Whether it be Americans, my blog posts, more work-related things to do, or the blessed sky-tears themselves, I am only slightly simplifying when I use that phrase to describe my life in the past few weeks/months.
First, to the water itself. My village actually has no working infrastructure for water, so people survive on community tanks that are filled periodically, and intermittent spurts of water from a very few public pumps around the village. Up until a few weeks ago, and for several months before that, there was a major drought in my whole district, obviously unaided by the late onset of the rainy season this year (thanks, climate change!). Bad news for my village. The resilience that my community has shown in the face of this inexcusable (especially for South Africa) lack of a basic human right/need is humbling to say the least, and certainly will have me never looking at a drop of water the same again. There is a lot more story and opinion to the water situation in my community, but for now I will just say that when the drought finally broke a few weeks ago, it was with rain/thunder/lightning storms that have been among the most impressive that I have ever seen.
Secondly, to the Americans. Like the rain, they have fairly descended on my immediate corner of KZN. First of all, my promised Volunteer is here! Mark, aka Sipho Mdlalose, arrived shortly after my birthday in September, and is living about a 7 minute walk away, and teaching at 3 of the local schools. More on Mark later, but I can say that I definitely lucked out and am really excited for the work that we can do together over the next year and a half. The ideas are already flying! Along with Mark, there is another PCV (Elisha/Ntombenhle) that shares our shopping town, one near a neighboring town (Dan/Thokozani/Sizwe), and a number of them staying further north of us in the province. I have yet to meet them all but am very much looking forward to doing so. Mtubatuba also welcomed the addition of two other American (non-Peace Corps) volunteers, with an NGO called Mpilonhle, located in town. For more info on Mpilonhle, check out their website: http://www.mpilonhle.org/. I have actually begun to collaborate with them more on sharing resources with my organization and helping them with some projects, which I will talk about more later. Anyway, Jess and Tim are their fresh-off-the-plane Americans, working on different projects with the organization and operating a Peace Corps Volunteer refugee camp some weekends at their house, a converted B&B rented by the organization (Did someone say shower? Oh yes). You will definitely be hearing more of our adventures. For now, shout-outs to all of these folks for the kind words, support, and laughs they have been providing me recently, as well as the opportunities to expand the scope of my work! You’re as welcome in my life as the rain to the dry African soil :)
Work-related things: I tried to think of a better term for this update, since the distinction between work and life is problematic/really shouldn’t be made, and here the lines one might attempt to draw are especially more fluid. However, with relation to my primary Peace Corps assignment of being something of a health outreach worker, and just in generally with keeping busy, sharing resources, transferring knowledge and providing opportunities sort-of stuff (or trying to, at least!), there are a few things in the works which could prove more fruitful and pretty cool to work on, if/when I can get things going:
1. Mpilonhle: I mentioned earlier that I am starting to collaborate more with this higher-functioning org in my shopping town. I am hoping to get some of their services available for my community and organization, and they have a lot of connections and helpful resources. Plus, it is a pretty unique org with really cool programs and people, and there is a lot I can learn from them. I am also helping them get a digital health information database up for their mobile computer units that they take to the high schools, and may help with a gardening/nutrition education program that they are looking to expand in their schools. We’ll see what happens, but so far it has been a nice balance with the very different work that I am trying to do at my first org and in my community, and I am learning a lot and having some fun with the people there.
2. Gardening! By far one of the things I am most excited about. I went to a Permagarden (Permaculture + Bio-Intensive Gardening) training hosted by Peace Corps about a month ago, and gained a little bit of knowledge about some sustainable gardening techniques (this is compared to my complete lack of gardening knowledge prior to the training). Food security and environmental sustainability being the massive issues that they are in South Africa, Africa, and the world, I am hoping to put some of this knowledge and to good use doing some trainings for local gardeners and helping to start a garden for the support group at my center. I was lucky enough to take a local gardener and the husband of a woman that works at my organization to the training, and seeing his response to the experience and the knowledge that he gained was rewarding in and of itself. I’m also hoping to work more with a local conservation NGO and Mpilonhle to expand my own knowledge, and trainings and resources for community members.
3. For the past few months I have been working on organizing an art exchange among South African PCVs and their communities for World AIDS Day, which is December 1st. Basically, PCVs have worked with their schools or community centers to have youth create pieces of art based on the theme for World AIDS Day (Universal Access and Human Rights/ Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise), exchange them among each other to display in the communities on World AIDS Day, then send them all to have some of the best chosen and compiled into a display/book for further distribution. It’s been pretty small and a little chaotic this first year, but I have had really good feedback and am hoping to make it part of PC-SA tradition. In the end, I think it has a lot of merit just in giving the kids an opportunity to create, and also provides a platform for creative HIV education.
4. BOOKS! This one is almost entirely due to the efforts of one Denise Santos, a long-time family friend and amazing person who, along with her and my family, donated crayons and other art supplies to be given to the kids at my center and to help with the WAD art project. Denise has been working on organizing a book drive at our alma mater, St. Joseph High School, to raise books for a small reading room at the center and to contribute to a library that I am hoping to help a teacher at one of the local high schools get started. The cultivation of a love for reading as well as books themselves are often in very short supply around here, so these efforts are much needed and appreciated. Denise’s dedication to reaching out to my community, and the connection that is being formed between my high school and my “old” life and my community and life here, is more moving and meaningful to me than I can say. I am also really excited just to get more books in the hands of kids here, and to see where this goes.
I think there is more, little things here and there, but that’s just about all I have energy for now. So far none of these projects has really come to fruition, and my first calendar year in SA is drawing to a close with a little less on paper than I admit I expected, but we all know it about so much more than that, right? And with the starts of these things I have (albeit very guarded) hope for a very interesting and busy second year.
So there it is, a downpour of a blog post and something resembling an update on my past few months here. As a recent peek at Jess’ blog has once again shamed me with respect to my pitiful posting practices, I will again endeavor to be somewhat more frequent in my commentary.
In closing, I will just say this of my life and time here in South Africa so far, whether it be with respect to rain itself or community development/work-related endeavors as well as perhaps my blog posts and apparently, Americans: South Africa will make you wait, give you hope, make you wait, take it away, then give you just enough more to keep you going while you wait some more. In case the storm never comes, and even if it does, there is a lot of dry, waiting time that the happiest people make as valuable as the rain time. I’m working on it :)
Much Love,
Siphiwe
P.S. Did I mention that my parents and older brother are coming in 48 days?!?! And that I have a massive journey to Mozambique planned just before then?? No? Ok, another post “soon” :)
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