Goodbye Botswana!

Hello all! I just arrived down in Ramotswa, where I spent the first three months of my time in Botswana. I am here for my final host family goodbye, before I go up to complete the check-out administrative requirements at the Peace Corps office. At this point, I have left Seronga for the last time. It is still sinking in, which may be why I have not prattled on as long as I usually do in these updates. Below you will find some musings about recent events here, books, and the future; the usual! I hope you enjoy.

The last few months of service, from my post in May until now, have been great. I spent a few weeks traveling in May, around Botswana to see other volunteers and to Sicily to meet my family. The entire month can be summed up in five ways: a lot of eating, talking, hiking, drinking, and reading. It was timed very well, in my own humble opinion, as I had been looking forward to the trip for months, and knew that afterward I would just be preparing to leave.

There have been a few events in the intervening time: a Close of Service conference with the remaining volunteers (more talking, eating, and drinking), a big canoe racing event (I think you understand what happens at these events by now), a week in Maun helping Tsalano with a speech, and a weekend trip to Tsodilo Hills (saw some cave paintings).

Other than that, I spent these last few months preparing myself and others to say goodbye. I spent more time out in the community, seeing people I don’t see much, spending time with friends and family, and generally trying to brace myself for leaving. In the last two weeks I had several parties thrown for me: one from my work, one for family and friends, and some small things with just friends. I was given a lot of gifts, including some incredible baskets (one has my name woven into it!), people said many many nice things about me, and I tried my best to tell them how accepted and supported they had made me feel.

I tried my absolute best to say goodbye well, which is both what I personally wanted to do and what Peace Corps urged us to do. I had a chance to sit down with everyone I wanted to, share some memories and time together, and then give them a hug and say goodbye. It was absolutely exhausting, having to say so many emotional farewells, but I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. It was very sad, but I am able to take solace in the fact that the goodbyes were so sad simply because I will miss so many people in Seronga, and they are going to miss me as well. So all in all, very sad, but I left knowing that I had made an impact at least in my host family and close friends lives.

I have some thank you’s that I owe all of you as well. First and foremost, to my family back in Minnnesota: I would not have been able to stay here for two full years if it wasn’t for your relentless support and love. I thank you with my entire heart and soul for setting me up for the success I have had here, and in life. You all have raised and supported me to become who I am today, and to have the opportunities that I have today. I will never forget that, and will treasure it always. To all my friends and readers of these long posts, I thank you as well. Knowing that I had all of you out there reading these silly updates pushed me not only to set everything down in writing but also to go out and have more adventures, meet more people, and try to do more good. I have read every message you have sent and have loved talking with (and at, via blog) you all for the last 27 months.

I gained a lot of solace and support from reading and other various hobbies here as well. I have read an incredible 115 books here in Botswana, from July 2024 until today. Yes, many were younger books, and there are some rereads in there too, but I did manage to read some real classics while I was at it; books that will stay with me for a long time. I form strong emotional and situational relationships to the books that I read. For instance, I will always remember that I read Red Rising on the plane over here, and for the first few days in Botswana. So it makes a lot of sense that the books that were the most meaningful to me over the last two years have some kind of connection to my life, either currently or in the past. That being said, tan tarrah! Behold, the Nick Bayley Best Books of Service:

1) The Brothers K by David James Duncan

2) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

3) The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin

4) A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Leguin

5) The Witcher by Andrezj Sapkowski

Honorable Mentions (also known as the books that all (individually!) almost broke me)

1) Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

2) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

3) Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

4) Frankenstein by Mary Shelly

5) 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

I can’t start talking about them all, because then this will run for several more pages. Suffice it to say, I thoroughly enjoyed all of these books, even the Honorable Mentions. Don Quixote gets two extra points, one for the longest it has ever taken me to read one book, and another for making me laugh out loud the most I ever had while reading.

I have many more thoughts, about the state of the world, AI, the US reputation abroad, etc., however I am struggling to find within myself the strength to talk about such dull and despressing matters. I would rather tell you about the man sitting next to me on the bus yesterday, who made sure that I got off at the right stop because it was dark out. Or my older brother, who disappeared from the table of my favorite restaurant in Maun a few nights ago to buy me a hat from the restaurant store.

I want to tell you about the beautiful, sad, and meaningful goodbyes and gifts that everyone gave me. Or perhaps the simple acts of kindness that so many people showed me in my final days.

The world seems a dark, gloomy place when I read the news, and when I look at the big picture. But when I get down on the ground and interact with my friends, my family, and even random strangers out living their lives, I get my hope back. The world starts to seem a bit brighter, one little act of service or kindness at a time.

From here I am doing a bit of traveling before going home. Long story short: one month in Southern Africa and two months in Southeast Asia. I’ll be back in Minnesota for Christmas, and cannot wait to see many of you then.

I do believe this will be the last blog post, as I hope the next one will be face to face with each of you. If I find good enough wifi, I may post some more pictures on the website from time to time, but I will not have the ability to post a longer post like this.

I will try my best to post many pictures from the last few months here. At this point, they will tell a better story than I can.

Thank you all again for your love and support.

Nick