Heritage Day

After the swearing-in ceremony on Sept. 21st, which the U.S. embassy officiated, we Peace Corps trainees were officially designated volunteers, and taken by the director of our NGO (non-profit/non-governmental organization) to our permanent sites. Each of us was matched by Peace Corps with an organization that best fit our skills and desires and the needs of the NGO. I have been placed in the headquarters of a relatively large and well-established organization whose mission is “to create community partnerships that enhance their ability prevent, mitigate, and alleviate the impact of HIV/AIDS.” In the next three months, I will be observing all aspects of the organization, but especially the OVC (orphans and vulnerable children due to the effects of HIV/AIDS) programs. And then the Director, my supervisor and I will evaluate where best to put my skills and energies.
My new home is located in a small, quaint town in the middle of the Mpumalanga province. The town is nestled amid gently rolling hills with agriculture and mining being the economic engines of the area.
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7:00 AM and I am sitting at my dressing table in my bedroom with my laptop. Today is Heritage Day, Sept. 24th, a national holiday which celebrates the diversity, background and history of South Africa’s people. Luckily for me and Aasta (the other volunteer assigned to the NGO), we’ve had a 4 day weekend with nothing to do but relax, settle-in to my new home (she will travel to her rural village work site on Tuesday morning), unpack, wash clothes, and check the town out a bit....and watch TV...Apollo 13 and Bad Boyz 2 (yuk).....and best of all, eat well. We’ve been eating salads and American style breakfasts for every meal and think we’re in heaven. The local produce is so tasty and we have variety, but not as much as in the states and because I’m living in an town that was originally Afrikaans before democracy in 1994 when it was integrated, there is a fabulous bakery within walking distance that could have come straight out of Amsterdam...yum, yum. My work life will begin tomorrow when I accompany my supervisor, Napoleon, to a training which I will assist/observe with (????)

I’ve been waking up with the sun the past 3 days and am beginning to get relaxed enough to pay attention to my natural surroundings. One wall of my bedroom is a window that faces out to the large front yard and then to the street which is lined with huge, leafy trees in our quiet, older, residential neighborhood right in town. Spring is in full season here and the trees are greening up. Lots of birds are congregating in the trees and lawn and I am watching a lesser masked weaver (bright yellow with a black masked face bird) make her nest in one of the trees. The nest hangs on a branch like a pear-shaped basket with an opening on the side. Boy, she sure is industrious and social. Other birds try to steal her nesting material but she is defiantly protecting her nest. She must go back and forth with grass and twigs to her nest 20 times per minute. Check out on the internet the bird called “hoopoe.” I have seen one on our lawn and I suspect if I keep watching I’ll see some more. They are so crazy looking. I have a Lonely Planet guide to East Africa wildlife so I can identify some of the birds.

As you are probably getting the idea anyway, it is true that I will be living with the 15% of the South Africans who are “the haves” instead with the 85% of “the have-nots” as I was doing in the rural village. One moment I am watching every drop of water I use and feeling light-headed from lack of good nutrition and calories and now I can drink water out of the tap and eat European-style pastries anytime I want. I am guessing that perhaps 80% of my fellow volunteers are located in rural villages and will be taking bucket baths and lugging water for the next two years. I know of two volunteers who will not even have electricity. So, it just depended on the job Peace Corps decided you would best match up with and then what kind of housing the organization provided you. Actually, there’s only a few of us who are not in rural locations.....although I was prepared to live in a rural village for two years, I am very happy with the living arrangements and small town atmosphere I have been assigned to.