The Drop-In Center Begins

We haven’t selected a name for the drop-in centre yet, but we began operations 10 days ago. As you may remember, I am the Secretary of a community collaborative (CCBE for OVCs) made up of a Christian pastor from the town, a Christian pastor from the township, a primary school principal, a representative from the municipal government, two home-based care volunteers and me. The seven of us have been diligently working together since I arrived here in September 2006, to establish a drop-in centre for orphans and vulnerable children who are affected by the HIV/AIDs epidemic….a bottom-up project that is based on building trusting relationships across a wide spectrum of community members who formerly have had nothing to do with each other, let alone sit as equals in meetings month after month developing a mission and vision and “way forward” of what we would like to see improve in our community. This process has been very fulfilling for me as I have been involved from day one. I had thought that this project would be my “secondary” project and that the non-profit organization that Peace Corps placed me with would provide my main avenue for work. But, they have been unable or unwilling to utilize me even after multiple suggestions and ideas from me over time. So, I took the plunge and told the drop-in centre committee that I would dedicate the remainder of my time in Africa helping them to get the centre off the ground. It has been a good decision for many reasons. I needed to make a bigger commitment to a project and not rely on others to define my experience here. Also, the committee really values me and my experience. We have built a good foundation of respect and trust among all of us. Lastly, an outsider like me is still important as a bridge that this collaboration requires. The downside of this decision is that my stress level has definitely increased as I take on more responsibility for the development and implementation of the project.
Approximately 90 children showed up to the drop-in centre on our first after school program. We are starting to implement the services slowly with a once a week after school program. Our intent is to provide a nutritious meal, help with homework, counseling, referrals, recreation, etc. using volunteers from both communities and trained youth leaders to implement the program. Three unused classrooms at a township primary school were donated to us to use and we asked the headmasters of four of the surrounding primary schools to select a limited number of their neediest students to attend our program. We were prepared for 50 kids….oh well. I am learning that there are different levels of chaos when one is confronted with the unexpected. After the second week, I realized that outright chaos can actually begin to look like organized chaos.
And so we begin…..although there are many models of community and program development resources available to me, the one that works the best is a bottom-up approach, with an implementation that is based on our unique community profile, stakeholders, mission and needs. I am suggesting to the committee that we plan a day for strategic planning early in 2008 to take the next step forward for our cause. It is rewarding to be a part of this initiative.

The Taxi Ride

I am told by locals that this spring is exhibiting more typical weather than last year. Last year, I remember sporadic thunder, lightening and rain storms that pummeled our little town with electricity black outs coinciding with each storm. This season we have experienced the same conditions only continuously, not sporadically. Familiar roads are indistinguishable now that 50 shades of green have replaced the 50 shades of brown of winter. It’s amazing how quickly a windy, dusty, brown environment can be transformed into a wonderland of color; flowers, lush green grass covering the rolling hills, pools of water everywhere and huge old trees that leaf out in a matter of days it seems. Our torrential storms have pushed the town reservoir that I walk by each day to the limit. The day after the “taxi ride,” rain water surged over the dam and was creating a mini-river heading down town toward the township…..

I had attended a Diversity Committee meeting in Pretoria and wanted to spend the night at home in my own bed, not in a backpacker’s hostel, which is the cheapest form of accommodation that fits our budget for Peace Corps volunteers. Arriving at the taxi rank at about lunchtime, I spied a full taxi just leaving for home. Darn! What that meant was that I would now have to wait until an empty taxi filled with 14 to 24 people, depending on how many people could be scrunched into the taxi….. and for my destination, that meant that I would have to wait in the taxi for 3 to 31/2 hours until it pulled away for home. This system of travel works very well except that taxis only depart when every bench in the van is packed to the ceiling and squished with people, babies, luggage and miscellaneous odds and ends So, I and another man heading in my direction decided to bet that we could find another taxi more quickly going half-way home to a large urban area and then catch another taxi from there to home. That part of the plan worked find. But, again, bad luck. As we pulled into Witbank, I spied my taxi brimming full heading out of the taxi rank. #?!/*!&# is what I said because now I did indeed have to fill another taxi to get home, there were no other choices..…and I waited 3 hours and 15 minutes until we pulled away from the rank, the sky darkening.

I looked out to the horizon in the cloudy weather and saw one tiny spot with lightening bolts sprouting every which way….I bet that’s home, I thought….. Little did I or any of the others passenger know that we would speed towards the most ferocious storm of the season, in the dark. I was sitting in the front seat and actually had a functioning seat belt, which is unusual. There are never seat belts in taxis. It started raining hard with a lot of wind. The taxi’s wind shield wipers worked fine but the condensation of the packed vehicle clouded all the windows. As the driver attempted to clear a tiny circle of glass for visibility with his bare hand every 5 minutes, we would veer over to the edge of the narrow road to where the water was piling up. He did decrease his speed from 75mph to 50mph but it wasn’t slow enough for me. On the roads to my town, it is pitch-black dark, there are no fences which prevent animals from crossing the road and there is no shoulder on the road. Someone from the back of the van tossed up a role of toilet tissue to me and I spent the remainder of the trip trying to keep the wind shield clean so the driver could see where he was going. The closer we got to home, the more flooding occurred. We crept into town, the streets flooded, people on this busy Friday night struggling to find shelter and looking for rides home to the township….chaos. I had phoned my host parents that I needed a ride home when I arrived and I never was so glad to see their smiling faces as they pulled up to the dark taxi rank where I sat waiting.