prod on [african daylight]

Time to Say Goodbye

2008-12-09T07:44:00.005+02:00

After more than two years of sharing our lives with you on this blog, we have come to the end. Keep up with new happenings in our lives at our new location:

Johnson Update
www.johnsonupdate.com

Love you all! Thanks for the support you have shown us over the past two years. It has been a life-changing experience for us, and we will never forget our time in South Africa.

Brandon & Rachel

The Last Days

2008-12-03T20:16:00.006+02:00

As you can probably imagine, we haven't had much time lately for blog entries. I am actually sitting here writing this at 5am on the morning we are leaving the village. It's been an emotional past few days and I don't expect today to be easy. As much as possible we've tried to keep our normal routine over the past week to keep ourselves from feeling like it was the end. But now we've just slept our last night in our little home in Kgobagodimo ... it's going to be impossible to keep up normal today.

We are saying goodbye to our best friends, and not just moving to another city, we're moving around the world. When we came to South Africa with the Peace Corps it was hard saying farewell to our families, but we knew we would see them again. Now we are leaving our home with no certainty of ever coming back. Not only is that tearing us apart, but we can already see the impact on those we're leaving. When I saw my best friend Andries off at the bus stop yesterday morning on his way to Pretoria, he wouldn't even make eye contact with me. He basically ran and got on the bus to keep our last confrontation as short as possible. He had never had to say this kind of goodbye before.

It's hard to think of what our next week is going to entail. Not only are we going to be in Pretoria finishing up our last few things with the Peace Corps, but we are going to be in different places around the world. Next Sunday I will be walking out of a terminal in Chicago while Rachel starts a week-long visit with Melanie in Barcelona. Our lives are going to be so different, so overwhelming and exciting, for the next few months. But this morning here we sit facing the most emotional day of our lives. (Maybe if I just keep typing I won't have to deal with it :)

Here are some pictures of what our last few weeks have been like. I wish I had time to write in more detail, but it's just not going to happen.

We went out to Chanda and Jacobus's farm with Paul and Jessica. We gave them aprons as a gift for hosting us on several occasions.

Just before we got started with our braai on Sunday night, the rains came ... and they came hard! We got stuck in the bathroom at their camp on the farm. We stood under a leaking roof and watching the wind literally uproot trees just outside the door.

In order to get back to the house, we had to take off in the jeep while it was still raining and lightning. It was one of the most amazing storms I have ever experienced.

The damage at the house was unbelievable. A tree that has been the centerpiece of the family property for over 50 years had fallen during the storm, as well as 45+ other trees on the farm!

Every year when the rains come, we have one or two nights of these nasty flying termites. They swarm the outside lights of our house at night and then we find thousands of wings on the ground in the morning.

On our last trip into Ellisras, we took Matome with us for a special treat.

She will probably be the hardest person to leave as we say our goodbyes today.

Here she is holding Caden, our friends Stephen and Jolene's baby.

We were invited over to dinner with the Ditsela family. It was our last traditional South African meal, and a perfect farewell get-together with good friends.

Tebogo leaned over at the end of the night and whispered in my ear, "I'm going to miss you so much."

Paul and Jess came over to spend a few days with us to wrap up some things at school. They will be visiting our school every so often when we're gone.

It was also Paul's birthday yesterday (our birthdays are only 8 days apart) and we made the most amazing chocolate cake. We may as well have just taken spoonful of sugar directly from the sugar container. Not a single one of us finished our piece because it was so rich!

Hanging out with the kids in front of the house. Since it's the beginning of the December holiday, more kids are at the house now. From left to right: Matome, Nhlasi, Gaefele, Lerato, Matlatse, me and Khutso.

Just for kicks, we did a sort of documentary on the cockroach population in our pit toilets. If we had a faster connection, I would upload our video footage. Watch for it later. I know this photo is small, but just for the record, there are 18 cockroaches visible. You couldn't believe the sound that hundreds of these guys make!!

US Embassy Craft Fair

2008-11-19T14:51:00.003+02:00

The apron sale at the Embassy was a success!! Well, sort of...

Wednesday night we watched the dark blue sky towards Seleka hoping that we would eventually get some of the rain we were seeing fall to the north, south, east and west of us. It always seems to be that way here. Lightning was striking all around and the clouds were falling towards the ground in thin whisps. The sky was nearly black and it was only 4pm.

We were waiting for Jess, Paul and Joey to arrive and spend the night with us in our small house but were a bit worried that they may not make it in the down-pour that was all around. We were getting cell service sporadically and just couldn't connect with them.

Then, maybe around 5 or 6, we watched as a black wall of dust began barreling down on our village from the direction of Seleka. This was not what we had in mind when we wished for rain. Matome started yelling when she spotted it first and the rest of us came running to see what caused the panic. We all quickly got into gear then once we realized just what it was and scrambled around the houses to close windows and block any cracks in the doors and walls with towels to keep as much of the dust outside as possible. This one was going to be nasty.

As the dust storm hit our house and rattled the windows, we stood inside hoping that this time some rain would follow. The last time we had a dust storm like this one, no rain accompanied it and we ended up with a house that looked like an old abandoned beach house that had been partially buried by drifts. (okay...maybe not this bad, but we swept multiple times and produced a pile of dirt like I have never seen before.)

The rain came and shortly after it started, so did our friends. I had begun baking bread and chicken in Mma's oven...so Jess quickly helped me get some potatoes into a pot on the stove before the threat of losing electricity became too real. Luckily, the electricity lasted for dinner and only after we were finished went to low-levels which prevented us from using most of our electronics for the night.

Well, Thursday morning is really where this story should begin since I want to share about the apron project...

We all got up around 5 to get ready for the 6am bus and found that we still did not have full-power electricity. So we all got ready under the glow of a light bulb. With five of us in our small house, we quickly took our turns in the "bathroom" and packed up our bags. We arrived at the bus stop just a few minutes before the bus came and in enough time to purchase our bus tickets at a discounted rate from the neighbor lady before she ran out. Maam Tema arrived at the bus stop at the same time as us even though she lives in the school cottages on the other side of the village but Maam Ditsela was nowhere to be seen. Later, I came to find out it was because she was painting her nails. :) As we saw the bus approaching and no Maam Ditsela, Brandon took off running to her house and quickly ushered her outside carrying her suitcase so that we would all make it onto the same bus.

Once in town, we had a bit of a wait for the Pretoria taxi to fill. So we all went our separate ways. The teachers hit the bank while Jess, Paul and I went to purchase some chocolate buns at the bakery and then teas and coffees at Wimpy's. Brandon watched all of our bags at the taxi.

By half past nine, however, we were all on the taxi and on our way to the cities. The four of us Americans took the front row feeling pretty comfortable with the additional space we were granted by not having a "traditional" sized woman sitting next to us. My two PGC leaders sat near the back in their matching skirts and shirts evidently very excited about their journey.

The drive to Pretoria was a long one since there has been construction on the road lately and we had a sick woman on our taxi. However, when we finally arrived, we all got into a private taxi at Bosman and headed straight for our nightly accommodations at 1322 International Backpackers. When we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to find that even though we had booked just dorm rooms for the night, our hostess was giving us individual cabins (that we usually sleep in) for the same price since they filled the dorms earlier. The teachers slept in one with two single beds and seemed thrilled! Their cabin was between ours and the Vig's.

We all rushed to unpack and then quickly headed up to Duncan road where we could catch a public taxi to Menlyn Mall. Maam Tema had never been there and Maam Ditsela had only been there once many years earlier. Upon arriving, we bi-passed the mall and walked straight through it to the Metro Fabric store on the other side. The teachers enjoyed seeing where we purchased fabric and were happy to buy some for themselves. They each chose fabric for making skirts and then we all agreed to make a trek on Saturday morning into the Indian shops near the taxi rank to try and find cheaper curtain fabric.

Once we were finished at the fabric store, we headed back over to the mall and all went our separate ways with a plan to meet up at 7 when the shops were closed to eat a special dinner. The teachers, I think, were a bit overwhelmed because when we met up with them later on the fourth floor, Maam Tema was the only one with a bag and they both looked exhausted.

Dinner was at Cappuccino's, an Italian restaurant. We bought a bottle of sparkling wine for the table and then each ordered a special dinner. It is funny because the teachers even get a bit overwhelmed with the menu selection and Monicca even wanted me to order for her. I was able to walk them through their choices to select something they would eat and then also encouraged them to place their own orders. The food was incredible and even though the ladies insisted that they were full, Monicca finished everything on her plate and even polished off the complimentary Cappuccino.

After waiting an hour for our private taxi to come and fetch us, we all got quickly into a bed to get a good night of rest before the next day hit.

Friday morning, Brandon and Paul left early for the Peace Corps office to collect the aprons that we had there. The week before, a few staff members had attended our farewell function/awards ceremony and graciously took back our three large bags of aprons so we did not have to struggle with them on a public taxi. Then all of us ladies called a private taxi which came to take us to the US Embassy just a few kilometers from the Peace Corps office.

We all dressed very professionally and were very excited for what this day would hold. Upon arriving at the Embassy, we were one of the first groups and lined up with the last bag of aprons that had traveled with us. Paul and Brandon got a ride from Peace Corps to the Embassy and arrived just before we were allowed to enter the compound. Unfortunately, there are no pictures for the next 5 hour span because of the tight security that is required at government buildings.

At 10am, we were allowed inside. As Jessica signed our group off on the vendor list, I locked up our cell phones. Then, one by one, we sent our bags through the security scanning machines and then walked through a metal detector. It was fun watching the teachers go through this process since it is unlike anything they have done before. I'm sure it was again, a bit overwhelming as they sacrificed their purses to a black hole in a machine not knowing what was going on.

We were in and ready to set up within minutes though and had what seemed to be a prime location. There were only 25 vendors present but everyone having a wide variety of items to sell. We were situated immediately outside of the front entrance into the lawn, still under the awning and in the shade.

Our biggest task in setting up was re-tagging all of our aprons. Brandon had re-designed a tag for the aprons that included a description of the project and we had just received them in the post a couple days earlier. Since we had already sent our aprons to Pretoria to await our arrival, we could not tag them prior to the Embassy Craft Fair.

We accomplished this task in record time though and Jessica made a very nice display with our aprons spread across two fold-out tables. It was amazing seeing them all spread out and seeing just how much hard work the ladies had put into this project.

The craft fair was not open to outsiders, so we knew that everyone shopping would be an employee of the Embassy. Soon, they started to trickle down into the market we had set up and everyone could tell when the lunch hour arrived when the largest number of shoppers appeared. We had some great interactions with people but we quickly learned that we had to be quite aggressive to pull them close to our table. We had forgotten to make a sign before coming...so most people who saw our table thought we were selling mini bags and not realizing that there were aprons inside. Despite the fact that we were each wearing a different apron and had a few aprons pulled out of the bags to display on the table, we still found ourselves pitching our items by first stating they were 'aprons in a bag.' Once people realized though and word began to travel, our table became popular and we soon became experts at describing our product and its support of the Palala Clubs.

We saw some familiar faces among the Embassy employees and were even pleasantly surprised when the Ambassador came and bought an apron from us. The women had fun watching their aprons sell and even got into the sales pitch a time or two.

Overall, at the end of the four hours, we had not sold many, but we felt that for the quantities of people who came down to visit the tables, we did fairly well. We only sold 50 aprons at the Embassy compared to the 20 we had just sold at the Peace Corps office the week earlier. We were not disappointed though. It was a wonderful experience, and we all learned from it for the next time. The Peace Corps office actually kept half of the left-over aprons because of a large meeting that was taking place at their office this week. They felt they could sell quite a few more in the process of bragging about this PCV led project. So we'll see how that went later. In addition, another staff member called and placed an order of 50 which doubles our sales from this event.

With the Embassy sale behind us, we all went back to Menlyn for a celebration! Each of us went our own separate ways for a bit to get a few errands complete but by 5 we were all back at the mall meeting up to do a bit more shopping. By 8pm, we gathered for dinner at Baobab restaurant and treated ourselves to anther fabulous meal and even included three different desserts to share at the end.

Despite our exhaustion from this event, Saturday morning we all arose early to try and catch the first taxi home. The two guys again split off and took ALL of the bags and headed straight for the rank. Us women headed in nearly the same direction by private taxi to hunt out the Indian owned fabric stores we had been hearing so much about. Situated near the Belle Ombre taxi rank, we felt it would be easy enough to find, but this proved false. We spent nearly 45 minutes walking around trying to find someone trust-worthy enough to ask and then another 15 minutes walking to the shops that were a bit of a hike from where we had gotten dropped by the taxi.

Jess and I, accompanied by our two leaders, found ourselves in a maze of shops in an area of town that definitely did not see white people on a frequent basis. This was proven by the many comments I continued to hear about the "Makgowa" (white people). The area we were in is called by an Afrikaans name that means "dirty" which is the perfect description. We first walked through a bus depot which was littered with trash and then found our way down busy streets with street vendors on every corner. What fascinated me the most were the traditional healing vendors who sold an array of roots, barks and oils.

As we found the shops, it was still before 9 and many of the shops were not open. We spent much of our time just wandering about and were finally able to enter the first shop around half past 8. We only made it into the second shop when the guys called to let us know that the taxi was nearly full. As we all stood just inside a shop to decide what to do, it was agreed that the women would stay and do the curtain shopping they had been waiting all week for and Jess and I would brave the streets and run back to the rank in hopes of still making the first round of transport.

As Jess and I started out of the shop, we both realized that we had gotten a bit turned around during the half hour we spend wandering among the closed shops and found someone quickly to ask directions out of the shopping centers. she directed us towards an exit and once outside we had the next tricky feat of figuring out which direction we were facing and where the rank was. Luckily, the Indian shops were situated on a bit of a hill and we could see the large depot roofs and took off at a fast walk in that direction. Within 10 minutes we were in view of the taxi rank and soon seated on the taxi ready for departure.

It was a very exciting weekend and a great time to spend with my PGC leaders and Jess and Paul. We all joked that it was our own private farewell function, but it was very true. Upon reaching our own shopping town of Lephalale a few hours later, Monicca confirmed that she had also made it home safely (she lives in a town closer to Pretoria, Mokopane) and had found the fabric curtain she wanted shortly after we split ways. Maam Ditsela showed up just an hour after us here in the village laden with bags proving that she also had a successful day of shopping.

Farewell Function

2008-11-19T14:39:00.004+02:00

So, it's time to play catch up and finally post about some of our final events here in South Africa. With only 2 weeks remaining here in the village, it has hit me just this week that we really are finishing our service and saying goodbye to the home and family we've lived with now for over 2 years. It's not easy. Not only are we leaving our home, village, host family, cats (this is sure to make me cry), schools, clubs, friends (both here and in town), and fellow PCVs (particularly Jess and Paul)...we are also leaving behind familiarity and a unique freedom that comes with being Peace Corps volunteers.

Earlier this month we held the annual PGC and PBC awards ceremonies in conjunction with our farewell function. It was a very special day with many memories that we will bring home with us. The event was suppose to begin at 10, but as time in Africa goes, it was roughly 11 when things really got under way. The morning events prior to the commencement of the ceremony included setting up the meeting hall, preparing speeches (Jess and I both had to practice saying our speeches in Sotho and Tswana) and finally getting Salim's speakers set up for our DJ (Paul).

As 10 got nearer, no one was showing up. I think a few parents trickled in, but otherwise, the meeting hall remain empty. Then, closer to 11, the attendance started to pick up slightly more with the arrival of our Chief Seleka and his entourage. Also, we had the two circuit managers of Palala North and South show up in addition to a "guest speaker" from the FET college in town. By 12, after the event was well underway, the meeting hall was finally full as the parents began really showing up.

There were 27 items on the program, so you can imagine how long this day was going to be. It began with the courtesy speeches made by people that really have no attachment to the schools but are seen as VIPs. Once these were finished, the celebration began and we watched the boys and girls clubs sing and dance to several songs for the audience. Mr. Dibetso (a PBC leader) lead the music and we watched the kids get really into it...even if they did all hardly fit in the front of the room together.

This was followed by several smaller groups of children singing. My PGC council girls formed a trio and sang a special song for us and later came in and did one hip-hop dance and then one Kwaito cultural dance for everyone.

One kid from each of our clubs gave a short speech and then one leader from each club gave a speech also. The highlight of this was actually seeing the children stand in front of a large audience for the first times in their lives and have to give a public speech. While both Vovo and Charlie did an excellent job, there was a moment when we all thought Charlie would melt, pass-out or burst into tears on stage.

We had some more memorable moments from the ceremony as we were pulled into the front and awarded gifts from numerous people all wrapped in the only paper they could find in town, Christmas. We received some very unique and heartfelt items as people tried to say goodbye in the best way they new how. We also experienced a speech by our kindergarten teacher which was filled with animation and her booming, growling voice. It was hilarious even if we didn't understand all that she said to us.

While there is so much I could tell about the day, I think it will just let the photos we've posted tell the story. After the event, there was food served that the women in the community had been collecting donations for over a month prior to the event. There was also women playing drums and dancing as is tradition and many photos were taken.

On this day, we went home and felt the love of this community and our schools and know that we are satisfied with our service.

Descriptions of Service

2008-11-16T07:29:00.003+02:00

Hi everyone! As you probably know, our time here in South Africa is quickly coming to an end. We have less than three weeks left in our village and we will be back in the States celebrating Christmas and New Years with our families before we know it.

The past few weeks have been a bit crazy and our schedule probably won't lighten up much over the coming weeks. We promise we will try and keep you updated here on the blog as much as possible, but there may be few entries between now and our departure to the States.

We just got back yesterday from an exciting trip to Pretoria to participate in the US Embassy's annual craft fair. We want to share all about that as well as our recent PGC & PBC Awards Ceremony and Farewell Function at school. We'll try and do our best to get a few posts written in the coming days!!

In the meantime, we thought we would post a quick entry related to our COS (Close of Service) procedures with the Peace Corps. Every volunteer is asked to write a DOS (Description of Service) at the end of their service term. It is a summary document outlining major activities and accomplishments that can be used by the volunteer in the future as an official statement recognizing their Peace Corps service. We have included ours here in PDF format if you are interested in reading them:

DOS-RachelJohnson.pdf (86kb)
DOS-BrandonJohnson.pdf (64kb)

Lambano Sanctuary

2008-11-09T14:31:00.002+02:00

I mentioned in one of our recent posts about our visit to Lambano Sanctuary with Rachel's parents in August. We just got our hands on the photos from that day, and I've finally put together a Picasa album to share some of the highlights.

I was amazed by the amount of attention I received from the boys. It was such a blessing to get to spend time with them, and I felt an overwhelming love for all of the kids there at Lambano.

It was an amazing highlight and finale to our trip with Jerry and Rosy, and I know they were blessed to get to spend their last day in South Africa with these kids.

If it weren't for the need to get to the airport, I think we could've spent all day there. Despite the circumstances that many of these children are dealing with, they exhibited a joy and love for life like I haven't seen in a long time.

Rachel and I have plans to go back to Lambano on our second to last day in South Africa, and we can't wait to see the kids again. We will be going on a field trip with some of them to the Pretoria Zoo!

Who's the white kid?

2008-10-31T13:41:00.002+02:00

Our morning bus rides to town are usually not all that exciting, aside from the occasional wildlife we see on the sides of the road or the drunk men (at 6am) trying to get our attention from the back seat. This week was a little different. We decided to go into town on Wednesday to escape the pension rush that would follow the Thursday and Friday pension days in the rural villages (this happens once a month). Town would be far less busy and we wouldn't have to deal with an overcrowded taxi rank on the way home.

We elbowed our way to the bus door shortly after 7am. We like to be some of the first ones on if possible because we have a better chance of getting to a seat before the driver takes off and we lose all sense of balance and accidentally find ourselves in the lap of a traditionally-sized African woman. This time we were lucky. The bus wasn't filled to capacity, so Rachel found two seats toward the middle. But just before I sat down, something (rather, someone) caught my eye. There was a white kid in the back of the bus ... I was sure of it. In South Africa, there are many colors (not to sound insensitive, but it's the truth) and sometimes we see light-skinned people in our area. But this guy was white like us.

That was a first. I sat down and nudged Rachel to find out if she had seen him too. She hadn't, so I quickly filled her in and we began to make our guesses as to what he was doing out in our area. The crazy thing was, he didn't look out of place. He appeared to fit in and was obviously chatting with a few guys in the back. We were perplexed. It became our mission to find out more. As we pulled through Boskop, the first village we come to on the tar road, this guy got off the bus! There goes our curiosity. Now he's getting off in Boskop (which confused us even more) and we didn't even get the chance to talk to him.

The 7am bus takes a long route in the mornings. It heads down the tar road to the Witpoort Hospital and then backtracks to Boskop and goes through Seleka. Sure enough, as we came back through Boskop, we noticed that he was waiting at the bus stop to get back on. I felt a feeling of awkwardness approaching, as I knew he would walk right by us. What in the world do you say? I made eye contact with him as he walked our way, but he was the first to open his mouth: "What's up?"

Really, he just said that. I don't think I've heard those words since being in Africa. No one greets that way, not even the white Afrikaner kids in town. He also didn't seem to have a very thick South African accent. From his appearance alone, I would have mistaken him for a guy from the States. He didn't look like the tourist type though ... more like he came from the inner city somewhere. He was fairly tall, his head was shaved, he wore a tight white t-shirt with shorts sagged below his waist line, he had a fairly large tattoo that was visible under his left sleeve, and he walked with a confident swagger.

Rachel and I were clueless. Nothing made sense to us. Our conversation focused around his existence on the bus and the only possibilities we could fathom as to why. As we came upon Motlasedi, the inspector in the white bakkie stopped our bus. We don't really know what this inspector guy does, but we always see him in the mornings. We think maybe he checks out the legitimacy of the passengers, and whether everyone has a slip, but he usually doesn't do that. He just makes us sit on the side of the road for 20 minutes as he talks to the driver. We were frustrated, as most everyone was, but it soon became apparent that this was the perfect opportunity to figure out this kid's story. He must have been just as curious though, because he was in the seat next to me within just a few minutes time: "What are you guys doing here?" My response wasn't probably the most respectful, but it was purely instinct: "What is your story ... what are you doing here?"

In the short exchange of words that followed, we caught a glimpse of who he was, and vice versa. His English was perfect, and he definitely wasn't from around our parts. He was from Cape Town. The short version of his story was that his dad died a few years before, his mom abandoned him, and he decided to go live in a village. Whoa! Every bit of pride and confidence that usually accompanies our story about being Peace Corps Volunteers quickly disappeared. This kid had an intriguing, yet terribly sad, story. Would it be rude to pry and express more interest? He seemed willing to talk, so we asked as many questions as we could. Before too long though, the previous occupant of his seat came back and made him get up. Our investigation was over, at least for the time being.

Rachel and I sat in near silence for the remainder of the trip to town, both of us sorting through our thoughts regarding the encounter. As we pulled into the bus stop in Ellisras, we made our way off the bus and started heading toward our errands for the day. For some reason, we both just assumed that he was getting off at a different stop. Not so. As we walked around the back of the bus, we heard a voice calling up to us. There he was with a companion, a black guy (but with lighter skin than the norm in our area) that he had been sitting next to on the bus.

His name, we finally learned, was Laurence. His friend's name was Fanie.

We began bombarding him with all of the questions that had been flooding our thoughts for the past 45 minutes or so. Fanie was the guy that he was currently living with out in the village of Rietfontein. They had met at a sports bar in Ellisras about four months ago.

Laurence lived in Cape Town his whole life. As we began to learn, he didn't have the easiest childhood. He didn't meet his father until he was 14 years old, and then his dad died when he was 17 (possibly murdered). Laurence was now 21 years old. He was "chased from Cape Town by guns" and had recently made the trek up to Ellisras (on the opposite side of the country from Cape Town) to pay a visit to his mother and see if he could stay with her. She said no.

So he had to figure something out, and on his own. That's when he met Fanie at a local sports bar. They must have hit if off as friends, and then Laurence moved out to the village to stay with Fanie's family. To date, he's been there for four months. He doesn't have a job right now, and he's in the process of dealing with lawyers regarding his father's inheritance. Supposedly his dad was pretty wealthy and he is expecting (hoping for) something to be signed over to him.

We learned all of this as we walked with Laurence and Fanie toward the Shoprite complex from the bus stop. Fanie had to go over to the FET (Techical) College to write an exam, and Laurence had accompanied him to town. As we continued to chat, we were constantly surprised by the things Laurence said. As an out-of-towner, his attitude and lifestyle were much more similar to ours than the Afrikaans population in Ellisras. We seemed to have a natural bond.

We shared several laughs together, swapped stories about our times in the village, and even talked about plans for a possible get-together in the next month. Laurence and Fanie might come over to our village for a braai some night. I gave them my phone number and we parted ways.

But honestly, who knows if we'll ever see these guys again. Either way, this was an experience that will remain with us for a long time. We feel a great deal of sympathy for Laurence, but his confidence and joy in the midst of the situation were encouraging. We hope things come together for him in the near future, and we'll be praying to that end. Who knew that an encounter with a white kid in the villages would impact us in such a way?

US Embassy Craft Fair

2008-10-26T16:23:00.003+02:00

Our final project as Peace Corps Volunteers in South Africa is upon us! We just got the official invitation to attend the US Embassy Craft Fair as vendors and sell the Palala Clubs' aprons.

November 14th, Brandon and I will be traveling with our two founding PGC leaders and fellow Peace Corps Volunteers, Paul and Jess, to Pretoria where we will participate in a four-hour craft fair being held on the U.S. Embassy's lawn.

The women have been sewing aprons every day after school and despite the orders that continue to roll in daily, they have managed to accumulate quite a stock of aprons for this sale. It is our hope that by the time we are ready to leave the village and travel to Pretoria, we will have an excess of 250+ aprons to sell. At this point, we have half that amount sewn with production reaching a maximum of 50 aprons this past week.

Currently, the Palala Clubs have sold almost 250 aprons since its conception in late June 2008 and this sales event is set to double our numbers!

For those of you who are new to this project and have not heard us mention it before, the Palala Club Apron Project was created to ensure the future sustainability of the HIV/AIDS education and prevention project we started in April 2007 called Palala Clubs. It began with just 42 Grade 6 & 7 girls in our host village of Kgobagodimo and 2 female leaders, but through the assistance of Jess and Paul, expanded this last year to reach over 5 different communities affecting over 130 girls and 19 leaders! The Palala Clubs even began a division for Grade 7 boys this year!

With the US Embassy sale in the near future, it has been exciting to think about the large profit that we will be able to earn and just how much of that money will be able to go towards purchasing new supplies for next year's clubs. More children will be able to benefit from this program and there will be an even greater sense of ownership knowing that the funding is coming from their own locally produced project.

In addition to the quantities of aprons being sewn by the leaders, this week we put a lot of emphasis on the quality. Up to this point, there have been primarily two women sewing all of the aprons who do an outstanding job and are examples of perfection in their work. They have full-time teaching jobs plus their responsibilities of leading the Palala Girls Club, but in spite of this, they spend the majority of their free time sewing aprons to raise money for the continuation of clubs next year! These women have amazed me! With their dedication and knowledge of the apron project, they have been able to work unsupervised on the aprons since June earlier this year.

Now, however, because of the increase in business, we have been busy preparing more women to join the sewing force so that our productions can keep up with the demand. With this step towards expansion, we are emphasizing that the quality must remain the same from one person to the next, and therefore, I spent much of this week encouraging and working one-on-one with a leader who was new to the PGC this year. While she has attempted to sew just a couple aprons over the last several months, she never quite gained the confidence and knowledge to feel adequate when sewing mass amounts. This week though she made leaps and bounds in her sewing ability and feels right at home now joining the other two women in the media center after school to sew. While her speed is not nearly what the other two women are capable of, she has perfected her sewing technique and can match the quality we encourage. She has gained complete confidence in her ability to sew and feels much more comfortable now working on various sewing machines since she understands their functions in a new way.

Furthermore, this week, these three women mentioned above have been asked to run an apron training session in Seleka with the Palala North Girls Club leaders. This will be their opportunity to share their knowledge with peers and possibly expand the sewing force even further. Besides the comradery shared by the women, all being full-time teachers and Palala Club leaders, they now have this hobby of sewing which not only benefits the sustainability of the clubs but also provides them with a small profit from each apron sold. During this projected meeting, it will be the responsiblity of these women to share the successes of this project with their peers and demonstrate for them the quality of production that is expected for aprons to be marketable.

It has been an exciting couple of weeks and I will be sure to post an update after this Tuesday's meeting.

The Upcoming Election

2008-10-23T12:52:00.007+02:00

In recent months, we have hardly had the time or energy to keep up with the political scene in the United States. It has been a relief to live without the excessive media barrage. However, we personally recognize the great significance of this presidential election and have had no intention to take the matter lightly.

It has been no surprise or secret to us that our political views are in the minority within our current environment. As the election nears, and as the corresponding tension builds, we have developed a strong desire to verbalize our support.

We are in support of John McCain.

While the intent of this blog post is not to debate issues or provide exhaustive reasoning for our decision, we would like to share one resource that we have found to be incredibly valuable. Dr. James Dobson (Focus on the Family) is an individual whom we greatly respect, and whose Biblical worldview we share. His October Newsletter speaks to the significance of the upcoming election.

We are not claiming that John McCain is perfect, or the ideal candidate, but in this election we are presented with two candidates. Although there may be other less dominant options, we want our votes to count. It is McCain that we believe to be the best recipient for our support.

We realize there will be varied reactions to this post. So be it. We feel there is no better platform for honesty and openness. If nothing else, we hope this provides a clearer picture of the personal convictions we hold regarding our beliefs.

Brandon & Rachel

It Rained!!!

2008-10-22T07:32:00.010+02:00

I'll get to the rain in a minute, but I first wanted to share quickly about our most recent visitors to the village. At the end of our time here in Klip, it's been nice to have what has felt like a steady flow of visitors coming to see where we live and experience a rural village.

Not that Mma doesn't appreciate seeing Paul and Jess as often as she does, but you can tell she loves seeing new faces. Our family enjoys playing host to our friends, and we are happy to have such a welcoming home.

Let me backtrack a bit to explain our guests. When the Niebauers (Rachel's parents) were here in August, we visited Lambano Sanctuary in Johannesburg. Barb Anderson, a friend of the Niebauers from Superior, Wisconsin, has been volunteering at Lambano as a house mother for three years now. Here is a snippet I took from the Lambano blog:

"Lambano provides care and support for children impacted by HIV. We currently are permanently caring for 25 children infected with the virus. In addition we are actively involved in helping families impacted by HIV in the Katlehong township. Lord willing, in the near future we will be opening a hospice to minister to sick and dying babies."

Our time at Lambano was an experience that touched our lives dearly. The close contact with young children severely impacted by HIV and poverty, longing for personal love and attention, is something that Rachel and I have missed ever since our time at Agape Children's Ministry in Kenya in 2003.

Barb is also connected with another woman, Ruth, from the Superior area who has been in South Africa for over 30 years now. Ruth's parents attend the same church as the Niebauers. With that short explanation in place, it was Barb and Ruth who came to visit us over the weekend.

We didn't have much time in the village, but it was a beautiful day and we had a very enjoyable time together. Since there isn't much to do around our place, the easiest form of entertainment for our guests is to take them on a walk around the village. The local kids provide quite a show when the white population in the village doubles, and we're all seen walking down the street together.

Although Ruth has been in South Africa for over 30 years, this was her first time to a rural village:

Standing outside of Salim's shop, Barb and I watched as some youngsters struggled to push a donkey cart full of empty drums to go collect water from a tap across the village:

As it was a Saturday, the kids were out in great numbers (with no parental supervision of course):

Outside of Mr. Matshaba's house:

Barb was taking lots of photos to show her kids back at Lambano:

As Barb and Ruth left our village on Saturday afternoon, we had them drop us at Paul and Jess's house in Seleka. The water situation in our village was still extreme, and we didn't want to deplete our family's water supply by doing laundry. Seleka wasn't experiencing the same water problems, so we decided to do our laundry over there.

As we returned from Seleka on Sunday afternoon, it was a hot day and we had just seen that the rain had disappeared from the extended 15-day forecast. Depressing. As we were sitting in a taxi on our way home, I got a call from my mom. She wanted to see if I could get on Skype because she was down in Orlando with my nephew Keller. I told her to give me a half hour because I was on a "taxi" (which I later found out she interpreted to Justin as "track meet" because of the noisy ride ... the whole reason why I didn't want to continue the conversation until I got home).

I jumped on our laptop as soon as I walked in the door, connected my phone to the internet, and signed onto Skype. I had just recently figured out that I was able to receive a video feed through Skype despite our slow connection. Now I could get regular video updates from Keller himself.

After a few failed attempts at getting the video to come through, we finally got it working. Rachel and I just sat for several minutes as my mother tried to get Keller to laugh (in a very grandmotherly sort of way ... no offense mom). It worked, because the kid was quickly showing off his ability to giggle, smile and squirm for us. I know I'm related and all, but I have to admit that Keller is one of the cutest little boys I've ever seen.

Toward the middle of our conversation (after Keller was put down for a nap), I began to give my family an update on our water situation in the village. I also reiterated the fact that I had just seen on the forecast that no rain was scheduled to come our way any time soon.

Literally just after I said that, Rachel poked her head in the door from outside with an excited expression on her face. "It's raining!" I didn't believe her. The real sign of rain is the sound it makes when it hits the zinc roof. But sure enough, seconds later, the pitter-patter began and progressively got louder ... so much so that I could no longer hear myself speak as I continued to try and talk on Skype. I actually had to jump up at one point and help Rachel get the windows closed because it was coming down so hard.

My family couldn't believe it and neither could I. We had been waiting for this day for so long, and I know that so many people (especially our family) have been praying for our village to get rain. The timing was almost emotional. I sat and tried to contain my enthusiasm while continuing the conversation. Rachel was like a little kid outside, occasionally peaking in the door with another excited "it's still coming" or "look at the sky". She was wet like she had just bathed with her clothes on, but completely carefree about it.

The rain continued through the night for many hours. It wasn't one of the hardest rains we've had, but it was steady and long enough to saturate the ground. It's always a good sign when the ground is still soaked the next morning:

But it didn't just stop there. We got more rain the next evening and into the following morning. Two days in a row with rain!! We got a kick out of watching Matome and Lerato walk by our windows with their ponchos or umbrellas:

As I walked home from school at the end of the day on Tuesday, I couldn't help but pull out the camera to capture these guys playing in the puddle in the street. You see, it wasn't just me and Rachel that wanted this rain so bad:

The rain has helped immensely with the dust. The water situation seems to be somewhat relieved, at least for the time being. The water pressure isn't great or constant, but it's more than it was. The next few days are supposed to be cooler and cloudy as well, so I wouldn't be surprised if we got a few more showers.

Thank you to everyone who has been thinking about us and praying for the water situation in our area. But although rain has come, we ask that you continue to do so. With thousands of people in the surrounding villages, two days of moderate showers will only go so far.

Water Shortage Becoming Serious

2008-10-11T19:06:00.004+02:00

The lack of water in our area, particularly drinking water, has become more visible over the past several days. For a few weeks now we have dealt with decreasing water pressure from community taps, eventually leading to about an hour-per-day trickle during the last week. And today, there was no water in the village ... at all. While the reasons for this shortage are not entirely known, we have our hypotheses.

During the winter months our village was lucky enough to get training from the municipality on installing water piping and taps. About 25 local young adults took part in this training and then put their new skills to use by installing approximately 10 new taps in the village. We were fortunate to have a new pipeline dug right in front of our main gate. With Mma Kgonyane's motivation to acquire everything that she can get her hands on, she hired a few men to have a pipe run into our compound just a few days later and a new tap installed (with a few Rand from her pocket).

As it wasn't getting unbearably hot just yet, the desire for water in the village wasn't at its yearly peak. Water was fairly plentiful when the taps were first installed. Mma would literally leave the tap in our yard on 24/7. The water was always being used for something ... cows, garden, bathing, lawn, etc. She was determined to get the most out of the new tap and most of all, the fact that it was still free municipality water. While Rachel and I struggled to see that as a responsible action on her part in terms of conservation, who can blame her? If she didn't take full advantage of it, others in the village would have anyways.

Now fast forward a few months. We have had probably 10 days over 100 degrees Fahrenheit this spring already and the ground is continually getting more and more dry. The rivers in the area are empty and many local bore holes are pulling nothing from the depths of this red soil. The consumption of water in our village has steadily increased with the rise in temperatures and the use of water for gardens has done just the same. It seems to be a simple problem: the demand is growing higher than the supply can manage. There is just no water left from the source that our village draws from, a new reservoir up on the mountain. The pump that feeds the reservoir is coming from the nearby Palala River, but the river is useless at this point it seems ... even meters below the dried riverbed.

Today water seemed to be the focus of all attention in our village (aside from the new shebeen that just reopened). Not a single tap in the entire village was yielding meetse (water). A few homes are lucky to have bore holes that are still operational, and they were selling salty, undrinkable water by the barrel. People don't have drinking water. Animals are being neglected. Crops are losing any hope that once seemed so bright. It's becoming a serious problem and has us worried. Rachel and I are more concerned for the village's sake than our own. The Peace Corps will bail us out if need be. We have that safety net, but no one else does.

So that's the problem. Now we're concerned with the solution. The only real option in my mind - a heavy rainfall in the forecast. But there isn't one, and we have no expectation of one anytime soon. But we're praying for rain, and ask that you do the same. It won't take much to replenish this earth and bring new life to the community. We would really like to see that happen before we pack our bags in less than two months. Right now we are in no position to leave this village as is - it just wouldn't seem fair.

Small World Connection

2008-10-05T22:04:00.005+02:00

We had visitors to our village last week. Although we introduced them as our friends, it was actually the first time we had even met them face to face. The Nitza family, now living in Gaborone, Botswana, is from Fort Wayne, Indiana. They moved here to Africa in August after Amy received a Fulbright Scholarship to do research and work at the University of Botswana.

Ted made the connection with me through a blog entry posted on Fort Wayne Observed regarding a lesson I did with the Palala Boys Club on baseball, with donations from the Wildcat Baseball League. Ted grew up in Fort Wayne and played Wildcat, and it just so happened that he and his family were going to be moving to Africa ... just across the border from us. What a small world!

We had a wonderful time with their family and we were very excited that the connection was made. They spent just a short time in our village, but they were able to catch a glimpse of what our lives are like as Peace Corps Volunteers in rural South Africa.

We took a walk and they got to see some of the village while meeting many of the children. The local kids loved seeing the photos Ted was taking.

Hope (above) and Eden (below) quickly made friends with some of the kids near our house.

This was the first time that many of the children in the village had ever seen white children before.

Trey (above) also took part in the fun, and got a little dirty along the way :)

All in all it was a wonderful visit, and we wish the Nitzas the best of luck during their time in Botswana. If you would like to read more about what they are doing, visit their blog at nitzafamily.blogspot.com. They have also posted an entry about their visit to our village: http://nitzafamily.blogspot.com/2008/10/ft-wayne-meets-ft-wayne-in-south-africa.html.

Research at Witpoort Hospital

2008-09-21T08:56:00.005+02:00

It was Friday night and the girls were out behind our house pounding tobacco in the hand-made, wooden pestle and mortar. The sun was setting out front and Mma was sitting in her usual place on a large, empty mealie-meal bag with her back against the warm mud walls of her house with feet outstretched. I had been formulating a plan all day, and it was at this point that I finally resolved to put my ideas into action the very next morning; however, I needed the assistance of the girls which required their agreement and also Mma's permission.

I went to the back window of my house and motioned for the girls to come close (so Mma wouldn't know that we were plotting) and posed to them my desire to have their help in the morning by accompanying me to the Witpoort Hospital just a few kilometers to the south of us on the tar road. They were eager for the chance to get away on the weekend but also just as concerned as I about gaining permission from Mma since everyday is chore day and I would not just be taking one of them but both. Knowing that the girls were excited about this opportunity, it helped me in my next resolve to approach Mma and try out my Sepedi once again to ask if the girls could travel with me.

As I took a seat near Mma on the stoop, I began by explaining that I had to go to the Witpoort Hospital to gather some information/statistics and research the services they had available to pregnant women (and, no, I did not know how to say all of this in Sepedi ... luckily, our sister, Anna, was home for the weekend and helped me along). Then I proceeded to explain that this was not the type of activity that I could do with Brandon along because of the sensitivity of the topic. Mma really understood this. So, I finally had the stage set to ask if the girls could go and participate in this educational experience, and she gladly obliged.

We were set! I rushed to the back of the house where the girls were waiting anxiously and told them the good news. I proceeded to tell that we would walk the eight or so kilometers, leaving around 6am in the morning and heading up and over the mountain like we did one time last year with them to reach the Witpoort Library. Unlucky for me, this did not settle with the girls and they said that they would pay their own way if we could just take a taxi. I gave in very willingly. I enjoy the walk, but the thought of walking that whole distance in the morning with the possibilities of snakes and other animals didn't appeal to me. At least not anymore now that I have seen a Black Mamba and numerous snake trails and holes around our village. So we arranged to begin waiting at our bus stop at 7am and catch the first transport through to Witpoort.

On Saturday morning we were all ready and outside of Mma's house at 7am, which is a miracle in itself since I've been in Africa for over two years now and have adequately adjusted to what is well-known as "African Time." This term applies to the tendency to tell time by the position of the sun in the sky and shifts in temperature throughout the passing of a day. It means that if a meeting is set for 6pm in the evening, I no longer tell people to come at six but to show up at the meeting just as the sun is about to set on the horizon. Furthermore, if I am awake in the morning when the sun is coming up, I can not only tell the time by the location of the sun rising behind the mountain but also the changing of season as the sun tends to get closer to the peak of the mountain during the summer season and move back away in the winter. I don't wear a watch anymore and frequently only know the official time when I ask Brandon to look at his phone or the computer, but this only happens on days when I am confused by the abnormal course of events that seems to be disrupting my concept of "normal" time like the lunch ladies serving the kids at school two hour earlier than usual.

To get back on topic though, we were ready to leave on time and just as we were heading out the front gate to walk the 20 meters to the bus stop, a white bakkie (pick-up truck) was driving past and I, along with the girls, threw up our arms in unison and began pointing in the general direction of Witpoort. We were in luck as the woman stopped for us and was driving to the hospital herself since she worked there. The interesting thing about the woman who picked us up was that I had just met her son the day before during my short visit at Maam Ditsela's house (he is a cousin to the girls, but then again, I don't think there are many people that could not claim this relation in some fashion in our village; everyone seems to be related). She lives in a village about 5km to the north of us but located completely in the middle of the fields with no real connection to the tar road except for a single dirt road that connects with our village at Salim's shop. I always wondered where that road went and now I finally know.

This woman drove us the entire way and then even let us accompany her straight into the hospital's compound. This was the part I was worried about because the only other time I had been to the hospital was two years earlier when our principal was taking us around the area and introducing us at all of the major institutions that existed. During this visit, we were welcomed everywhere except the hospital which put up a fuss about us not having an appointment and they made us sit in the parking lot in the extreme heat until they could find someone willing to talk to us. It seemed to be a problem that we were there and they didn't want to let us in. So I was going to the hospital this time around with a blind faith that I knew the language better and could possibly talk my way in. However, it really wasn't as hard as I thought and we were quickly ushered in with our driving escort. What a provision that she was the one who stopped to pick us up and had the power to get us into the compound and then even take us around the hospital and make sure that I found the right people to talk to about my pending project.

The girls were required to sit in the waiting room while I was shown back to the maternity ward. I was greeted there by two young women who I found out were from the Venda region of the Limpopo Province and both attended university to become midwives. One woman was 25 and the other 36 years of age. I was impressed by their success and motivation in life since I have gotten used to the rural women and the apathetic nature that it produces in so many women their age.

So, now I think I should spell out my motives for really wanting to visit the hospital. I am planning with Maam Ditsela and Maam Tema a village-wide week-long workshop on family planning and general reproductive health for women between the ages of 13-30. (The details are not fully planned but I'll know more after I sit down this week and talk with my teachers.) I have been wanting to do something like this since I arrived her in 2006 and now I finally have done the research and feel like the timing is right for it. The women are excited to organize it with me, and now, the midwives at the hospital are eager to be involved.

Therefore, I spent two hours yesterday morning asking a series of questions that would help me understand not only all of the services available to pregnant women but also the culture of how our area handles population growth and some of the barriers present within the villages that could prevent family planning. It was a very educational experience as they informed me that all of their services are free including everything from pregnancy tests, contraceptives (all methods including getting tubes tied), pre-natal vitamins and sonograms to early terminations (abortion-which seems to be a word that they even try to avoid here) and the entire birthing process including overnight stays if necessary. In addition, they test pregnant women for Syphilis and HIV.

One of the more interesting things I learned which was disappointing was that while the HIV test is preceded with counseling (which I doubted but was happy to hear was taken very seriously in our rural hospital) the early terminations are an in-and-out procedure with no counseling. I would like to think that both of these events in a woman's life can be traumatic and life-altering with many health implications and it is sad that women are not even informed properly before an abortion pill is given to ensure they understand their options. This is very different from the States where there are laws in place to make sure the women gets all of the facts before making her choice. Here, it is very young girls that are going through this process alone and without any knowledge of the adverse affects it could have on their bodies and also their psychological state of mind either immediately afterward or later in life.

I was nearing the end of my conversation with the women but asked them if I could bring back my two young nieces who had come with me so that they could see the maternity ward and see all of the equipment that is used. They were very excited to have the girls come in and when I walked back into the maternity ward, they ushered us all into one of the partitioned off birthing areas and had the girls sit in turn to take their blood pressure. This was the girls' introduction to the maternity ward and it was evident that they were nervous having something wrapped tightly around their arms only to get tighter as the machine beeped louder and more frequently. They both had very high blood pressure!

After taking our BP, we were taken over to the nursery where we were able to see the incubators where they keep the premature babies, and we were lucky enough to get to see a newborn baby also!

To finish my visit with the women, I asked if I could get a copy of their statistics covering the last few months. Unfortunately, their copy machine was broken, so I sat with Ndivhoniswani, the younger midwife, and hand-wrote as much information as I thought was necessary to understand what was average in terms of pregnancy stats and STIs.

As we left the hospital, I stashed my bag with as many condoms as I could carry so that we would have enough samples for the workshop (don't worry, I had permission) and then watched in horror as the security guard searched my bag before leaving the compound to make sure that I had no firearms. Instead, she found a young, white woman laden with condoms. This could have potentially horrible connotations had it not been for Matome and Lerato there to defend me and reinforce what I was trying to tell her.

Outside of the compound, I agreed with the girls that we could walk into the RDP housing village of Thabo Mbeki and visit some of our extended family members. Now, I call them extended, but realistically, they are probably considered more immediate family here in Africa since everyone else in the village and surrounding area is considered to be distant, extended family in some way.

Let me explain briefly for those of you unfamiliar with the term used above, "RDP housing is Reconstruction and Development Property ... RDP housing is very basic and consists of one or two bedrooms, a sitting room, kitchen and toilet and is mainly provided for the poor."

As we walked back farther and farther into the housing complex where every house looks exactly the same from the outside except for the distinctive mural-like paintings and decorative doors that people use to distinguish their house from the next, we came across the girls we were looking for and walked the remaining distance with them to their house. We were welcomed inside by the girls' aunt, my "sister", and invited to sit just an hour while we waited for Joyce's husband to arrive home and then he could drive us home in his car.

As we sat in complete boredom, the girls took Joyce's phone and began listening to music. Still not over all of my American habits, I fidgeted and thought about all the wasted time of just sitting around and asked permission to walk around outside and take photos of the surrounding houses. This turned into a family event and we all trekked outside and I was lead, instead of around the neighborhood, to the river. At first, I was disappointed because I wanted photos of this unique housing development, but was quickly intrigued by the Palala River located such a short distance away.

I was astounded by the fact that there was still water in the river since most other parts of the river are dried up right now because of just coming off the winter months which are the dry season here and we have not had rain in over six months now or more. This section of the river though retained the water and even had evidence of fish life below. The fish were sending up air bubbles occasionally just to prove the fact and the girls proceeded to tell me that the river provided good fishing for the locals. Upon hearing this, I got very excited and wanted to share with Joyce that I loved fishing. Unfortunately, my language skills only extend as far as the vocabulary necessary to teach PGC and talk about crafts and sewing and I had still not learned how to say, "I love fishing." So instead, I settled on, "I love fish" thinking that this would suffice and was partly true ... as long as the fish didn't taste like fish. Well, this translated very well to Joyce and on our walk home, I was pleasantly surprised by our stop at a house where all ages of men were hanging out and drinking traditional beer.

It provided wonderful photo opportunities and I enjoyed the chance to enter a setting that I otherwise would have been very wary of. A few minutes later, I no longer knew where Joyce was and quickly sought out the girls to find out where she had disappeared to. To my dismay, I learned that she was inside the house purchasing fish that had been caught earlier that morning to give me as a gift.

My initial alarm at this kind yet misguided gesture of hospitality quickly evaporated as I considered the fact that it was already an hour past the time promised to us for a ride home and that quite possibly the fish was for me to take home and fix for Brandon and I both. I knew that if this was the case, I could re-gift it to the family without offense. My luck had reversed for the day though and as we arrived at the house, Joyce asked me how I liked my fish prepared and proceeded to fix it in spite of my protest that I could prepare it at home with my own spices and supplies so she didn't have to use her own. This didn't work and I spent the next 30 minutes resolving to swallow it down no matter how bad the taste so as not to offend her. In the mean time though, my mind began coming up with all other types of excuses as to why this was a bad idea including but not limited to the fact that people pee, bathe, wash clothes in the river and donkeys and cows wade into the river and also drink out of it and likely excrete their waste. It was stagnant water in the river and the fish could not be edible. There was bound to be pollution that could affect my own health if I ate the fish.

My worst thoughts were confirmed as I along with the girls were each given a small plate with two pieces of bread (I had three) along with a portion of fried fish (the girls each had a tail, but I lucked out with the entire fish: head including eyes, tail and fins). I tore into my fish still trying my best to resolve that eating it was the only and best option, but my first bite tasted like dirty, fishy, river water with sand particles still stuck to it, and my resolve failed. I proceeded to "fish" through the contents in my mouth to eliminate the tiny bones I had not seen and then quickly ate a piece of bread and contemplated how I was going to gracefully yet discretely discard of the remaining contents on my plate. The opportunity provided itself after a few more laborious bites when Joyce was called outside by a neighbor man wanting to purchase airtime for his phone. I made haste to ask Matome if she wanted an extra portion and slid my fish onto her plate leaving only skeletal bones on my plate to show that I ate some.

While I would like to say that this was a sly solution to my dilemma, I'm fairly certain that Joyce understood that I didn't eat my entire fish and was most likely offended, but in the end, I was just happy I didn't have to eat it.

...Then again, maybe she never did catch on that I didn't eat my own fish. Four hours later than promised, her husband appeared to give us a ride back to the village. Upon our arrival back at our family compound, I ran into my little house to grab toilet paper to make use of the pit toilet that I had been desperately needing when a knock came on the door and I back tracked to answer it. As I opened the door, there stood Joyce holding out an extra bag of frozen fish with a smile on her face! This concluded my travels and adventures for the day. I spent the rest of the day resting on the bed completely spent from the mental exercise I had gone through during the first part of the day.

The Lesson Learned

2008-09-17T18:06:00.004+02:00

So here I sit in the Media Centre at Klip. Dust storms are rolling through the village like there's a dust convention in Botswana tonight. Imagine a thunderstorm in the States, but dust instead of the rain. Our reaction has been basically the same. Run and hide. Stay indoors. Close the windows. Except this includes: Wipe the dust off your teeth. Get the sand out of your eyes. Make a note to take a good bath later. Etc, etc.

It's like a party in here. Maam Ditsela and Maam Tema are in for their routine of apron sewing after school. The sound of the embroidery machine is flooding the room as Rachel prepares yet another apron order of six that just came in today. Two Grade 6 learners from the Palala Girls Club, Tebogo and Grace, are sitting at the computers and learning how to type for the first time. And just five minutes ago, the Mokwele girls (sisters that were in PGC last year) just arrived from their hour-long walk from secondary school. They are here to work on necklaces that Rachel promised them.

Today is the 17th of September and we are leaving this village on the 5th of December. With less than three months time remaining, you start to notice the things that you may have said "no" to during the middle of your service. I can't say I've been exactly jumping at the chance to do anything and everything for anyone over the past week, but Rachel has been constantly holding us both accountable. During the middle of our time here, it was important for us to have our personal time. We weren't always excited to find ways to be involved or help out if we didn't have to.

It's an almost embarrassing attitude to share with you. I mean, isn't that why we came into the Peace Corps ... to do as much as we could to help in two years time? Well yeah, but you don't understand! At least that's my excuse. If there's one thing that Rachel and I have had to try our hardest to fight, it's a negative attitude. Let's just say their culture is different than ours. I could share a million and a half examples, but that's not the point. It's been a tough battle and we are constantly having to reevaluate our attitudes and intentions. There are things we can do, everyday. I could be sitting at home and calling it quits right now. I won't lie, that sounds rather enticing. But now two girls have spent their first hour ever on a computer, two girls have new necklaces to proudly display at school tomorrow, and our relationship with our two favorite teachers is continuing to grow.

Why not take advantage of that? But trust me, it's not always this easy to see the positive and lasting benefits. There's often no "thank you". No sign of appreciation. Things are expected of us. Often things are said or done that frustrate the heck out of us! After two years in this culture and with these people, it hasn't gotten easier. Let me tell you. We understand more, but that almost makes it more frustrating. But then we start focusing on the negatives, as I'm beginning to do right now in this blog entry.

With all that said, our goal for the last few months is to take advantage of those little things that maybe we passed up a year ago. Go out of our way to do that something, even if there's no "thank you" in return. We are really going to miss this place and the last thing we want to leave with is the burden of regret. We made a decision to invest two years of our lives into this village in South Africa, and we aren't getting a second of that time back. The sad lesson is realizing that such an attitude should have applied to my life long before Peace Corps, and it should continue long after Peace Corps. "Open the gates and seize the day." I can picture Jack and the other Newsies in my head singing that song. One of my all-time favorite movies.

Back to today. Today was a stressful day at school. Not for me, but for the teachers. We had visitors from the Provincial Department of Education come to "inspect". The school has been preparing for weeks, cleaning the school time and time again in preparation for the visitors. We know that Klip is one of the best schools in the area, but the teachers were still incredibly nervous. Our relationship with the teachers was exposed in the midst of it all, but in an encouragingly positive way. I shared more laughs with my colleagues today than I have in a long time. I adore the teachers at this school and I have grown to appreciate each and every one of them in a different and special way.

Knowing that I can make them laugh when they are scared out of their minds about what the inspectors will say ... we've connected. Knowing that I can ask them tough questions and get honest and real responses ... I've gained their trust. Knowing that I can make fun of them in good humor and they do it right back ... we're friends.

Koketso (Rachel) and I have been asked many times lately about our feelings as we near the end of our service. It's a tough spot to be in. Let me just say it that way. Saying goodbye to so many people that we have grown to love over the past two years, not knowing if we will ever see them again. That's not easy. But in the same moment, getting to see family and friends back in the States that we have been without. I think December will be one of the more emotional times I've had to deal with in my life. I'm not looking forward to it, but I am. It's complicated.

All in all, we are daily thanking the Lord that he placed us in South Africa. In Kgobagodimo. With the Kgonyane family. At Klipspruit School. Across the street from Maam Ditsela and her family. Near other Peace Corps Volunteers that we have clicked so well with. The list goes on and on.

I'll never forget our drive back to Indiana from Virginia where we had just attended our good friends' (Brett and Liz Marvel) wedding in June 2006. We had our packet from the Peace Corps waiting at our apartment with another good friend (Adam Mondy). He was anxiously holding it for us until we got home, for all of us to find out together where Rachel and I would be invited to serve. In the car, Rachel turned and asked me, "If there was one country in Africa that you wouldn't want to go, where would it be?" Our response in unison, "South Africa". God was just laughing his heart out at that moment. Little did we know what He had in store for us. But seriously, when do we ever?

The lesson learned: Trust Him.

Not Cool. Literally.

2008-09-05T18:33:00.003+02:00

It's never a good sign when you see a flaming thermometer upon glancing at the extended forecast ... especially considering that December and January are supposed to be the unbearably hot months of summer. And it's now just the beginning of September??

Maybe this is just Africa's kind way of preparing us to really be able to appreciate the cold when we get back to the States in December. All I have to say is there better be "feet" of snow to return to and possible blizzards in the forecast or it won't be worth it in my eyes!

And on top of this heat, we are in the middle of our third night this week without electricity. So that means no fan once again. I thought it was bad enough when our small refrigerator gave out right before this summer season began ... I'm scared to guess what may still be in store for us.

But on the bright side, we only have to stick it out for three more months. The heat is one thing we will be happy to say goodbye to when we depart this country!

Pension Day

2008-09-04T05:13:00.003+02:00

We continue to fill our remaining time here with various activities, and this past weekend was no different. Leaving on a bus at 6am Saturday, we went to town to spend a day and a half helping our good friends Stephen and Jolene move from their rented house in Onverwacht to their newly built house just a few kilometers away. Then, after picking up pizza and groceries on Sunday afternoon, we headed out to Ga-Seleka where we spent the following couple days catching up with Paul and Jess on their busy lives and ours since we all traveled together to Cape Town in July. We even had the privilege of helping them with the Palala North Girls Club on Monday after school.

With the arrival of Tuesday morning, however, we needed to head back to our site and resume work in our own village. On this particular day, the work was decided for us as we quickly realized that it was going to be pension day in our village since the community of Buskop was setting up for it on the tar road and our village was always next in line. Now, there may actually be a systematic way of knowing when pension is going to come around and visit the village, but after two years of being here, I still feel that it is a guessing game of which day at the beginning of each month the large armored trucks will drive through and dispense government money to the elderly women and men and young, single mothers. The only real way that I am ever certain of pension is when our Koko (Grandmother) gets all dressed up and follows the crowd of elderly down to Salim's shop where the village has been momentarily transformed into a huge bazaar of live clucking chickens, pick-up trucks selling vegetables out of the back, women sitting on plastic with an assortment of clothes spread out flat on the ground to sell, and finally the line on the right side of the fence which is all elderly men and the line on the left of the fence which is all elderly women waiting for the truck to arrive and divy out their pension.

Last year, I had the Palala Girls Club members selling crafts they had made at pension and it went very well, but this year, I chose not to have the girls miss class to do this. That is why this year we have done a couple sporatic selling days after pension by walking around the village door to door. Now, for all of you in the States reading this, I can only imagine that you think this to be a very annoying method of sale, but here in South Africa, it is a way of life. There are constantly sales people passing through the village selling various goods either by walking from house to house or by riding their bicycles. We have the advantage of selling in our village though because we can time it to coincide with pension when everyone still has their pockets loaded until they can get to town the following weekend. Also, we can brag that the money is for supporting the local school programs that teach the children after school.

So, while Brandon stayed home to wash clothes that had piled up from the last couple weeks, I headed to school to begin preparing the crafts to sell and complete some other smaller projects. By long break (lunch), the PGC Council members came looking for me in the media center and I asked Clementine if she saw that it was pension...and she replied (without me even hinting at it), "I think we need to sell today." She and I proceeded to plan it and then Clementine ran off to tell the other 3 girls. And we were off!...after just a couple more periods of class.

It was another hot day that was defined more by the dusty wind than the temperature. The girls were happy to wear the bandanas I gave them to model since it provided protection for their newly braided hair from the dust that flew through the air. The bandanas were a treasure I found while in Cape Town this winter where I purchased them for only R2...I bought them with the intent that we could raise the price to R5 and sell as a fundraiser among our other crafts. As we left the school grounds, we headed first for Susendale (the farthest side of Klip from my house) and went straight for the back row of house where we would start and work our way forward.

The first house we came upon was a zinc home with several residents. The unusual thing about the residents was that they were all about my age which is rare to see in the village. Aside from their age, they were all sitting around drinking beer while their kids ran around half naked. This didn't deter the girls from entering though and testing out their sales skills. The girls quickly used their sales suave to convince the young mother that her two children would love bandanas and then I worked my persuasive side to convince the drunk man who had just proposed to me that he needed to loan his girl friend the money she needed to buy the bandanas since all she has was R100 and we had no change yet. Success!!

We continued to move on going door to door and for about 10 houses straight, we sold something at every single house. The afternoon continued this way with very few houses refusing the girls a sale. By the end of the afternoon, as the sun set, we had only visited one-fourth of the entire village and had sold nearly everything!

My favorite part of this afternoon though and the reason why I choose the sales event to talk aboutin a journal entry is because it reminds me of how much I love our village and working with the girls here. It was hot outside, the girls were tired from a long day of school and then also selling, but they kept smiles on their face and remained polite as we entered compound after compound selling goods. They laughed with the residents of each home as they looked at earrings and even tried them on before buying (Mmatema was the designated member who helped the Kokos put their earrings on). At one point, Clementine looked at me and gave me her school sweater telling me that soon I would turn red without it from the scorching sun! Halfway through our sales, one of Brandon's boys club members joined us also and found humor in almost every situation and house visit. There are just so many things about this afternoon that will make me miss Africa and our friends in this community!

Walking back to school just after the sun had gone down, the girls were extremely tired and talking much less. However, once we got inside the media center where the girls had stashed their school bags, the girls excitement was evident as we all sat down with Maam Tema and counted the money they had brought in. Once I began counting past R200, the girls chimed in with me counting in unison all the way up to R305! They were thrilled! As a reward, they know that sale days for the girls club means that they each get a small profit from doing the work. So I divided up a good portion of money for each of them and then further rewarded them by allowing them to keep their bandanas that they chose to model.

Yoga, Pretzels and Dancing

2008-08-25T21:59:00.004+02:00

A cloud of dust seems permanently settled over our rural village during this dry, winter season. Sometimes when I am sitting inside our house or in a classroom at school, there is a distinct sound of the wind picking up and the loose leaves and twigs rustling, and when this happens, we all run for the windows to get them closed securely before the ominous dust storms blow straight through the building. Even during the short 10 minute walk from our house to school, I bemoan the fact that it is almost necessary to wear a face mask to filter out all of the dust that blankets our village from the lone car that speeds past on his/her way to work. The buses make this dust cloud even worse if we happen to time our walk wrong and get caught near the road during their scheduled arrival. In spite of my sentiments about the unpleasantries that come with the winter season, I continue to hope that summer will wait a bit longer to come, and that upon its arrival it will bring torrents of rain. I say this because as much as I dislike all of the dust in the air, I loath even more the constant heat that reminds me just how close in proximity we are to the great Kalahari Desert. Going one step beyond this though, today's weather was a combination of what I hate about both seasons: multiple dust storms plus heat that is only suppose to rise as the week progresses.

Just as school was finishing and the PGC members were running home to change into their athletic clothes, one of the largest dust tornadoes I have even seen emerged from the school yard right in front of my room and quickly grew in size as it blew towards the fence-line. Today, I actually had my camera with me since I wanted photos of our "unofficial" girls club, so I grabbed it and "chased" the storm. I started by taking photos of it on the ground as it blew away from me.

As Brandon also came running outside, with his view unobstructed by a camera in front of his face, he noticed immediately the unusual height of this tornado and directed my attention upwards.

We continue to watched in amazement as the dust tornado continued on a path through the wire fence towards the road and right through the herd of cows that were on their way out to the fields to graze. The only thing that eventually caused the tornado to dissipate was the poor house that happened to be next in its path. The dust hit the house with incredible force and then just died, most probably getting sucked straight into the house through the multiple cracks and holes found in the windows, doors and tin roof. Its times like these that selfishly I am so happy that it is someone else's mess to clean up and that my house was saved this rude and unwelcome blast that winter imposes on all of our residents from time to time.

The girls were quick to rush back to school in every color imaginable. It is not very often that these girls get the chance to gather together in their "street" clothes and just have a good time as friends. During the regular school week, they must wear uniforms, so this was a unique opportunity for them to be themselves and wear what they are most comfortable in.

Like I said earlier, this was an "unofficial" girls club, meaning that we weren't sitting in the meeting hall like normal listening to a lesson and following it up with a craft. Today was just a time for me to get the girls together and do an interesting activity with them. As much as I love the regular meetings of club, these times of spontaneity provide me with the best glimpse into the world of my girls and who they really are outside of the conforming confines of school.

Today, the interesting activity was Yoga. This is something that I had never done prior to Peace Corps and probably never would have tried had it not been for the influence of other close friends. Earlier this year, a friend bestowed on me a few podcasts of various yoga sessions that I have thoroughly enjoyed waking up to in the early mornings...and as time has passed, I have enjoyed the different benefits of the various poses. Now, I would never even remotely consider myself an expert on Yoga or even pride myself in fully reaping the benefits that yoga proclaims to give. In fact, I would argue that I am one of the most inflexible people on earth and also add that my body was made so disproportionately that God most likely intended that I stick with exercises that require no bending. Despite this flaw in my physical make-up, I decided that I still enjoy Yoga and that most likely, there are at least a handful of girls that would enjoy trying it out and probably be excellent at it...thus formed the idea for today's gathering.

Being as hot as it was, gathering in the dust-covered, concrete-floored meeting hall this afternoon with hardly any windows for air circulation would have been miserable. So our venue became the small, rectangular patch of grass that the school's gardener tends to year-round to keep it green even during dry season. I spoke with him earlier in the morning and asked him to dispense with today's watering session of the grass so that the girls would be able to lie on their backs without getting grass stains smeared across their clothes. To add to this open-air atmosphere, Brandon hooked up our CD player and while it seemed more appropriate to play some feng shui, all we had was hip hop...so that sufficed.

As the music began, all of the girls gathered on the grass facing me and we commenced with their first session ever of Yoga. Following the advice of another volunteer who has already done Yoga with her girls clubs and seems quite the expert, I started the girls with some deep breathing to make sure that they grasped the concept that their breaths guide their movements. While I don't think all the girls understood because of the language barrier, I tried my best to demonstrate only to realize that it is impossible to breath in and out properly while talking simultaneously. Who ever said that women can do two things at once didn't consider this.

Moving on from the basics of breathing though, I guided the girls through positions like the Child's pose, Downward Facing Dog, Warrior Pose, etc. (As I typed that last sentence, I reflected on the fact that if only the girls understood English a bit more, how fitting and yet how silly the names of the poses would seem to them!) What amazed me most about demonstrating and then having the girls perform the movements with me is that not a single girl quit in the middle. They all held the poses until I guided them to the next and while there were many giggles and girls falling over, they all seemed to find great enjoyment in learning and no one seemed embarrassed even though there were some random young mothers dropping by the school to provide our teachers with Social Grant numbers. We accumulated quite an audience by the time were were finished.

As I wrapped up our Yoga session by having the girls lay flat on their back in the relaxed Shivasana pose, one of my younger but brighter PGC members approached me and asked permission to teach the girls another "pose." I gladly obliged and watched as she had the girls twist their arms behind their back and wiggle them up towards their necks. Within a couple moments she was finished and I had other girls raising their hands and wanting to lead in different poses. So, this turned into an open venue where all girls were welcome to contribute to today's activity. Nearly half of the girls went to the front and lead the group in some sort of aerobic exercise (at first) and then quite quickly it turned into a show-and-tell time of who could perform the craziest poses that no one else could do! It was hilarious and gave me an even deeper understand of the breadth of personality that these girls have.

One of these girls was Abrina. She is someone who inside of the PGC meeting hall seems very reserved but if captured by the camera is always found to have the biggest smile in the bunch. She is missing teeth in front and always has her tongue out with one eye closed, but nonetheless, she is uninhibitedly smiling. Well, today she blew me out of the water with her stunt! She walked up to the front of the group very confidently, sat down on the ground with crossed legs and proceeded to pull one leg up and fold it neatly behind her head. The crowd cheered their approval and a few even attempted to imitate this pose. Seeing how much the girls enjoyed her stunt, I went to the front and stood behind her and whispered something in her ear. She nodded her head and as the whole group watched, I helped her to raise her second foot and also wrap it behind her head to fold into what looked like a pretzel. The crowd went even more wild! She was in her element...as funny as it was!

Another girl who has continued to capture my heart during her last two years in girls club is Julia. She is in grade seven and is the shortest girl in club. She always comes in alone, sits alone and stays fairly quiet during club meetings. But as I have watched her over the last two years, I have realized that she is a friend to everyone and has the unique and rare relationship with each girl that allows her to freely interact with a different group of girls each week. She may be short and appear very quiet, but she is probably one of the most out-going and accepting girls I have. Today, she raised her hand to volunteer, and when she got to the front, flung herself backwards into a crab position and began to walk backwards. The girls were so amused with it that everyone was walking around bumping into each other. I even tried it but couldn't manage to move anywhere let alone get a single hand or foot off the ground.

The time of Yoga and pretzels was finished and I was about to release the girls to go home when they had another idea. They wanted to jive! So, I blasted the music on our small player and watched as the girls organized themselves to first dance in unison, and then second, open up a dance floor for solo performances. This went on for some time and they even managed to get me involved at the end when Julia was left without a partner for the final dance.

Today was one of the rare moments when I got to "play" with the girls as one of them. I was no longer their teachers' friend, the PGC emcee, or even the staple white American that couldn't relate. They allowed me into their inner circle to experience what gives them joy and allowed me to see them as teenagers who want desperately to enjoy life and be someone special. They weren't expected to give the right answer to questions or to try their hardest to replicate a craft project. Today was about being themselves and sharing their talents with their peers.

So, on this dusty, hot, winter afternoon, I captured memories from the children in my village that give me hope that these girls will make it through life successfully. In the two years that I have worked with the school to provide life skills education for the grade six and seven girls, my hope has always been that the girls would gain confidence in themselves and take responsibility for all of their actions. The teachers have always done a wonderful job of teaching and mentoring the girls, and today I got to watch the girls away from their authority figures...and I was proud of what I saw. The girls treated each other like sisters and held each other accountable throughout the exercises to stay focused and not give up. They had fun without being hurtful to others and showed maturity beyond what I have seen in many secondary learners. Again, I am proud. Not because of anything I have done, but because I know that this is a trend that will continue even after I am gone because of the dedication that my teachers have to educating the young girls at school and equipping them for their next stage in life.

Mom & Dad in Africa

2008-08-23T13:06:00.006+02:00

For almost two years, I never held a hope that my parents would come and see my home here in South Africa. Between their jobs and health concerns, it just never seemed possible. Then a course of events started taking place in the lives of my parents back in the States and also in our lives here in South Africa that seemed to open up the perfect window of time and opportunity for my mother and father to make the roughly 18 hour flight to come and experience the wildness and beauty of Africa. (Do we really think that was by chance? No. There was definitely some divine planning taking place.) Their journey was not without mishap though as the morning of their departure from the Duluth International Airport my mother had to make an emergency visit to the dentist and was told that she would be lucky if she got to her destination without wanting to pull out all her teeth...or something like that.

So the big day arrived on which my parents would step foot on the African Continent for their very first time...and B and I held no anticipation. Don't worry, my father told me the same thing just a few days earlier. Apparently it runs in our family. Dad was firstly more excited for their two night stop-over in Paris and upon the completion of their time there said he would get excited about Africa. It worked the same for us. B was taking the GRE in Jo'burg the morning of their arrival and until that was over, we could just not muster the excitement that my parents were actually going to be arriving later that night.

There is so much that I could say about the day my parents arrived, but it seems off topic...so let me just sum it up with the word "exasperating" and give a short synopsis. The rental car we were given was a hatch-back with no real boot to put my parent's luggage in. I got Brandon to his exam 20 minutes late and realized that just 10 minutes later and we would have been out the $170 fee and Brandon not allowed to take the exam. The museum that I was going to see with another PCV (Brad) while Brandon took his exam ended up being closed to the public. After Brandon finished his exam, the three of us went to another historical site and took a guided tour. Two hours later when it was still not finished, we decided that to beat rush-hour traffic we needed to leave. Three hours later, we had only driven maybe 20km at best. Another hour later and we were checked into our hotel with Brad, who was resigned to spending the night with us since we couldn't get him back to his own accommodations that night as a result of the traffic. By 8pm, we were at the airport switching into a larger car and by 9pm, my parent were walking out of the terminal. What a way to greet my parents! It all worked out though in the end and we were just happy that we were the ones facing various impediments along the way rather than my parents.

Our real journey started 1 August, my father's birthday. Our first destination was St. Lucia along the Indian Ocean. The highlights of this location were not limited to the Indian Ocean, however. We ate dinner out all three nights and had some amazing meals...all of mine were of course seafood. We had everything from pizza to prawns and oyster in combination with some great South African wine and/or Amarula cocktails. The food selection went from Italian and seafood one night to Portuguese another night.

Besides just the food, we saw some great sites. Our first full day in St. Lucia, we took an afternoon drive through the Wetlands Park and saw several animals like the buffalo and rhino to name a few. We finished our drive by stopping at Cape Vidal to walk along the coast of the Ocean and enjoy the nice weather we were gifted with. This was also my parents first time being exposed to the conniving little vervet monkeys that seem to be present wherever there are picnics taking place. They seem to orchestrate chaos while at the same time amuse everyone watching.

Apparently, even with the large park, Kruger, looming a few days ahead on the trip, we still headed into the Wetlands Park for a second day of viewing after hearing the enticing stories of our B&B host that first evening. It was a crummy day though and perfect for just being inside the car. Even with the lousy weather, we saw one of the most amazing sites that B and I think we've seen...a hippo crossing the lowveld. This huge, ancient looking hippo was just lumbering across the road in front of us seemingly so out of place in the grassy surroundings in the middle of a heavy rain. It was the most beat up animal I have ever seen with scars engraved all over his massive body.

With the rain still coming down heavy, we were not deterred from the evening Estuary Cruise we had booked the day before. While we knew that the evening would not yield us amazing sunset photos, we hoped for the best when it came to croc and hippo sightings and we were not disappointed. The hippos were in their usual locations and out in great numbers playing and putting on a show for the cameras. The crocs were a bit more scarce, but we even spotted one that the tour guide failed to see from below deck.

After a couple wonderful days in St. Lucia and the only day of rain we had the entire vacation, we traveled up through the country of Swaziland and just to the southwest of Kruger National Park where we would stay for the next 5 nights in a chalet on a working Macademia Nut Farm. It was the most beautiful location among the macademia and banana trees, and it appeared that we had it mostly to ourselves. For me, the best part of this leg of our journey was the lapa where we shared a few meals after long days of site seeing. We treated my parents to a good-ole South African braai of lamb with round squash on the side and my mom's famous cucumber salad. The atmosphere was very soothing as we sat under the thatched roof and enjoyed the air through the open air lapa with the coals still glowing in the braai pit next to us.

Over the next five days we visited a famous pancake house, saw many different waterfalls and even washed a couple loads of laundry in the bathtub to make it through the rest of vacation. While all of this was fascinating, it doesn't even compare to the day and half that we spent driving through Kruger. Never in the two years that B and I have been in South Africa have we seen more than 3 of the Big 5 while on vacation and of those Big 5, we had never seen the leopard. Well, this time we not only saw a leopard both up close and once far away, we also managed to capture all of the Big 5 on camera up close! We watched rhinos battle for victory, lions stalk their impala prey, and baby elephants flap out their ears in playful intimidation.

The vacation we had experienced with my parents up to this point was spectacular. It meant so much that the animals came out and made their appearances not only for my parents' sake but also for the sake of B and I since this was our last time visiting any wildlife parks before heading back to the States in December.

The next couple days though following "vacation" continued in fashion to be fantastic. My parents were our first visitors to South Africa to get to experience our village as it normally is during the school year. Our regular family was at the house and school was in session. My parents got to see what our normal every day life is like here in just a couple days spent in our little mud house.

Arriving Saturday night, we unloaded the car and mom and I went to work unpacking the two suitcases worth of gifts she had brought for our friends here in South Africa. This is something that I adore about my parents...their bottomless generosity to others. While I know that it sets them back a bit financially, it rewards them emotionally and spiritually watching the happy faces receive the gifts that they so carefully picked out. Even after they left, people are exclaiming how beautiful the table runners are that my mother and her sisters sewed and how much everyone can see that I am like my mother after watching her help with the PGC.

Again, there is so much that I could say about the two days spent in our village, but it is just too much, so I will try and sum it up succinctly. Saturday night my parents gave gifts to the family. I'm pretty sure that by the third gift bag, Mma and Anna were wondering if Christmas was celebrated at a different time in America because they were overwhelmed by everything they were receiving. The kids were equally surprised by their gifts and took them inside to the table almost immediately to try everything out. The most fascinating part of this gift-giving event though was our Mma's reaction to it all. As my mother and father both tried their tongues at speaking Sepedi to Mma upon our prompting, Mma began trying to speak English back (Which she hardly ever does!!) and all of the adults were laughing simultaneously as if there was an instant bond of friendship. Mma was requesting photos with my parents both outside and inside of her house and seemed to just love having my parents as visitors.

In addition, the next day Mma was equally enthralled with my parents and continued opening up to them. At one point during the afternoon, Mma called us outside because she had put on her traditional Pedi tribal wear and wanted to model it for my parents. (I'm pretty sure she picked up on the fact that my parents both had a third appendage which was a camera and thought she would take advantage of it). Not only did she pose for about a hundred photos in this outfit, but then she proceeded to switch her clothes two more times and have even more photos taken. At one point, she even requested to have her photo taken with just my mother.

During this exchange between my parents and my host Mma, I saw a different side of Mma that really gave her a softness of character that I didn't know existed. She was happy and almost uninhibited around my parents. While I'm sure that I could analyze this change in her personality forever, I'm sure that it has something to do with the fact that my parents have some gray hair showing through and she felt the need to show them respect since her hair is still black (no offense mom and dad) even though they are the same age.

While there is still more to share about our day at school, mom's provision of a wonderful PGC, and our afternoon at Lambano Sanctuary with some children with HIV, I need to wrap this up and get some chores done this weekend.

Overall, it was a wonderful time spent with my parents packed with unique memories. After a year and half of not seeing my parents, it was a special time for me to reconnect with them and an even better opportunity for Brandon to finally get a substantial amount of time with my parents to really get to know them. Saying goodbye was not as difficult as past visitors since we all had the knowledge that B and I would be returning State-side exactly four months from the date my parents left.

Slow Return to Normal

2008-08-20T06:05:00.003+02:00

It seems like forever that we've been away from site and away from our normal routine. It's nice to be home. Our past few weeks have been a lot of fun and we have much to share with you ... it just might take a while to get around to it. Jerry and Rosy (Rachel's parents) just left last Tuesday night and then we had a friend's wedding to attend in Pretoria over the weekend. It's only today that both Rachel and I are going to be back at school together.

In the few free moments that I've had over the last week, I slowly sorted all of the pictures from Jerry and Rosy's trip. You can see some of the highlights at picasaweb.google.com/africandaylight/niebauersinafrica.

The day that Rachel's parents returned to the States left us with exactly four months in South Africa. With our COS date set as December 12th, it seems like the end of our service is just around the corner. We'll try and keep everyone updated as to what our plans will be after the holidays.

The Ditselas: Birthday Party and Drama

2008-07-15T08:22:00.003+02:00

I hadn't anticipated writing this blog entry, and it's rather unfortunate that I am, but a bizarre turn of events this past week has prompted me with a story. On Thursday of last week I found myself alone at the house because Rachel had taken a trip with Jessica to Pretoria to buy some supplies for their girls clubs. I would be alone for a few days trying to keep myself busy and hanging out with the boys (Khutso and Garfield).

In the late afternoon on Thursday, there was a knock on our door. When I opened it, I gazed down to find Tebogo Ditsela's face beaming with that beautiful smile of hers and asking the oh-so-often-asked question at the Johnson door, "Where is Koketso?" I've become accustomed to the fact that I am rarely wanted and I have an almost automatic response now when turning that door handle. This time I had to tell little Tebogo that Rachel was out and wouldn't be back for a few days.

"But it's my birthday and I have a party" she said.

I responded, "Oh, I'm sorry ... when is your party?"

"Now."

"Well do you want me to come even though Koketso isn't here?"

"Yes."

"Okay, give me 5 minutes and I'll be over there" was my final comment before closing the door and hurriedly getting changed out of my lounging clothes into something a little more appropriate. By that I mean throwing on jeans and a baseball hat to cover my raggedy Andy looking hair.

I left the house not really knowing what to expect of this "party". I locked the door behind me and headed to the Ditselas'. Entering their gate and walking into the compound, I saw Maam Ditsela coming towards me. It was instantly obvious that she didn't care as much about her appearance as I did: She was standing there in her pajamas asking "Where's your camera?" I had honestly not even thought about bringing it. Even though our house is just within eyesight across the street, I didn't bother going home to fetch it either. Maam Ditsela had a point-and-shoot film camera we had given her a while back and she was satisfied with using that for the party.

As I walked onto the stoop and around towards the front door of their house, I caught the first glimpse of this festive event. Tebogo was sitting at a table, chocolate cake with lit candles in front of her. Surrounding her were about five other small children from the neighborhood, each with a plate full of sweets and Simba. The remaining guests consisted of Tebogo's family: Komotso (16), Collins (26), Maam Ditsela and one of Maam Ditsela's sisters.

Hardly a few seconds passed after my arrival before Komotso started the group in the singing of the happy birthday song. Tebogo blew out her candles and the party had begun. Collins, the oldest of the Ditsela clan, was the designated DJ for the night. He had moved the family's stereo out onto the patio and put in his "hot mix". I had yet to even greet anyone (which is an important custom in this culture) and now I could hardly even hear myself think because the music was so loud. I simply nodded at Collins across the way and watched as Komotso began cutting the cake.

I knew I was an "honored guest", so to speak, and that a big piece of chocolate cake was only minutes away. Considering Rachel wasn't at home and my dinner prior to coming to the party consisted of a peanut butter and honey sandwich, the cake looked incredibly appetizing. Sure enough, minutes later, I was stuffing my face and trying to have a conversation with Collins above the music.

Collins is home for a while from the cities. He has been living on his own down in Pretoria trying to find work. His mother's opinion (and mine I'm beginning to think) is that he isn't trying hard enough and has been taking advantage of his mother's kindness. Don't get me wrong, Collins is a nice guy and seems to love his family dearly, but something is just missing. He is already the father of a child with a girl he is not in a serious relationship with. His life just isn't coming together right now.

After the cake and snacks were quickly eaten, the sugar-driven children were now out on the mock dance floor and jiving (South Africans often use the word jiva to refer to dancing) their little hearts out. The leader of the pack was none other than the birthday girl herself. For having turned just 10 years old, this kid has more confidence and smarts than most secondary school kids in our village. And her dancing is some of the cutest I've seen.

For the rest of the evening, I just sat back with a huge smile on my face and enjoyed watching the Ditsela family have fun. This was a real treat for me, getting to take part in such an intimate family event. Collins and Komotso began dancing with all of the younger children and quite a show was started. I don't think I said more than two words to Maam Ditsela the whole night. We both just sat there laughing and watching as her children captured all of our attention. The more time went on, the more I regretted not having my camera with me. Sorry I don't have any photos to share!

Later in the evening, Jones Ditsela (23) showed up at the house after having been out with his friends in the village. He came just in time to catch some of the dancing and have a last piece of cake. Jones was on break from school. He is studying to be a lawyer at the University of Limpopo in Polokwane, and he only has one more year to finish up. Jones is a bright kid and another good reason that Mma Ditsela is a very proud mother.

Maam Ditsela invited me into the house where I sat for a few minutes as she began preparing dinner in the kitchen for the family. Knowing that I would soon be asked to stay for dinner, I quickly but politely made an excuse to head back home for the rest of the evening. As is the custom, Maam Ditsela didn't want me to walk out alone. She asked Jones to walk me to the gate. I don't get to talk with Jones much, but I found myself speaking easily this night. After what I had witnessed at Tebogo's party, I told him:

"You sure are lucky to have the family that you do. I can see how much everyone cares about each other. That's a rare thing you know."

He simply smiled as we got to the gate and we said our goodbyes. Although I hadn't been real excited to leave my house earlier in the evening, I was glad that Tebogo came to get me. Her party was just what I needed to welcome me back to the village after a few weeks on vacation. It was the Africa I have grown to love.

-- cut to Sunday afternoon (three days later) --

Rachel came back from Pretoria late on Saturday night and we slept well into the morning on Sunday (for us, that means about 8am or so). Around lunchtime, Rachel was in the kitchen cooking and I was making my way back into the main room to work on the computer a bit.

I suddenly heard mma yelling out on the patio in front of our house. She was directing her anger toward the street and my first assumption was that some of the goats were misbehaving, which typically receives the same type of reaction from mma. But then I heard the voice of a child, screaming at the top of her lungs. It was apparent that the screams were accompanied by tears and that something was happening outside.

The next image I saw still haunts my memory, as it is one of those incidents I was not expecting to see. I wasn't even sure what I saw at first. As I looked out our windows toward the goat and cow kraals, there was a chase taking place on the street. Rounding the corner of our property were two young men. I noticed that the man doing the chasing, who was without a shirt, was holding something high in his hand. My first instinct and fear was that it was a gun. The commotion outside forced my mind to panic and I wasn't really sure what I should have been seeing.

When I focused my attention, I saw Collins Ditsela chasing his brother Jones in shear anger with a butcher knife held like a dagger above his head. The two men continued around the corner of our property as I quickly made the decision to run outside and figure out what was going on. As I did so, our mma had already made her way toward our gate in their direction. When I stepped from our door, I saw that the childish screams were coming from Tebogo Ditsela, who was sprinting at full speed after her brothers. Not far behind her were Maam Ditsela and Komotso, all of whom were obviously trying to stop whatever chain of events it was that had begun at their house.

In the few moments it took me to get outside, I lost sight of the brothers. When I ran toward the edge of our property and toward the gate onto the street, I saw that Collins and Jones had made their way toward our neighbor's compound. Luckily, Collins had not yet caught up with Jones, but they were frighteningly close. Matlatse, our neighbor's son (about Jones' age), came onto the scene quickly as he realized what was happening. Jones ran onto their property because he knew he would get help there and Matlatse luckily caught Collins at the gate before he had the chance to enter the compound. Matlatse grabbed Collins' arm, the one that held the knife, and struggled to hold him back for a solid minute as others approached the scene.

I silently watched in both disbelief and horror as the situation unfolded. I stood at our gate on the edge of the street as Tebogo ran past me still screaming, tears flowing from her eyes. I had just heard Maam Ditsela yell for Tebogo to go get the cell phone from their house. It was apparent that even Maam Ditsela didn't know what to do. I think she was preparing to call an ambulance, or possibly the police.

Collins was now standing at the gate of our neighbor's, the knife having been stripped from his hand. Matlatse, our neighbor, Collins, Maam Ditsela and our mma were all standing there together. Collins was yelling at the top of his lungs and gesturing in wild and animated motions: He was obviously furious beyond comprehension about something.

What could have provoked this?

I stood there, trying to catch my breath, all while contemplating that very question. These two brothers, whom I had just spent time with a few days before, were now so angry with one another that it came to this. And I hadn't just spent time with them - I witnessed the joy and love of their family. It was such a happy occasion. Now the birthday girl was terrified because she feared that one of her brothers might kill the other.

Fortunately it didn't come to that. Rachel and I still aren't even sure what exactly happened and what infuriated Collins so much. We assume that Maam Ditsela will one day get around to telling us, but we don't feel it's an appropriate question to ask at this point in time. We're just glad that nothing serious resulted from the incident.

I don't really know what to make of these two stories. The events of Sunday were horrific, but even more so following my experience with the Ditsela family on Thursday evening. I just hope that the Ditsela family can recover from his. Pray for them. Maam Ditsela is dear to us and we know this took a huge toll on her, especially as such a public event in the community. Gossip is terrible in these small African villages and we know she probably fears the worst about what will be said about her sons and the Ditsela family in general.

It all began with the Friendly N6...

2008-07-09T14:41:00.006+02:00

After what seemed to be a whirlwind of a vacation, we arrived safely back in our village on Monday night ... after two days straight of driving from the Cape. (One of the biggest annoyances of PCVs in South Africa is when people assume that we hang out in Cape Town all the time and that life as a PCV here is like life in Cape Town. But the reality is that we are as far from Cape Town as Indiana is from Colorado.)

We have a lot of stories we could tell from the trip, but I'm going to keep it simple. I'm tired from the travel and we simply have enough photos to do the talking (as usual).

Following our Peace Corps COS Conference in Pretoria, our friend Paul and Jess Vig picked us up and we headed out on the first leg of our roadtrip that would put us in Cape Town.

The first night we stayed at a really cute and rustic place outside of Aliwal North. The four of us had an entire compound to ourselves: two cottages, a bar and game room, a separate wash room, kitchen, outside braai area and gazebo. The place literally felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. We actually got there after dark and had to follow the owners back into their property. We didn't get to see the place in the light until morning and I think we were all a bit sad we couldn't stay for more than a day. But it was FREEZING cold!

Driving from Aliwal North to Port Elizabeth, we made an afternoon stopover at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, which just so happened to be along our route. Jess and Rach enjoyed all of the craft booths that were set up for the day, and I think Paul and I found our satisfaction when it came to Chinese and Indian food for lunch.

We spent two nights in Port Elizabeth, so we made our way over to Addo Elephant National Park to do a little game driving. The Boardwalk along the beach also kept us busy in the evenings with movies, French crepes, and Greek and Chinese food. Oh yeah, and our goal for this trip was to eat as many different international foods as possible ... basically anything other than traditional South African (food isn't exactly something this country is known for).

Leaving PE, we made our way along the coast and spent the morning at Jeffrey's Bay. There were many surfers out in the water preparing for the upcoming Billabong Pro JBay 2008 Supertubes competition. Jess and Rachel grabbed their books and enjoyed a read on the beach while Paul and I threw around a frisbee.

Then it was down the coast further, a stopover in Mossel Bay, and then to the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape L'Agulhas. It was one of those times when we visited a place to say we did it, but it was a bit cold and we didn't stay long. The back roads are always fun though and we definitely like trying to see some of the parts of Africa that many tourists don't. Leaving Agulhas we stopped at Hermanus which is known as the best land-based whale watching in South Africa. The water was too rough though and there were whitecaps everywhere. We saw nothing.

We arrived in Cape Town just as the sun was setting and prepared for a busy next few days. There are literally hundreds of things to do in the Cape area and we had basically three days to do what we could. We got lucky with beautiful weather the first day and decided to circle the Cape Peninsula. Our stops included St. James (photo below), Kalk Bay and Simon's Town (where the SA navy is based).

Then it was on to see the famous African Penguins near Boulders Beach. They were cute but it was one of the most touristy areas I have seen in this country. We were happy to be out of there after snapping some photos. We also had a lot of ground to cover still and our time was limited.

Then we drove down to Cape Point and boy was that a treat. The coastline was breathtaking and very well preserved because it's part of a national park area. We grabbed a bite to eat and sat for a few minutes overlooking the ocean. Despite Rachel's sandwich being taken from her by a bird (encouraged because of the moron feeding them at the table next to us), it was well worth the visit.

Then came our first string of good luck. Aside from Rachel and Jess getting to ride camels on our return trip to the city from Cape Point, we made it to the Table Mountain Cableway just in time to catch the last tram up the mountain. We were lucky not only because we caught the last one that day ... but it was the last clear day of our entire trip and the only day it would've worked to do it.

We got to hang out on top of the mountain until the sun set (which was gorgeous) and then we caught the last tram down at 6pm. Then it was off to Anatoli, a Turkish restaurant that we were very much looking forward to!! They didn't let us down. Although the bill for the four of us came to about R800 (including tip), we were stuffed when we walked out of there later that night. We even had a little Swordfish with our meal!

The next day started with our second bit of good luck. We had heard that booking was essential for tours out to Robben Island. When we called to try and get tickets, they told us they were sold out for the entire next week. We went down to the Waterfront anyways and checked to see if there was anyone that had canceled. The gal told us they had four tickets available for the 11 o'clock boat. We got lucky! The visit to the island was definitely worth it, knowing so much about South Africa's history and particularly Nelson Mandela's place in it. (For those of you that don't know, Robben Island is where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years during the Apartheid years.)

We drove down to the beach at Camps Bay for the sunset and enjoyed just relaxing for a bit and people watching. Then we spent the evening at the Victoria Wharf. While the ladies did some quick shopping, Paul and I made the wonderful decision to check out the Mitchell's Brewery.

The last few days of our trip were spent in the winelands surrounding Stellenbosch. Although we didn't have ideal weather, it was a great atmosphere to be inside and wine tasting. Over the course of the two days, we visited seven wineries and tasted over 40 wines. And we followed it up with Italian food both days ... a great choice! The wineries were fascinating. Every estate owner and wine maker has their own taste - in their landscaping, architecture and wine. Some of the highlights included visiting the winery of Ernie Els, and getting to taste chocolate and cheese with our wines on the second day.

Our time in the Cape definitely wasn't enough. For me and Rachel, it was our first and last trip down there. We were very happy to be able to spend it with our good friends Paul and Jess. Now we're back at site and have a few days left before school starts up again. And just for a little added excitement, we took our cats to town yesterday and got them castrated. That was an adventure.

Traditional Aprons for Sale!

2008-06-19T18:42:00.009+02:00

With two years under our belt and a lot of ideas about how to make a lasting impact on our communities through sustainable projects, I think we found something. Under the leadership of Rachel and Jess, the Palala Clubs have begun making traditional aprons to sell. The project has been stressful to say the least in its initial stages, but the feedback we have received thus far has been really encouraging. The goal was to create aprons to have available to Peace Corps Volunteers and staff at upcoming trainings and conferences. We already have over 30 aprons ordered and more are coming in daily.

The best part about this project is that a unique item is being hand crafted and packaged. The aprons, sewn from traditional fabrics (most of which are Da Gama), are made in a variety of styles. Some are plain, some have the face of Mandela on a pocket or two, and some are personalized with a name. In the end, the aprons are folded and stored within a small bag that is made from the leftover fabric scraps. How resourceful!! The finishing touch is the small tag, printed on recycled paper, that contains the "care instructions" and contact information for the Palala Clubs.

We weren't sure how this project would take off, and how successful it would be - but we're hoping for the best. And so far there are many good signs. When teachers like Maam Ditsela and Maam Tema are involved, we are encouraged. The next several months will be exciting as more details are developed and strategies for future implementation are put into place. Right now, Rachel and I are just looking forward to showing off these beautiful aprons (and other Palala Clubs crafts) at our COS Conference next week. I have a feeling we won't be bringing any back home with us!

The more we become involved in our community, the more we want to leave behind. We love our village and the impression that these people have left on us. As the months dwindle down to the end of our service, we can't help but think about the sustainability of the things we've done. Could we have done more? What have they learned? Why didn't we do this or that? Will they remember us five years from now? It's an emotional thing to feel when we care about this place so much. But that's why even in our last months we're pressing forward with new ideas and projects. If you look at the faces in this photo below, you'll see our motivation.

(Currently, the aprons are only being made to sell within South Africa, but we're hoping to open it to overseas sales in the future. We'll keep you posted.)

Meet the PBC Student Council

2008-06-05T16:39:00.002+02:00

As promised, here are the boys:

Ngwako (Lota) Dennis Manoko

Meet Lota. See that smile on his face? It's one of my favorites. He's 13 years old, born on 26 September 1994. Not only is Lota one of my elected Student Council boys, but he is also responsible for the keys at the school - a responsibility that the principal has praised him for time and time again. He has three younger sisters. Angie and Angela are twin nine year olds and Lesego is an adorable two year old. All four of them live with their mother in this one room house. Lota's mother stays home and his father works as a security guard in Johannesburg. His favorite subject at school is Arts & Culture. In his free time he likes to eat porridge and meat and play soccer. He would like to be a mayor when he grows up. Oh yeah, and that's his dog. He likes his dog.

Tshepo (Peterpeter) Piet Malope

No, that's not a mispelling. His nickname is actually "Peterpeter". It's pronounced more like "pitapita" though. Piet is one of the youngest members of the PBC. He is 13 years old, born on 7 January 1995. He has a younger sister, Johanna (12), and a baby brother, France (1). His father works in water affairs in Pretoria and his mother lives there also, but does not work. When his parents are able to come home to the village, they live in this house.

Otherwise, Piet spends most of his time at his grandparents' house across the village. He lives there with both of his grandparents, five cousins and his sister. English is his favorite subject at school. When he's away from school, he likes to eat bogobe, play soccer and dance. His goal in life - to become a doctor.

Thapedi (Measure) Elias Ditsela

Finally, there's Measure (pronounced "Masher"). At 16 he's one of the oldest in my club (and remember, this is Grade 7). His birthday is 29 February 1992. He is the last born in his family with two older sisters, Ruth (30) and Martha (28), and an older brother, Lazarus (35). Measure's father has passed away and his mother stays at home in the village. Along with his mom, he lives with his sister Martha and her baby girl. His favorite subject in school is Arts & Culture. Measure also likes to eat porridge and meat and play soccer. And like so many of the PBC boys, he wants to be a soldier. On a side note, Measure is PGC leader Maam Ditsela's nephew.

Meet the PGC Student Council

2008-06-04T18:31:00.005+02:00

As Rachel and I have taken our morning walks around the village over the past few weeks, we've realized that we rarely put faces with anything more. We wanted to do a special photo project that would give you an opportunity to get to know some of the kids that mean so much to us. Here's a start. These are Rachel's four PGC Student Council girls. I'm hoping to follow this up tomorrow with an entry about my boys. These are some great kids, and we're happy to introduce them to you:

Lerato (Mosquito) Clementine Moloantoa

Here is Lerato. Some of her friends call her "Mosquito". She is 12 years old, born on 4 July 1995. Lerato has only one brother, Herman, who is one year old. Neither of her parents live with her in the village. Her father is a miner in Rustenburg and her mother works at a hotel in Johannesburg. She only sees them when they are able to come home during holidays. In the village she lives with her grandmother, her young brother and two cousins. Lerato's favorite subject in school is English and she likes to play sports (soccer, netball and volleyball) and dance. Her dream is to be an actress one day.

Supa (Charles) Charlie Motlogeloa

Charlie always has a smile on her face. She is 12 years old, born on 11 August 1995. She has a large family; four sisters and three brothers. She is the second youngest of them all. Charlie's mother stays at home and is also one of the PGC leaders at Klipspruit. Her father works as an operator in Mokopane. She lives at home with her mother, all four of her sisters and one brother. English is her favorite subject at school and she loves to sing, a lot. It's not surprising then that she wants to grow up to be a singer.

Mmakwena (Mmalepheku) Cathrine Sethebe

Meet Mmakwena, one of the most stylish girls at school. She is also 12 years old, born on 14 February 1996. She is the youngest of the PGC Student Council girls. Mmakwena has an older sister, Johanna (22), and a younger brother, Sarel (3). Her father is a policeman in Johannesburg and her mother works as a maid in the nearby village of Seleka. In this small house she lives with her mother and both of her siblings. She also likes English class at school and has aspirations to be a professional singer.

Mmatema (Mowa) Sina Morudu

Finally, there's Mmatema - the oldest of the Student Council girls. She is 13, born on 23 January 1995. She is also the oldest member of her family. She has a younger sister, Priscilla (8), and a baby brother, Pravin (1). While her mother stays at home with the family, her father works at a municipality office in Johannesburg. Aside from her mother, she lives at home with her brother, sister and two cousins. Mmatema's favorite subject at school is Technology and her hobbies include netball, soccer and dancing. What does she want to be when she grows up? A dancer.

Reactions to Fetal Models

2008-06-01T12:18:00.006+02:00

During week 9 of the PGC, the girls each got to experience exactly what happens inside a pregnant woman by following the development stages of the baby from as early as 7 weeks after conception all the way to birth through the visual aide of Fetal Models we purchased from a US company, Heritage House. Last year for this lesson, all we had to provide as resources were statistics and photos, but this year we were able to invest some of our PEPFAR money into Fetal Models to have the girls truly see and feel what a developing baby is like during each stage of pregnancy.

Anyone that knows me, understands that this is one of my favorite lessons and something that I have enjoyed teaching since high school. Since being Wisconsin Teens for Life President and then an intern for National Right to Life, I have always had a passion for people (specifically teens) to understand how precious each baby's life is and how early it truly has all the characteristics of a living person. By 21 days after conception, the baby already has a heart beat! Just 3 weeks later the baby has detectable brainwaves! How amazing!

Now, I had the opportunity to bring this knowledge to pre-teen girls in Africa where pregnancy is not something to be hidden but actually a competition that has caused alarming rates of school drop-outs and HIV infections.

Like I said, last year I tried this lesson out and it was successful as far as photos could portray what a baby looked like inside a mother and as far as my English and broken Sepedi could get me in teaching. This year, however, I had two new weapons: Maam Tema and Fetal Models. I was very excited to see what the outcome would be now that I had learned a bit from experience.

Maam Tema is a phenomenal teacher. While she will quickly admit that the craft time is her favorite part of girls club and that Maam Ditsela prefers to tell the stories, she is an excellent speaker and has a way of making the girls pay attention and laugh at some of the most taboo topics. Well, after watching me teach the lesson last year and equipped with all of the resources I could provide her with, she took on teaching the Fetal Development lesson this year. The girls loved it! She first read a short story that is meant to give the girls basic knowledge of the topic and then open the floor for further discussion among the leaders and members. I was glad to see that the girls understood from the story that pregnancy was a 9 month process. When I did an evaluation earlier this year, less than half of my girls knew how long a woman was pregnant before giving birth...and the discussion went more in depth after this once we introduced the Fetal Models and began teaching what happens during the 9 month period of pregnancy.

I think Maam Ditsela was even more excited than Maam Tema to introduced the Fetal Models because she had each of them in her hand before Maam Tema could even get her hands on one to talk about how old he/she was and what is happening to a baby during that week of development. It was quite funny even watching the leaders' fascination over the life-like babies they were holding in their hands. I'm sure this was a result of them each already experiencing pregnancy and now having the realization of what their children once looked like inside of their wombs and in fact just how big of babies they carried. Even more fascinating for them, though, was learning how early the baby can hear, suck his/her thumb, feel pain, recognize the mother's voice, etc.

Well, once the Fetal Models were free of the leaders' hands, Maam Tema was able to begin passing them around for the girls to feel and cradle. She started with the first trimester collection which included weeks 7 through 10 and taught all about what was happening to the babies during this early stage...sometimes even before a mother knows that she is pregnant.

Then she moved on to the babies that portray weeks 12, 20, 26 and 30.

For these older models, the girls gave such varied reactions. Some girls would take it and cradle it, rocking it back and forth as if it was a real baby, and then once the 30 week old baby came around, there were actually girls that would shake their heads in fear who didn't want to touch the baby. For some, the baby felt too real and it scared them a bit.

The lesson was successful. Maam Tema did an excellent job teaching and the girls loved having the models to really understand what a pregnant woman was going through. After class while the leaders began teaching the craft of sewing baby bibs, I left the babies on the head table and watched as girls who were shy earlier in touching the babies and holding them came up confidently and took their turns holding each model.

I've always known but never fully realized how important it is for young girls to see and feel what the baby is like inside the mother's womb during pregnancy...specifically in the culture I now live in. It can teach so many lessons to the girls that I could have never imagined. Young girls here don't get sexual education and don't even have parents at home who can give them advice in such areas. Girls are either completely ignorant about their bodies and that menstruation now gives them the power to pro-create or they understand that if they have sex and it results in pregnancy and birth, they will be given money by the government to take care of themselves and the baby. Young girls also view pregnancy as a symbol of success and acceptance. If they can obtain pregnancy during secondary school, it shows that they are women...it becomes a right of passage almost.

So what lessons do the girls learn specifically from seeing and feeling the Fetal Models? What I would like to think is that they learn to be responsible. They understand more fully the realities of what can happen when not abstaining from sex. They understand that while babies are cute and lovable that they are also a lot of work and probably best to wait for until after their education is finished and in a faithful relationship. They understand that abortion is not a solution to their problems. Finally, they understand just how precious human life is from conception to death and that it is something to be protected and taken very seriously.

The last girl finished sewing her baby bib just after the sun had set below the horizon and we quickly picked up the school's meeting hall so all of the leaders could get home to prepare food for their families. As Brandon and I walked home that night carrying the Fetal Models, we were stopped along the way by our friend Andries who is a 20 year old secondary student and good friend of ours. He was interested in seeing what we had and grew very excited as I explained it to him. He had us come into his house and show his friends who were inside. As it turned out, this was exactly the topic they were discussing in his Natural Science class at school that week and he was in wonder of the small babies. He was also very eager for me to bring them down to his school some day soon to allow the students there the opportunity to see and feel the babies...which I hope will work out. He has a very good grasp on what it means to be a responsible young adult (seeing as he takes care of his two younger sisters with no guardian or parent assisting him) and is an excellent student.

In conclusion, this lesson was very special for me in several ways. I was able to watch the girls learn about fetal development and pregnancy, but I was also able to personalize the lesson a bit...my sister-in-law is pregnant and due any day now (hopefully the morning of the 8th). Justin and Beth are expecting a boy to be born here very soon and I have myself experienced so much wonder and joy from watching them prepare for the birth of their son understanding just how special this new life is to them. They have kept a blog to update all of their family and friends on how their role as mother and father is coming and to give frequent updates on Keller.

For me, it has been so special to watch how this gift of a son has truly brought out some of the most beautiful characteristics of marriage in my brother-in-law and sister-in-law...the union of two people who love each other so much and now are prepared to share that love with another little one that they have created together and intend to raise with so much care and passion. Every time they talk about little Keller, their love speaks volumes as to how they feel about this life growing inside of Beth and I know that everyone who has watched them go through this process would agree that they radiate thankfulness and joy as a married couple for this gift they have been given...to bring a new life into this world and bring him up as the best young many they possibly can.

Recent News Motivates Our Passions

2008-05-22T09:26:00.007+02:00

In recent weeks, it's been hard to stay positive in light of so many of the news headlines we read. From the natural disasters to new laws that are passing to the political battles to the violence in our own South Africa ... I almost dread opening up the internet each morning to my iGoogle page and looking at the Fox News and BBC headlines.

In South Africa, there has been a spike in the amount of international attention we're receiving. Recent days have revealed an increase in violence in Jo'burg, Durban and several other cities toward foreign immigrants, particularly places like Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Over 40 people have been killed, at least 300 people arrested, and an estimated 30,000 people have been forced to leave their homes. The president just approved the deployment of the army onto the streets for the first time since the end of the apartheid era in 1994.

S Africa troops sent onto streets
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7415177.stm
"South African troops have been deployed for the first time in an effort to stop attacks on foreigners that have left 42 dead and forced thousands to flee."

As I was reading a Newsweek magazine this morning, a short article caught my attention. A forensics team has been working in South Africa over the past few years to uncover new evidence related to TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission) hearings, as well as offer mourners truth about their loved ones' final resting places. I found it interesting to read that "some of what Fullard and her team are digging up is clashing with the official TRC histories and could undermine the amnesties granted a decade ago, setting in motion new prosecutions."

Digging up the dirt
www.newsweek.com/id/130640
"A forensics team is tracking down South Africa's disappeared—and reopening some very cold cases."

On an unrelated topic, I also read about the tragic death of Steven Curtis Chapman's daughter. He is one of my favorite musical artists and it was a saddening headline to see this morning.

We don't mention these things in order to scare our family and friends, or to promote the negativity associated with the recent events that are taking shape in South Africa. We simply want to bring awareness to those of you that may not otherwise receive this news. South Africa is our home now and it means a lot to us. We feel that in order to give you an accurate account of our experiences here, we can't just write blog entry after blog entry about the positive things that are happening in the village, at clubs, etc.

So what does all of this mean for me and Rachel? Well, these particular events in South Africa don't effect us much on a personal level. However, the span of recent worldwide news that I alluded to above is definitely making us think ... and think more critically about our future. Right now we are in the phase where we are trying to figure out what in the world we will do come January 2009. (We will be leaving South Africa on December 12th.) I know I can speak for Rachel as well when I say that we've been particularly convicted lately about becoming involved more directly with a ministry or mission organization. One of the organizations we've been looking into very passionately is Samaritan's Purse. Their mission statement describes the type of work and ministry that we have felt particularly drawn to in recent weeks:

"Samaritan's Purse is ... providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan's Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God's love through His Son, Jesus Christ.

The organization serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Although we don't know if we will ever work for Samaritan's Purse, I think our recent research into similar organizations and our morning devotions have opened our eyes again to that which drew us to Africa in the first place: sharing the Gospel of Christ and helping those in need. The world is changing and we never know what tomorrow will bring. The hope and assurance that Rachel and I have in Jesus Christ has motivated us to once again to draw near to Him and prayerfully and critically think about how we can best use our gifts and passions for His glory and purpose.

International AIDS Candlelight Memorial

2008-05-19T09:36:00.007+02:00

Sunday night we held an AIDS Candlelight Memorial in our village for all the youth. This event was preceded by one of our most busy weekends. It was one of those times in life that I am reminded where my passions lie and what experiences give me the greatest joy!

Saturday morning we were up at 5am rushing to get ready for the arrival of the 6am bus. Matome, our 13 year old host niece, was also rushing to get ready as she bathed in the open-air shed next to our house. The last time she had been to town was five years prior when the former Peace Corps Volunteer at our site took her. Quite a bit has changed in town since then, and Brandon and I thought it would be fun to take her with us this weekend.

By quarter to six, we were ready, with Matome and I wrapped in shawls to stay warm. The bus came right on time and we boarded with the other four young men who were waiting at our stop. Our bus route was a bit different, however, from what we were used to and instead of going through the usual village of Ga-Seleka, it turned south and went through many different, smaller villages. Even with the change of route, we still managed to see three ostrich, many impala and a handful of hartebeest. Matome took it all in quietly (I'm afraid the Dramamine I gave her for her motion sickness knocked her out a bit).

We had a wonderful time in town visiting all of our typical stops and treating Matome to Wimpy's hot chocolate, lunch at Maxi's and ice cream at Milky Lane in addition to a little spending money we gave her. By half past 3, we were finally ready to head back home and were even lucky enough to share a taxi with our friends, Paul and Jess!

To finish off our wonderful excursion to town, on the taxi ride home, we were granted one of those unique sightings that happens maybe once or twice during a Peace Corps term in our region of the country. We saw a giraffe walking right along the side of the road!! We were all so excited...then Matome informed me that the last time she went to town in 2003, she also saw a giraffe. I'm now convinced that she must be a good luck charm since this was my one and only sighting since being in South Africa; although, Brandon has now seen his third giraffe between our village and town.

We arrived home in perfect African time! I had told my PGC Council girls to meet at my house at 5 so I could cook them dinner and give them instructions on their new responsibilities of PGC fund-raising. Our taxi pulled up at our gate at half-past 5 and three of my four girls were there to help us carry in all of our parcels and packages.

While Brandon put away our purchases spread amongst eight bags, I attempted to cook soft-shelled tacos in the already small kitchen space which Brandon also was occupying. We both managed to work together in the small space though and soon, I had a meal prepared for the girls. As you can see, they just loved it!

Then it was down to business. In town, I had purchased four locking boxes in which we sorted small packets of beads to sell to kids at school (there is a huge market for beads now that we have both a boys and girls club). The four boxes contain everything from small to large beads, wire and thread, clasps, and earring kits. The girls were also given lanyards to keep the key on that locks their box, coin purses, pens and a small notepad to record their earnings. They were all prepared now to begin PGC's fund-raising efforts on Monday.

By about 8pm, the girls were ready to walk home. Because it was already dark outside, Brandon and I accompanied each of them to their front door. It was fun to be out with them walking around the village and even to experience where each of them lives. Even though we have a small village, there are still many of our children that we have never visited at their homes.

Sunday was an equally busy day and something that I have been planning for a month now. The first thing I did upon awakening was drag Brandon out to the community's meeting place under the trees so we could hang posters advertising the Candlelight Memorial we were having later that night (the posters had arrived in the mail the previous day when we were in town).

The second thing I did was walk over to Maam Ditsela's house to invite both of her girls (neither of which are PGC members because of age) and make sure that I could count on her to come and lead the event. She assured me that she would be there ready to talk about HIV/AIDS with the youth that came! I took her order for decaf Arco coffee (special from America) and told her I would bring it in a travel mug for her to enjoy during the event. I also baked sugar cookies when I got home to accompany her coffee.

Throughout the afternoon, I was having various kids send my phone SMSs offering their assistance and a few girls stopping by the house to hang out until the memorial started. By 5pm, there was a crowd of us hiking over to the meeting spot together to await sunset and the rest of the youth that would attend (it was an open invitation to all ages, although it was specifically for the Palala Boys and Girls Club members). In the photo above, I am greeting some of the first girls to arrive (two former PGC girls and two current members).

By half past 5, I had given out over 60 candles and there were still more kids trickling in. About quarter to 6, Maam Ditsela arrived sporting her red shirt, accompanied by her two daughters also dressed in red.

We had all ages of children come. There were several children who were not even school age yet and then many siblings of Palala Club members. A handful of boys showed up by donkey cart, some others by bikes and even more rolling their tires in front of them.

Maam Ditsela opened the event just after sunset at 6pm. She welcomed everyone and explained why we were all lighting candles this night. She explained that the candles were to represent those who had become victims of AIDS world-wide and made certain that the kids understood that all around the world, there were people doing the same thing in their own communities. She went on to give a brief education of AIDS to the youth and had them answer questions and discuss hard topics that she brought to their attention. The kids would break out in song on occasion but for the most part, stood very quietly, captivated by what Maam Ditsela told them.

Half-past 6 it was dark and Maam Ditsela was finished talking. I went and grabbed one of the candles from its Coca Cola holder on the ground and lit Maam Ditsela's candle. Then we proceeded to light the children's candles after careful instruction was given for them to be cautious around their neighbors with the flame.

After the candles were lit, the children went crazy! They began yelling, ululating and clapping (I don't know how you do this with candles in your hands). I leaned over to Maam Ditsela and tried yelling over the crowd, "Usually this is a somber, symbolic moment, but I guess since we are focusing on youth, this is what happens!"

Once we got the kids settled back down, Maam Ditsela opened the floor for children to perform. We gave an invitation to all kids to recite poems, sing songs, perform dramas, give speeches or give testimonies. I had brought HIV/AIDS prizes for the first five volunteers and Beauty opened this time of the event by reciting a love poem. She won a GAP "Red" shirt.

The next performance was Maam Ditsela's youngest daughter, Tebogo. She danced to the crowd singing. Well, it was about halfway through her dancing and jiving that there was a sudden commotion on my side of the circle and we witnessed a young girl's hair go up in smoke! (I knew it would be inevitable that this would happen since we were trusted even little kids with candles). Luckily, there were older children around her who thought quickly and began beating out the flames in her hair! It was hardly noticeable that she singed some! The little girl even came to school today with her hair braided and no one would have ever guessed that it was on fire the night before.

The rest of the evening went on smoothly, in spite of the kids being a bit rowdy. Many children did dances or sang songs for the crowd gathered. Slowly, we also brought in more people from the community who were curious about the event. Another prominent woman in our village came and stood to speak to the kids along with several secondary students.

I know how important it was to have Maam Ditsela there and it still amazes me how willing she is to volunteer to host an event that may even lead to people in the community gossiping about why she would be so involved in an HIV/AIDS Candlelight Memorial. The topic is still very taboo among the adults, but I know how special it was for me to have Elizabeth there helping along with her girls. The event was finally over with a closing speech made by Elizabeth's oldest daughter, Komotso, giving a motivational speech. I think the youth responded the best to the few secondary students who showed up and spoke since they are seen as role models for our Palala Club members.

This weekend will always remain in my memories as one of those special moments in Africa when I could just bask in the glory of God's children and their dedication to serve each other. This morning, our devotionals matched perfectly our hearts as we read from Matthew 25:37-46. The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Every woman and child willing to get up and speak last night was willing to put their own reputation on the line and speak out on a topic that is affiliated with so much stigma. They were willing to face the consequences knowing that they were helping others through their testimonies. At this point in life, Brandon and I can't imagine a life together in which we aren't working with people living in poverty that are still giving everything they have to each other.

Highlights from Palala Clubs

2008-05-13T09:16:00.002+02:00

The Palala Clubs are continuing strong this year and keep us very busy, even if we have been failing to post frequent updates like we did last year when it was our first time around. This year has been different and more of a challenge with three clubs and nearly 100 kids between Brandon and I, but it has been all the more rewarding as we watch the community leaders we have trained give lessons and teach crafts so successfully every week!

We are over half-way finished with this year's cycle of club meetings and truly feel that without these clubs (the kids and leaders), we would not have integrated into our community so fully. Now, when I walk down the dirt road to visit a learner or am just on my way home from school, I know every face I pass and can greet most people by name. I know which kids belong to which house and what their names are and what grade they are in at school...and I know which ones LOVE their photo taken every time they see me. Our village has become home and the people have become family and familiar. Even when certain cars or taxis drive by, we look up and wave because usually it is a familiar face smiling out the window at us.

While I would love to delve into a long synopsis of the last several weeks of clubs that we have failed to report on, I feel that giving just a highlight of what I can remember as the most significant moment each week is sufficient. Also, I could probably take this list all the way back to week one, but I'm not even sure if my own memory would serve me correctly, so I will begin from our last school holiday which put us back in school early April. So here are Koketso's (my) highlights:

1. Our second Monday back at school after the holidays I held a Leader Training session and taught the teachers how to sew quilt patches and aprons. I can't even describe how much these women enjoyed these projects! This was only the second time that four of my six leaders used a sewing machine and while they made many mistakes and struggled to sew a straight line, by the time they finished sewing two quilt patches each and were onto sewing the waist and neck straps of their own aprons, they were catching on and being much more careful knowing that they wanted to wear their aprons proud. This leader training began at half past 2 and we did not leave the school until after 6 when the sun had already set. Be that as it may, the women didn't care about time. They each completed their aprons around the same time and were putting them on to show off. Anna, one of my community leaders and also the mother of one of the PGC members, stood up and was dancing, ululating, and singing a song of thanks for the beautiful apron!

2. While I would like to say that we finished the aprons in one day, we did not. The women had them completely sewn, but I had a plan to do more with them. I wanted the women to learn how to sew pockets and also to embroider their names onto them. So when I offered for them to do it the following week, they nearly jumped on me saying that they wanted to do it the very next day. So I left everything set up at school and we began anew Tuesday after school. One of my leaders had a meeting to go to in the afternoon, but she still showed up just after her meeting finished because she enjoys the community and fellowship that is shared among these women (and of course the project). Once again, the women showed how seriously they took this project and sewed their apron pockets with no problem. I taught them how to use the embroidery machine and soon all of the women had personalized their aprons. Finally, as we were finishing, I was able to watch with delight as Anna lead the women in putting on their aprons and dancing and singing their way out the door in a line to walk home proudly in their new creations!

3. Because of having leader training and a couple of long weekends when there were national holidays, clubs just weren't going to happen like scheduled. So Brandon and I practiced our flexibility and did some activities that weren't on our schedule and with no other leadership but our own. Yikes! It was great though. The week after my leader training, we gathered up the boys and girls clubs and took what was for many of them, their first mountain hike. I lead the pack while Brandon brought up the rear and we marched first to the great Baobab tree where there is believed to be a Black Mamba snake living inside. I'm sure you will understand that obviously these kids didn't listen to our instructions about sticking together, so by the time I reached the massive tree, there were already about 10 boys standing around it sending rocks flying in the sky at the imaginary snake they have heard so much about! I have no doubt that there probably is a snake around the tree at times and that people have seen it, but I didn't want it to prevent the kids from enjoying the scenery and grandeur of this particular Baobab. It is nearly as big as some of the trees they make into tourist attractions in the country. Well, I know we posted this journal entry on the site, so I won't go into much more detail other than saying that it is a wonderful feeling knowing that we opened up the kids world just a bit further, even if it was just 2km more! Running down the hill was a new experience for many and we watched as the kids came flying uncontrollably down the hill after us (I believe that once I even stepped out of the way of kids knowing that I would otherwise get trampled and watched as two of my PGC girls collided and went on to tumble nearly 4 times head over heals on the rocks. Both were fine.). Upon reaching our house four hours after school was out now finished with our hike, I sat with Mma and our cleaning lady who went on to tell me that when they were kids, they used to sneak up the mountain to see the Sans people that lived in that tree. They remember looking in the hole in the tree and seeing a bed, chairs, table, etc and they even went on to describe how the Sans men and women would make fire by just spinning a stick between their hands. How educational to hear these women talk from experience!

4. The following week, we had the grand idea of a village cleanup. Well, while we collected a lot of trash, it didn't go as planned and we only covered about 200 meters of territory before we realized how big of a project it was collecting old tin cans, sweets wrappers, glass shards and the like. My favorite part of this project though was not the actual cleanup but seeing how certain students took responsibility without even being told. As Brandon and I walked back into the school grounds to collect our bags and watch the kids go home, we realized that there was still a lot of trash in the school yard that was blowing around that we had not burned. As we stood there contemplating whether we should haul it to the trash pile and burn it ourselves or leave it for the kids to clean when they returned from holiday, we watched as one of my PGC Club Council members, Charlie, rallied a small group of girls to help her clean up the disheveled pile. I was so proud of her. So for the next hour, we hauled both trash and water (once we realized that our trash fire had indeed started a bush fire) and gladly disposed of the kids' collection of garbage!

5. The first official lesson that we took on was "Abstinence v. Sex." My lesson was Monday and Brandon's was Tuesday and the leaders did an excellent job as always teaching such an awkward topic! While I could go into detail here, the emphasis and highlight of this week needs to be put on the fact that my girls each sewed their quilt patched nearly perfectly and we were finished in record time! The boys however, had an extraordinary week with kite making! Brandon had a somewhat awkward discussion with the boys during the lesson which was the result of Mr. Kgomo using the word "penetration" and going on to continue using this word about every other sentence, but once B got him to stop talking, the activity time was fabulous! The boys enjoyed the decorating time and then were overly anxious to get outside and see how their kites flew! What a blessing to watch as almost every single boy got their kites high in the sky and ran blindly around school yard without even thinking about tangled strings or trees!

6. Club Council on Wednesday was also extraordinary! I had my four girls come and learn how to make AIDS Ribbon pins while Brandon taught the boys how to make AIDS bracelets. I was slightly worried that the girls would not be able to learn the craft because it required following a pattern, but they proved me wrong and all made it perfectly! This was a huge relief since I had recruited them to teach the craft this week! I didn't have time to teach the leaders, so this was my solution and I think it would have been perfect if we would have had enough time this week to actually do a craft.

7. The quilt was finished. I spent all day Sunday binding it and doing a bit of hand quilting so that the girls could see the finished product and we could have our annual photo shoot at the JoJo bucket (water tower). This is always a revealing experience as the girls have no idea prior to sewing their quilt patches what the finished quilt will look like. Since they each only sew a square and most don't understand the concept of a puzzle or have even ever seen one, seeing the finished quilt and knowing that they made it gives them great joy! As I walked to school holding it Monday morning, the teachers met me halfway and wanted me to open it up so they could see how it turned out! They were all expressing the beauty of it and now my two leaders from last year are prepared to buy their own fabric so they can make their own quilts exactly like this one as a memory of what we do in Club.

8. Finally, I just want to mention how amazing my leader, Elizabeth Ditsela is. She has just been honing her craft skills and practicing them each moment of free time she gets! During a long weekend, she spent nearly 6 hours at my house using a sewing machine to sew pillow cases with fabric she had bought. She was motivated and excited to have the skills to do something for herself like this without having to purchase them in a store and spend lots of money. Then, I have also found her coming to school almost every day wearing a new necklace that she has made the night before. Not only does she make the necklaces perfectly, but every time she varies the pattern and shows her expertise with the beautiful creations she makes.

So that is the up-to-date news on how our clubs are progressing. Yesterday we had the "HIV/AIDS in South Africa" lesson and today, Brandon has his. That leaves us both with only 5 official weeks in our programs before we have our awards ceremony!

Not Again, Seriously Boys

2008-05-12T18:18:00.003+02:00

As many times as we tell Khutso and Garfield to leave their dinner outside, they never listen to us!! And the best part ... they brought it in the house, didn't even kill it, and then decided they didn't want it anymore :) Thanks boys.

Terrible Crash Following Village Cleanup

2008-05-01T12:26:00.012+02:00

Due to the nature of the series of events that took place throughout the course of the day yesterday, I have decided to start from the end and work my way backwards. Let me start by reassuring those motherly worriers out there by saying, "Everyone is okay." My sister-in-law (and a mother-to-be), Beth, recently made the comment that Rachel and I seem to never lack in the interesting story department. Well yesterday was no different, but I can honestly say I'd rather tell stories of Black Mambas than what we witnessed as we left the school grounds in the afternoon.

We had just finished a tiring afternoon of attempting to clean up our village a bit with our club kids, which I'll get to more in a minute, and we closed the school gate behind us to make sure no stray goats got into the yard. As we began to walk down the path across the village toward our compound, we were exhausted and caught in the middle of a simple conversation probably concerning our choices for dinner ... I don't recall. What I do remember is what happened next. My eyes were peering at the ground as I heard Rachel rather calmly say, "wwhhooaaa". When I looked up to see what she was looking at, I saw a blue car upside down and tumbling through the air in a cloud of dust about 100 meters down the path in front of us. The moment was one of those when it takes a few minutes to realize that what you are seeing is actually reality and not just a figment of your imagination. After the car flipped about three times, it abruptly came to a halt with its wheels down.

Rachel and I looked at each other with the simple and mutual thought of 'what do we do?' I quickly handed her my backpack and took off at a full sprint to the scene of the accident while she agreed to get there as fast as she could. In the midst of a distance that seemed to last an eternity, a million thoughts we racing through my mind. How many people were in the car? What would I find when I got there? Was anyone killed? Believe me when I say that by what we saw happen ... it was a real possibility that I would see something I would not be keen on seeing.

To my surprise, the closer I got to the vehicle (along with a few other men that we nearby) I realized that everyone was already out of the car. I witnessed the driver tumbling out of the passengers side door and next to him was a car seat. You can guess what was going through my mind. As I got around the other side of the car, I could see that there was a baby in the arms of an older gentlemen, cuts and blood visible across his head and the rest of his body. Tears were streaming from the little boy's face and his screams were deafening as he continued to cry for the next half hour.

Okay, at least no one was in critical condition, a huge surprise to me at the time. The young man who I recognized as being the driver was hysterical and pacing around with no clear objective. As I fumbled to get my phone out of my pocket, thinking that making a phone call would be the next obvious step, the driver approached me and snatched my cell from my hand. Needless to say I didn't resist and wanted him to be able to take care of whatever was going through his mind. Although his car was completely totaled, I was so much more at ease now that I saw that everyone was going to be okay for the most part.

As the driver made call after call to various people, family members I'm guessing, I stuck around and tried to offer my assistance in any way I could. Rachel had since arrived on the scene and quickly made her way to the baby and tried to help out there. Realizing that the baby had several lacerations that should be taken care of, she made the decision to run home quickly and grab our first aid kit. Good thinking Rachel. In the meantime, I followed the driver around to ensure that 1- he was okay and 2- I would get my phone back. I didn't know yet if anyone had called an ambulance or the police and I wanted to make sure that they were on their way.

After seeing similar situations in our rural villages, I knew not to expect anyone official to arrive for at least a half hour, but I wanted to remain hopeful. The driver was full of adrenaline and still hysterical, so I figured he might very well be hurt but not realize it for a while. My fear was confirmed when he fell to the ground after a few minutes and started moaning and convulsing like a possessed man. By this time, a crowd had began to form around the scene of the accident and word had spread throughout the village. Maybe this guy was putting on a show for those watching because he didn't want to feel humiliated for what had happened ... I still don't know, but that was another instinct I had.

Prior to his fits, the driver managed to give me back my phone and I made my way off to the side of the road and called the local hospital ... no answer. Okay, as terrible as that was, I tried the next best thing, the police. A man answered the phone and I tried to explain that there had been a terrible accident in "Klip", the nickname for our village that everyone knew. His English wasn't great and our connection wasn't the best, but I managed to get across the main details to him and he said a police car and EMS were on the way.

Well, I figured that was the best I could do. You see, in our area there's not exactly a "911" number to dial that will send the paramedics racing to the scene in minutes. There is a national emergency number but almost no one knows it. I luckily had the local emergency numbers stored in my phone and was happy that I was finally able to put them to use (please don't take that the wrong way).

With all of the important steps out of the way, I was able to breathe a little bit easier. Now there were hundreds of people nearby, most of whom were just interested in the gossip that would follow, but several were legitimately wanting to offer assistance. Another man showed up on the scene who appeared to be the brother of the driver (pictured above with Rachel). I realized that this was who the driver had called with my phone. He quickly snatched the baby from the woman who was holding him and clutched the little body close to his. Tears were nearly evident in his eyes as he continually kissed the boy's forehead, visibly thankful and feeling blessed that nothing more serious had happened.

A passing car offered to take the driver and his baby to the hospital. About five minutes after they left, a police car finally showed up. Rachel finished putting some Neosporin on the baby's cuts and we decided it was time for us to leave. There wasn't anything more to be done and we didn't see the point in sticking around. We walked back to the house with our sister, Anna, and couldn't stop seeing the images in our heads of that car flipping through the air. We were still in shock.

I still don't know if the driver was wearing his seatbelt or if the baby was even strapped in ... but I know that what we witnessed was literally a miracle. God was watching over that man and his baby. Luckily no one else was present on the path on the side of the road when it crashed. Rachel and I were literally minutes from where it took place. God had his hand on the events of yesterday, and for that I couldn't feel more humbled by his blessings in our lives. Please, do me the favor ... if you are a person that believes in the power and importance of prayer, thank the Lord for keeping everyone safe.

On a lighter note...

If you read our last entry you will know that we are not starting up with our official club meetings until next week. In the meantime we are trying to find activities to do with the club kids. Last week it was a hike up the mountain. This week it was a community cleanup day. We chose yesterday as the day. School was finished for the week and so the kids were let out early at about 11am or so. We gathered all of the kids, handed out plastic bags and made a simple plan. We were going to walk the main stretch in the village and collect as much trash as we could.

We hardly got out of the gate of the school and kids were scattering across the road to pick up a wrapper here or there. My plan of having an "organized" event was quickly altered by the excitement and competitiveness of the kids. Nevertheless, it was fun. For about an hour we picked up as much as we could, only covering about two blocks worth of ground. Let me tell you ... there was (and still is) a LOT of trash in our village.

The plan became to fill up the plastic bags as quickly as possible and then deposit them into a communal heap on the side of the road. Rachel had brought matches along and we soon had a fire brewing. This took the boys' minds off of the cleanup unfortunately, but the girls continued to do a lot of good work. When there were evident signs that the kids were exhausted and ready to be done, we called it quits for the day. Rachel and I had already decided there would have to be more of these days, so we didn't need to clean the whole village at once. But it was sure a good start!

When the kids went back to school to collect their bags and such, some of the girls noticed that the boys had decided to deposit their early findings around a trash bin at the school (instead of taking it to the actual burn pile). This was obviously a mess and couldn't be left until Monday. The winds would have blown it everywhere!

So for the next half hour or so, the seven girls helped us out and moved the pile to the real dump spot and proceeded to burn it all there. Aside from a small brush fire that sort of got out of control, we got everything taken care of and were finally done for the day. We rinsed off under a tap because we were filthy, gave the girls some sweets and headed home. We had no idea what was in store for us and we walked through that gate.

In all of this stress of yesterday, I have to sadly admit that I didn't even wish my brother a happy birthday. He turned 24 yesterday. Hope you get our card soon Ryan ... we sent it about two weeks ago :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Club Life and Bonfires

2008-04-28T08:30:00.014+02:00

After returning from vacation, things at school can sometimes take a few days (weeks) to get back in order and for the teachers to be ready to work again. We've become accustomed to this and have altered our schedules accordingly. This most recent return to school we decided to hold off on starting official club meetings again for a few weeks. We in part want to spread out our remaining meetings amidst the time we have left in the village. But also, the third week of school (this week) is a two-day week due to some weird holidays scheduled at the beginning and end of the week. So we made the decision to start clubs officially next week and run them straight for six weeks until the next school holiday.

This isn't to say we didn't do anything club related these past two weeks. That's quite far from the truth actually. Rachel had a PGC Leader Training, she had her Student Council girls over to the house to help with a project, and we took both of our clubs (just the kids) on a hiking excursion up our local "mountain". Here is a photo of one project Rachel did with her leaders. They made aprons using traditional fabrics:

On Wednesday the teachers were "knocking off early" (common phrase here) for a SADTU meeting (teachers' union) that was taking place in the area. We decided to take advantage of this and planned a joint activity for the PGC and PBC together. I know many of you have seen countless photos and even blog entries related to our local "mountain", but seriously, it's one of the only options for something to do in or around the village. We decided to lead all 50 or so kids on an afternoon hike behind our village to the baobab tree, the new dam and the peak of the mountain ... just me and Koketso (Rachel). Let me say that again - just the two of us and 50 pre-teen kids!

We tried to have a meeting beforehand to discuss the "rules" of our little hike, but that didn't go over real well as you can probably imagine. While most of the girls understand our English, the boys don't all too well ... and simply, they're boys. They don't listen anyways. What we tried to explain was where we were planning to go and that Rachel was to lead the group and I would bring up the tail end. Everyone else was to stay in between. Ha!

As we took off from the school grounds, I could tell that we were in for a fun afternoon. The boys pretty much showed a blatant disregard for Rachel's authority right off the bat :) They thought it would be fun to see how far ahead they could get, even though they had no clue where we were going. Regardless, it was fun for us just to hang out with the kids as friends and trying not to act as supervisors too much. With that said, we let a lot of stuff fly that we probably could've reacted differently about.

You have to understand though, these kids are not like American kids. These kids are used to being on their own. They do the chores of most adults, they go into the bush to fetch firewood, they cook meals for their families, they fetch water, they drive donkey carts ... they take on more responsibility than any kid I've ever met in the States. So for Rachel and I to deal with 50 kids of this age, sure it was a little scary, but we felt a bit at ease because we knew these kids could fend for themselves in most situations.

After yelling at the boys that got too far ahead and telling them to come back, we made the turn and headed for the baobab tree. A quick survey let on that many of the boys had seen this tree but none of the girls. But most of the boys were scared of the tree. They claimed that a big snake lived inside. While Rachel and I did our best to put everyone at ease and tell them that we've gone out to the tree several times in the past, the boys wanted nothing to do with it.

We did get everyone to pose for a few photos and then we were quickly on our way again. Notice the clothes that the kids are wearing. Although many of us would have different outfits for different kids of activities, these kids basically have two - school and casual. Some of the kids were hiking in jeans, some polos, some spandex, some skirts ... shoes consisted of black dress shoes, athletic shoes, sandals, and some even hiked barefoot. And there I was with my cargo pants, dry-fit shirt, running shoes and hiking backpack. One of those frequent realizations of where we are - Africa.

Our next stop along the way was the newly constructed dam/reservoir that feeds water to all of the surrounding villages, many of which you can see from the structure. On a clear day you can even see the hills of Botswana. As we walked the final 200 meters or so up the steep incline, many of the kids were already exhausted. You see, this was the first time many of them had ever walked up hill. Our village is flat, extremely flat. Most of the kids have never experienced anything but flat. Now they had to learn to lean into their steps and take it slow.

We reached the dam and were able to find some rest under a tree while the boys carelessly climbed the ladder up the cement structure and threw rocks off the top (even hitting one of the girls in the head - fortunately no serious injury). Here's a photo I took from the top of the dam of Rachel and some of the kids:

The nice thing about the location of the dam was that it was a nice stopping point along the route to the summit of the mountain, about 400 meters further up the hill. After a good rest, we told the kids that they could either wait there for us or hike with us the rest of the way to the top. Peer pressure now set in as even the exhausted ones agreed to come to the top because they didn't want to be the only ones left behind.

The final accent is a little different than the rest of the hike. From the dam to the peak it's essentially "create your own path". Long grass, rocks and trees make things interesting as you're both trying to watch your step while watching out for cobwebs in the trees and snakes on the ground below. Fortunately, no snakes were spotted. We all made it to the top as the girls broke into an enthusiastic song. It appeared they hadn't spent all of their energy yet.

From here on out we assured the kids that it would be easier going down, as many of them were now complaining of being tired and thirsty. We had told them to bring water with if they could, but most of them don't even have a container at home to carry water in. The fortunate few were kind enough to share, but the water among them was quickly depleted.

Rachel enjoys telling the next part of the story. As she began leading the kids back down to the dam (remember, no actual path), they realized the benefit of gravity. Without really thinking about the consequences, several of the kids behind Rachel began running down the hill. Despite big rocks hiding in the long grass and thorny tree branches, the kids were flying down the hill. Rachel recalls one girl catching the heels of another and sending her tumbling down the hill resulting in some minor cuts and scratches. As much as Rachel wanted to remain in the lead, she quickly made the decision to get out of their way as she was afraid she'd end up in a tumbling heap of flesh.

To our surprise, we all made it back to the dam in one piece with only minor scratches to talk about. But now, the kids knew the excitement of running downhill. The only problem, the path was loose gravel for here on out. Rachel decided to go ahead of the group to the bottom of the first part of the hill to capture their descent with the camera. I stayed at the top to ensure they didn't all bombard down the hill at one time, likely leading to a serious injury of some sort. So I sent them down either one by one or in small groups. Boy did they enjoy this! My favorite part was standing at the top with the kids waiting for their turn and hearing them laugh at the person who was careening down the hill uncontrollably.

They all took their turns and everyone made it to the bottom. What a rush! We loved this part of the day more than anything. Being able to give an experience to these kids that they have never known ... what joy. The smiles. The laughter. The brotherly love when the coolest kid in school started catching the kids as they got going too fast to stop on their own.

Now the kids were ready to go home. They were tired and hot and the day was getting late. It was almost 16h30 by this time they needed to get home and help their kokos with chores. What came as the biggest surprise of the day to us was what we witnessed as the kids made their trek back. Little by little, the kids started collected wood from the ground. Both the boys and the girls stopped here and there to pick up fallen sticks and even branches. They bound them with wire they found on the ground. Some carried bundles in pairs and some of the girls carried them on their heads.

Most kids in village are given the chore at one time or another of fetching firewood in the bush. These kids saw this as an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. They were already in the bush. Why not go ahead and get some wood so they wouldn't have to later. Brilliant! Despite their exhaustion, which is what surprised me the most, they were now hauling bundles of firewood home with them.

We eventually made it back to the village a little after 17h00 and Koke and I made our way home. We were beat. After quick bucket baths, we ate dinner and fell into bed. What a great day of memories, but boy did those kids wear us out!

Later in the week we had the chance to go over to Paul and Jess's house to spend the weekend with them and another PCV couple who was up for a few days, Will and Robi. It was nice to get away and spend some time with our good friends who we hadn't seen in a while.

On Saturday afternoon the guys decided to go fetch some wood so that we could build a bonfire later in the evening and roast some marshmallows. We were able to collect enough to make a pile about four feet tall or so, but it burned out in less than a half hour. It was worth it though. While the neighbors probably thought us crazy for wasting that much wood on a bonfire (as opposed to a "cooking" fire), it was one of those "American" things we just had to do. Good friends and a campfire on a cool, starry evening. That was nice.

Walking With Trepidation

2008-04-24T09:26:00.003+02:00

The morning air is dry and crisp now that autumn is here and winter close behind. We have added our extra fleece blanket to the bed so that now we have two covers, and it won't be long before it will also be necessary to stuff our sleeping bags under the covers for additional warmth. This is also the season when our cats stay inside during the night instead of slipping out the open window to hunt. Now, we find them curled in much larger sized balls than last year when they were just kittens, sleeping on the end of the bed or trying to curl up around our legs between us. This phenomena of winter's approach is always a joy to us because it means relief from the hot summer sun and being able to enjoy such pleasures as lit candles to create a welcoming atmosphere along with a mug of hot cocoa to start each day. Unfortunately, this season also has its annoyances; one of which I experienced just this last Sunday.

I spent a very relaxing and productive weekend with Jess in Seleka since Paul was at Life Skills Training and Brandon had some computer work he wanted to get done at home. So after a quick trip to town on Friday to get food, B took our taxi home and I caught one to Seleka where I would spend the entire weekend with Jess working on our quilts and some other fun craft projects.

In the midst of this weekend, a few of my PGC girls from last year, who are now in secondary school, found themselves in Seleka on Saturday for an area wide choir competition. They quickly and probably very easily (we're white people living in a village) found Jess and Paul's house and came to invite us to listen to them sing. So a good part of our morning was spent at the community center listening to kids from schools all over the Palala area give a concert to see who would win a 'cup.' It was fascinating to see just how good some of the schools are and I was continually amazed at the resources they were able to come up like the portable keyboards to give starting notes with, somewhat experienced conductors and even some very fancy outfits for the performance.

It wasn't long before our weekend had come to an end and I needed to make my way back to my own village to help B with our laundry (it's never a one-man job). Jess waited on the side of the road with me in Seleka through about four different ride offers until I finally came across one man who could take me all the way to the tar road near my village and didn't seem creepy. I had a pleasant talk with him during the short ride, yet to my dismay, as we neared my destination, I saw that I was going to be disembarking his car into a sea of funeral attendees. In the midst of my worry, I forgot to even pay him for the ride and then walked with my head held low through the throngs of people dressed in their Sunday's best feeling ashamed of my own torn jeans and t-shirt. Oh well! It was about this point that I decided that I didn't want to just sit around in this village and wait for another car that may never come to take me the remaining 4 or 5 km. So I walked.

Once again though, I was not looking or thinking ahead far enough. I had set down the sleeping bags and my shoulder bag I was carrying for just a moment at the cement bus stop to talk with a young man there while I waited for the crowd to clear and then quickly got up to begin my journey home knowing that it would take me just as long to walk as it would to wait for a ride. As I began walking, I lifted my head to look down the road in front of me and then saw another group of about 60 people all walking towards me. Except this group was all young men in their 20's. Oops! How could I turn around without being obvious? So I walked on and just greeted all their jearing with smiles and hellos but kept walking straight and purposeful.

This time, after emerging from the crowd, I was suddenly joined by one young man who was on his bike with Simba (something like Cheetos) slung across the handle bars and biscuits in one hand. He was also on his way to Klip and so we resumed the journey together. Timothy was great company. He told me about his job in Ellisras at the mine and all about his family. I learned that he is the youngest of four brothers and that he was taught by his siblings that drinking alcohol and sleeping around is wrong and can only get you in trouble. At this bit of information, I knew that I was in good hands as we walked.

Only one car passed us during the entire hour we walked. The interesting thing is how rude the truck's driver must be...for he neither stopped to offer us a ride (which is very common) nor did he kill the snake that was crossing the road just 15-20 yards in front of us! I was so concerned about getting off the road so the car wouldn't hit us that I did not even see the large 5 foot long snake in front of us until Timothy told me to look as he pointed at its long body slithering across the road. The snake was directly in the truck's path and I was certain that I would see it get run over, but the driver got right up to the snake and then violently swerved to miss it. At the same moment, the snake reared upwards and made a striking motion at the truck's tires as it passed but then just kept slithering to the other side of the road where it proceeded to coil itself into the nearest tree's branches.

I won't deny that I was a bit worried as Timothy said that it was okay to just walk right past the Black Mamba. I stood frozen for just a moment contemplating all that I had been told about this deadly snake and asked Timothy, I'm pretty sure a few times, whether it was really safe to walk past such a venomous snake. He assured me that we would be fine, so we walked on.

After arriving home safely, I was given the chance to tell both Mma and Brandon together about my first real snake encounter since being in Africa. At this point, my worry had turned into a feeling of pride and bravery that I had actually seen the infamous Black Mamba that everyone talks and warns about. And, everyone should know that B was even admitting his own jealousy over my recent spotting of the snake.

Well, this wraps up my weekend story...and just to reassure the family reading this that I'm sure are worried about our safety now, the seasons are changing. Autumn in South Africa is short and winter is just around the corner. Snakes may be here now in small numbers, but they will soon also be gone with winter's arrival.

Ryan + Africa + Land Rover = Good Times

2008-04-17T16:43:00.005+02:00

The feeling of being back at school after the best vacation of my life doesn't exactly have me in high spirits. Sure it's fun hearing the kids yelling makgowa (white people) at us again and the teachers asking us to make photo copies for them, but the groove is going to be hard to find again. Sarcasm. I guess the lows are what make the highs high though, huh?

Rachel and I have been somewhat avoiding writing about the road trip we took more so because of the inability to condense the experience into something short enough that people would actually be interested in reading. Sorry for that. Those of you that will see Ryan in person over the course of the coming months will get a much better view of what the trip what like, not only because you're getting it in person ... but because it was his first real trip to "Africa". (He had previously been to South Africa, but we joke with him that he didn't see the real thing.)

Until 25 March of this year, the most I had seen my brother Ryan for consecutive days wasn't more than a day or two since our road trip together during the summer of 2005. For two weeks we ventured together to the western US, driving 6000 miles and camping along the way.

Ryan has since graduated from college and moved to downtown Chicago. We have kept in touch as much as we can, but this new adventure gave us a great opportunity to reconnect and spend some quality time together. It was perfect.

I have this intriguing habit of being somewhat detail-oriented when it comes to putting together itineraries for trips. Although I take great pride in how most of these trips turn out in the end, Ryan gets a kick out of the pages of activities, phone numbers, maps, prices, etc. So in our best effort to not overload him with too many details, we kept the whole thing a secret from him (well, almost) until he got here. Each evening we had a ritual of presenting him with the next day's itinerary over dinner, usually by the campfire. Ryan can tell you that I always wanted to give in and give it to him earlier, but he insisted on waiting. He enjoyed the anticipation.

I'll never forget the reaction that slowly crept upon Ryan's face as we sat together around the campsite on our first evening in Zambia. He just realized that he was going to be riding an elephant the next morning, seeing Victoria Falls and taking a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River. The emotion he displayed touched my heart, knowing that we were giving him memories that would last forever. Memories of us together.

Trying to give you every detail wouldn't do the trip justice, and I'm simply not that good of a writer, so maybe I can just give some highlights. Here are some things that stand out in my mind as I reminisce about our two weeks together in Africa:

Ryan seeing the Land Rover we had rented in the parking lot of the Jo'burg airport for the first time. (I have that on video ... it's pretty good.)
Getting pizza and having a picnic at the Mogol Club in Onverwacht with our good friends Paul and Jess. It was a gorgeous day!
Getting rained on in our village as we made our way back from Salim's shop while trying to take pictures of some kids in the street. We ended up running, cameras tucked under our shirts, to avoid ruining them in the downpour.
Seeing Ryan interact with the boys out at the bus stop the one night we were in our village. They loved seeing him.
Sitting on the porch of our house with Salim and his friend for over an hour, talking about everything from Pakistan to US politics.
We made the decision to hand out sweets (candy) to people we met along the way. Ryan had brought a bunch with him. We gave sweets to the border control officers as we entered Botswana, as well as the guy at the currency exchange kiosk. It was fun seeing their confused smiles.
Hearing Ryan's continued comments like "I didn't know there were this many cows in Africa." We saw thousands of cows through Botswana.
Having to make a detour because we accidentally came to the entrance of a closed diamond mining community.
Buying firewood from a wheelbarrow on the street. A boy came running from the nearby village to sell it to us.
Chatting and swapping stories with a guy from Belgium at our campsite at the Okavango Delta.
Setting up our rooftop tents the first night at Audi Camp ... then looking around and realizing that everyone had 4x4s and rooftop tents. The campsite was strikingly different in that way than those you see in the States. We then agreed that this was the right way to do it.
Driving through the bush for two hours to get to the Okavango Delta. The scenery was gorgeous as we passed authentic villages in the middle of nowhere, literally. This included crossing a river where the water was higher than the wheel wells!
Being pushed by a "poler" in a Mokoro (dugout canoe) through the reeds of the Okavango Delta. The most relaxing and peaceful experience I've ever had!
Our guide "Killer" taking us on a bush walk and casually saying something like "If we come across wildlife, do exactly what I do, or you might get killed."
Our driver using the safari vehicle as a taxi on the way back to town, but then dropping people off well before getting to camp so he wouldn't get in trouble.
Navigated the pot-holed road in northern Botswana between Nata and Kazungula. For about two hours, the tar was more pot-hole than road.
Getting scolded by a police officer at a checkpoint for not stopping when he told me to. It was because I was just learning to drive stick, but I didn't tell him that.
The memorable ferry border crossing into Zambia. Read Rachel's previous post for more details.
Seeing the villages in southern Zambia. They were comprised primarily of small wooden huts with thatched roofs. This felt like Africa.
Meeting Darius (aka Papa Cliff) at The Bushfront Lodge in Livingstone. He worked security at our campsite and we got to know him pretty well in the two days we were there. We taught him how to make s'mores and took a photo to send to his family.
Sitting at the campsite at night shooting empty soda cans with our slingshots.
Riding on elephants along the banks of the Zambezi River. I didn't raise my hand when they asked if anyone in the group had hip or knee problems. I regretted that decision the minute I got on. I'm 26 and moaning about hip problems!
Getting absolutely soaked as we crossed the foot bridge on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls. At the end of the rainy season, let's just say the mist was a bit heavy.
Going on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River. There were only about 10 other people on the boat and the drinks were free. One of the most relaxing and memorable nights of the trip.
Seeing a woman lying unconscious in the middle of the road. We turned the car around to ask her if she needed help but she seemed very dazed and couldn't understand English. The road was wet beneath her, our assumption that she had wet herself. Once she was coherent we moved on, feeling both guilty and helpless to do anything else.
Getting waved down by police in Zambia, asking to see a driver's license and proof of insurance. We decided to not buy the mandatory insurance on the way into the country, so Rachel now casually struck up a conversation with the female officer to take her mind off of the fake insurance documents that we had just handed her. We got lucky and she waved us on.
Realizing when arriving at the Namibian border crossing that we hadn't gone through a Zambian gate to leave their country (which is typical procedure). We figured they got all the money from us when we came in that they didn't care when we left.
The Namibian border patrol taking all of our meat from us. Their logic made no sense. They left things with us that were more hazardous than what they took. Our logic - they wanted free dinner that night.
Passing about 10 "Beware of Elephants" signs in the Caprivi Strip but not seeing any game aside from two ostrich!
Throwing handfuls of sweets out the window to passing children, and then watching them scramble on the road behind us to pick them up. It was like playing Santa Claus.
Following sign after sign through a remote village to get to our lodge on the Okavango River. We were having extreme second-thoughts that this place would be safe, but we finally arrived and little by little our reservations disappeared. The place was beautiful.
Seeing thousands of zebra, springbok and wildebeest in Etosha National Park, along with bustards, secretarybirds, mongoose, giraffe, lion, hyena, impala, ostrich, black storks and gemsbok. We were disappointed to see no elephants but we loved the park.
Watching the scenery slowly change as we went from the plains of Etosha to the rolling hills and mountains of the stone desert of Damaraland.
Driving through riverbeds and on bumpy gravel roads for 75kms to get to Camp Xaragu. The Land Rover proved worthy although we thought the cd player was going to fall out. We did have to stop and clean out the fridge because a container of hummus had popped open and spilled over everything.
Driving into Camp Xaragu that appeared like more of a zoo than a campsite. They had animals roaming around everywhere: cats, dogs, goats, mongoose, springbok, a pet baboon. It was crazy hot but the place was so authentic.
Hiding Ryan in the back of the Land Rover as we entered the Skeleton Coast National Park. We didn't have enough Namibian currency to pay for all three of us ... so we didn't :)
Seeing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in Namibia with the desert as our backdrop.
Following signs for shipwrecks only to be disappointed by a few pieces of driftwood sticking out of the sand on the beach.
Seeing the Cottage Medi-Clinic where Angelina Jolie gave birth to her baby Shiloh. Rachel was star-struck for a few days.
Eating dinner two nights in a row on the patio of The Lighthouse Pub & Restaurant, overlooking the main beach in Swakopmund.
Having a sleepless night our first night in Swakopmund due to the extreme heat and hundreds of mosquitoes that found their way into our tents. This was the only night we had a problem??
Joining a bunch of Italians for a catamaran charter into Walvis Bay. For about four hours we got to relax on the water and see pelicans, dolphins, seals, lighthouses and more. The crew fed us fresh seafood and other appetizers accompanied by glasses of sherry and champagne. The Italians must have thought we needed to gain some weight because they forced the last of the fried pastries on us, all while laughing and rattling off a bunch of stuff we couldn't understand.
Going on a quad biking (ATV) expedition in the Namib Desert. We followed our guide through the sand, around corners, down hills and through "roller-coasters". I wish we could've done that all day!
Swimming with Ryan out to a raft off the main beach in Swakopmund. I've hardly swam that much my whole life. It's one of my favorite memories though, side-stroking in the cold water while talking to Ryan and trying not to laugh so hard that I couldn't breathe.
Crossing over the Tropic of Capricorn in the Namib-Naukluft National Park.
Seeing why the sand dunes at Sossusvlei are so popular. Look at the Satellite imagery on our Google Map and you'll see what I mean.
The 45km morning drive, in Amazing Race fashion, to get to Dune 45 to watch the sunrise. We didn't know what to expect. When we got there with the other eight vehicles or so and saw people jumping out and running to the base of the sand dune, we figured we better follow suit. What followed was a literal race up the crest of the dune to be at the top in time to see the sun come up. What a rush!
Listening to the awful moan of some neighboring cows at our campsite at the Spitskop Nature Reserve. It was a wretched sound to fall asleep too.
Sitting at the airport on the ground inside one of the terminals, eating Nando's while loading all of our photos onto the laptop and making DVDs for Ryan before he took off.

Okay, well, that's quite a few things. But I hope it gives you a good idea of what the trip was like. Lots of memories. Thanks Ryan.

Details of the Ridiculous Road Trip

2008-04-11T15:48:00.007+02:00

I put together a Google Map of our trip to highlight some of the "points of interest." I'm hopefully going to be able to collaborate with Ryan and get some more info put on here, including some photos of specific spots along the way. Make sure to check back for updates:

View Larger Map

Here's a map of the actual driving route:

We drove a total of 6993km, which is approximately 4345 miles in a little over 13 days time. We've posted about 300 photos from our trip at picasaweb.google.com/africandaylight. Ryan has also posted a bunch at www.flickr.com/photos/thecleanest.

All in all we visited four countries: South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia. We were also within a stones throw (literally) of Zimbabwe and Angola along the way too.

Return from Holiday

2008-04-08T13:49:00.003+02:00

Holiday is about the drive...not the destination, I kept reminding myself during this holiday. Driving nearly 4500 miles through southern Africa with Brandon's brother, Ryan, it was easy to get exhausted from sitting behind a wheel of the car or get bored of the scenery and want to sleep. But this vacation was planned with the purposeful enjoyment of the driving time. Renting a Land Rover special for this vacation, how could we not enjoy the drive? I'm pretty sure that this was a landmark event in my life: a once and only experience that I had to soak up and enjoy while it lasted. And it is one more life dream fulfilled for me.

I don't want to type much because I think with this trip, the photos will tell all, but let me just highlight my favorite experiences:

First, after spending one night in our village with Ryan, we drove straight across the border into Botswana and spent two lovely nights at the Okavango Delta. For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is the world's largest inland Delta and is home to thousands of wildlife animals such as elephants, hippos, giraffes, etc., etc. While I have seen some captivating photography from this national park, we failed to see much of anything other than hippos as we took a relaxing mokoro ride through the delta.

After a full day on the delta getting scorched by the sun, we spent the following day navigating our way around thousands of potholes on our way towards the Zambia border crossing to reach our next destination of Victoria Falls. Along the way, we saw numerous elephants, giraffes and even the occasional ostrich. The Zambia crossing was definitely the highlight of this drive though. As we reached the exit of Botswana and had to fill out many different papers, we asked for last minute advice as we prepared to enter Zambia. The woman behind the desk, who had previously seemed some what cold and aloof, smiled and warned that there would be many people trying to sell us insurance before we boarded the ferry and to not accept because all of our payments had to be made on the other side. Great advice!!

Driving up to the mighty Zambezi River, we were accosted by the many men trying to offer us assistance with our border formalities. We tried to be as gracious as possible while declining and rolling up our windows in anticipation of the ferry making it's way diagonally across the Zambezi's swift current. We were surrounded by people who were prepared to cross on foot with their shopping bags and luggage. Once the ferry arrived, there was a flood of passengers both running and driving off to get to the official buildings first and begin filling out their paperwork. Since my car was first in line, I was instructed to have my passengers disembark my vehicle while I drove onto the two lane ferry. It was not easy and I almost got a little stage fright as the many people on foot on our side of the river watched me try unsuccessfully the first time to embark the ferry. It didn't take much coaxing from me though to put the Land Rover into reverse and then gun it up the ramp only to be directed to park on the very tip of the boat...almost feeling like I would roll right off the other end of the ferry and into the water.

I parked successfully and was instructed to cut the engine and get out of the vehicle so I could fill out some paperwork. After a quick signature and vehicle registration number, I was able to join Brandon and Ryan who had walked on with the throng of people and stand idly by as we felt singled out in a sea of people not only because of our white skin but also because of our obvious differences in overall appearance.

The entire ride across the Zambezi didn't take more than 15 minutes and once the ferry was shored and putting down another ramp, I once again took the wheel and prepared to disembark onto the northern shore. While I would like to say that this went smoothly, the Zambia border crossing was chaos and I could not see a single route in which to drive my car for parking. So I slowly progressed off the ramp, having to drive a bit into the river since the ferry didn't get quite close enough to the shore, and then wiggle my way with the beast of a car we had to a 'parking place.' Not easy, but done.

Once I got out of the Land Rover, I once again joined Ryan and Brandon (Ryan was trying to walk in front of my car this entire time to lead me to a spot where I could park), and we made our way to the first official building to pay our ferry fee. Along the way, we picked up a young boy who was eager to navigate us from one building to the next so that we didn't miss a single payment (he knew that there would be a tip in it at the end of this all for him). We gladly accepted his services and followed him into an appalling six different buildings to pay everything from carbon tax to police fees and road fees. In the end, I think we could have paid for an entire second vacation with all the money Zambia swindled from us for our two day visit in their country. But I think this experience alone was worth at least half the money and our next day's activities made up for our two hour hassle and fiasco at the border crossing.

(These are the 6 receipts from all the payments we had to make!)

We did finally finish with our payments at the Zambia entrance and were even able to talk our way completely out of paying the insurance fees (although we didn't know if this would have later consequences or not: which it would have if we hadn't thought quick on our feet and created a diversion as the police officer two days later on our way out of country asked for my license and insurance and I gave her a bogus document and struck up a different conversation with her to take her mind off the document).

The next day's activities were spectacular! Arriving at the Falls, we had a morning elephant safari (where we rode the elephants to see other animals), and didn't see a single animal but thoroughly loved the experience of riding this great animal along the river's edge.

In the afternoon, we took a self-guided tour of the Falls on the Zambia side since B and I did the Zimbabwe side last Christmas and still were amazed at how massive and strong this body of water was! The sky was clear, the temperature hot, the sun high in the sky and as we approached the path leading to the falls, we kept seeing people drenched. Not just sprinkles or rain, but literally as if they had jumped into a lake with all their clothes on. So, with this little bit of incite, we bought ourselves some rain ponchos and started out on our short trek to see the Falls. Within minutes we were also soaked even with our rain gear. Not only does the Falls produce an enormous amount of mist, but this mist comes from every direction prodded on by the winds. The worst of this mist was experienced as we tried to cross a foot bridge and felt almost blown away by the wall of water that pushed against us from all directions as we walked!

The end of our day was spent on the Zambezi River taking a River Boat Cruise at sunset. This was fantastic and such a relaxing finish to our day.

While I would like to write more to this post. I think I will have to wait til another day. Brandon is just returning from the dentist and we need to get moving. I promise to write about Namibia (my new favorite country) soon!

An Afternoon with our Student Councils

2008-03-19T19:29:00.007+02:00

I won't write much. I'm exhausted after today. It was one of those days when Rachel looked at me and said, "Are we really getting that old?" But, it was worth every tiring moment. We love these kids.

Every Wednesday we get together with our Student Councils from our clubs and usually do an activity together as well as teach them on the computers. This week they decided they wanted to play frisbee ... boys against girls of course.

Well, that lasted all of about 15 minutes when it became 5-0 in favor of the boys. Then Rachel make the executive decision to mix up the teams. That was better. Although it was five on four, at least it was a fair game.

The new game didn't last too long either though. We thought for sure the kids would start complaining because of the heat and being tired (at least that's what was going through my mind). But no ... they wanted to run to the mountain! Ha! Crazy kids. What?! You're serious? Yeah, they were serious.

Well, these kids aren't exactly the kind of kids we can say no to. These are some of the kids we'll miss the most when we leave at the end of the year. So, it was off to the mountain. To our surprise (and totally against what our bodies were telling us), they actually ran most of the way there.

Several of them had never been up there before and it was fun just to look over the village and be around the kids when they were having fun together. After a short break at the top, we headed back down.

I think it was the anticipation of a cold bath that got me back home. That and it was downhill most of the way :) And as you can see from the photo, Lerato got a ride out of me part of the way.

All in all it was an afternoon that turned into more than we expected, but became one of the most enjoyable and memorable days we've had yet. You really can't take a moment for granted. And to think we almost canceled our meeting with the Student Councils today because we had so much to do at home!

2008-03-17T20:30:00.003+02:00

Photo compliments of Jessica Vig :)

Extending Through School Year

2008-03-17T17:31:00.003+02:00

Before we came to South Africa, everyone always said that volunteers typically don't want to go home after they hit the halfway point in their service. We've come to realize through our experiences with the Peace Corps that this statement does not accurately describe many volunteers in the field. Of nearly 80 trainees that came to South Africa with our training group, close to 15 have since gone home for one reason or another. Our experience is this - either you love it or you don't.

Rachel and I had some tough times at the beginning. We struggled through many frustrating weeks of school and miserable days in the village. But in the midst of this, with a lot of hard work and motivation, we slowly found our passion. We found the things that make us smile. We found the things that make us go to bed at night saying "today was a good day". Not everyone reaches that point. We feel blessed that we have. We first and foremost thank the Lord that he placed us in such a wonderful site. He laid the groundwork for what has become a memorable experience for us.

Now, after 20 months in South Africa, we are beginning to think about the end of our service and what that means for ourselves, our schools and our community. We have developed relationships within our community that we cherish. We walk down the dirt road through the middle of the village and say to ourselves, "this is home". But with that sentiment, we also realize the importance of moving on. Our community will never reach it's full potential when we are here as a support mechanism. They need to become independent and utilize their new-found strengths. It is only then that our job is done as Peace Corps Volunteers.

However, in our specific situation, the timing of our service does not coincide directly with the school terms. Due to the Palala Clubs projects that we have developed and the many ways that we are involved with our schools, we see a benefit to finishing out the school year. Our service is scheduled to end 21 September 2008, but we have made the decision to extend until the end of November or early December. With this decision, we had to make an official request with our Country Director here in South Africa as well as the Regional Director of Africa. In support of our request, we had to ask our supervisor to write a letter expressing his approval of our decision. Mr. Kgomo, our key school principal, is our supervisor. We wanted to share with you the letter that he wrote:

--------------------

Someone has to acclimatize and adjust him/herself with someone he/she meets for the first time. When the people develop trust, honesty and beliefs, the relationship becomes stronger. As such by sharing experiences can in the end of time make it difficult for them to be apart.

In the same sentiment, we find it difficult to part with Brandon (Thabiso) and Rachel (Koketso) Johnson, by the moment they finish their term of service in South Africa by 21 September 2008.

Under normal circumstances, actions speak louder than words! Our school and cluster schools enjoy and appreciate the services rendered by the couple. They are developing skills and also moral regeneration to boys and girls during boys and girls club. Educators are given support in computer training. The school library is well established through their efforts. We hope to have more projects to develop the community.

Really, their services are incredible and make the difference and drastic change. The learners, educators, parents and the community at large appreciate them. Therefore, we sincerely request for their extension of time to stay in the Republic of South Africa.

Jeremiah Kgomo
Principal
Klipspruit Primary School

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We continually have days when we ask ourselves if we are making a difference. Mr. Kgomo's letter gives us the hope that maybe we have. One thing we know for sure is that South Africa has made an impression on us, and today we do not regret the decision we made to join the Peace Corps.

Rachel and I believe wholeheartedly that God has a specific plan for each of our lives. With each new day we feel more at peace about the direction our lives are headed. Although we never truly know what tomorrow will bring, one thing is certain - we must "prod on" and continue to live for Him.

Oh Brother!

2008-03-13T07:50:00.008+02:00

(Rachel and I have a habit of writing multiple blog entries at once. Make sure you notice the entry below this one entitled Busy Past Few Weeks.)

If you don't recognize this face (not ET, the other one), let me introduce you to my younger brother Ryan. I just wanted to write a quick blog entry to let you all know the anticipation that Rach and I are feeling right now. He's coming to visit in 12 days!!

If you do know him, you're well aware of the crazy vacation we're in for. Right now he's busy on the job search scene in downtown Chicago. We're going to take him away from that stress for a few weeks and do a wild African road trip together. Make sure to watch for future blog entries and photos from our time together. With his creativity, I guarantee there will be photos worth seeing!

Both of my brothers are incredibly talented when it comes to media (see their blog links to the left) and there are a lot of companies out there right now that don't know what they're missing. While Ryan is busy up in Chicago, Justin and Beth are keeping busy down in Orlando with a baby on the way very soon!

With Justin's creative juices, he couldn't help but put together a blog to track the little guy's progress (and mother's :) And unsurprisingly, it's a great little site. We're looking forward to being able to follow along at www.kellerjohnson.com.

It's hard knowing that Ryan is on the way here soon, and while we can't wait to see him, we have a lot of other family back home that we wish he could pack in his luggage.

Busy Past Few Weeks

2008-03-13T06:48:00.018+02:00

As summer is slowly winding down, Brandon and I find ourselves exclaiming that the winter cold will be here before we know it and with it-our Close of Service Conference! I continually find myself lamenting that it was just January yesterday and that we have been so busy the last 2 months that we hardly took note of February. Looking back, however, I find that this constant activity that we have engaged in from our clubs to weekends away from site in town or with friends has been a huge blessing in our lives and comes as a welcome change from our first months at site last year when we had endless free-time it seemed. Tonight, as I sit on our bed in the dwindling heat of the day, I realize that there is so much Brandon and I have done over the last couple months which we have failed to write about that I have taken on the mission to briefly update everyone back home (who are we kidding...I can't be brief!). To do this, I will take you back in time about 3 weeks earlier.

Christmas in South Africa in a rural village is obviously the farthest thing from what I traditionally think of Christmas being. So in an effort to truly celebrate Christmas the way it deserves to be celebrated, we decided back in December with Jess and Paul that we would set aside an entire weekend in dedication to this holiday in hopes that we could all share the sweets, decorations and gifts we had been given by family...in a bit cooler weather. Well, the latter was impossible to control, so in 90 degree heat with only a fan to try and reverse the heat wave that was being absorbed through the tin roof and released by the oven, we joined the Vigs for a Christmas holiday near the end of February.

Over the course of the weekend, we enjoyed gourmet food cooked for us by the experts and were able to contribute to the wonderful food by bringing our Holiday Blend Starbucks coffee and hot cocoa along with an assortment of Christmas decor and sweets including but not limited to caramel apples that we made Saturday morning only to have them totally melted by the time we ate them that night...still tasted the same though! I think we played three games of Skip-Bo and had a few matches of Buzz Word to melt away thoughts of the tremendous heat. While Christmas for all of us usually meant snow on the ground and the smell of pine trees in the air, we were happy enough with the success of our weekend in spite of what otherwise would have been another unproductive weekend trying to stave off the sweat and sleepiness that usually comes when the temperature rises.

The weekend after our Christmas celebration, Brandon and I had made a plan to be back in town to spend a night with our friends, Erika, Dewald and the kids at the guesthouse. Again, what a treat and blessing this family is to us! We arrived in town early to do a bit of shopping and then spent the remaining morning at Erika's bead shop talking with her kids. Just after 1pm when the shop closed, we road 'home' with Erika and were shown to our room for the night in the new addition to their guesthouse. It amazes us how quickly and thoroughly these rooms have been completed and how beautifully decorated they are! The afternoon was spent around the television relaxing and watching some Rugby sharing a few treats that we had received in a package from home.

Near the end of sunlight, I made my rounds about the property to take some macro shots for Erika that she can reproduce and frame for decorations in the lobby and guest rooms. It was fascinating getting to examine the property through the lens of the camera and be invited to enter each room with its unique decorations to try and capture the beauty in an artistic way.

Then as the sun set, Dewald and Brandon got the braai going to prepare for the fancy dinner they were going to prepare for us. Dinner that evening was this gorgeous, salt-water fish that they had caught off the coast of Namibia in the Atlantic Ocean along with a seafood rice! I ate every last bite-it was so delicious! And of course, no evening would be complete without evening coffee...so we all sat around and drank Arco's Norsman's Grog until midnight under the stars enjoying each other's company!

Only staying one night with the van Zyls, we awoke early the next morning to be sure and have plenty of time visiting before we had to head to the rank and catch our taxi home. I assisted in the kitchen with breakfast trying my best to contribute to Dewald's gourmet spread with my cherry pancakes. I can't say that they were perfect, but I love using my excuse that each time I have to use a new method to prepare them takes at least 5 pancakes for the adjustment of the transition to set in. Unfortunately for me, the cooking method was large enough that five pancakes could be fried at once while I am only used to having to watch one at a time back in our village using a skillet. So the adjustment time would have to be shortened for any pancakes to turn out! They ended up just fine and I think mine was the only one that was still runny on the inside! Nobodies perfect, right?

Then, this last week, Brandon and I had from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday morning to finish preparing for the Pre-Service Training we would be attending on Wednesday and giving workshops for on Thursday. Monday was hectic, but we still managed to get everything done and still hold my fifth week of PGC!

Tuesday morning, we awoke early to again, catch the 6am bus to the tar road where the Mokopane taxi was waiting to leave for its routine drive through the villages to pick up all people wanting to go in the same direction as us. By 8am, we were finishing our run through the Palala area and were on our way to our next destination. To save on time, I will make this part brief since it was only one day.

Tuesday, upon arriving in Mokopane around 10, we went and had a bite to eat and got some photo's developed while we waited for another PCV from our group, Emily, to arrive from Pretoria. Around 2, we all headed back to her village where we would spend the night and have a chance to catch up. It had been several months since our last visit and this was probably going to be the last before Emily heads back to the States since she will be leaving a bit earlier than most. It was a fast evening but very relaxing and a pleasure to be granted this time with her on our way to PST.

Wednesday, we took our time waking up and fixing breakfast and about 10, we were all packed and ready for our next bout of taxi rides that would take us 20 minutes back to Mokopane only to catch another taxi that would go right past Emily's house and onto another village 30 minutes past hers where training was being held. It seems so round-about to get there, but that is the way public transport works here.

Arriving in Bakenberg just past 11, we called PC to come and fetch us at the rank and waited under a tree next to a bakkie (truck) with two young guys who were selling mangoes. Once our transport arrived, we were driven just five minutes down the road to the training site and introduced to the group of 29 new trainees. What a pleasure to be able to see all the new faces halfway through their training!

Thus was the beginning of our PST adventure. Sitting at the kitchen table in the PCVs' house Wednesday night in the village, I looked around at the diverse mix of faces also sitting at the table and thought that somehow I had been granted a second chance at college life that I never took advantage of the first time around...and yet this was very different. When I graduated from college and got married shortly after, I never would have thought that B and I would be sharing housing accommodations on so many different occasions with a crowd of people aging twenty-two to late-sixties. The weirdest thing is sleeping as if we're all back in a dorm room. We ate communal meals that were fixed by whomever offered and acted as if we were one big family. Enough on that though...I just wanted to express just how odd this lifestyle is for me and yet how natural it has become. I can't say that I have ever been the social type even in college, but now in PC, this is a forced personality that has even become normal.

Thursday morning, B and I went to the training site early so we could test out the projector with our laptop and set up all of the crafts and displays we brought with us. It is this facet of the clubs that I particularly enjoy! I love showing off what the girls have created over the years and displaying photos of how much fun they are all having. In addition, the overall comments we received this year were pertaining to the professional quality of our project and how nicely put together all of our materials were. While that wasn't the response we were primarily going for by presenting our project to the PCTs, we did feel complimented by their notice of this particular detail.

Our presentation began at half past 10 with a large group presentation. B put together a new video of this year's photos and we did a fifteen minute video show to get the group excited about projects that PCVs are capable of doing once at site...at this point in training, most people are anxious to get to site and begin doing projects because they feel that during training they have had no real purpose of being in country as of yet. After showing the videos, I gave a quick promo for a fundraiser I was doing for the PGC. The previous week, I had the student council meet on Wednesday as usual, but this time they didn't put together craft packets. This particular day I had them each make a necklace that we could sell to the trainees to raise some extra money for our club to spend on beading supplies. In the end, we had nine necklaces to sell and only two of them broke in the hands of girls who were trying them on. How embarrassing! I did also prepare craft packets and instructions so the girls could learn to make their own if they wanted. This seemed to be a great idea and I sold several of these. In the end, I walked away with R257 which was pretty good considering the costs were minimal. After this quick promo about the necklaces, there were sign-up sheets on the wall, and the PCTs were asked to go and sign up for four out of the six sessions being offered by PCVs over the next two hours.

Brandon and I began with a small group of five which was by far our favorite group. This made perfect sense seeing as we were probably getting the few that went to our sign first because we are the top of their list for wanting to hear our presentation. They were great though. We gave just a fifteen minute synopsis of our project and then allowed them to ask questions and look at our displays. The next two groups were the same in size but a bit harder to talk to. By this time, I was beginning to lose my voice because of being a bit sick, so Brandon had to take over the short presentations. By the last group, we couldn't remember what we had already said to them or what we had said in an earlier session and needed to repeat in this one. We were both getting a bit confused and had to tell the group that if they had already heard what we were about to say, to just tell us. The last group was a total of 12 though! Because it was the last session of the day and there were many people that had wanted to see our presentation but there was not space on the sign-up sheet, they came anyway. It was also a great group to talk to and they had several good questions. This was the shortest of our presentations but it went overall pretty smoothly considering we felt like we were repeating ourselves a lot.

After finishing with our afternoon of PCV stations, B set up our laptop inside again with the projector and showed a quick video. This time, however, the video was photos we and another volunteer had taken while on vacation. Again, this was to give the PCTs something to look forward to after they finished training. At this point, they feel trapped and wonder what they are doing in SA. It went over pretty well and after this we joined our fellow presenters and walked back to the house where we would spend one last short night before beginning our journey home the next day.

Friday morning at 7, a PC Kumbi picked us up at the house and drove us all the way back to Mokopane which made our public transport trip quite a bit shorter. We had them drop us off at the Fruit and Veg City to get smoothies for breakfast (this is the only place that I know of in SA that you can get these) and do a bit of shopping before heading back to our village for the night.

By ten we were at the taxi rank and seated on our kumbi home. Ben and Susie, who are the volunteers in Abbotspoort, were also riding the taxi with us because they were also presenters at PST and the taxi we catch home services an entire area of villages nearly 50km wide. They sat just a few rows in front of us and Brandon and I sat in window seats just behind the side door. (Hard to explain, but trivial information) For the most part, this was another quiet trip home. Brandon and I were both tired and didn't even have the energy to watch for wildlife on the sides of the road (We just HAD to miss the giraffe that everyone else on the taxi saw!).

It wasn't until about 1/3 of the way through our journey that we realized what an adventure we were in for. It almost seems in slow motion when I replay the events in my mind. The driver begins to apply his brakes which draws everyone's attention to the road in front of us. There in the road is a big warthog running with a little one behind it to the safety of the long grass on the other side of the road. (Now, everyone here knows that when you see warthogs, they come in a family pack, there are never just one or two.) Somehow this information slipped our driver's mind and he picked his speed back up just as a second larger warthog ran in front of our taxi. The driver just barely had time to try and slam on his brakes while swerving in the direction the pig was running. Do you think we were going to miss it? Not a chance. We felt the initial thud and then the rolling and rumbling of the warthog as it was dragged underneath us. Now, most people, when something like this happens, would pull over immediately and check the condition of their vehicle, but that is not how it works here.

It seems that there is only one option when something like this happens. Hurry back to the roadkill and collect it before someone else gets to it first and has a weeks supply or longer of food. We did a hasty U-turn and were back to the pig in no time. There was no need to kill it either because the taxi had done a sufficient job of that, so the driver and another man pulled open the back doors of the kumbi (thank goodness we were carrying a lot of luggage in the front, otherwise we're pretty sure that the pig would have ended up at our feet!) and hoisted the pig onto the floor below the back seats to the chorus of everyone inside exclaiming about how large the animal was!

With this accomplished, and still no look at the body of the kumbi to see its condition, we were on our way again! I'll admit, this was humorous and we knew that it happened...this was just the first time it's happened to us. We really didn't mind until the end of the trip when the animal began to give off a stench that was not going to be eliminated anytime soon. One thing I will never understand about this culture is why they won't even open the windows when it is above 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the taxi and there's an obvious odor. Unfortunately, our window seat still did not offer us the luxury of an open window either because it was not a window that would open. By 3pm we were home and unpacking for our next day's adventures!

Brandon and I awoke Saturday feeling utterly exhausted and myself, a bit under the weather since I have been fighting a cold for the last week or so. In spite of this, we arose early on a mission to get to town so I could attend a baby shower for a friend of ours. To make sure we both had time for a bucket bath, we awoke at 5am and just barely made it out of the gate in our compound to catch the 6am bus while Khutso, our cat, ran after us, crying because he hadn't seen us for an entire week and now we were leaving again for a day trip to town. As we stood on the full bus holding onto the backs of seats, we watched Khutso standing just outside the fence-line hoping that he would not come any further as we drove away.

Just 4km down the road, Brandon and I were able to claim two front seats as people were filing off in the next village and had a slightly more comfortable ride sitting only having to deal with the occasional person using us to steady themselves or as temporary luggage racks. The highlight of our ride to town, as always, was not the people on the bus, but the wildlife that we saw from our window in the hour and fifteen minute commute. This particular trip we were able to see zebra, sable, kudu, impala, warthogs, gemsbok and hartebeest! What a safari!

Upon arriving in town, we met up with Paul (Jess came a bit later) and were happy to just amble through town with no particular agenda of our own. It wasn't until later in the day that we had anywhere to be...so after developing photos and checking the postboxes (thanks G&G Swanson for the package!), we found our way over to Onverwacht for a pizza lunch! While we waited for the food to arrive, Jess sat and quickly finished knitting her gift which was a really cute and cuddly baby sweater while I wrapped my gift of Johnson & Johnson baby products.

It was just past 2 when the four of us made our way over to the Mogol Club where Stephen was preparing to play Rugby and where Jess and I would catch a ride to the baby shower with Jolene and her sister, Nanette.

The baby shower was beautiful. It was hosted by a younger mother in Jolene's church who Brandon and I have gotten to know over the last year and was located at a beautiful cafe just outside of town. Only here in South Africa can you sit under the thatched roof of a lapa in the heat and enjoy the games of a baby shower in a language you don't understand and laugh along with all the women. It was a pleasure. I took on the role of photographer to keep me busy since participating the game was out of the question, but I think I understood the shower a lot better looking through the lens of a camera than I would have otherwise. It was interesting and amazing seeing the similarities of this party to one we would hold in the States and seeing just how generous the women were with their gifts and the blessings they bestowed on Jolene as a young mother. It was enough to make me almost wish I was in her shoes and experiencing the obvious affection of so many women and know that her baby was being welcomed into the world in such a special manner.

With the baby shower only beginning at 3 and not ending until after 5, Jess and I found ourselves out on the side of the road in the quickly diminishing light of day waiting for a taxi that our husbands were already on holding seats for us in hopes that the taxi driver would see us on the road and stop for us. As we stood waiting and greeting the strange looks that came our way from people either walking by on their way back to nearby villages or driving past on their way home, we laughed about our experiences at the shower and shared in the joy of being able to meet some really neat women in the process. Although the language barrier can be frustrating, we still were able to connect with some young mothers and now feel that there will be even more familiar faces when we go to town.

The taxi did arrive about half past five and Jess and I were able to both squeeze onto one seat which we would share for the ride home. Brandon and I were already sold on the idea that we would have to spend the night at the Vigs since getting home after dark was impossible. This just gave us one more wonderful night though in Seleka and this morning we arose feeling refreshed and ready for the last 15km home. However, what an interesting expedition it was. At 8am, we were out on the road waiting when a car pulled over for us and offered us a ride. It was an elderly gentleman who said he could take us as far as the tar road (4km from our village). We eagerly hopped in and just moments later were nervous about the decision we had just made as his car began to literally sputter and spit it's way down the road at 10km/hour!...or less! He had an obvious problem which I thought was a lack of petrol at first but then realized it was much more serious when he had to pull over just one village down to rev his engine from under the hood to make the car move again! Let's just say that we were so happy to arrive at our end of the tar road that we walked the remaining hour home in the heat of the sun just so we didn't have to chance another car ride like that one!

Blog Launch for the Palala Clubs

2008-03-09T16:01:00.003+02:00

Over the course of the past year, since Rachel's development of the Palala Girls Club (PGC) in March 2007, we have been motivated and encouraged to create a collection of resources for fellow volunteers and a source of information regarding the growing Palala Clubs project.

In that effort to assist and inform, we have put together a blog that is solely devoted to the Palala Clubs. You can find it online at palalaclubs.wordpress.com.

While we will still post personal information pertaining to our clubs on this blog (africandaylight.blogspot.com), all general information related to the clubs (resources, contacts, donor info, etc.) will only now be located on the new blog (palalaclubs.wordpress.com).

We hope that this separation will make for a more professional presentation of the Palala Clubs and the specific information that relates only to them. For those of you family and friends that are also interested in our personal lives, you will continue to find those exciting updates here :)

An Article by Lara Weber [Chicago Tribune]

2008-02-17T17:31:00.005+02:00

We just received our monthly mailings from the Peace Corps office in Pretoria on Saturday. Amidst all of the not so exciting "stuff" that we get on a regular basis, there was an article that the office had printed off for each of us that caught our attention.

Even with the best intentions... Money and love only go so far amid Africa's complexity
by Lara Weber

If you have the time, read this article. It really speaks to our situation. Here is a quote taken from the Chicago Tribune article that we found particularly interesting:

"If only Winfrey could have been in the Peace Corps, lived in a village, tried to do something as simple as distribute a stack of children's books. Would she have built her academy? Or would she maybe have considered developing 100 teachers colleges with that $40 million instead?"

Working hard and dedicating 2 years of our lives to the people of South Africa, it's hard to see so many problems still so blatantly evident in this country when people like Oprah have the ability to do so many tangible things on a broad scale ... and choosing not to. But then again, when will the government of this country really step up to the plate. How can we possibly blame those who are at least doing something?

Tebogo Runs to 3rd Place

2008-02-17T08:09:00.006+02:00

After a long week of clubs, Brandon and I were excited to be heading to town with no agenda other than spending the morning watching the area athletics/track meet at the Ellisras Primary School grounds.

We caught a 6am bus with Maam Ditsela and were in town about half past 7 to await the beginning of the 9am meet. Maam Ditsela is not only one of my PGC leaders, but she is also the Head of Department at our school and was filling in as the school's sports coordinator yesterday since Maam Bopape, our real sport coordinator, was in a car accident a few days ago. (She is just fine and spending a few days recovering from the shock of the accident)

We could tell that Maam Ditsela was happy to be filling in because one of the two children that qualified from our school was her youngest daughter, Tebogo, who is 9. In the photo below, Adam is on the left (150m) and Tebogo is on the right (80m).

Adam's race was scheduled first thing in the morning which gave us something to already look forward to, but Tebogo's race was at the very end of the day. With all this free time in between, we had to fill the time gaps...and the camera is always a good way to do that. This is just a photo that Brandon took of Tebogo and I as we were sitting having a pep talk about her success of the upcoming race. She is such an intelligent girl and was explaining to me all morning about how she would take first, and when she did, we were all going to go out to celebrate at Wimpy's (restaurant). She speaks wonderful English for a fourth grader!

After watching Adam get creamed in his race (I'm pretty certain he was fifth or sixth), we decided to take a walk around town and get the few groceries that we needed and develop some of our morning photos to give to Tebogo and her mom to get them excited before her race. As we gave them the photos one by one and watched as they got passed around the whole crowd of Palala North Circuit attendees, we knew that it worked!

Tebogo's race was nearly on time and we watched as she lined up to prepare for the race. Many of the learners traveled from much farther away and many of the children even had track jerseys, but Tebogo was easy enough to find in her blue spandex and Finding Nemo shirt. Even without the professional uniform, she didn't feel inferior to her competition and ran with a spirit of confidence I don't normally see in children from the villages.

Now, the photo may look like Tebogo is going to take 2nd, but there is one girl way out in the front that this photo does not show. However, Tebogo did take 3rd which was still good enough to qualify for the Provincial Meet in Polokwane 2 weeks from now!! Hooray! I watched as she was herded over to the winners tent to register and I also watched as another girl who was clearly behind Tebogo come over and try to push Tebogo out of line and try and take her place. Tebogo is smart though! She told me later that she told the girl that she had in fact taken third and that this other girl was just being foolish...she should flee! How funny!

Just after her race, with Brandon and I each holding one of her hands, we walked a little ways down the road to Wimpy's to celebrate her victory. Apparently, her mother still thought that 3rd place merited some good food, so we all ate together! Paul, who was also in town for the meet since he had children from his school participating, joined us for this celebration and it was evident to all of us that the children were feeling very honored to be treated so special by all four of us adults! It was a very special Saturday afternoon with the Ditsela family and one that we will never forget.

When I talk about the difficulties I will have leaving this place upon the completion of our service, it is really this family that I am talking about. Having Maam Ditsela as my favored PGC leader but also as my best friend in the village has been wonderful and was so unexpected. She is a woman of strong character and dedicated in everything she does. She has five of the most wonderful kids I have ever met in South Africa and they respect and love her even more than I do. I often tease her two youngest girls that they must share their mother with me because I also love her. They just laugh at me.

Appliquéing Bags and Launching Rockets

2008-02-15T21:38:00.006+02:00

We've had yet another extremely busy week at our schools, particularly in regards to the clubs. Sitting here and typing this entry on Friday night at 9:55pm, I am very exhausted. Here is a glimpse of our schedule this past week:

Monday - PGC Senior at Klipspruit
Tuesday - PBC at Klipspruit
Wednesday - PBC Rocket Launch & PGC/PBC Student Council
Thursday - PGC Junior at Letlamoreng
Friday - Laundry day at home :)

We probably won't get around to writing more than this about the week's events, so photos will have to do this time around.

With PBC this week, we talked about "Life After School" and built model rockets and rocket engines. Then we had a launch day and shot off 22 rockets!!

These are the 7 Student Council leaders that were elected in the PGC and PBC at Klipspruit.
Back row: Piet, Lota, Measure and Charlie.
Front row: Clementine, Catherine, Sina.

Introducing Baseball to the PBC

2008-02-07T14:32:00.000+02:00

Let's just get it out of the way by saying that this week's Palala Boys Club meeting went incredibly well compared to last week! Thank you to all of you that were praying for the PBC at the beginning of the week. God's hand was definitely evident on the events that shaped Tuesday afternoon.

Shortly after 2pm, all three of my leaders were present and accounted for in the Klipspruit Meeting Hall. I quickly gave them a rundown of my plans for the meeting and how I was expecting them to participate. They were eager to help! Much to my surprise, Mr. Matsha even got things going before I was ready because he took it upon himself to get started. No complaints from me though.

Mr. Matsha took attendance as Mr. Dibetso recorded the boys' nicknames for me so that I can start to remember them by name (which will be difficult with names like Mmetlwa and Mngazo). Here is a complete PBC Member Photo Roster.

All the while, Mr. Kgomo sat off to the side jotting down notes about baseball, as he was going to be the designated leader to help me with the introduction of the sport to the boys. I had previously spoken with him about the basic rules of the game.

The best part of this day was the opportunity to present each of the boys (and leaders) with their own t-shirt and baseball hat. Wildcat Baseball League (Fort Wayne, IN), with whom my dad is the Director at Northside Park during the summer months, made a wonderful donation of these items. Before the meeting officially began, my leaders had the boys change into their new outfits for the remainder of club. It was great to see the red, white and blue hats that I recall so fondly from my childhood as a Wildcat ballplayer.

After an opening prayer by Mr. Kgomo, we quickly got things underway. I had decided to talk about "Good Sportsmanship" as the lesson for Week 2, as it seemed to fit perfectly with our activity for the day. I had a simple list of notes, from the "meaning of sportsmanship" to the "reasons why sportsmanship is important" to "examples of good sportsmanship." I had also given each of the boys a copy of a Sportsmanship Checklist that I had created using some resources I found online. While the boys continue to have difficulty understanding English, particularly my accent, Mr. Matsha came to the rescue and helped out considerably with the lesson. By the end, he had taken over completely and I was no longer talking. I couldn't have asked for more.

At the end of the lesson, I wanted to give away a few prizes, so we asked for boys to raise their hand and give us an example of something they could do on the soccer field that would exemplify good sportsmanship. After a few moments of evident shyness, four boys took turns giving an answer. Although I couldn't understand most of what they said, I was amazed by the mere length of their responses. It was clear that they had thought through what they were saying and their answers weren't surface-level.

Being summer time still, it's hard to sit in a classroom for very long in the hot afternoon sun, so I knew that the boys were getting impatient to get outside. I had Mr. Kgomo give a quick introduction to the game they were going to be learning: baseball. Due to the lack of funds and the cost of real baseball equipment, I had made the decision to use wiffle ball as my means of introducing the sport. Now it was out to the soccer field and time to "play ball!"

Although baseball has yet to become a known sport in Africa (especially rural Africa), and the only sport that most children know is soccer, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Mr. Matsha tell me that he had learned baseball before at another school. He became a great coach throughout the course of the afternoon.

We immediately set up the diamond (four orange cones) and drew lines in the dirt as baselines. Then I had Mr. Matsha and Mr. Dibetso be team captains and split up the boys evenly. I am lucky to have 18 boys in the club, which couldn't be more perfect for learning baseball. We decided to just start playing and I would explain new rules as we ran into specific situations on the field. I was the designated pitcher, so I had a central spot on the field where I could see everything that was happening.

It was encouraging to see how quickly many of the boys picked up the game. They don't play many sports with their hands, so I was surprised that their hand-eye coordination with the bat was so good (especially using such a thin wiffle ball bat).

The coaches got enthusiastic about the game so quickly that I barely had to talk after a few pitches. I had to constantly tell the boys to switch the positions of their hands on the bat, which is a common mistake for first-timers, but I enjoyed just getting to toss the ball and watch the game develop.

There were definitely times of humor when boys wanted to throw the ball at the runner, literally touch the base with the ball, pass other runners on the bases, or stop and stand on home plate when they made it around the bases as a runner (not realizing they were finished at that point in time). Some of my favorite moments were hearing the boys get into the routine of calling out how many outs there were during an inning, or watching the excitement on the boys' faces as they threw someone out at first base.

We had a great time learning and playing baseball. I was so excited to be able to share this part of my life with them, as it was a significant part of my family growing up. After playing Wildcat for many years, working at the office in downtown Fort Wayne, and being a coach one year at Jefferson Middle School ... I had a great deal of pride in seeing the boys wear those uniforms. I was seeing a part of home out on the field.

Being a Peace Corps Volunteer is incredibly rewarding during those times when we really do get to share part of our American culture with another part of the world. This time it was baseball, and they loved it.

After several innings of play, we decided to call it quits as the wind began to pick up. I was having trouble throwing strikes at the end of the afternoon because the balls were moving with the wind so much. I think the final score ended up at something like 14-4, with Mr. Dibetso's team on top ... and he sure let everyone else know it :)

As we wrapped up the second week of club, I definitely went home with a sense of accomplishment. I remember asking Mr. Dibetso back at the school if he had a good time with the boys. His response: "Ah, so much fun. Too much." Not only did we have a successful club meeting, but now my leaders are excited and on-board with the program. Next week we are talking about career options (i.e. "What do you want to be when you grow up?") and giving the boys encouragement for the future. Then we're building model rockets!

What an encouragement. I'm hooked on PBC. I can't wait til next week!

2008 HIV/AIDS Implementers' Meeting

2008-02-07T12:31:00.000+02:00

Last month we received our monthly Peace Corps newsletter from our CD (Country Director) here in South Africa. Within the newsletter he mentioned an opportunity available to volunteers to participate in a global conference dealing with the continual struggle in "overcoming obstacles to implementation" related to HIV/AIDS. In June, there is a conference being held in Kampala, Uganda called the 2008 HIV/AIDS Implementers' Meeting. Individuals and groups from around the globe have been called upon to submit abstracts describing specific HIV/AIDS implementation projects in which they are involved. The authors of chosen abstracts will be requested to personally attend and present their work at the meeting in June.

Most of you that have followed our blog know the work we have been doing with youth after-school clubs, called the Palala Girls Club and Palala Boys Club. Our intention behind starting these clubs was a directed focus on the youth in our area that are so susceptible to the problem of HIV/AIDS. Due to the success of the PGC in 2007, Rachel decided to submit an abstract for her project. The following is the content of that abstract:

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Category: Track F: Integration of Services
Title: Intervention in Rural Primary Schools
Author(s): Rachel JOHNSON
Affiliations: United States Peace Corps, Washington, District of Columbia
Location of Project/Program: South Africa
Key Words: School, Club, Girls
Implementation Area: Prevention with High Risk Groups
Abstract Option: 1

Abstract Text:

Challenges to Implementation:

South Africa is losing the battle against AIDS because it has failed to target the rural populations where AIDS spreads rampantly among youth. In addition, with the lack of decent AIDS education in rural areas, most people do not make the personal connection between their lives and the nearness of the AIDS epidemic.

In a typical village, there are school-age children and the elderly. The parents are either dead or working in the cities. The challenge then is how to reach pre-teen girls, who are the most at risk, with the message of AIDS prevention in a personal, believable, and empowering manner.

Intervention or Response:

The Palala Girls Club was begun as a response to the above challenge. The PGC is held once a week for six months a year in five rural schools and provides pre-teen girls with 1) mentors, 2) female-specific lessons, 3) skills that provide meaningful activity and income and 4) self confidence and hope for their futures.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer I have initiated this program by training school staff and community members to serve as leaders. The club atmosphere enables these women to become mentors and provides time for personal interaction. Meetings are conducted immediately after school within the compound for accessibility and continuity of the program.

The PGC follows each weekly lesson with a correlating craft (e.g. jewelry making, sewing projects) that serves several purposes: keeping girls interested, training them for life-long skills and program sustainability.

A priority of the PGC is to give the girls personal attention from caring adults. Such intentional interaction produces confident, responsible young girls equipped with knowledge and empowered with self-worth to defend themselves against AIDS.

Results and Lessons Learned:

Prior to PGC, schools experienced pregnancy drop-outs. PGC girls, however, successfully completed the PGC program and the school year.

The PGC also successfully created enthusiasm and openness about AIDS among the communities and has brought them together in unified support of both the PGC program and the schools.

Key Recommendations:

As a foreign-born volunteer, I found it necessary to partner with dedicated, local leaders. They help to create community ownership and also ensure lessons are taught from cultural perspectives and in appropriate home language.

Finally, incentives were imperative for this AIDS prevention program to work effectively. Because we live in a world that wants to profit from their investments, offering tangible rewards (crafts) for participation initially, ensured that the PGC members would return until the time they began to feel a sense of ownership over the program.

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We will keep you posted in future months as we find out more regarding the selection of abstracts and authors. Rachel would love to be a part of this conference!

Peaceful Morning Routine

2008-02-07T10:00:00.000+02:00

As the beginning of this year has progressed and our busy schedules have only gotten busier, it's been really nice to get into a morning routine that offers us a peaceful start to the day. For the past several weeks now, Rachel and I have been getting up with the first glimpse of light at about 5am. We spend a few minutes brushing our teeth and putting on our shoes, then it's out the door for a morning run. We have been running out of our village on the sand road toward the nearest village, Boskop, on the tar road. We've been running between 30 and 50 minutes, depending on how we feel that particular day.

The best part is how peaceful and still it is around our village at that time in the morning. There is absolutely no traffic on the road and the animals are usually completely quiet. As we run away from the village, the light is just enough to barely see our feet as we maneuver around pot holes in the road. Just this week, we have seen a herd of impala twice on the outskirts of our village, just grazing on the side of the road (literally within 100 yards of our house). It's been an incredible sight!! Then, as we make the turn and head back to our village, the sun is just below the horizon and the colors in the sky are indescribable. This morning, the whole sky was lit up in a brilliant pink, purple and orange collage of color.

I feel that Rachel and I have been blessed with being morning people. The morning offers an incredible time of peaceful preparation for the day, and I'm so glad we have been able to take advantage of it so much lately.

2008 Clubs Get Started [with a few hitches]

2008-01-30T09:10:00.000+02:00

This week marked the official beginning of both the 2008 Palala Girls Club and Palala Boys Club. With that milestone came moments of excitement, anticipation and joy, but also frustration and disappointment. The latter is mostly in reference to the PBC, which I'll get to that later in this entry.

On Monday, Rachel (Koketso) held her first PGC meeting at Klip. The Grade 7 girls were playful and energetic outside the meeting hall as the memories of last year brought great anticipation for this year's club. Meanwhile, you could see the evident mix of excitement and nervousness on the faces of the new Grade 6 girls. They spent months last year on the outside of the meeting hall windows filled with curiosity about what went on at the infamous "PGC." Now they get to step through that door themselves, as official members, and get the firsthand experience.

Being the second year of the PGC at Klip, so many things were different this year and the club was really able to get off to a quicker and more efficient start. Not only do the Grade 7 girls know what to expect, but now Rachel has two seasoned leaders that are passionate about their roles with the club. The aspect of the meeting that Rachel was most looking forward to was the fact that she was going to get to be so "hands-off" this year. She will plan the club meetings, gather supplies and set up the meeting hall - but beyond that, the leaders are ready and willing to take over. They want that responsibility. Maam Ditsela and Maam Tema have developed in amazing ways over the course of the past year. Although sometimes we wonder if it was really development or simply a "bringing out" of the abilities which had always been tucked away inside of them. Maybe it's a bit of both, but it's incredible to watch. I am constantly amused by the enthusiasm and laughter that these two women bring to the girls club. Not to downplay Rachel's abilities, but these women do something that Rachel could never do. That's the beauty of what Rachel has developed in the Palala Girls Club. And believe me, it's a beautiful thing to experience.

The meeting on Monday went on without a hitch, despite the fact that two of Rachel's newest leaders were unable to attend because their babies were sick at home. Rachel has a new teacher helping this year, Maam Khalo, as well as three members of the SGB (School Governing Body). So now she has six leaders to work with only 31 girls (as compared to 42 from last year). That's a great ratio for both mentorship and craft efficiency.

The meeting got underway as the girls filed in to the sound of Rachel's pink cow bell. Their attendance was recorded and then they headed over to a table where their new membership cards were displayed. After finding their name and face among the plastic cards, they made their way to their seats. Rachel opened with prayer and then welcomed the girls to the meeting. After quickly going through the introduction of PGC to the newcomers, she had Maam Ditsela go over the guidelines and policies. Then it was time for the nomination and election of this year's PGC Student Council. Rachel wanted to develop a student leadership team this year as a means to get the older girls more involved in leadership roles and taking on a bit of responsibility among their peers. The girls were able to nominate any Grade 7 girl that they thought would be a good candidate for the SC. There were six nominated. Then, by written ballot, each girl wrote the names of the four that they desired to be their leaders. In the end the PGC Student Council consisted of Lerato, Charlotte, Sina and Catherine.

Then it was time to start the first craft, beading bracelets. Maam Ditsela, with her booming and intimidatingly authoritative voice, gave the girls instruction from the front of the room ... while Maam Tema and Rachel individually spotted girls that needed some extra attention. The craft time went a little longer than Rachel had anticipated, but it was a great first week project. The girls loved it.

For being the first meeting, it was honestly as though Rachel's club just picked up from where it left off last year. It was seamless and brilliantly organized. (She's my wife, so give me a little slack for praising her so much. She's good at what she does :) Having that first week out of the way has given Rachel much hope for the club year ahead. Her main focus now is the first meeting of PGC Junior which will start tomorrow (fingers crossed) at Letlamoreng Primary School, with girls from three schools involved. Please pray for her as she gets that up and going. It will definitely be a challenge!

When Tuesday rolled around, it was time for the introduction of Palala Boys Club (PBC) to Klipspruit Primary School. Having spent the entire past year as a wingman to Rachel and her girls club, I was a bit nervous to take on the leadership role and have the responsibility to get my boys club up and running. As a matter of fact, I was really nervous (ask Rachel). It didn't help that my day started out on a sour note. We got to school to find out that one of my three leaders was absent that day (for supposed health reasons). Then, following morning assembly, our principal Mr. Kgomo (another one of my leaders) told me that he would be unable to attend boys club due to an obligation to attend a principal workshop in Ellisras. (What urked me most is that he said this with a grin on his face, as if finding it somewhat humorous that he was putting me in a serious hole.) Okay, so starting my day two leaders down ... wonderful!

Oh, but it gets better. After spending the entire morning preparing the meeting hall for my club meeting, I faced yet another disappointment. Maam Ditsela and Maam Tema came into the room to see what the setup was like for my club compared to theirs. They had a lot of nice things to say until they brought up the fact that a teachers workshop at the circuit office was going to take my last leader (Mr. Matsha) away from me for club. Seriously, that was that. From three expected leaders to none in a matter of a few hours. How's that for disappointment on the first day of club? That was a difficult obstacle for me to fight through with a positive attitude. The hardest part was knowing that any one of them could have been at my club meeting if they really cared that much about it. Their other obligations weren't mandatory, and they knew about our boys club meeting well in advance. So it appeared to me that they were wearing their commitment level on their sleeves yesterday. Not a good way to start the year, huh?

I sure didn't think so, but what could I do at that point? With Rachel's motivation (and her allowing me to vent to her for a bit), I was able to get through the rest of the day as prepared as I could. The room looked great. I knew what we were going to do. I just didn't know how we were going to do it. But let's rewind a bit <---- When Maam Ditsela was in the room earlier after telling me that Mr. Matsha wouldn't be at club, she left the room with a comment that stuck in my ear ... "If you need help, we will help you." I thought it was somewhat of a joke at the time, but fast forward ----> I decided to ask her toward the end of the day just in case. I mean, I really didn't think I could do club on my own. It wasn't intended that way and I really didn't even think I'd be able to communicate well with the boys (their English is not as advanced as the girls). I really did need help. Sure enough, thanks to the passion that the girls club ignited in Maam Ditsela, she came to my rescue. What an amazing lady! She has developed such an enthusiastic attitude about working with and motivating kids that she just couldn't get enough of it on Monday :)

2:00 rolled around and it was time to get started. The boys were expectantly crowded outside of the meeting hall (while acting cool about it, or course). As nervous as I was and trying not to show it, I welcomed them into the hall, took their attendance and had them sit down. I first had them stand so I could open the meeting with prayer (although it is customary here, Rachel and I also decided that it was important for us personally to do this as a symbol of our faith and desire for God to be a part of everything that we do - especially the clubs). Then I welcomed them and gave a brief description of what they could expect over the course of the year. As I glanced around the room, I could tell that they were only picking up on a few things I was saying. As a result, I kindly asked Maam Ditsela if she could carry on with the guidelines and policies, and also making sure the boys had understood everything I had previously said. That women gave me more confidence by her display of enthusiasm, even bringing the boys to laughter time and time again. I needed that encouragement. The boys were excited to be there, but they were just as nervous about it as I was. I then went around the room and tried to have them each tell me their nicknames, so that I could refer to them by what they wanted me to. As I sit her writing this, I can't remember a single one of those nicknames. They were all Sotho and hard has heck to pronounce! That's a personal goal of mine, I need to know them each by name. (I didn't mention this earlier, but I have 18 boys in all.)

After getting all of the logistics out of the way, we were able to open things up and start to have a bit of fun. Thanks to Jerry (Rachel's dad), we did paper airplanes and origami as the project for the first week. He had sent me two kits with colored paper, instruction books and stickers. It was a perfect initial activity - simple, but fun. The boys loved it. We started by doing a simple airplane together, with my instruction up front. I had formed the boys' desks into two circles, so Rachel helped demonstrate to one while I did with the other. It was amazing to see that some boys had difficulty in folding paper and lining up edges. It simply was something they had never done before. Man, the things we take for granted sometimes. The best part was making those final folds, and seeing the looks on the boys' faces when they held that airplane up for the first time.

Earlier in the day I had Rachel draw a huge target on the chalkboard on the other side of the meeting hall. Then I had set up desks in a line to act as a shooting range of sorts for the boys. We had a contest to see who could hit the target with their airplane. Some of them came pretty close, but no one hit it the first time around. They were anxious to try again though (and I had offered prizes!). We moved the desks up a little bit this time, and we ended up with three marksmen. The room erupted into applause each time one of them hit the target. It was great. After calming them down a bit, we got into the second airplane design (which was a great deal harder). We struggled through it and the boys now had a second plane to try out. We ended the activity time with a simple origami cup just to show the boys the kinds of options that were possible with simple paper. I gave them each a bunch of paper to take home and to be creative.

That was that. I concluded the first meeting and reminded the boys that we would be having club again the next Tuesday ... and learning to play wiffle ball! They had no clue what that was, so the excitement in the air wasn't anything to talk about, but I'm looking forward to it :)
So, for the first meeting, I guess you could say it went okay. I was able to smile about it because I got to spend time with the boys. That's what matters to me. If the teachers aren't going to be reliable and committed, that's frustrating, but we'll find a way around it. I have to admit I was a bit depressed at the end of the night, but Rachel was there to remind me that the PGC wasn't anything to brag about after the first meeting last year. It took some time for her confidence in the program to develop. And now, she does have a project to brag about. Big time. I'm just hoping for the same with boys club.

National Electricity Shortage & Local Flooding

2008-01-26T11:34:00.000+02:00

Just to keep everyone updated on some interesting problems we are facing right now in South Africa:

For quite some time now (since the New Year), there has been a huge power shortage throughout the entire country. The main supplier, Eskom, has been unable to meet the demand of users and power has been shut off for hours and days at a time. On our recent trip to Pretoria, power was out in Ellisras when we left town in the morning ... street lights were out in Vaalwater and Modimolle along the way ... and the entire Menlyn Park Mall was in the dark when we arrived in Pretoria. The power was again out in the morning the following day. During the past few days in the village, we haven't had a single day when the power hasn't gone out for a few hours.

According to an article from The Guardian, the world's No.1 platinum producer (Angloplat) had to shut down production entirely at all of its South African mines to reduce electricity consumption. (South African news providers are terrible, so yeah, I realize I'm pulling quotes from a UK paper.) I also heard word yesterday that many chicken farmers are beginning to file lawsuits against Eskom (as I'm sure many other companies are) because they are being forced into bankruptcy after just a few weeks of this problem. Even worse, electricity was shut off for 20 minutes to the emergency care ward at the local hospital in Ellisras. That mistake probably cost several lives.

Keep in mind that this is all happening during a somewhat normal economic year in South Africa. We are planning to host the soccer FIFA World Cup in 2010. That should be interesting. Personally, I don't think South Africa is in a state to handle that event; politically or economically.

On a more local level, we have had massive flooding in and around our area due to the incredible amounts of rain we have had this summer. The Palala River, which flows through the nearby villages of Abbotspoort and Seleka (where the two other Peace Corps couples are placed), has flooded and caused hundreds of people to move out of their homes. On our taxi ride to town yesterday, we were surprised that the road was passable in many places. The water levels were drastically higher than we had ever seen. Fortunately, Rachel and I live in a village that is about 6 kilometers from the nearest river. We used to be jealous of those close to the water, but now we're counting our blessings.

Yesterday, we talked with several people in town about the problem. It seems the issue is that when water levels rise, a dam in the city of Nylstroom (about 1 1/2 hrs away) releases water and our area receives a huge portion it. Many people are starting to speculate as to whether this years floods will compare with those back in 2000. For Rachel and I, this is all kind of exciting, but we realize the problems that could be encountered. We luckily were able to stock up on about two weeks worth of groceries when we were in town. Hopefully that will hold us over as long as necessary. Our friend Denise told us that emergency helicopters have already been on standby in order to support the local clinics and hospitals.

Well, that's the latest. We will try to keep you posted with future entries if things get any worse.

The Saga of Collecting Supplies

2008-01-24T10:46:00.000+02:00

The saga of collecting supplies for the PGC and PBC begins here in the small village of Kgobagodimo, South Africa, on a Friday morning.

The song "Move Along" sung by the All-American Rejects began blaring on the alarm at 5am Friday morning. Upon hearing it, Brandon and Rachel were quick to get out of bed so they would have enough time to take their bucket bath before the 6am bus arrived at the stop just outside their house. One bag was packed with an extra day's set of clothes, and the rest of the backpack was filled with lists of items that needed to be purchased during the weekend shopping trip. While Brandon's money for the PBC had been deposited in his bank account many weeks earlier, Rachel's was expected to be deposited that very day...so the shopping dates were set and this morning, the two were to begin their journey to Pretoria to collect the supplies they needed to get the clubs started.

By quarter to six, the two were standing at the bus stop just as the sun was peeking over the crest of the mountain. There was no one else there yet, so they just stood, waiting and watching for the first sign of a bus. About six o'clock, a few people started to filter to the bus stop, and even one woman in her silk pajamas walked out to try and make a little extra money by lending people her bus passes for a small fee. This particular young couple was happy to oblige since it not only meant a profit for this woman but also a discount for them. The bus arrived shortly after six, and Brandon and Rachel filed in the queue to board the bus and head for the town of Ellisras where they would then catch their taxi to Pretoria.

Half past seven on Friday morning, Brandon and Rachel were disembarking the bus and walking the short distance over to the taxi rank. Arriving early enough to have a choice of seats, they opted for the front two passenger seats since they always offered more leg room. And then, the waiting began. You see, South African taxis (and most other African taxis I would assume) won't move until they are full. There is no pressing time schedule to keep and no quotas of trips to reach...just an unwritten rule that a taxi won't move until every seat is full and paid for and possibly one or two extra. So, while Brandon held their seats in the decrepit white taxi with missing door handles, Rachel walked a few blocks over to see what the local bakery was offering for those who were hungry this early in the morning. She was ecstatic to find raisin bread which was her favorite and had to refrain from buying a second loaf since it wouldn't travel easily with them.

After an hour, the taxi had gained a few new passengers but no one who was overly talkative. The young couple did speak to a friendly, older gentleman who was inquiring about the day trip he was taking to Centurion, but alas, the two were unable to answer his questions since they had never been to this part of Pretoria.

Just a short while later, a large, luxurious, black taxi appeared and backed into the parking spot next to the couple's taxi. They looked upon it with envy thinking how nice it would be to ride in something so new and big. Luckily for them, just a moment later the "queue martial" arrived with good news for them. The black taxi would be the one they were taking to Pretoria, so the couple was able to move straight over to the taxi and re-claim their seats. Upon jumping into the front seats, the two were again delighted to find that the taxi had actual seat-belts to wear! This never was the case in taxis, but you would never hear complaints from them. This was just an added blessing onto the ride to town.

About ten o'clock, the taxi had filled all twenty-two seats and Brandon and Rachel were on their way to Pretoria in a taxi that knew no speed under 140 Kilometers per hour. Yikes! At this point, they were very thankful for the seat belts as the driver went careening through the mountains on a two lane road. In the case of a bad driver, the young couple had learned that sometimes the best medicine was to try and sleep through the ride rather than bite their tongue off. This was a welcomed solution too since they had been up so late the night before and had arisen so early that morning.

Sleep, which should have come so easily in their tiredness, was hard to come by on such a bumpy and speedy ride, but the two managed to drift off about a half hour into their journey. What felt like two minutes later, Rachel felt a sharp slap on her arm and the driver began yelling at her in Afrikaans assuming that she was a South African. Apparently, it is another unspoken rule among the taxi world that if you sit in the front seat, you are expected to stay awake and keep the driver attentive to the road in front of you so he stays awake. The couple had broken that rule within the first 30 minutes without even realizing it. Now, they were destined to sit in the front seat, stay wide awake fearing for their lives and also engage the driver in conversation to keep him awake even though he was determined to ignore them now for insulting him. The drive was not looking like a whole lot of fun.

Four hours later, the taxi pulled into Pretoria and dropped several passengers off around the big city. Brandon and Rachel were among the last to reach their destination which was the Belle Ombre Taxi Rank where they would try and catch the next taxi that left to Menlyn Park Mall. This was a very popular and wealthy part of the city and many people traveled there during the day. So this was not a long wait for the taxi to fill. Before long, Brandon and Rachel were getting off the taxi on the side of the road next to the mall in the pouring rain with no umbrella and cars coming in all directions preventing them from crossing the street for some time. The closest tree was already crowded with people using it as shelter, so they made a quick dash for the median where a tree stood with only one guest under it.

Once inside the mall, there was only further disappointment to greet them after their long journey. The electricity had been off for over an hour in the Menlyn Park area, so all of the shops had closed their doors to business. Now it was a waiting game to see if the electricity would come back on and the shops reopen and also to see if Rachel's money would be deposited that Peace Corps had told her would be the case. In the meantime, Jessica, another PCV and good friend, had been waiting for their arrival and was inside the mall to greet them. What a blessing to be able to at least spend time with a friend and share in the disaster that had become Friday.

Friday was about to get much better though. Just as the set of three PCVs decided to head in the direction of food, the electricity miraculously ignited and the mall was shrouded in life once more. The shops went quickly to work at reopening their doors and the couple gladly pulled out their shopping lists to decide was direction to head next, thinking that food could wait while they took advantage of the electricity being back up. For the next 2 1/2 hours, the couple shopped going from store to store and purchasing what they found. By the end of that time, all three of their arms were full (including Jess's) and they were ready for a nice large meal and movie to finish. It had been a long time since they had seen a movie theater. They went to Cappuccino's for dinner and had Italian food and then watched the second National Treasure movie while eating a full bag of popcorn with cold drink.

Friday ended with a R70 ($10) taxi ride from the mall to the backpacker around 10:30 that evening and still no money being deposited in Rachel's account. Now, the decision became for the couple of which items to purchase first with Brandon's money before it ran out and until they could get back to Pretoria when Rachel's money arrived to get the rest. Brandon and Rachel were exhausted so they went straight to bed with the understanding that Saturday would be a long day of shopping if the electricity worked.

Saturday morning arrived with much of the same fervor as Friday left. The rain was pattering down lightly as the couple walked the 20 minutes to the car hire place. At exactly 9am, the two were strolling into the compound of National Alamo to hire for one day a bright red VW Polo. The whole process went smoothly and this was the fastest they had ever been serviced by this particular car hire business. They drove away very pleased and feeling that the day was off to a great start in spite of the weather.

After getting the rental car, Rachel drove the two of them back to the backpacker to fetch all of their bags from the day before and also Jessica who would accompany them throughout the weekend for their shopping spree. Rachel was very pleased to have a companion along who would get just as excited over fabric and beads as her, which Brandon just did not do as well.

By 10 o'clock, they were on the road to their first destination to get Brandon his model rockets that he had pre-ordered and then onto the ten or more shops to get the rest. They knew they had limited time since it was Saturday and the shops closed early, but they were determined to make it work and just order their shops in such a way that they would visit the malls later in the afternoon once the other small shops were closed. And their timing in the end was impeccable. Just as 2 o'clock rolled around, the three were exiting the last small shop for the day and only had the Kolonnade mall and Fruit & Veg left to visit. Before two o'clock, they had purchased model rockets, office supplies, fabric, beads, etc. A few of the larger purchases were still to come though.

Next on the list was the Toy Zone for Brandon to pick up 22 model cars, airplanes, and boats. While he browsed the selection and picked the ones he wanted, Jess and Rachel made their way up the shops to the Fruit and Veg where they could shop til their hearts' content for all the fresh food they could ever want. This was a special treat because it was a brand new Mega Fruit and Veg that had just opened and there weren't any up in their area of the country. The aisles were full of not only fresh produce but there was also an abundance of dried foods to choose from. And the prices were fantastic!

About halfway through the shopping spree in Fruit & Veg, Brandon appeared with a glum look on his face to announce the news that we had reached our spending limit for the day and our South African credit card had just been declined. Now, they always say that credit cards are dangerous things, but Brandon and Rachel had never had a problem before with spending more than they could back, so they decided to make this one exception and work out the details later. Brandon put a very large purchase on the American credit card he had with thinking that later he would figure out how to pay it off with our South African money. And this became their pattern for the remainder of the day. Yikes!

Fruit and Veg also went on the card and then when they arrived at the mall a little later, they also tried to put the two sewing machines on the card. Now they experienced their next speed-bump: the American card began declining. I guess it's true that your accounts get frozen if you put too much on them and you are at an address overseas other than the permanent address you had on file with the company. This is where Jessica stepped in as the life saver and put the purchase on her own card despite the weak protest that Rachel attempted. She knew she needed these two machines to start her club and only protested slightly.

Now they were out of options. They continued through the mall with no apparent reason other than seeing what else was there, but did happen across some smaller items they needed to purchase. Brandon once again pulled out the South African card to try it again and it worked for the smaller purchases! But in that same breath, Jessica's card now began declining for her because of the purchase she has just made for Brandon and Rachel. So together they scrounged up all the cash they could find to buy the cutting board Jessica had been looking for all day.

About five o'clock, everyone was nearly out of cash, all their cards had declined and they were tired and hungry from not eating much during the day. McDonald's was on the way out of the mall and seemed like a wonderful idea before hitting the highway for the four hour ride back home to the village in the dark. They all ordered their favorite items from the menu and reveled in this taste that they had missed since coming to South Africa since Mickey D's is only found in larger cities in areas that are hard to reach.

The four hours home was exhausting with the knowledge that Brandon and Rachel must make the same trip in the morning to return the rental car to Pretoria, but they talked the whole way home and enjoyed the company. Because there was nearly a full moon, the drive was not so bad at night, but driving through the winding mountain roads still brought with it surprises. Arriving at Brandon and Rachel's home at exactly 10pm, they unloaded the car and repacked just a little for the next day's journey and then headed out again to spend the night at Jess's place where Paul was anxiously waiting for her after not seeing her for a week. Along the way, they met up with that surprise that only night driving can bring and Rachel somehow managed to miss all the livestock that are scattered on the road but still hit that very large pothole that would have been visible any other time of the day. Hitting it as fast as she did, one would think that a tire would pop, but the car appeared to still drive fine, so the incident was forgotten until the next morning when they stopped for petrol and discovered that the hubcap had flown off when hitting the pothole. Now, they were bringing back a damaged car. In spite of buying "super" car insurance in South Africa, it is minimal coverage and doesn't cover tires and windscreens...so this was a cost they were going to have to eat.

Going back though, Brandon and Rachel spent a few blissful hours sleeping at Paul and Jess's house only to have to awake at 4:30am to take Paul and pick up Ben on their return trip to Pretoria where the car had to be by 9am in order to not get a late fee charged. No problem. Rachel once again took the driver's seat since she was the only authorized driver and Brandon had yet to learn to drive a manual car, and they were off for another long day of travel.

The traveling group arrived in Pretoria just on time at 9am in the rain and Rachel even had enough time to drop the guys off at their accommodations for the evening while they waited for their training to start the next day. Brandon and Rachel had the car at the rental building by 9am and were out on the curb waiting for a taxi to come by within minutes. By 11am, they were on the same taxi home that they had come on, but this time they were smarter and took a seat in the middle so they could sleep. And that is how this story ends. In a peaceful slumber fit for two people who had just exhausted themselves on travel and shopping. They were home by 5 and in bed a couple hours later after clearing space among all the packages they had dropped off the night before.

Monday arrived all too quickly and with it the cat pissed on Rachel causing them to have to wash clothes and bedding before even going to school...but if there was a moral to this story, it would be something like "Don't buy more than you can afford and drive cautiously lest you pay three times the amount you were intending on a rental because they charge you so much for having to replace the hubcap." Those swindlers!

African Time...

2008-01-22T14:38:00.000+02:00

Coming to South Africa 18 months ago, I remember having ample free time for reading, writing letters home,sewing, playing with neighbor kids, house chores, and so much more. Today, I look back and wonder when that all changed and where along the path Brandon and I over-committed ourselves to the point now where we can not even find enough time in the day to read a simple magazine article. Before coming, what enticed me the most about life in Africa was the culture that kept no track of time and never had any 'appointments' to keep. Somehow, during our short time here, I have still managed to bring along my 'Americanisms' and always seems to have a list of "To Do's" waiting to be checked off. While I think there is value in this system of accomplishing tasks, I also feel that it limits our opportunities for meaningful interactions with people when we are always anxious to move onto the next task.

All that said, Brandon and I just finished one of our busiest weeks since being here. With the start of school came the beginning of the PGC and the PBC along with many other school projects in the midst.

The Palala Girls Club is going to be much smaller this year at Klipspruit. Last year there were forty-two girls in the grades 6 & 7, and this year there are only thirty-one girls. However, this year there are currently 5 leaders. Maam Tema and Maam Ditsela will remain as the head leaders (I need to come up with a better title than that), and their assistants will be two of the School Governing Body members (whose daughters were both seventh graders last year in this program) and one more teacher. I am very excited for their addition as I feel that they will each contribute a lot to the sustainability of the program. Specifically, it will be wonderful having the two women from the community participating because unlike the teachers who work full time jobs in addition to the PGC, these women have their days wide open to assist in preparing the lessons each week.

The PGC is also expanding to the more rural schools this year as you may have read in previous blog entries. For the sake of ease, I have begun calling this PGC Jr. so people can differentiate which one I am talking about. The PGC Jr. will meet once a week as well but on Thursdays and the three schools participating will join together at Letlamoreng School for the program. There will be forty-one girls (I only opened the program to their grade 7 girls because of logistical nightmares that would have occurred with more girls) and six leaders (two from each school).

Last Thursday, I was offered the rare privilege of gathering almost all of the PGC leaders from both clubs together at one location to hold a training session that lasted four hours. When it comes to scheduling meetings, it can become quite a nightmare here in South Africa because often times at the last minute another meeting will pop-up that is mandatory for educators that will take precedence over my PGC. Since this culture doesn't plan ahead like I do, I often suffer because of it. Although, I have to say that it has become a way of life for me now and I have come to expect that things may just not work out in my time but eventually always do. All that aside, the meeting was wonderful! Mr. Kgomo, our key school principal, graciously gave myself along with Maam Tema, Maam Ditsela and Maam Khalo (the other teacher that will help lead this year) a ride down to the school in Kopanong village, Letlamoreng Primary School. We left during the school's long break around eleven and began our meeting shortly after the scheduled time.

All of the leaders for PGC Jr. were in attendance! That brought our number for the meeting to a total of 9 leaders plus myself. I arranged the tables so that my two experienced leaders were up in front and the other seven were seated facing them. I gave a short introduction to the club and then we proceeded to play a short icebreaker to get everyone talking. Mostly everyone reading this probably knows this game already, but it is called "I have never." The teachers were each given 10 sweets (candy) and then took turns saying what they have never done. If someone else had done the stated activity, they had to give up a sweet. The game continues until there is only one person left with sweets. I have to say that I was doubtful going into this that the women would enjoy the game or even get into it, but they loved it and even got into the spirit of competition. I also learned valuable things about each of them and their personalities.

Following this game, Maam Ditsela spoke from her heart about what it has been like being a full-time teacher plus a PGC leader. She was very honest and upfront about the commitment it entails for everyone involved but also about the personal rewards of what they are doing in the lives of the girls they teach. As always, it moved me and brought us even that much closer as friends. I love hearing how she has grown over the past several months and how much she has taken on the heart of a servant. She wakes up at five each morning just to do chores on Mondays before school because she knows that with the PGC, she won't get home until after dark. She is dedicated to this program and to helping the girls in their early development, and that is inspiring for me to see since I feel that there are not many people here that would understand it like her.

The PBC is off to a good start as well. Brandon has definitely experienced his speed-bumps, but we both understand that I started out the same way last year. After a few months of experience, the teachers then begin to show their excitement. During the initial months though, the teachers tend to be reserved and non-committal. Brandon held his first meeting last Tuesday and only two of his three teachers came. He was able to give them each personalized packets of information that they can bring to each PBC meeting and also attempt the initial phases of getting them excited for what's to come this year. Unfortunately, our principal, who is one of his leaders, was asleep in his chair within the first ten minutes and the other teacher didn't want to talk. So, while Brandon walked away with some disappointments from his meeting, he is anxious to get started with the program and begin working one on one with the boys who is sure will be enthusiastic for the club.

While all of this PBC and PGC stuff sounds like very little in the world of working people, in the lives of volunteers in Africa, these are huge accomplishments that were very time consuming. The preparation alone for these meetings can often times take days and when it comes to gathering resources, that can often times take a feat of God to complete. Very soon, you will all get to read about our weekend shopping trip to Pretoria and all of the exhausting details of this trip to gather goods for our clubs that start next week. For now, I hope this enlightens those of you who are wondering how we are spending our remaining eight months and gives you a little more idea of our lives here in South Africa.

Great Stork Migration

2008-01-16T15:53:00.000+02:00

This week we witnessed an amazing sight in the sky above our village. We don't remember such a situation from last year, so it may be due in part to the large amounts of rain we have had this year. There were hundreds (possibly thousands) of black storks that for hours were swirling in the sky overhead. I have never in my life seen so many birds moving together in such fluid motion. They weren't flying with a specific direction in mind (from what it appeared). It was more of a circular pattern, just hovering overhead.

The camera could hardly capture what we witnessed, but it can at least give you an idea of the magnitude of the flocks.

Rachel and I went running at 5am the other morning and had the first chance to see them on the ground. Hundreds of them had landed on a soccer field on the edge of our village. They were big birds! We tried our hardest to find the exact name of the stork ... and from all of the clues we could see, it appeared to be the "Abdim's (White-Bellied) Stork." Our massive Birds of Africa book states that they migrate south from October through April, often in large flocks. Their size, from bill tip to tail tip is approximately 76-81cm.

Bye Parents, Hello School

2008-01-09T16:11:00.000+02:00

Well, the time spent with mom and dad passed way too quickly ... just as expected. One day we're in the village introducing them to our host family, and the next day it's saying our goodbyes at the airport (after a game of Skip-Bo, in which Rachel and I were winning :)

The visit couldn't have been better though. I may have worn them thin with my crazy itinerary (I like to plan), but I think they were happy with everything we did. My mom's exact words the first day were, "don't ever ask us again if we're 'up for it'." They were real troopers, and now, my dad is probably struggling to stay awake during math class.

It was such a refreshing holiday break and a joy to be spending it with close family. We were able to be comfortable in ways that we have not been able to enjoy much while being in South Africa. (I'm not referring to material comforts, but emotional ... not to say that there weren't some amazing material comforts enjoyed too though!!)

In seeing many of our friends again after my parents left, we got hounded with the question, "so what was the best part?" What an impossible question to answer, seriously. The entire trip was a highlight and there are so many different little moments that I will never forget. For instance:

Eating dinner in Pretoria at a place that has been rumored to lace their pitas with actual marijuana (not joking). It was worth the risk though. The food was incredible :)
Enjoying a traditional South African braai by Dewald, which included sheep ribs and impala boerewors. It's amazing how good that actually was!
Dad making a Christmas tree from green tissue paper and a 1.5L water bottle. It was very festive.
Having to back up for about a half mile in Kruger because an elephant was chasing us down (well, not really ... he just wanted to get to the river, but we were in his way).
Waking up at 3:30am for a morning game drive. Enough said!
Trying to act like we had a 4x4 when it was really a Toyota Corolla ... while driving through the dense bush in Hlane Game Sanctuary in Swaziland. Fortunately, with Rachel behind the wheel, we were able to muscle through about 8 patches of thick mud and water ... all while I was having a stress attack in the passenger's seat (and yeah, mom and dad will second that). That was a rough morning.
Standing literally inches away from rhinos, with only a small barbed-wire fence (2 flimsy wires) between us and them.
Mom having a great sense of humor when we continually made fun of her for mixing up the names of the wildlife :)
Sitting on our porch at the Namib Safari Lodge in St. Lucia while a street party went on all night for New Year's Eve. It's the only day in St. Lucia when fireworks are legal :) You can imagine what it was like.
Walking onto Margate Beach and realizing we were the only white people out of thousands, literally. Let's just say we didn't stay long.
Turning around during our pony trek to see one of our guides getting bucked off the front of his horse ... then the immediate fear that ensued because we thought our horses would get spooked!

You can see ... there's much that could be said, but nothing in words could ever explain this trip. Just enjoy the pictures and I'm sure you'll hear new stories for many years to come.

Now it's back to school for us. The first few days back in the village were crazy as we had a million things to do. We're hoping to start both the Palala Boys Club and Palala Girls Club at the end of this month, so a lot of work has to be done. I'm sure we'll write more about that soon. Today was the first day back for the learners and it was an exciting day for me and Rach. We're excited to get back to work, but boy did that vacation help!

Enjoying Our Last Full Day Together

2008-01-03T05:46:00.000+02:00

We all woke up this morning around 5:15am to the sound of Rachel's voice, telling us to look out of the window in our rondoval's loft. We had all slept up there together last night. What Rachel was directing us to was the spectacular sunrise poking around the mountains. It was beautiful.

I can't believe my parents' visit is almost to an end, but it has been nothing short of amazing. From scenery that included the Indian Ocean, Blyde River Canyon, Drakensberg Mountains, rural villages and abundant wildlife ... to experiences that included a 4am game drive in Kruger, a jet boat experience in the Indian Ocean, and now awaiting our 9am pony trek here at Khotso Horse Trails.

We will definitely post another journal entry as we return to our village and begin to settle back into the routine of another school year. But for now, I want to take advantage of the last full day we have with mom and dad. It's going to be great!

Enjoying Khumbula

2007-12-26T16:26:00.000+02:00

We are really enjoying our vacation with mom and dad! I'm writing this short blog entry on the outdoor patio of our house in Hoedspruit. This picture is literally the view from where I'm sitting!

Saadiqa's Visit

2007-12-11T09:47:00.000+02:00

We had a great past few days due to an unexpected visit from one of the new volunteers in SA16, Saadiqa. She is part of the education group and is located near Rustenburg in the Northwest Province. Unlike most education volunteers with PC in SA who work in primary schools, Saadiqa was placed at a camp. The place is called Eduland. It's a camp that provides special leadership camps for youth in Grades 9-11. Saadiqa is working on starting a program called Power Girls that will open up opportunities for girls in the rural areas to participate in Eduland's program and learn about leadership and many female-specific issues.

We had first met Saadiqa back in August when Rachel and I visited SA16's PST near Zeerust to present a workshop on Clubs & Community Initiatives. She remembered Rachel and her Palala Girls Club program and wanted to spend some time talking with her about the Power Girls program she's starting. So, that's kind of the background on her visit to our site.

She ended up arriving at our site on Saturday afternoon and spent the night at our place. We had a great time talking with her and hearing about another volunteer's experiences in a different place and situation. Saadiqa has a very unique situation in which she gets to work alongside of many of the different people groups in South Africa on a regular basis. We were fascinated by some of the stories she had to tell after being at site for just a few months.

Then on Sunday we actually went with Saadiqa to spend the day and night at Paul and Jess's house. (We usually don't pass up opportunities to go over and hang out with them.) School break has been nice in the sense that we've had a lot of freedom in our scheduling and we've been able to do a lot of things spontaneously. As usual, we had a great time hanging out with the Vigs. Now they have a new kitten, Msafiri (which means "traveler" in Swahili), so he got a lot of attention ... particularly from Rachel :) I would compare Safiri to a hampster in size, as he can literally fit in the palm of my hand. It's pretty cute! (I'll post a photo soon).

On Saturday night Paul and Jess were fixing chicken noodle soup for us all (which is amazing), and while the chicken was on the stove, we went outside to take a walk to get some fresh air. And here's the view we got from their front door:

I have never seen such a clear and full rainbow in my entire life!! It was unbelievable!! There was actually even a faint second rainbow above the first one, even though you can't really see it in this picture. I turned and commented to Paul that it seems we always have amazing weather stories to tell when we're with them. (Refer to our Thanksgiving post.) It's kind of funny.

On Monday morning we took a taxi from Seleka and went into town while Saadiqa went to Abbotspoort to visit Ben & Susie. Shortly after we got to town, the power went out in all of Ellisras! For several hours we were stuck in town with nothing to do and all the shops were closing their doors. Fortunately, Pick n Pay is technologically advanced enough to have a generator that kicks in for those situations, and we were able to get our grocery shopping done under emergency lights.

Then it was off to the taxi rank for me to head home. Rachel stayed in town with Denise, but I had to head back to volleyball practice. Rach is still there as I write this. I hope she comes home soon. I miss her. That's what happens when you're around each other 24/7 for 17 months. She goes away for a day and I get incredibly lonely :)