Village Life

Blog Aug 2006

Aug. 8, 2006
Our new home for the next 6 weeks is a room in a pink and green family home in a large village (or small town) in the Mpumalanga province, about two hours north of Johannesburg. We were glad to move into such a comfortable, welcoming home on Aug. 2, after an enjoyable first week of training held at a nearby nature preserve. The term nature preserve does not do the camp justice as it was an amazing introduction to Africa. We arrived by bus at the camp late at night and were escorted to our rondeval ( round house with a thatched roof). The next morning we were greeted by the monkeys at the training site and large baboons on the rocks above. Five black wildebeests were spotted at the entrance to the nature preserve. The sky was a beautiful clear clean blue without a cloud. The calls of the birds and the bright colors were new to us. Wow! What a great way to start our adventure in Africa. The training sessions were held in a rock building with log supports, similar to some of the famous lodges of the US national parks or outside in the arid landscape with bird calls as a backdrop.
After a week of orientation, history of South Africa, and 9 vaccinations we were greeted by our new host family and driven to our homestay village. The scenery and houses look like Arizona or New Mexico with rolling hills, scrub bushes, small trees and gorgeous blue skies with aquamarine clarity. Some of the homes look just like Tucson with flat roofs, square adobe shapes and even beams sticking out of the walls. Our home is a room in a family compound with four large windows and lace curtains with pink ribbon accents. Although we do not have indoor plumbing, we have electricity and have adjusted quickly to bucket baths and outdoor privies. Our new mom is a lesson in kindness and hospitality. She has four sons, with three working in Pretoria and a teenager at home. Our job here is to learn Zulu, the language of the site in Kwa Zulu Natal, our future work site. Besides language classes with a trainer and 6 other students, the training includes the South African culture, technical information regarding capacity building, AIDS in South Africa, and NGOs.
The weekend brought a once in a lifetime experience as the young men of the village returned home after 2 months in the mountains for the male initiation ceremonies.
The celebrations lasted all weekend with the young men parading through the streets of our town in tribal attire, with loin cloths, beaded armbands and chest decorations. Parties were held at the homes of the young men and a cow slaughtered in the yard on Sat. and consumed on Sunday. Townspeople arrived at the homes on Sunday with gifts balanced on the heads of the women. Due to the cold, the candidates wore beautiful wool robes with yellow, red and green vertical stripes. What a glorious site to see the men marching in the colorful robes and chanting as they moved along. Drums played all night and the normally sleepy atmosphere of our village came alive with rock music emanating from the cars of city people here for the celebration and vibes reminiscent of rush week at Berkeley.
We made our first foray using public transportation this weekend by trying out the kombis to get from our village to the local shopping plaza. The kombis (taxis) are very efficient, running every few minutes up and down the main road and starting out only when full. A 9 passenger van is converted into 15 passenger by adding a forth row and filling the back 2 rows with four passengers. The shopping mall had a supermarket that even sold tires, many furniture and clothing stores and a KFC for lunch. Getting there was at least half the fun.
We are missing you all but believe there is a job for us here and we hope we can be of some help to this nation where the suffering has been the rule for such a long time. Today we heard a speaker from CDC describe the scope of the AIDS problem in Kwa ZuluNatal. Almost 40 % of the women entering prenatal clinics are HIV positive and numbers are continuing to increase. The provincial education minister gave a stirring speech on our first day of training admonishing us to be of service and that we will all have to answer for our actions at some day in the future when we meet our maker. So we will continue to try to master the 9 click sounds in Zulu, learn the intricacies of bucket baths and washing dishes without a faucet. God bless you all.

Aug. 15, 2006
Our training here in Mpumalanga is progressing and we are picking up bits and pieces of Zulu. The guest speakers dealing with African culture, traditional healers (sangomas), HIV prevention, treatment, testing, counseling and peer education have been of the highest caliber. Our Zulu class has adopted four village women between 18 and 30 as part of our training in community based assessment; they have been willing participants in our learning tools for NGO capacity building. I was impressed with their thoughtful intelligent answers to our inquiries about the village.
The quiet village comes alive on the weekends and this weekend was no exception. Friday night arrived with a demolition derby on our street with a car chase that turned out to be the delivery of the bride for a wedding. The cars careen down the dirt road and do wheelies as they spin around for another close encounter with the wedding party. The whole neighborhood turned out for the arrival of the bride and a little excitement from the car races. The energy of the sleepy street was transformed into a frenzy of excited children and adults. At last the cars stopped and the bride, wrapped from head to toe in a red plaid blanket secured with safety pins, got out of the car. She was handed an open umbrella to be used as reference points against the back of her attendant who led her into her home. As she took baby steps to cross the street, it was obvious that her vision was completely blocked by the blanket. The crowd gaped and gawked but allowed her to go into her home.
On Saturday we attended our first South African braai (barbeque) in the backyard of our fellow Zulu student’s house. As we entered the well-kept home, mounds of raw meat and boer sausage looked inviting next to the open fire. The family invited local relatives so the party was a great mix of children, young adults, middle aged parents and the Peace Corps volunteers. After a delicious meal of barbequed meats, pap, (the national staple dish composed of mealie meal) and vegetables the music started and we all danced in a circle on the driveway of the home. The mother, father and uncle all gave speeches welcoming their new son and told a few jokes. The mother stated that she did not want us to make ourselves at home but that we should “be home.” The residents of this village make every effort to be as friendly as possible and only titter at our ridiculous pronunciations of Zulu when we greet them. We walk about a mile to and from our training facility which takes twice as long as it should because of all the conversations with the townspeople. We have numerous escorts on our walks to training as the goats, cows, steer, chickens and neighborhood children run loose through the village. This afternoon’s interviews with the 4 women were interrupted by three goats running through the front patio of mama’s house. She spent yesterday on her knees coating the cement driveway with fresh cow dung which has been used for four hundred years as floor coating.

August 25, 2006
After four weeks of training here in our small village, the Peace Corps announced our official work sites for the next two years. This was a dramatic moment as we marched into the senior center where we have been meeting and saw a map of South Africa on the wall. The northern provinces were covered with small green squares. We drew numbers for the order of the site announcements and came up as the 28th. After homebaked cookies were passed around (our new boss certainly can bake) every volunteer had their moment to open small cellophane wrapped packages with fortune cookies inside and a number inside. The number corresponded to a location on the map. The green squares were cut away to show the volunteers picture at the site. Our site will be a Christian hospital in the mountains of KwaZulu Natal that is being used to treat AIDS patients. We will meet the director of the hospital next week and go to visit the site so it truly was an auspicious day. Brendon and I are very pleased with the assignment because it appears that we can use many of our skills from our former careers in this compelling setting. The site is quite remote but beautiful and near to a game preserve with white rhinos. We will most likely be living at the hospital.