LongTom, Round Two

Aw yeah, 21.1km of LongTom Pass was walked (at a swift pace for me, I might add.. a little bit more speedy than my every couple of days walk through Metz to the post office!) again this year. It was a whirlwind weekend... I met up with Nick Friday morning a litte after 7 and started my day with a nice taxi ride with 50 Cent blaring through the speakers. I told the driver my friend was waiting on the side of the road for us to come pick him up and he spotted Nick WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY before I even saw him. I guess we really do look that different. Nick and I met Christy and Zana (all my closest volunteers)in Hoedspruit for coffee and tea before catching the first of 4 more taxis to Sabie. Yep, it took us 6 taxis and about 6 1/2 hours of traveling, but we made it! We spent Friday afternoon in Sabie, Mpumalanga hanging out at a pancake house talking and then met up with other volunteers who had come in for the race. We woke up at 4:30 Saturday morning... met our bus at 5:30 drove the first part (all uphill) of the ultra marathon (it was 56km)to the start line for the 1/2. The race started at 7. 4 hours and 45 minutes of good conversation with Christy, free oranges, water, Powerade, Coke, and Bar One Bars all along the route and some really good stirfry at the finish line and you've got quite a Saturday morning. The afternoon was spent catching up with other volunteers and just hanging out. Sunday morning, instead of taking taxis all the way back to the village and risking being stuck somewhere without transport, we got to sleep in and get a free ride home! Allison, an SA-12 who worked with John and Mary's organization, was going back to Tzaneen for a visit. I got a ride all the way to Metz! I was in my room by 1:30 Sunday afternoon and spent the rest of the day on my bed, watching, yes, this is sort of embarassing, but not really, Season One of Dawson's Creek.
Keri, Nathan, Megan, and Zana waiting for the bus about 6am.Like those KLM Foundation shirts?!

Keri warming up at the start line

All the 1/2 Marathon participants on a beautiful morning.

The Middle Part

SUCCESS!!! Can everyone stand up, wherever you may be, and just give a whoop! or clap or a Yes! for the Rejoice-MmaPula team? Man, after a lot of hard work, it's refreshing to soak up some tangible results. So refreshing. Today was a normal day in the village. I'm leaving tomorrow for the weekend (going to the half marathon I did last year... and no, no... I'm not running.. I'm OK walking, that's perfectly fine) so I wanted to wrap a couple of things up before I was out on a workday. I walked to the post office this morning and checked the mail, talked to Nick and Christy for a little while, and then went to drop all the building plan quotations off at Kodumela. Normal day, nothing too exciting. I was sitting in the office, ready to head home, when I thought to ask Cedric if he had heard anything from CashBuild, the big store we bought some building materials from almost two weeks ago. He had. Oh, he had. They were delivering today.. and they showed up 15 minutes later. SO exciting!!! People walked out of the offices to see who was coming up the driveway and Ledile was yelling across the parking lot, "MmaPula! You guys have done well! Look, our supplies have come! We must get photos! Good job, girls!". Rejoice and I kept high fiving. Fence materials for Ophelia!(I first wrote about her in You are strong) A toilet for Mokgadi and her family! Water piping for Mokgadi and her family! Steel doors for the drop in center in Makguang! Filing cabinets for 6 drop in centers so we can help them start files on each orphan! Woo!
Oh, this is huge. A project that's taken months and months to get off the ground has taken off and is flying. I first wrote about everything in Heartbeats and now for the updates! For the last few weeks I've been really busy doing a lot of the behind the scenes work for the projects to get started... and I really, really couldn't have done it so fast or so thoroughly if Rejoice hadn't been working closely with me, asking the right questions, getting on the phone to put pressure on people who weren't very efficient, and being a phone call away when I needed to talk out next steps. Man, what a good friend and coworker. I spent days at the office calling places in Tzaneen for quotations to be faxed to us, I spent days walking all through Metz trying to get quotations from local businesses for bricks and other supplies, I spent time going to Rita (south of Tzaneen where a new shopping complex was recently opened) and Tzaneen to get quotes and meet with John and Mary, I turned in the quotations and had Lorraine at Kodumela issue me checks for purchasing, and then finally, I spent some time going back to the places that quoted us the best materials at the best prices to actually BUY things. I have been to town too many times to count. I will admit I was stressed at times, worried if I would make it to the deadline (John and Mary needed receipts for an audit). I sweat A LOT because most days were hot and it wasn't all that fun running around. I know, more than once, I was reminded of how nice things would be if they were closer, if I had a car, if it wasn't so freakin' hot. The day receipts were turned in I sighed, celebrated, and you better believe I slept very well that night.
This is what I treated myself to when all the work for purchasing everything was through. Yum!

The guys from CashBuild unloading all our building materials!

High Fives all around! Mmapula and Rejoice.

Rejoice, MmaPula, and Maite (who so graciously took some photos for us today)

What R20,000 (about 2,000 US Dollars) can buy two Child Headed Households and six Drop-In Centers
Fencing Materials (Ophelia)
6x Mesh
1x Pedestrian gate
1x plain wire 50kg
12x STD
5x corner post
1x fencing wire 50kg
1x cement 50kg
8x stays
8x nuts and bolts

1 standard double bed (Ophelia)

Water Pipe Materials (Mokgadi's family)
130 meters piping and tap

Toilet Materials (Mokgadi's family)
2x zinc 12 fit
5x cement 50kg
1x perline 12 fit
2x timber (for roof)
1x door with frame

2 steel doors with frames (Makguang DIC)

6 filing cabinets for DIC's
You got it.. that's a 3 sided fence for Ophelia's yard, a new cushy double bed for Ophelia that I picked out myself (and enjoyed lying on in the furniture store), a water pipe for Mokgadi and her family, a new toilet for Mokgadi, 2 steel doors to replace wooden ones that are warped and leak at the Makguang DIC, and 6 filing cabinets to start files for orphans. Job well done! Many thanks to John and Mary, Tanya, Rejoice, Ledile, Lorraine, Mosie, Cedric, Enos, Letebele, Johannes at CashBuild, Modiba at CashBuild, and the delivery guys.

Juice

Every couple of days, after work, there's a knock at my door. I'll admit some days I'm really tired and not in the mood to entertain, and shhhhh... I don't answer the door. This afternoon, I set up my computer (which is becoming quite the process cause the battery is dead and my internet connection is precarious) to blog about some exciting events, had just sat down with music playing, when the knock came. Berlina, Maria, Lebogo, and Lucia all came to deliver me letters they had written. Here's what can happen when you give them little packets of Crystal Light (I keep telling them to put it in water... but they usually eat it straight) from America (thanks package senders!), and they discover the fuzzy bunny my mom sent in an Easter package and the rose Phenyo gave me for Valentine's Day. Woo, they get creative. And, man, they're cute.
Berlina (in yellow), Lucia (in stripes), Lebogo (in plaid dress), and Maria

Maria posing.

Where You Stay

I didn't sleep well again last night and today I floated through all that I had to do in town. I didn't leave my room until close to 10 this morning which, I guess, could have made it hard to get a taxi (you have to wait for them to fill to capacity before they leave for Tzaneen), but it wasn't. I think we sat at the rank for 15 minutes before the driver felt like he had enough passengers to make the trip. I sat by the window in the middle seat, put my sunglasses on, and made granny squares... I'm not the most social when I'm tired, I just can't seem to make my thoughts and my mouth connect. The trip was uneventful and we made it to town in good time. When we pulled into the BP petrol station (where all the taxis drop you off), I was the last to get off, taking my sweet time packing everything up. As I made my way across the parking lot to the ShopRite mall, running through my lists of things to do, and making a plan, a young woman fell into step beside me. Our interaction went a little something like this:
YW: Hello (smile)
Me: Hi (smile)
YW: I've never seen a white person on a taxi before. This is my first time.
Me: Really? This is your first time?
YW: Yes. White people don't live in the rural areas, so white people don't take taxis.
Me: You're right, not many white people do take the taxis. I live in a rural area though, so I have to take a taxi.
YW: Thank you for doing that.
Me: (smile)
And then we went on our way. That interaction ran through my head all day. When Solomon greeted me at CashBuild with the completed quotation for our building plan. When I thanked Daniel at BuildIt for his quotation. When I went to Magic Build and talked to Godfrey about his time working at a game reserve near Botswana and he shook my hand and told me to go well. When I went to buy yarn for my afghan and the woman talked about how "the blacks" are so much better than they used to be. When I bought myself Bob Marley's "Uprising" at Jet Music because I wanted to make copies of it for people in the village and the man behind the counter was shocked that I liked his music. When I got sort of lost and walked by the long distance taxi rank and a man looked at me and smiled and talked about how hot it was today. When Maite came to ask for help writing a cover letter for a job. When I sat in the taxi on the way home and watched the backs of bakkies full of up to 20 people standing, rolling along in front, beside, or behind us. When I saw children pushing wheelbarrows full of water jugs from the tap. When I watched gogos carrying potatoes, wood, water, mealies on their heads walking towards home. When I saw the kid selling fruit in a little stand stare at me wide eyed because I think my presence in the taxi was shocking to him. When I sat behind a little baby boy and every time he looked over his mother's shoulder and his eyes met my face his face contorted into a half cry, half smile. Some days it can be frustrating, I just want to blend. Some days it's just nice to have good interactions with people.. and be in a good frame of mind to recognize that they're good. Today, it was good, but my heart felt sore.

No Stress

David, Maite, and Letebele makin' a plan
MmaDiapo is gone for the week and it's been really quiet around here, everyone misses her. The last couple of nights, not shockingly, I've only gotten a few hours of sleep. I'm not sure if it's stress, but I'll fall asleep around 10:30, wake up around 1, and then, because Mabu is here watching over everything and sleeping in the next room, I'll sit on the floor with my iPod and headlamp and crochet granny square after granny square. I do, eventually, get tired again, and climb back into bed only to wake up at some ridiculously late hour for the village. Today that hour was 8:30. I opened my eyes, rolled over, and groaned. 8:30 is when people GET to work. I have a lot of things I'm trying to do all at once... and some days none of them get any attention because I'm not sure where to focus. I cleaned my room to wake myself up and walked to Kodumela around 10:30. By 11, I was in a bakkie delivering filing cabinets to 3 drop-in centers, at 12:30 I was on my way to town to get quotations for building materials for a grant proposal I'm almost finished with. In town, Letebele, Kodumela's driver, dropped me off at CashBuild to get my first of 3 quotations (you get 3 and then pick the best deal..best prices and best materials). I walked into CashBuild and had a nice and informative conversation with a guy by the name of Solomon. I thought I could just bring in the building plan, he could look at it, make a list of things we needed, and then we'd walk around the store together pricing things. It's a little more complicated than that. It turns out that for each quotation I'm going to need to give the store an hour to an hour and a half... and that's only if there are no other customers in line in front of me. Ok, cool. I thought about making copies of the plan and dropping them off at different locations to cut down on the time factor. Each copy would cost about R60 (about 6 US Dollars) and well, that's one round trip fare to town and back. That Solomon, though, the smart cookie that he is, he hooked me up. He told me he would keep the plan, work on it and get his quote done today, then he would head over to BuildIt across the street and drop it off there for their guy to start working on the second quotation. "That way, my friend, you save R180, and you'll have 2 quotations ready and waiting for you by the time you arrive in town tomorrow morning. I'm just trying to save you some money." Yes, Solomon, my good man, you are. And did I mention that this building is for a drop in center? Uh huh, you're doing your part to help us get some kid's a place to play and eat. It takes a lot of little baby steps. I then walked to the mall to get some food and headed over to the parking lot where I was meeting Letebele, Maite, David, and Cedric so we could head back to Metz. We left town around 4:30. We sang Peter Tosh and listened to the news on the radio and talked of the election that's coming up next month. When we were passing the new shopping complex in Rita I asked Letebele if we could stop to check on the bed I had bought last week. If it was ready, I thought we could bring it back with us. After finding out that bed wouldn't be ready for another week... Letebele disappeared in the ShopRite for groceries and Maite, David, Cedric, and I all talked in the parking lot. I was telling them all about how my stress levels were not near what they used to be because stress is just viewed differently in South Africa... in the village. People do what they can in a day.. and if something doesn't happen, there's always tomorrow. This is both freeing and frustrating... it depends on your mood and what you're trying to get done. Things do always manage to work out. Every time I've gotten REALLY stressed out over something here, whenever everything was all over, I've looked back and thought "Really?! I really didn't need to expend such energy. What was the big deal?". So in the parking lot everyone had different opinions... David believes it's something you can control, it's all in your mind. Cedric kept talking about how you could reduce stress. Maite kept telling me that I just shouldn't worry so much. At one point, I leaned in the backseat to get my water and "Coming in From the Cold" by Bob Marley and the Wailers (yep, on the album "Uprising".. my favorite) was on the radio. I got really excited and we turned it up. When it was over, David put "Three Little Birds"on his phone and we all sang along to that. Letebele came back and we started the trip back to Metz. On the road in between Ofcolaco and Trichardstal, (about 25 minutes from Metz) in the bush basically, we slowed to a stop and pulled over on the side. The fan belt was shot. The smell of burning rubber filled the cab.. and we all got out to stand on the side of the road. We stood there with people driving by for 20 minutes. We all leaned against the back of the truck and talked about our options. Maite kept saying,"Well, Mmapula, this is the time to stress, this is not good, no, not at all. It is late, and we're here on the road!" I was fine. I knew it would work out. I knew we weren't far from a petrol station (it was a couple km's down the road), we were all together, we were working with an organization that had the means to fix such a part, and we had airtime. Cedric flagged down a taxi and headed back to the office. David and I talked soccer until he decided he couldn't wait any longer either, he had a long ride home and didn't want to do it in the dark. Letebele talked to some local men about leaving the truck on their property, behind a fence for the night. Maite called her boyfriend to come pick us up in his "mortuary vehicle", though he never came. In the end, we stood on the side of the road with bags from town and flagged down a man in a really nice VW Passat, who gave us a ride back to the office. When I walked through the gates of my yard the sun was just slipping behind the mountains.
"In this life... this oh sweet life... we're coming in from the cold."

That Traditional Family Supper

After posting my last blog, I realized that I should give visuals of the big traditional meal/birthday celebration we had when my parents were visiting. Man, these Phokungwanes can celebrate!
Braaied chicken, red gravy, cabbage salad, beetroot, boiled cabbage salad, pap, rice, green beans and potatoes, potato salad, carrot salad, and butternut.
The whole family... the people who take such good care of me in Metz. I love these people. Behind the table from left: Magdelin (MmaDiapo's older brother, Daniel's, wife), Margaret (Maria's daughter), Lethabo (Margaret's granddaughter), Maite (Margaret's daughter, mother to Karabo and Lethabo), Linda (MmaDiapo's younger brother, Leshabane's, wife (he died in 2004), Grace (MmaDiapo's younger sister), Salome (MmaDiapo's younger sister), Charlie (Flora's son), MmaPula (MmaDiapo's younger brother's wife). Front from left:Kori (Grace's son), Karabo (Maite's daughter), Flora (Salome's daughter), Maria (MmaDiapo's older sister), and MmaDiapo.

Thirties

In just a couple of weeks I will turn 30 1/2. I usually don't pay attention to such things, but this year I will cause I never mentioned when I turned 30. My parents were visiting at the time and what a great birthday present that was. How did I spend such a day of celebration? It started with a joint celebration with my family in Metz... MmaDiapo's birthday is 5 October, mine is the 8th, and Margaret's is the 22nd. Birthdays aren't celebrated much here, but if anyone knows me... you know we HAD to do something (I usually celebrate the whole month!). My family cooked up a big traditional feast (potato salad, carrot salad, cabbage salad, pap, beef, chicken (boiled and braaied over the fire), beetroot, butternut, green beans and potatoes, mashed potatoes...) and then we had cake from Pick'n Pay. The next day we drove to The Kruger for animal spotting and fun times at Olifants Camp, my favorite camp in the park. We saw a mother and baby rhino, lots of elephants, giraffes, zebra, and possibly saw a lion from afar at breakfast. My birthday dinner was at the restaurant in Skukuza Camp that yes, used to be an old train station (anyone who knows me...). The food was eh, the service wasn't much better, but the company of Peg, Rich, and Keri? Great. The next day we drove to Nkowankowa to visit Jaceson and Virginia at their site and spent the afternoon sitting under the mango trees at their house just talking... about Peace Corps, about Louisiana, about South Africa. We then drove to Tzaneen to spend the night with John and Mary, getting our fill (and more than that) of good food, wine, cider, and good conversation. I've spent 2 birthdays in South Africa. The first one was hard... I was alone with a boxed pesto dinner I had splurged on at the store. This past year was above and beyond awesome.
Margaret, Mmapula, and MmaDiapo... the birthday girls!

Keri, Virginia, Mmapula, and Jaceson posing in Nkowankowa with the apple pie Jenny made me for my birthday present!

Many Thanks to Those Schilling Stallions!

My friend Tamiko is a teacher and, in general, a really, really good person. Last fall I became pen pals with her 3rd grade class and it's been a lot of fun writing letters, answering questions, searching for the perfect postcards on my travels, and trying to think up what little goodies I can send them from South Africa. We've talked about our favorite foods, how I'm not like the Megan on the show "Drake and Josh" because she's not very nice, what animals I see, what our favorite animals are, what our favorite colors are, what we do on the weekends, how our holidays were, the weather, and our families. This past week, I had a great surprise at the post office when I found a big envelope containing, not only replies to my last batch of letters with many hearts drawn especially for me for Valentine's Day, but also my very own Schilling Stallions shirt! How cool is that? Thanks for working with me on this, Tamiko!
Here are some excerpts from some of the letters:
*"And I liked your letter and your letter made me happy. When my teacher said,"Megan gave us a letter We all yelled "WOO".
{In response to a picture I sent of a hippo} And when I look at the hippo it looks like they are eating the sun."-Anahi
*"T.C.C.I.C Means Take. Care. Cause. I. Care. Soooo, What do you do when you're not helping people? Ya know, for fun?"- Karla
*"Dear Megan, thanks for writing back. and is it cold on winter? If it is please tell me. and sorry that I don't write more but I'm not a writing person." -Juan
*"Dear Megan, How is South Africa? Is it a desert over there? Did it rain when you got there? How did you survive?!!" - Rudy
*"Dear Megan, What is your favorite cartoon? Is it Sponge Bob or the magic school bus?"-Ximena

Yo, We Gotta Get The Food

At the end of every month Rejoice leaves Metz early in the morning and makes her way to Tzaneen (45 minutes away) on the taxi to buy food for Kodumela's 7 drop-in centers. I was lucky enough to go along for the trip when it was time to get food for March and it was quite an adventure. Nothing like standing in line for an hour at the ATM, eating lunch at Chicken Licken, stopping by Jet Music in the ShopRite mall to get some new music, haggling with drivers so we could hire a bakkie (truck) to deliver all the food to the centers, going to Cash and Carry to get everything in bulk, making a trip to a slaughterhouse (Rejoice told me I should probably finish up my lunch before we went in because I wasn't going to want to eat after we were through there... she was SO right), and riding in the middle "seat" of the bakkie while we wandered down potholed, dirt roads, listening to Peter Tosh (with hits such as "Legalize It" and "I'm an African") and Burning Spear. Yes.
Here's Rejoice, by the taxi rank in town, trying to find a driver to hire. When she told them that we needed a bakkie to take food to all the drop in centers, all of them quoted rates that were way too high for such a trip (sometimes even a couple hundred rand over what she could spend). She said she was pretty sure that they all knew we were connected to Kodumela and were convinced we had a lot of money we could pay out. We eventually found a nice guy, Sele, who quoted us a reasonable price and he drove us to start our shopping.
First stop Cash and Carry! All those HUGE bags are full of mealie meal (for porridge/pap), mabela (sorghum for soft porridge), flour, and sugar.
After purchasing mealie meal, dish soap, tea, soup packets, mabela, palm oil, sugar, and matches, it was time to load up the hired bakkie. Benjamin from Cash and Carry helped us out.
My view out the front window in the bakkie. I think this was taken when we put Burning Spear in the CD player. Maneuvering these roads was quite a task.
All the planning, haggling, and purchasing ends with dropping it all off at the centers. There's Sele (on the left) and one of the carers at Lafata in Madeira Village helping to unload meat, chicken, sugar, and mealie meal.
And here is where all that hard work goes.... kids get a meal. Here are some kids standing in line waiting to be served lunch after school. The bucket of water in the foreground was used for them to wash their hands.

He looks a lot like... Holden

I've really stepped up my picture taking. There was a lull for a few months last year, but now I've hit the point in my service where the end is in sight, I know I've got to capture everything I see and know. I have to laugh and smile at how many things have become routine and blend into the wallpaper of everyday now. Being squished in a taxi with 16 other people? Gotta do it, so it is done. Walking anywhere and having to avoid cows, donkeys, and goats roaming free? Although there have been a few close calls, I've made it through alive and unharmed. Talking on the phone to someone in America and having the sheep and roosters cry in the background wanting to say hello? That's a strange mix of the two worlds I live in. Carrying my water to my room from a barrel? I have learned, after many trips, to bring the bucket top and to only fill it to a certain line... it's easier to carry and every drop makes it into my room. People staring and wondering what I'm doing standing on the side of the tar road or emerging from Metz? I smile and wave. Most people around here know me, but because we're off a big tar road it's easy to see multiple unknown faces.
IIIIIIIIIIt's Holden.....in goat form. Yes, this goat resembles my dear old dog, Holden, the coolest, most stubborn and neurotic Basset Hound, may he rest in peace. I was thinking about getting another dog when I move back to The States, but maybe my sights are now on a goat, instead. I'm willing to try something new.

Stress Relief

The last week and a half has been insanely busy. The majority of my time has been rushing around trying to get things done by a deadline (and succeeding!)or sitting, waiting patiently (and then not so much), for someone to complete some task so I can start on the next step of things I need to do. One day at Kodumela (the NGO down the road), when I was at a loss for what I needed to next, I wandered outside and sat under the big Acacia tree (one of my favorite places in Metz). I sat there for a good half hour crocheting Granny Square after Granny Square for the afghan I'm making. It was nice quiet time. At some point, I looked up and my friend Reginah (Ree-jye-nah), who taught me how to do traditional beading a few months ago and works at Lafata Drop-in Center, was standing next to me looking over my shoulder. Within minutes I had surrendered my hook and had her try out the pattern I had been working. She knew every step, counted every stitch, and did it just right, made a perfect square, just by watching my hands work.

Teen Pregnancy Prevention Workshops

Last month, I spent a week working with Hazel from Phedisang (a local organization that runs drop-in centers in several villages all along the main tar road) helping to plan, and then observe, some teen pregnancy prevention workshops. It was a great experience to work with her and be around to see positive outcomes.
Each workshop was about 2 hours long and we tried to divide the time up in such a way that we would make sure to emphasize certain topics. The outline and what we covered went a little something like this:
*What do you know about pregnancy? (the answers ranged from knowing that getting pregnant comes from having sex to a woman having shiny palms and a glowing body when she's expecting)
*An exercise in labeling the parts of the male and female reproductive systems
*Information on HIV/AIDS, STI's, and locations in the local area where you can get tested, be treated, and receive options for protecting yourself.
*The Bridge Activity. Given magazines, paper, pencils and pens, the girls thought about their futures and were asked to draw a "bridge". What are some goals you have for yourself? What must you do now or in the near future to help yourself to achieve those goals? (Many talked of getting a good education and wanting to be nurses, doctors, teachers, social workers, and one mentioned a passion for becoming a pilot.)
Close to 100 girls attended the workshops.
Enable Village, one of the villages set off the tar road. I took a taxi from Metz to the cross (where the main tar road and Enable dirt road meet), then took a Maxi Taxi that was waiting under a nearby tree (cars owned and driven by local men who drive you closer to the village since there is no regular running public transport), and then walked about half an hour to the drop-in center.
One of the girls from the center in Butswana Village presenting her Bridge.
Hazel and Olga posing with all their facilitating materials.
Olga presenting information about STI's with a carer at the Worcester Center.
Here's the group of girls from the Enable Center with Mmapula, Olga, and Jeaneth (a carer).

Tea Time is... THE BEST TIME!

South Africans do tea time very well and, man, are there many different ways to do tea time. There's Fanta Grape and a loaf of bread. There's Joko tea with four heaping spoonfuls of Cremora and sugar. There's a half loaf of bread, some chips, and a Powerade. There are finger sandwiches with poloney (bologna), Rama (margarine), and cheese with Coke. And then there's hot chocolate with scones. It doesn't matter what is eaten, but, in my experience, in Metz Village, tea time always happens. Around 10am every morning in whatever office I'm working in, there will be a rustling of bread bags and a clinking of mugs.
Rejoice, Davina, and Lorraine. Tea time at Kodumela.

And just for kicks...if Keri and I were in charge of an office, this is what tea time would look like. (This was taken a day she was visiting and we were "watching" my office). Skip-Bo, Long life milk, Nalgene water bottles, and laughing.

Where We Are Treated Like Royalty

I think every volunteer needs some safe, clean, comfortable, and relaxing place they can go when they need to get away from site for a day or two. Yeah, there are backpackers (hostels) and if you're in the mood, you can spring for something a little more fancy.... but I'm thinkin' something a little more like home. A home away from home.
In the beginning months because my housing situation was so.... interesting... and I was still reeling from the idea that I was in AFRICA... I spent a ton of time in town. Now that I've settled and have my own routine in the village, I don't head there as often. When I do get a chance to go it's an adventure. I usually will run some errands, then grab a cup of coffee at Woolie's (Woolworth's), and people watch until it's time to meet up with other volunteers.
Two of my very favorite people in South Africa live in Tzaneen and I'm very lucky to know them. John and Mary host movie nights, braais, have helped with some funding ideas and funding, can relate to what it's like to be a volunteer because they were once volunteers themselves, and have really opened up their hearts and lives to all of us.
Has it really been a year and a half since I first met them?

March 2008, Back row:Nancy, Jim, Megan, and Erin. Front row: Mary, Virginia, Jaceson, and John.

And things have changed a little...March 2009. Back row: Rachel (friend and Oliver's girlfriend), Oliver (SA-17), Steve (friend of John and Mary's who is visiting from the UK and volunteering his time), and Megan. Front row: Mary, Virginia, Jaceson, and John.

The Seasons

Taken at the end of Winter 2008 (photo compliments of Richard Owen)

Taken at the height of Summer 2009

The Grip is Loosening

It's Wednesday morning. I just put a cash flow plan (aka how we're going to spend some money and when we're going to do it plan) on my memory stick and I'm about to head to wash my face and find something to wear for work. Fall is here. Yesterday I didn't see the mountains at all. I made hot chocolate cause it's been at least 20 degrees cooler than the hottest it's ever been in my room (otherwise known as the middle of summer). I got home to my room with about an hour of daylight to spare... just enough time to fill up my water bucket, sweep, and start supper.
For weeks now, because, I think, of a culmination of things, I've had a huge knot in my stomach. Sleeping has been rough with dreams that end in panic or doubt. I wake up and it's hard for me to drag myself out of bed because I just feel so tired...
AND THEN... yesterday, with its misty fog over the mountains, coolness, and long hours, happened. I walked to a local NGO to use their computer with a printer early in the morning and I typed up a letter of resignation for my office... making sure to include the statement, "if there are any specific projects/programs that you would like to work on or discuss with me please don't hesitate to call...". According to this letter I am no longer a volunteer attached to just one organization... I am a volunteer for the community... and I have freedom. (!!) At around 9 I walked up the hill to my office and handed the letter over to Synett. It was about as painless and drama free as it could have been. It was awkward. It was a little uncomfortable. I still hold some guilt. BUT, I did it. After I made sure to let her know that I still thought of us as friends... we just couldn't work together... I walked out a little lighter. I walked away and walked right into getting some work done. I spent all afternoon driving around with some people I'm working with getting quotations for building materials. I spent hours out of the office and jump started on a few projects that have been at a stand still. All the stress hasn't completely gone away, there's something about living here that keeps you on your toes, always ready and waiting for things to change... up and down, but the ball has started rolling. I felt like I was stuck and I did something about it. Damn, that feels good.

Heal Me... or at least tell me my future

Over the holidays, when I found myself in some pretty incredible mountains, I had my "bones" read by a traditional healer. It was pretty cool (thanks, Abby, for the encouragement!), at times more than a little vague, and a good experience.
The "bones" consist of various animal bones, some shells, dice, and rocks. You just lay down your 20 , cup the bones in your hand, shake, shake, shake, and throw the bones over the money. What does this bone throwing show?
Answer: I am lucky. I have a good family and many friends. I will pursue a career in the medical field. I will travel a lot and help a lot of people. Because of some condition I will not be able to have children, but the condition is treatable if caught early. When I have children they will be boys. I will marry, but not right now. I am very lucky.

And here I am with the sangoma (traditional healer) and our translator.
If I were to seek out the help and guidance of a traditional healer in my own village, it very well could compromise my work, connections I have made, and people's thoughts of me.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

Oh, the Places You'll Go! (1990)

* You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.

* You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed.
You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you’ll be the best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

* I'm sorry to say so
But, sadly it's true
That bang-ups and hang-ups
Can happen to you.

* On an on you will hike, And I know you’ll hike far
and face up to your problems whatever they are.

You’ll get mixed up of course, as you already know.
You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go.

So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
And remember that Life’s a great balancing act.

Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

* Will you succeed?
Yes you will indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)

-http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss

There are some things that will never get old. I needed to read this this morning. Hope it gives you the lift it gave me.