Goats on their morning roundsThere’s a problem with the trusty, hard-working white van that will take us out of the Kalahari Desert and back to Botswana’s capital city, Gaborone. While the repair is being made I take a seat outside to bask in the sun and watch the village of Tsabong come to life. Traffic is heavy this August morning. Larger flatbed trucks, small trucks, and a few automobiles pass by as do the ever-present cattle and goats. Some guys sitting atop a pile of wood in a cart pulled by a donkey give me a big wave. I wave back. In the building behind me a cell phone goes off; it rings to the tune of “The First Noel.” An hour and a half after our planned departure time the van, which we’d packed the night before, is given the thumbs up for the hours of travel ahead. The Mothers’ Union reps and I pile in. We stop for petrol and 30 minutes later make a second stop, this one at the home of a Mothers’ Union member who was part of the hosting of the MU annual conference just ended. One of our traveling companions is not feeling well; she exits the van to use the lavatory. The woman of the house brings a large covered bowl filled with food to the van and insists we take it for our journey. That’s not the only gift she gives, though. 
Cecilia and her roosterOne of her grandsons has been chasing a rooster back and forth across the sandy yard and finally succeeds in catching the bird. The boy hands it to his grandmother who expertly ties its legs with some string and then passes it through the window to Cecilia. The rooster refuses to give in to the inevitably of his situation, and he makes a few attempts at escaping. Cecilia is having none of it. I ask her if she’s going to keep the rooster or eat it. “It was a free gift,” she answers, and then adds with a big smile, “I will eat it!” The woman who wasn’t feeling well returns to the van, and after thank-yous and waves of good-bye we get back on the two-lane road, heading north. We snack on oranges from trees grown by Colleen, the MU president, in her yard. A newspaper article is read aloud. It’s about an initiative by the president of Botswana. He wants to offer housing for the homeless, and he’s asking for people to donate to the cost of a house or actually help build homes. The Batswana discuss the merits of the plan. I take the opportunity to talk about Habitat for Humanity in America.
Cattle in Tsabong