Things I never thought I'd need to learn - August 25, 2008

We left Moshupa fairly early this morning, stopping in Kumakwane to visit with Njale's mother who was not home. This photo is Njale's mother's home in Kumakwane. On to Gaborone to a fabric store, our most important errand today. Refilwe was to look for fabric for her prom dress for the fall graduation from her school. Her grandfather is giving her the dress as a gift from the family. As a typical teenager, she had given no thought as to what she wanted. We went believing she would want fabric to recreate the design of a short dress she purchased on her recent school trip to South Africa, only Njale (an expert seamstress, by the way) would turn into a long gown.

We were in what is the largest fabric shop in Gaborone, and instead of the purple we had heard at breakfast (thank goodness for that sustanence as you will read!), she began with a choice of turquoise satin with a black lace patterned with silvery roses. I showed her a similar lace with the exact shade of turquoise beads in its design, but she insisted on the black. While she and Njale talked, Anita and I made our way around the shop and purchased some fabric for either backdrops for presentations or tablecloths. Back to Refilwe and Njale where they were now considering a black slinky fabric and a silvery one as well. Both would have looked good with the lace, although a second pattern of lace was also being considered.

Ultimately no fabric was purchase - I will leave some funds with Njale that will cover the 3 meters of clothe that will be necessary for the dress under the lace. We purchased 1 meter of each lace, and we were finished. Refilwe was making no more decisions today - typical teen angst. Since she was catching a cold, and we had other errands we dropped her off at a cousin's house where she was to 'rest'. I knew that wouldn't happen, but we would not have someone with us who really did not want to be there.

Our second stop was at a big box story like Costco or BJ's. We were looking for medium plastic boxes to use to pack our stuff that we want to ship back to the US instead of carrying warm weather clothing and souveniers from Botswant with us to Cairo and Cyprus. We want to lighten our suitcase. We found 3 of the right size and went directly to the post office where Njale was certain we could purchased the cardbord boxes to hold our plastic ones for shipping. I had sent stuff ahead of me in an arrangement just like this, and everything arrived clean, dry and undammaged.

The ladies in the post office did not have large boxes for sale, but being helpful Botswana citizens, just like all those who tried to help me solve my charging problem with my Palms, recommended another stop. That business however was an courier service that delivered stuff in envelopes such as are received from FedEx or UPS. They suggested boxes from food or liquor stores and then back to the post office for mailing. Back to Square2!

We were getting hungry but decided to try one more errand - a visit to the American Embassy here in Gaborone. Njale made a quick stop at the office of the service for her internet connection to try to estimate the extra charges that Anita and I are encurring as we use the computer each evening. Because Brian's name is still on the account, they could not give Njale the information she requested. She must bring his death certificate to the office to change the name on the account. She can continue to pay it, but will receive no answers to questions. Our day for success had not yet started.

On to the Embassy where Anita and I were through the security search fairly easily. We both surrendered our cameras after turning them off. They thought my Palm was a telephone which I explained was not, but after I turned it off, I surrendered it as well. Finally, Njale was permitted to join us as my sister-in-law, but only after she literally emptied her purse of all keys, and anything metal. They did keep a small pair of scissors and a flash drive. Why the keys were of interest, we could not understand, because she was permitted to put them back in her purse.

I was given the only badge to wear and we were escorted to a waiting area inside the main building. Told to push a button that looked like a doorbell, a young woman soon appeared the other side of a window like is sometimes used in a bank for security. I learned she was one of the two people I spoke with before we left Moshupa. I had tried to make an appointment with a woman I had communicated with via email after receiving an invitation to attend the July 4th activities in Gaborone for American ex-pats.

My question today involved the recommecndations of the Embassy as to the best way to transport Brian's ashes back to the United States. It took approximately 45 minutes of waiting in the area outside this secure window before she returned, and we discovered that the process was WAY more complicated than any of us had imagined. On the advice of the Embassy we proceeded to the crematorium which Njale had used in February.

There we learned that they already knew of the difficulty we were facing and that each airline between Botswana and the United States would not permit me to carry the small box of ashes with me into the passenger cabin. He would need to be shipped in the cargo hold, and the arrangements would be difficulty to make within the week we have left in Botswana. The lady we were speaking with suggested at one time that perhaps she would arrange to have Brian's in his pretty box shipped home by himself as long as there was someone to collect him at the airport.

She is looking into this and at some point soon, Jim may be confirming that he is the person who will collect Brian at eigher BWI or Dullus. However, the information we have recently received suggest that she will need to work with the Hindu community who manage the crematorium to obtain the two certificates that are required by US law for the return of cremated remains to the US.
Right now we think Bone will collect the box with Brian's ashes from the funeral director in Gaborone, and perhaps we will have the decision by the time we return from Kasane. At this point, I don't know if Brian will be returning to Kansas as soon as we had hoped.

Finally, around 3 pm, with all of us starving, we went to Whimpy's at Game City for lunch. Game City is the mall that I have mentioned before and is like our large malls in the US.. Lunch revived us, and we were finally finished for the day. We wanted to do a bit of grocery shopping before picking up Refilwe, which we did. And Anita wanted to try to find a dashiki to take home. We finally found some for sale, but she chose not to purchase any. They are made for men, and do not fit women too well.

We picked up Refilwe and headed for home arriving in Moshupa (after another stop in Kumakwane where Njale's mom was still not available). We unpacked the car, packed bags for tomorrow, and are getting ready to go to bed.

We will leave here around 5:30, make a stop in Kumakwane to meet Kristin (one of Njale's adopted sisters), speak with Njale's brother, leave Njale's car and let Kristen take us to the airport. We want to arrive at the airport by 8:30 am as our flight to Kasane leaves at 10:30. We will arrive in Kasane about 2 hours later, be met by a representative of the lodge and will be taken to Water Lily Lodge where we will spend the next three days.

See you on the other side of our safari!