Site change and other updates

Well my computer seems to have kicked it, at least temporarily. The power button is broken and I am unable to turn it on... if anyone else have had a similar problem with Macbooks and knows how to fix it let me know!

Anyways thankfully last weekend I was able to borrow a laptop from another PCV, and I am again connected to the world.. yay! So now I suppose its time for some updates on moving and the new site..

I'll start chronologically. Exactly 2 weeks ago I went back to my site after staying with a couple of friends at their site. Which on a sidenote, was amazing and thanks to Casandra I got to eat some delectable mac and cheese. Yum! So anyways that Monday I went back to my site to begin the packing process. Thankfully my APCD (peace corps "boss" figure) had gone to my site a week before and informed my school they had decided to move me due to the security issues. My principal did NOT take it well, did not understand why they felt this was the only solution, and would not accept that i was unable to finish my service there. So I knew the actual moving day would not be an easy on. I packed up everything that afternoon and evening and stayed for one last night in my room. I'm thankful i was able to have a full ast day at least to spend with my host family. Monday morning some representatives from the Department of Education came to moving, and after a very tearful goodbye with my host family, teachers, and students, I was on my way to my new site.

My new village was actually just recently vacated by another couple from my group. In fact they were 2 of my best friends in Peace Corps and they both had nothing but great things to say about their experience in the village, so I was pretty happy it worked out that I could move there. The village is about 100km north of Kuruman in the Moshaweng valley, which is now basically just a large dry riverbed. There are a few other PCVs in this area, and one only about 5km from me! So nice to have someone close by.

Honestly I can't say enought about how much I love my new home. I absolutely adore it and I could feel that it was a perfect fit for me from the day I moved in! My host family (the Molefi family) is an older couple in their 60s and are incredibly nice and welcoming. AND they both speak english, so communication is significantly improved! I have a single room (bigger than my last) that has a seperate entrance and a door that goes into the house. After what happened at my old site I was pretty adament that I didn't want a seperate house and preferred to be in close quarters with a host family. I got exactly what I asked for and thankfully I absolutely love the family, so it's really a perfect setup for me! Another bonus to my new home... they have their own borehole (well) in their yard and RUNNING water in the bathroom right next to my bedroom! Which means there is a flush toilet! There is also a bath but nobody really uses it for bathing (its kinda gross), but it's amazing to have the running water right there and a drains! I was doing fine having to walk to my community tap for water at my old site but I will not pretend that it isn't awesome to not have to. Sadly the pump on the borehole is broken momentarily and in the process of being fixed, but im sure the running water will come back to me. I am eagerly awaiting its return.

I will write an entry dedicated to the new school(s) that I work in soon, because I have a lot to say about it and the massive differences from my old schools. Briefly though, my supervisor (Ruth) is the principal of the primary school in Laxey, which is maybe one of the best and most well-run schools I have seen in this country. My experience here so far has actually re-instilled my faith in the education system here seeing that there are, in fact, schools that are thriving even in poor and isolated rural communities. Of course there are a few things here and there that I will be able to help with when the new schoolyear begins in January (grades 3-4 English and math, library stuff/reading classes, and helping Ruth set up a parent/teacher conference thing that she wants to happen every term), but I will have a lot more freedom and time to do fun projects. In the next couple weeks I will be painting the world map on one of the school walls, and I am still busy planning Camp GLOW, which takes place December 11-15. I am sooo so excited for the camp and I think it will be a perfect thing to finish out 2010 with! There is also a high school right next door to the primary school, which I will also helping out at occasionaly (probably with a computer lab that was recently put together there).

Im getting rambly. All I can really say is that life is going great for me here! It was pretty traumatic going through the move and saying goodbye to my old village but for me this just reinforces that everything happens for a reason. I already feel at home and totally comfortable here, and I think this will be a fantastic place to finish out my service. I already get gaggles of adorable little children at my door every day so excited to have a new volunteer and someone new to play with! They have definitely already discovered that I am a sucker for the little cuties and don't mind playing with them after school because so far they've come over just about every day.

OK, that's all for now. I'll post some pics soon as well as more info on my new school. Missing you all and hope you enjoy all the haloween festivities for me!

News!

Most of you have already heard (especially now that this is no longer a public blog) about everything that has gone down at my site. Somebody tried getting into my room while I was alone and sleeping a couple weeks ago. No use getting into the details of what happened, but the important thing is that he never got in and that I'm ok! It was a very scary and surprisingly traumatic experience. It was the first time I've ever really understood what it feels like to be victimized, and feeling like such a target was not an easy thing to go through.

Anyways, the good news is that Peace Corps has been taking the situation very seriously. I had a similar situation happen last September (there must be something about Sept. and drunk men trying to get me...) and because I have reported the incident twice to Peace Corps they are going to move me to another village. The decision to move was partly mine, but if I had chosen to stay in my village the PC would have required to do a polce investigation into who was trying to get in and find me a new place to live within the same village. I felt this would cause many more problems than it would solve, especially because I'm 99% sure it was an uncle in my family. Luckily I have been with my fellow PCVs at mid-service training in Pretoria, many of whom helped me realize how moving is really going to be a necessary step for me to feel safe and productive for the next year of my service. I also did not feel like my counterparts and supervisor in my village were advocating for my personal safety, rendering the decision to move easier. It's unfortunate and I'm not happy about moving, but I know that it's what I have to do for my own personal well-being.

I'll probably be in pretoria until the 6th to finish up my mid-service medical appointments, after which I will head to Kuruman to stay with someone in the area while PC staff figures out my site change. If everything goes perfectly I could be moving by next friday or saturday, so I'm hoping for the best and I'll keep you all posted on where my new home will be!!! Thanks to everyone for being so supportive!!!

Leapord pictures

Unfortunately the battery camera we were using at Kruger ran out the last day of the trip, but a fellow animal watcher emailed me some pics of our awesome leapord sighting. Because I am at a Peace Corps Training (Mid-Service training, life-skills training, and permagardening!) at a nice hotel with free wifi, figured this would be the perfect time to upload some pics! Here they are...















Mmmm impaaalllaa....




















Good times!

RIP Thomas Maresco

Sad news of the recent passing of Tom Maresco, a PCV serving in Lesotho (a country entirely surrounded by SA) who was evidently shot and killed in the capital, Maseru.

My heart goes out to the entire Peace Corps Lesotho community and all those affected by his death. He was also an education volunteer, teaching science and coaching basketball in his local high school, and seemed to be an amazing addition to his community. Here's the statement released from the Peace Corps on his death.

For all of you at home, please don't take this as a call to worry more about me! While violence like this can happen anywhere and to anyone, I feel pretty safe here in my little corner of SA. Seems like this was more of a situation of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. My thoughts are with all of Tom's family and friends!

Teacher strike!

So it looks as though SADTU (South African Democratic Teachers Union) may go on strike starting Wednesday of this week! This seems to be striking season in the country, as many civic workers have been going on strike for various reasons and for various lengths of time. Apparently a similar teacher strike happened this time of year in 2007 and lasted for over a month... yikes.

As always, it's for more money. The union is asking for an 8% salary increase as well as a R1000 housing stipend, but apparently the Department of Education is only offering a 6% increase and a R600 housing stipend, and if they do not give in to the demands of sadtu by tuesday.... no more school for us! Needless to say I think it's absolutely absurd that the teachers salary increase would rank as more important than children getting an education, but it is not even a little bit surprising given the attitude of the educators here and the failing system of education. Here is a brief article I found on allafrica.com on the impending strike.

Naturally this is happening right as Seniors are preparing to write their final "matric" exams, a test required for those who wish to complete high school and go on to any higher education. This is also one of the hot topics of the failing education system here, seeing as the pass rate is something like 35%. What a better way to fix this than to strike and demand more money... duh!

So what does it mean for me if a strike does occur? We have been reminded over and over again that as PCVs we are not allowed to hold any sort of classes or meetings at the school during a strike, as picketing, protests, and riots are not an uncommon sight during strikes here. I supposed I'll just have to cross that bridge when I get there... I'll keep you all posted as the situation progresses!

In other news, the PCVs in the Kuruman area are getting together this weekend for a little one-year anniversary celebration, which should be a great time! Monday is Women's Day, which is a national holiday that we get off school, so it should be a nice little long weekend in preparation for our possibly even longer strike holiday....

One year?!?!

First of all, sorry for my terrible lack of posting the last couple months. In my defense, it has been a very busy couple of months! But here I am, alive and surviving the post-World Cup blues that taken over the country.

So I guess that’s a good place to start… with the most AWESOME 5 weeks ever!!!!!!!! I truly believe I hit the Peace Corps jackpot being here for the World Cup, what an awesome and exciting time to be in SA. I ended up being around for 4 games, where most of the time we would have a big group of PCVs and other friends and go to the fan parks that were set up in the cities that were hosting the games. These turned out to be much more fun than anticipated… they were set up almost like a concert, with drinks, food and even live music before everyone would huddle in the cold to watch the game on the giant screen. I can’t even begin to describe the excitement that swept the country for this event. People from all around were there in support of their countries, and I still can’t believe how patriotic being in that environment makes you! I’ve never cheered harder for the USA in my life.


The most thrilling game for me was the USA/Algeria game in Pretoria, where about an hour before the game we scored free tickets from the backpackers we were staying at, and then were there to witness the USA make an extremely exciting goal in the last few minutes of the game and moving them forward in the tournament. The crowd went absolutely crazy, and I wasn’t even mad when I got hit in the nose with a vuvuzela and had beer spilled all over me… sometimes you just gotta go with it! Each game was also followed by really fun partying/dancing/mingling with more nationalities than I could count.

Sometimes I think the millions and millions spent on hosting the event could have been put to better use in a country with so much poverty, but alas… you can’t win them all. At least SA showed the world it was capable of pulling off such an event without any major problems! Besides, of course, our beloved Paris Hilton getting arrested… but who didn’t see that coming? Thanks for making us proud Paris!

Whew, so that’s my World Cup rant. I’ll say it one more time for good measure.. it was awesome. Needless to say, the transition back into my Peace Corps life has been a bit rough and slow. School started last Tuesday, and only this week have we established some sort of normalcy with teachers actually going to their classes and following some sort of schedule. While it wasn’t easy going from the excitement of World Cup back into “work” mode, it feels good to be back in the classroom.

And now for the typical thoughts of a PCV at their halfway mark: “Oh my god, I’ve been here for a year… now what the heck am I doing?!” The one-year anniversary is being met with a mixture of emotions: I am really excited I’ve made it through what is most often said to be the “worst of it”. I know that my second year will go much smoother, faster, and more comfortably than the first. I know my community and my school much better than when I first got here last September, and I am hopeful that I will be able to make some sort of tangible improvements in my schools in the next year. Of course, I still have days where I want to rip my hair out with frustration. After a year, it amazes me that I still have to explain to my educators that I am not their secretary, and although I now come to expect it, knowing I have only one year left to get something done makes it all the more irritating when things that could be finished in an hour end up taking days.

So what is on the agenda for the next year? I have decided to restructure my work days a bit here and there and change around what my focus areas. I now only work 1 day a week at my school #2 (the tiny one in the next village), for various reasons including the likely even that by next year it will be closed and combined with the school in my village. Which, frankly is what I am rooting for, as the school is barely at a functioning level, and my main school is more than equipped to take on more teachers and students. So my main work at the school this term is continuing teaching Grade 7 English and Life Orientation, Camp GLOW in December, implementing weekly reading hours for each grade and teaching literacy classes in all grades with our new librarian, and team-teaching English in kindergarten and Grades 1-6. This sounds like a lot, but it is actually only 3 classes since grades 1-3 and 4-6 are combined. I am quite excited about this, especially for working more with the really young ones. Nothing makes your day quite like getting attacked with hugs and “good morning teacher” by a bunch of adorable children! And our library project is underway… which is probably what I’m most excited for. In fact, I am currently finishing up writing a Peace Corps Partnership grant in order to raise funds to get the resources needed to finish putting together our school library. What does this mean? That soon a blurb will be put up on the Peace Corps website and all of my wonderful friends/family/colleagues from home will be able to donate to it! Exciting, right?! So if any of you are interested in helping out, I will be requesting your help soon!

OK, that’s all for now. Sorry for the incredibly long post… I’ll try to write more frequently so I’m not overflowing with updates on life in S.A.!

Weekend in Swaziland

May was entirely too busy of a month, culminating in a weekend trip to Swaziland…….. haha mostly it’s just fun to say you went to Swazi for the weekend. Some friends and I took the weekend to go to the Bush Fire music festival in Manzini and it was amazing to see a new country, some different landscapes, and really fun live music! My favorite was the band Freshly Ground, a fairly popular South African band. Apparently they are becoming even more mainstream with their new song with Shakira – “time for Africa”, the new World Cup theme song… pretty catchy if I do say so myself.

It was definitely interesting to see a new country after being in SA for so long. Because it is a country that is snuggled right into its richer and more developed neighbor, the influence of South Africa can be seen all over. I’ve heard the countries surrounding SA (or surrounded by, in the case of Swaziland and Lesotho) often reffered to as “South Africa Lite” since the country influences so many aspects of this region of the continent. While Swazi does seem to have many similar things (banks, restaurants, transportation, etc.), it was definitely evident that it is significantly less developed (especially if you compare the cities – HUGE difference between a capital city like Pretoria and Mbabane, the capital of Swazi). This may have been because we were there for a festival that celebrated Swazi’s music, art, and culture, but I felt as though the local Swazi culture was much more strongly embraced and present in everyday life than that of the local cultures in South Africa. This is not surprising at all when you think about the long-term effects colonization and the apartheid era had on the traditional African cultures. [As a side note, I think this may be even moreso the case with the Tswana culture. I’m not sure because this is obviously the only place I live, but they seem to embrace their more traditional culture a lot less then their flashier Zulu and Xhosa neighbors.]

Lately I have been meeting more and more PCVs who serve in other countries. This is partly due to the fact that South Africa is the regional medical hub for anyone who is serving in Sub-Saharan Africa who needs medical attention that their host country can’t provide, and partly because Southern Africa is extremely popular for traveling. Many of them (known as “med-evacs”) gush about how amazing it must be to serve in such a developed country with so many amenities. I think this becomes the view of many people who travel here – due mostly to the fact that when you are traveling to SA you are most likely not going to our rural villages out in the bush (especially those of us out here in the deserty north.. there is not much as far as tourism goes out here). While I can’t deny that it is nice to have things like malls, restaurants, and movie theaters when I go to Pretoria or other large cities, it’s hard to get across to people how different life really is in my tiny village that is cut off from access to such amenities. All I can conclude is that SA is just a really interesting and unique place to be a PCV. It also makes me very eager to visit other countries in Africa and see what life is like on the rest of this continent!

In any case, I’m sad I didn’t get to stay longer and see more of the country, and I’m not entirely sure the 2 days of treacherous taxi rides through mountain roads in the rain was really worth the day and a half that I got to spend in the country. But it is most definitely on my agenda for next May, as that will be nearer to my COS date (Close of Service) when I can justify going crazy over the AMAZING craft shopping there ☺.