August 30th 2015

Ke rata go bina! (I love to dance!) Dance has been part of my life for as far back as my memory will allow. I have now taken lessons in around 25 different styles, and I keep coming back for more. Let’s be frank: I was never particularly amazing at any one style, but the rewarding feeling I get from a few hours of giving it my all and connecting with my inner dance goddess has allowed my life as a dancer to progress, despite giving up on my (family’s) dreams of me becoming a professional. I never got my splits, or nailed my double pirouette, and I will probably spend the rest of my life trying to figure out correct frame, but you run into me on a dance floor with my friends and you’ll see that I am meant to be a dancer. Without a dance partner or a studio, and without a dance club in sight (or the ability to go out after dark), I’ve been struggling to find ways to complete my nearly daily urge to break it down. Thankfully, two brilliant solutions presented themselves to me this week: zumba and a wedding. I can not get enough of zumba. 8 or so of us have been using our healthy outlets time during training to get in the groove and sweat out all the stress and anxiety that comes from living in another country and having absolutely no control over your life. This Sunday we decided to add a session to our morning and invite host country nationals. What we didn’t expect was all of the neighborhood children to join as well! We had a crowd of nearly 20 shaking it to latin/club mixes. Our lovely instructor has taught us my new favorite quote: There are no mistakes, only unanticipated solo’s. This is probably the most accurate quote to describe pretty much anything artistic I pursue. And I love it. Upon arriving home from zumba I found my PC friend and neighbor at my house with her host-mom to invite me to a wedding. Not wanting to pass up such a great opportunity, I quickly changed and hopped in the car. What an event! I was not quite anticipating the level of celebrity I would achieve at this wedding, but the experience was too good to pass up. Weddings in Botswana, are very different, and very similar, to weddings in America. For starters, anyone can just show up. There is no guest list. There is no seating chart. There is no caterer, there is no bartender, there is no wedding planner. There is just the family to prepare all of the food and to spread the word. There are elders to dictate the event, and there are neighbors, friends, and cousins, to arrive and celebrate. Alcohol is typically frowned upon here as substance abuse is a very real problem, which means there isn’t much cultural “drinking in moderation,” so one of the celebratory parts of weddings in the states wasn’t part of the party. But everyone still ends up having a fabulous time. When we arrived around noon, people were everywhere, and dancing was happening in the middle of the compound. We were quickly ushered into the dance line (think a train of people in two lines doing simple steps to the music while snaking around the floor) and I could not stop smiling while all of the youth at the wedding tried to teach us what to do. Soon two of the older women were beckoning us to the center of the floor for more one on one dance instruction, and I tried my best to keep up. We then watched as the groomsmen exited the house onto the dance floor and proceeded to dance their way to their van. We followed them in our car to the brides house, where we once again go in the dance line and proceeded around the courtyard until the bride and bridal party joined us, singing and dancing. Our next stop was the quarry where the bridal party was taking pictures, and we found out quickly we were expected to join in. This was a little strange, being in a cotton skirt and shirt, still a little unkempt from zumba earlier, sweating from the sun, and being told to jump in next to the gorgeous wedding party in their white and black pristine outfits. But we managed to sneak out after a couple of pictures and had a good laugh. Back at the grooms house, another processional and dance line continued, as the wedding party has choreographed dances to entertain the people at the wedding. Everyone went to sit and greetings, introductions, and speeches, were made before food was brought out. This was probably the best wedding food I’ve ever had. It was all traditional Setswana food, but it was homemade by the families, and even though they were serving to an unknown number on a hot day, each and every plate was heaped high with each type of food at the exact right temperature. There was beet salad, coleslaw, rice, potato salad, chicken, beef, stew, sempe, and squash. We ate around 3pm, and I was ready for food by then. Following the food was more dances by the wedding party, after they changed into their second outfit for the night. By now it was starting to get dark, so we went home after being told the event would go well into the night. Not to mention I undoubtably pulled a muscle in my back during zumba, so I was ready for some advil and a nap. It was quite the experience and I’m looking forward to attending more cultural events in the future. Next weekend in particular is ditubaruba! More once I’ve gone :) All in all the day was a great success. Training was just more of the same this week, with the addition of occasional internet access. We are starting to venture further into HIV sessions and assignment area specifics as we are almost finished with our global core sessions. Our most important and impactful session this week was hearing from a man who has spent the last 17 years living with HIV, and is now a speaker and HIV counselor. He was incredibly inspirational and put a meaningful face to the work we are all anxiously waiting to begin. I’m looking forward to continuing to meet and work with Batswana (the people of Botswana) on this tragic epidemic. Keep checking the dates of posts to see when I actual wrote each one. I’m still trying to do one a week even if they aren’t uploaded all right away. I’ll try to get pictures on the blog when I can, but for not it’s too complicated with my internet situation. Thank you again for all the love! Best, Bethany