The interesting thing about being a Peace Corps Volunteer is that you, honestly, have NO IDEA what you are getting yourself into! Will your 27 months of service be the most fulfilling and rewarding work of your life, or the most extreme disaster you've ever encountered? For me, it’s been an even mixture of both. So much so, that I've never been more challenged physically, socially, professionally, mentally, and emotionally as I've been since stepping foot in the country last July.
I've seen some of the most beautiful landscapes and sunsets.
I've met some of the funniest, smartest, annoying people.
I've tasted some of the most extreme foods (ex. bugs, chicken intestines, homemade wine, etc).
I've smelled some of the most HORRIFIC body odor.
I think what’s affected me the most is how I've experienced senseless violence against people close to me. Last month I lost my 16 year host brother to an altercation with a 17 year old that ended up with Diakano stabbed in the heart. And today I learned that my 39 year old host father from my training village (I lived with this family for 2 months) was shot and killed yesterday.
Chicco and his wife,
I haven't had a "normal" week in my village in months!
On a (VERY) positive note: I'm visiting home for three weeks during the June/July school break. I can't wait to see my family and friends.
Who would've thought a Southern girl from the suburbs would be living this surreal life in another country. From one day to the next, I'm experiencing a variety of emotions: anger, elation, pain, frustration, excitement, mistrust, confusion.....
I'm so curious (and somewhat scared) to see what’s next......
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Untitled
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Diakano Theko
Its been a long time since my last posting. The past month (and a half, give or take) has been....well..... challenging. I struggled with finding motivation and excitement when teaching my literacy classes with one of my schools for several weeks. I felt as if the village was sucking the life out of me. Teacher apathy and ineffectiveness was driving me mad. And, I was having a difficult time creating lesson plans that kept 30-50 children mentally/physically occupied for 1 hour.
(side note: I had absolutely no idea how to teach kids HOW to read. I'm talking about basics of this is an "A" and it sounds like this ---.Its actually a little harder than I was expecting.)
I then went away for a week of training, which was fun because I was able to spend time with friends that I hadn't seen for a long time. However, on my way home from the training, I received a phone call from my host sister. My 16 year old host brother, Diakano, had been
killed. He was stabbed by a 19 year old boy. They were arguing over a girl. Yep....a girl!
So, the past few weeks (since his passing) have been crazy. I'm actually going to save that information for another posting. I don't want this one to be too long.....
(side note: I had absolutely no idea how to teach kids HOW to read. I'm talking about basics of this is an "A" and it sounds like this ---.Its actually a little harder than I was expecting.)
I then went away for a week of training, which was fun because I was able to spend time with friends that I hadn't seen for a long time. However, on my way home from the training, I received a phone call from my host sister. My 16 year old host brother, Diakano, had been
killed. He was stabbed by a 19 year old boy. They were arguing over a girl. Yep....a girl!
So, the past few weeks (since his passing) have been crazy. I'm actually going to save that information for another posting. I don't want this one to be too long.....
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Frustrations
I'm beginning to understand more and more why so many PCVs get frustrated with their service and leave early b/c of the hopelessness they feel. Let me be clear here, I don't feel hopeless about the children I'm working with. I've never felt so optimistic about working with a group of children before. It's the teachers and administration that worries me. How can effective changes be made at a school where the entire staff of adults are apathetic about their work?
The excitement and energy I see in the kids is motivation enough for me to continue with my Library Lessons enthusiastically. But its so FRUSTRATING when the teachers don't pump out the same enthusiasm as the kids. I taught six classes this week in which three of the teachers were present. Of those three...
...one asked to leave and only stayed (for half the class) because of my firm reminder that I don't speak fluent enough Sotho to teach my lesson effectively to Grade 3 without her...
...another fell asleep while I read the children a story that THEY were absorbed in, and I only noticed she was asleep behind me when I asked her a question but got no response (she didn't respond to my verbal wake up call so I had to physically nudge her awake!)....
and another (a new teacher) actually paid attention to what I was doing and was genuinely interested.
What's wrong with that picture peoples?!?!?!?
.
The excitement and energy I see in the kids is motivation enough for me to continue with my Library Lessons enthusiastically. But its so FRUSTRATING when the teachers don't pump out the same enthusiasm as the kids. I taught six classes this week in which three of the teachers were present. Of those three...
...one asked to leave and only stayed (for half the class) because of my firm reminder that I don't speak fluent enough Sotho to teach my lesson effectively to Grade 3 without her...
...another fell asleep while I read the children a story that THEY were absorbed in, and I only noticed she was asleep behind me when I asked her a question but got no response (she didn't respond to my verbal wake up call so I had to physically nudge her awake!)....
and another (a new teacher) actually paid attention to what I was doing and was genuinely interested.
What's wrong with that picture peoples?!?!?!?
.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
This Is A Book....
So far this week has been pretty productive. I've taught two days of effective lessons, and FINALLY have a set agenda for my second primary school.
This week my lessons are focused around "the anatomy of books". I figured I need to start from the very very very basics with the kids since I've seen them (on numerous) occasions hold books upside down. I decided to take baby steps and be as simple as possible.
I took some big white butcher paper and made an over-sized book with a front cover, title page, copyright page, and body. The front cover has (in big pretty letters!) the words "Title", "Author's name", and then a cute picture of a family and their house (p.s. stick figures rock!). I also made cards with an explanation in Sotho of each part.
I have the older grades volunteer to come up to the board and match the Sotho description to the English word. I just walk through the explanation of each to the younger grades, but in Sotho. Once they understand (as much as I can see) what each part means, I pick books randomly off the bookshelf and ask them the title, author's name, and describe the picture. For the older grades I use English books and have them give me all the answers in English. For the lower grades, I use Sotho books and (obviously) have them give me all the answers in Sotho.
Once the older grades get a hang of things; I put them into small groups, give them each a book/piece of paper, and have them identify the title, author, and describe the pictures. As simple as this assignment sounds, many of the kids struggled. Obviously its easy to pretend you know whats going on when the class is all together, but in small groups I was able to get a better idea of who really understood what a title is, and where to look for the author's name.
Having the kids present their "findings" to the class turned out to be the most irritating part. They're either too shy or "too cool for school". No one wanted to present, and some boys kept throwing the books around like Hot Potatoes (you know, the game). I got so tired of watching this that I eventually made everyone in the group go up to the front and present the information simultaneously. Ha!
Ive' also thoroughly enjoyed playing the staring game with these kids. When I ask a question and get 40 pairs of eyes staring at me blankly, I just stare right back. They have NO IDEA how much patience I've obtained through all the years of working with kids. I'll wait all day until the silence gets so awkward you don't know what to do. I'm trying to prove that I'll wait until you have time to think of an answer or get so bored of the silence that you just shout something out.
I'll be teaching literacy lessons at my second school each afternoon from now until....well....until I think of something else productive to do at the school. Me and the principal are currently putting my schedule together. It's been a bit tricky b/c I can't get there before noon, and this school is alot bigger than my main primary school. Its a lot harder to schedule ALL the classes (they have multiple classes in several grades as opposed to my 1st school that has one class of each grade) in one week time frame.
We're actually combining some classes and re-arranging some schedules to squeeze me in :) It feels great to have a supportive enough principal who doesn't mind making changes so I can try to be effective. I call my little 1/2 hour time slots "Literacy Time!" I'll create lessons for Grade 4-6 and read stories to Grades R-3. I'm expecting two challenges:
(1) there are THREE grade R classes that I'll be reading to at one time.....can we say CHAOS!!?!?!? and
(2) I have 45 minutes to leave school 1, drop by house to use bathroom (school bathrooms = icky) and refill water bottle (it's still blue-blazing-hot), and walk to school 2.....umm....let's just say when I showed up today I looked like I just ran a marathon
till next time....
This week my lessons are focused around "the anatomy of books". I figured I need to start from the very very very basics with the kids since I've seen them (on numerous) occasions hold books upside down. I decided to take baby steps and be as simple as possible.
I took some big white butcher paper and made an over-sized book with a front cover, title page, copyright page, and body. The front cover has (in big pretty letters!) the words "Title", "Author's name", and then a cute picture of a family and their house (p.s. stick figures rock!). I also made cards with an explanation in Sotho of each part.
I have the older grades volunteer to come up to the board and match the Sotho description to the English word. I just walk through the explanation of each to the younger grades, but in Sotho. Once they understand (as much as I can see) what each part means, I pick books randomly off the bookshelf and ask them the title, author's name, and describe the picture. For the older grades I use English books and have them give me all the answers in English. For the lower grades, I use Sotho books and (obviously) have them give me all the answers in Sotho.
Once the older grades get a hang of things; I put them into small groups, give them each a book/piece of paper, and have them identify the title, author, and describe the pictures. As simple as this assignment sounds, many of the kids struggled. Obviously its easy to pretend you know whats going on when the class is all together, but in small groups I was able to get a better idea of who really understood what a title is, and where to look for the author's name.
Having the kids present their "findings" to the class turned out to be the most irritating part. They're either too shy or "too cool for school". No one wanted to present, and some boys kept throwing the books around like Hot Potatoes (you know, the game). I got so tired of watching this that I eventually made everyone in the group go up to the front and present the information simultaneously. Ha!
Ive' also thoroughly enjoyed playing the staring game with these kids. When I ask a question and get 40 pairs of eyes staring at me blankly, I just stare right back. They have NO IDEA how much patience I've obtained through all the years of working with kids. I'll wait all day until the silence gets so awkward you don't know what to do. I'm trying to prove that I'll wait until you have time to think of an answer or get so bored of the silence that you just shout something out.
I'll be teaching literacy lessons at my second school each afternoon from now until....well....until I think of something else productive to do at the school. Me and the principal are currently putting my schedule together. It's been a bit tricky b/c I can't get there before noon, and this school is alot bigger than my main primary school. Its a lot harder to schedule ALL the classes (they have multiple classes in several grades as opposed to my 1st school that has one class of each grade) in one week time frame.
We're actually combining some classes and re-arranging some schedules to squeeze me in :) It feels great to have a supportive enough principal who doesn't mind making changes so I can try to be effective. I call my little 1/2 hour time slots "Literacy Time!" I'll create lessons for Grade 4-6 and read stories to Grades R-3. I'm expecting two challenges:
(1) there are THREE grade R classes that I'll be reading to at one time.....can we say CHAOS!!?!?!? and
(2) I have 45 minutes to leave school 1, drop by house to use bathroom (school bathrooms = icky) and refill water bottle (it's still blue-blazing-hot), and walk to school 2.....umm....let's just say when I showed up today I looked like I just ran a marathon
till next time....
Sunday, February 8, 2009
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....
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....
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....
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