{"id":23,"date":"2009-06-08T14:53:58","date_gmt":"2009-06-08T14:53:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/?p=23"},"modified":"2012-01-31T23:10:17","modified_gmt":"2012-01-31T23:10:17","slug":"amazing-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/?p=23","title":{"rendered":"Amazing Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-23 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0203.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0203-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0220.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0220-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0221.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0221-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0225.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0225-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0257.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0257-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0272.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0272-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0288.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0288-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0293.jpg'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/dsc_0293-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>Wow.\u00a0 I cannot find words to describe the warmth and kindness of the people here in Botswana.\u00a0 It is good to be here.\u00a0 We arrived yesterday afternoon tired, beat, and hungry.\u00a0 For Emily and I, the trip was 38 hrs door to door.\u00a0 Together with the other 7 folks from the US we enjoyed a pizza dinner as we planned our week.\u00a0 We know here in Africa plans are but wishes, but the Westerner in us compels us to make schedules and organize to-do lists.\u00a0 Pencils work better then pens here.<\/p>\n<p>This morning we awoke to the wonderful birds, roosters, and braying donkeys of the village called Maun.\u00a0 After a quick breakfast we drove to sing and have devotions with the 20 or so local students OneWay is training.\u00a0 The small cement room amplified our voices, and we sang, clapped, and worshipped together.\u00a0 I was able to catch a little audio.\u00a0 It might give you a small glimpse of the wonderful vocal tradition the people of Botswana share.<\/p>\n<p>Frank and Scott stayed with the local team to provide leadership training while Emily, Beth Bounds (college student intern for OneWay), Jim, Derek (8yrs), and Jake (11yrs) Johanik, Hannah Thompson (12yrs), and I went to the small children\u2019s day care to teach, laugh, and hug kids.\u00a0 The school has about 50 kids whose ages range from about 2 to 7.\u00a0 The small school gets support from the Botswana government and churches to teach the kids.\u00a0 Many of the kids are AIDS\/HIV orphans.\u00a0 Most of them stay with \u201cAunties\u201d or their grandmothers.\u00a0 A few are able to stay with their mothers.<\/p>\n<p>The kids were so happy to see us.\u00a0 Initially, they were a little shy.\u00a0 We do look very different.\u00a0 But within minutes they were crawling over each other to get a chance to hold our hands or hug us.\u00a0 I could sum our day with them as \u201cHugs, Giggles, and Love and an occasional improvised activity\u201d.\u00a0 Before we left for Botswana, we had somehow gotten the impression that we were going to just help a bit at the school, as they proceeded with their normal activities.\u00a0 :-)\u00a0 Of course, experienced readers already know what really happened.\u00a0 The school staff thought we would be taking the kids for the day.\u00a0 They did provide a translator, but we were mostly on our own. It all worked out, but there were plenty of \u201cUhhhhh what other games are good for 5 yr olds?\u201d and \u201cHmmmm, I\u2019m trying to think of a song\u2026.\u201d.\u00a0 If you have game or song ideas for 2 to 7 year old kids, please leave them as comments in the Blog.\u00a0 The team and I are busy brainstorming how we will handle things tomorrow.\u00a0 I think breaking up into smaller groups will help.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight we will be driving to a small village nearby and have a bonfire and sing and dance and pray with the local teens and children.\u00a0 If I\u2019m not totally exhausted, I\u2019ll try and provide some pictures.<\/p>\n<p>-Pete<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wow.\u00a0 I cannot find words to describe the warmth and kindness of the people here in Botswana.\u00a0 It is good to be here.\u00a0 We arrived yesterday afternoon tired, beat, and hungry.\u00a0 For Emily and I, the trip was 38 hrs door to door.\u00a0 Together with the other 7 folks from the US we enjoyed a &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/?p=23\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Amazing Africa<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240,"href":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions\/240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/botswana\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}