This is Ms Bakanuki Nfila, the child health manager for the ministry of health. She was very helpful and kind to us. She introduced us to several key people, including Mr. Setshwano Mokgweetzinyana (try to say that one--if you say it real fast it sounds like "Louisiana") who is the acting director of public health and disease control, and several others. We were introduced to so many officials, it was hard to keep track of them all. Elder Tolley keeps their names on little cards in his shirt pocket. That doesn't mean we can say the names correctly.
Before we left home, we wrote letters to the director of public health and the child health manager in the Botswana Ministry of Health. We explained who we were and told them we were coming. Last time we were in Botswana in 2005, we started at the bottom of the protocol chain and worked our way up. This time we started at the top and worked our way down. It was unbelievably slow either way. All we wanted to do is offer our help with social mobilization for their measles campaign. We had donations to make (flyers, radio advertisement, volunteers, etc.) and support to give. But they were suspicious of our motives. Elder Tolley assured them we were only here to serve. They all really warmed up to him, but it still took 13 days to get the letter of introduction to the districts and permission for the members of the church to volunteer and serve in the campaign. Sometimes the protocol drives us nuts.
This is Ms Bakanuki Nfila, the child health manager for the ministry of health. She was very helpful and kind to us. She introduced us to several key people, including Mr. Setshwano Mokgweetzinyana (try to say that one--if you say it real fast it sounds like "Louisiana") who is the acting director of public health and disease control, and several others. We were introduced to so many officials, it was hard to keep track of them all. Elder Tolley keeps their names on little cards in his shirt pocket. That doesn't mean we can say the names correctly.
Before we left home, we wrote letters to the director of public health and the child health manager in the Botswana Ministry of Health. We explained who we were and told them we were coming. Last time we were in Botswana in 2005, we started at the bottom of the protocol chain and worked our way up. This time we started at the top and worked our way down. It was unbelievably slow either way. All we wanted to do is offer our help with social mobilization for their measles campaign. We had donations to make (flyers, radio advertisement, volunteers, etc.) and support to give. But they were suspicious of our motives. Elder Tolley assured them we were only here to serve. They all really warmed up to him, but it still took 13 days to get the letter of introduction to the districts and permission for the members of the church to volunteer and serve in the campaign. Sometimes the protocol drives us nuts. 
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