PV PCVS Meet

The world is a small place – surprises happen in the least expected way. Last weekend a South African Peace Corps couple working with the education program arrived at Mountain High Hospital for a site visit. Peace Corps volunteers are encouraged to visit other sites to offer skills, support and see another version of the Peace Corps experience. The site visit was not surprising but the demographics of the couple blew us over.

John and Christine, US Peace Corps Volunteers in the Northwest province, live one km from our home in Palos Verdes, Calif. We had never met them before arriving in South Africa but surely in our 22 years of residing in that lovely beachside town, we ran into them on the bumpy road circling the town, or at the post office or farmer’s market. Further ironies abound including the fact that Christine’s parents lived on our street and she resided with her parents when we moved into our home in 1987. We must have passed each other up and down the hills of Palos Verdes, me pushing a baby stroller and her jogging to maintain her trim figure. They are roughly the same age as us and the same middle class occupations; she an elementary school teacher and he an aerospace engineer like Brendon. To many observers, the residents of Palos Verdes may appear to be materialistic workaholics with nary an altruistic thought. We have learned that success does not obviate a desire to make one’s life count for good and that material success can create opportunities for service and mission.

In our former working lives, we did not have time to stop and chat with the neighbors and learn about their lives. However, Peace Corps volunteers have ample time to get to know other volunteers and relish the opportunity to speak freely and be understood, especially to new friends who are from home. What a coincidence! Another irony is that both of us have homes in very close proximity to the national training center for our current NGO in South Africa. Truly a small world!

The trip to Richards Bay to meet John and Christine was an adventure in itself. The ride down the mountain was a first as the only available transport was in the poor man’s hearse-an enclosed pick-up truck operated by Zuntal Funerals. We were glad for any ride at all as there is only one bus a day that leaves Vryheid at 3pm and arrives in RB at 6pm. We squeezed into the cab, passing up the opportunity to ride with the silent passengers in the bed of the truck. The driver was animated in his description of his journeys all over South Africa to retrieve the dead-most from AIDS but many from gun fights and vehicle accidents. As we entered town, he pulled over and said we had to get out as he did not want the mortuary owners spotting him with living passengers. He had no change for our R100 (the trip should have cost R50) we were out R50 and 2 miles to the Greyhound bus stop. Plus we were next to a grassy field by a location (government housing) and we shouted “Target” with our backpacks and bags. We passed the location, junkyards, funeral parlors, body shops, big box hardware stores, town park, taxi rank, discount stores, grocery stores, clothing stores, shoe stores, fabric stores, department stores, banks, jewelry stores, post office, and finally arrived at the bench in front of the Spar Market that serves as the bus stop. The bus was 30 minutes late but was a big relief when we climbed on the double decker and headed for Richards Bay to meet John and Christine.

For those of you that have been following the headlines about South Africa, do not worry about PCVs at Mountain High Hospital. We are safe with only the sounds of the Ha De Da Ibis to keep us awake and the high schoolers as they cheer when school is out or they are on their way to study hall. The protesters are complaining that foreigners are taking their jobs and women. We tell people at the Hospital that we are not here to do their work; we are here to enable them to get ahead and improve their lives.