Author Archives: John Mark

From JM:  We have come to the end of our service.  Today we recieve a new status known as RPCV, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers.  We are flying out of Botswana for the last time tomorrow, Wednesday, October 16th, 2013 with new experiences, perspectives, lessons learned, friends and tons of memories.  We will never regret any … Continue reading »

My Community:  One of my favourite things about living here is the sense of community, which is encompassing. In America, I remember parents and grandparents telling of neighbourhoods where everyone knew everyone.  Children played without play dates and cell phones, chips or bracelets indicating diabetes, because everyone knew who had diabetes and which kid lived … Continue reading »

Two years is a LONG time…Or is it?  Time seems to have some interestingly different effects here. Apart from “African Time” encompassing the a disregard for being on time to meetings, or getting to work on time, or delivering finished products as promised, there seems to be an accelerated aging going on here in more … Continue reading »

When I first got my Peace Corps assignment, which was to work in a school to capacity build teachers, I was quite intimidated.  It seemed ridiculous to assume people from America can teach teachers who have received degrees in Education and taught for years how to be better teachers simply because we are from America.  … Continue reading »

Raising funds for one thing or another is a very common need here.  There is never enough money allocated from the government or any other source for HIV/AIDS activities.  One of the more popular ways of raising funds for something is to hold a Fashion Show or Beauty Contest and charge a nominal entrance fee … Continue reading »

  Bothle’s Birthday:  Bothle’s is one of my favourite kids from the neighbourhood.  She is the youngest of three children.  She is super smart and is one of the few students who consistently gets good grades.  She is a natural teacher translating for me and helping me teach the other children. She absorbs and then … Continue reading »

Mmanoko is a rather small village located about 10 miles East of Molepolole, my village.  My good friend, Nathan, is the Peace Corps Volunteer stationed there.   Before he arrived there a couple years ago, another PCV had started a project at the one and only school in the village.  The project was an outdoor … Continue reading »

The Worst Day of his 8 year old Life:  One of our neighbours invited us to play scrabble and upon arrival her 8 year old boy gave me an essay to read titled “The Worst Day of My Life”.  He wrote that his mother dropped him at school in his underwear.  He expressed his humiliation, … Continue reading »

(Click any of the images to view in Full Size)   Our Dusty Road I think I wrote about this road in front of our house when we first got here.  It is about a mile and as dusty as any road can be.  I walk it twice a day along with 850 kids, none … Continue reading »