Matsieng National Monument

We went with the Gublers and Taylors to visit Matsieng National Monument about a half hour north of Gaborone. The national monument consists of a slab of sandstone with holes in it that capture rain water. Most of these have clear water in them but one is covered with algae. It also has engravings of footprints that are thought to be about a thousand years old. The footprints come in all sizes from those of a child to prints larger than a man's.

According to legend Matsieng was the first ancestor of the Batswana people. Everyone lived with God in the center of the earth. Matsieng was a giant, one-legged man, who climbed out of one of the holes and was followed by his people, their domestic animals, and wildlife. so that they could live on the surface of the earth. Some religious groups come regularly to the holes to get water because they believe it is sacred.

Hole From Which Matsieng Emerged

The local guide had worked at the monument for seven years. He showed us which hole was the one Matsieng was believed to have emerged from. He explained that the holes were a source of water during the dry season and the deepest hole was nine meters deep and widened back out after becoming very narrow. All but the deepest hole used to dry up part of the year but with wells the water is used less and the holes no longer dry up. About a hundred years ago one tribe filled the holes with rocks and sand so that the local tribe would no longer have water during the dry season. Recently, most of the rocks and sand have been removed.

Seminary and Institute Supplies

We sent our seminary and institute curriculum order to the area office in May. When it had not arrived by November, we started asking questions about when it would ship as we needed it before the start of the school year in January. After many questions we found that the shipment had been held by DHL in Botswana since June. Neither DHL or the Church gave us any notification that the materials were waiting to be delivered to us.

The shipment consisted of thirty-four boxes of manuals and supplies. It filled up much of the floor space in our office. The supplies were needed for the nine wards and branches we support from as far away as five hours drive to the north (Francistown) and two hours drive to the south (Mafikeng). It was impractical to deliver the supplies in time ourselves so we enlisted the help of the missionaries and couples. When they came to Gaborone we would send supplies back with them for their areas. We now have all the supplies delivered for this term, and we are glad to get our office space back.

School Uniforms

There are many private and public schools in Gaborone. Up through high school most of the schools require that their students wear uniforms. The students really look sharp in their uniforms. It is fun to see large groups of them walking to or from school. The girls are usually in skirts and blouses or dresses.

Many of the uniforms include sweaters. The students wear the sweaters even when the temperature is in the 95 degree Fahrenheit temperature range. We cringe every time we see this and we are trying to keep cool, but it does not seem to bother them at all.

Sometimes on a hot day the classes will meet outdoors under the shade of a tree.

Yard and Garden

When we moved into our house in Gaborone there was no grass and the trees were struggling because of months without rain or water. Other than the bedraggled trees and bushes there was just dirt and paving blocks.

 

As part of the lease on the house the owner agreed to plant grass which was done in December. For awhile there were many more weeds than grass. We spent a lot of time pulling weeds. Since December we have kept the grass watered and fertilized it with chicken manure. A year later it looks pretty good. Often when we have Young Single Adult activities at our house they enjoy the grass because there is so little grass in Gaborone.

We planted a garden in October. We planted chard, marrow (zucchini), patty pan squash, tomatoes, sweet melon (cantaloupe), watermelon, corn, and carrots. To date we have harvested some of everything but carrots. Today we picked our first watermelon which was special because watermelon originated in Botswana. We are sharing our bounty with the other couples who do not have gardens.

We enjoy working on the yard, garden, and fruit trees. We relish the fruits and vegetables and love the green oasis of the yard.

Lesedi Cultural Village

This time of year is very slow for us in Gaborone because many people go to the villages to be with family for the holidays. We took advantage of this and went to South Africa to check out the Lesedi Cultural Village and surrounding area as a possible venue for an upcoming couples retreat we were asked to help plan. Elder and Sister Taylor are in charge of the retreat and they went with us. The village is about four hours from Gaborone and about an hour from Johannesburg. We spent Thursday night, 27 December, at the village.

The village is located in the Hartbeespoort Dam area of South Africa. This is a popular holiday area for South Africans so there are many things to do. On the way to the village we stopped at Chameleon Village which is a large African craft market. We had lunch there; and of course, the sisters did some shopping.

Pedi Village

 

 

Ndebele Village

 

At the village we were assigned rooms in the Pedi Village. Our rooms were very comfortable and built in the rondavel (traditional round house) style. There are five villages each with a tribal theme - Pedi, Zulu, Xhosa, Basotho, Ndebele. After settling into our room we listened to some traditional music by the craft shops, and then watched a video on the history of South Africa.

Zulu Village

 

Xhosa Village

A guide then took our group to all of the villages and told about traditions and history of each of the tribes. In the villages people demonstrated tasks and social activities of that tribe such as grinding maize, traditional healers, cooking, using cow dung to smooth and harden the dirt floor of a house, etc. Sister Rands is VERY glad she does not do her floors this way.

Guide at Basotho Village

At the end of the tour of villages they had a traditional singing and dancing program. For the last part of the program they had all the visitors get up and dance with the performers.

We then went to a buffet dinner with many African foods - squash, chard, pap ( maize meal), chicken, lamb, crocodile, kudu, bread, salads, fruits, and desserts.

In the morning we had an English breakfast buffet with many items to choose from. We then visited with the convention manager about our possible retreat and did some craft shopping. We also checked out Hartbeespoort Dam and waterfall and the cable way tram to the top of the mountain. We did not ride the tram because the wait was two hours.

We drove to Johannesburg and picked up supplies for the missionaries in Botswana before we returned home.

Botwana Christmas 2012

Christmas day has been a busy and enjoyable one for us. We got up at five o'clock, not because the children woke up early to open their presents but because we had to prepare part of the meal for the "kids" (the elders and sisters). We were responsible for chicken enchiladas, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, sour cream, and punch; and needed make the enchiladas and chop the vegetables. The Gublers were responsible for beef enchiladas, refried beans, and ice cream. The Taylors were responsible for chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice, and cake.

At nine o'clock we met other church members and missionaries at the SOS Children's Village, an orphanage in Tlokweng near Gaborone, to sing Christmas carols. There are currently 204 children at the orphanage, but only 55 were there today because the others had relatives they could go visit for the holiday season. The children live in homes with a "mother" and "auntie". They have a family situation with children of different ages living together and they always stay with the same "family". The children and adults joined with us in singing the carols.

Santa, Elder Jenkins, made a visit and brought the children candy. All the children enjoyed Santa's visit except one little boy who was terrified of Santa. Sister Rands can relate to that. We enjoyed being with the children; it was a delightful way to start Christmas day.

From the orphanage we had to hurry to meet with the elders and sisters for a Christmas devotional and dinner. Thirty-two young missionaries and three senior couples met in the Gubler's apartment for the devotional. Each of the districts and the senior couples contributed something spiritual to the program. There was quite a variety to the presentations.

After the devotional we had a Mexican dinner at the Taylor's apartment which is in the same complex as the Gubler's apartment. At the conclusion of dinner the missionaries were each given a personalized Christmas stocking prepared by the senior couples. The devotional and dinner went from eleven o'clock until one o'clock so the missionaries would have the rest of the day to make phone calls to their families. Most of them will use the Internet because it is much cheaper.

Broadhurst Ward Christmas Party

We attended the Broadhurst Ward Christmas party on Saturday, 15 January. We arrived at the scheduled 11:30 am start time. Sister Rands helped in the kitchen. Elder Rands helped braai the meat. His job was to keep the flies off the meat using a tree branch.

The dinner was chicken, beef, sausage, several kinds of salads, pap (corn meal) with stew on top, and cake. Botswanans like their meat.

The party actually got going at two o'clock when the meat was finished cooking and food prepared.
There were games outside in the parking lot. Remember it is summer in Botswana and warm (hot). They divided everyone into seven groups for the games. Some of the games were three-legged race, soccer goal toss, card race where two people hold a card between them with their teeth and run to the finish line, water balloon toss, water relay, straw drink race (assemble ten straws end to end and suck up a bottle of juice), blanket turn (team stands on blanket and turns it over without stepping off the blanket), lollipop walk, treasure hunt, etc. Everyone, young and old, had a great time playing the games. About 175 people came.

The games lasted until after four o'clock and then it was time to eat. We had to leave at four o'clock to give a keyboard lesson. When we came back at 5:30 pm the food was all gone so we missed the dinner. We thought the party would be over long before we had to leave for the keyboard lesson.

After dinner there was a skit, singing of Christmas carols, and Santa (Elder Wagner) came. Santa gave candy to the children. We left the party at 6:30 pm and there was still more to come. It was an all-day event.