One Week In Maun

I've been in Maun for exactly one week now. It's Sunday afternoon and I've walkwd into town. It takes about 45 minutes along the main road. It's a nice walk, Sedia road is lined with compounds and big spreading trees, it has a good atmosphere, even at midday.

Mad Dogs And Englishmen

Today is Sunday. We've got the whole day to ourselves. I actually had a lie in until 8.30 this morning but I got out of bed as i didn't want to waste my day off. Last night I walked back into town along Sedia road in the evening light as busineses were beginning to close down and the Sedia road bars began to warm up.

It was 11.45 when I finally left our compound and walked back, out across the dry Thalakwe river bed which runs behind the compound. I was also scouting to see whether our backie (pick up truck) would cope with crossing the river bed and negotiating the sandy banks leading up to Big Tree combi stop on the Sedia road.

What's Sedia Road?

Sedia road is the long straight roadwhich runs west out of Maun, roughly parallel to the river. If we could cross the river on our backie and get onto Sedia road we'd avoid a really dusty circuitous route in the mornings and evenings.

As I said, the road is tree lined in the typically African widely spaced way. On either sides are home compounds often with a little business attached. This seems to be the metal workers quarter as there are about 3 aluminium and tin workers, an equal number of welders & at least 2 mechanics that's in the 45 minute walk between big tree and new mall. There's a couple of bars, at least four so it makes for a varied lanscape. I was hoping I'd be able to upload my phot's of Sedia road today but someone seems to have removed Microsoft publisher from this computer so i can't save my photo's a small file which is easy to upload. There's also the airport. Running parallel to the north of Sedia road is Maun airport.

My Week

Tuesday we went to WAR (WoMen Against Rape). As I'm sure you'll understand I didn't see many of the patients there but I had a chance to see how the place was set up and feel it's atmosphere. It was actually quite familiar. It had the same atmosphere as many of the projects i'd worked with in London when I was with the Tuffnell Park NHS. So, I feel comfortable working there.

Private Clinic

Tuesday afternoon we have a private clinic in the Okavango Pharmacy in the centre of town. This didn't happen because most of our patients for that day were ex-pats and they were tied up with organising the charity event at the Sports Bar, which is also on Sedia Road.

Sports Bar Royal Variety Charity Show

So, Tuesday we got to go home early. This worked out well for Julia an I as we had to get home file things and such, have a bite to eat and get washed and changed for the evenings entertainment. Tickets were 180 Pula each which works out as roughly 18 Pounds! And this went to charity.

As an incentive a 'bottemless pot' of soup was offered and it was very welcome as it was a cool desert night. All of Maun society were there, whether Batswana or Ex-Pat. Marty, our land-lady who we wnt with told us that she'd introduce us only to the people worth knowing . That ammounted to two people and I only remember one of them as he was Hilary's husband.

So there we are sitting under a ceiling of coloured cloth a good 15 or 20 feet above our heads, facing a stage surrounded by swags of red velvet in the true theatrical style. With real working curtains.

One of the most curious things about the performance was the inter act words given by the comperes. The man an urbane character built along the lines of 'The Great Suprendo' but with less hair and his partner a spiky Afrikaans vrau who seemed to have forgotten that she was no longer in front of a class of children, who kept telling the children in the front row to keep quiet. She ended up getting a well earned booo!

So, their inter act commentary, as well as containing the usual jokes at the audiences expense gave a slightly over detailed explaination of what we were about to witness. On reflection this was possibly for thwe benefit of the Batswana members of the audience, a gesture of courtsesy perhaps, except the explaination wasn't given in Setswana. The take home message is, before each act there was about 5 minutes at least of detailed explaination giving the history of the piece and a little about those who first performed it. That struck me as an interesting way to go about things.

They don't know when to stop

Just when it looked as though the last act had been seen there came another. I was sitting there thinking, people who are capabe of this are capable of anything. Everyone really pot their hearts into what they were doing. Even the poor guys who had to entertain us during really long scene changes and had to resort to singing a rude children's rhyme about a farmer in a field sitting on a rock whith his hands in his pocket playing with his keys etc, etc, you know the sort of thing, to get a laugh.

What was your first day at work like?

It began early at 6 o'clock and it felt earlier as it was still dark. Luckily it was probably the warmest morning Maun hashad for a few weeks, otherwise it would have been freezing.

Weha to be up early as Hilary, who set up the projct 5 years ago, was flying home and was giving a talk to the district health workers about the role of the project at 07.30! We drove through the scrubby brush jungle from our cottage on the bank of the river as the sun wa rising.

As it was my first day I was sitting in with Julia who has worked on the project before.About half the patients we saw needed an interpreter. This was a new and interesting experience for me but I didn't feel it detracted from the quality of the consultation. The rapport is built up between the patient and practitioner. The interpreter passes information betwen them. Of course, the interpreters have been trained not to rephrase what patients say or colour the information they relay with their own opinion. Altogether, I think this system works well.

This was only my first day and I'm going totell you more about what it's like to run a consultation through an interpreter but I was favourably impressed. I don't know what anyone else was tinkng but I recall that while I was studying I was getting theimpresion that the consultation room is a very fragile and sacred space and he slightest 'bad vibe' could upset the whole dynamic of the relationship between patient and practitioner.

It is and it isn't. The consultation and consulting rooms, likepatients are individual, fragile and sacred things which must be approached with humility and the right intention. At the same time, like people they are flexible, adaptable and resilient.

The consultation is made up of two components, patient and practitionr, 3 in Maun if you include an interpreter. When these components are comfortable in the space, wherever it's location, whatever it's shape or size the cosultation will work. Do all the components feel happy? Do they agree to be in the space? Do they know what's going to happen? Yes? OK, carry on, it will work. That's the key.

I'll tell you more about my discoveries in my next thrilling installment of 123 Homoeopathy!

Maun Sounds Like A Fun Place To Be / मौन सौन्ड्स लिके आ फुं प्लेस तो बे

Drums thundered and waists shook as feet stomped the ground in dance at the freedom square in Sedie, Maun, over the weekend। The dust rose up in the air as a means of appeasing the Mbungu Wa Kathimana ancient gods to welcome and cleanse Botswana National Front (BNF) leader Otsweletse Moupo and his party from the misfortunes that are threatening to tear it apart.
And believe it or not, the cultural cleansing rites seem to have worked, as the sky suddenly turned cloudy and the soft breeze cooled the hot weather.

I found these on Mmengi Online. Mmegi is published by Dikgang Publishing Company (DPC). The newspaper was established in 1984. Mmegi is the only daily independent newspaper in Botswana. The newspaper is read by a cross-section of the population including students, policy makers, intellectuals and the business community. Over the past 10 years Mmegi won the prestigious Institute of Bankers “Newspaper of the year Award” nine times.

Bats terrorise Maun Civil Servants

NOMSA NDLOVU

CORRESPONDENT MAUN:

An invasion by an army of bats has chased civil servants in Komane village, 26km west of Maun, out of their houses to seek accommodation elsewhere. Councillor Morolong Mosimanyane of Komane ward brought the matter to the attention of the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism Kitso Mokaila last week and said the bats have been terrorising the village since 2004.
He said that the bats use ceilings as their abode and the most affected houses are those of the teachers, nurses, and local police officers. Morolong told Mokaila that wildlife officers should be sent to deal with the bats. He said if wildlife officers had not prevented them, the residents would have long used other means to wipe out the animals.
"When we reported the matter, your officers instructed that we should not kill the creatures because they are a protected species. They said the only thing we should do is to remove them and patch the ceiling, but we tried and failed. Therefore I request you to send your officers to remove them from our area because we are tired of the anguish that they are causing us," he said.
Morolong explained that the animals are inactive by day but at night they come out of their hiding places and trouble residents. Their noises prevent the civil servants and their families from sleeping and cause panic. The occupants of the houses were then forced to move out and seek accommodation elsewhere. The problem affects most villagers with modern houses.
Morolong told Mmegi that besides the noises, the bats defecate and urinate constantly, causing a pungent smell and resistant stains on clothes, walls and the ceiling.

What's Maun Like? / वहत इस मौन लिके?

What's Maun like? Widely spaced and dusty. But I can see that there is a lot to explore. I saw my first Boabab trees from the road about 50k outside of town. That made me feel as though I was nearing journeys end. the countryside is broad and flat. There are small settlements dotted around with compounds of thatthced rond-houses and square rond houses also thatthed and more modern style houses. Cows, donkeys and goats occasionally break the monotony of a long straight highway by crossing it, making the bus perform a loooooong slooow down which precipitates a flash flood of shoes bottles and small luggage forward beneath the seats.

I arrived in Maun yesterday evening. We passed the school on theway in. Lads appeared to be playing rugby on a dustbowl of a pitch. There was a big crowd of spectators and the teams wore blue and green. I imagined anyone on that pitch would beabout 2kg heavier when they finnished from all the dust theye'd swallow and breathe in.

I notice sign posts directing me to places that I had heard of from my induction in London. Now I am here I really see how spread out maun is. I'll try and have some images for you next time i write. I'll also be able to tell you about my first day at work.

Stay tuned!

First Day In Maun / फर्स्ट दय इन मौन

I've just arrived in Maun. I spent my first night in Botswana at the splendid Boiketlo Lodge in Gaborone. It's really well placed opposite the Bank and Telecom ofices. There's a driving school 'office' under a tree outside the back gate which faces the Telecom & Bank. The driving school itself consists of an obstacle course of orange cones on a patch ofground beside the road a little further along. A man was entertaining the instructiors singing to a guitar. This was another good introduction to Botswana.

Mr. Moipolai says that Lonely Planet has got it wrong about his guest house. They describe it as 'noisy' apparently. He wasn't happy about that. The edition I read quite rated the place, which is why I chose it. It's certainly not noisy. So any of you with an old edition of Lonely Planet which describes Boiketlo Lodge as noisy, you'd better update it and say that it is clean, well appointed and quiet with a delicate perfume of woodsmoke on the evening air.

Mr Moipolai says that LP perhaps mistook the natural exuberance of Motswana for irritating noise. We are jolly people, we always greet, domella ma! Domella rra! You will see it when you get the bus, we are always greeting.

I was looking forward to a bit of this as things had been pretty quiet I thought. Everyone on the Mainliner kept themselves to themselves and everyone I'd seen in Gabborone deported themselves with the utmost decorum.

This changed I am happy to say, when I reached the bus station. It was as bright, noisy, ramshackle and full of human life as I had expected.Busses heave in and out, their touts roam the area shouting their destinations. People laden with great tarten laundry bags of luggage surge back and forth, with politeness and decorum. Vendors hawk fruit, mouth watering packets of chicken and chips made by Hungry Lion & Cicken Licken, chicken pies by Pie Perfect, Cold water, frozen into ice, Iron Brew, sweeties in buckets, wallets, passport covers & pocket-books, The Voice, The Botswana Guardian, pencils, plastic doccument wallets, air time for mobile phones.

The bus slowly fills up with passengers and vendors pass on and off like salts through a cell.There's always space to squeeze by and everything passes off with the utmost tact and decorum. There's some banter between passengers and vendors but everyone kepps themselves to themselves and are decorous.

Dr. Scientist

As we pull out of the bus station we pass more vendors stalls and food spots. Then, at one corner I see a crowd of people cathered round a larger shack. Inside is a sound system beside which sits a man with a really curious peice of woodwork in his hands.

It looks as though he is holding an instrument madefrom planks and 2 by four, held together with bolts. He's advertised as Dr. Scientist. There's a pile of compact discs on the sound system and a hand printed T shirt swings above them. He's tuning up to play that gorgeous rippling African guitar music. Notes and phases sparkle out and hit you in the heart. I'm straining my ears backwards as we pass away listening to the stretche d notes through the doppler effect. Resolved: I will track down and buy a copy of Dr. Scientist's CD when i return to Gaborone.

Intercape Mainliner / इंटर-कापे Mainliner

I am not eaten by Werewolves and survive my encounter with the hostile world beyond the bus-station.I observe closely what Jo'burg looks like as we pull out of the bus station on the Intercape Mainliner bound for Gaborone, 6 hours away.

We pass through streets lined with smart, low-rise, 1950's style office buildings and more modern standard concrete buildings. The streets are wide low valleys and have a nice mountainous feel to them, one side of the street in freezing shade, one side in bright sunlight. The place has a sunday feel to it, very few people on the streets. There's a lazy mellow atmosphere. I nod off for about three hours and when I wake up we're out in the country in the magical 2 hours before sunset.

The green, red and yellow landscape becomes more subtly coloured and reflects the delicate sunset colours in the sky. Along the way are scrubby spiny kops which smoulder in misty smokey reds, oranges and purple. I really want to be out there, just for an hour or so, to take a walk into the mysterious scrub and over to one of the kops, that would be a nice introduction to the country. Brew up some tea on a tiny wood fire and enjoy the smell of dusty earth, saps and woodsmoke as night falls. Resolved: I will do this as soon as I can when I reach Maun.

Ice Cold In Johannesburg / Ice Cold In Johannesburg

Ice कोल्ड इन जोहानसबर्ग / Ice cold In Johannesburg

I'm finally in Africa. I managed not to sleep on the 9 hour flight from London andnow I'm floating and goggling in the freezing mall that is Jo'burg park bus station. Please excuse my typing as i a musing an unfamiliar keyboard.

A Crisp Clear Day In Johannesburg

I did not have time to feel how cold it was between the airport and the bus station. But the day had the appearance of a crisp clear winters morning at home. The slanting morning sunlight created a beautiful contrast of light and shade breaking the streets up into a patchwork of darkness and vibrant colour.

Here in the bus station it is absolutley arctic. But incredibly clean. More clean than any public concourse you would see at home. And everyone is very polite and courteous. People tend to leave you to your own devices unless you are about to go seriously astray or you ask for help.

I took a taxi from the airport because the driver followed me out to make sure I didn't wander off looking for a bus from the Airport. He made sure to impress upon me the foolhardiness of my actions due to the presence of theives. A speech I considered to be standard for fleecing unwary new arrivals who would be made all the more willing to take a cab. The poor driver had to follow me back into the airport while I made enquiries about the non existence of a bus service to the centre of town.

So I took a cab with Tabby who explained to me that because SA was so developed undesirables from all over Africa were pouring in to take advantage. Hedropped me at the bus ststion and insisted on taking meto the ticket office for the long distance bus to Gaborone.

I'd encountered this kind of special attention before in other countries and this process ensures that whowever introduces you to the ticket clerk gets a cut of the (inflated) cost of the ticket you buy.Ok, I thought, we'll see what happens.

Not so here in SA, this escort from the carpark to the ticket counter was for my own protection. I buy the ticket and we part as friends, his warning ringing in my ears 'Don'tleave the bus station'.

Why is the bus station so cold?

johannesburg bus station is a long high ceilinged basillica of a place. Very little direct sunlight gets in. It is antiseptically cold inside and cleaner than a hospital. It is as high as the concourse of St. Pancras or Paddington stations in London.

As I wandered around getting my bearings and adding layers ofclothes (so that now I am dressed for a winters day). It is so cold in here I feel that there is a cood chance I will see the steam of my breath. I recall that I had frequently seen, in photo's of Africa everyone going round in wooly hats and jumpers. I had always reasoned that this was because they maust have been taken in the very early morning. As it turns out it is cold enough to go dressed like this all day.

Anyone I met reminded me 'don'tleave the bus station'.I stood at the entrance and looked out.It didn'tlook so bad. There was a vendor selling food from a braai, a clothes stall which would not have been out of place on peticoat lane and men hawking brooms and ostrich feather dusters. It didn't look so bad.

Sunlight Oasis

I would really love to go outside and have a look round, smell the new smells, listen to the new sounds and soak up the new sights, as satisfying as any meal to a traveller who has arrived. But I'm feeling a bit disembodied at the moment. Not as bad as I could feel, thanks to Arnica & Cocculus which help one's body to get over the drag of long distance travel. But, still, I feel a bit wierd. I debate whether to step outside and mooch around and have an adventure running on the equivalent of drunkards luck, but I've just arrived and I decide to take things easy.

I notice the bus station has a Wimpy, a Milky Lane and a Nando's. I go up to the mezzanine and pass the Leopard Spot fast food outlet at which I sample an unadventurous egg and chips. On the mezzanine is an exit and I look through it to see an oasis of sunlight. There are planters with greenery and a fish pond around which children are playing, their parents sitting with their luggage. There are men with suits and name tags standing in groups chatting and best of all it is in full sunlight.

It could not have looked less like the haunt of thieves and cut-throats, so throwing caution to the wind I stepped out to indulge my saurian nature and absorb some cool, crisp, crystal clear African winters sunlight.

मौन होमोपति प्रोजेक्ट सलेब्रतेस इत's फर्स्ट येअर / Maun Homeopathy Project Celebrates Its First Year

Here's some more information sourced from the Maun Homeopathy Project Website.

Celebrating Our First Year

We have just celebrated our first full year of running the homeopathy clinics in Maun. “The homeopathy has changed peoples’ lives” says Stella, co-ordinator of our biggest clinic at the Lutheran Church.
The clinics have been made possible by 3 key factors: the generosity of individual donors; the time, hard work and commitment given by volunteer homeopaths; and the strong and warm partnership we have developed with local agencies in Maun. Arun Mushiana, Volunteer Homeopath, says “The homeopaths are so loved here, and at the clinics we see daily miracles.” Word has spread and people living with HIV and AIDS travel from all over Botswana to get treatment from us. It is not unusual to hear from a client that they have arrived the day before from their village 500km away to join the early morning queue at one of our clinics.

Volunteering in Maun:The Homeopaths’ Stories

“It’s hot, hard work and there’s so much suffering but volunteering in Maun is the most important thing I’ve done in my life,” Julia Hunn.Ten volunteer homeopaths so far have donated their time, energy and money to run the clinics in Maun over the last year taking unpaid leave to do so. Our heartfelt thanks goes to them - Margaret Ecclestone, Noam Bar, Lesley Murphy, Julia Hunn, Jane Harter, Cleo Cameron, Arun Mushiana, Elaine Weatherley-Jones, Penny Rowe and Bridget Allison.

Lesley Murphy tells the story of one lady: “She is HIV+ and I was asked to go and see her as she'd been struggling with possible malaria for 10 days. I did a home visit, and found her on a mattress on the floor, covering her eyes, as she couldn't cope with light, barely able to speak as she was so weak, and she hadn't been able to eat for a long while. I prescribed a course of homeopathic medicine for her and the next day her family took her to hospital where the doctor also thought it was malaria, but she was starting to improve so wasn’t given any treatment there. The following day when I visited, she was outdoors, eating an apple, and playing with her grandson, completely recovered!”

“One of the most outstanding memories I have of the people that I met and treated in Botswana is of how much they appreciated the service, feeling valued as people, not treated as HIV patients. One comment overheard in the waiting room (where people would wait patiently all day) was “how lucky we are to have this service in Maun - I was in Francistown and people with HIV there feel outside of society, but here in Maun we feel accepted and valued”. Elaine Weatherley-Jones

Statistics and Information - HIV, Rape and Bereavement in Botswana (From The Maun Homeopathy Project Website)

Statistics and InformationHIV, Rape and Bereavement in Botswana

HIV: A National Crisis

Botswana has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world: over 35% of people are infected in a population of 1.75 million.

Although economically successful, Botswana has a high proportion of its population living in poverty.

Despite increasing urbanisation the majority of the population still lives in the rural areas and there is high mobility whereby individuals and their families move within or outside the country for work or to move between the cattle post, the village home and the town.

In 2005 there were 380,000 adults and children living with HIV. An estimated 120,000 children in Botswana have lost at least one parent to the epidemic and life expectancy at birth is now 40 years.

(Ref: WHO 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic)

Rape: The Unseen Picture
There are high levels of sexual violence in Botswana (and in Southern Africa as a whole) with teenage girls and younger women particularly at risk.

Girls and women who have been sexually assaulted are at increased risk of HIV infection through direct transmission and because of the long-term effects of sexual violence on risk-taking behaviour.

Contrary to conventional notions women are more likely to be raped by an intimate partner, spouse or someone they know than by a stranger. The abuse often continues over a relatively long period of time.

Because women are often the first to test for HIV through ante-natal services they are often blamed for bringing HIV into the family or community and this blame can easily turn to violence.(Ref: “Facing the Future Together” Report of the United Nations Secretary General’s Task Force on Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa).

Bereavement & Stigma: Daily Devastating Effects

Multiple bereavement, through the high incidence and death rate from HIV and AIDS, is a devastating fact of life in Botswana. Most families have been affected by at least one death and this has economic as well as emotional consequences such as poverty, despair and anxiety.
Another consequence is that surviving adults, usually women, can be overburdened with the care of others while lacking financial or emotional support.

The overall picture in Botswana in general and in Maun in particular is one of a community in crisis composed of individuals dealing with the daily devastating effects of trauma from HIV diagnosis, living with HIV, the consequences of rape, the overburden of care for others and the social isolation from stigma that is often the result of HIV and rape.

Maun Homeopathy Project

It's about time I told you something about the Maun Homeopathy Project. I've cut and pasted this from the MHP website to give you an idea of what the MHP is about. I'll tell you more from my experience once the adventures of Rowland in Africa have truly begun.

At present I'm Rowland in London, gradually folding and filing the garments and articles of my existence here before I pack my bags and go. I'll tell you more about how I came to join MHP in a future post. Until then here's the introductory page to MHP's website...

The Maun Homeopathy Project Healing for Strength and Survival

MHP is a registered charity (No. 1109958) founded by Hilary Fairclough and Philippa Brewster in 2002:

• Establishing a permanent and free homeopathic service for women, men and children living with HIV and AIDS and/or traumatised by rape in Maun, Botswana
  
• working in partnership with agencies in the local community
  
• offering holistic care to people suffering from illness, trauma, grief and stigma
  
• travelling light with a mobile clinic providing an outreach service for those most in need
  
• to recruit and support local people to train in homeopathy to an internationally recognised standard

A Community in Crisis
Since 2002, The Maun Homeopathy Clinic has been running free homeopathy outreach clinics in Maun, a fast growing town in the north of Botswana, (click here to view map) where over 35% of the people are infected with HIV or AIDS, one of the highest rates in the world.

The epidemic has put this hitherto strong and confident democratic country into crisis and the Maun community like the rest of the country is suffering as a result. Everyone is affected and trying to cope with its daily devastating effects.

Maun is now the centre for the provision of medical and social care for people affected by HIV and traumatised by rape living in the town and its surrounding areas, but more help and other approaches are desperately needed.

Homeopathy fills the gap for a holistic approach to healing which is complementary to the existing and stretched medical and counselling services.Click Here for more on HIV and AIDS in Botswana

How can you help?
Make a regular donation by standing order; make a one off donation - Click to Donate now!Join our email list for news of fundraising events and for the MHP Newsletter - Contact Us

Our logo: The Baobab Tree
One of the great symbols of Africa, the Baobab Tree symbolises Strength, Survival and Longevity and all parts of the tree have nutritional and medicinal value.