Botswana Bulletin #44
“A Cape Town Christmas”
January 9, 2011
The
Rain Has Arrived!
Greetings from hot and sunny Gaborone,
Botswana! Well, at the moment it’s hot
and sunny, but we’ve been blessed with a good supply of rain the last few days
which has been excellent. There are so
many benefits the rain brings to the desert here it’s hard to complain when it
comes. I found myself holding back my
complaints yesterday while I was trying to dry my clothes out on the
clothesline. There is a real shortage of
dryers in this country simply because it’s usually so easy to dry your clothes
outside. Now that the rains have come it’s
been harder to do this. However, I bit
my tongue and thanked the Lord for the provision of rain despite my clothes
being slightly damp. I know how badly
this country needs it.
Merry
Christmas and Happy New Year!
Well before I go too far I should take time
to wish all of you a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I was hoping to send out a prayer letter
before Christmas but I was busy finishing off my research project for
school. I was then hoping to send one
off from Cape Town but I didn’t have any internet access where I was staying so
it had to wait until the new year. I
hope you all have had a restful holiday with friends and family and I wish you
all a prosperous 2011!
New
Format For Prayer Letter
I’m going to try something a little
different in this prayer letter which hopefully will be beneficial to some of
you. I realize that my prayer letters
can be quite lengthy at times and some of you have suggested I cut them
short. However, I also have quite a
number of you who have said that they quite enjoy my long stories and to keep
sending more. So, in an effort to please
both parties I’ve decided to create bold headings for each portion of my prayer
letter. The heading will give a small
summary of what is to come and the reader can then have the option to read the
entire story or simply read the bold heading and at least “get the idea” of
what happened. It’s my first time trying
this so if any of you have any suggestions as to how I could do this
differently, or even to just say a “Good job Graham, I like it!” that would be
appreciated too.
October
11th – Enjoyed Thanksgiving Dinner With Fellow Canadians
As the headline above states I was able to
enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner with fellow Canadians (and a few Americans) here in
Botswana. We had a few of the “usual
suspects” including turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. It may seem like a small thing but being able
to enjoy a family tradition while on the mission field with your “mission
family” is something I really cherish.
Plus, the food was absolutely fabulous!
October
16-17 – Travelled To The Khama Rhino Sanctuary For a Weekend With The
Short-Term Boys
We had a number of young men from different
parts of the world who came to Flying Mission to serve as short term
volunteers. To introduce them to each
other and to the beautiful country of Botswana, the short term coordinator
decided it would be good to do a “guys only” trip to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary. So the seven of us (2 Germans, 3 Americans, 1
Canadian and 1 “Kiwi” – a New Zealander for those who don’t know that term)
headed north form Gaborone to Serowe where the Khama Rhino Sanctuary is. We did some driving around the game reserve
and saw some awesome African animals. My
favourite African animal is the rhino so I was excited that we were in a park
that specialized in my favourite animal.
After a full day of game drives we set up camp and had a fabulous all
beef braai (BBQ). Greg Morgan, Flying
Mission’s Short-term Coordinator, did a fabulous job cooking for us. After
spending one night camping in tents we did another long game drive and then
headed back to Gaborone. I wish we could
have stayed longer but time and money just didn’t allow. Oh well, we’ll just have to go back again
another time!
Internship
Update – I’ll be staying in Botswana until April 30, 2011. I’m still waiting to see if I can get a US
Visa for this year. If the visa works
out I’ll go to South Carolina to work at SIM International. If not, I’ll either return to Flying Mission
or another country in the SIM world.
For those who were hoping to see me during
the Christmas holidays, sorry I disappointed you. Basically, the US Visa application process
didn’t happen quickly enough so I changed my plane ticket departure time to
April 30th which means I’ll be completing my internship here in
Botswana. So the good news is, for those
that are missing me, I’ll be back in Canada on May 1st. In the meantime, SIM International has continued
with the US Visa application and we’re hoping to hear something soon. If for some reason I am unable to obtain a US
Visa I have 2 backup plans. One option
is to return to Flying Mission to continue doing the work I’ve been doing. Flying Mission has let me know how much they
have appreciated the work I’ve done for them over the years and are happy to
continue having me here as their IT person.
Another option is to use my skills to help out another mission base
somewhere else in the SIM world. I
definitely want to continue doing mission work so it’s just a matter of seeking
the Lord for His direction. I’ve
wondered if some people may be thinking that I’m crazy to be able to live with
such uncertainty all the time. I’ll
admit, it can be tough sometimes!
However, I have never wanted to simply plant my feet somewhere and say,
“This is it Lord, I’ll do this and nothing else.” My attitude has always been to go wherever
the Lord wants me to go. So if he opens
the door to go to India or China instead of South Carolina or Botswana I want
to be open enough to Him to say, “Your will Lord, not mine.” I hope that makes sense.
Motorcycle
Accident – I was hit by a car while riding my motorcycle. Thankfully both the motorcycle and myself had
no major damage. I ended up only having
a sprained toe. Praise the Lord!
As the headline above has mentioned I was
in a accident while riding my motorcycle.
To top things off it happened on my birthday! Let me explain exactly what happened. As I was riding my bike I began to approach a
traffic light so I started to slow down.
As I began to slow down a car approached to make a right turn (remember
we drive on the left here) into the mall which was to my left. Well, for some reason this fellow decided to
continue his right turn before letting me go by and ran directly into me. Now luckily I saw him coming towards me and I
was able to dodge slightly to the left to avoid his car hitting my right
leg. Instead he smacked into my back
tire which caused the back of the bike to swing towards my left. Instinctively, I put my right foot down to
brace myself as the bike began to fall to my left. This is where my right foot hit the ground
hard enough to sprain my toe. Amazingly,
I was able to keep the motorcycle upright and I stopped and turned around to
see that the car that hit me simply continue into the mall. He didn’t even stop! At that point I did a U-turn and drove a
short distance on the wrong side of the road and turned into the mall to chase
the hit and run driver. The car stopped
because of the traffic in front of him in the parking lot, so I pulled up
beside him and started banging on his side window with my fist. When he rolled down the window I began to question
the man and based my questions mostly on his sanity and intelligence
level. His only reply to me was “Sorry!”
which at the moment didn’t completely fufill me. As traffic began to move the driver started
to drive away from me. Oh no you don’t
my friend! I followed him to his parking
spot and as he got out of the car I drove up beside him and got off my
motorcycle. This is where I first
noticed that there was something wrong with my right foot. As I put my foot on the ground and began to
walk I had to limp over to him because of the pain I was experiencing. Ignoring the pain for the moment I went over
to the guy and asked him for his name, cell number, registration and make and
model of the car. He willingly gave me
the information but then proceeded to walk away from me.
This is where I was unsure of what to do
next. This man obviously had no interest
in going to the police station and frankly, I wasn’t sure if I went alone that
it would do any good. The gentleman who
hit me was from Botswana and usually in incidences like this the police side
with their own people. It sounds harsh
to say but it’s happened here in the past to previous Flying Mission
personnel. So with little damage to me
or my bike, I felt it was now going to be my word against his. So as I limped back to my bike I had this
sinking feeling that going to the police would be a waste of time. However, as I got back onto my bike a woman
approached me looking distraught. She
was a Zambian woman and she immediately began to explain to me how she saw what
just happened to me and thought it was terrible how someone could run into me
and just continue on like nothing had happened.
She gave me her name and phone number and offered to be a witness of the
accident. Wow! Now that I had a witness I felt better in
going to the police since it wasn’t my
word against his anymore. Just as the
Zambian woman finished talking to me an East Indian gentleman drove up to me in
a bakkie (pickup truck). He proceeded to
tell me that he saw the entire incident and offered to be my witness as
well. After giving me his information he
told me to make sure the police catch this man and give him a good beating!
Feelingly more confident now, I
got on my bike and headed to the nearby police station. I wasn’t sure how long the guy that hit me
would stay at the mall so I decided to try and flag down a police officer as
quickly as possible. Seeing 2 police
officers exit a police patrol car in front of the station I called out to them
and asked them for help. After
explaining my situation, it was as I feared.
The police officers told me before they do anything that I needed to
come into the station and fill out a police report. What?!
Feeling confused and discouraged the police officers ushered me into the
police station and into an office where they told me to wait. After a few minutes I was introduced to a
woman who I was told had the reports I needed to fill out. I tried to explain to the woman that I was in
a hurry to get back to the scene of the crime but instead of sympathy she
directed me to another office where I needed to speak to the head
inspector. I was ushered to the head
inspectors office which was full of police officers hovering around the
inspectors desk. After waiting for some
time I finally had a chance to speak to the inspector. After explaining to him what happened the
inspector became frustrated and told me that he was busy dealing with a car
accident fatality and that he needed to speak to the victims family and couldn’t
help me. Understanding the inspectors
situation I then asked him if he could at least tell one of the policeman under
him to help me. The inspector was
sympathetic and began yelling at two police officers sitting in the corner to
go with me and find the man that hit me.
Great, now we’re getting somewhere!
Unfortunately, by the time we began walking
out of the station about 30 minutes had gone by. Hopefully, the guy who hit me would still be
there. Luckily, we weren’t far from the
mall. I asked one of the police officers
where his patrol car was to which he answered, “We don’t have a car. We’ll have to walk there.” Ugh.
Unfortunately, this is quite common in this part of the world. When my house was broken into and my laptop
and Ipod were stolen the police actually asked me if I could come and pick them
up in my car. They even requested that I
make tea for them once they arrived at my house. So, with a sprained right big toe the three
of us walked from the police station back to the mall. Wouldn’t you know it, once we arrived, the
car that hit me had left. Now what? This was the question I posed to the police
officers that were with me. Well, they
didn’t seem sure as to what we should do next.
I asked them if they would like to talk to one of the witnesses. The Zambian woman told me where she worked
and it was close by. The officers didn’t
seem interested in talking to her and suggested we go back to the station and
fill out a report. So we ended up back
at the police station and after about an hour or so I finally had a completed
police report. As part of the report
they gave me a form and suggested I go to the hospital to get my foot checked
out. My buddy Greg Morgan (FM’s
short-term coordinator) was nice enough to pick me up and took me to the
hospital to get checked out. As I
mentioned earlier I was only diagnosed with a sprained big toe on my right foot to
which I was very grateful.
So what happened to the culprit? Well, so far I’ve only heard back from the
police once to tell me that the cell number the guy gave me didn’t work. It’s likely the number the guy gave me was a
bogus number. The license plate number
on the car was not registered to someone from Botswana but to an East Indian
who said he sold it to the man that hit me.
So at least he told the truth about his name. The police found out where he lived and
worked but so far I’ve been given no update into whether they went to see him
or not. When I returned the form they
gave me for my hospital visit I handed him my hospital bill and the police told
me he didn’t need the bill. So now it
appeared that even if we caught the guy he wouldn’t even have to pay for my
hospital visit. Well, thankfully the
bike is ok, I’m ok, and I was only out about $30 for my hospital visit. Not quite the birthday gift I was hoping for
but I was thankful nothing worse had happened.
Nov
12th & 19th – My band Audience of One held 2 worship
concerts in Gaborone at the 2 Open Baptist Churches. The concerts went extremely well and we are
hoping to hold another concert at the end of March.
For those who read my last prayer letter I
mentioned that the international worship band I’m a part of “Audience of One” were holding 2 worship nights in the month of November. The concerts turned out to be a great success
and all who attended had a fabulous time worshipping and praising God. With the success of this last concert we are
hoping to hold another one in March. I
feel so honoured to be part of this band and absolutely love playing the drums
and leading people into worship. I can’t
wait for March!
Nov
21 – Dec 3 – Business trip to Zambia.
Upgraded the server and fixed various other IT issues. It rained almost every day we were there!
At the end of November Richard (Flying
Mission’s IT Manager) and I flew up to Lusaka, Zambia to do some IT work for
our mission base up there. It was great
to see familiar faces when we arrived. A
lot had changed since the last time I was up there. It was good to see the progress that Flying
Mission was making up there. The rainy
season had started so there was lots of rain during the 2 weeks we were
there. Flying Mission Zambia (FMZ) has a
fantastic catered guesthouse and both Richard and I felt very spoiled after
staying there for 2 weeks. I hope some
other IT issues arise there in Lusaka so we can visit again! J
Christmas
Holidays – Spent 2 weeks in Cape Town, South Africa with friends. It was great to be by the ocean again and
enjoy fresh seafood. I enjoyed staying
with Beni and Marlain Londt’s family again (I was in Cape Town with them in
2008).
As the header above says I travelled to
Cape Town, South Africa from Dec 15-31 to spend Christmas holidays with my
friends Beni and Marlian Londt. I
traveled to Cape Town with them once before back in 2008. I get along really well with the Londt family
so it was good to spend time with them again.
As usual the time flew by but it was great to be by the ocean again and
get a chance to eat fresh seafood. I
rarely eat seafood in Botswana for the same reason I rarely eat it in Edmonton. It’s simply not as good when it isn’t
fresh. It was a great holiday but
unfortunately it ended quite badly.
During my second last day someone broke into Beni’s truck and stole his
wallet from under the seat. They broke
the lock on the passenger side and took nothing but the wallet. We suspect someone may have seen Beni put it
under the seat as we left the vehicle.
So most of our time after that was spent getting Beni a new passport,
driver license, bank cards and all the other things that were in the
wallet. You’re always upset when it
happens to you but I'm always grateful when the thieves are cowardly. I always feel better when I know it was only things
that were taken and nobody was hurt in the process. The situation can always be worse.
Prayer
Requests
And on that somewhat sorrowful note I will
close. I want to take time to thank
each and every one of you for your support.
I appreciated the Christmas cards I received from you over the
holidays. I appreciated the e-mails and
Facebook messages you have sent me over the last few months. And I’ve appreciated the financial gifts
you’ve given me, not just over the last few months, but over the last 6
years! It’s hard to believe I’ve been
doing mission work for that long now! I
know that if it weren’t for you, my fabulous support team, that it would not
have been possible. So for that I humbly
thank you for your generous giving.
As usual, before I close I will leave you
all with a few prayer requests. Here
they are:
1)
Internship – I received an A for
the research project I did in the first term of my internship. Pray that I would be able to do just as well
in my second term.
2)
I’m still in Botswana! – Praise
that I have the opportunity to stay in Botswana a little longer with Flying
Mission
3)
US Visa – Pray that I would get
an answer soon on whether or not I’ll be able to go to South Carolina later in
the year.
4)
Audience of One – Pray for the
worship band I’m a part of as we prepare to host another worship concert in
March. Pray that as a band we would be
able to encourage the church here in Botswana and see people come to the Lord.
5)
Pula! (Rain in Setswana) –
Praise for the fabulous amount of rain we’ve had over the last month or
so. Pray also that I would be able to
get my laundry dry sometime this week. J
Thanks in advance for your prayers. I know they make a difference. Blessings to you all!
Peace and prayers,
Graham Crawford <><
For more info on SIM Canada visit: www.sim.ca.
For more info on Flying Mission visit: www.flyingmission.org
The opinions expressed in this letter are
my own opinions. They are not
necessarily the opinions or views of my employers, SIM or Flying Mission.
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