Consider the following statistic. In 2007 South Africa had 0.7% of the world’s population and 17% of the global burden of HIV infection (Karim et al).
The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in South Africa in 2009 was 17.9% (UNAIDS). In 2008 that meant an estimated 5.7 MILLION people were HIV positive (UNAIDS). 5.7 million out of a population of 49,000,000. That is a staggering figure. Then if you take into consideration the other social issues that exist – it is an uphill battle. Another part of the HIV/AIDS epidemic here is that tuberculosis (TB) is now also an epidemic in South Africa. Someone can get TB without being HIV positive obviously, but it is the most common opportunistic infection that occurs in people living with HIV/AIDS. Again despite the small population of South Africa in 2006 they had the fourth largest number of TB cases in the world (Karim et al).
In my couple months in South Africa I have certainly interacted with people who have been HIV positive, but not necessarily known who they are. There are two exceptions though – and two stories that have really touched me have been emotionally challenging.
My first weekend in Alexandria my host sister was driving to Port Elizabeth (PE) and it was my chance to see the big city and grab some groceries. Part of that trip was to stop at the tuberculosis hospital to visit some community members. We were visiting two people – one was a girl my age (23-24) and the cousin of my host sister. The other was the father of my Granny’s next door neighbors. These neighbors - two children who I met for the first time that day had already lost their mother to HIV. They were living in their house on their own but sleeping and eating at my Granny’s house. This was my first encounter with people who were extremely sick. After that trip I hadn’t heard anything about either of them since. That changed recently.
Two weekends ago when I stopped by my Granny’s on my jog as I normally do I found her niece there. I decided to postpone my jog for a visit with this girl since I had met her before to see how she was doing. She was doing well enough to have been approved to come home and visit her family for the weekend. I found out that she had been in that hospital since last October. We talked about what it’s like for her there. She doesn’t like the food they give them – sometimes plain veggies with nothing on them. She said that it’s hard because so many people in her ward have died – and sometimes you don’t even get to say goodbye because it’s so sudden. And when I asked if she was able to talk to anyone like a counselor she said that there is no one except a church group that comes to pray with them sometimes.
To describe her as skin and bones is not an exaggeration at all. Something was clearly wrong with her eye and I asked her what happened to it since I had seen her two months ago. One day – the “white thing” just started to move down her eye, and it was really red. When she went to the hospital about it they told her that she should just get the eye removed but she didn’t want to do that. She is now blind in that eye. I was amazed that you could just go blind in one of your eyes suddenly with no explanation. I can’t imagine how scary that must have been. I was also shocked that she was in a hospital and sees nurses daily and there had been no “early intervention” with her eye issue. During our conversation she had to take her pills – and had no less than 10 different pills she was supposed to take daily. She doesn’t take all of them because some of them make her vomit. She knows which ones to avoid. She ended up taking six pills all at once! She said she is trying so hard to get better because she doesn’t like staying in the hospital and would rather be at home eating all of the good foods that she likes. In October she will have been at this hospital for a year. I hope she gets out and better before then.
In the course of our conversation I asked her how the father of her neighbors was. She told me honestly that he was very, very sick. This made me extremely worried for the two little friends that I have. It’s hard enough to imagine being in elementary school and losing your mother. But to have your father so sick he’s in the hospital far away and you can never see him – it’s so difficult.
That same week that their father passed away. I really don’t even know what to say. I’m heartbroken for them. Parents are losing their children before they reach adulthood – and children are losing their parents in the time they need them most. This is reality and this is life. This isn’t new or shocking to anyone here – it’s just the way things are.
-Karim et al. “HIV Infection and Tuberculosis in South Africa: An Urgent Need to Escalate the Public Health Response”. September 12, 2009. www.thelancet.com.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Life Moves Pretty Fast...
…If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. A quote from one of my favorite movies – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I thought of it when writing this entry because it seems to me that life DOES move pretty fast! I can’t believe that it’s almost JUNE. Unbelievable. I’m still loving life here in SA. In the past few weeks so much has happened that it’s hard to figure out what to focus on! I’ll start with a much needed update…
I need to give a cockroach/pest update since so many were concerned after learning about my issues. Thank you for all the support. You can rest easy now though. Right after that blog was written the weather got consistently colder SO – I haven’t seen ANY cockroaches in my room since that blog (maybe one small one I can’t remember). BUT I also went to the local hardware store bought sealant and a caulk gun and went Tim-the-Tool-Man-Taylor (from the show Home Improvement for anyone who missed that reference) on my room sealing off anything that even resembled a crack or hole. That also included my entire ceiling to wall boarder. It was quite the project – lucky for me I have a tiny room. There has also been a very noticeable decline in cockroach sightings in my main house. I asked my host sister if this was due to the weather and she said “yes”, followed by “But yyyooouuuhhhh – in summer – there are SO MANY”. Great. I can’t wait.
Side story: I thought that cockroaches were my biggest pest problem until I discovered that an army of ants had made my windowsill their indoor ant hill (I didn’t notice right away because of the full wall lace curtain that I can’t move covering my window). This situation was quite alarming as there appeared to be thousands of ants (and their larva - yuck) on my windowsill! I have to tell this full story because in retrospect it is quite hilarious and depicts perfectly the kind of things that I’m dealing with that make me occasionally say: “I can’t believe this is my life”. So I get my powder “DOOM” called Blue Death which keeps all kinds of pests away. I begin to sprinkle it on my windowsill thinking that it will gradually kill the ants.
Well it sort of did – BUT it made the whole hill go into full panic mode and ants started running in all directions. The ants it did kill that tried running were falling off the edge of my windowsill INTO my shoes. I decided that was not the best route to proceed. So I grabbed my trusted spray DOOM and killed them that way. At this point it was getting dark outside and I wasn’t sure how I was going to get the thousands of dead ants/larva off my windowsill, so I decided to wait until the next day, and remove my full wall lace curtain. But before I left them I went outside to discover exactly how these ants were getting into my room. By a tiny crack in the wall by my window of course. WHY ants would walk up a wall to find a small crack to make their city INDOORS is beyond me…but it happened. The trail of ants along the wall of our house wrapped pretty far before they got to my window. (This hole was sealed the next day with my trusty sealant I might add).
Cleaning up the mess the next day was not what I would describe as pleasant. I have burglar bars on my windows so there is a physical barrier to cleaning the windows, let alone getting thousands of ant corpses out from the tiny space between the actual windowsill and burglar bar. The “best” method was knife. I spent a good half hour attempting to clean up the evidence of the ant city. It was really gross, and I felt really bad for all the dead ants and their larva that I had killed. But at the same time – they brought it on themselves when they decided to make my windowsill their home. This room is not big enough for me and thousands of ants.
Moving on - I want to talk about the weather because it has been SO COLD here. The weather reminds me a lot of Oregon and Northern California. It is coastal weather here – cold nights, cool mornings and evenings, and warmer during the day. The climate in the Eastern Cape is extremely varied – and it is the only province in South Africa to have all seven ecological zones. It is currently winter and has been getting colder and colder. And then I convert the temperature to Fahrenheit on my phone and realize it’s not actually all that cold. But – temperature is completely relative so it feels really cold. In the US we’re so used to the fact that even if it’s cold/hot outside; indoors it’s not the same temperature. Well here there is very little difference between indoor and outdoor temperature so at my work it feels freezing on a day that is 55 or less because it is that cold inside too. Imagine trying to work in an office that is colder than 60 degrees – it’s hard. Thank goodness we have our trusty space heater. Last week it was rainy and when we looked up the weather it said that it was 12 Celsius but felt like 7 (which is 46 degrees!). Luckily we’ve had some sun – so it’s been nice and warm in the sunshine.
Work has been so busy lately (in a great way!). We have so much going on – and I’m hoping that I can just get everything done by the time that it needs to be done. I’m currently working on helping to plan an internal assessment we have to do, and am also putting together a strategic planning workshop! I’m trying to get these things done before the end of June. I have In Service Training (IST) at the end of June which I’m really excited about because that means I get to see all of my fellow PCVs from my group!
On an annoying/sad note Congress passed the budget recently and reduced the Peace Corps budget by $25 MILLION while at the same time increasing the budget by more money than what has sustained the Peace Corps for the last 50 years. SO that directly affects PCVs in the reduction of services that we are able to have access to while in service. It also has drastically reduced our travel allowance that we get quarterly (at least in PC South Africa) to an amount that will barely get me to the nearest big city (along with other budget cuts)! This has also resulted in the ending of two whole Peace Corps programs – one of which is PC Romania. I have a friend from ISU who is a PCV in Romania and he is so disappointed and upset about this (currently serving volunteers are ending their services as planned they just aren’t taking any new volunteers). Such a bummer.
I have an update about friends! I have basically been adopted by a family that lives on the next street from me. They have three girls who are all in high school but close enough to my age and they are my new friends! We dance to music videos, watch celebrity reality shows and Generations (my favorite soap opera), and they feed me…a lot. It is the family of the founder of my organization and the HIV/AIDS coordinator of the Municipality. They are a great family and I love hanging out with them! They tell me I am one of their sisters and part of the family and so it’s nice to have a place where I can hang out! The other day was the 20th birthday of one of the girls and we had a little party – it was so much fun!
Random News: I’m very excited for one of my best friends who is going to be joining me in the world of PC when she leaves June 1st to serve in Ecuador! Apparently in Ecuador they use the dollar which means she will have a very real understanding of how much money she’s making each month. Potentially really depressing, but other than that I’m so excited for her to begin her work with HIV/AIDS (just like me!) so we can share stories!
I spent last week with one of my fellow PCVs at his site while our organizations did a combined training. It was great to hang out with a fellow American! I also should add that he is staying essentially in a hostel. He gets to stay where the park rangers would stay at a big game reserve which now serves as the volunteer housing for the (loaded) foreigners that come to volunteer on this game reserve. All I cared about was the shower! Washing my hair in a bucket = really annoying.
The situation with washing my hair in a bucket is the perfect segue way (which ps I thought was spelled segway and I had to google it) into my closing thought. I recently got a card from my cousin with this amazing quotation on it exemplifying this whole experience:
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” – Neale Donald Walsch. I agree completely.
I need to give a cockroach/pest update since so many were concerned after learning about my issues. Thank you for all the support. You can rest easy now though. Right after that blog was written the weather got consistently colder SO – I haven’t seen ANY cockroaches in my room since that blog (maybe one small one I can’t remember). BUT I also went to the local hardware store bought sealant and a caulk gun and went Tim-the-Tool-Man-Taylor (from the show Home Improvement for anyone who missed that reference) on my room sealing off anything that even resembled a crack or hole. That also included my entire ceiling to wall boarder. It was quite the project – lucky for me I have a tiny room. There has also been a very noticeable decline in cockroach sightings in my main house. I asked my host sister if this was due to the weather and she said “yes”, followed by “But yyyooouuuhhhh – in summer – there are SO MANY”. Great. I can’t wait.
Side story: I thought that cockroaches were my biggest pest problem until I discovered that an army of ants had made my windowsill their indoor ant hill (I didn’t notice right away because of the full wall lace curtain that I can’t move covering my window). This situation was quite alarming as there appeared to be thousands of ants (and their larva - yuck) on my windowsill! I have to tell this full story because in retrospect it is quite hilarious and depicts perfectly the kind of things that I’m dealing with that make me occasionally say: “I can’t believe this is my life”. So I get my powder “DOOM” called Blue Death which keeps all kinds of pests away. I begin to sprinkle it on my windowsill thinking that it will gradually kill the ants.
Well it sort of did – BUT it made the whole hill go into full panic mode and ants started running in all directions. The ants it did kill that tried running were falling off the edge of my windowsill INTO my shoes. I decided that was not the best route to proceed. So I grabbed my trusted spray DOOM and killed them that way. At this point it was getting dark outside and I wasn’t sure how I was going to get the thousands of dead ants/larva off my windowsill, so I decided to wait until the next day, and remove my full wall lace curtain. But before I left them I went outside to discover exactly how these ants were getting into my room. By a tiny crack in the wall by my window of course. WHY ants would walk up a wall to find a small crack to make their city INDOORS is beyond me…but it happened. The trail of ants along the wall of our house wrapped pretty far before they got to my window. (This hole was sealed the next day with my trusty sealant I might add).
Cleaning up the mess the next day was not what I would describe as pleasant. I have burglar bars on my windows so there is a physical barrier to cleaning the windows, let alone getting thousands of ant corpses out from the tiny space between the actual windowsill and burglar bar. The “best” method was knife. I spent a good half hour attempting to clean up the evidence of the ant city. It was really gross, and I felt really bad for all the dead ants and their larva that I had killed. But at the same time – they brought it on themselves when they decided to make my windowsill their home. This room is not big enough for me and thousands of ants.
Moving on - I want to talk about the weather because it has been SO COLD here. The weather reminds me a lot of Oregon and Northern California. It is coastal weather here – cold nights, cool mornings and evenings, and warmer during the day. The climate in the Eastern Cape is extremely varied – and it is the only province in South Africa to have all seven ecological zones. It is currently winter and has been getting colder and colder. And then I convert the temperature to Fahrenheit on my phone and realize it’s not actually all that cold. But – temperature is completely relative so it feels really cold. In the US we’re so used to the fact that even if it’s cold/hot outside; indoors it’s not the same temperature. Well here there is very little difference between indoor and outdoor temperature so at my work it feels freezing on a day that is 55 or less because it is that cold inside too. Imagine trying to work in an office that is colder than 60 degrees – it’s hard. Thank goodness we have our trusty space heater. Last week it was rainy and when we looked up the weather it said that it was 12 Celsius but felt like 7 (which is 46 degrees!). Luckily we’ve had some sun – so it’s been nice and warm in the sunshine.
Work has been so busy lately (in a great way!). We have so much going on – and I’m hoping that I can just get everything done by the time that it needs to be done. I’m currently working on helping to plan an internal assessment we have to do, and am also putting together a strategic planning workshop! I’m trying to get these things done before the end of June. I have In Service Training (IST) at the end of June which I’m really excited about because that means I get to see all of my fellow PCVs from my group!
On an annoying/sad note Congress passed the budget recently and reduced the Peace Corps budget by $25 MILLION while at the same time increasing the budget by more money than what has sustained the Peace Corps for the last 50 years. SO that directly affects PCVs in the reduction of services that we are able to have access to while in service. It also has drastically reduced our travel allowance that we get quarterly (at least in PC South Africa) to an amount that will barely get me to the nearest big city (along with other budget cuts)! This has also resulted in the ending of two whole Peace Corps programs – one of which is PC Romania. I have a friend from ISU who is a PCV in Romania and he is so disappointed and upset about this (currently serving volunteers are ending their services as planned they just aren’t taking any new volunteers). Such a bummer.
I have an update about friends! I have basically been adopted by a family that lives on the next street from me. They have three girls who are all in high school but close enough to my age and they are my new friends! We dance to music videos, watch celebrity reality shows and Generations (my favorite soap opera), and they feed me…a lot. It is the family of the founder of my organization and the HIV/AIDS coordinator of the Municipality. They are a great family and I love hanging out with them! They tell me I am one of their sisters and part of the family and so it’s nice to have a place where I can hang out! The other day was the 20th birthday of one of the girls and we had a little party – it was so much fun!
Random News: I’m very excited for one of my best friends who is going to be joining me in the world of PC when she leaves June 1st to serve in Ecuador! Apparently in Ecuador they use the dollar which means she will have a very real understanding of how much money she’s making each month. Potentially really depressing, but other than that I’m so excited for her to begin her work with HIV/AIDS (just like me!) so we can share stories!
I spent last week with one of my fellow PCVs at his site while our organizations did a combined training. It was great to hang out with a fellow American! I also should add that he is staying essentially in a hostel. He gets to stay where the park rangers would stay at a big game reserve which now serves as the volunteer housing for the (loaded) foreigners that come to volunteer on this game reserve. All I cared about was the shower! Washing my hair in a bucket = really annoying.
The situation with washing my hair in a bucket is the perfect segue way (which ps I thought was spelled segway and I had to google it) into my closing thought. I recently got a card from my cousin with this amazing quotation on it exemplifying this whole experience:
“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone” – Neale Donald Walsch. I agree completely.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Cockroaches.
The time has come. Did I ever think I would be writing a blog dedicated to something that I despise so much? No. But - it needs to be addressed and I will tell you why! Last night at approximately 6:30pm our electricity ran out. At this time it is already fully dark (since it’s winter here). All of the local shops where you can “buy” electricity were “out of it”. I do have to explain this briefly…I don’t understand how electricity works here. All I know is that people buy it as they go (like cell phone airtime) and get a “pin number” that they punch into this contraption in their house and magically more electricity comes. The kicker is that sometimes the shops that sell it are “sold out”. How that is possible I do not understand – but it is. So anyway – we were going to be without electricity for the whole night. WHICH leads me to cockroaches…
I have discovered that I have split personalities when it comes to cockroaches. Personality One comes out when I see a cockroach outside (which hadn’t happened until today actually), inside my main house that I share, or in another building. This personality is so used to seeing cockroaches that she doesn’t even flinch anymore (unless they’re extra big). I don’t bother killing these ones, because if I did – I would be killing an insane amount of cockroaches a day. Cockroaches of all sizes roam the main house freely – and especially love the kitchen. I do have to say that despite being immune to them – this personality insists on airtight sealing all food items both in the cupboard and in the refrigerator. Oh. And she can sometimes still freak out a little (like last night when I was using a flash light to go to the bathroom and I picked up the roll of toilet paper, thought there was a cockroach on it, and dropped the whole thing INTO the toilet…opps).
Let me just give a good example to the extent of how infested this kitchen is hence why I have become immune. The other day I went to use the microwave (they love microwaves because they are so warm). Well, I was about to push the start button when I stopped because I could see a cockroach right by the start button…but then wait…realized that the cockroach was blocking the digital clock from INSIDE the microwave not the outside! Silly me.
Personality Two only comes out in my personal room. This is the crazed cockroach killer. I spent five minutes last night trying to trick a cockroach out from under my bed with my flashlight (I got him with my flip flop don’t worry!). I will stop at nothing when it comes to killing cockroaches in my room. And until lately – this has been relatively non-issue. My only conclusion is that because of the cold weather, they are seeking shelter and my room is fair game. My hypothesis is that they come in through the crack between my wooden ceiling and the roof area (which I’m sure isn’t sealed off). So – the plan is tomorrow to go to the hardware store and buy a caulking type sealer/instrument and attempt to cockroach proof my ceiling.
Despite this, I am actually lucky. Considering how many cockroaches live in the main house the small amount I’ve seen in my room is actually very surprising. Until two days ago I hadn’t even seen a big one in my room. I classify a cockroach as “big” if I can 1) hear it walking 2) it would take up a good length of my palm. The big cockroach sighting happened at 1:22am when I woke up and heard the sounds. Then I turned on the light and was able to get it with DOOM. Last night – there were three cockroach sightings in my room. Two small, one big. One of the small ones was ON MY PILLOW…which lead to a pretty much sleepless night…and a big one near my bed (it had somehow been knocked onto its back which made it very convenient to spray with DOOM). I will kill small to medium cockroaches with my flip flops but big ones must be sprayed with DOOM. This personality exists because the thought of a cockroach walking on me as I sleep is too much for me to handle.
I was thinking about my split personalities last night as I lay in bed – listen to my iPod trying to fall asleep and not let myself listen for cockroach sounds (unsuccessfully I might add). It is one of those things that once you think about it, you can’t stop. Due to the electricity being off I was feeling extra vulnerable because even if I DID hear one I might not be able to find it with just my flashlight. (Do you see why I have to describe this personality as “crazed”?). Oh well – I’m hoping that after I can seal off my ceiling I’ll have way less cockroach sightings. I’m not sure where else they would come in. Then again – we’re talking about cockroaches so I’m sure they’d figure out a way…
I have discovered that I have split personalities when it comes to cockroaches. Personality One comes out when I see a cockroach outside (which hadn’t happened until today actually), inside my main house that I share, or in another building. This personality is so used to seeing cockroaches that she doesn’t even flinch anymore (unless they’re extra big). I don’t bother killing these ones, because if I did – I would be killing an insane amount of cockroaches a day. Cockroaches of all sizes roam the main house freely – and especially love the kitchen. I do have to say that despite being immune to them – this personality insists on airtight sealing all food items both in the cupboard and in the refrigerator. Oh. And she can sometimes still freak out a little (like last night when I was using a flash light to go to the bathroom and I picked up the roll of toilet paper, thought there was a cockroach on it, and dropped the whole thing INTO the toilet…opps).
Let me just give a good example to the extent of how infested this kitchen is hence why I have become immune. The other day I went to use the microwave (they love microwaves because they are so warm). Well, I was about to push the start button when I stopped because I could see a cockroach right by the start button…but then wait…realized that the cockroach was blocking the digital clock from INSIDE the microwave not the outside! Silly me.
Personality Two only comes out in my personal room. This is the crazed cockroach killer. I spent five minutes last night trying to trick a cockroach out from under my bed with my flashlight (I got him with my flip flop don’t worry!). I will stop at nothing when it comes to killing cockroaches in my room. And until lately – this has been relatively non-issue. My only conclusion is that because of the cold weather, they are seeking shelter and my room is fair game. My hypothesis is that they come in through the crack between my wooden ceiling and the roof area (which I’m sure isn’t sealed off). So – the plan is tomorrow to go to the hardware store and buy a caulking type sealer/instrument and attempt to cockroach proof my ceiling.
Despite this, I am actually lucky. Considering how many cockroaches live in the main house the small amount I’ve seen in my room is actually very surprising. Until two days ago I hadn’t even seen a big one in my room. I classify a cockroach as “big” if I can 1) hear it walking 2) it would take up a good length of my palm. The big cockroach sighting happened at 1:22am when I woke up and heard the sounds. Then I turned on the light and was able to get it with DOOM. Last night – there were three cockroach sightings in my room. Two small, one big. One of the small ones was ON MY PILLOW…which lead to a pretty much sleepless night…and a big one near my bed (it had somehow been knocked onto its back which made it very convenient to spray with DOOM). I will kill small to medium cockroaches with my flip flops but big ones must be sprayed with DOOM. This personality exists because the thought of a cockroach walking on me as I sleep is too much for me to handle.
I was thinking about my split personalities last night as I lay in bed – listen to my iPod trying to fall asleep and not let myself listen for cockroach sounds (unsuccessfully I might add). It is one of those things that once you think about it, you can’t stop. Due to the electricity being off I was feeling extra vulnerable because even if I DID hear one I might not be able to find it with just my flashlight. (Do you see why I have to describe this personality as “crazed”?). Oh well – I’m hoping that after I can seal off my ceiling I’ll have way less cockroach sightings. I’m not sure where else they would come in. Then again – we’re talking about cockroaches so I’m sure they’d figure out a way…
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
What Does That Mean?
“I have no idea what you’re saying…” and “What does that mean?” have been my signature phrases the last month. It’s hard to believe that I’ve been living here a month – it has FLOWN by. So far I am loving it. Sometimes I’ll be walking and just get the thought that…I’m living in Africa. I’m in Africa right now! And it makes me unbelievably happy as I take that quick second to realize I’m living my dream!
I have a pretty regular routine down, which will probably change as I get more familiar with my surroundings. I go to work, come home, cook dinner, bucket bathe, and sit on my computer e-mailing and looking at Facebook minus the pictures (probably more than I should). Just recently I have thrown going on runs into the mix. I had been working out regularly in the States but then I got mono and had to stop working out. I think I’m finally “over” mono though and I’ve been really enjoying the runs. Running is a great stress reliever for me – so it serves multiple purposes. Side story: today when I went on my run some neighborhood kids joined me! It was great and gave me a good idea for a possible secondary project since sports teams don’t really exist at their schools.
I had what I consider a breakthrough at my work when I met and interviewed the founder of Ikhwezi Support Group who was recruited two years ago to be the HIV/AIDS Coordinator of the whole Municipality. A job she deserves – she is an AMAZING woman. I talked to her for a good two hours – and met her awesome daughters. And then I got to watch the E! Channel on their satellite TV…it was pretty much a dream come true. Only in this dream the girls favorite show is “Jerseylicious” (similar to the Jersey Shore only about a hair salon)…if you haven’t seen it DON’T, and if you have you will be mourning for society like I am at the fact that TV like Jerseylicious exists. No wonder people have crazy stereotypes about Americans. But they redeem themselves because they also like Keeping Up With the Kardashins (which I fully support). ; )
I have been able to meet with, and set up meetings with a lot of the other important people I need to in order to write my Community Needs Assessment due in two months. A teacher at the secondary school, the Clinic, the Councellor, and the list goes on. The story about the police station is pretty funny though. So – I had already been to the police station to interview them about crime and let them know who I was, where I was staying, etc (it was my first interview!). Well, I met another police officer at my “introduction to the community” and he is on the leadership team of the station and picked me up the next day, gave me a big tour, introduced me to everyone, and then we took some pictures! I do have to say though I wasn’t really in the mood for pictures because my morning started with waiting outside in the rain for a full hour to be picked up. I tried not to be annoyed the rest of the day but when your day starts with waiting in the rain for a full hour…maybe you can agree that it’s not easy to get over.
I have been enjoying my home life – despite some of the terror children that like to torture me. That’s exaggerating a little BUT there are two little boys that I swear try to make me mad. They play a game of “who is brave enough to touch her” while I’m trying to do something as simple as eat my dinner outside, or do my laundry. And when I yell at them to go away they just laugh and imitate me. I’m trying to be patient with them – and I love the majority of the little kids that stand at my back door to watch me cook dinner nightly, but these little boys are slowing ruining it for the rest. The other day they actually punched me and kicked me as I tried to chase them out of my yard. The only reason they went away is when I started actually yelling in English (I was over trying to be mature and nice) the neighbor girl came over and was able to yell at them and chase them away. Thank God.
At my organization we had a long weekend for Easter and I decided to head into Port Elizabeth (PE) one of the big cities in South Africa (and the biggest in the Eastern Cape) for a little R&R. I met up with two other PCVs from the Eastern Cape and stayed at a backpackers (aka hostel) that was two blocks from the beach! It was perfect because every Easter weekend there is “Splash Festival” in PE which is where they have a couple stages with music and shows, lots of water sports competitions, and a beach volleyball tournament. Also – there was a big market so for the first time since I’ve been here I was able to see anything that was slightly touristy! This whole festival was taking place on the beach we were staying two blocks from! And the weather was PERFECT all weekend nice and sunny. I was also able to do some exciting things – get a haircut, see a movie, use wireless internet (without data restriction) to upload photos, skype, take a SHOWER. It was all so magical! I also ate at McDonald's for the first time since being here, and got to point to a plaque in honor of Ray Kroc and say “I’m from there!” when it talked about Illinois and the first McDonald's. YAY! Pretty sure the lady didn’t understand what I was talking about/or care.
The weekend was so nice getting to catch up with the ladies, meet some cool people, eat some great food, spend lots of time on the beach, and just do what we wanted! PE is a really nice city and I enjoyed the backpackers we stayed at. There are lots of other backpackers though so I think I’ll do some exploring and then decide on my favorite. I have two years after all! It’s only an hour away from me, but PE is WORLDS away from Alexandria. It will be tempting to escape to this urban paradise often, however my bank account and the poor transport options there will stop me. But it is comforting to know that when I NEED it it’s there.
I’m not sure when I will need it. I’m sure I’ll have low points, but for now I’m enjoying it and trying my hardest to live in the moment! After all – I live in AFRICA!
I have a pretty regular routine down, which will probably change as I get more familiar with my surroundings. I go to work, come home, cook dinner, bucket bathe, and sit on my computer e-mailing and looking at Facebook minus the pictures (probably more than I should). Just recently I have thrown going on runs into the mix. I had been working out regularly in the States but then I got mono and had to stop working out. I think I’m finally “over” mono though and I’ve been really enjoying the runs. Running is a great stress reliever for me – so it serves multiple purposes. Side story: today when I went on my run some neighborhood kids joined me! It was great and gave me a good idea for a possible secondary project since sports teams don’t really exist at their schools.
I had what I consider a breakthrough at my work when I met and interviewed the founder of Ikhwezi Support Group who was recruited two years ago to be the HIV/AIDS Coordinator of the whole Municipality. A job she deserves – she is an AMAZING woman. I talked to her for a good two hours – and met her awesome daughters. And then I got to watch the E! Channel on their satellite TV…it was pretty much a dream come true. Only in this dream the girls favorite show is “Jerseylicious” (similar to the Jersey Shore only about a hair salon)…if you haven’t seen it DON’T, and if you have you will be mourning for society like I am at the fact that TV like Jerseylicious exists. No wonder people have crazy stereotypes about Americans. But they redeem themselves because they also like Keeping Up With the Kardashins (which I fully support). ; )
I have been able to meet with, and set up meetings with a lot of the other important people I need to in order to write my Community Needs Assessment due in two months. A teacher at the secondary school, the Clinic, the Councellor, and the list goes on. The story about the police station is pretty funny though. So – I had already been to the police station to interview them about crime and let them know who I was, where I was staying, etc (it was my first interview!). Well, I met another police officer at my “introduction to the community” and he is on the leadership team of the station and picked me up the next day, gave me a big tour, introduced me to everyone, and then we took some pictures! I do have to say though I wasn’t really in the mood for pictures because my morning started with waiting outside in the rain for a full hour to be picked up. I tried not to be annoyed the rest of the day but when your day starts with waiting in the rain for a full hour…maybe you can agree that it’s not easy to get over.
I have been enjoying my home life – despite some of the terror children that like to torture me. That’s exaggerating a little BUT there are two little boys that I swear try to make me mad. They play a game of “who is brave enough to touch her” while I’m trying to do something as simple as eat my dinner outside, or do my laundry. And when I yell at them to go away they just laugh and imitate me. I’m trying to be patient with them – and I love the majority of the little kids that stand at my back door to watch me cook dinner nightly, but these little boys are slowing ruining it for the rest. The other day they actually punched me and kicked me as I tried to chase them out of my yard. The only reason they went away is when I started actually yelling in English (I was over trying to be mature and nice) the neighbor girl came over and was able to yell at them and chase them away. Thank God.
At my organization we had a long weekend for Easter and I decided to head into Port Elizabeth (PE) one of the big cities in South Africa (and the biggest in the Eastern Cape) for a little R&R. I met up with two other PCVs from the Eastern Cape and stayed at a backpackers (aka hostel) that was two blocks from the beach! It was perfect because every Easter weekend there is “Splash Festival” in PE which is where they have a couple stages with music and shows, lots of water sports competitions, and a beach volleyball tournament. Also – there was a big market so for the first time since I’ve been here I was able to see anything that was slightly touristy! This whole festival was taking place on the beach we were staying two blocks from! And the weather was PERFECT all weekend nice and sunny. I was also able to do some exciting things – get a haircut, see a movie, use wireless internet (without data restriction) to upload photos, skype, take a SHOWER. It was all so magical! I also ate at McDonald's for the first time since being here, and got to point to a plaque in honor of Ray Kroc and say “I’m from there!” when it talked about Illinois and the first McDonald's. YAY! Pretty sure the lady didn’t understand what I was talking about/or care.
The weekend was so nice getting to catch up with the ladies, meet some cool people, eat some great food, spend lots of time on the beach, and just do what we wanted! PE is a really nice city and I enjoyed the backpackers we stayed at. There are lots of other backpackers though so I think I’ll do some exploring and then decide on my favorite. I have two years after all! It’s only an hour away from me, but PE is WORLDS away from Alexandria. It will be tempting to escape to this urban paradise often, however my bank account and the poor transport options there will stop me. But it is comforting to know that when I NEED it it’s there.
I’m not sure when I will need it. I’m sure I’ll have low points, but for now I’m enjoying it and trying my hardest to live in the moment! After all – I live in AFRICA!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
"This is John Deere Country"
Who knew I would leave one John Deere Country only to land myself in another? That is the sign that all visitors to Alexandria see as they drive out of town. Hilarious. That along with KFC are probably my two favorite American-things-that-they-don't-realize-are-American things! KFC here is SO GOOD by the way. The "sprinkle pops" aka popcorn chicken are my fave. I might be a vegetarian in my own house but give me fast food and I'm lovin' the chicken! Despite my assumptions that McDonalds would be the most popular fast food export (anywhere really) there are tons of KFC's here. And I have taken it upon myself to make sure everyone knows it's from America. They have to appriciate all the great things we've given them! ; )
I've had lots of people ask me about my work so I want to explain in a little more detail what exactly my "job" is. I've been assigned to work with Ikhwezi Support Group to do "capacity building". In addition to my work that I will do with Ikhwezi, I can pretty much take on anything I want in the community. The way that the Peace Corps works though is for the first three months you're at your site, you are in what's called the "community integration" period and working on a community assessment report. So, I won't be able to tell you about all my fun projects - because I'm not allowed to start any projects during this time.
This is because one - I don't know anything about this community. I need to spend some time learning about the strengths and gaps that exist here to know what I can work on (hence the community assessment). Secondly, I don't have any credibility in this community yet(besides that I'm white, so that does give me some automatic credibility, which is of course not warranted but that's SA!). So in order to start effective and lasting projects I need to have the trust of those involved and have counterparts that want to continue the things that I've started once I leave. That's the whole point of why I'm here. Which will probably be a challenge because I'll have the things that I think are good, and I think the community needs. But in the end, if it doesn't come from within this community as something THEY want, and need it won't be sustainable after I'm gone. I don't have a problem though trying to convince someone that a project I want to do is needed and valuable. For example - I REALLY want to start a girls group at the local secondary school. So, I'm going to be pushing for that one!
I've had a week and two days at work so far and it has been good! I REALLY like my co-workers and it's clear that they are all really passionate about what they are doing. I have been able to identify some things that will be challenges for me to deal with. We just had an all day assessment by one of our funders - Starfish wish is an organization that disperses funds from the United States coming from USAID/PEPFAR to HIV/AIDS organizations here in SA. It was REALLY helpful both for me and my coworkers to see the places for opportunity and growth within our org. That was actually on my first day of work and was a GREAT first day! I learned so much about Ikhwezi in one day! My whole job right now is assessment so that worked out great! I'll be doing my own assessments within the organization but it was good to know that they don't mind doing assessments and afterward are able to appriciate that process. Makes my job easier for sure.
I'm doing great here - enjoying meeting lots of people, getting to know the area, and exploring bit by bit.
"live in the moment and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering!"
-crosby
I've had lots of people ask me about my work so I want to explain in a little more detail what exactly my "job" is. I've been assigned to work with Ikhwezi Support Group to do "capacity building". In addition to my work that I will do with Ikhwezi, I can pretty much take on anything I want in the community. The way that the Peace Corps works though is for the first three months you're at your site, you are in what's called the "community integration" period and working on a community assessment report. So, I won't be able to tell you about all my fun projects - because I'm not allowed to start any projects during this time.
This is because one - I don't know anything about this community. I need to spend some time learning about the strengths and gaps that exist here to know what I can work on (hence the community assessment). Secondly, I don't have any credibility in this community yet(besides that I'm white, so that does give me some automatic credibility, which is of course not warranted but that's SA!). So in order to start effective and lasting projects I need to have the trust of those involved and have counterparts that want to continue the things that I've started once I leave. That's the whole point of why I'm here. Which will probably be a challenge because I'll have the things that I think are good, and I think the community needs. But in the end, if it doesn't come from within this community as something THEY want, and need it won't be sustainable after I'm gone. I don't have a problem though trying to convince someone that a project I want to do is needed and valuable. For example - I REALLY want to start a girls group at the local secondary school. So, I'm going to be pushing for that one!
I've had a week and two days at work so far and it has been good! I REALLY like my co-workers and it's clear that they are all really passionate about what they are doing. I have been able to identify some things that will be challenges for me to deal with. We just had an all day assessment by one of our funders - Starfish wish is an organization that disperses funds from the United States coming from USAID/PEPFAR to HIV/AIDS organizations here in SA. It was REALLY helpful both for me and my coworkers to see the places for opportunity and growth within our org. That was actually on my first day of work and was a GREAT first day! I learned so much about Ikhwezi in one day! My whole job right now is assessment so that worked out great! I'll be doing my own assessments within the organization but it was good to know that they don't mind doing assessments and afterward are able to appriciate that process. Makes my job easier for sure.
I'm doing great here - enjoying meeting lots of people, getting to know the area, and exploring bit by bit.
"live in the moment and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering!"
-crosby
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