Updates, Reviews, Ideas, Tangents, Observations, and MORE

More than a month has passed since my Peace Corps journey in South Africa has begun. As I have encountered a whirlwind of new experiences and have been exposed to an infinite assortment of new stimuli, I’m eager to paint pictures of this foreign world through words, to recap a month’s worth of events, by citing entries from my daily bedside journal:

7/12/08
On the path of becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer in South Africa, I have unearthed many truths and have surfaced numerous lessons that will continue to build on my growth and development. With the impending departure date for Washington D.C. nearing from a distance, my family, girlfriend, and I have savored every moment together, appreciating the value of time. We soaked in the warmth of every hug, absorbed the vibrations of every bellowing laugh, embraced every opportunity to be present with one another, and welcomed the falling tears of gratitude and love.
Learning to appreciate the value of time has empowered me to live in the present moment and be aware of what is most important in my life: my family. I have struggled to understand this paramount truth throughout my life, taking the integral family foundation in my life for granted. I have proudly served others, dedicating my energies selflessly for the betterment of society, putting my family and myself a distant second.
I am grateful to have encountered this realization throughout my process of becoming a P.C.V., enabling me to appreciate my life on an entirely new level.


7/15/08
Casting my gaze out of the darkened bus windows under a distant full moon and sparkling starry sky, I received my first glimpses of a new world with night eyes. Vast expanses of flat lands separate modest homes and endless fields. A crisp, refreshing aroma ubiquitously fills the air, with a hidden backdrop scent of smoldering wood. For two hours we drove on highway roads from Johannesburg airport to the Peace Corps training site in Mpumalanga province, which will be home for the next two months. I am eager to peer outside in a few hours and welcome this new world under a bright, colorful sky.


7/23/08
The overwhelming, intense pace of life that I have aligned with in only the second week of Pre-Service Training (P.S.T.) has made the past 8 days since my past journal entry seem like months.
Leaving the sheltered, brick walled, security enforced training compound for the first time, my eyes are wide and I’m glued to the bus window, peering out at the rich, vibrant colors that cover the blurry landscapes that stream past. The endless prairies are browning under the crisp, cloudless winter sky. Arid, dusty, nutmeg colored dirt roads send clouds of sediment airborne, as our vehicle races by. Turning off several discreet roads, we enter the distant, rural village where my host family’s homestead lies. The village is alive with activity, as families hang their colorful laundry out on lines and are tending to the livestock that vastly outnumbers the number of inhabitants. Goats, sheep, cows, and chickens abundantly graze on the dried vegetation. Pulling up to my host family’s humble home, I strain to spot another home for what seems like miles. The reality has set in. I am here. I have arrived in South Africa.

Meeting my host family for the first time was a genuinely gratifying experience, as I embraced each member with a warm hug and a gracious smile. The Sathegke’s invited me into their family with open arms. They have accepted me as a son and a brother. I was offered a new name in traditional fashion, being gifted with the name Neo by my host father (which is ‘Swana for “gift”). I adopted the family surname: Sathegke with pride, using it to introduce myself to other community members in our village, my new home. Within moments, I felt comfortable at home, finding my unique niche in the family. I quickly became a helper, a worker, and an entertainer. Lunging in front of my host parents, I snatched heavy buckets of water from their clutched hands, carried large piles of firewood, and more to ease their daily chores. I followed my father out to the fields to fetch the cattle and choral them onto the family’s backyard field for the night. And by sunset, I played soccer, Frisbee, taught English words, and colored with my host brothers Kotaso (4 years old) and Mpho (10 years old). Today’s events have left me inspired and speechless.


7/27/08
Each day the wind blows, bringing with it new emotions and perspectives. I am beginning to understand wholly, the concept of “one day at a time.” Each morning, I arise at dawn with an outlook for the day that is different from the one before. Today, I welcomed the sunrise with an eager outlook, anxious to experience the day’s events, in contrast to my somber reflections of last night. These ebbs and flows have caused my energy levels to soar and plummet as I integrate into a new culture and life in South Africa.
Today, I woke to a Sunday morning filled with a buzz of activity. My mother was stoking the outdoor fires to warm the family’s bath water and begin her daily chores, while my father was corralling the cattle from their overnight grazing in the bush. My sister was preparing breakfast in the kitchen and the boys were playing a game of marbles in the dusty front yard spread. All of this activity and it was only 7 am. As I wiped the sleep from my mouth and eyes, I quickly shifted into overdrive to bathe and assist with the meal preparation and begin a full scheduled Sunday.
At various moments throughout the day, I brought my camera out for the first time to creatively capture snapshots of a routine Sunday at the Sathegke house. The shutter clicked as the boys played, the cattle grazed, and the dogs looked on sleepily as everyone was abuzz. Snapping photographs of the landscapes that delicately wrap around this rural village, and observing these surroundings with heightened senses through the viewfinder of my camera, I am alert and awake. I enjoy exploring the details of village life, capturing textures, shadows, highlights, and infinite vivid colors with my camera. Each closing shutter snap, locks my observations of this new world into history.




8/5/08
I am electrified with lingering adrenaline from my experiences in a local, rural South African high school earlier today. I am saturated with exhilarating feelings of gratitude as I reflect on the day’s events. As part of an assignment for Peace Corps training, I was expected to shadow a teacher, observe a lesson, and model a lesson to gain first hand experience in a S.A. classroom before beginning my service as a volunteer.

At the sound of the metal, tinny bell, I entered the dull, disheveled classroom, as the previous teacher exited the room (at this particular school and many in S.A., educators circulate to each classroom, while the learners remain in their rooms all day, and in many cases, to each lunch as well) greeting me with “Dumelang.” The walls boasted a single poster that dangled from a corner. I glanced at the sea of eager faces before me and was bewildered by their wide open eyes and bright smiles. Uncertain how to respond, the room fell silent, and only whispering voices chattered in a soft rustle. As I opened up my bag and began to pull out colorful signs, posters, an agenda, objective, journal topic, and other bells and whistles, the distant voices rumbled with excitement. Laughs followed, joined by a few “oohs and ahhs.” I finished pasting my signs and materials just moments before the late bell shrilled and the remainder of learners filed in briskly.
Surveying the crowded audiences of 36 learners amongst an overcrowded arrangement of desks and tables, I scanned each pair of eyes without uttering a sound. Breaking the silence, I introduced the ground rules for the day, slipping humorous jokes and referring to myself as a silly “mulungu” (Tsonga for white person). The questioning crowd erupted into an uneasy laughter. Throughout the following hour I transitioned from one engaging activity to the next, as all 72 eyes and ears remained attuned to every syllable I uttered and any movement I made. The learners’ desire for nourishing instruction was obvious in their eagerness to volunteer answers, follow directions, and synergistically work with one another.
Experiencing such a warm reception and an openness to learn was one of the most compelling moments of my life. I am reminded of the addictive taste of facilitating a love of learning and guiding learners through instruction. Now that I have encountered the flavor of education in the South African classrooms, I yearn for more. I ambitiously seek more opportunities to savor the feelings of teaching that I experienced today.



8/8/08
The pace of Pre-Service Training (PST) has certainly picked up. With a decent amount of real estate behind me, I can reflect on the accomplishments of the past three weeks of training with confidence. My perception of time has been altered, as days seem to race by at impressive speed. My new family members have tirelessly supported me and have facilitated my personal and professional growth throughout the entire process. They have genuinely cared for me, meanwhile have looked out for my personal safety and well being. They have expressed their unconditional love and show their affection openly each day with deep hugs and embraces. I feel welcomed as a member of the family and enjoy daily rituals and routines together. I pluck large bundles of lemons (“surru” in ‘Swana) and oranges (“namune” in ‘Swana) when I return home from training each day with Kotaso and Mpho and proceed to set up an assembly line of cutting, squeezing, and preparing the citrus fruits for our daily servings of lemonade. Fireside chats follow and seal in the events of the day, and become jumping off points for discussion about the past, South Africa’s history, apartheid, family memories, and more. Dinner preparations and cleaning up offer more opportunities for social interactions as we sing and laugh and dance together around the smoldering remnants of the outside fire in a metal basin on the kitchen floor. I am honored to be included as a part of this family and to have such a defined role as a member of the Sathegke household.
With each day that passes, my surroundings become more and more familiar. The world outside my window is less foreign. I have automated greetings in two Bantu languages to engage in conversations with anyone who passes. I have a deeper historical, contextual understanding of my community and this country. The novelty of rural village life has worn off. I am comfortable and at ease in my new South African life. This new world seems to be a natural fit. I am at home. Have I found a new comfort zone?








8/14/08
I have grown accustomed to the rhythm of P.S.T. In fact, I find it soothing. The predictable patterns have offered the first taste of consistency in what seems like months. After two hour language sessions in our homes villages each morning, the Peace Corps trainees venture to the P.S.T. training site in a caravan of P.C. vehicles. By 10:30 am each morning, we reach the front gates of the brick walled teaching training college compound, greeted by a team of security guards.
After ten minutes of trading stories of the previous night, the trainees follow the brightly colored brick paved paths to the auditorium where the daily seminars will be held and the day’s events will take place.
Comfort levels have soared, as unique personalities have penetrated from the professional fabrics that covered positive deep rooted intentions within. Many gifts and talents have emerged. We have shared ideas, passions, dreams, solutions, advice, and support throughout our journey together. We have laughed for hours, shared inside jokes, and entertained ourselves endlessly.
Black markets have surfaced during workshop sessions at all hours, as trainees pool together local resources from their respective villages to trade with one another. Trainees bring fruits, vegetables, yogurts, candies and more stashed in their bags to “trade” for the day. Others bake cookies, cakes, “scones” and other oven creations that even I am not brave enough to try. My Nalgene lemonade and orangeade batches have become famous throughout the trainees, as I now squeeze on average, 25 lemons a night to satisfy the palettes of my fellow Americans and quench their thirst!
The Peace Corps has provided a sheltered setting for its S.A. 18 Trainees to become immersed three-dimensionally in this new world. Rallying infinite resources and wrangling “experts” and guest speakers from all over the country, we have received a hand selected, diverse, well rounded sampling of South African history, culture, and social exposure. We have been served with a platter of rich, abundant knowledge of this country and its past to wrap it all up in context. After devouring the uninterrupted flow of information that has been presented to us, I have digested nourishing analyses and have been energized by a deep, profound understanding of this country in theory and in philosophy.
I am amazed by how much I have learned in such a relatively short period of time. I am fascinated at how well planned and executed the Peace Corp’s cultural immersion process is. I am eager to utilize my level of cultural and historical understanding of South Africa, throughout my service and beyond.