Botswana Bulletin - First Edition

Botswana Bulletin – First Edition

“Departures and Arrivals”

September 22, 2004

Greetings from sunny Gaborone, Botswana!  What an adventure it has been so far!  Many of you are probably wondering how I’ve been doing since leaving the country on September 13.  Well, as many of you know I left Edmonton on a VERY early flight to Toronto (7:10AM).  When I landed in Toronto it was about 1PM local time.  Considering my next flight wasn’t until 11PM that night its safe to say I had plenty of time to do some visiting.  I phoned my friend Gabriel Ting and we spent some time together talking about my mission trip and just catching up on things since we hadn’t seen each other in a while.  Then it was off to London, England! 

It was my first international flight so I was pretty excited.  Interestingly enough I was seated beside a Muslim from Pakistan.  He was off to Saudi Arabia to work as a CPA (Certified Public Accountant).  I told him he must be a brave man!  I was able to share with him the purpose of my trip and we talked a lot about our beliefs and current events.  After talking for quite some time he gave me his business card and told me to keep in touch with him.  It’s amazing how God puts people like that in your path. 

So, after flying all night while talking to a Muslim you’d think I’d be tired and just want to go to bed, right?  No way!  I landed in London about 11AM the next morning and decided to go check out some of the sights downtown.  I got a day pass for “The Tube” (London’s subway) and took in such sights as Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben.  I wish I could have spent more time in London but I had to catch another flight so back to Heathrow Airport I went.  This time I was off to Johannesburg, South Africa, an 11 hour flight!  This time I was seated between two totally different people.  To my right was a businessman from Miami, Florida who sold aircraft parts to different aircraft companies in Africa.  To my left was a “bloke” from England who was vacationing with his son.  Once again I was able to share the purpose of my journey with both men and both were very intrigued.  The businessman of course thought it ridiculous considering I wasn’t being paid.  The English chap thought it was great and hoped I would find a nice African woman to settle down with.  Needless to say it was an interesting 11 hours.

We finally landed the next morning (now 2 days later) around 7AM local time in Johannesburg.  By this time I was noticing that I was getting a bit ripe.  I hadn’t slept or changed clothes in two days.  I was starting to get that walking zombie feeling.  It was kind of cool actually!  Anyway, I was glad I only had a short layover in Johannesburg so that I could finally arrive at my destination.  Considering I had some time to spare, I quickly contacted the only two people I know in Johannesburg, Dave & Donna Marttunen.  For those who don’t know, Dave was the senior pastor of Fellowship Baptist church in Parksville, BC where I was working as a youth intern a couple of years ago.  Dave and Donna are now missionaries in South Africa and have only been in Johannesburg for about a month so it was great to talk with Dave to see how they are settling in. 

After talking with Dave it was time for my last flight from Johannesburg to Gaborone.  While waiting to board I met a girl (Maria) who was also on her way to Gaborone.  She works for the US Embassy in Gaborone and was able to give me some tips on what to do and what not to do in Gaborone.  She just recently moved from California so it was good to get a foreigners perspective on where I would be living before I even arrived.  And then it happened….I finally arrived in Gaborone, Botswana!  What a beautiful place!  I haven’t even been here a week but so far I’m really enjoying it.  People here at the mission keep asking me if I’m okay or “have you arrived yet”, and frankly I don’t know how to answer.  I don’t feel any different nor do I feel any real culture shock.  Sure, things are different but I haven’t been too overwhelmed yet which is an awesome blessing.  There are a few things I’ve had to adjust to though, like the way you greet someone.

People love to be greeted here, especially in there local language of Setswana.  For example, when you walk into a room it is normal to greet everyone in the room, not just the one person you want to talk to.  Even when I’m out and about at the mall or shopping or whatever greetings are very important.  So, I kind of feel strange because in Canada your not really expected to be greeting people all over the place.  I’ve actually found it to be quite fun.  Its kind of like being in a small town where you wave at everybody because you all know each other.  Well, here you wave at people whether you know them or not!  And they wave back!  When I asked one of the FM personnel about this she explained to me that when you greet someone here you are acknowledging that they exist.  When you just walk by without greeting them its like your saying to them, “your not there”.  So you feel a bit like the queen at first walking around waving at people you don’t even know but it just gives you a small taste of how great the people are here.

I had my first Sunday here on the 19^th and really enjoyed the service.  I’ve been signed up to play the drums next week already.  Yes they have drums here!  Apparently someone had told them that a drummer from Canada was coming, so they were very anxious to get me signed up.  I was glad that the service was more contemporary because if I had to live without drums for a whole year I don’t know what I would have done.  The church I attended for those who are interested was called Open Baptist Church “G-West”.  There is more than one Open Baptist church so this one is known as G-West, meaning Gaborone West.

At present I am living with my boss, Richard Wheatley.  He was born in New York but grew up in the UK.  He’s a super nice guy and we have gotten along quite well.  I’ve enjoyed his very English accent as well as his almost fatherly advice.  I should be moving into a more permanent living arrangement this week.  A missionary family that was living in the FM guest house are leaving for Zambia (the next country north of Botswana) so apparently I’ll being moving in there.  One issue that has come up is transportation.  Since I don’t have money to buy a vehicle I have been stuck getting rides with Richard.  This has been fine so far because of the fact that I have been living and working with him.  Once I move and get my own place I’m going to have to find my own way around.  For those who may think public transit is the solution….well….lets just say you’ve probably never heard of a Combi. 

A Combi is the “buses” that transport people around town for the low fare of 2 Pula (somewhere around 70 cents Canadian).  However, these “buses” are nothing more than mini-vans packed with about twice as many people as there should be.  So, assuming that you can even fit into the Combi when it comes to pick you up you have to quickly learn there routes.  You may have to transfer multiple times just to get across town which means another 2 Pula (no transfer tickets here).  Apparently riding in a Combi is part of my orientation with the Flying Mission so I will have to ride one sooner or later.  The one positive about riding a Combi is that you get to meet some of the locals, it just doesn’t seem practical for work.  One of the other short-termers here has a bike he isn’t using and will allow me to borrow it if I want to.  However, the option of riding a bike hasn’t exactly been a blessing now that I’ve seen the way people drive.  Just today I saw a Combi driving down a sidewalk.  Crazy!  So, I’m not sure what I’ll do about getting around once I move but we’ll see how the Lord leads.

Besides that, things are going quite smoothly.  I developed a bit of a cold when I first arrived which I believe I caught on one of my flights here, but seems to be fading.  I’ve been eating well, no tummy aches or plumbing problems.  So, one week down and I’m still alive!  Sorry if this letter has been a bit lengthy, I’ll try to chop the next one down a bit.  There’s just so much to tell!  Thank you so much for your prayers they definitely do make a difference.  Speaking of prayer, I’ll close by leaving you with a few prayer requests:

-        pray that I would settle in to my new place this week

-        pray that my transportation problem would be solved (maybe public transit will work out)

-        pray for my language learning (I am picking it up slowly)      

Peace and prayers,

Graham Crawford.