Dumelang! Le kae? (“hey! how are you?” in Setswana)
Lots of new things have been happening lately so I thought it’d be a good idea to give an update of my life these days.
Training is almost over, on September 8th my group will be sworn in as official Peace Corps volunteers and i’ll start my two year service at my site. The last two months have been a little like a honeymoon stage. The days have been long but nearly always enjoyable and interesting, with fun weekends and lots of good times. Some fun day trips too-we went to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, to the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria, and on a safari near Rustenburg.
Visits to the museums and our experiences living in a completely black village have sparked intensely moving conversations about race, poverty, and human interactions in this country- both within the context of a Peace Corps facilitated discussion and among ourselves. Talking about topics like these and experiencing their effects on my daily life is one of the most fascinating parts about living here. In the US, the noise of a million things distracts me from delving into important topics like this…but here I live it, breathe it, hear it, experience it every day- its inescapable. Apartheid ended pretty recently in the grand scheme of things and there is such a long way to go. A real transformation of this country is going to take generations. However, I genuinely appreciate being given a chance to play a small small part in the change, and to watch this country grow and develop firsthand.
The days in Makapanstad are slowly coming to an end. I took my final language test today and passed! We’re throwing a goodbye party for all 56 of our families this weekend with dancing, singing and skits to thank them for all they’ve done for us, and then it’s off to my permanent site next Thursday. Things are about to get super real super fast. Good thing I’ve got a pretty rockin’ assignment to look forward to! I found out two weeks ago that I will be living in a small village in the Kalahari Desert in the Northern Cape province teaching English and coaching boys’ and girls’ soccer at an elementary school !!! So its pretty much perfect :) I was very excited to get the news.
I visited my new village last week for four days, met my new host family and principal and checked out the school. It went really well! I’ll be living with an older couple who are sweet as all get out. They have twelve (TWELVE!) children who are grown and gone. They’ve hosted two other volunteers before and loved them both so I know there is a lot of potential there for a meaningful relationship.
I have my own one bedroom structure unattached to the main house which is going to be my one stop shop for sleeping, cooking, bathing, eating, and hanging out. I don’t have running water, but I do have electricity which will make cooking much easier and me a little less of a cavewoman. The last volunteer who was there left me this encouraging letter about my family and my school along with a box full of useful things (speakers, a guitar, maps, books, teaching resources, cooking spices, trail recommendations, and other useful tips) which left me feeling comforted on my first night there.
My school is called Bojelakgomo Primary School and I was very impressed after observing two school days there. The school has more resources and is more aesthetically pleasing than any other school I’ve visited in South Africa. There is a multinational NGO made up of Australians and Germans who have taken it upon themselves to help the school. They come twice a year and have built bookshelves, donated books, started a garden, and helped in other important ways. There is student art work on the walls along with educational posters, and nearly every kid has their own chair – things that are very rare to witness in a South African school. At first I was like, “man this school doesn’t need me,” but after talking with the principals and the teachers, I can see how much is lacking under the surface. I’ll explain what I’m going to do more later as I settle in and my work there evolves but I know I want to focus on reading comprehension and literacy. The last volunteer started some really good projects that I want to continue with as well as create some of my own. The teachers also really want to start a successful sports program, since there is such a high demand and no one willing to step up to run it. I’m really excited about that- I could see the students light up when I asked them about playing soccer, I cant wait to get started.
My house is in the northwest corner of the village and when I step outside my door I can see miles and miles of nothing but AFRICA every way I look. I decided it looks like a mix between the straight up African bush and middle of nowhere Arizona. I feel safe there, everyone I met was welcoming and easy going. I was also happy to learn that to greet family and friends there I say something different than what I learned in my training village. In my new village people say, “Ga Gona Molato” which is the Setswana version of “Hakuna Matata” (which is Swahili- who knew??) and LITERALLY means “no worries.” So tons of times a day, I’ll begin every conversation with “no worries,” which just makes me smile at the thought.
Another thing that makes me smile is the sky. The sunsets are ridiculous explosions of orange and red and the sun is monstrously huge on the horizon every night at dusk. In addition, I cannot describe how beautiful the stars are so everyone will just have to come visit me and see for themselves. I promise itll be worth the trek. I’ve never seen that many individual stars, that many constellations, or the milky way that visible in my whole life. AMEN for mother nature, she knows what’s up.
All in all, my site visit was a very encouraging start. I didn’t have any substantial freakout moments but it was a little crazy to be in the place that I will call home for the next two years. Ive been building up to the moment for what feels like a long time and to drink it in, to let myself feel the weight of it all, was overwhelming and exciting at the same time.
Even though it will feel like I’m alone in the middle of nowhere, I actually won’t be too far from a bunch of PCVs. My village is within an hour of 16 other volunteers and we can all meet up on the weekends in each others’ villages or in the main town where we’ll do our grocery shopping (a town called Kuruman, two and a half hours drive south). We’ve already created this great support network made strong by common ground, hilarious moments, long conversations, and our shared experience of South Africa. I know someone will need me to build them up from time to time, just like I’ll need to hear those same words when I’m feeling down. The Northern Cape is a good spot- im psyched! We have lots of hiking and sandboarding and adventuring to do.
On the way to our sites we experienced a luxurious two days at this hotel in the middle of nowhere. We called our all too brief escape from reality “Posh Corps.” Somehow, even after only two short months, being reintroduced to comforts Ive experienced my whole life was a little shocking. Using toilets inside that flush and taking showers and sleeping in crisp clean sheets and eating delicious food was like heaven. I took my first shower in two months and damn was it a beautiful thing. The girl I roomed with, Tara (who will actually be working in a village of Kalahari Bushmen—eat that up anthropology majors) flooded our room and bathroom cause she forgot to put the shower curtain in the right place… I thought it was hilarious, we joked that she’d already forgotten how to take a shower.
There have been many memorable moments in the past couple of weeks and I want to share a couple; these are what I call my TIA moments-- which means “This is Africa” –it’s a phrase used to describe any absurd, beautiful, awful, illogical, crushing, happy moment … haha I know that narrows it down a lot. An example: I was on a run with a couple people one day and this guy driving a donkey cart (a makeshift wooden cart pulled by two donkeys) came toward us. As he passed us, I saw that he was texting on his phone. I absolutely lost it and turned to my running partners exclaiming things like “WHERE AM I?? what planet is this???” I know I looked like a crazy person and we all just started laughing uncontrollably. This guy was riding on such a primitive piece of transport, yet texting on his cell phone and it was too much for me to handle. Other such moments include when I realized my new host family has a DVD player, but no running water (priorities people!), or when Gogo Joyce asked me to teach her how to text on her new phone, or when hungry children are eating rocks on the side of the road as a BMW cruises by. Contrasts like these are everywhere, and sometimes when I experience them at an unexpected moment, they hit me hard. This country is unique in that sense: the third world and the first world collide on a daily basis and the result can be completely disconcerting and downright ridiculous at times.
So yea, my thoughts are all over the place lately but this is a little slice of recent happenings. Things are about to change again big time. I think I’m ready. I want to find a way to make this new village mine, to begin to make some kind of contribution to the people around me, and to keep my sanity at the same time. Luck Luck wish me luck!
Came across this quote and liked it: “Humanity was born in Africa. All people, ultimately, are Africans.”
sala sentle (stay well)
