shenanigans

i can't believe it's june! time is going so quickly.

'when it's cold outside,
ive got the month of may.'

greetings friends! it's winter here in the southern hemisphere and
may, may is cold! and by cold i mean maybe 50 degrees, but 50 degrees
in a concrete house with no heat is definitely cold! i'll be honest,
my bathing has decreased. i much prefer this weather to the summer
though and i am enjoying the lack of insects.

updates from february to now now! (now now is a very important tense
in zulu and one of my favorites. it actually means now. now just
means... sometime today, or tomorrow, or next week, or even next year.
but now now, now you mean business!)

school has been moving at lighting speed this year! since the
beginning of the term ive been teaching grade 6 and 7 english and for
a brief time i taught grade 9 and and even briefer time taught grade
8. there have been some slight issues at the high school.

grades 6 and 7 have been very enjoyable. i co teach with a very
dedicated educator and he is truly a pleasure to work with. we still
have our miscommunications but they make the days and classes that
much more interesting. i'm getting to know the learners and finally
seeing their personalities and growth in english over the months. it's
already been a very rewarding experience.

at the high school the teaching has been much more rocky. an educator
has transferred schools and the department will not replace her. thus,
the school is short an educator and kids are without teachers. the
teacher so happened to have several english classes. this was a
problem because i was helping her with the classes and for me to teach
the content required by the department, the co teacher is essential. i
do not have the zulu skills to teach english literature to kids who
barely understand english. and they dont yet have the english skills
to understand me. teaching here for me is a team effort and without
translation i'm not helping the kids. i could stick with basic
fundamentals of english and i would be fine alone, but they are tested
over much higher competencies. this was an ongoing saga of, is the
teacher actually leaving? who will take her classes? terri's mother
tongue is english, we dont need to replace the class with an educator,
she can go!

so, this caused a problem. the principal wanted me to teach alone
until they could get an educator. (which wont happen.) i wasnt
comfortable with this and being responsible for an entire class is not
why i feel i'm here. one of the reasons i feel i'm here is to work
together WITH teachers to teach and to help with teaching methods that
build their skills, not just to be a classroom teacher. the principal
disagreed in a very passive way.

to deal with this problem and miscommunication of my role, i went to
my other principal and asked for advice. she thought we should have a
meeting with him and discuss again my role as a peace corps volunteer.
and so we did! and it went very well and he agreed that i should not
go to the classroom by myself.

and the very next day he asked me to go to the classroom by myself.
hahaha. and i listened to him and told him again that i would not. and
i haven't. and things seem to be fine. i've realized that i cannot do
anything about it. i can't fight through the power structures of the
school and force the principal to simply redistribute the classes and
assign an educator to go to the classes with me. and while it's
frustrating things are working out.

i don't feel like the relationship between the principal and i has
suffered at all. strangely enough. he's is quite a peculiar man and i
don't think i could really do or not do anything that would really
upset him. which i guess is nice?

so, now i am helping teach grade 12 english. the school has recruited
yet another volunteer, a zulu man who wanted to go to uganda and
become a priest (something didn't work out for him there, not really
sure the full story.) he is going to teach grade 9 and i think i'll be
joining him next term. but honestly, who knows! just going with the
flow.

at both schools i'm busy with libraries. at the primary school i'm
working with the library committee to organize all the books and set
the library up for the grand opening next term. it's been lots of fun.
we held a motto contest for the learners and educators. the winning
motto, which was voted on by the majority of the school, is 'We shine
with education.' a group of 7th grade girls came up with this. I
really like it and we want to hold another contest to design a logo,
and from there a mural. i have high hopes of slapping a beautiful
image of a sun on the outside walls of the building. at the high
school we received a donation of books to start a corner library. we
have formed a committee with positions such as chair person,
secretary, treasurer, security officer, technician, and CEO. lols.
they want me to be the CEO. i'm really not sure what this means. i
think it means they are busy overworked teachers and they want me to
be mostly responsible. which is fine only i insist on involving them
in all decision making, so far things are going well.

at the primary school i've also been able to work with a community
member and the school secretary to establish two clubs.

the first is a kids club through an NGO. i'm working with a woman
named Betty, a community care giver (a health worker focused on
orphans and vulnerable children) who lives just about 800 meters away.
she is a wonderful hard working woman who brings me lots of bananas
and other fruits! she speaks very little english and so we communicate
in zulu, which i love and i am learning lots more zulu because of our
relationship. the club is for an hour during school and is made up of
20 kids who are orphans. the intention of the club is to provide the
kids with extra support. we are doing this by creating a space for the
kids to talk with each other and us, play games, and have a creative
outlet. spending time with the kids gives Betty the opportunity to see
if they need any medical attention, food parcels, school uniforms, or
interventions in their home lives. orphans are very common here. 49 of
the 246 learners at the primary school are orphans. roughly 1 of 5.
these kids have very tough lives and often live with extended family
members and sometimes live in child headed households, meaning the
oldest sibling takes the role of the parents. it's truly heart
breaking and i am very honored to have the opportunity to work with
Betty and these beautiful kiddos.

in the club we play lots of games and sing songs. the kids range from
grade r (kindergarten) to grade 5. (something i really love about the
culture here is that age doesn't matter so much. my 25 year old sister
will play with a group of kids from 7 years-early twenties and not
think a thing about it. lots of things get in the way here with
education (like health issues, having or caring for someone with TB or
HIV/AIDS, deaths, work and the need for money to support the family,
and so on) so its not uncommon to have kids 4-5 years older than the
typical age in a class. and no one minds!) so we play games and we are
going to start working on hero books. which is exactly what it sounds
like, a book about your hero. the NGO has organized kids clubs at many
schools in the area and is holding a competition/exhibiton of the
books sometime in the future. i'm very excited about this because i
hope to use it as an opportunity to teach art.

the second club is a girls club for the young ladies in grades 6 and
7. i'm working with the school secretary Sindiswa. She is an
absolutely wonderful passionate woman who since our first lengthy
conversation has wanted to do this. girls clubs are very popular in
south africa. essentially the club is a space for girls to come
together and talk about lots of issues related to being a young woman
in south africa, play games, make crafts, and have lots of fun. some
of the topics we'll be talking about are puberty, relationships,
HIV/AIDS, pregnancy, rape and abuse, self-esteem, career
opportunities, leadership, and many more. many of these are very
sensitive topics and are quite taboo. the girls club helps to erase
the taboo and provide the space for the girls to ask questions they
otherwise might not be able to find accurate answers for. lots of
myths surround topics like HIV/AIDS and sex, and it can be hard to
find the truth, talking about these things is critical. Sindiswa is
the perfect woman to work with, she is a great listener and very
knowledgeable on these issues. her heart is enormous and she truly
wants to be here for the girls.

so far we've had two meetings and in the meetings we have played some
games and talked about leadership and asked the girls to give
suggestions for the name, motto, logo, and topics they want to discuss
for the club. we decided that it was best to let the girls make as
many decisions on their own about the club so they can take ownership
and really feel comfortable. they have chosen their colors, pink and
lime green! we have also given them a baseline questionnaire to see
what they know about the above topics. we are going to give them the
same questionnaire at the end of the year so they can see how far they
have come. i'm also looking forward to the opportunity to make art
with them.

i've been thinking a lot about what it means to me to be a volunteer
and the things i want to be involved with/the needs of the community.
i am so happy about the formation and counter parts im working with in
these two clubs because they both provide the space to work on health
issues and HIV/AIDS education in an informal setting. i very much want
to be involved with these things but i lack the communication skills,
knowledge, and time to work on major community health projects. our
training here prepared us for the school setting, not the community. i
think i am trying to work out my expectations for what peace corps
service would be/what i hoped to do and what it is. i can't change my
volunteer role from schools to the community, but i can still work on
health issues through the school in these clubs and im so thankful for
this opportunity.

so between teaching, sagas, libraries, and clubs i've found myself
very happily busy!

here on some updates on things apart from projects and teaching.

in february the US consulate held a 50th anniversary event at her
house in durban for all the volunteers in the province. these events
are taking place all over the world and in the US to celebrate 50
years of service. the event was probably the fanciest thing i've ever
been to. the house was ridiculous! on the hills of durban, overlooking
the bright blue ocean, tennis courts, lighted basketball courts,
interior design that would kick matha stewarts ass, and MONKEYS just
running around. what an experience! there were speeches, hors
d'oeuvres, a bar tender, peace corps staff, people from the embassy,
volunteers, and it seemed like lots of ass kissing. but who knows!

in february my family found out i kind of had a birthday. everyone got
a huge kick out of my leap year birthday and it is now a popular joke
that i'm 5 years old. as my host sister thandeka and i got out of the
truck from going to town she came over to me and said, 'sisi i don't
have much money, but i want to give you a present.' she gave me the
most beautiful permanent purple flowers and not to sound cheesy but
i'll never in my life forget the moment, the conversation, the warm
wind, the tears swelling up in my eyes. she gives me so much and
without her i'd be so lost here, she has no idea how much she means to
me and how beautiful the gift.

in march i ran/walked a half marathon organized to provide
scholarships to high school students in rural areas to attend schools
of higher standards. many people from home responded to an email my
mom sent out and graciously donated to the cause. i can't thank you
enough for your support. the contributions are helping to change the
lives of very deserving disadvantaged kiddos. i decided to do the
race/got the details last minute and was unable to blog about the
cause before hand and i apologize for that! the race was through a
beautiful part of the country in the mpumalanga province near blyde
river canyon, the third largest canyon in the world! after the race i
went hiking and camping with some friends and had a blast. the area is
simply gorgeous.

also in march there was a peace corps training. the focus was on
health and it was sponsored by PEPFAR. we stayed in a ridiculous 5
star mediterranean themed hotel in johannesburg. it was quite a shock
to get full meals, hot showers, and clean sheets every day for a week.
we got to see the other volunteers and catch up with our old friends.
while the training was disorganized and frustrating at times i took
away lots of valuable things. overall the experience was entirely
overwhelming. i don't think ill ever be able to smoothly make the
transition from village to westernized city and all the luxuries
without being overwhelmed. the economic disparity blows my mind. south
africa is so rich in resources and has a strong economy, yet the gap
of distribution is among the largest in the world.

in april i celebrated easter with the volunteers in my area by going
to one of their sites and walking to the ocean for an easter morning
swim! yes, a volunteer lives literally a 3 hour walk from the ocean.
he loves to talk about his private beaches. we are all jealous. it was
lots of fun.

may was full of school with few breaks and so i stuck around the
village mostly.

this month the second term is closing and there is a 3 week winter
break. for the break i think i'll be staying in the village and then
going with a wonderful friend and his visiting family to Kruger
National Park to see all those wild animals! from there i plan on
visiting another friend in the limpopo province, a part of the country
i have yet to see.

being here has given me the opportunity for lots and lots of
reflection. i've been thinking about time and how wonderful it is to
be here for 2 years and why it's important to not only be here for a
few months to accomplish the goals peace corps has set out. being here
almost a year now has allowed me to really feel comfortable with where
i live, the people i work with, and to have a much greater
understanding of everything around me. and in turn the people i live
and work with are also more comfortable with me. our personalities are
coming out so much more than when i had only been here a few months.
i've seen real emotions, anger and fights, tears and passive
aggression at its best, and i've been included in conversations of
complaints about teachers and principals, i've heard secrets and
gossip, and i've trusted and been trusted. and i think these things
are all relatively new in the past months and i know it's simply
because of time. relationships take time and this is just one of the
many reasons i'm seeing that as humans, despite language and culture,
we share more similarities than differences.


silly/random/where am i moments

host mamma #2 wearing only one white glove while driving us to school... mj?

the lady behind me in line at the super market buying two cow legs-
hair, hooves and all

being asked what shenanigans means

a teacher explaining to me that he loves his wife but he loves his
kids more, and then using the anology of a cliff to further explain
his feelings, 'there is a cliff. (hands raise to a pushing position) i
would push. i would push my wife. ...etc. (lols... why so extreme?)

recruiting the bravest boy in the bush, 8 year old khanyiso, to remove
the biggest spider i've ever seen in my life from my house. now the
kids around my house know im scared of spiders. today they came over
and said, 'ngungu!' and pointed behind me, and then laughed themselves
silly. i only fell for it once but they did it probably 30 more times
and thought it was just as hilarious.

being given a huge pumpkin simply for visiting a friend

signing a teacher up for facebook

hearing students say, in english, 'bye bye miss dove i will see you
tomorrow afternoon!' and their intonation of 'bye bye' being
remarkably similar to mine

almost teaching calculus at a friend's school, (had a crash course
before but didnt get to teach because the class mysteriously ended)

going to a science expo and watching learners explain why the
helicopter they built, that can't fly, is an improvement and solution
to a current problem of helicopters (where did they get this idea to
make a helicopter?)

learners being tested by the government over subjects that are not
offered at the school

buying three gigantic scones for about 75 cents

my sister, mamma #2, and i forgetting our one year old little brother
at school but it not being a problem because it's second nature for
kids to look out for each other, (he made the 400m walk home just fine
with the neighbor!)

eating wilder-beast! tastes just like chicken!




i hope you stay safe, healthy, and happy! sending much love, now now.