cold and condomizing

This place is flipping cold! Get those stereotypes out of your mind that Africa is hot and searing, with the sun beating down on every living creature day and night. It ain’t so where I’m living, at bulls eye dead center in the middle of the country. In fact, I’m told that the Eastern Cape (the lower tip of South Africa) is covered in snow?? At any rate, for a native Southern Californian like me whose only exposure to freezing temps are skiing trips to Mammoth Lakes, living day to day in cold is a whole different story. For one thing, there is NO CENTRAL HEATING anywhere. The implications of this are vast. There is no way to get warm anywhere except under your blankets in bed. In fact, that is where many in the “highveld” (higher elevation areas, 4,000ft) go right after dinner, at 6:30PM, to bed! I have two thick blankets and a comforter on my bed. Last night, I dressed in thick hiking socks, thermal underwear, bottom and top, a fleece over the thermal top and I was still cold when I woke up! The first thing I did when I got out of bed this morning was to do 50 jumping jacks fast in my bedroom so I could function in the cold at some level. Then, my family and I found the water pipes for the house frozen, so no water at all this morning. My family owns one space heater that doesn’t do much unless you are three inches away directly in front of it. It seems hot water bottles are a must here. They are used to warm your feet when you retire to bed at 6:30 PM every night. Boy, I hope I have enough reading material to get me through a winter here.

At work, we have a moveable radiator-type thing in our office, shared by four staff that is ineffective as well. The best thing for warmth at work is waiting until after lunch when the bright African sun penetrates our side of the building windows and eventually warms up the office space to about 65 degrees. I think I’ll make an effort to get out to the projects more often when it’s really cold like today, because then I can warm up a bit in a car that has a HEATER. While I am moaning and groaning, though, there are thousands of families living through this winter in shacks. Made of corrugated sheets of steel, cardboard, wood, and mud, it is unimaginable to me how they get through nights like the ones we’ve had recently that included biting wind. I visited one of these “informal settlements,” as they are called, this morning.

I accompanied two staff members who train and support peer educators in the townships, villages and informal settlements. In essence, they recruit young, unemployed, undereducated, poor, women (many of them sex workers), educate them on HIV/AIDS, safe sex, life skills, leadership skills and support them with stipends, training and support visits. The objective of the peer educators is to reach out to their neighbors with this information and advice to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. Today, we accompanied a group of 10 of them to a “shebeen.” This is a community bar and a “hot spot” for AIDS transmission. The 10 men we found there listened attentively, albeit a bit drunk. They asked questions about TB and how it is transmitted (TB is a common opportunistic infection associated with HIV/AIDS). They wanted to know how to tell if they had HIV or AIDS. And, of course, there was a lengthy discussion on the necessity of “condomizing.” It is always surprising to me how frank Africans can be when discussing sex, but still have so much stigma attached to being identified with having AIDS. This morning’s experience gave me insight to what is happening at a very grassroots level in unnamed, uncared-for communities to empower people to build a better life. It is a slow process but it is working.

reality check

I’mmm back….I haven’t journaled for quite awhile as it seemed my life went topsy-turvy for a bit. I think the constant excitement and newness of my life in South Africa and the Peace Corps wore off at 7 months, to be exact. And what do I have now? Well, I like to call it a reality check, certainly something that every other volunteer has experienced in one way or another. But I think my crash came somewhat later than most. And what do I mean by crash? Well, for one thing, I’m homesick. I know, you heard it here first. When was the last time Judy was homesick? I can’t remember either. I think having my first grandchild who was born in February and having my friend, Rick (thandanna wami), who came for a visit in March had something to do with the onstart of homesickness. It is really difficult to have part of your being present and part of your being on the other side of the planet. Sometimes, I feel like I have to choose one or the other for my own sanity…..and, boy, making this commitment of two years away from home starts sounding like an awful long time. At the same time as the onslaught of homesickness, I realized that aside from the exotic place and lofty mission, the job I have is still a job, with all the attending daily workplace hassles and irritations, like anywhere on the planet…so much for the drama.

So where does this leave me? I’d like to think that I’m a bit more accepting and realistic of what the good parts are and what the challenging parts are of this Peace Corps/Africa experience. And in most senses, I’m more involved than ever in my work and community in South Africa.

At this moment, I am sitting in my office at work, small for the four of us staff that work with OVCS (orphans and vulnerable children), one of five bedrooms converted into offices from a residence, cold. The offices are located in a nice residential area of town. I was told that we don’t have sign out front because the neighbors made a fuss about having an HIV/AIDs business so close by. I sit across from my mentor, Napoleon, who has become my best friend, along with his wife, Rosemary. They are from Zimbabwe, able to work in South Africa as their country creeps closer to economic and political chaos. Napoleon is a counselor and Rosemary is a nurse. Napoleon is the project manager for our OVC project. Rosemary trains home-based care volunteers and administers our ARV (anti-retroviral) program which is helping AIDS patients get on ARV medication. I am invited to their home regularly for tea and supper and they are able to counsel me on work intrigues as well as be cultural guides to my life here. Most importantly, they know when I need a smile or a hug. I have good friendships with other diverse people in the community and look forward to developing them further. I’ve come to believe that the most important aspect for my sustainability as a Peace Corps volunteer is having a strong support system within the community I live. It is tempting to take off on the weekends and visit and commiserate with other Peace Corps volunteers. But, that also takes away from the time to initiate the community relationships which we are here to develop. I am very fortunate to have these two friends as well as others in the community who support me and value what I have to offer.

I am the secretary of the OVC drop-in center committee which met today. We have funds to build the structure for a drop-in center. Evidently, though, concrete is already becoming difficult to obtain because there is so much building going on in preparation for the Soccer World Cup to be held in South Africa in 2010. What can we do to help the OVCS right now? We brain-stormed for awhile. One idea is to get the congregations of the two pastors on the committee together to come up a project, such as donating blankets for the orphans. Winter is nearly here and it gets very cold…..…and so my day unfolds. There is the analysis of my field research to-date that needs to get to the Chairman of the Board of Directors as soon as possible…. type, type, type….and then the work day is finished. Will I have enough energy and motivation to study my Zulu tonight? Probably not…....but I won’t miss “Bold” at 6:00 on TV.