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....
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Inauguration of an Icon
My ten year old host brother came up to me the other day as I was sitting outside on my "stoop" reading a book. This wasn't unusual, b/c lately my three younger host brothers/sister have become more at ease around me, and often come sit with me as I read outside. Anywho....that day my ten year old brother sat down and said (in Sotho of course) "Barack Obama, Tuesday". After my usual 30 second look-of-confusion-pause, I realized what he was saying and I just started grinning. I said (in my broken but quickly improving Sotho), "WHAT!?!?" He said it again, and I knew I heard right the first time. I asked him how he knew, and he said he saw an "advert" (what they call commercials or any advertisement) on TV.
The fact that this ten year old village boy who barely speaks a work of English knew Tuesday was a big day for Barack Obama blew my mind away; but, more so, spoke to the magnitude of this icon and this mounmental moment in America's (as well as the world's) history!
Tonight I'll watch the Inaguration with another PCV and her South African family. The pride felt here, by Blacks, for Obama is amazing. It almost makes up for me missing all the festivites back home. I think alot PCVs are more homesick now than we were around Christmas b/c so many of our friends and family are participating in activites and events in celebration of the Inaguration. Its difficult b/c we're missing out on something so big; but then again, I get the opportunity to experience the reactions of this event in a completely unique environment.
Today is a GREAT day! Its raining, and I'll probably get all muddy and wet on the 20 minute walk to my main primary school, where I'll give a library orientation to Grade 7 learners. And I'll more thank likely struggle through the entire lesson like yesterday b/c of the language barrier/ shyness of the students/students' having difficulty expressing their opinions and/or thoughts. But none of that matters....
I'm walking on @$%# clouds today!
The fact that this ten year old village boy who barely speaks a work of English knew Tuesday was a big day for Barack Obama blew my mind away; but, more so, spoke to the magnitude of this icon and this mounmental moment in America's (as well as the world's) history!
Tonight I'll watch the Inaguration with another PCV and her South African family. The pride felt here, by Blacks, for Obama is amazing. It almost makes up for me missing all the festivites back home. I think alot PCVs are more homesick now than we were around Christmas b/c so many of our friends and family are participating in activites and events in celebration of the Inaguration. Its difficult b/c we're missing out on something so big; but then again, I get the opportunity to experience the reactions of this event in a completely unique environment.
Today is a GREAT day! Its raining, and I'll probably get all muddy and wet on the 20 minute walk to my main primary school, where I'll give a library orientation to Grade 7 learners. And I'll more thank likely struggle through the entire lesson like yesterday b/c of the language barrier/ shyness of the students/students' having difficulty expressing their opinions and/or thoughts. But none of that matters....
I'm walking on @$%# clouds today!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Energetic Start!
Today was the most productive I've been since being in my village! I've been at my site since September. Is it sad that I'm finally having a productive day? Oh well.... regardless, it's a GREAT feeling.
The library is actually starting to look like a library. I can also see where the PCV before me left her mark. She put curtains on the windows and a lot of books were already organized on the bookshelves. But since she's been gone, no one has done anything to the library, so it took on the characteristics of a storage room. But once I got the 50kg bags of maize meal/massive bags of onions/sacks of sugar moved to a corner, box after box of student school supplies bunched together, and pile upon pile of textbooks (outdated and donated from the states) onto bookshelves; the room started looking very "library-esque".
It was a good feeling.
To keep my good energetic mood going, I decided to do some Spring Cleaning in the "condo" and give it a small makeover. After trying to figure out what to do with approximately 30 TIME and Newsweek magazines my friends/family have sent me ; a great thought came to my head. What's the best thing to do w/ a bunch of old magazines with GREAT pictures? Yep...use them as wall decorations. My goal is to see as little white-wall as possible in my "condo" by the time my service is up. I think plastering the walls w/ magazine pictures is a good start.
later....
The library is actually starting to look like a library. I can also see where the PCV before me left her mark. She put curtains on the windows and a lot of books were already organized on the bookshelves. But since she's been gone, no one has done anything to the library, so it took on the characteristics of a storage room. But once I got the 50kg bags of maize meal/massive bags of onions/sacks of sugar moved to a corner, box after box of student school supplies bunched together, and pile upon pile of textbooks (outdated and donated from the states) onto bookshelves; the room started looking very "library-esque".
It was a good feeling.
To keep my good energetic mood going, I decided to do some Spring Cleaning in the "condo" and give it a small makeover. After trying to figure out what to do with approximately 30 TIME and Newsweek magazines my friends/family have sent me ; a great thought came to my head. What's the best thing to do w/ a bunch of old magazines with GREAT pictures? Yep...use them as wall decorations. My goal is to see as little white-wall as possible in my "condo" by the time my service is up. I think plastering the walls w/ magazine pictures is a good start.
later....
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
New Title
The new school year is finally here, and I'm honoring this fresh term with a new title: Librarian! For the next few months, I'm focusing on getting one of my school's library up and running. The PCV who lived in my village before me worked with another PCV to get several hundred books donated to one of my schools.
It's now my job to turn her project into a actually functioning library. I spent the past few days putting together a schedule, which was more time consuming than I thought. I went through the School's time table (school-wide schedule) to see what time the English classes, also known as First Additional Language classes, were taught for each grade at my school.
(side note: my primary schools are grades "K"-7)
I then created a weekly schedule where each grade spends one hour in the library each week. In order to fit all eight grades into one week, I created two library sessions for each day, one the hour before lunch and one the hour after. For the most part, I'll be working with two classes a day, and on some days only one class. The scheduling worked out perfectly b/c now I'll also be able to go to my second-assigned school in the afternoons.
(side note: not sure what I'm going to do there yet...)
I'm happy to start this year off working in the library. I noticed a MASSIVE lack of reading skills with the children, even though the Dept of Education (of Mpumalanga) requires schools to set aside 30 minutes everyday for reading. Not to be Negative Nancy, but I rarely (very very very rarely) saw children reading in the classes I observed for three months. I did, however, notice a child looking intently at a book upside down.
So I figure being a librarian for a few months is a great start! And once the teachers, students, and principal get used to the weekly schedule, I'm hoping the library can function on its own so that I can move onto another project. Then again, that's wishful thinking....
Onto a more interesting part of my weekend. I attended a traditional (VERY traditional) baby ceremony called Phasa ("h" is silent) on Sunday in honor of my host sister's 4 month old baby girl. The ceremony is a time for family and friends to come together and honor the baby, as well as to ask the ancestors to bless the baby with good health. The ceremony marked the baby's 4 month birthday which means her mom (my sister) can carry her outside of the yard. Before this time, she never left the yard. A month before that she never left the house. And then a month before that she never left her room (one of the reasons I didn't know there was a baby in the main house until I was at site for three days).
Anyway, I saw my firs goat slaughter at the ceremony. I was really intrigued/disgusted by the whole process. It took about 45 minutes for two men to kill, skin, gut, and chop the goat's meat(btw...a female goat cost about R600, about $50). The family used the ENTIRE goat during the ceremony. They ate the meat and internal organs, hung some of the intestines out to dry for later use as mhuti (medicine), and used the goat's skin to wrap the baby in for some type of ritualistic act.
(side note: No, I didn't try the goat meat or intestines. I'll try anything once, but this wasn't the time for me to try that meat, it didn't smell appealing AT ALL.....so I chowed down on the fried chicken instead!)
Just to be clear. This was a very very traditional ceremony that is uncommon in most South African homes today. My sister's mother-in-law is a Sangoma (traditional healer) who still practices old customs/beliefs from ancestor worship to animal veneration. It was definitely not your average "Baptize-ish" ceremony; never the less, I was honored to be invited to the ceremony!
till next time....
It's now my job to turn her project into a actually functioning library. I spent the past few days putting together a schedule, which was more time consuming than I thought. I went through the School's time table (school-wide schedule) to see what time the English classes, also known as First Additional Language classes, were taught for each grade at my school.
(side note: my primary schools are grades "K"-7)
I then created a weekly schedule where each grade spends one hour in the library each week. In order to fit all eight grades into one week, I created two library sessions for each day, one the hour before lunch and one the hour after. For the most part, I'll be working with two classes a day, and on some days only one class. The scheduling worked out perfectly b/c now I'll also be able to go to my second-assigned school in the afternoons.
(side note: not sure what I'm going to do there yet...)
I'm happy to start this year off working in the library. I noticed a MASSIVE lack of reading skills with the children, even though the Dept of Education (of Mpumalanga) requires schools to set aside 30 minutes everyday for reading. Not to be Negative Nancy, but I rarely (very very very rarely) saw children reading in the classes I observed for three months. I did, however, notice a child looking intently at a book upside down.
So I figure being a librarian for a few months is a great start! And once the teachers, students, and principal get used to the weekly schedule, I'm hoping the library can function on its own so that I can move onto another project. Then again, that's wishful thinking....
Onto a more interesting part of my weekend. I attended a traditional (VERY traditional) baby ceremony called Phasa ("h" is silent) on Sunday in honor of my host sister's 4 month old baby girl. The ceremony is a time for family and friends to come together and honor the baby, as well as to ask the ancestors to bless the baby with good health. The ceremony marked the baby's 4 month birthday which means her mom (my sister) can carry her outside of the yard. Before this time, she never left the yard. A month before that she never left the house. And then a month before that she never left her room (one of the reasons I didn't know there was a baby in the main house until I was at site for three days).
Anyway, I saw my firs goat slaughter at the ceremony. I was really intrigued/disgusted by the whole process. It took about 45 minutes for two men to kill, skin, gut, and chop the goat's meat(btw...a female goat cost about R600, about $50). The family used the ENTIRE goat during the ceremony. They ate the meat and internal organs, hung some of the intestines out to dry for later use as mhuti (medicine), and used the goat's skin to wrap the baby in for some type of ritualistic act.
(side note: No, I didn't try the goat meat or intestines. I'll try anything once, but this wasn't the time for me to try that meat, it didn't smell appealing AT ALL.....so I chowed down on the fried chicken instead!)
Just to be clear. This was a very very traditional ceremony that is uncommon in most South African homes today. My sister's mother-in-law is a Sangoma (traditional healer) who still practices old customs/beliefs from ancestor worship to animal veneration. It was definitely not your average "Baptize-ish" ceremony; never the less, I was honored to be invited to the ceremony!
till next time....
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
I received an AMAZING care package from my folks back home today! Even though I'm baking like a cake inside my "condo" today from the heat, it felt like Christmas morning as I opened the package. There was chocolate, gummy worms, fruit snacks, slippers, BABY WIPES!, hand sanitizer, TIME and JET magazines, and kool-aid packets!
There's not one thing in this package that won't go un-used.
All the chocolate was melted, but of course that didn't stop me from devouring a Reese's Cup on the spot :)
There's not one thing in this package that won't go un-used.
All the chocolate was melted, but of course that didn't stop me from devouring a Reese's Cup on the spot :)
Monday, January 5, 2009
Back to Reality
It's been over a month since I've written my last post. There are two reasons for my absence: (1) I was on vacation and (2) I broke my internet phone.
I'm going to start with the explanation of how I broke my phone b/c, interestingly enough, it's more entertaining. Let me give a little background information first. Some of you may or may not know this, butSouth Africa
I keep all my valuables in my bra! Clever but not uncommon. I never ever ever ever thought I would be the cause of damaging my cell phone. I keep very good care of my valuable b/c I know I'm WAY to cheap to purchase a replacement. Well...I should have thought about this, but just because a cell phone looks undamaged doesn't necessarily mean it isn't damaged....on the inside. Did you know that if you hide electronics for long periods of time in places where they could get wet, they will actually begin to erode on the inside and you (the owner) will have no idea until (one day) the item just STOPS WORKING?!?!?!?!?!
Needless to say, my cell phone experienced irreparable damage. I sent it to the village phone repair man (aka the Pakistani man who owns the local mini grocery store and sells days old bread that begins to mold after 2-3 days), but he was unable to fix it. Instead of sending it to another repair man and possibly being w/o internet for another 3 weeks, I broke down and bought another phone.
As for the second reason I've been unable to update my blog: VACATION. Most people are excited and ready for vacation because they've been working so hard and need to time relax. I was excited and ready for vacation b/c I hadn't been working hard and needed something to do! With 7 of my closest friends, I traveled aroundSouth Africa , Mozambique , and Swaziland
This part of the world is beautiful and so diverse. While in Mozambique; I swam in the Indian Ocean, ate crab legs the size of bananas, purchased fresh prawns at a seafood market then immediately had them prepared in a restaurant, and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL sites/sounds of Mozambican men and women. While inSwaziland South Africa
Being a tourist for three weeks was great, but now I'm back to reality. School starts in a few weeks, and my goals and ambitions for the new school year must now become a reality.
And to make things more difficult, I’ve been dealing with a serious bought of homesickness. It was fueled by my vacation because I became accustomed to “living a life of luxury” (ex. flushing toilets, showers, restaurants, etc) for three weeks. Those amenities are not a part of my everyday life here, and thinking about them only increases my homesickness.
Till next time or at least sooner than the last time……
I'm going to start with the explanation of how I broke my phone b/c, interestingly enough, it's more entertaining. Let me give a little background information first. Some of you may or may not know this, but
I keep all my valuables in my bra! Clever but not uncommon. I never ever ever ever thought I would be the cause of damaging my cell phone. I keep very good care of my valuable b/c I know I'm WAY to cheap to purchase a replacement. Well...I should have thought about this, but just because a cell phone looks undamaged doesn't necessarily mean it isn't damaged....on the inside. Did you know that if you hide electronics for long periods of time in places where they could get wet, they will actually begin to erode on the inside and you (the owner) will have no idea until (one day) the item just STOPS WORKING?!?!?!?!?!
Needless to say, my cell phone experienced irreparable damage. I sent it to the village phone repair man (aka the Pakistani man who owns the local mini grocery store and sells days old bread that begins to mold after 2-3 days), but he was unable to fix it. Instead of sending it to another repair man and possibly being w/o internet for another 3 weeks, I broke down and bought another phone.
As for the second reason I've been unable to update my blog: VACATION. Most people are excited and ready for vacation because they've been working so hard and need to time relax. I was excited and ready for vacation b/c I hadn't been working hard and needed something to do! With 7 of my closest friends, I traveled around
This part of the world is beautiful and so diverse. While in Mozambique; I swam in the Indian Ocean, ate crab legs the size of bananas, purchased fresh prawns at a seafood market then immediately had them prepared in a restaurant, and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL sites/sounds of Mozambican men and women. While in
Being a tourist for three weeks was great, but now I'm back to reality. School starts in a few weeks, and my goals and ambitions for the new school year must now become a reality.
And to make things more difficult, I’ve been dealing with a serious bought of homesickness. It was fueled by my vacation because I became accustomed to “living a life of luxury” (ex. flushing toilets, showers, restaurants, etc) for three weeks. Those amenities are not a part of my everyday life here, and thinking about them only increases my homesickness.
Till next time or at least sooner than the last time……
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
My Family
There are many things that influence a volunteer's Peace Corps service and experiences. In my opinion, one's host family is the center piece. My host family during training was wonderful, and I wondered how my "new" host family would measure up to the "old". It's not good to compare two families because....well.....apples and oranges. But I'm only human.
My family here in my village is AMAZING. They have opened up their arms and welcomed me into their home and lives. I've become extremely close and comfortable with all the members of my family. My mother only speaks Sotho, and she is very pleased with my progress in learning the language. We can sit and talk about our day, what we plan to do tomorrow, or (as usual) the weather of the day.
My host brothers and sisters keep my life here lively and full of laughter. There English is getting better as a result of our interactions, and my Sotho is improving at a rapid pace. Alot of times, young children are the best teachers. If you hang around them long enough, you'll pick up on their dialect and vocabulary.
When I laid out under one of our big trees this past Sunday (it was blue-blazing hot) to eat a mango and do some reading, my little host brothers and sister (9,7, and 6) came to sit with me and hear me read. Of course they had NO IDEA what I was reading, but I think they just enjoyed listening. They huddled around me yesterday again when they saw me come outside with my book.
They have also heard me playing my guitar in "the condo", and have consistently asked me to play for them. I broke out a few tunes for them yesterday as they excitedly danced and clapped their hands. I then let each one of them hold the guitar and strum it. Ummm...I'm not sure how often I'll them play with the guitar. I had a LOVELY time removing all the sticky fingerprints :)
Life here with my family is great, and I'm absolutely positive there love and warmth will make my service-time here memorable.
I'm so grateful...
My family here in my village is AMAZING. They have opened up their arms and welcomed me into their home and lives. I've become extremely close and comfortable with all the members of my family. My mother only speaks Sotho, and she is very pleased with my progress in learning the language. We can sit and talk about our day, what we plan to do tomorrow, or (as usual) the weather of the day.
My host brothers and sisters keep my life here lively and full of laughter. There English is getting better as a result of our interactions, and my Sotho is improving at a rapid pace. Alot of times, young children are the best teachers. If you hang around them long enough, you'll pick up on their dialect and vocabulary.
When I laid out under one of our big trees this past Sunday (it was blue-blazing hot) to eat a mango and do some reading, my little host brothers and sister (9,7, and 6) came to sit with me and hear me read. Of course they had NO IDEA what I was reading, but I think they just enjoyed listening. They huddled around me yesterday again when they saw me come outside with my book.
They have also heard me playing my guitar in "the condo", and have consistently asked me to play for them. I broke out a few tunes for them yesterday as they excitedly danced and clapped their hands. I then let each one of them hold the guitar and strum it. Ummm...I'm not sure how often I'll them play with the guitar. I had a LOVELY time removing all the sticky fingerprints :)
Life here with my family is great, and I'm absolutely positive there love and warmth will make my service-time here memorable.
I'm so grateful...
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