Becky Ford
Postnet Suite 88
Private Bag X013
Mtubatuba
KwaZulu-Natal 3935
South Africa
After much anticipation, I have found out my permanent site and I am on site visit this week. The NGO is called Mpilonhle, which is a mobile health unit that serves four schools in the area, doing health screenings, counciling, health education and computer training. The organization works out of the town of Mtubatuba but I am living close to the town of St. Lucia. My home is about 7km from the beach and about two hours north of Durban. I am living in a house with a host mom.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
There are only two kinds of people in Africa, those infected with HIV and those affected by it
I wish everyone could see the stars from Africa.
I am having a great weekend. friday evening, as Christi and I were walking home from class, we spotted one of our supervisor's filling water jugs from the outside tap. He does not have a host family, s he has to do all the work for himself. The water is only on one day a week, so we helped him fill the jugs and carry them inside. Then we all enjoyed some orange fanta and cookies while looking at pictures and discussing his life in South Africa. it gets dark at about 7pm, so we had to go home. My host faily was starting dinner so I played with baby Pabello. i taught her the Itsy Bitsy Spider song last week so now I have to sing it about 50 times a day. She is about 13 months old so i do pretty much anything to see her giant smile. I took a successful bucket bath which means that I was cleaner after the bath than before I started. For dinner, we had buttered bread, a hard boiled egg and chips (french fries), this is my favorite meal! We also had coca-cola which means i got two cold drinks during the day. We ate while watching Generations, the world's cheesiest soap opera and my favorite show by far. Later, the baby fell asleep while I was holding her, which is the gretest feeling in the world.
Today, a few of us are in town. We are going to get pizza and candy!
Training is going well but I can't wait to go to site. I feel like I will never understand Zule, but it is difficult to practice because I live with a Sepedi speaking family. I have a great family, but I am looking forward to having some independence. Right now they have to do everything for me, I only wash dishes sometimes.
I will have to wait til site to post pictures. For now though, check out Christi's blog, she is my neighbor and in the language group, so we see a lot of the same things. http://twentysevenmonthsinafrica.blogspot.com/
I think it is important to end with the fact that my bedroom is covered with posters of 2 Pac.
I am having a great weekend. friday evening, as Christi and I were walking home from class, we spotted one of our supervisor's filling water jugs from the outside tap. He does not have a host family, s he has to do all the work for himself. The water is only on one day a week, so we helped him fill the jugs and carry them inside. Then we all enjoyed some orange fanta and cookies while looking at pictures and discussing his life in South Africa. it gets dark at about 7pm, so we had to go home. My host faily was starting dinner so I played with baby Pabello. i taught her the Itsy Bitsy Spider song last week so now I have to sing it about 50 times a day. She is about 13 months old so i do pretty much anything to see her giant smile. I took a successful bucket bath which means that I was cleaner after the bath than before I started. For dinner, we had buttered bread, a hard boiled egg and chips (french fries), this is my favorite meal! We also had coca-cola which means i got two cold drinks during the day. We ate while watching Generations, the world's cheesiest soap opera and my favorite show by far. Later, the baby fell asleep while I was holding her, which is the gretest feeling in the world.
Today, a few of us are in town. We are going to get pizza and candy!
Training is going well but I can't wait to go to site. I feel like I will never understand Zule, but it is difficult to practice because I live with a Sepedi speaking family. I have a great family, but I am looking forward to having some independence. Right now they have to do everything for me, I only wash dishes sometimes.
I will have to wait til site to post pictures. For now though, check out Christi's blog, she is my neighbor and in the language group, so we see a lot of the same things. http://twentysevenmonthsinafrica.blogspot.com/
I think it is important to end with the fact that my bedroom is covered with posters of 2 Pac.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Peace Corps has been going well so far. I moved in the my host family three weeks ago and they are great. We have a little baby in our family and a 12 year old, along with a mom and grandma. The house is really nice and I have my own bedroom.
The vllage I am in is beautiful with mountains and flat plains. There isn't much in the village and I am in town now using the internet to and to buy cheese!
I will post pictures when I can, just a quick update though.
Saw some animals a few weeks ago at a game park. food is good here, eating pap is fun, making it is difficult.
The vllage I am in is beautiful with mountains and flat plains. There isn't much in the village and I am in town now using the internet to and to buy cheese!
I will post pictures when I can, just a quick update though.
Saw some animals a few weeks ago at a game park. food is good here, eating pap is fun, making it is difficult.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Staging
Final day of staging, leaving tomorrow.
I arrived Sunday morning and luckily caught a shuttle with another volunteer. We went to the liberty bell.
Staging began; we learned about safety, security and adjusting.
I arrived Sunday morning and luckily caught a shuttle with another volunteer. We went to the liberty bell.
Staging began; we learned about safety, security and adjusting.
The other trainees seem great so far. It seems like everyone has an intersting story. Although we seem to have a variety of backgrounds I think the group works well together. The real test is to see if we still like each other three months from now.
Today was more staging info and tomorrow we take off.
My roommate and I had great "last meal" at an Indian reasuarant. It is Restuarnt Week in Philadelphia I got a huge meal so I can long cherish the great food.
Unfortunately I have come down with a cold (didn't I have a cold five weeks ago?) and I am dreading traveling so many hours. This either means I have gotten my sickness and won't get sick for awhile or it means I will be sick every other week until 2010. I really hope it doesn't mean the 29 other volunteers have a cold in three days.
Finally going to Africa!!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
all my bags are packed....
I am getting ready to leave for South Africa. Only a few days left in what seemed like an enternity of waiting. Sunday I am going to Philadelphia for staging. Tuesday night the group flies to Germany where we have a 12 hour layover. This would be the same Germany in which my dear friend Claire lives. If all goes right, we will see each other for my very first trip to Europe. Thursday will be the first day in Africa. Training lasts until April 3rd.
I left my job at the hospital at before Christmas and have been in Louisville for about five weeks. I was going a little stir-crazy at first but now I wonder where the time went.
Packing has been a little crazy. Two bags and eighty pounds. I have stuffed the bags to overflowing and I am at 60 pounds.
I have packed everything so perfectly that I can never unpack. This is very unfortunate for it appears I will be living in many temporary places until I officially become a volunteer in April.
I won’t have much access to a computer while in training. However, I can write and receive mail. My address is:
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 9536
Pretoria 0001
South Africa
I have been visiting everyone I know in the area for the last couple of weeks. Last weekend I went to see Amy and Andy and we went to the Aquarium. This is the octopus we saw.
new blog
blogging, this is a test picture which just happens to be a picture of me with a shark.
For more pictures visit:
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