Blog #16 – Training in Maun

So the moment of truth! I have finally started with my placement. Lesley – my supervisor – is still out in the field until Friday; so today and tomorrow I am spending with Bman! Bman is a local, who grew up in Shorobe, and is volunteering with the program. He works as a safari operator, but is also a soccer player on the side. As we have walked through the town over the past two days, he has been greeted by lots of kids and adult – he is a pretty popular and well know guy.

We spent Wednesday going over the history and information around the program. The program is called Football for Life to the kids and community and Coaching for Conservation to most everyone else. The program started three years ago, in Bman’s home village of Shorobe, which has about 1000 people. Over the past three years it has been expanded to include eight primary schools. The program basically takes kids age 10-14 and provides them with a week-long soccer clinic and tournament. The coaches are brought in as professionals from the states and work with kids to develop their skills.

Now that the Football for Life program is known and rooted in the community, this year we are going to try something new. We are expanding the program to all eighteen elementary schools in the Maun area, around 450 kids, and tying a directed curriculum of conservation to the sport education. The mantra of the program is: Love Yourself, Love Each Other, Love Botswana. If we can these kids to respect their bodies and the land that they live on, that those will serve as the foundation for battling the HIV/AIDS pandemic, environmental conservation issues and anything else that the world will throw at them. Pretty cool, eh? I can’t wait to get started!

We went over the schedule for the summer – which I you can all experience vicariously through me via this blog :) and then he basically explained and chatted about how the program has went over the past years: the good, the bad, the ugly. We will be visiting each school over the next two weeks to provide them with a basic introduction and education about the conservation topics, providing the framework and foundation that the soccer coaches will pull and build upon during the one-week clinics and tournament in the second week of July. So we have spent some time working up the lesson plans and curriculum for that – and I will be back into the office early tomorrow (Saturday) to wrap that stuff up for Monday.

On the non-business side (not that I really see it as work!), life has been so much fun! Phillipa has two amazing daughters and one super cool niece that are staying with her! They all go to the same school and have their own area of expertise. The oldest is great at sports, the youngest is only four, but quite smart and apparently has quite the way with the boys already :), and the middle child is just a great well-rounded kid! I have spent the evenings with them – playing made up games, shooting hoops, blowing bubbles, doing puzzles, reading or playing cards.

It has been a really nice balance between missing camp and missing the cottage! Though, I swear nothing is a true replacement for all of you back home :) I am feeling a lot better about things, and feeling like I am starting to fit in and find my groove, but it takes time for sure! Being one of the very few white people in this town definitely make me stand out…not to mention that I am still probably one of the tallest people around! I have started greeting people in the local language and being kind and cordial with people. It is so relieving when people are welcoming back, and there are a few, but there still remains a lot of quixotic stares and blank faces. I am definitely feeling the language barrier, and would love to just be able to communicate with everyone – so that is one of my new goals, to try and start picking up some basic Tswana! Wish me luck!