Back in Canada, round-up post

So, I got back on Sunday afternoon after what felt like an eternity in airplanes. I have to apologize to the lovely couple sitting next to me on the last flight into Toronto. In my haste to get out of the plane I may have been a tad ruder than warranted. No excuses!

In any event, here’s a few of the pictures I threw together today to make-up some of the last events that took place in Botswana.

On the drive back to Maun, Jason and I stopped off at the Maun Educational Park. It’s essentially a big park in the middle of the city teeming with all sorts of (supposedly) non-violent animals. We spent about 2 hours wandering around and here are a few shots.

It took about 10 minutes until we saw any animals. When we did, we literally stumbled into a herd of zebras. Unsurprisingly, they can run pretty fast.

Zebra

We originally went to the park in the hopes of catching some giraffe. Thankfully, about 20 minutes in we ran into a baby giraffe. We didn’t realize that the parents were close by until we startled one of them and it took off running. I can’t speak for Jason, but seeing such a large animal appear as if out of nowhere startled me a bit as well.

Baby giraffe

Afterward, we were lucky enough to catch the whole family as they made their way to the closest river for a drink. There were about 5 in total (including the baby above, which is how we found out it was a baby) and it was truly an amazing sight.

Goofy guy in front of parent giraffe

Once off from Maun, I spent the next night in Gaborone. The following day was the debriefing with WUSC (and more computer work in their offices) and then I met up with another volunteer, Richard. He works for Deloitte in Toronto and we attended the same Leave for Change training prior to departure.

He was stationed in Gaborone for his mandate and while there he organized a fundraiser to purchase a football (soccer) kit for a local kids under-17 team. This is the team opening the kit with their coach in the foreground.

Local football/soccer team for kit hand-off

That was pretty much the last event in Botswana.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank Shex and the rest of the staff at TOCaDI for a very memorable time. I consider myself extremely lucky to have been partnered with such a great organization and I can only hope that they were as well served in return.

Prior to me leaving Shakawe, TOCaDI was nice enough to foot the bill for a night out on the town.

Last night with the staff in Shakawe

Finally, the part I’ll miss the most is the sunset and sunrise. Botswana is a beautiful country and I only hope that April and I will get the opportunity to return.

Postcard shot

That’s it for now! Thanks everyone for reading, commenting and emailing me. I’m back at work on Thursday.

Downtime

Sorry for the downtime today. I didn’t realize that the domain name was set to expire while I was away and I wasn’t keeping-up my throwaway email address to catch all the warning emails.

Perfect timing!

Everything should be shipshape again! I’m in Gaborone at the moment for my debriefing with WUSC tomorrow (Friday). I’ll be here for another night and then start the long trek back home on Saturday.

Here’s a quick shot from the bar at Drotsky’s Cabins near Shakawe.

Sunset at Drotsky's

Krocovango Crocodile Farm

Wow. Just wow.

Jason and I swung by the Krocovango Crocodile Farm today which is about 10km outside of Shakawe. I did not expect to see the sheer number of crocodiles they currently have in residence.

While operating as a tourist attraction, they also raise crocodiles to slaughter them for their skin and meat. While I’m definitely not a fan of that particular part of their operation it is the off-season and, thankfully, we did not witness any of the “processing”.

Just a warning, this thread is full of some rather frightening pictures (at least, for me anyway)! I thought I’d start off light with a picture of some cute cats. These particular guys live on the TOCaDI property just outside the house that I’ve been staying in. I strongly suspect that the lack of snakes (so far) is thanks to them. In return, they are very well fed. Their names are Walter (aka “Stupidface”) and Mondale.

Guard cats

So, on to the crocodiles. This particular one is over 60 years old. They can live up to 120 years. The picture really doesn’t do him justice as he is easily 14-15 feet in length and just massive.

King of the crocodiles

These signs were posted all over the place. I sure have to question whether it is a running concern at the farm since the gray/green mass in the background is a bunch of crocs.

Thanks for the warning!

Yep, this pretty much sealed the deal. I brought the swim trunks for no reason. I am not getting in the water.

12x zoom is your friend

Not the best picture, I know. There were so many of them in some areas that they were crawling all over each other. In some ways they appeared to be cuddling, but not in the cute adorable sense. These are full grown adults (mostly females, the males are too aggressive in larger which makes it difficult for breeding).

Yep, still not swimming

Nice close-up shot of some really poor dentistry. I’d certainly seek a second opinion. Really though, crocs lock their jaws open in order to regulate their temperature (through their tongue).

Check out the teeth!

Once you leave the adult crocodile area they walk you through the breeding areas. There are three of these large open areas with a small covered pond. In each of the areas, there are probably a few hundred crocodiles. The ones here about between 6 months to 2 years old. Interestingly enough, they startle easily. When we would walk near them they would all jump up and hide in the covered area.

Croc toddlers

It’s a bit hard to see but you’re probably looking at over a thousand baby crocodiles between the ages of 4-6 months. The survival rate for them at this age is about 80% due to sheer number of them. During feeding season, they will often pile upon one another in order to feed and crush the ones near the bottom. They have to clean these areas each day to remove the bodies.

Baby crocs

It was an interesting experience! Sadly, one of my last in Africa as I’m leaving Shakawe for Maun tomorrow as part of the first leg in the trip back to Canada.

Botswanan Cuisine (for vegetarians!)

As most of you already know, I’m a fairly strict vegetarian. One of the more common questions leading-up to the trip was what I would eat while I was here (and I was concerned about it as well).

The Batswana have a very meat centric diet. Beef and mutton make-up a considerable part of their export revenue (and lambs, cows and chicken are absolutely everywhere here — very free range!) so it stands to reason that they figure prominently in the local diet (as does fish). Similarly to anywhere else in the world, small townsfolk find the lack of meat in any meal bizarre and there have been a few interesting exchanges at the local deli counter.

However, I’ve managed to make it this long without any hunger pains. I also haven’t resorted to eating meat (as some of you kindly suggested.. thanks, but no thanks) so here’s a brief breakdown of what I’ve been eating. I’ve included recipes where I can find them.

Two of the main crops in Botswana are sorghum and maize. Other grains like rice are imported and a considerable amount of fruit and vegetables are imported (the country is mostly desert). Sorghum and maize is often prepared as a base to most meals (recipes below) and then relishes and soup (their word for sauce) are added for flavour. (Source on wikipedia)

Bogobe

Motogo-wa-ting is normally consumed with meat and vegetables in the morning or in the evening. Mosokwana is generally eaten at lunch with meat and vegetables. Bogobe with medium to coarse texture is preferred. Dark colour of the product resulting from grain pigments is not acceptable.

Ingredients

• Sorghum
• Water

Steps
For fermented Bogobe (motogo-wa-ting or ting):

1. Mix starter with dry sorghum meal.
2. Add 250 to 300 ml lukewarm water and stir to make a slurry.
3. Cover and allow to ferment for 24 hours.
4. Boil 1.500 ml water.
5. Add fermented meal to the boiling water. Stir frequently.
6. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes.

For non-fermented Bogobe (Mosokwana):

1. Boil about 1 l water.
2. Add about 250 g sorghum meal to boiling water, stirring frequently.
3. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes.

Pap

It is traditionally eaten for breakfast, with milk, butter, and sugar. It can also be eaten at dinner and served with Gravy. I would describe pap being somewhere near polenta and couscous.

Ingredients

• 750 ml (3 cups) water
• 10 ml (2 ts) salt
• 600 g (4 cups) mealie meal maize

Steps

1. Poor the water in a pot.
2. Then pour in the mealie meal to form a cone like pile in the center of the pot. Do not stir the pot yet.
3. Reduce the heat and add some salt
4. Put the lid on pot and let pap simmer for about five minutes, until a skin forms.
5. Once a skin has formed, stir the pap with a fork until it is fine and crumbly.
6. Cover the pot again and let pap simmer for about another 45mins.

Green Mush

Couldn’t find a recipe or name for this dish, but it is my personal favourite here. I’ll just call it Green Mush. It is usually served with Pap.

Ingredients

• A bunch of spinach
• A bunch of rapeseed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup veggie stock
• 1 tbsp olive oil or margarine
• bbq spices

Steps

1. Cut up the onion and green pepper and toss it in a large pot with olive oil. Cook them for 5 minutes.
2. Cut-up the spinach and rapeseed and toss it in the pot and add the stock.
3. Cook for an additional 5 minutes or until most of the stock is gone.

Groundnut Stew

Found this one online while I was looking around for recipes. I haven’t tried it (there is no fake chicken here) but I’m definitely going to try it when I get home.

Ingredients

• Fake chicken strips
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 4oz can tomato paste
• 1 tsp grated fresh ginger root
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/8 tsp ground red pepper

Steps
First, prepare the peanut sauce:

1. In a bowl, combine the sugar, red pepper, ginger, peanut butter, and tomato paste.
2. Slowly stir in the water, a small amount at a time, until the sauce is smooth. Set aside.

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.
2. Add the chopped onion, cooking 5-7 minutes until onion is translucent.
3. Add fake chicken strips and green pepper.
4. Cook until the chicken and the onion are brown and the green pepper is soft.
5. Pour the peanut sauce over the browned chicken, peppers and onions and stir well.
6. Cover the pot and and reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered, for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

To serve, spoon servings of Groundnut Stew on a bed of white rice.

Leave for Change Mandate

Warning: Long post, no pictures and some technical information.

Leave for Change volunteers have a mandate in their host countries. Mine is to address some of the technical issues at TOCaDI. Also, I am attempting to pass along some of what I’m doing in order for a member of the local staff (or the next volunteer) to have a better understanding of their infrastructure and what I’ve done to address some of the concerns.

From the looks of it, TOCaDI is actually an amalgamation of a number of NGO’s. There are workstations used by people in the field, in partner organizations and personally. The mandate originally stated around 10-12 workstations but it is nearing 20 and more are popping-up every day. Not only that, as resident IT person, I am also involved in troubleshooting internet connectivity issues, printing, DVD/media playback, document scanning and user training.

I’m not complaining as the work is not terribly complicated (except for some of the viruses) and it is what I’m here for. My main concern is that It is a lot to handle in such a short time frame and still meet the existing mandate.

Internet
Unless you came abundantly prepared, without access to the internet this would be a near herculean task. Thankfully, the organization has satellite internet. However, it is still nowhere near the speeds available in North America (specifically Humber) and there is an antenna alignment issue which makes connectivity a bit spotty in the afternoons.

Downloading a single service pack takes about 2 days with stops and starts. I haven’t even bothered trying to download anything larger.

Updating Windows takes the longest amount of time. The size of Windows updates has always bothered me but, without access to a much faster internet connection, it is not just a frustration but nearly impossible. Out of the 20 workstations, I have only managed to update 4 of them completely. I’ve resorted to simply bringing them up to SP3 for XP and SP2 for Vista and leave it at that.

As for the office, there are only three cable drops and the staff require them as part of their job. I have been working a lot at night and on weekends in order to update these workstations. It is not fun walking back and forth to the office at night as it comes early (around 6pm) and gets very dark quickly (did I mention the Black Mambas?).

Hardware
As I mentioned, this is an amalgamated office environment. There are a lot of different hardware models (in fact, only two of the workstations are the same model) which have all been purchased at different times with different operating systems. There are Home, Basic and Professional versions of both Vista and XP.

Microsoft, why do you have to make this so complicated? I had to write up three different ways of disabling autorun since it is slightly different across XP flavours and entirely different in Vista.

The organization also has no locally stored physical media. I brought a few copies of Windows but I cannot even use them to replace core system files that have been overwritten by viruses as the, for instance, an XP Professional disk cannot be used on an XP Home installation. Also, without access to some of their custom applications like ArcGIS and Pastel, re-building the workstations (which would have been faster) is out of the question.

To all you hardware vendors out there (Acer and HP specifically): Stop pre-loading your workstations with so much crappy software. A lot of the workstations are using the base OS installation (as most computers do) and are so much slower than necessary due to all these pointless add-ons.

Viruses and Malware
I imagine that some of what I’ve described (and more) is felt throughout most of the developed world who lack some of the infrastructure and services that companies like Microsoft increasingly rely on. I can’t even imagine the lost time associated with some of these challenges in the developing world and I haven’t even touched on virus developers.

I just don’t get it. I’ve seen things here that we would never encounter at Humber and I imagine most large organizations have the necessary infrastructure and security to side-step it as well.

You malware developers are hurting smaller organizations like TOCaDI to a much larger extent than you might realize. For instance, the recent spate of autorun viruses that target USB drives has seriously impacted the organization. They lack any kind of centralized storage or even shared printers so they have to move a lot data (particularly documents) around through USB drives. Even if one of the machines is infected it will most likely spread to the rest in a matter of days.

I guess my point is that in the struggle for necessary security, both the good side (OS and anti-malware developers) and bad side (malware/virus developers) are not battling it out in the developed world. They’ve teamed-up to make an already desperate situation much worse.

Tsodilo Hills (or how Africa almost beat us)

Tsodilo Hills was an interesting trip.

As introduction, a few of the pictures in this thread are of other longer term volunteers that are working for TOCaDI. Jason and Sabrina are students who are here through the WUSC Students Without Borders (SWB) program.

We borrowed a truck from TOCaDI and left at around 8:30am. Around the main entrance to the hills (about an hour and half away) we noticed a strange sound coming from the engine.

Turns out we were out of coolant and the remaining liquid had boiled and the strange sound was the steam coming out of the tank (through the cap).

We figured that we were close enough to the Hills to just continue on. We asked a bunch of tour operators and the staff if anyone had spare coolant, but no luck.

Just starting out (wide-eyed and bushy tailed)

Jason and I, thumbs up on starting out!

The Tsodilo Hills
They were amazing. There are 3 main hills called Father (biggest), Mother and Child. We decided to climb Father as we were there early and we would have the time. Unfortunately, there are no cave drawings on that hill (we found out part way up) so I don’t have any decent pictures of the main drawings at the cave (they’re on Mother).

View of the other hills from the top of Father.

View of Mother and Child from the top of Father

This painting is about 3000 years old. It was the only one we were able to see.

3000 year old rock painting

Here are a few pictures from the climb and at the top.

Sabrina, Jason and Case (our guide) at the top of Father

Sign post at the top of Father

Me posing at the top of Father

We ascended and then got back to the truck around 2:30pm. Asked some of the new people there if they had any spare coolant and no luck. So, we filled the coolant tank with water. While not ideal, we figured that it would get us back to Shakawe and we could deal with it there.

No luck. The engine would overheat after about 0.5km and, unless we let it cool down significantly, the truck wouldn’t start. We managed to get back to the main gates in 0.5km increments but at that pace it was going to take a long time to get back.

Thumbs down!

Sabrina and I giving thumbs down.. the truck is not getting us back.

And, it was getting dark out (it gets dark around 6pm). We have no cell reception, no truck, and we were in a very remote region of Africa and it was getting late. Nightfall was about 90 minutes away, so we decided to walk for 45 minutes to see if we could get a signal (and climb a few trees in the process) which would leave us 45 minutes to walk back to the truck if we had to camp out for the night.

Here’s Jason up in a tree trying to get a cell signal.

Jason up in a tree trying to get cell reception

No luck with the signal, we started back.

Thankfully, another truck came by so we flagged them down and hitched a ride back to Shakawe. I was a bit nervous as it was almost dark out (and getting cold) and this is what was in the back of the truck.

Ribs and haunch, yummy!

The picture doesn’t show it, but there was a huge axe right beside the meat. I had to stare at this the entire hour and half ride back into town.

South Africa Youth Day or, “Day for an African Child”

I know, I said it was going to be a technical post. I’m still working on that one.

You’re crushed. I can tell.

Late on Monday night we were invited to the local high school to participate in their observance of Youth Day in South Africa. It is to remember the Soweto Uprising on June 16, 1976.

You can read more following the articles I linked above but, basically, the South African government diverted a large amount of financial aid from primarily black areas to augment the funding for primarily white schools. Then, they passed an act that barred black children from attending white schools.

The final insult was a decree that all black schools teach in Afrikaans and English (50-50 mix) and not their native languages.

Students walked out of class to rally and through indiscriminate force, police killed 23 people. In the resulting riots, it is estimated that over 500 people were killed.

Botswana shares this day with South Africa (and the rest of Africa) in solidarity and we were lucky to be part of it. We originally thought it was going to be a few hours in the morning (starting at 7:30am) but it wasn’t over until almost 1:30pm.

About the school event
We each had to introduce ourselves to the faculty and then the entire school audience. We were treated as most Batswana treat visitors, which is very well. We were more than a little humbled (and a little embarrassed) by their affection.

As for the show well, it was a variety show! It started with the national anthem and prayer and then different classes would prepare dramatic skits (some sad, some funny). There was also some traditional and ballroom dancing as well as just gettin’ down

This is a shot of the audience during one of the drama segments. A recurring theme through most of the skits is the topic of rape and safe sex, discrimination, violence and child abuse. There is a very strong awareness for all of these topics in Botswana (particularly regarding HIV/AIDS).

Education is power

Here’s a shot of class filing in for one of the skits.

A drama group filing into the auditorium

This is the traditional dance group. They are going to participate in Gaborone in the national competition. They were amazing.

Traditional dance group

Ballroom dancing! The audience was really loud during this segment. The kids were really good as well.

Ballroom dancing

The drummers were excellent. It’s hard to tell from the picture, but it wasn’t just a marching drill. The kids would start dancing at certain parts but it flowed quite well.

Scout group drum drill

HIV/AIDS is a huge issue in Botswana (some 1 out of 4 adults are affected) so ads, condoms etc. are everywhere. This was written on one of the main entrance walls when you leave the secondary school grounds.

Condom message on school wall

Boat trip through the Okavango Delta

Warning: This thread is picture heavy!

Lola and I were lucky enough to hook-up with Ridel for the trip. Not only was his recommendation to meet at 7AM spot-on (initial grumbling as it was a Saturday morning!) but he was also very knowledgeable about the wildlife we saw (blame me for forgetting the names, he knew what he was talking about) and seemed to know exactly where to find them. His piloting skills were also very impressive, he fit that boat into some tight places so we could snap some of these pictures.

(Some of the pictures are on the side. Wordpress does that from time-to-time and I haven’t figured out why.)

Just getting to the dock

Sunrise on the delta

We saw a lot of wildlife on the trip and I have more images than I can possibly post here. In no particular order:

Water Monitor

Water Monitor

The image may not convey it, but this is a large animal. We were a bit worried about how close we were to it.

African Fish Eagle

African Fish Eagle posing

African Fish Eagle showing off

Truly a majestic bird. This particular one seemed to follow us for a certain part of the trip. Apparently, if we had brought some fish along they’ll grab it right out of your hand. Sounds like one lazy bird.

White-backed Night Heron?

Rare heron (Possibly White-backed Night Heron)

Action shot of heron flying away

A very rare bird and, from what we were told, we were very lucky to see one as some people spend a considerable amount of time trying to track them down. Unfortunately, it was also quite shy and try as we might, these were the best images we could grab. I have more if anyone is interested.

Hippos! Well, just one actually.

Hippo!

I just don’t understand. You can hear them everywhere! And yet, we only see one when we were out looking for them. However, it is winter at the moment so they migrate to warmer parts of the Delta and only venture into the shallower coast areas at night.

Crocodile

Baby croc

This is just a baby. We saw a much, much larger adult but it was way too fast for us to catch it on camera. Fine by me, it scared the hell out of us (well, maybe just me).

Stork (not sure what kind)

Stork (not sure what kind)

Very stoic. Just stood there and let us snap a whole bunch of photos. Gorgeous bird.

Tiger Fish

Dead fish with Tiger Fish as captain

We ran into some local fisherman and this was part of their catch. Not really my cup o’ tea, but check out the teeth on the one on the right! That’s a Tiger Fish. It was at this moment that I decided to never, ever, step foot into any body of water in Botswana.

Iguana

Incredibly weird creature

We didn’t see this anywhere near the water but on the way back to the house. It had this strange lilting way of walking. Two steps forward, one back, two steps forward, one back etc. Very weird animal.

Here’s a few more random shots:

Postcard shot

Lola on the boat

Some sexy dude

Another shot of sexy dude

That’s it for now! Sorry for all the pictures (specifically, for the ones of me. April ordered me to make sure I was in some of them!).

It was truly worth the trip! Later on this week we’re planning on heading to the Tsodilo Hills. They’ll be more pictures then!

My next post will be be technical. Just thought I’d drop a warning ahead of time.

So it’s almost been a week…

Hard to believe really.

I’ve already settled into a bit of routine, which is helping with the time difference and jet lag. It hit me hard once we arrived in Shakawe and it’s thankfully starting to wear off.

There hasn’t been a lot happening in the last two days as I’ve been working. I cut out a bit early in the afternoon yesterday to head to the post office and downtown. I’ve been coming in at night as the workstations are in use most of the day so it is easier to work on them with no one in the office.

Due to the rains earlier in the week there is a bit of a heightened awareness around malaria. I took these pictures earlier this week, but this is how I’m sleeping:

Mosquito net

It’s not bad. It’s like a fort! I keep seeing this squat brown spider in my room (it’s about twice the size of a loonie) that I’d like to vacate (and snap a picture) but the little bugger is fast and can fit through very tight openings. At least the net keeps it out as well.

Anyway, I don’t think I’ve put this picture up (apologize if it a duplicate). This is the accommodations:

House in Shakawe

It’s quite nice. You can tell it has been used a lot by students though. Lola and I spent a little while last night cleaning.

That’s it for now. I won’t bore anyone with any of the technical stuff in this post as not much has changed on that front. Apparently, the day care is in need of some assistance with their wireless access point so I might head over there next week to look into it.

Here’s a picture I snapped last night coming home. This is directly across from the front of the house.

Horses in the water

The river the horses are standing in feeds directly into the Okavango Delta. We’re hopefully going to see a bit more of it this weekend (boat trip hopefully!).

Tsamaya sentle! (Lit. Go away nicely)

I’m an uncle (again!)

My brother and sister-in-law had their second child last night. A baby girl, 9 pounds! Just a few weeks after April’s brother and sister-in-law had their first daughter. Exciting times!

Yesterday was the first pleasant day in Africa (well, since I’ve been here)! Lots of sun and cool wind. A much needed change from the previous four days.

So, first full day at TOCaDI. It’s been busy, there is a lot more work to do than I originally anticipated (more on that below). Here are a few pictures of the TOCaDI compound.

TOCaDI Offices

Drive in from the main gate

TOCaDI Offices (across from the first picture)

Technical Stuff
I’m trying to keep track of some of the work that I’m doing. I’m used to a standardized workstation platform, imaging tools, centralized anti-virus software and much faster internet access. So, this is definitely a bit of a change (and welcome at that).

I originally planned on re-building a lot of the workstations rather than trying to fix the myriad of issues that they might be victim too. Unfortunately, there is software required on the workstations and no media present for re-installation.

So, I’ll have to make do. They’ve purchased licenses for AVG Internet Security so I’m following the following steps:

- Ensure the workstation is not online
- Use utilities on thumbdrive to do initial virus scan (using ClamWinPortable)
- Then run Malwarebytes to remove any of the malware on the workstations
- Bring the workstation online and immediately update Windows
- Uninstall whatever virus scan software is on the workstation (BitDefender, Norton — In this case, run the Norton Removal Tool to ensure it is all gone)
- Install AVG and run a full scan

Per machine, it is a lot of steps. While the internet speeds are much better than dial-up, it is satellite and is subject to drop and slowdown significantly in inclement weather or during certain hours of the day.

In any event, this process appears to be working so far.