Greetings from Maun, affectionately called the "donkey capital of the world" by locals here. As you can see from the pictures above, the donkeys freely do what ever they please along with the other free roaming livestock here, and you thought you had trouble with loose dogs getting into the trash. It has been just over a month since our last blog entry, and we have been busy! The day we uploaded the last blog entry, we decided to get out of Maun for a night as things were at a stand still with housing and flying. There is a wildlife reserve about 70 miles north of Maun called Moremi, so we grabbed a few things to make a simple camp outfit and drove off into the bush. We had a pleasant drive up viewing lots of wildlife, and reached our destination at sunset. Our camp was at a place called North Bridge because of a large bridge made out of tree branches, and we were shocked to see the size of some of the trucks crossing over it. The road continues up to Chobi National Park even further North.
As the sun slowly went down, we built a fire to cook on and adjusted all the seats in our Pajero so we could sleep in the car that night. At one point, a baboon tried to see what it could steal from the open car, but we chased it away. The camp was on the bank of a slow moving river, and we could hear the hippos calling and grunting to each other as darkness settled in around us. We kept shining a flash light out in the water, half expecting to see a hippo coming into the camp (we found out later that it happened to a friend of ours at the same camp spot). All the hippo and creature sounds were suddenly covered by a large elephant trumpeting down the road. It was enough to call it a night and climb into the car to sleep.
Colin says, "What Julie didn't tell you was that as brazen and aggressive as those thieving baboons are Julie is a little more aggressive and gave them a run they won't forget, after which they left us alone. Also, about the elephant trumpet...ever see a cartoon where the noise is so loud the characters hair is blown back? Julie was already set on a hair trigger with the hippos so close in the dark and became but a blur headed from camp chair to truck with no consideration that I was still in my camp chair while she was safely (she thought) locked in the truck". Though it was a bit warm during the night, we slept relatively well while hearing hippo, elephant and hyena calls. We rose early to travel through a small portion of the reserve. There was a large variety of wildlife to be seen, and we were able to test our four wheel drive out in the deep rutted sand tracks considered roads. Somewhere in our bumpy travels, we lost our front license plate though.
At one place in the road there was a small pond left from the rainy season that was blocking the main road, so we tried to drive through the brush to get around it, but the brush was too thick. We did find a track going through the end of the pond and decided to drive through it. It turned out to be fairly deep, as we realized when a large brown wave of water came rushing over the front of the car and covered the wind shield. Colin gunned the engine and we were able to get through to the other side. Shortly after that, as we were plowing through thick sand and feeling the car bottom out in the ruts, we came around a bend and almost hit an elephant. At that point we realized we were in the middle of a small heard. A large old cow gave a few bluffing charges before we were on our way again.
Colin says, " Whoops, my bad. We had eased into the water hole blocking the road and it did seem a little deep so I backed out. While looking for a way around it, I noticed a safari truck had just gone through. It must have a hard bottom I thought. Julie reminded me that the safari trucks have bigger wheels, right, I must listen to her more often. Anyway, we made a dash for the hole. My big mistake was keeping my hand on the center console shifter. The first recognition of doom was the sudden steep nose down into the hole, the next was a brown tidal wave coming over the hood that was surely going to top the roof. The sudden deceleration caused by hitting the water forced us forward in our seats and my hand pushed the shifter into neutral in the deepest spot. Coming to a near stop, I shifted into drive again and gunned it. As we slowly moved up and out the other side, water was lapping at my open window. Amazing how many thoughts can cross your mind in an instant. Thoughts like why didn't I listen to Julie, why did I have my hand on the shifter, why hadn't I shifted into second before charging in, would I be able to hold my breath long enough to put the chain on the front bumper hooks so the next safari truck could pull us out of the hole, can this truck hold its breath and run under water, and how long can I hold my breath.
About the elephants... Having not seen any all morning we had about given up on them. In second gear ( I learned) and engine racing through the soft sandy stretch of road we came around the corner and nearly ran over an elephant (probably wouldn't have happened like that) . Not wanting to stop and be stuck in the soft sand in the middle of elephants, angry with my driving skills, I continued to zig and zag. Fortunately the elephant zigged when I zagged. Amazing how many thoughts can cross your mind in an instant. We wanted elephant pictures, but for some reason as they kicked sand at us and threateningly trumpeted at us, Julie kept saying "Enough, Enough! Let's Go!"
In the end, we had an enjoyable break and were able to get a taste of this wild land. Also, we felt that we were able to see just what the Pajero could do in more rugged terrain.Our journey was approximately 220 miles and we did it on 10 gallons of gas.
When we returned, Colin continued to fly with Travis to learn the area and radio procedures. On one trip, Colin even got to overnight at one of the safari camps in the Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve. The reserve consists of vast salt flats interspersed with islands of Palm, mopane and other trees and is alive with many strange and beautiful birds and mammals including little meerkats. Colin says, " While flying in the area west of Maun in the lush, watery delta I see herds of cape buffalo, elephant and antelope like kudu and impala. When heading east toward Jack's Camp in the more desert environment, we see lots of zebra and gemsbok. Seeing elephant from the air is much like I had imagined it would have been like to see the wooly mammoths walking around Alaska 15,000 years ago.
While Colin was flying, Julie continued to clean and paint the house were we will be renting. It took two weeks to get ready, with Colin helping when available. Our first night was on September 3, three days after Julie started working at the Okavango International School. The place is a small, two bedroom house, with one big bathroom with a rather strange open shower. It is on an established lot with a landscaped yard full of all kinds of birds, and there is a constant chatter around us from their presence. There are also resident bats hanging in the trees and pooping on our car at night...If you look closely at the last picture in this set, you will see one hanging in a tree. The river is just out our back gate, and we have been able to enjoy a few relaxing evening walks since we have moved in.
Moving into our own place has led to more new relationships. Living on the same fenced property, are two young Christian men in small flats, duplexed next door. Adrian is from Botswana, and Munya is from Zimbabwe. Munya has two dogs that guard the property and his nephew was here while we were fixing up the place. His young nephew will return from Zimbabwe to go to school here in January. In addition to our new friends next door, the house came with a maid who works here two days a week. She is a single mother, raising two of her sister's children as her sister died of a stroke three years ago. Her name is Mmatshimo, pronounced"Matseemo". We are paying her the average days wage of P50 (50 pula, pula means rain), which works out to be about $8 a day. She has one other maid job three days a week. So on the equivalent of $120.00 a month and some health aid from Botswana, she manages to support herself and kids with dignity. If polishing every nook and cranny in our house wasn't enough, she is also teaching Colin Setswana, introducing us to other locals, and is acting as a cultural adviser. It is somewhat expected that if you have a paying job you should not be selfish, but also provide a job so another can earn an income. Though we had not planned on this, she has come into our lives and now we enjoy learning more about her and the culture here. We have also taken lunch breaks together, and after praying together she has begun to ask us questions like what church we go to. Her English is weak, so sometimes we have to make a few attempts to share with her so that she understands us. Because Setswana is her first language, as it is with most of the Botswana people, she even went with Colin to help him buy wood from people who gather it and then sell it along the road side. On the 30th of September, it is a holiday to celebrate Botswana's independence, and Mmatshimo has invited us to her village to watch traditional dancing. We are looking forward to it.
Julie is in her third week of work now, and enjoying the active class of 24 students, mostly boys. The school is beautiful and fairly new, and has challenges similar to rural Alaska. Many of the teachers only stay a year or two, and because it is a private school dependent on tuition to function, materials can be limited. Fortunately, the previous classroom teacher(who is finishing off the term in grade 2), had a well stocked class of her own materials. The biggest challenge the first week was learning Setswana names such as: Ontafetse, Nonofo, Boitumelo, Keakantse, Kgakololo, Lakgosi to name a few...and the eight orphans in the class are so hungry for love and attention. In addition to working with the little ones, Julie has been asked to teach seven students from grades 4 and 5 an English enrichment class. It has been interesting, and Julie has enjoyed meeting more people both staff and parents. The school is run by a Christian ministry, but does not teach Christianity in the classroom. There is a weekly assembly on Friday mornings though with praise music, childrens gospel message, and prayer. Even though she loves to teach, Julie has decided to only work to the end of the term in November. If she teaches full time the next term, it will not leave much room to do other ministry and she feels that there are things she wants to do here to support the mission we are involved with.
Colin says, "To start work, Julie needed some paper work officially stamped at the police station for her work permit. Being patient is culturally important here. Any hurrying of officials is not good and has a tendency to slow or halt progress until another day. Since Julie can sometimes be a bit direct when wanting to get things done, I decided to wait outside the station while she went in with her many pages of documents. If you remember the last couple of blogs you'd know that I'd really been spending way to much time at the station. After what seemed like way to long a wait, I ventured inside expecting to post bail for her. To my surprise she was sitting at a big desk with three officers managing an assembly line of efficient paper shuffling, stamping and laughing. When you have Julie's energizer bunny like energy, determination, organizing skills and genuine love for the people you can accomplish anything anywhere! Actually, all the police officials we have had contact with have been very pleasant, professional and helpful."
Colin has fished twice in the Thamalaklane river (tam-a-la-klan-ee) without luck. While fishing he asked three local guys why he wasn't catching fish. When he showed his fancy lure all three just smiled and said, "Ohhhh". Colin is now saving to buy a shovel to dig for worms! We also drove to the crocodile farm south of Maun one afternoon with Travis, when Julie was finished at school. The owners raise the crocodiles until they are 5 years old to use for the skin and food. Some of the breeding stock was as old as 85 years.
After a relatively short amount of flight hours flying with Travis, Colin is feeling more comfortable with the flying procedures and the mission has brought a C210 down from Zambia for him to fly. Unfortunately, there has been some problems with the motor in the landing gear and after he flew it down to Gaborone to be checked, it will need a new one. So, it has been somewhat of a lesson in waiting on God's timing to begin a regular work schedule for him. The wait has allowed us to get settled into a life here, and establish a variety of relationships among a diverse population. We are beginning to see possibilities for additional ministry among the people here and continue to feel confirmed in a purpose for our move to Botswana. Our blessings to you all, and thank you so much for all your prayers, emails, and support. We will continue to try to keep you posted at least once a month.