Traditional Dress Shopping

When Sister Rands asked Sister Rosina Obonye, a seminary teacher, where the best place to purchase a traditional Botswana dress would be, Sister Obonye said, "I'll take you dress shopping." Sister Rands was delighted to take her up on the offer. She tried to explain to us where the dress shop was but we could not figure out where it was so we followed her to the old Railway Mall. This was a new area for us to get to know.

As we neared the shop Sister Obonye told us to wait around the corner while she went in to inquired about dress prices. She explained that frequently shop owners raise the price when they see a white person because they think they have more money. After she determined the prices she came back out and took us into the shop. The shop is very small and focuses completely on high-quality traditional women's clothing. The dresses are custom made for the shop.

Sister Rands was very concerned about finding a dress that would fit her because she is not of "traditional build". In fact, they only showed her one dress her size. She did not particularly like the one she was shown and asked the clerks if they had any other dresses in her size. They said no but then they looked through a pile of dresses by the counter and found one that had been made for another customer and after some discussion and checking in a book decided that she could buy that dress if she liked it. Sister Rands tried it on and quickly decided she wanted the dress so they took the other customer's name off the dress and the sale was made.

She also bought a traditional blanket which the older women of Botswana wear to weddings and funerals. After paying for the dress and blanket the clerks said, "Oh, you also need a pin for the blanket." So, we also purchased a large safety-type pin for two pula. The two young clerks seemed pleased that Sister Rands would be buying a dress and were very helpful.

Shopping with Sister Obonye was one of our delightful experiences in Botswana. We really appreciated her taking us shopping. We definitely would not have had as fun an experience without her and would not have found such a nice dress.

African Hair Styles

African hair comes pretty much in two varieties - straight as sticks and brittle or kinky-curly. This makes it very difficult to work with. The Africans have learned to do beautiful things with their hair in spite of the challenges.

When we first came to Botswana we tried to learn womens' names by remembering their hair styles and soon learned that was disastrous. A woman would have long, beautifully-plaited hair one week and would have hair 1 cm long or her head shaved completely the next week. We learned that we needed to completely rely on facial features, not hair styles. They still throw us a bit when they have a radical style change and sometimes we have to look at them carefully to recognize them.

Sometimes it takes two hours to get hair plaited. Frequently, we see it getting done under the shade of a tree or in an open-air shop. Hair extensions are sewn in or braided in.

Even little girls get their hair plaited. Their mothers say they will sit patiently for a hair stylist to do it but they would never sit that long for their mothers to do it.

It boggles our minds how they can do the very tiny cornrows. The women say sometimes it really hurts because the stylists pull it so tight. Some hair stylists are more gentle than others so they are careful who they have do it. Sometimes you see girls scratching or slapping their heads to try and make it feel better after getting their hair done.

They tell us they can get their hair to grow longer if it is braided because it does not break so easily. They have to have their hair redone about every three or four weeks. This makes for a constant variety of attractive hair styles.

Botswana Senior Couples

We have worked with a great group of senior couples in Botswana.We always enjoy being around them. They all come with unique talents and abilities that contribute to their assignments and to the growth of the church in Botswana. We shared the adventure with them. We have grown to love them. It has been a rewarding experience to serve with them.

Sister and Elder Kimball

When we arrived in Gaborone, Rod and Carol Kimball were here to greet us and had put a lot of work into getting our house ready for us. They lived a four minute walk from our house so we saw them often and were always borrowing something from them. They had been the only couple in Gaborone for four months before we arrived and were glad to have company. They were in charge of finances and immigration in Botswana. They are from Tempe, Arizona.

Sister and Elder Moss

Larry and Elaine Moss came on their mission the same time we did and arrived in Botswana shortly after we arrived. They provided support for the Lobatse and Kanye branches and after some time living in Gaborone moved to Lobatse. They were tranfered to South Africa to a lower elevation to help Elder Moss' heart. They are from California.

Elder and Sister Taylor

Mark and Shirley Taylor are serving in Botswana on their fourth mission as a couple. They took over finances for Botswana from the Kimballs and help with finances for the whole South Africa Johannesburg Mission and travel regularly to Johannesburg. They provide support for the Mochudi Ward. They are from Clearfield, Utah.

Elder and Sister Gubler

 

Wendle and Linda Gubler arrived in Gaborone in November 2013. They are responsible for immigration and support for the Lobatse Ward. They arrived shortly before the Kimballs went home in November, 2012. They are from Santa Clara, Utah.

Elder and Sister Woolf, Sister and Elder Riser

Scott and Jonene Riser had been serving the longest in Botswana when we arrived and supported the Francistown branches. They are from Roosevelt, Utah.

Dennis and Elizabeth Woolf also served in Francistown supporting the branches. He was branch president in Gerald at the end of their mission. They came on their mission a month before we did. They are from Whitney, Idaho.

Elder and Sister Spahr

Richard and Mary Lynn Spahr serve in Francistown as member leader support and replaced the Risers. She teaches piano. They are from Mallad, Idaho.

Elder and Sister Abraham

John and Patricia Abraham are replacing the Woolfs in Francistown. He is the president of the Gerald Branch. They take care of immigration for the missionaries serving in Francistown. They are from Santa Clara, Utah.

The couples in Gaborone try to get together every few weeks to do something interesting in the area and we often help each other with projects in our assignments such as helping us with the food for seminary and institute graduation.

When we travel to Francistown to visit the institute class, we stay with one of the couples serving there. When they come to Gaborone for conferences, etc. they stay with one of the couples here so we get to know the couples in Francistown pretty well.

Grocery shopping

Grocery shopping is an adventure; we are never quite sure what we will or won't find. We shop for groceries at a number of grocery stores depending on what we are looking for and where we may have other errands to attend to, but there are two grocery stores where we shop the most. Which we shop at is usually determined by what we need to purchase or how much time we have.

The closest grocery store is Super Spar by Game City Mall. This store is close enough that we often walk there if we only have a few items to purchase. It takes about ten minutes to walk and almost ten minutes to drive there.

The second store takes about ten minute to drive. It is Pick n Pay at the Molapo Crossing Mall.

Fruits and vegetables are safe to eat without washing them in bleach water first and there is generally a pretty good variety. Prices at the grocery store seem much higher than we are used to in the United States while restaurant prices are generally cheaper than we are used to.

The grocery stores are usually pretty well stocked but if we are looking for something specific we may have to go to three or four stores or we may not find it anywhere. Chocolate chips, sour cream, celery, green onions, cottage cheese, certain spices, Mexican foods, cupcake cups, and nuts are examples of things that may be difficult to find. The Super Spar we shop at usually has sour cream but the Pick n Pay never has it. Some times we could never find sour cream. Last week we went to five grocery stores before we found cinnamon. Luckily for us they were all located by Game City so we could walk between them but that is unusual. Some things like Swiss cheese, mint extract, almond extract, graham crackers, and many American-brand packaged foods (like Oreos) we have never found.

Chocolate chips are especially interesting.  Many stores do not carry chocolate chips. Those that do carry them may be out of stock for months and then when they do get them, they disappear from the shelves within days. We would expect items that sell out that quickly to be re-stocked quickly but that is not the case.

One side of a produce isle

Sometimes even very common items are difficult to find. For awhile we could not find oranges. Bananas were out of two of the stores we were shopping at. A given store may be out of milk, cucumbers, broccoli, potatoes, or other very common items.

The other side of the produce isle

When stores are out of an item they just fill the shelves with something else to make the shelves look full. If you ask for an item and it is out of stock you are told it is "finished". If you asked when it might be available no one ever seems to know.

Many items that are sold in small volumes do not have prices marked on the shelves so you do not know what they cost until you check out. Sometimes even high volume items are not marked.

As in much of the world, eggs are not refrigerated. They also come complete with poop and feathers. The shelf life of fresh milk is very short and usually needs to be used before its use-by date or it is sour. The only fresh milk available is full cream. If you want skim or 2% milk you must buy shelf milk (non-refrigerated, long-life) which costs about 80% more than full-cream milk.

Bread is subsidized and inexpensive. It is baked fresh in most stores. It comes unsliced and there are bread-slicing machines for customers to slice their own bread. It is a delight to buy warm bread and take it home for a fresh slice. If we want fresh rolls we usually shop at Pick n Pay because they have a nice selection of fresh rolls and specialty breads. We often order large quantities of rolls for zone conference lunches, seminary/institute graduation, etc.

 

Botswanan's love meat! The grocery stores are usually well stocked with chicken, beef, pork, and sausage. Much of it is used for braais (grilling). Polony (bologna) is very common. Other lunch meats such as turkey and ham are difficult to find. Bacon and ham (gammon) can be hard to find.

Couples Convention II

All the full-time coordinators and senior couples responsible for seminary and institute in the Africa Southeast Area met together with their spouses for a couples convention in Johannesburg on 11-12 April. There were about twenty full-time educators with their wives and seven senior couples. Several of the couples are nearing the end of their missions and will soon be returning home.

We arrived mid-way through the first day because we were taking Lisa and Heather to the airport to catch their flight home. We received instructions and had some fun together as a group that afternoon. The senior couples were in one of the working groups and we shared ideas and experiences with each other.  It was very enjoyable to have some time with the other couples who have assignments similar to ours. Talking with the other couples always makes us appreciate our assignment in Botswana. We had a group dinner in the evening.

The second day was focused on marriage relationships. Carl B. Cook of the area presidency and his wife team taught a lesson on keeping our marriages happy. After lunch and a group picture we all went to the temple. Those who were not from Johannesburg rode a bus. When we returned to the convention center we had a late supper.

Young Single Adults Make Scripture Bags

The Relief Society president of the Young Single Adult Ward asked if we could have an activity at our house of making scripture bags. She also requested that we have the same baked ham and cheese rolls that we had served once before.

We had twenty-one sign up to make bags and pay twenty-five pula for material for the bags and twenty-two came.

We had a hard time finding a Saturday when we were available so we ended up holding the activity on Monday, 1 April, a holiday in Botswana. We started and ten o'clock and the last bag was completed around 2:30 pm. The whole time was filled with visiting and laughter.

Sister Gubler and Sister Rands gave instructions on how to make the bags and sew, and kept the six sewing machines working. Many sewing machine needles were broken and had to be replaced, bobbins had to be rewound, and thread jams removed. The young women were really good about helping each other sew.

Elder Rands and Elder Gubler helped any way they could and frequently had to use tools to get machines back working.

Lunch during the activity was baked ham and cheese sandwiches (of course), green salad, fruit salad, chips, drink, and apple dumplings.

Young-Married Game Night

Some of our former young single adults who are now married said that they missed our game nights and that there were not many activities for young, married couples. We did not want the lack of activities for couples to be an excuse for not getting married so we have had a couple of game nights for the young, married couples on a Friday night when we were not having a game night for young single adults.

The first time we had a game night for the young-married couples we had four couples attend. We were able to get a list of young married couples in the stake so this time we had a much bigger crowd with fourteen couples and six children ages eighteen months to nine years.

We started with some group games and then let them choose the games they wanted to play. They had a fun, noisy time. For refreshments we served cookies for the children and apple dumplings for the adults.