Two Days Left In Botswana!

Two days left!

Andy and I are sitting here on the beautiful grounds watching the most amazing African sunset. We’ve had a very busy day.

I forgot to mention something very funny. On the first day of camp here, I greeted the students and asked them if they could guess where I was from. Without a hiccup, they all shouted, “AMERICA!” I asked them how they knew. On of the kids shouted, “Because you’re dressed like you’re going on Safari!” Great. I buy the cool cargo pants that have zippers at the knees so that I can turn them into shorts and I look like a typical American. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I do love to fit into the culture seamlessly. Oh well.

So, we went to the school where some of our students go during the day. There was an assembly going on, so we were introduced, then they got down to business. About 8 of our students took to the stage and performed the most wonderful Marimba concert. They were amazing. Honestly, we couldn’t stop dancing. They were fast, powerful, and syncopated. When some of the players had a brief interlude, they would do some African dancing. It was unbelievable. You can see pictures on the new Shutterfly link to the right.

Andy, Kelly, Mitch, and Charles helped the kids film their Public Service Announcements with the high-end video camera yesterday. They really involved the kids by letting them hold the boom, frame the shots, and use the reflectors. The kids’ narratives are unbelievable. One snippet: at the end of one boy’s narrative about his desire to change the Africa and eradicate racism and ethnic strife, he states, “This is my dream. If your dreams don’t make you a little bit scared, they aren’t big enough.” BRILLIANT! Just wait until you see the final products. We’ll post them here this weekend.

The kids are now working on adding their own pictures and Flip video clips to their movies. Tomorrow, they’ll work with Mitch on music. We have a piece of software that will allow them to make their own soundtracks. Can’t wait to see what they come up with!

I sent the four orphans home with cameras yesterday. Their pictures are amazing. I’m going to go through them with Andy and post some of them for you tomorrow. Really profound stuff.

The orphans arrived today with their swimsuits. Yesterday, I took them to the store to buys some biscuits (cookies) to take back to the orphanage. Malooki asked me, “I can have any box I like? Really? Any box? Can I share them with the boys in my room?” I then walked home with them and told them that they could swim at the end of the day when they came back. They were thrilled.

We worked with them in Premiere today. These kids could not use a mouse three days ago and are now adding transitions between clips, editing sound, and making life-skills decisions about creative options for their movies. I will admit it. I have the best job in the world! Forgive me for gloating. It’s just that I feel so blessed today. We grabbed some paper and crayons and they drew pictures for their films. Remember, they want to be a teacher, a nurse, a soldier (to help his country and have a family), and a singer. I took pictures of their drawings and you can see them on Shutterfly.

Then, Kelly, Charles, and their head-mistress filmed them talking about their dreams. Kelly would ask questions, and the head-mistress would interpret into Setswana (Botswana language). We decided that it would be great to film them in their own language and run sub-titles. They did great, but it was really tough for Kelly because she kept asking them about their dreams (like we did with the other students). It was clear right away that they didn’t really have any, because they just think about survival. They worry about having enough food every day, so to think of the future (other than what they can do to make money) doesn’t compute. Added to that is the fact that they have no role-models for this kind of thinking. They have no parents or family, so they just worry, and don’t actually dream. I am going to sit with the head-mistress tomorrow morning and interpret their narratives so that I can add the sub-titles to their films. I can’t wait for you all to see the movies of both the orphans and the other students. I think they’ll be great.

At the end of the day today I bought the orphan kids some chocolate bars (again, they treat them like gold), then the boys stripped down to thread-bare shorts and the girls changed into hand-me-down bathing suits. They looked like a rag-tag team, but they jumped into the hotel pool with such abandon and joy that all of us watching couldn’t help laughing. They stayed in the pool for over an hour. I think it was the first time for a few of them. They couldn’t swim, but BOY could they laugh. They were really sad to get out because they didn’t know if they would ever be able to swim again.

Tomorrow Andy, Kelly, Mitch, and Charles will finish with the first batch of students and I’ll finish with the orphans. Again, these orphans have taken the most incredible pictures and video, so we’ll add these to their video footage.

Having a brilliant time in Botswana. I do know, however, that I have made four really good friends who happen to be twelve, orphaned, and abandoned. I’ll admit now that it will be a sad goodbye to them.

More tomorrow,

Erik and Andy

P.S. I am covered from head to toe in mosquito bites. My good friend Andy (urgh..) is not bothered by them. I think my blood is their favorite type! Actually, after I received my 728th bite tonight, Andy got his first! YEAH!