Heritage Day and Taxi Accident

Wednesday was Heritage in South Africa, a day we celebrate the heritage of the country and get the day off work. I was sent by my NGO to a meeting in my village. The invitation said the meeting would start at 9:30am, so I arrived promptly at 9:30. I knew the event wouldn’t start right away so I brought a book. However, when I arrived, the tent was set up, about 25 kids were milling around and the stereo system was up and blaring music, not a good environment to catch up on a good book. I waited around until 10, then asked one the ladies around what time she thought the meeting would really start, she said maybe 10:30. I decided to go home for awhile and wait there instead. I went back at 11:30 and things were just getting under way. The little girls of the village were doing a dance to welcome all the guests to the meeting. Of course, I was made to sit up front with all the VIPs, even though I really had nothing to contribute to the meeting. It finally started about noon, only a mere 2 and half hours late, so just on time in Africa. The meeting was two and half hours of talking in Zulu. The little girls did two dances and the staff of the organization holding the meeting did a song as well. The performances were great, but the rest, while I am sure was extremely interesting and informative, was over my head in terms of my Zulu language skills. They served a meal at the end of the meeting, which was really the prize for all those who could sit through the whole meeting (not that I had a choice seeing how I was sitting right in front of everyone). Although I do not eat meat, the main food at any South Africa gathering, I was happy to eat some beans and give the rest of my share of the meat to some of the kids who stuck around after their dance. I suppose the hosts felt badly about giving me meat and they gave me another entirely full plate of vegetarian stuff. I ate some more beans but then when most people were gone, I gave the food again to some children. I find it difficult to eat at a big gathering where the children are sitting around waiting for the leftovers. However, since this organizations main function is to take care of and feed orphans, I saw they were giving out bowls of food to the kids before the adults ate, which made me extremely happy. The rest of the week, I have noticed people around town all dressed up in traditional clothing, so far, this is my favorite South African holiday.

Yesterday I was taking a taxi to work, only the taxi didn’t quite make it all the way to Mtubatuba. Just outside the town, the wheel fell off the taxi while we were going about 80kph, sending everyone inside up in the air, then back down very quickly. Everyone was screaming and scared, there was smoke and burning rubber, but no one was seriously injured, we all hit our head on the top of the taxi when the tire first fell off though. We were very lucky not to fall over, some quick thinking by the driver who apparently wasn’t quick thinking enough to make sure the tires were fastened securely to the vehicle before taking off that morning. Everyone rushed off the taxi when it stopped, not knowing what had happened, just that there was a bunch of smoke and burning. While normally I wouldn’t appreciate being squeezed into a taxi with the maximum number of people possible, all piled in on top of each other, I think this is the only reason no one was hurt, none of us could actually go anywhere but up. I was close enough to town to walk to my NGO, since there was really no way I was getting back on that taxi (although other people did). Everyone was very supportive of my freaking out, despite it not being a serious accident. I believe the scariest thing was being in the back of the taxi, thinking you are about to crash and not being able to do anything about it. I calmed down considerably as the day went on and was able to take a taxi home that evening.

iSimangaliso, Mozambique

Keeping sane during a Peace Corps experience is a difficult task even at the best of times, thus taking a vacation with other volunteers is essential for ones mental health. I spent the past week on holiday with four other volunteers, visiting the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and going to Mozambique. We spent the first part of the week in St. Lucia, which is really just down the street from my house, but I was able to see the area in a new light, the way the tourists do. While it was rainy, cold and windy, I still had a good time, even if I had to wear two fleeces and a ski cap to the beach everyday. We went out to a lot of restaurants, went to the St. Lucia beach, Cape Vidal, Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve, and on the Hippo and Croc tour.

In the middle of the week, we headed up the park to Kosi Bay. We got a bit confused by the directions to the backpackers, seeing as how we needed to turn onto a dirt road, past an abandoned building to get to it. We were all very skeptical of the place, but it turned out to be the best backpackers I have stayed at in South Africa. Each group could have their own little building. The rooms were connected by walkways made of sticks. The place was not busy at all, so we had out own kitchen and got the bathroom to ourselves most of the time. While we were only there for two days, if felt longer because the owners took us on so many tour and were very accommodating to everything we wanted to see.

The first day, we went on the tour’s first ever trip into the raffa forest of Kosi Bay. We road on a small boat make of raffa wood, pulling it across the lake with a rope. We walked through the forest and it was amazing seeing all the palms.

In the afternoon, we went to Kosi Bay to see the fish traps, go snorkeling and to the beach. It was a beautiful beach, but we were the only ones on it. Friday I went into Mozambique, the backpackers is only about ten minutes away from the border. It was pretty cool to get my passport stamped on my birthday. A Brazilian couple sang to me in Portuguese. Immediately after crossing the border, all tarred roads disappeared and the driver had to put on the 4X4 drive. Mozambique was in a civil war for 25 years that ended in the 1990’s. I went to Ponto D’ouro and spent the morning on the beach.

They took us to lunch at a restaurant on top of a sand dune. They even gave me a free drink for my birthday. In the afternoon, I went back to the beach and to the shops along the road. Despite being only about a 30 minutes drive from South Africa, Ponta D’Ouro had a very different feel, with different culture, language, currency and architecture.

The beach in Ponta D’Ouro was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen but very few people were around. Back at the backpackers, I found the owner had decorated the place with balloons and streamers for my birthday. We had cake and champagne in the evening. I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday! Check out the photos of the great adventure with the link to photos on the side. Now it is back to work in Mtubatuba

Carrying on

8/14/08 (wouldn't let me update on that actual date)

It has been a good couple of weeks in Africa. I am making progress with my work at Mpilonhle. Every Saturday, the mobile health unit goes out to counsel, test, and provide medication for community members. We have chosen 12 communities to serve with our three units. During the week, I plan for the events, going over logistics like who will staff which unit and on Saturdays, I got with the units to see the community. Since we started three weeks ago, the communities have really responded, from the local induna (chiefs) spreading the word to people signing up for computer courses. Community members are given the opportunity to sign up for a whole week of computer courses when they come to the unit on Saturday when they see a counselor or a nurse. In November and December we will go back to each community to hold the courses. I am excited about offering these courses to community members whom many have never worked on a computer before. Not only can we provide health services to the community, but we can also bring technology to extremely rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal.

Life in the village is also becoming routine, I once thought this would never happen. I doubt I will ever become use to all the staring, but I am use to eating the food and heating water for bathes. The children are still amazed by my presence. I have learned that I cannot feed all the hungry children in the village, I can play with them and read them stories. After receiving a wonderful package from the US, I promptly covered the children in temporary tattoos and stick-on earrings. The girls were so excited to have the tattoos, but I think they are also excited by receiving so much positive attention from an adult. The only problem being that now they hardly leave me alone for 10 minutes, even if they just want me to simply watch them play card games. I have taken to reading while they color and play games in hopes of showing them that reading can be fun.

I am going on vacation next week and I am very excited. A few other Peace Corps Volunteers will join me here in St. Lucia for a few days, then we are heading up the iSimangaliso Wetland Park to Kosi Bay. I plan on sitting on beaches, reading, snorkeling, going to game reserves, eating good food (i.e. nothing with cabbage in it) and celebrating my birthday.

Amanzi

There is a saying in the Peace Corps, An optimist looks at the glass and says it’s half full, a pessimist looks at the glass and says it’s half empty, a Peace Corps volunteer looks at the glass and says ‘I could take a bath in that.’

I found truth in that statement this weekend we the water to the entire town of Mtubatuba was turned off for now going on 24 hours and likely to last for two or three days. I try to bath as little as possible now that it is winter and it is too cold to even take your clothes off to get in the water. Yesterday though, was really the day I could put it off no longer. In the village I stayed in during training, the water to the village was only on three days a weeks and we stored water in barrels for the other days. In my current village, water is on all the time, except for occasionally going off for two hours at a time maybe once a month. We store a little bit of water in one barrel for these occasions. Not knowing how long the water would be off last night, I used as little water as possible to bathe, managing to even wash my hair in about two kettles worth of water. I was quite proud of the accomplishment, even though it was a freezing and miserable experience. At least the entire town is in the same boat and will all be suffering in two days. Thankfully, there are no photos to accompany this post.

Community Outreach.2

This Saturday, I schedule a second community outreach day for Mpilonhle. While there was a bit of a scramble the day before the event, I think it ended well, with two units working in two locations to serve about 45 community members.

Cape Vidal

I took a break from work last Thursday and went to Cape Vidal, a beautiful beach in the St. Lucia Wetland Park. We even saw a whale out in the ocean. Before the beach, there is a game park, were I saw this monkey.

Children

I just got back from In-Service Training (IST) and I had a great time. It was very cold in Limpopo though, so I am glad to be back in the warmer climate. Now that I am back, I am continuing to work on the community outreach project for Mpilonhle. I am also trying to come up with ideas for a secondary project. Until I have something exciting to write about, enjoy some photos of the village children.