Sehithwa,Botswana Outreach

After returning home from Nata the other volunteers and I had two days to regroup before heading out on another outreach program.  This time we went to Sehithwa, Botswana about 100km directly West of Maun.  This outreach was freaking crazy town! 

First off, it is in the absolute middle of NOWHERE!  There is not a store, fuel station, nothing between Maun and this village.  This outreach was set-up by one of Sehithwa’s locals named GB.  No idea what that stands for but by the end of the two days we decided it was for "God-forsaken Bushman".  He was virtually useless.

We arrived about 8:00am on Sunday morning and were instructed to set up near the Kgotla in town.  A kgotla is a public meeting, community council or traditional law court.   It is usually headed by the village chief, and community decisions are always arrived at by consensus. Anyone at all is allowed to speak, and no one may interrupt while someone is "having their say". Because of this tradition, Botswana claims to be one of the world's oldest democracies.  The custom of allowing everyone their full say is carried over into meetings of all kinds, from discussing a bill to a staff briefing, and can mean meetings last many hours.  Kgotla can also refer to the place where such meetings are held. This can range from a few chairs under a shade canopy to a permanent ground with covered seating. The kgotla in Sehithwa was a bunch of large sticks (tree branches) stuck into the ground arranged in a semi-circle next to a large shade tree. That should have been our first clue……

Kgotla

As instructed by GB, we unloaded all of our supplies under the shade tree next to the kgotla.  We got the tables and gazebos assembled, the dog’s recovery area prepared and all of our equipment in the appropriate areas when a women sauntered up and wanted to know if we had permission to be there, etc, etc.  We called GB on the phone and had him speak to this woman.  At the end of their conversation it was relayed to us that we set up in the wrong area.  We were supposed to set up at the next tree…….really???  So we had to move everything to the next tree over.  It was quite ridiculous. I guess the kgotla area is somewhat sacred to them and they didn’t appreciate the thought of us using it to perform surgery.  I definitely understand that but it would have been nice for GB to have relayed this to us before we set up.

Surgery table setup and ready for action

Setting up

After getting everything set-up for the second time we finally had some people arrive with their dogs.  Again, same as in Nata, I’m not sure why they were actually bringing the animals for surgery since they don’t really seem to understand what was happening.  We had to keep telling ourselves that we were there to help the animals and not necessarily the people because they really have no concept of loving these animals as pets. The way these people treated their dogs was an abomination!  First off, the majority of people could not catch their own dogs.  The dogs will follow them all over creation but the second the owner tries to touch the dogs they run off.  It is the darnest thing.  The dogs get beaten for everything here so they are afraid of people. They are definitely afraid of white people so we had no luck trying to catch any of them.  A couple of guys actually drug one dog over to us by one of it’s hind legs.  They had a leash cinched down so tight around it’s neck the dog was virtually blue and choking by the time it arrived to our area. We had to have them cut the leash from around the neck with a pocket knife.  UGH!  We wanted to yell at them but for one thing it does no good. This type of behavior is ingrained in them.  The other thing is, if we yell at them they will say screw it and not have the dog sterilized.  We have to walk a very thin line.  It was hard to take.

We saw SO many dogs with TVTs.  A transmissible venereal tumor, or TVT, is a naturally occurring tumor that is sexually transmitted from one dog to another. TVT is usually seen in young, intact (non-neutered) dogs.  It is impossible to relay what this means to these people.  They just don’t understand how it’s transmitted even when we had KC translate into Setswana for us.  They can’t understand the implications, how they die from it, what cancer is, nothing.  It is so frustrating.  We ended up euthanizing many of them.  Just sad.

Male dog TVT - notice the large swelling

From the inside

All the adults in this village seemed drunk.  They were freaking crazy as all get out. One man came over and just babbled at us in broken English.  Couldn’t understand a thing he said.  He was definitely drunk or on something major.  After his dog was done he took it home in a wheelbarrow....... Another guy (in bright yellow pants) came over and started dancing to our music, literally jumping up and down and twirling around.Then he raced around back and forth acting a fool.  It was craziness!  One lady was driving her donkey cart around and finally stopped to see what we were doing.  She decided to have us castrate her three dogs.  We put her dogs in the que and after we got the three dogs a head of her done she then tells us that they were going to shoot those dogs today. WHAT???  They were her neighbors dogs and they have been killing goats in the village which is a HUGE no-no.  So, she sat there and watched us operate on them only to find out they were to be shot later…….OMG.  They have no concept of what we are doing at all. Sigh.

Crazy lady and her donkey cart

The kids were great, as usual.  Here are some random photos of them.

Bringing us a cat to sterilize

Passing the time

The second morning we arrived we got all set up and the first people that arrived were three older women in traditional Herero dress. They were the fattest people I have seen so far in Botswana. They didn’t speak English but we finally figured out they were asking us for food. Really???

The bathroom facilities were atrocious!  OMG!  You could not pay me money to go in there. Fist of all it stunk to high heaven.  Second of all it was just like an outhouse - no TP, no flushing, nothing.  Just a hole into the ground.  It was super nasty!  Hell no!  I couldn't do it. Nope. Not me. I went to the General Dealer (aka Tuck Shop) which is like a corner store. Not at all like we have in the US but at least they had some Coke for sale, some snacks and a somewhat better bathroom.  Still no TP and there was a spider in the corner but otherwise it was manageable. It did flush and there was a sink to wash your hands afterwards but, of course, no hand towels/tissues.  UGH.  The second day there we took turns going behind a bush.  That was a much better solution!

General Dealer

Ants.  There were ants everywhere!  Luckily they were black ants and not red ones.  Still i didn’t appreciate them crawling up my legs while I was doing surgery.  Unacceptable to have in your pants when you are trying to surgicate! Really annoying!

There was a younger man there in his early to mid 20’s maybe - rode in on his donkey.  He started to talk to me and told me he had no life in Setithwa.  I can totally see that an sympathize with him but I asked him what he wanted me to do about it.  He said I want to go where you live.  I said I live in the United States and I was sure he could get there if he really wanted to.  He said OK.  I will go with you.  When do we go?  OMG.  No dude, I didn’t mean with me.  You need to figure out how to get there on your own.  Oh, he says and walks away.  Next thing you know he is on to Megan and then Kelly asking them the same thing.  Kinda creepy.

Late in the afternoon of the second day an older lady (like maybe in her late 60’s) came over and watched a couple spays.  After a while she turns to me and says “I want you to teach me”. Whatchyoutalkingboutlady?  She really wanted me to teach her to perform an ovariohysterectomy surgery in 5 minutes.  Answer = NO.  I started to think I had entered the twilight zone.  For real.

This lady wanted me to teach her to do surgery. LOL

Come to find out at the end of our second (and last) day there that GB is a breeder of “greyhounds”, called Azawakh.  I use those terms breeder and greyhounds loosely. Apparently the only reason he wanted us to come to the village was to spay/neuter everyone else’s animals and not his.   He didn’t want his dogs to accidentally get pregnant by one of the town mutts and then have “impure” puppies.  He also didn’t want to have any competition when selling his puppies. What a douche!  He didn’t want to sterilize any of his animals.  Unbelievable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azawakh

Azawakh

We were never so happy to "peace out" of a project.  We did manage to sterilize 22 dogs on the first day (15 spays and 7 neuters) and 18 dogs (12 spays and 6 neuters).  I'm pretty sure Tana will never send anyone to do outreach there again. Crazy town!

“When the whole world is crazy, it doesn't pay to be sane.” 

― Terry Goodkind, The Pillars of Creation