of the tub, ran to the corner of the bathroom, tried to cover myself, and yelled for the girls to save me. I'd like to formally thank Milena and Kate for being so willing to kill these things for me- I don't know what I'd do without you two! Milena also gets a golden medal of bravery for killing a cockroach with only a rubber glove and some toilet paper. Girl, you are a bug-killing machine, and your bravery is something else. I canttttttttt wait to sleep peacefully in Canada. 

- Although it's rainy season in Bots, it has been unusually dry lately. Luckily this week there were a few bouts of rain. On Saturday night, Kate and I went to Gabs to do a bit of shopping and grab dinner, and all of a sudden it started POURING! There was thunder, lightning, and soooo much rain! It was beautiful! We finished everything by around 7, and the rain had mostly passed, so we figured we should hurry and get a hitch back. Sure enough, after about five minutes of standing on the side of the highway, it started raining cats and dogs! It was a full on rain, wind, and sandstorm! There was a huge transfer truck parked on the side of the road, so we (and a bunch of other men trying to get a hitch) ran to it for a bit of protection from the weather. In a short amount of time, we were DRENCHED from head to toe, and NO ONE was stopping for us (probably because we looked like drowned rats). It ended up taking us over 30 minutes to get a hitch, and by the time a woman picked us up we were completely soaked. I have to say, it felt AMAAAAZING! So so so refreshing. 

- Sunday was an entertaining day. We hitched to Gabs and met some friends at Mountain Valley, this neat little bar/braai spot outside of the city. We've done a surprisingly small amount of braaiing here (it's basically like communal BBQing and it's HUGELY popular), so it was super fun to get some meat and cook it up. We had some drinks, fed some stray dogs, and enjoyed the music and scenery. Following that, we went to another spot for some live music, and I somehow got roped into open mic. For the record, in Canada I do a lot of open mic, I really enjoy it, and I always do a decent job. Usually I'll sing with someone else playing acoustic, but sometimes I'll play and sing on my own. Anyway… it has been almost an entire 6 months without me even TOUCHING a guitar, so perhaps it hindsight it wasn't the best decision to agree to an on-the-spot performance. It was the worst musical performance of my existence! Maybe it was the drinks, maybe it was the six months of no practice, maybe it was the electric guitar and not an acoustic one, but I literally wasn't even able to finish a song!!! I tried to play it cool, but after many failed attempts at making music, I cut my losses and let the original guys get the show back on track. Thank god the bar was basically empty! It was mortifying at the time, but suuuuuper hilarious the next day. I can't believe that even happened!! Ten gold stars to Kate for being the most supportive human ever, literally cheering for me despite my useless guitar ramblings. Maura and I are already planning our open mic when we're at debrief, so I guess that will be my redemption. At least I get an E for effort. Right guys?! Right?!

Soooooooooo.

I feel like I should have insightful things to say, what with my time coming to an end and all, but I don't have the capacity for it at the moment. Hopefully next week I'll have some thoughts, but honestly, I'm still avoiding the whole thing. 

Happy week!

Peace and love! 

XO

shilaleblanc@gmail.com

Shila 

Yogaaaaa yoga yoga 

Let's stretch!

No mat, no sports bra, no problem!

Little savasana angels :)

My literacy person-in-training took this pic of O and I in action. I'm seriously going to miss this kid!

A new shaded area SSI added to the side of the building. Now the kids can have sessions outside without totally melting.

Some artwork the kids did.

I'm way out of touch with our garden, but it seems to be doing really well!

Botho got caught in the downpour :)

Rain! Thank god!

This guy did an amazing reading demo for people visiting from the EU. Proud of this reader!

Prayer before dinner.

Hey kids!

Everything is getting green, and flowers are blooming. It's lovely!

This is in our yard. Gorgeous or what!

This is the mountain we climbed a while ago. I hope to get up one more time before we go!

Watermelonnnnnnnn!!! SO GOOD!

Eating it in massive hunks.

Remember this little guy? He used to live with us way back in our first month. When we visited our Bots grandmother, we were soooo looking forward to seeing him, but he was PASSED OUT sleeping on the floor, so tired that he didnt even wake when we got there. We were sad we couldnt play with him, but how precious is that! 

Taking a random path to get to the museum.

Climbing stairs in this heat?! Yikes.

Climbing trees!

The view! 

My camera does pano! 

Exploring!

The village of Mochudi.

Kemelo, me, Kate :)

I'm in a little cave!

Kate dying as Kemelo came to join me.

Hey miss adventure.

Exploring.

SOAKEDDDDDDDDD on our hitch back to Mochudi. What a lovely lady to pick us up, we were drowned rats.

Des surprised us with a visit from Sunshine!!! Yayyyyyyyyyy!!! 

Look at me braai!

"Playing" pool. It was not our best moment.

Sunday Funday!

A 2 out of 10 would be a generous rating hahahah