Sand.
There is so much sand.
If you’re confused on why there is sand in Africa, then let me give you a short geography lesson. Most of Botswana, Africa is comprised of the Kalahari desert. Which is exactly where I have been living, and will live for the last 3 months of my race.
You can catch a small break from trudging through the thick, loose sand when you walk on the one paved road in all of Bokspits, Botswana. One paved road. Two little food stores. One police station. One clinic. One day care. One elementary and middle school. And two churches. The population is around 500.
That’s really about it. If you get off at the bus station, cross the street, and starting walking straight through the dessert, you are likely to end up at the Dutch Reform Church of Bokspits. This is where my team, The Babes, lives. It’s a small sanctuary that is painted blue (nearly the exact same color of the room we lived in Malaysia hahah). We sleep in our tents on the floor of the church due to bugs.
Across from the church through more sand there is one bathroom, one shower and one sink with running water that shuts off all of the time. However it gets very dark and very cold at nights so we tend to make use of all the open space and sand as our bathroom. That may be more information than you wanted to know but the more time I spend out of the country the more I forget what is and isn’t socially acceptable to write about.
Another thing Bokspits has a lot of is kids. Oh the kids. They surround our church at all hours. They follow us everywhere. With nothing to do in their free time, they tend to come and hang out with us. Which is a great thing and a not so great thing. Just come visit and you will figure out why that is real quick.
If you ever find yourself in the desert, come prepared with sunscreen and sweat pants. This is because we spend most the day baking in the sun and getting 10 shades tanner than we were when we first got here, and every night wrapped up in sleeping bags and thick clothes trying to stay warm. That’s the beauty of the desert.
Also, I have never seen stars in my entire life like I have living in the Kalahari desert. You can actually see the stardust of the milky way. And I always thought Texas had the most beautiful sunsets in the world. That was until I saw the sunsets in Africa. There really are no words.
As far as ministry goes, it’s a little bit of everything. We preach, lead youth groups and events, work in the schools and daycare, work at the clinic and police station, are a volleyball team, and whatever else people ask us to help with or be apart of.
Life in Botswana, Africa looks a lot different than life in other parts of the world. My team and I don’t have much, but we have each other. Thank God for that.
