Blog #43 – C4C: It’s A Wrap!

Today was Tournament Day – we had all nineteen primary schools in Maun coming to the stadium for a nine o’clock kick-off! We had two pools of competitors – and only two school would remain on top at the end of the day. Who would it be?!

To get everything ready and set-up, as few of us got to the Stadium just after seven. I was most nervous about transport. We had finally gotten down doing the nine schools – but today we had to get twice as many there for the same deadline! I had spoken with the drivers yesterday and confirmed our plans for what schools first, etc, etc. Luckily by eight o’clock we already had three schools present.

By nine o’clock you could feel the competition in the air. It was definitely fueled by their coaches and teachers, who at the pre-tournament meeting with them not a joke was cracked or one’s focus broken. It was one, this was for all the marbles – and we did the best we could to remind them that this was for fun and for learning!

We kicked off at 9:00am, the schedule was too tight so delay – with four fields all being used continuously. It was going to be interesting to watch how this progresses. We had a few of the early games defaulted as we waited on three or four more schools, but miraculously it had worked and things were going okay.

I got to spend the day doing all of the scores and the points tallying. There was always a group of kids watching, pointing and whispering to each other. Many a time I found coaches staring at the board and reminded them they had to be with their students…they grudgingly trudged off to find them.

One of the highlights of the day for me was the traditional lunch that was prepared for everyone. This took a lot of coordination and planning. We had four cooks come in from the village of Shorobe on Thursday afternoon. We loaded up close to two hundred pounds of papa (maize meal – sort of like cream of wheat, but with corn not wheat) and 380 pounds of beef (two cattle worth) into the landrover. At two in the morning, we had to get the cooks to Tawana Primary (the closest primary school) where we had arranged a cooking space, five huge black cauldrons for cooking and firewood.

The meal was papa and seswaa – very common and very traditional (notice the lack of vegetables!). Seswaa is really easy to make – it just take time! First you boil all of the meat – bones and everything. Then once it is cooked the bones are removed. The only seasoning that is really used is salt, and once the bones are gone then they start in with the poles. They basically pound the meat until it is soft, stringy and tender (take a few hours). However, once it is done – OH! Is it SOOOoooooo good! The best part of traditional Batswana food is that you don’t use utensils – so you get to eat with your hands. There is nothing like a starchy, salty meal to satisfy your hunger and make you thirsty to drink water and stay hydrated – great for the kids and I like it too!

By mid-afternoon the games were wrapping up and the tournament was almost done. There were two clear winners which was nice – Bonatla and Thamalakane – also coincidently my two favourite schools! (I promise I didn’t do anything funny with the points – there was too many people watching and triple checking it!) We had a huge closing ceremony, handed out all of the equipment that we used through the week to the schools, distributed all of the booklets to the teachers and said our thank-you’s and farewells!

It was a fairly abrupt end to the whole program and I caught myself stunned that it was over as the students headed off the pitch to go home! I had a mixed feeling of relief – knowing that I was going to have a big long sleep tonight, but sad in that a major part of my interaction with the kids was going to be over. I took solace in the fact that everything went well and I saw the week as a big success.

On a side note, I got interviewed by the Botswana Television Channel (the only TV channel) and I am going to be on the national news – cool!

After cleaning up the Stadium and packing up the vehicles with all of the stuff that we had collected people started heading home. The football coaches were off to their safari, the conservation coaches were heading back to their place to eat and crash and I headed home to see my host family, which I had basically neglected all week (leaving before they did and getting home after they did). I felt a little bit bad, but I would also be leaving them tonight.

A group of Canadian students from Nunavut were coming into Maun – they were senior high school students doing a one-month placement with Women Against Rape in Maun or with the Bushmen in Shakawe. However, tonight they were at Maun Lodge and they were getting some orientation and some training. I was invited by WUSC (who also organized their trip) to attend and chat with the students. I talked with them about what I have been doing and how I got involved. I answered some of their questions about Maun and how I liked being here, etc, etc. It was really neat to meet the kids as I don’t really know anyone from Nunavut! I also got to catch up with a friend I made in Gabs who is doing a long-term placement on HIV in Bots and was doing an HIV orientation for the kids tonight too. It was a really nice event after an already mind-blowing week!

After the kids headed home for the night I decided to hang out with the documentarians at the Bomo (also at Maun Lodge). We chilled by the fire and had a few drinks talking about the week and the plans for the future. It was a really nice moment and I felt at peace with the world and myself. This week had been full of so many lessons and so much emotion. I was really happy with myself and with the work I was doing. I felt proud and confident in the future to come – for myself, for the Batswana and for this country.