Hi everybody, Happy New Year! Last week marked 2 years since my arrival in South Africa. Can you believe it? To me, it has gone so fast, sometimes I can say that 2 years has felt like 2 days…. Anyway, I want to share some of the things going on over here. Soooo, every volunteer has an opportunity to apply for an extension of their typical 27 months of service, for an additional 12 months. This extension can be a lengthy process of paperwork and approvals, so the volunteer needs to start thinking about it early to get the ball rolling. I started to consider applying for this extension around July of last year. It consumed most of my thoughts as I continued to enter situations that made me contemplate each option. There were plenty of things going well. I was lucky to be seeing tangible progress with my counterparts and organizations. We were also starting the process of putting together a 3 night boy’s camp. And more than ever, I found myself enjoying time with my family, friends and community. On the other hand, there would always seem to be things happening around me, which made me reconsider. I recognize now that I was naïve to think that I would somehow ‘get used’ to all the attention, stares and harassment that I receive on a daily basis. Instead, I saw my tolerance and patience getting significantly worse the longer I was here. I was finding myself reluctant to leave my room, as my reactions were so unpredictable towards the next person who overly-engaged with me. Living with this level of uncomfortableness has made me realize how privileged and lucky I was for my place in America. I always blended in, never had to feel the stares and discomfort for standing out and being the ‘different one’. I am lucky to now feel this for the first time in my life, in a situation that I know will one day end, as there are millions who live with this their entire lives. In the same breath I do recognize the benefits I receive from my Americanness and the color of my skin. With the history of this country and apartheid, I am often given un-deserved respect. Elders will greet me before ever acknowledging my friends or family. My co-workers believe that I have the ability to do everything (as often I have never performed a certain task before), while doubting their own abilities. It is a fact that I need to always be conscious of and ensure that I don’t let it go unrecognized as doing so may be detrimental to this healing country. In the end, I did apply for the extension. Looking at where I was 2 years ago and the relationships I have built along this journey, ultimately made my decision for me. These relationships have allowed me to be a mentor to the young adults around me while simultaneously being a mentee myself as I find myself learning unmeasurable lessons of humanity and life while spending time here. I believe these interactions and conversations that will leave the biggest impact in my community, above and beyond my core projects. I was thrilled that Peace Corps did approve me to stay another year, as I also can’t imagine saying goodbye to my community quite yet. Therefore, my new close of service date is April 2020. Moving Forward In addition to this extension, I have also taken on a new position within Peace Corps as a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader (PCVL). For this, I will be assisting the newest cohort of Peace Corps Trainee’s. I will be leaving my site to be with them throughout their entire pre-service training; January to April. Once these trainees have sworn in as Peace Corps Volunteers, I will return to my site for a final year of service and support them as needed. It’s going to be a very interesting change of pace, returning to training and working to prepare these individuals, to the best of my ability, for all they have to come in this remarkable country. Hope all is well on that side. Sending love and hugs in the new year! Josie :) Photo Highlights from the Past MonthsHere are a few images from my BRO (Boy's Respecting Other's) Camp last October. The purpose of this camp was to empower young men from my community in the fight against HIV and gender based violence. My counterparts and I worked with 18 boys from our local high school. With the help of a grant we were able to hold our camp at a local lodge. Our days were filled with discussion and activities while our evenings were spent with team building activities, time to relax in the pool, and watch fun/ inspirational movies- Black Panther was a favorite! December 1st was World AIDS Day, and with my Home Based Care we had an event for the second year in a row. The highlight this year was that we had 41 individuals get HIV tested! The day was filled with guest speakers, poems & dance by local students, and motivation by community leaders. New clothing is the number 1 gift during the holiday season. My mom and dad managed to get new tops for the whole family to pass out on Christmas morning. Here was a photo of everyone showing off their new clothes.
My sisters, cousins and I spent New Year's Eve at a local pool. The day was filled with dancing, swimming and a braii (South African BBQ). I then spent midnight at a local tavern with my friends to celebrate and danced until dawn the next day.
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Although there is no 'typical day' in the Peace Corps, I made this video to try to show a bit of what I'm doing over here. Enjoy! Hello all you lovely people still following my journey, My previous posts have focused on my projects here in SA, so this post I wanted to share a bit of what I do outside of work. Just another special part of Peace Corps is that we are in this 24/7. Through living with a host family, making friends, and learning daily chores of life in SA - I feel like I’ve had to work just as much on everything outside of work, as I’ve had to on my actual job. When I first arrived at site, I pictured myself using my weekends to meet up with other volunteers, escape to local towns and take vacations. My mindset changed the closer I grew to my village. It costs money to go anywhere and so I recognized I was one of the few people ever leaving. Now I get serious FOMO (fear of mission out) when I leave my village, therefore I am happiest not going anywhere. On Saturday’s, I usually spend the morning doing chores. This includes laundry (all hand washing), mopping and polishing the my room (there is so much sand everywhereeeee). If there is a funeral, that will be held Saturday morning. It is a sad reality that funerals are apart of my communities weekly plans. When someone dies, prayer is held every evening leading up to the funeral and then the person is buried Saturday morning. I enjoy spending time with my younger siblings and neighbor kids on the weekends. We bake, watch videos, color, and DANCE (a lot). We also usually take walks to the local shop - by that I mean about 1/4 mile walk to the main road. They’ll always go with me cause I’ll buy them a sweet. In the afternoon I usually head out to my favorite part of my village; the station. This the area on the main road where you would go to catch a taxi to town. It is the ‘main hub’ and to me it feels like a student center on a college campus. At any time of day, I can go here and find people around - boy’s playing soccer, people sitting and vendors selling food on the side of the road. There are also car washes, small shops and the taverns. I usually come out to this area to meet up with my friends and sit together. Sitting with others is something I’ve never done as much as I have here. It was a change for me to enjoy sitting and not feel like I need to go and be materialistically productive somewhere else. I love it and I attribute a lot of my happiness to the station. Later in the evening, I’m going to be honest, I will go to the taverns in my village. This is quite rare for Peace Corps Volunteers, especially female volunteers. I attribute my ability to go here by the friends I have - most of whom are young men. I have friended this group become the reality is that most women my age are busy at home with their children. Women and girls therefore usually do not leave their homes and are also responsible for all the house chores like cooking and cleaning. Although I have conflicting feelings as I do not bare the responsibilities other women in my village have, I feel lucky to have these friends. A tavern in my village is one room, about the size of a small bedroom. You go inside to purchase drinks and then sit outside on plastic crates, rocks, or cement blocks. If someone has a car they will open all the doors and blast music from there. Interestingly enough, going to taverns has also been a successful place to talk about HIV. The number 1 way that HIV is spread is through unprotected sex. With this being a sensitive topic, it has been helped to discuss this topic in a more casual setting. On Sundays I usually go to church. Religion is very important to my host-family and overall in SA. Since arrival, one of the first questions people ask me is “what church do you go to?”. I usually have a hard time following everything being said at church but I enjoy the singing and being together with others. At church we are required to wrap our heads, wear a skirt and have long sleeves. If I don’t go to church, then I may find myself at Monchongolo. This is a traveling event that showcases traditional dance groups from surrounding villages. It is a huge event with crowds up to hundreds. It kindof turns into a big party once it get’s dark with DJ's blasting music and everyone showing off their incredible dance moves. And that's usually all for my exciting weekends. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in my projects, but being able to enjoy life outside of work is where I've found happiness.
Anyways, I hope some warmer weather starts coming to everybody that side! I'm eagerly waiting our 'winter' over here. - Josie :) Hi everybody and happy 2018! I’m going to try to catch you all up on the past few months, jumping back to last year and getting our first projects off the ground; a girls group and World AIDS Day event. I'm still trying to process how these projects went and what we can improve on. I now understand; living here is one thing, but trying to work here is a whole new ballgame. A major cultural adjustment of working here means that I cannot predict anything which is frustrating at times, yet keeps everything exciting, which I absolutely love.
Within days of meeting Bongi last April, she told me she wanted to start a girls club, which made it more special when it become a reality. We had a group of 35 girls all in grades 8 and 9 at our local high school. We met with them twice a week for 10 weeks. One day a week was discussion and activities of topics including self-awareness, self confidence, health and HIV. The second day of the week was a sports day where we played soccer and the girls taught me the popular South African sport of netball. On December 1st, our Home Based Care, Youth Center and Clinic worked together to have our community's first ever World AIDS Day event. Our goal of the event was to unite in the fight against HIV, show support for those living with HIV, and remember those who have lost their lives to HIV. Our program included speakers from the Department of Health, individuals living with HIV, and community leaders. Our Girl's Club presented a drama they created on HIV and we also held a candlelight vigil for those who have lost their lives to HIV. We had booths for HIV & TB testing and we got to slaughter a cow to feed the audience. Going through these projects continued to make me think about what my role should be as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I’m working to find the balance between being a leader and also giving up control to let others take ownership. I want my co-workers and community to be the driving force behind these projects to ensure that they are important to the community and not just something I think could help. These projects also exposed me to unfortunate effects of money. We wrote a grant for these projects and as I tried to work hand in hand with all my host country partners by being transparent about the amount of money and giving others control of the money, this lead to tension, accusations, and ultimately the 'disappearance' of some money. It was really sad and hard to comprehend, but I just try not to hold negative feeling against anybody as I know I'll never be able to fully understand the effects that the history of this country and poverty can have on individuals. If Facebook didn't alert everyone enough :), at the completion of these projects my parents visited me! It still doesn't feel real that they were actually here. It was an incredible experience having them in village, meeting my friends and family, feeling the heat of the Mpumalanga sun and getting a glimpse of my new life over here. I can't say our trip was flawless though. I felt mentally exhausted nearly the entire time going from my integrated life in a rural village, to becoming one of the millions of tourists visiting Cape Town and other developed cities in South Africa. I've yet to meet someone in my village who has been to Cape Town and many people have never been to Kruger National Park (which I'm practically bordering). I felt torn leaving my village and jumping into this other world that I have the privilege to be apart of and knowing so many of those that I have come to love here will never be apart of, even though some of these amenities are just miles from their homes. My parents also felt at a loss of words to the complete and obvious inequalities and disparity in this country. My mom has struggled to explain it to others as she has returned home and so she asked to write a short piece to explain; it is attached at the bottom of this post if you'd like to read it. And finally, my old high school friend Tim came and spent a week in my village with me. It was all to special and unique that he had the desire to come and just experience what life is like over here. We had a jam packed week as I tried to fit in so many aspects of my life. Highlights included eating chicken & cow legs, riding the taxis, explaining to everyone he's not my husband, giving him the name Matimba (meaning strength) and my siblings & neighbors coming to adore him (some continue to ask where he went). Tim made a lasting impression here as he was determined to learn the basics of the language in just a short visit. I don't think many people would be able to handle some of the challenges as well as he did and it was all to meaningful to have him here. Phefffff sorry that was such a long post. To say the least, I cannot believe I've almost been here one year now. So much is still going on which keeps me busy, happy and more excited then ever to see what the next year will bring. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2018! Love, Josie Impressions from a PCV's Mother Now that we’re home people ask, “How was your vacation?”. Much to their dismay, it’s impossible to respond without acknowledging the struggle we saw. Having a daughter living in the midst of it slants my vision, but a summary of our trip would be completely lacking if it did not include the challenging reality that faces the majority of the population in South Africa. Three weeks road-tripping around 5 provinces in South Africa; we pinched ourselves frequently to make sure we weren’t dreaming. We experienced a wild & beautiful country, beautiful people & culture, with distressing & overwhelming problems. If you’re interested enough to read this – remember these facts: Of the 59 million people in South Africa. 7% white, 80% black, 13% mixed. The MAJORITY of the 47 million black South Africans, live in Shantytowns. Shanty towns are everywhere; big cities, small towns, & in the middle of nowhere. Small parcels of land with tens of thousands of families living on top of each other. Most have no running water, outhouses shared by many, no garbage collection or dump. Garbage everywhere. When the wind blows, plastic bags & garbage get stuck in the brush, on fences, strewn along beautiful beaches, giving the appearance of decoration, until you realize it’s garbage. In many places, only a street divides two extremes; plus high fencing with ugly barbed wire around the perimeter of every home. While leaving Cape Town, we drove alongside a shanty town for 30 minutes & never saw the end of it. Josie does not live in a shanty town; the Peace Corps doesn’t allow it. She lives in an extremely poor community with 80% unemployment. Her family is among the lucky; the family home has solid walls, partially functioning windows & doors, and a tin roof that only leaks a little. The fire they cook over is nearby & thankfully outdoors. Josie’s “dad” travels only a few miles each day to fill their water containers from a well. Her younger siblings only walk 2 miles each way, to school. Josie and her family don’t need to share their outhouse with the entire neighborhood; only with a few neighbors. Josie’s family has 2 mango trees; providing amazing relief from the powerful sun during the 6 months of summer. Josie takes malaria medicine daily; unfortunately, the family she rents from does not. There is a high school nearby; every single window was broken with jagged broken glass visible, no books, no blackboard, no desk for a teacher. The students from this school ask Josie for help with their online college applications. Her village is a place where malaria and HIV unfairly take lives every year.
There is much good in Josie’s community; people share pretty much everything they have. People get around by hitchhiking – hundreds and hundreds of hitchhikers get where they need to go because the level of trust is high enough that they get picked up. There is a lot of activity, kids playing, handshaking, dancing, and laughter. Josie has fully integrated herself into the life of this village; she is happy, with friends and people who love her. We had an amazing time in her village. I don’t have any good suggestions for the problems in South Africa; just sadness and dismay. Despite what I saw, I went on and had a nice time – spent money on nice hotels and adventures. Enough money to change the life for an entire family. Saddened daily by what I saw; but, enjoyed a nice meal in a restaurant with glass of wine by the end of each day. We tried to tip generously, smile big, learn a few words of their languages, and shake a lot of hands. Always feeling inadequate. Josie struggled throughout our travels, finding it almost impossible to accept that we were still in the same country she’s been living in for the past year. It felt like another planet. Imagine what it feels like to those who have spent their entire life there. Strong & hard-working. Many who live 10 miles from the famous Kruger National Park, will never step foot in it. I hope life will get easier for them, but I have no idea how that will happen. Now I understand why Josie’s blog posts are far and few between; some things are impossible to put into words. ps: I ❤️ Mpumalanga! Hi Everyone, Wow, I can’t believe I’ve now been in country for over 8 months. These past few weeks have been, to say the least, eye opening. I’m starting to realize why Peace Corps is 2.5 years; things I didn’t notice in the first few months being here are now unavoidably obvious. I can only imagine how my view will evolve during the coming months. I’ve been trying for a couple weeks now to write another blog post. When I was preparing to depart for The Peace Corps, nearly everyone warns you to stock up on books and fill your hard-drive with movies because you’re going to find a lot more free time then you’ve ever had. But that has not been the case for me, my reality is that I am absolutely exhausted. I take full responsibility for this, but now I’m trying to recognize why this is, so I don’t burn myself out. First off; it’s college application time. The process of applying to a university from a rural village in Mpumalanaga is a combination of frustration and defeat. Many universities in South Africa only allow online applications. Therefore, the lack of computer access simply adds another barrier for the students here. When students come to use our resources at the Youth Center, it can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days to apply, depending on our internet connection, or if the on-line application itself is even working (the 404 Not Found Error page is a regular ☹ ). During the process, I am routinely begged by the student to change their grades for them. This always hits me hard. Looking at their grades, the students and I both know that they are not going to get accepted. And to tell the truth, I am tempted to change them; it’s not their fault that they were not provided textbooks, basic learning materials or assistance at school. I fear that if they don’t go to university, the cycle of unemployment and under-education will continue. My community currently has an estimated 80% unemployment rate. I’m tempted to change their grades, potentially break this cycle and give them a chance. (For the record I haven’t though). But I'll continue working to try to find achievable and sustainable solutions to help these students help themselves secure a bright future. Another thing that’s weighed on me lately is that I unfortunately had my first theft. I was losing little things here and there, which I figured was probably kids snatching them when I wasn’t looking. After some bigger items went missing I realized that someone had a spare key and was getting in my room when I was not there. I hopefully have straightened things out, but it was a bummer of a process. On the plus side, I have an after-school girls group starting next week. I want to quickly explain why it’s only a ‘girls’ group. In South Africa, girls ages 13-24 are currently the most at-risk group for contracting HIV. Currently, my community is estimated to have a HIV rate of 25-35%. The reasons for girls are more at risk in SA include the following;
I also will incorporate the topic of teenage pregnancy in this club. The principal at the school requested I incorporate this due to the increase instances of pregnancies among students. In addition, I have recently experienced someone I care about realizing they are pregnant and going through risky abortion here, without many options, which was upsetting and scary to say the least. Sorry that this post was not very upbeat, but I thought it important to share some of the challenges along with everything else. I’ll end on a brighter note; I’ve been putting together a 1-second-per-day video for the past month or so, and so I thought I’d share the link with you all in case you’re interested to check it out! ~Josie Hi Everybody! Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I just returned from a 3 week excursion for Peace Corps training and my first vacation! It was quite an adventure so I'll try to fill you all in on the past few weeks. To start, before I left site, I celebrated my birthday in South Africa. It came at a perfect time, closing out my 3-month integration period. I was speechless by the love from my friends, coworkers and family as they tried to make me feel welcome and at home. My day started with carrying a live chicken to work, which my friends then killed and cooked for my special birthday lunch. My co-workers blasted African house music all day and I made cookies and brownies for us. In the evening, I dished out all the cookies, homemade pizza and brownies that my little stoven could produce with my family and neighbors. The night ended in a dance party in my room with 'all my friends'--- aka about 10 kids all under the age of 12. EPIC. A year ago, I never would have pictured this to be my 25th birthday to be, but at this moment, it was perfect. Shortly after my birthday I headed south to Bronkhorstspruit for a All-Volunteer conference and to celebrate Peace Corps's 20th year being in South Africa. It was great to finally meet serving volunteers from all cohorts in SA. With everyone in various parts of their service, it was motivating and interesting to hear all of their stories and imagine what lies ahead for me. One of the best parts of heading south was that it finally actually felt like winter! (Yes that is frost on the ground) Straight from this conference, my cohort and I headed further south to the infamous province of KwaZulu-Natal for our 2 week In-Service Training (IST). IST comes after our integration period and marks the time when we are ready to being implementing projects. These weeks were filled with session on project management, grant writing and policies. It was a blast to reconnect with my cohort and taking a real shower was nice too. My friends and I managed to find some breweries to hangout, relax and exchange stories at Part of IST also includes training with our supervisors and counterparts. Our supervisor's are individuals selected by Peace Corps to guide us through our service. My supervisor's name is Joyce and she founded our Home Based Care. Counterparts are individuals that we choose to work side by side with on projects and are vital to our success as they know our communities inside and out, and will promote the sustainability of our projects once we leave. I had the PERFECT counterpart to bring to IST. His name is Fumani and he is a volunteer at our Youth Center. We had a blast going through all the training together, but unfortunately he just accepted a new job in Johannesburg. It was quite a bummer, but I'm motivated once more to find another counterpart that will be assets to my service. Fumani and I after completing our Grass Roots Soccer Training and some friends and I enjoying the luxury of a hotel And finally, my first vacation! My friends and I headed out to get a glimpse of the India Ocean in Durban. We hung out around the beach, celebrated our first Women's Day, and then went on to check out Johannesburg (or Jozi) and see Trevor Noah Live. And now I'm back in my home sweet home. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty confusing to come back; although I knew that South Africa was unique with aspects of both a first world and third world country, seeing the disparity first hand was shocking and leaves me kindof speechless.
Hi Everyone! I thought this time around, I'd make post with a collection of photos. Sorry it's been so long since last time I wrote, I've been working on finishing my Community Needs Assessment which turned into a 30 page report, phefff. I will try to explain the photos the best I can so that you all can see a bit more of my experience. The photos above were taken during my first trip to Kruger National Park. How it works at Kruger is that you take a car, or rent a safari truck with a guide like we did, and you drive around the designated roads. The animals are totally in their natural environment so you are just searching all day in hopes to spot some. We were pretty lucky, we saw nearly everything except a rhino. It was pretty crazy to see that these animals are living only about 20 miles from me. With the home based care group, we went around and held candle light services at the local high schools and primary schools (pictured here) to remember those that have passed from HIV. We also take the time to provide education to the students and staff on HIV basics.
My host mom and dad to the left after a wedding we attended together. And on the right is my brand new neighbor; Ntsakelo, meaning happiness. An activity that Peace Corps encourages us conduct in our community is called 'community mapping'. I did this here with a 12 grade class. First the class separated into males and females, and each group then drew a map of the community. After, we compared maps to see what difference we could find, and what they mean. For instance, only the males included soccer fields on their maps. After discussion it came to be the girls feel that they cannot play soccer here. Two of typical meals at my organization. Sometimes we eat bread, with avocados and tea. Other times we get pap and meat. The pap is the white stuff in the top, and there is always lots of meat (sometimes giraffe, chicken, cow or springbok). Explaining what a vegetarian is can be a challenge at times. The orange stuff is called chakalaka, which is the bean, carrot, soupy mixture to dip everything in. And then we have some coleslaw. And a final sunset photo from my community :)
-Josie Hi Everybody! I’ve been at site for about a month now and I’m just starting to get into the swing of things. These first 3 months are called our CNA (Community Needs Assessment) or 'Integration'. During this time, I won’t start any projects. Instead I'm observing how my orgs work, meeting the community and determining what types of programs will be most beneficial. Essentially this is what makes Peace Corps a grassroots approach to development. My goals for these months simply put, are to build relationships and trust. I spend most days with my organizations and evenings walking around my village. I introduce myself to everyone possible, asking questions to gather information for the written document I'll be producing that will serve as a guide to my service the following 2 years. My sister Stuntu, on the far left, and a group of neighbor girls showing me around the village on my first days here. This is the paved road that run's through our village. It's been a nice change of pace to start some hands on work, yet as I learn about the challenges facing my village, I often feel helpless & overwhelmed. From a lack of clean water to unemployment and a high rate of teen pregnancy, although my service is to focus on mitigating HIV/AIDS, this will encompass so much more. It's hard to wrap my head around things at times, but at the end of the day I am confident I'm in the right place and I'm excited to see what will come over the next few years. The view from outside my door one afternoon My language is coming along, slowly but surely. Turn’s out, my village is actually speaking Shangaan, which is a dialect of Xitsonga mixed with isiZulu. Luckily I've found a friend who is doubling as a tutor to help me out. I have 6 new siblings; Ntshembo, Ntshaho, Stuntu, Amaze, Khenso, and Neo. I continue to be blown away by my families hospitality and willingness to take me in. I found out that they had no idea how long I'd be staying or what I was doing here when they agreed to let me in the first day. I feel lucky to come home each day to a group children waiting eagerly for me at the gate. The kids keep me happy no matter what kind of day I've had. When departing for our site, our training manager Victor Baker said to us; "the days will go by slow, but the weeks will go by fast." I hesitated to believed him at first, but now I have found this to be very true. Life moves at a different pace here, but I have a feeling the following two years are going to go by quicker then I ever imagined.
And lastly, thank you to everyone who continues to send support and love. It mean's more each and every day! -Josie Well everyone, it’s official, I am now a Peace Corps Volunteer! Last week, 33 of us gave the Oath of Service and Peace Corps Pledge to officially be sworn in as the 35th cohort to serve in South Africa. The day was filled with inspirational speeches, songs, and dances. I got shivers as our group proudly sang the South African and United States National Anthems, and teared up a bit as we belted out our cohorts favorite song; Shosholoza, one last time. A week before sware in, we had our Family Appreciation Day. It was a huge party, complete with a traditional cow slaughtering, to show gratitude to our host families. Culturally, only men are allowed to prepare the cow meat, but I think they saw the 'Wisconsin Hunter' in me and I was allowed to help. I’ll leave out the gory details of the meat processing, but I’ll just say that every single part of the cow was used. With all the excitement of these days, there was still a pit in my stomach knowing that it was the end of all that I had known in SA so far. The following days were filled with tough goodbyes to my host family, teachers and entire cohort as we all headed out to our final sites. I was shocked at how close I got to other PCV’s during these first months. When picturing my Peace Corps Service, it didn’t occur to me how much I would rely on other volunteers and how inspired I would be by them. We are now scattered throughout villages in the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga. Now, I'm writing from my new village. Here is a photo of my room and belongings for the next 2 years. Even being just 3 months into service, I already feel like I overpacked. Over the next few weeks I will be attempting to transform this room into a fully functioning kitchen, bedroom, shower, and toilet (yes, I go to the bathroom in a bucket in my room once it get’s dark). Stay tuned!
Inhlikani (good afternoon) everybody! Things are still going great in SA and it’s hard to believe that I have nearly completed my pre-service training. Our swearing in ceremony is just 3 weeks away and then I will officially become a Peace Corps Volunteer. I spent this past week visiting my official site, where I will move after training. My village is located in the northern part of Mpumalanga Province, just west of Kruger National Park. During my visit, I was introduced to different members of my community, my host family, and become aquatinted with the organizations I’ll be working with. I am the first Peace Corps volunteer at this site, and my partner NGO’s are a Home Based Care and Youth Center. My village is rich in guava, mango, and orange trees and on a clear day, you can see the Drakensberg Mountains towering in the distance. A room in this building is the Home Based Care office while the rest is used for a primary school. They currently have no electricity and these barrels collect rain water for us to use. The best part of the visit was to finally use my Xitsonga. I was typically greeted in English or Afrikaans, but when I would reply back in Xitsonga, the mixed look of confusion and excitement on peoples face was priceless. Nelson Mandela’s quote "If you talk to a man in a language he understand, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart” proved to be extremely true. This week was also a dose of reality of what life will be like for the next two years, away from the comfort of my fellow trainees and Peace Corps staff. With all the excitement of a new area, I was also exposed to the unwanted attention, marriage proposals, and harassment that accompanies being a obvious foreigner in a rural village. I am eager to continue building relationships around the community to make this new place my home. My fellow 7 Xitsonga - learning trainees and 2 teachers; Rivo and Miyalani. All us will be serving amongst the Tsonga tribe, dispersed in different villages across the region. I have also now experience the transportation system that I will rely on during my service- the infamous taxi’s. It is a unique system that was originally created during Apartheid by black South Africans, when the government made it illegal for them to use the white South African’s transportation system. It became a informal network of bus routes, and although legal today, there is still no time table, no reliability that the transportation will come, and few official pick up location (typically you just stand on the side of the road with your arm out). It is a system with no system, but I am trying to learn it. Needless to say every ride is a adventure in itself; dodging pot holes, cows, and speed bumps, it kindof feels like a roller coaster. Other then that, things are better then ever in Dihekeng. Having to spend a week away from my family made it hard to imagine the day that I have to leave them. My family and I recently attended a party in my village which was a blast and culturally educational. The women and men were separated the entire party, only meeting in the middle, on the dance floor. The dancing was a mix of traditional Zulu to Africa house music (check out the song Imali by: Black Motion if you want one of the most popular song in SA right now). A cow was slaughtered to celebrate and I was generously given cow intestine as a delicacy, with pap of course. The children who attended love dancing with us, teaching us games and touching our hair, always saying how soft it is. That’s all for now! I've got some major changes in the near future, but that just seems to be the theme so far; as soon as I’m comfortable somewhere, it is time to change things up. But, I am still excited for what lies ahead.
-Josie |
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October 2018
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