Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Arrival and first day

The Dawson students and Mr.Bill Meyers arrived at 5PM local time in Gaborone. The flights went well with only one delay in South Africa. It was a long journey with us leaving on Saturday at 8:30 PM local time and spending more than 35 hours in airports and planes before our arrival. We were very happy to see Mr. Tommie Hamaluba and the host parents waiting for us in the airport. Everyone went home to a delicious dinner and then off to bed.
Tuesday has been a busy first day. Kate, Marci and Buck met Mr. Meyers at the Gaborone Secondary School in the morning. Mr. Meyers was introduced at a school assembly by the principal Mr. Mophuting. Then the students gave a short presentation on the sports and extra curricular program at the Dawson School to the 2300 Gaborone students in attendance at this assembly! The presentation went very well.
After a short rest Dr. Galinski from the Malarial Foundation International joined us. Mary arrived in Botswana on Sunday and is staying close by in a hotel. We were very happy to finally get the opportunity to meet Mary. Then we were off to the American Embassy to meet with Mr. Anthony Woods the Regional Officer for the Health and Environment office. This was a nice meeting to discuss our collaboration on the malaria eradication project. The embassy is very impressed and supportive of our work. It was also a nice time for Dr. Galinski to explain the work that the Malaria Foundation International is doing and how the Student Leaders Against Malaria (SLAM) groups are involved.
From the embassy it was straight to the radio station for an interview with Mr. Hamaluba, Dr. Galinski, Buck and Omphile (a GSS student) talking about the upcoming campaign in the village of Lesoma. This was a very full morning!
While all of this was going on Anika and Kirsten were in Mochudi visiting the Raseura English Medium School. Their host mother is the Headmistress of this school. They shadowed a couple of classes and then visited the Mochudi historical museum and ate lunch at the school. In the afternoon everyone is relaxing with their host families. The students and Mr. Meyers from the Alexander Dawson School would like to thank their host families and the the students at GSS and Raseura for such a wonderful welcome to this beautiful country.
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Students Collaborate to Fight Malaria in Botswana

The Tsao Village will be the site for the 3rd annual Malaria Eradication Campaign conducted by the Gaborone Secondary School (GSS) and the Alexander Dawson School (ADS). The first campaign was in the village of Gumare in the Okavango Delta region and last year was Lesoma village in the Chobe region of Botswana. Tsao is also in the Okavango region where the incidence of malaria is very high and most people cannot afford the cost of a mosquito net for their beds.

Malaria is a disease that can be prevented with education, nets and medicine. The students from GSS and ADS, along with their teachers Tommie Hamaluba and Bill Meyers, will distribute nets and discuss methods to prevent this terrible disease as they go house to house through the village.

We hope that you will follow the campaign postings on this blog and participate with us by adding your comments.