Day 23

July 17
One more full day in Mogobane. After tomorrow, we'll be on our way to Gaborone and our safari! I'm very excited, but I'm not ready to say good-bye to family. Tomorrow will be a very sad day.
Today was fun, and slightly crazy. Today, I went on a special project trip with Louie, Sarah, and Ian. For the first half of the day, we worked not at the secondary school, but at a workshop, painting a sign for the primary school with Mogobane's painter. The sign was to be cut from metal, and attached to two huge metal poles. The sign and the poles were both to be painted white before adding the lettering. It took the entire morning, but we painted both the sign and the poles white before lunch. They weren't ready for the words to be added yet, so I believe that they will be adding the words on themselves.
However, before we could paint anything, we had to find the site. And that was not too easy. Now, with only a minimal knowledge of Setswana, getting directions was not too easy. We found someone who volunteered to drive us to the primary school, because it was too far away to walk to. Glad for the ride, we hopped in to his car. Unfortunately, we found out after he drove away that we didn't have to go to the primary school, but to the painter's workshop. So now, we had to find a way to get to the painter's workshop, which was not easy, seeing as the primary school was beyond out of the way. It was on its own individual hill on the outskirts of the village, so the only passers-by were cattle.
While waiting for someone to come and pick us up, we came across the playground at the primary school. Well, we hope it isn't the playground they use. We are kind of hoping that these were just pieces of their old playground. The metal of everything is rusted, the paint is almost entirely gone, all of the apparatuses were about three sizes too small (if that's even possible), and the playground roundabout was uprooted and laying on the ground. Uprooted. As in the concrete anchor was pulled out of the ground. How does that even happen?? We tried occupying ourselves by playing on the monkey bars and tiny swings, but we stopped quickly for fear of tetanus. Luckily, within 15 minutes, we had a ride to the proper location: the painter's workshop.

Monkey bars (I think) and the uprooted roundabout

 Me in the teeny tiny swing

Ian trying his luck in the swing/cage

We thought that the secondary school was out of the way, but the painter's workshop was even further. It was on the other side of the village, and literally 20 feet from the end of the village. The workshop was basically a shed with a big yard and a fence surrounding it. There were a lot of power tools, but I would not want to use any of them. They would definitely not be approved for usage anywhere in the United States. The amount of exposed wire and makeshift parts was kind of frightening. When the painter pulled out the power saw and wrapped the two exposed wire ends to an open battery, I made sure I was as far away as possible. Slightly petrifying.

The embodiment of my fears

I think that the best story of the day, possibly the trip, comes from while we were painting the poles for the sign. I was holding the bucket of white, oil-based paint while Sarah and Ian painted the poles (we alternated jobs as there were only two brushes, so it was my turn to not paint). The pole that we were painting began to slip towards me. My first thought was that it would fall on me, and that can't happen, because I'll get paint on myself. So, I reflexively jumped backwards, and I spilled the paint all over myself. I luckily missed my hair, but everything else? Coated. Yes, I know you're thinking to yourself, "Brittany. Why didn't you just take one hand away from the can of paint and stop the pole?" Well, I apparently don't think very well when I have to make split second decisions. Oh, and the pole didn't even fall. It just shifted. So all for naught. Oh, and the best part? I spilled the paint on myself in front of an audience of about 20 guys, who just sat there and laughed as I had to use paint thinner to get it off of my skin. My neck is raw and red and has a rash now. The paint thinner was just about as bad as the paint. I still smell like it, even after scrubbing myself in my inch of water. Yuck. Looking back, it was very funny. At the time, not as much. Hahaha!!

Sarah painting one of the poles

Me, getting painted. My poor shirt.

After lunch, I said good-bye to Bobo, Orobah, and Carol. I'm going to miss them. I had a lot of fun with them. After my good-byes, the group finished rehearsing our skits. So far, the skits are looking good! We are definitely ready for tomorrow's performance. :)