SIDES!

So this week as I was washing my laundry by hand and listening to my iPod on shuffle, one of Dr. Easton’s infamous recorded lecturettes came on. I was reminded of my fabulous friends and professors in the SIDES department. I also was reminded, again of a Dr. Easton colloquialism in talking about our papers for his class.  I keep throwing my dishwater out into the bushes only to find that I’ve also thrown out a fork or spoon. He’s always commenting about how we don’t want to “throw the baby out with the bathwater” when we establish our arguments.

Thanks for all the support and emails I get from all of you. I hope you enjoy reading these updates. And thanks to Miz Cobb for making sure it all gets posted!

Right now I’m in the middle of what we in South Africa Peace Corps (SA PC) call “lockdown.” It’s the first three months while you are at your permanent site. For the first three months we are supposed to work really hard to make the village our home. We are also supposed to create a portfolio all about our village and organization that we are working for. Since I’m working at schools, my portfolio is mostly about the schools I’m working with. So I’ve been doing a lot of interviews and observations.

But “lockdown” also means that you are only allowed to spend the night away from your village one weekend a month.  I really think it’s a good idea, because it forces us to spend the weekends going to weddings, funerals  and parties in the village instead of visiting other volunteers, which I know would be tempting in the beginning when we are getting used to being the only American for miles and miles (I mean kilometers and kilometers).

I’m learning that no Peace Corps experience is the same. In fact from what I’m hearing the different countries do things completely differently with training, regulations, and schedules. If you’re going into the Peace Corps, I’d suggest following a blog of someone who is in the country you’re going to because that is going to be closest to your experience. But even that might not be similar. The people that I trained with (all education volunteers) all have different set ups in their villages, and the people who are health volunteers have even different situations. I recently visited a volunteer who lives at a game reserve outside a big city and works at the municipality office. She lives in one of the “cabins” at the game reserve that are rented out to vacationers and has a maid come in everyday. At first she refused the maid service, but the reserve pays the maids per cabin they clean, so she was preventing them for getting paid, so she allows them to clean for her.

Some of my friends live in villages with grocery stores, while others have to take an hour bus ride that costs 10$USD to get to a grocery store. Some people love the families they live with and eat dinner with them every night. I prefer to cook my own food and just spend time with my family in the afternoon and on weekends.  I’m working at schools where the principals are really receptive to my ideas and they let me put my plans in action. Other people have principals that are not so open to new things.  Some people have toilets and showers with running water, while I’m swiping cockroaches off my butt when I use my pit latrine. You just can’t compare your experience to anyone elses.

At the end of our “lockdown” period we have a 10 day training session the first week of December in Pretoria to discuss what we’ve seen/done so far and talk about establishing new projects, etc. We also bring a “counterpart” or helper from our village for 3 days of training so that we can have someone help us work with Life Skills. Life Skills focuses on HIV/AIDS with youth, but also targets decision making skills, confidence, genders roles, and healthy living. I have been talking to my fellow volunteers about international education and a few of them want to know more. So I asked one of my supervisors if I could do a session on an “overview” of International  Development Education during this training workshop. She said yes, so I’m signed up to lead a session. I’ll probably need some assistance from the SIDES department in putting the session together. I basically
want to explain the concepts of EFA and UPE and explain where we are in this process and how ideas about development education are evolving (ie Learning for All instead of EFA).

School Days

So finally I’m going to get around to what I’m actually doing here, which I’m sure you might have been wondering.

Well first of all, for the first three months that we are living in our villages we are just supposed to observe and learn. This is so we can learn village dynamics and needs before starting projects, etc.
I’m currently in the process of completing a fairly extensive portfolio about my schools and the village I live in.

My main project here is to work at the two schools in my village. One primary school and one secondary school. One class for each grade. That gives you an idea of how big my village is. I spend all day, every school day at one of the schools, alternating days. I’m interviewing teachers, observing classes, developing rapport with teachers and discovering how the SA school system works.  Not to mention I have reorganized books in the staffrooms so that teachers can actually see what resources are available to them.

I’ve also done a bit of working with teachers to plan and deliver lessons, but I hope to do more of that. I started a long term journaling project with Grades 5 and 9. I write individual questions in English to them and they write answers back. This provides a safe space for them to practice reading and writing English on topics they know and at their level.

Sometimes when I notice that a class has been left alone I go in and do extension activities, like English and Math games with the students. I also tutor small groups, do read alouds, and am trying to make sure every secondary school student gets a lesson on test taking strategies. We are also creating artwork for World AIDS Day which is December 1!

The most exciting thing I’ve done with the students happened this week! The school year here goes with the calendar, so they start in January and end in December. The secondary learners (as they are called here) have already started their final exams… Thus, if the students aren’t taking an exam that day, they don’t really have any teachers teaching them. So this week the Art and Culture teacher asked me to teach some ballroom dancing lessons. I started teaching swing dancing to Grade 8 and 9. They absolutely LOVED it! After the lesson was over they were still practicing on their own and Grade 9 stayed after school to learn more. Everyone participated and they are fairly good. They keep asking me to teach them more, and I have. My fellow Peace Corps volunteer and dance partner on multiple occasions, Howell, suggested that I try to use dancing as a way to model appropriate cross-gender interactions, so I’m trying to throw in that kind of thing as I teach them basic swing dancing.  Its going really well! Howell and I are throwing around the idea of hosting a dance workshop during a school break in 2012, so hopefully that will come to fruition.  There is definitely enough interest.

So that’s what I’m currently up to in the schools. I hope it helps you to see what exactly I’m doing. I hope that I will be able to do more working with teachers to improve lesson plans and diversify their teaching methods. I’d also like to start some out of school clubs for girls, reading, and/or dance. I'll be starting up more official things in  January when school begins again.

Village life

My “mom,” Josephine, and I go visiting and help out with community events together (more on that later). She helps me make social connections around the village.

Nolo and I also have a weekly exercise group that spontaneously formed. My first Sunday there, we ran down to the school soccer “field” (really just a flat area with dirt) and did an exercise routine. Now we have a group of small boys that join us every week at 7:00am and children ask me about it all the time – “when are you exercising? Can I come?”

The other day Josephine asked me if black people in America spoke Sepedi. She was amazed when I told her that, “No, they speak English.” She then went through the list of all the neighboring South African languages, asking me if black people in America spoke those, as I kept telling her that everyone speaks mostly English.

The gender differences here in rural South Africa are amazing. I really don’t ever hang out with any men except I sometimes talk to the male teachers at school. The men and women lead totally separate lives. For one, most of men with jobs work in the bigger towns and villages, only coming home at the end of the month. Josephine’s brothers drilled holes in my wall so I could hang my curtains.

Elias is retired. Josephine does everything: cooking, washing dishes, fetching water, washing clothes, building a fire, taking care of children, sweeping, mopping, polishing the floor, spreading cow dung on the patio (?!?! I think its supposed to “clean it”). And remember this is all done without running water, which makes everything take longer.

The women also are involved in community events almost every weekend. It seems that every weekend there is a party or a wedding or a funeral. For all of these events neighbors are expected to contribute. They lend chairs, bowls, plates, kettles, big cast iron cauldrons, and spoons. They contribute 2 liters of soda, bags of flour and corn meal, canned food, firewood they’ve gathered from the bush etc for feeding everyone. The women are at the host’s home for days before the event cooking and brewing local alcohol. They cook food in huge iron three-legged pots over the fire. Everyone helps cut up vegetables and cook the food. It appears to be an organizational nightmare because no one person is in charge , 30+ women and girls are working together and it all gets done. Of course we take plenty of tea and scone breaks because they always have that on hand for the helpers.

During the weddings, the men are in charge of slaughtering the cow. I still haven’t seen the actual killing, but I have watched them cut up the cow. They use every part. Did you know that there is a lot of cow dung  and grass in the stomach that they have to clean out before chopping up the intestines to cook? They use the skin as kind of a table cloth on the ground to do the chopping up of the parts.

One thing that I have found interesting is that a lot of the older women use snuff. At least that’s what I think it is – they put coarse powdered tobacco in their noses. I don’t think the men do it, but I’m not sure because I never hang out with them.

These women carry everything on their heads. Josephine and I were headed to help with a party last weekend. She had a stack of 6 heavy duty plastic chairs and a large bowl. She said to me “help me put these chairs on my head.” I did and she carried them to the neighbors. The other day I was carrying a blanket and some other small items on my head and I thought I was really cool. Then I ran into a woman carrying a HUGE cast iron pot on her head! Literally, she had what we would consider a witches cauldron on her head. I felt not as cool with my simple blanket.

Our town went without running water from the spigot for 4 days a while back. After my family finished off the drums of water they keep stored for occasions like that, Josephine and I had to fetch water from the river. We walked about ¾ of a mile through the bush, down to a river that I didn’t even know was there. Then we carried our buckets of water back on our heads. I felt like a real African woman after that. Now I’m trying to carry more things on my head. It really makes sense – the weight is dispersed more evenly throughout your whole body and your hands are free to carry other things. I saw a lady in town the other day carrying a cake on her head through a bustling shopping area with her hands full of shopping bags.
Currently we are without electricity because the transformer in our village blew up. Who knows when it will get fixed. And I’m also learning that cell phone reception and cellular Internet connections fluctuate on a daily basis. But at least I usually have electricity and often have Internet access.

My mailbox is in a town 45 minutes and a $6 “shared taxi” ride away, so I usually only check is once a week or so.

I’ll try to post some pictures of the parties soon. But here’s a story to leave you with: I went to a wedding a couple of weeks ago. In the morning I helped cook as all the neighbors do. I was invited to go to the church for the ceremony with the bridal party (an honor because not everyone gets to go since it requires transport which not everyone has). Well we left for the ceremony 3 hours after they said we would leave, me not realizing that it took 45 min to get to the church. When we arrived back at the wedding most of the food had been eaten, including all the meat and moved to a back room. I served myself out some healthy portions of veggies and rice and was pleased to note that there was still a bowl of custard/pudding left for dessert. When I headed back for dessert I filled my cup with custard and licked a big spoonful. Unfortunately it was not the YUM I expected it to be. Turns out it wasn’t custard at all – but  BUTTER! I has just eaten a spoonful of butter! It was so warm that it was the soft consistency of pudding… YUCK! I almost threw up!

I feel like I’m getting to know my village and the culture more and more everyday. I have friends I visit on a regular basis and I can greet people by name. Next post I’ll tell you more about what I’m doing in the schools.

Home sweet home

Today I heard that former Peace Corps volunteers are ineligible to be on the show Survivor. Apparently the shows claims that we’ve “been there, done that.”

Right now I’m currently sitting in my new home for the next two years. Its in a small village, in southern Limpopo province, but first, let me back up and explain how I got here.

About two weeks ago I visited my permanent site for 5 days to check it out before I moved there permanently.  Details about my new home to come. The closest volunteer is about a 30 minute kombi (public transport/”taxi”) ride away. His name is Nick. Figures that I move across the globe and the closest American grew up 3 hours from my hometown. We share the same “shopping town,” which is where we travel on Saturdays to get groceries because the only things you can buy in my village are rice, soda, and tomatoes (literally). Since we live close, Nick and I decided to travel back to our training location together at the end of our visits. That is when the fun began.

Nick and I met in town ready to start the simple journey back to finish up our PC training. Each of us has a bookbag and a totebag, plus Nick was carrying a pair of shoes and a huge pawpaw fruit (similar to papaya). Of course we, and all of our luggage end up squished in the very back of the kombi (taxi) with two other people and about 4 inches of leg room. What we didn’t know then was that on every transfer (we had
about 4 of them) on our 5 hour journey we would end up squeezing into the back, bags flying everywhere, not able to move a muscle, much less take off our jackets, which had begun to make us sweat profusely.
We finally arrived back at our training site, a little sweatier, and a little wiser about packing lightly when using public transport.

After our site visit we had two more weeks of training which included our final language test (I passed!). We also had a picnic for our training host families that included a spontaneous talent show. I accidentally ended up doing a spontaneous ballroom dancing presentation with another volunteer who dances. The South Africans loved it! On September 8, 2011, I was sworn in as an official Peace Corps volunteer and on Sept. 9 I moved to my tiny village on the side of a hill.

I live with an older man, (his name is either Elias or Silas, I still haven’t been able to figure that out), and his wife, Josephine. Their grandchildren, an 11 yr old boy named Nolo, and a 2 yr old girl named Frenchie.  I live in one room of a cement building off their back patio. It has electricity, but nothing else, including furniture as of now. I was doing everything off the floor, cooking, sleeping, storing things, etc, but I was recently able to aquire some desks from school and a few chairs.

Also, I have recently gotten a Blackberry cellphone plan that has “unlimited” internet access, so I should be able to e-mail more and post pictures more frequently.   I can’t watch youtube videos or download large files, but I can post pictures that I take on my phone and do most anything else. It may seem weird to be a Peace Corps volunteer with a Blackberry, but it was the cheapest and easiest way to get Internet access… welcome to the developing world.

Finishing training

I am currently finishing up the 2 months of training in South Africa. I've been living with a host family and learning the Sepdi language, not to mention, figuring out how to live in a culturally appropriate way in South Africa.

In my last post I think I had just moved in with my host family and I was terrified of getting sick. Well, my family has become the best part of my training experience. Other trainees have nicer accommodations, but I have formed awesome relationships and learned so much about life in South Africa. I also figured out who actually lives at the house: Gogo, two 20sih girls, and 3 children. It took me almost a week to figure out who actually lived there because people were coming and going and I had no idea what was going on.  I’ve become really close with my sister Katlego (it’s pronounced like its spelled, good luck with the “tl”) – she has become my confidant and the person that answers all my questions about how things are done. Anything embarrassing, like if its appropriate to use the chamber pot in my room if its after dark, really cold out, but not bedtime, I just ask her and she tells it to me straight.

I also have received a South African name, “Morongwa” it means “sent or messenger” but the dictionary (which is usually wrong) says “angel” so I prefer to think of myself like that. I introduce myself as “Morongwa Maleka” (using my family’s surname) and South African just laugh and laugh when they hear that.

Here are the current happening:
1.      - Snow in South Africa this past month (not where I am, but its that cold). It is getting warmer, thank goodness.

2.       - We met the chief of the village. He had building, and representatives, he decides who gets to build their houses, where.

3.      -  I’m getting quicker at bucket baths – it helps that I only wash my hair 2 times a week.

4.       - It’s been windy lately, which means dust is constantly in your eyes, but does decrease the smell of the outhouse.

5.       - There was a wedding across the street from my house. Please see pics for more details.

6.       - I volunteered at an old age home with my South African sister – we mopped the floor.

7.       - The PC volunteers visited the Vortrekker monument (basically about the Afrikkaner trek similar to our westward expansion, like Oregon Trail) and the Aparthied museum.

8.       - I’ve taught a couple times at the local high school.

9.      -  Our training coordinator hit a porcupine with his truck, so he skinned it (see pics for more details).

10.   - This is now my mantra “Life is never so good or so bad that it can’t be improved by a hot shower.” Something to think about.

I wiIl visit my permanent site on Wednesday. It is about 2 hours southeast of Polokwane in a village that is not on the map. I'll give you more details about that when I get back.

Arrival!

Well I'm here! I'll be staying in SA for the next few months learning Sepedi (also know as Northern Sotho) and experiencing the local culture.

We spent one night in DC last week (hard to believe it was only a week ago) getting prepared for what to expect and meeting our fellow PC trainees. There are 56 Peace Corps trainees in my group. Most are around 23 years old and either have just graduated or graduated a year ago. There are about 6 of us who are late twenties and then there are a couple of 40ish people. We even have a guy who is in his late 60s, lives in a house made out of old tires in Tennessee, and left his wife there for two years while he is in South Africa. There are 3 married couples, 2 of them are recently retired and the other is in their mid-twenties. Its a good group of people with a variety of life experiences.

The first thing I have to say about my time here is that it has been really cold. There is no heating or air conditioning in any of the buildings, and it is the middle of "winter" (which is very similar to a Florida winter). During the day I am fine outside in a sweater but when you are inside, without sunlight, and at night I have been freezing by butt off.

We spent the first 4 days staying in "blocks" (an 8 person house with a hall bathroom) and learning at a university. It was a good way to get oriented into a new place. We learned introductions and greetings in 4 different languages and started learning about the practicalities of life in SA (bucket baths, safety concerns, water treatment, what our job will be like, how to identify the different types of diarrhea, etc.)

People in our group will be learning 4 different languages based on where we will be located. At the end of our two month training we find out where we will be permanently located. I'm learning Sepedi language so that means that I will probably be stationed in southern Limpopo (a province), about 3 hours from the capital, Pretoria.

Right now we are staying with host families. Let's just say that my host family is really preparing me for what life will be like when I get to my permanent site. I am living with a "gogo" (grandma) and her 3 grandchildren. Her daughter comes by every once in a while (more on her later). My gogo doesn't speak great English and neither do the children, so communication is a problem.  I have my own room and there is a pit toilet in the back - it's kind of like a port-a-pottie and smells a bit like creamed corn (don't ask). You can't go out to the toilet at night, so when it gets late you have to pee in a bucket in your room and empty it in the morning. My first chamber pot experience!!!

I am boiling and filtering my water. We have electricity and a stove, but sometimes gogo cooks over a fire in the shed out back.

I have never eaten while watching TV, but I come to South Africa and my family watches TV while eating dinner! Evenings consist of bathing, watching TV, and doing my homework, which the kids help me with and then try to teach me new words.

My first night at the house, my new "sister" Francina, who is 25 years old comes in and starts boiling water for her bucket bath. After she finishes preparing her water she says to me, "Now you come with me to my room." When we get there she shows me where I can sit and then begins to take off her clothes to bathe!! I had literally known her for 5 minutes at this point. She chats with me while she bathes and I get a good demonstration of how actually to execute a bucket bath. Apparently this is culturally normal to bathe with girlfriends, but it was certainly a shocker to me!

It's going to be a tough two months, getting out of bed when it is freezing outside and then taking a bucket bath.(I'm thinking about chopping my hair since it is a bit difficult to bucket bathe with long hair;)