Nicole Hutton joined the Peace Corps to see the world while using her education to help others In a recent e-mail from Africa, Hutton reported that she is training Botswana's capital city, Gaborone, and living 45 minutes north in Molepolole.
Local Peace Corps volunteers face challenges
By Eric Adams
[Excerpt]
Hutton preparing for her assignment
Nicole Hutton joined the Peace Corps to see the world while using her education to help others. She never dreamed she would be in southern Africa helping orphans of AIDS victims or helping AIDS prevention from mothers to their children.
In a recent e-mail from Africa, Hutton reported that she is training Botswana's capital city, Gaborone, and living 45 minutes north in Molepolole. She is being interviewed by the country's Peace Corps director to find out which site will best suit her after her training.
"I think I get to make some specifications about things that I prefer in a site," Hutton said. "No. 1 on my list is electricity, followed by good cell phone reception and a main road to get to a grocery store. None of these things will be guaranteed, but here's hoping."
Hutton said having running water is not as important as she thought. She has been living for a month without running water and doesn't mind bucket baths too much.
Last Saturday in the course of training, she and other Peace Corps trainees visited the outskirts of Molepolole where there are hills and caves.
When the group hiked to the entrance of a cave, the locals were superstitious about curses, spirits and magic so they decided not to go inside.
On Sunday, Hutton went with her host family to visit the land.
She said many families have three pieces of property to live, grow crops and raise cattle, which is very important in the culture.
It is now harvesting season for their watermelon (legapo), beans (dinagwa), a plant called sweetreed (similar to sugarcane) and sorghum (bogobe).
When Hutton and her host family arrived early Sunday, they sat in the dewy grass eating freshly harvested watermelons for breakfast.
"We each got our own half and ate it by scooping out the flesh with our hands," Hutton said. "It was still cold from laying on the ground all night and it was delicious."
Training, learning language and culture
Hutton said aside from her trips and a handful of other bits of recreation, her days have been filled with training and language lessons. She said the language is not at all like English in sound or structure, and she is having a hard time learning how to speak it. She just found out that there is a chance that she might not even be placed in a Setswana-speaking area.
"Some of the sites are in areas in the Kalahari Desert where clique languages are spoken," Hutton said. "Talk about hard to learn."
Hutton said she is slowly getting used to the cuisine, "if you could call it that." She said Dr. Atkins would not approve of the diet's reliance on starches and sugars.
"I feel like all I eat are starch, sugar, oil, and occasionally some cabbage or squash," Hutton said. "There is no concept of a balanced diet here, and green vegetables are few and far between."
The other night for dinner, Hutton's host family served her a meal of papata (a type of bread usually cooked over the fire), fat cakes (basically fried dough), and chips (fried potatoes). She said while this meal was a welcome change from the goat meat that we had been eating for the past week, it didn't offer much in the way of nutrition.
"This is why I think I am the only person on the whole continent of Africa to actually be gaining weight," Hutton said. "Good thing plump women here are considered more attractive."
Hutton said she must be doing something right, because she has gotten several marriage proposals from Botswana men. She added that the children never get tired of laughing and staring at her.
"They shout, 'Lekghoa, lekghoa!' which basically means, 'white person, white person," Hutton said. "So much for blending into the community."
Hutton said she thought that after a full month, locals would get used to 27 Americans wandering around their village. She said members of her group still seem to be a novelty.
"It's not always fun to be so many people's source of entertainment," Hutton said. "Generally, though, Batswana are very nice and friendly people."
Hutton said she is grateful for the letters, packages and phone calls she received from home. She said they keep her sane and happy.
"They help me to forget about the spiders in my bed, the giant cockroaches in my pit latrine, the awful heat, the nightmares from my malaria medicine, and most importantly my frequent episodes of homesickness," Hutton said. "So keep writing, keep calling, and make sure you watch Oprah for me."
