so if any of you have seen the totally believable and realistic motion picture Blood Diamond (starring none other than all of our 5th grade crushes, Leonardo Dicaprio) then you probably know the saying, TIA, or This Is Africa. Basically it translates to, on any given day about 95% of the things that you hope to go a certain way...probably won't. You get get mad, you can cry, but you can't really expect anything different, because TIA. In my cumulative time living in Africa I have never actually heard anyone use that phrase, but we as efficiency seeking Americans seem to love it, and hey if it helps assuage an otherwise hair-pulling frustrating situation...then why not.
Take for instance, my experience today. I waited for 4 hours for my taxi to fill up (they are van taxis and won't go anywhere until they are completely at or even over capacity). As I'm already getting nervous that I wouldn't get to where I needed to be before dark, they taxi marshall tells us it will probably be another hour because we still had 3 empty seats. I get out to go to the grocery store and buy a snack, and when I get back I find that the hour had quickly turned into 5 minutes and my taxi had left without me. OMG. I got really pissed, then decided there was nothing i could do, then went and waited another hour and a half for a different taxi to take me back home. after waiting for someone to jump out, 3 more people to jump in, get gas (why we couldn't do that as we were waiting is still unclear to me), taxi breaks down and we are shifted to yet another taxi. 7 hours later I returned home, much poorer and without anything that I actually needed. TIA, man.
I've taken another interpretation of the saying, a personal one which means somehow this time around South Africa has rendered me absolutely crazy. I'm normally very organized, and no matter how late I came home on a given night in college I always put my keys and my wallet in the exact same place...I always know where everything is. Lately, things have been flowing a little differently. A month or so back, I was convinced that someone had stolen my credit card. I couldn't find it anywhere, and after searching my room 3 times I decided there was no alternative...it couldn't have been MY fault, I never lose ANYTHING ;)...On the phone with my mom I'm about to cancel the card and oops, I find my credit card in a bag of instant coffee. WHAT? who knows. Yesterday, I couldn't for the life of me find the R700 (almost $100) that I had taken out to use over the weekend. I knew it was somewhere in my room, but again after searching 4 times I was about to admit defeat when something urged me to look inside a book that I haven't even been reading, and lo and behold, there was my money right in the middle. In the beginning of training, Peace Corps told us to be weary of accusing host families or communities of stealing from you because it seriously affects the relationships that they build a long time spending, and that often times when things are missing its usually because we were so tired or have our minds in 100 different places that we misplace the item. I smugly laughed to myself and thought, "i would neverrrrr do that". well, woke up this morning and couldn't find my phone anywhere. still can't. seriously emily, what the heck????
TIA, man.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Back to the Beginning
Where to begin…after a month of hanging out and waiting to see if organizational issues got resolved (they didn’t) it was decided that there was no way that I could work in my current Home Based Care and that my site would be changed. I couldn’t go to work at this organization for so many reasons, so it was a tough month of hanging out by myself, reading books and watching movies, and waiting for my host sister to get out of school so I could pressure her to hang out with me. Even though I know that this experience is primarily about the community and the development that I can be a part of at the very grassroots level, but during those 2 months our site placements were SO built up and we were all so excited to get started and see what kind of work we would be doing, and it was really discouraging to have none of it work out for me. We all love to have a tangible reason for being where we are and something to feel warm and fuzzy about.
After much deliberation they chose to move me back to the village that I was in for the first 2 months of training. Yes, I packed up and moved out of the house just to move right back in a month later. There is a small Home Based Care that operates in my village, and I definitely have my work cut out for me. I see a lot of potential, but also a lot of challenges that will come with working for an organization with no funding, structure, or apparent direction, but I sense commitment from the volunteers and a desire to go forward. In theory, a Home Based Care is established to address the pandemic of HIV/Aids and other opportunistic infections (like TB) by doing home visits throughout the community and determining those who are sick and in need of help. If people are living alone, they offer palliative care and help with cooking, cleaning, and other various tasks. If people are too sick to get to the clinic, they will bring them there, or bring the medication to them. Some also do prevention education by campaigns or giving health talks at the clinics while people wait to see the nurses. I only had my first day today, so I can’t make assumptions, but I’m not exactly sure which, if any, of the above my organization actually does. I saw this at my last organization and have heard this observation across the board from other volunteers, but nobody ever seems to leave the organization. When I ask when they go out to the homes to visit, they respond, oh we’re going later or oh we go tomorrow. But tomorrow never seems to come. There is an understandable lack of motivation to do such difficult work for no monetary compensation, but something has to change, because while employees sit and chat and have tea and cakes, people are getting sicker.
I had my period of sulking and moping that I wasn’t placed somewhere with more direction and motivation or any seeming desire to do the work I was so excited about doing, but that’s behind me now. I’m back in my old home but I’m ready for a new, fresh start and I have a different perspective about how I will approach the next few months. I know it’s going to be hard but I never thought it would be easy. My village is close to the village that I just came from, so I can maintain the contacts and friendships that I spent the last month making, and I don’t have to feel like it was a total waste. I’ve made a good friend who seems to have similar interests to me, she is my age and studies music at a university in Pretoria, working on projects for orphans in the community, and says she tries to motivate the youth in the community to set goals and follow their dreams even if they aren’t to be the typical Tourism employee or Traffic cop. She has been really kind to me and has helped me out a lot this month, so I hope to be able to stay in contact with her.
I am also excited to be back with my 10 year old friends who go running or walking with me, and I think that the village will be receptive to different projects that I try to start up because they know me, Peace Corps, and we all (or most of us) had a great mutual cohesion within the community. During training PC had us do a community project to practice and to see what challenges we would have in doing such. We put on a Fun Run/Walk or race one Sunday morning and raised money for the Home Based Care organization that I am working at now. It went a lot better than we thought it would, and set a good precedent (unintentionally) for similar projects that I will try to do in the future. The organization told me today that with the money we raised they bought shoes and food parcels for the 54 orphans that live in the community. They are giving them out on Thursday…so if all goes according to plan that will be exciting to see and will make my training group excited to see some tangible results from all of the work that we put in to making the race go smoothly.
It’s always nice to be on the upswing of a low point…I’ve learned a lot during this period and I think in a way maybe it’s better that I hit this point in the beginning and can start fresh while it’s still early. I got my first dose of what we were taught almost every day in training—things will NEVER go as you plan, or as you want them too. I have never heard the words ‘be flexible’ more in my life, but that is exactly what I find myself having to do as I try to get past my own expectations (which I didn’t even think I had) and figure out how I will make the situation work. I’ve had a lot of great support and I am ready to FINALLY get going on something and get the wheels in motion. My baby host brother learned to walk in the month I was away, however absence did NOT make the heart of the 4 year old brother grow fonder…he still seems to have it out for me for reasons unbeknown to me.
Mail can still be sent to the Pretoria address until I’m able to open my own PO Box here in town.
Miss you all like crazy!
After much deliberation they chose to move me back to the village that I was in for the first 2 months of training. Yes, I packed up and moved out of the house just to move right back in a month later. There is a small Home Based Care that operates in my village, and I definitely have my work cut out for me. I see a lot of potential, but also a lot of challenges that will come with working for an organization with no funding, structure, or apparent direction, but I sense commitment from the volunteers and a desire to go forward. In theory, a Home Based Care is established to address the pandemic of HIV/Aids and other opportunistic infections (like TB) by doing home visits throughout the community and determining those who are sick and in need of help. If people are living alone, they offer palliative care and help with cooking, cleaning, and other various tasks. If people are too sick to get to the clinic, they will bring them there, or bring the medication to them. Some also do prevention education by campaigns or giving health talks at the clinics while people wait to see the nurses. I only had my first day today, so I can’t make assumptions, but I’m not exactly sure which, if any, of the above my organization actually does. I saw this at my last organization and have heard this observation across the board from other volunteers, but nobody ever seems to leave the organization. When I ask when they go out to the homes to visit, they respond, oh we’re going later or oh we go tomorrow. But tomorrow never seems to come. There is an understandable lack of motivation to do such difficult work for no monetary compensation, but something has to change, because while employees sit and chat and have tea and cakes, people are getting sicker.
I had my period of sulking and moping that I wasn’t placed somewhere with more direction and motivation or any seeming desire to do the work I was so excited about doing, but that’s behind me now. I’m back in my old home but I’m ready for a new, fresh start and I have a different perspective about how I will approach the next few months. I know it’s going to be hard but I never thought it would be easy. My village is close to the village that I just came from, so I can maintain the contacts and friendships that I spent the last month making, and I don’t have to feel like it was a total waste. I’ve made a good friend who seems to have similar interests to me, she is my age and studies music at a university in Pretoria, working on projects for orphans in the community, and says she tries to motivate the youth in the community to set goals and follow their dreams even if they aren’t to be the typical Tourism employee or Traffic cop. She has been really kind to me and has helped me out a lot this month, so I hope to be able to stay in contact with her.
I am also excited to be back with my 10 year old friends who go running or walking with me, and I think that the village will be receptive to different projects that I try to start up because they know me, Peace Corps, and we all (or most of us) had a great mutual cohesion within the community. During training PC had us do a community project to practice and to see what challenges we would have in doing such. We put on a Fun Run/Walk or race one Sunday morning and raised money for the Home Based Care organization that I am working at now. It went a lot better than we thought it would, and set a good precedent (unintentionally) for similar projects that I will try to do in the future. The organization told me today that with the money we raised they bought shoes and food parcels for the 54 orphans that live in the community. They are giving them out on Thursday…so if all goes according to plan that will be exciting to see and will make my training group excited to see some tangible results from all of the work that we put in to making the race go smoothly.
It’s always nice to be on the upswing of a low point…I’ve learned a lot during this period and I think in a way maybe it’s better that I hit this point in the beginning and can start fresh while it’s still early. I got my first dose of what we were taught almost every day in training—things will NEVER go as you plan, or as you want them too. I have never heard the words ‘be flexible’ more in my life, but that is exactly what I find myself having to do as I try to get past my own expectations (which I didn’t even think I had) and figure out how I will make the situation work. I’ve had a lot of great support and I am ready to FINALLY get going on something and get the wheels in motion. My baby host brother learned to walk in the month I was away, however absence did NOT make the heart of the 4 year old brother grow fonder…he still seems to have it out for me for reasons unbeknown to me.
Mail can still be sent to the Pretoria address until I’m able to open my own PO Box here in town.
Miss you all like crazy!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Sad, but true
So, due to some unforeseen (and some foreseen)circumstances I will be changing locations...sooo if you were planning on sending me a letter or package to the address that I gave you...don't! If you already have, don't worry, I will still be in the area so I can easily pop on over to this village to pick it up. I will give you more details when I know them, but just wanted to say, if you want to send me some Mexican food (totally possible, right?) in a care package, for now you should send it to
Emily Birchfield
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 9536
Pretoria, 0001
South Africa
until further notice.
NGIYABONGA!
Emily Birchfield
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 9536
Pretoria, 0001
South Africa
until further notice.
NGIYABONGA!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Pictures!
Hopefully this link should work...please let me know if it doesnt! these are pictures from the first 2 months of training, my host family at training, my new host family and my room/house at my permanent site, our swearing in ceremony where we officially became volunteers,and some fun times along the way...
http://picasaweb.google.com/EmilyBirchfield/PCTraining#
http://picasaweb.google.com/EmilyBirchfield/PCTraining#
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
It's about that time again...
So yes I acknowledge that I have been lagging on my blog updates, but truth is, it’s hard! I’ve never had a blog before so sometimes I forget I have a blog and I’m supposed to regularly update it, and sometimes after all of the e-mails and letters and discussions it’s hard to put my thoughts down yet one more time. But as my April Fools Day resolution I promise to try harder.
Anyway, life since my last post has been nothing short of interesting. Last Thursday we officially became Peace Corps Volunteers and had a formal ceremony in which we butchered the South African National Anthem (the song is in 4 languages…its hard), heard some nice speeches, and gave each other a lot of hugs. Training was tough, and I am a lot more proud to have finished than I thought I would be at the beginning of this process. We had a heartfelt goodbye to our host families, we put on a little program for them over the weekend to say thank you. I was part of the cooking committee (slightly ironic considering I don’t know how to cook) and the food we made was DELICIOUS. Trying to bring some American flare to a gathering of 300 people we made Mac n Cheese, Greek salad (not so American, mainly we just miss eating vegetables) and a whole lotta pap. Pap is basically water and flour, and is about as flavorful and nutritious as it sounds. But it’s filling, and people love it. Before we fed them, we did a little performance of traditional Ndebele/Zulu dances (the guys dance was way cooler than the girls dance), sang some Ndebele songs, and put on a slideshow of pictures that we had all taken of us with our families over the months. It was a lot more special than it sounds as I write it down. I was really sad to leave the family I had grown close to, despite the fact that everybody busted a gut laughing when I told them I would be cooking for myself when I moved to my new site. I mean come on, it’s not my fault they don’t like fried rice. When we said goodbye I told them I was sad and they said, well it’s okay because you’re coming back next Friday. I am? I responded. Yes, they said. Well…I guess that’s settled.
Last week we moved to our permanent sites and I had to say goodbye to all of the friends that I had made over training. It was sad but I think for the most part we were ALL ready to be done with training and begin the 3 month period we lovingly call community integration. I am really starting to like the village that I’m living in, and have coerced my 16 year she old host sister into hanging out with me all the time. Sometimes she looks at me with that look I so fondly remember giving to my as a 16 year old every time she asked me to do something I didn’t want to, but sometimes I think she secretly enjoys hanging out with me. Most of those times involve me giving her chocolate or playing my movies for her, but hey…baby steps. There is another group of high school girls who have adopted me into their netball club (netball: a strange mix between basketball and ultimate Frisbee) and refuse to tell me the rules but make me play in every game. Sbongile mark your player! Sbongile throw it faster! Sbongile she isn’t on your team! This participation in team sports really brought me back to my days playing soccer as I got irrationally disappointed in myself when I messed up and the other team scored a point because of it. Or the days I would fake sick to try to get out of practice. I actually considered doing that one day when I didn’t feel like playing because I get embarrassed that everyone is better than me. Then I asked myself… seriously? I thought I was getting good but then yesterday in an attempt to block a shot, I knocked over the 10 foot tall basket and things got real awkward. Baby steps?
There has been a lot of ambiguity surrounding my work situation, so at the moment I am focusing on meeting people in my community as I wait to find out exactly where I will be working and what I will be doing. There isn’t much going on in my village so I am really excited about the opportunities for projects among all age groups.
I just returned from Pretoria where I had a marvelousssss weekend sleeping in a real bed an eating McDonalds…what? I think the last time I ate McDonalds was in the 4th grade, but hey if it isn’t pap I’ll eat it. I think I ate more this weekend than I have in the past month. I went to Pretoria so that I could go to an English speaking church service for Easter and was fortunate enough to stay with the family of the head pastor, who are some of the kindest and most giving people I’ve met. Other fun moments included seeing The Hurt Locker (I think that’s the name) in the movie theatre, stuffing myself with pizza, and just hanging out, resting, and meeting a lot of interesting people. I am coming back to the village refreshed, optimistic about the future, and very very full. It is a little bit crazy moving back and forth between the rural village where I don’t have constant electricity or running water (and a whole lotta bugs…I’ve become an expert at the sandal slap to kill spiders as I still can’t bring myself to touch them with a napkin) and the first world of the city where I can get anything at anytime and life moves just as fast as in America. I’ve heard that this is the biggest source of stress and challenge for volunteers in South Africa, but I think after living in Stellenbosch (in 2007)and working in a township school nearby I was able to figure out how to deal or cope with it then, and now I can embrace both for what they are.
Winter is finally upon us and as I write I’m watching the thunderstorm out my window, drinking tea and listening to Belle & Sebastian. So poetic. I am missing all of you very much, this being my first major holiday away from home or family in (I think) my entire life. I really love hearing about what is going on back home, especially in the form of letters and pictures!!!! Can I say that enough
Sala Gahle,
Emily
Anyway, life since my last post has been nothing short of interesting. Last Thursday we officially became Peace Corps Volunteers and had a formal ceremony in which we butchered the South African National Anthem (the song is in 4 languages…its hard), heard some nice speeches, and gave each other a lot of hugs. Training was tough, and I am a lot more proud to have finished than I thought I would be at the beginning of this process. We had a heartfelt goodbye to our host families, we put on a little program for them over the weekend to say thank you. I was part of the cooking committee (slightly ironic considering I don’t know how to cook) and the food we made was DELICIOUS. Trying to bring some American flare to a gathering of 300 people we made Mac n Cheese, Greek salad (not so American, mainly we just miss eating vegetables) and a whole lotta pap. Pap is basically water and flour, and is about as flavorful and nutritious as it sounds. But it’s filling, and people love it. Before we fed them, we did a little performance of traditional Ndebele/Zulu dances (the guys dance was way cooler than the girls dance), sang some Ndebele songs, and put on a slideshow of pictures that we had all taken of us with our families over the months. It was a lot more special than it sounds as I write it down. I was really sad to leave the family I had grown close to, despite the fact that everybody busted a gut laughing when I told them I would be cooking for myself when I moved to my new site. I mean come on, it’s not my fault they don’t like fried rice. When we said goodbye I told them I was sad and they said, well it’s okay because you’re coming back next Friday. I am? I responded. Yes, they said. Well…I guess that’s settled.
Last week we moved to our permanent sites and I had to say goodbye to all of the friends that I had made over training. It was sad but I think for the most part we were ALL ready to be done with training and begin the 3 month period we lovingly call community integration. I am really starting to like the village that I’m living in, and have coerced my 16 year she old host sister into hanging out with me all the time. Sometimes she looks at me with that look I so fondly remember giving to my as a 16 year old every time she asked me to do something I didn’t want to, but sometimes I think she secretly enjoys hanging out with me. Most of those times involve me giving her chocolate or playing my movies for her, but hey…baby steps. There is another group of high school girls who have adopted me into their netball club (netball: a strange mix between basketball and ultimate Frisbee) and refuse to tell me the rules but make me play in every game. Sbongile mark your player! Sbongile throw it faster! Sbongile she isn’t on your team! This participation in team sports really brought me back to my days playing soccer as I got irrationally disappointed in myself when I messed up and the other team scored a point because of it. Or the days I would fake sick to try to get out of practice. I actually considered doing that one day when I didn’t feel like playing because I get embarrassed that everyone is better than me. Then I asked myself… seriously? I thought I was getting good but then yesterday in an attempt to block a shot, I knocked over the 10 foot tall basket and things got real awkward. Baby steps?
There has been a lot of ambiguity surrounding my work situation, so at the moment I am focusing on meeting people in my community as I wait to find out exactly where I will be working and what I will be doing. There isn’t much going on in my village so I am really excited about the opportunities for projects among all age groups.
I just returned from Pretoria where I had a marvelousssss weekend sleeping in a real bed an eating McDonalds…what? I think the last time I ate McDonalds was in the 4th grade, but hey if it isn’t pap I’ll eat it. I think I ate more this weekend than I have in the past month. I went to Pretoria so that I could go to an English speaking church service for Easter and was fortunate enough to stay with the family of the head pastor, who are some of the kindest and most giving people I’ve met. Other fun moments included seeing The Hurt Locker (I think that’s the name) in the movie theatre, stuffing myself with pizza, and just hanging out, resting, and meeting a lot of interesting people. I am coming back to the village refreshed, optimistic about the future, and very very full. It is a little bit crazy moving back and forth between the rural village where I don’t have constant electricity or running water (and a whole lotta bugs…I’ve become an expert at the sandal slap to kill spiders as I still can’t bring myself to touch them with a napkin) and the first world of the city where I can get anything at anytime and life moves just as fast as in America. I’ve heard that this is the biggest source of stress and challenge for volunteers in South Africa, but I think after living in Stellenbosch (in 2007)and working in a township school nearby I was able to figure out how to deal or cope with it then, and now I can embrace both for what they are.
Winter is finally upon us and as I write I’m watching the thunderstorm out my window, drinking tea and listening to Belle & Sebastian. So poetic. I am missing all of you very much, this being my first major holiday away from home or family in (I think) my entire life. I really love hearing about what is going on back home, especially in the form of letters and pictures!!!! Can I say that enough
Sala Gahle,
Emily
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)