A Good Cause

Well, I've been ghost again for a few weeks. I attended a week of training back in my training village and then attended a few meetings in Pretoria. The past few days I've been fighting an annoying cold which has kept me caged up in the condo. Its good to be home though....

I always find that I dread coming back to "village life" after I've been around my American friends or even spent a few days in a urban environment. But once I get home and change into my "lounging" clothes (shorts and t-shirt), kick off my sandals (these days I prefer to be barefoot), and start talking with my family (I like catching up on the latest village gossip); I feel comfortable and settled in.

The rainy season has FINALLY started taking its toll on the dirt roads in my village and the surrounding area. The other day, the taxi I was riding on got stuck in the mud....

[side note: Taxi drivers seem to think they are driving 4 wheel drive hummers as opposed to 3,000 year old mini vans]

....and we had to all get out so the men could push it out. On some days, the taxis won't even come to my village b/c they don't want to take the chance of getting stuck. This means we have to walk a good 30 minutes to the next village where the road is better so we can catch a taxi from there, or we remain stranded until the taxis come our way again. The other day, a big bus got stuck in mud and sat there for a few days until it was set free. Ha! Man, I miss paved roads.

On to something more serious, I feel the need to mention an event I'm participating in at the end of March. To save myself time, I'm just going to paste an email I sent out to friends and family. I hope those of you (all three....hi Ma) who read my blog can contribute or at least pass the information on to someone who is interested....

Hello Family/Friends,

Well...I've now been in South Africa for over 6 months! It is so hard to believe; I hear that the longer I am here the faster the time goes; I hope it doesn't slip away too fast!

Things are going well; I just finished my IST (In Service Training) and am ready to get back to working on my projects! I've been focused on a library at one of my schools, and am happy to say being a librarian this past month has been very intriguing (well....and a bit frustrating....but it comes with the job). I've been working very closely with two elementary schools in my village, and find the work tedious but very rewarding, which means so worth while!

With the holiday season now over, I am looking forward to upcoming events. One of these is the Longtom marathon. It's actually a half- and an ultra-marathon, and I plan to participate in the half (obviously walking), which is 21.1 Km. It's happening on March 29 in Sabie, Mpumalanga Province, not too far from Kruger Park. It starts at the top of the Longtom Pass and goes downhill most of the way into Lydenburg.

Many Peace Corps volunteers will be taking part, probably over 70 of us, so it's going to be a lot of fun to get together with them for the weekend and run/walk in this beautiful part of the country. I visited this area during my Christmas vacation, and it's amazing.

In addition to having a good time though, the main reason for taking part is to support the KLM Foundation. Their website is: www.klm-foundation.org; please check it out. I won't go into all the details of what they do since you can read that on the site, but I'll just say that the organization was founded by two PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) who served here in South Africa a few years ago. They decided to hook up with the Longtom Marathon as a fundraiser; they fund a worthy, needy child to attend an excellent secondary school in
Mpumalanga - Uplands College. That's why I am so excited about helping them to raise funds; what better way to help this country than to educate a future leader? And the child they choose is very carefully selected, going through a four-tier process of elimination.

The four children who have been chosen so far are excelling in all respects. I hope after reading about KLM you will find yourself as supportive as I am of their work. There may be other projects I encounter along my way here, but this is very worthy indeed, and one for which I am asking your support. My goal is to get a gold medal (in fundraising even if I can't in the run!) and your donation will help me reach that goal. Please give what you can; any amount is appreciated. Even if you can only give $10 or $20, it is much needed. (Of course, we would love larger donations!) And it is tax-deductible.

So please go to the KLM website (www.klm-foundation.org) to make a donation, just click on the 'donate' photo. MAKE SURE TO PUT MY NAME in the white box where it asks for the Longtom person you want to sponsor. The online donation is preferable, but if you need to mail in a check, please make it payable to Kgwale Le Mollo (US) and send it to:

KLM Foundation (US)
c/o Bowen Hsu
461 So. Bonita Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91107

And make sure to include a note that your donation is in my behalf.

Thanks so much for your supporting me, and especially for supporting the child who is chosen next year to attend Uplands. I'll let you know how the weekend goes, and how many funds we Peace Corps Volunteers collected. Also, please feel free to mention this event to other friends or colleagues who you feel would be interested in supporting a good cause.

Ok then...till next time....