One Year in Africa

I am sitting on my bed writing this blog entry in WORD, will transfer it to my USB flash drive before I shoot it off to you later in the day from the internet café in town. It is Friday morning, 9am, and I am at home because there is no work to do at my organization’s office. As I balance the laptop on a pillow on my lap, I can sip real (versus instant) coffee I have made from my French coffee press or “plunger.” What a treat! My space heater is on and with the door closed, I can actually function without being under the covers. My supervisor, who is also the founder and director of the organisation, told me to take yesterday and today off from work.

My NGO organisation has been in the middle of a funding crisis since last January. We receive 70% to 80% of our funding from a pooled basket of money from the governments of the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway. It’s been difficult for me to understand exactly why the money has not been released to us. They have funded my organization for the past 10 years. Some have said that there is a shift away from funding South African organizations as there is more government help here than in other African countries. Some say that our organization is wasteful and has not been able to justify its spending with the financial controls in place. It is a tense environment and many of the 30 odd staff members are anxious and fearful. Many still come into work without a salary with the hope that this funding with be released retroactively to January 1, 2007, as our director implies. With the unemployment rate 30% to 40% in some areas, it is easy to see why the staff continues to hope.

The impact on me of this situation is that I have had time on my hands. The Drop-in Centre for OVCs Committee which I am very involved with is only part-time. So, for two separate weeks over the past month, I have been assisting Peace Corps at their headquarters and at the rural orientation site overrun by a new group of 92 trainees that arrived in South Africa on July 24th to begin their two year service with Peace Corps. Interesting demographics of the group are that there are four trainees over 70 years of age and 11 married couples in the group. I helped to develop, revise and present facilitations on American diversity and cross culture.

It was satisfying and rewarding to assist these very disoriented and anxious Americans to adjust somewhat to their new surroundings in their first week in Africa. It reminded me of those first days in Africa one year ago when I was in their shoes. Wow, it’s been a wild and glorious ride.