Initial Impressions of Sowa

Our team of 36 Bots 10 trainees was officially sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers on June 8, 2011. This marked the end of our 2 ½ months of Pre-Service Training and the beginning of our new lives as District Community Liaisons (DCLs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Capacity Builders and Community Capacity Builders (CCBs) working throughout Botswana in HIV/AIDS Capacity Building programs. I have been assigned to Sowa (pronounced “Sua”) near the giant Sowa Pan (Salt Plain) in the northeast of Botswana. Sowa is approximately 160 km (100 miles) west of Francistown, Botswana’s 2^nd-largest city with a population of just under 100,000. Sowa is a mining township of just under 4,000 people and most of the residents work at Botash, which runs the soda ash mine 5 miles west of Sowa (soda ash is used to make commercial glass), or for one of the local government offices/utilities in Sowa. In many ways Sowa is a “company town,” a planned community built by the mine in the early 1990’s, modeled after (in my opinion at least) after middle-class American suburbs that were developed around industrial cities like Detroit and Pittsburgh. Most of the houses are similarly structured one-story, 2-3 bedrooms, tile floored, tin-roofed structures that are painted various shades of beige, tan or cream, that typically look pretty bleached out because of the intense heat and sun that is prevalent most of the year here. With its paved streets, cul-de-sacs, industrial working vibe and transient population it at times feels very American, then you see random cows, chickens or goats roaming around and you realize that no Toto you really aren’t in Kansas anymore.

We have no stop lights or traffic signals in Sowa, but we do have a general store that sells basics like sugar, milk, sodas, eggs, etc., a butchery, a Barclays bank with ATM, an internet café, one take-away restaurant, a gym that’s no Gold’s but still pretty nice considering the small population base here, a small clothing store, a place to get haircuts and/or styling (not for me though, I have to go to Francistown to get a haircut, unless I want to buzz it all off), 3 schools, 3-4 bars and a Country Club for the Botash executives and government officials. It may at times feel like a small American suburb, but a lekogoa (“white person” in Setswana), much less an American lekogoa, is still an unusual site in the town, which has been clear to me every day as children follow me yelling “Lekogoa!” They don’t mean it derisively; it’s more that they are expressing their happy surprise at seeing something unusual. It would be akin in the US to children yelling out “Giraffe!” at the zoo or “Snow!” if they lived in Texas. Now that my predecessor has left I’m pretty sure I’m the only American lekogoa here – the other twolekoga  I’ve met so far both work at the nearby UN Refugee Camp and are from Holland and Canada.

The climate in Sowa is hot, dry, windy and dusty, similar to the climates of desert cities in the US like Phoenix or Palm Springs. Right now its Winter and pretty pleasant, with highs in the mid to upper 70s and lows in the high 40s/low 50s. Even on these short winter days the sun is very intense and I have yet to see a cloud in my 2 weeks here, but of course we’re not that far north of the Tropic of Capricorn down here so that’s not unusual weather by any stretch. The rainy season, such as it is, is typically in the beginning of summer in late October, early to Mid-November. From November to February, highs in the 100s will not be uncommon. The dust and pretty-constant desert winds will take some getting used to but I’m not all that worried about the heat. Of course it’s dead winter here; we’ll see how I feel in January.  I really lucked out on my housing here in Sowa, that’s for sure. The house I’m in was originally built for executives at the mine but was turned over to the Botswana Government in 2002 and has been utilized for Peace Corps Volunteers since 2006. It has 3 bedrooms, a bath tub and indoor toilet, a spacious living room and a kitchen. I have hot running water, a gas stove, refrigerator, and a nice bit of furniture in good condition that was left by the previous PCV. There’s also a guest house (originally servants’ quarters) with a running shower and bedroom, though unfortunately the shower is not connected to the hot water geyser (heater). There’s plenty of room here for me and for the many guests I expect to visit, other PCVs and of course friends from home. If the combi/minibus ride from Francistown (the closest airport) doesn’t scare you off, it’s not a bad place to visit, except in the summer of course.

Next post I’ll write about the adventure that is traveling around Botswana on public transportation.  

Here's some pics of the house.