Since the Move

It's been slow getting used to Maun, the new job, the new flat, the town, much slower than I expected. I can't believe I've been living in Maun for 2 months now, and it really only feels like I've been here 1 month.

I find myself trying to make routines, to cope with everything else that's up in the air.
Go to work at 8. Get home by 5. Start dinner at 6:30 or 7, watch an episode of Modern Family or Battlestar Galactica...

I didn't expect the move to feel like I'm starting over, but I really am just starting over.

There haven't been any new additions to my house, no new furniture. I have to go through the District Multi-Sectoral AIDS Committee office to access government funds to get furniture and since the financial year is restarting, the funds won't come through until June or July. I still have my friend Kyle's bed, and chairs and a couch on loan from the DMSAC office. When people come to my flat, our voices echo because there is nothing in it.

Work is slowly picking up. We finally had our first district committee meeting or Orphans and Vulnerable Children. It's slow getting people on board with a mandate that was made out of their control but it looks like things are coming along. The situation for OVC in Maun appears more dire than in the village... or my standards have just changed. There is a growing need for orphanages in Maun, but they have lots of barriers to entry. Children are found abandoned in the river and in pit latrines; yet many people refuse to believe that children should be institutionalized in permanent homes. I have been researching landscape of service delivery for OVC for the past couple months. However, it'll take awhile to act upon my findings or figure out what I'll do about it, and get others onboard with districtwide action.

As far as new routines and new environment... still getting used to it. I've been sick every month for the last 4 months. At this point, all the doctors, all the girls at the receptionist, and the pharmacist all know me at the Medical Centre in Maun. All of it has been some sort of residual side effect of the E.Coli, and I'm only starting to feel much better now and can work out again.

Though the process of making new friends and meeting new people has been tiring, I am happy to already have good friends in Maun and to be able to spend more time with them. They take the edge off of being away from friends and family at home. For Easter, a bunch of volunteers came through Maun to visit which is like having extended family in town. And last week, I got to hang out with good friends for my birthday. Being able to work and play with friends has been easier to deal with here because in the small village, it all felt like work in the end.