|
 | |  |
Arrived
Entry 1 of 33 | show all | print this entry |
Dumelang
Hello to all in Setswana - well I have arrived in a hot and dusty Gaborone (Gabs)...Got here last Thursday and after several hours of traveling checked into an apartment and checked out on the world. Yes folks, mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted I slept for about 24 hours.
Gabs is very dry, sandy and hot, the temperature fluctuates between 32c to 37c and is only going to get hotter....By about 8am it is already like walking into an oven and don't even think about going outside between 11am and 4pm unless you particularly want to fry. The whole country is in desperate need of rain, the main dam that services Gabs is basically empty and water conservation measures ridicule the threatened hose pipe ban in London this summer. Gabs has changed even in the last 3 years, since I was last here... there are a lot more buildings and construction sites everywhere. This is not just an employment ruse but also due to a number of companies (including banks and the UN with its 7,000 staff) relocating their southern African headquarters out of Harare to Gabs. The situation in Zimbabwe is both good and bad for Botswana, obviously the movement of big corporations to Gabs can only benefit the economy and tourism is also increasing in the north of the country, however, in the north east around Botswana's second largest city, Francistown, there are huge numbers of refugees arriving daily from across the border and setting up shanty towns on the outskirts of the city.
There is definitely a chilled, no hurry pace about Gabs(everyone is at least 30 minutes late) apart from the driving which verges on the terrifying...There is quite a bit of money and it is not just the white expats driving new Mercedes, BMWs or the latest SUVs, but a number of affluent Batswana. The houses have electric fences and security guards, because of burglaries but so far I have not met with anything but friendliness.
Despite all that it is so good to be back, the sites, the colours, especially the crystal clear blue sky, the people, the smells, the music and the sounds of Africa are fantastic and intoxicating. Also I have got a job...working for the Botswana Harvard Partnership (BHP), and they are paying me to travel around Botswana gathering information - hurrah! This partnership has been running for nearly 10 years and is dedicated to researching and studying the AIDS epidemic in Botswana. They sponsor a lot of treatment programs and clinical trials especially around the dispensing of antiretroviral drugs. I have just started on a project analysing the cost effectiveness of treating HIV patients with antiretroviral drugs. This means looking at the actual total cost of administrating these drugs against the benefit to society from the improved quality of life and also the life expectancy of infected patients. Of a population of about 1.6 million, stats from 2004 showed 227,000 adults (15 - 49 year olds) as being HIV+ with 24,000 deaths attributed to HIV and HIV related illnesses. Some commentators are now predicting a negative population growth which would be devastating to a population of this size.
OK depressing stats over with ... and so back to me! So as well as being involved in interesting work I have also got a social life and a room in a shared house to kip in when I am in Gabs. The work schedule is pretty grueling!!!...I leave for Serowe, a main town in the central east of the country on Sunday for a week and will combine this with a trip to the Khama Rhino sanctuary. Rhinos were being poached to extinction in the wild with highly technical and organised hunts coming across the borders from Angola via Namibia. So a decision was taken to translocate (relocate to you and me) the remaining rhinos to Serowe. I then come back to Gabs just in order to fly to Francistown for 3 days then I have a long weekend to see some more of the country and finally I fly up north to Maun for a week's work and then a week's safari in the Okavango Delta - it's a tough life!
The plan is to work for about 6 weeks until mid December and then either do some more traveling in Botswana and go to Cape Town or go onto Namibia and then Cape Town. The idea is to try and get to Cape Town for New Year's and then mosey along the Garden route.
But as always...plans may change.
Hope life is treating you all well and I'll post some more news soon with piccies for those who aren't too big on reading.
Hess xx
Latest Comments (5)
|
Hi Hester (reply)
Nov 3, 2005 15:14 EST by joannejohnson
Loved your first installment - the images from your words just walked off the screen!
Keep us up to date with your news - in particular really interested to hear about this work that you are doing at the moment on the HIV front.
Proud of you girl!
Love Jo (& Z)
|
|
|
Hello (reply)
Nov 3, 2005 12:43 EST by louhorne
Hey Hess
Sounds as though you are already into the swing of it all onlys seems like we were dancing away here in London. Life is grand here and will defo pick your brain for ideas when Bri and I head that direction take it easey phat girl and look after yourself
|
|
|
Green eyes (reply)
Oct 31, 2005 12:02 EST by rclark
Hess
Sounds amazing - not sitting here green with envy!
I am going to be in Africa - not sure where last week November / first week Dec - let me know if that fits any of your plans. I look forward to the next instalment....
Rachel
x
|
|
|
hi honey (reply)
Oct 26, 2005 10:00 EST by kirstenpj
Sounds amazing. Good to hear you're keeping active and have loads going on. can't wait to see the pics but love the words too. Not missing much in london - it's raining and at's grey - no changes there then! Although I'm sure London's missing you..I hear Pascha has put out a missing person's for you!
anyway can't wait for the next installment. lots of love,Kirsten
|
 Post a new comment |
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Botswana or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
11 votes 
This is a top pick!
