Two weeks ago I forgot to tell you all about the horde of monsters who harassed me relentlessly as I was walking down the street. I was on my way to the bus, when a horde of 8 rotten children attached themselves to me. They were screaming "Madi madi madi" ("money money money"), shoving their hands into my face and stomach. I started off by saying "Dumela" ("hello"), thinking they'd get bored & leave me alone, but they became more and more aggressive. I told them I had no madi, I asked them to give ME madi (my standard response), I told them to go back to school (It was about 12pm), I told them their teachers missed them, I told them their mothers would be ashamed of them for begging. I crossed the street in front of an oncoming car to get away from them -- and still they followed me. Batswana walk incredibly and deliberately slowly (there is never ever a need to rush!), and my general walking pace is faster than most Americans'. I should have had no problems outpacing this vertically-challenged mob. Yet I was nearly running to get away from the brats who were literally chasing me, grabbing me, grabbing my bag. I hate children.

A few days later, I learned that one of my coworkers witnessed the entire incident; instead of intervening to help me, he just “watched to see what I would do.” This man, and in fact ALL of my coworkers and fellow PCVs, know how I detest children under normal circumstances. These monsters made me so uncomfortable and upset that they unnecessarily ruined half of my day, and the fact that a coworker's help could have avoided all of that is mind-boggling. Does no one in this country care about anything but laughing at foreigners? Is there no decency or normalcy? Respect for elders?

Two weeks ago I was also let down by one of the women I was supposed to do the STEPS film project with. We were sort of forced together by my counterpart (who is/was still too busy to deal with her PCV); she too did not really have interest in doing anything with me. (The woman who was originally supposed to do the project with me skipped the training session in Gabs and has been distant ever since then.) This new partner set the schedule she wanted, which was more ambitious than I'd thought possible to attain, but I was happy to try. That was all she contributed. She would not make time to watch the films. She refused to check that we had working equipment, even after I resorted to begging her to help me. She even chose schools with younger kids after I told her I was only interested in working with the senior secondary schools (upper teens) or older out-of-school youth. She expected me to do all the work. On that Friday, I told her I would not be doing the first screening with her the coming Monday, since I did not feel prepared. She agreed quickly. Later that day I learned that she'd told the other PCV in my village on the previous Tuesday that she wasn't going to do it, and she wanted him to do it with me. Why she waited for me to cancel, instead of admitting she was not willing or able to do the work, confuses and frustrates me. Why she could not be honest with me is something I will never know. I do know that I can no longer depend on her. Just as I cannot trust the woman who initially wanted to do the training with me, or trust even my counterpart.

I am now attempting to facilitate STEPS screenings with a 3rd woman. She is from outside my office building, which may be a good thing. Keep your fingers crossed!