Day 21

July 15
Wow, I am so tired today. I didn't get much sleep last night, because I kept waking up in the middle of the night. I'm pretty sure that Same, my niece, has asthma. The only reason I think this is because I have asthma myself, and asthma has a distinct sound. Every time that she breathes, it sounds like a labored breath. It pains me to hear it. She wheezes throughout the day, and I was kept up tonight listening to her struggle. I wish that I could help her. I'd give her some of the asthma medication I brought with me, but I think it would do more harm than good, seeing as she's only 8, and I'm 16, so the dosage would not even be close to what she needed. I went to the local clinic today to ask if they could diagnose and help asthma. While they have the means to diagnose and treat HIV/AIDS, asthma is not an epidemic of the same size, so they didn't have the means to diagnose it themselves. They said that she would have to go into Gaborone, into one of the large hospitals, and even then, they weren't sure if she would get the treatment she needed. I know that my family will never be able to afford to get her diagnosed at the hospital, and then maintain the costs of the asthma medication. I just hope that her asthma doesn't get out of hand. I tried teaching her breathing exercises today. Hopefully, that will help. If it doesn't, well, it's a good thing that they drink a lot of tea and coffee here. Nothing better than an old, herbal remedy.
Another sad point of my day was that I did not go to the cattle post today. So sad. So so so sad. Instead of going to the cattle post, I was told that I had to go to church. So church it was. I have to find time soon to get to the cattle post, or I'll never get there!

Maybe next time, my bovine friends

Anyways, church was good today. For some reason, it was more sparsely populated today than all of the other days, but the service remained very similar to every other day. Or, at least, that's what I believe. I still don't understand a word of the service!
We met at Rheame's house at 3 PM, after church, to practice our skits and dance for the end of homestay dinner on Wednesday. It should be good! The skits are very funny, and the dance looks better each time we do it. I'm sure we have a great dinner in the making!
And an extra special surprise for me. All of my sisters came back today!! I came home, and Orobah, Carol, and Bobo were there! That made me so happy. They'll be here until Tuesday. I can't wait to spend some time with them. I've missed them!! :)

Me with my sister, Orobah