Sunday

I love Sundays. Always have. A perfect Sunday for me involves lots of downtime, a pen and paper or a good book, and some tea. This Sunday was pretty awesome.... a brief rundown
*Woke up earlier than I would have liked, but felt well rested.
*Treated myself to Chai tea
*Read my book all morning and listened to the serious windstorm that lasted hours outside.
*Left my room to catch a taxi to meet Christy at Mabins Cross to catch yet another taxi into Mabins for Elayna's going away pizza party she was throwing for her neighbors and coworkers.
*Walked to tar road and greeted 2 very drunk men who were so pleased with my greeting in Sotho that they insisted on waving down a taxi for me.
*After many taxis driving by while one of the guys flailed his arms and attempted to get me a ride, I stood just behind him and threw my arm up when a taxi was approaching.
*Taxi pulled over to pick me up and driver laughed at the guy who had helped me.
*Got to Mabins Cross, met Christy, and was in another taxi headed towards the village in no time. Of course there was yet another version of "The Weakness in Me" (the only version I knew before coming here was by Joan Armatrading) blaring.. the dance remix... and we bounced down the dirt road to its beat.
*Got to Elayna's earlier than the set party start time and got to hang out and catch up... talk about all the SA 15's in the area leaving in the next week. Then because of African Time we got to hang out even more, waiting for guests to show up.
*Had a lovely meal of pap, potato salad, gravy, pizza, and juice and listened to everyone go around the group and talk about how much Elayna had done for them and how much they were going to miss her. It was really moving. She has done a lot and affected a lot of people in pretty profound ways.
*Met the new volunteer from the SA 18 Education group who has been placed in a village closer to the mountains. I'm glad more volunteers are moving into the area. PO Box 325 is going to be a happenin place with all the mail!
*Stuffed myself with Hershey Kiss topped peanut butter cookies (Yum! I swear if I were a cookie.. this is the cookie I would be) and grabbed two for the road as Christy and I climbed in the back of the bakkie Elayna's host dad was driving to work.
*After riding on the spare tire in the back with all the kids... we were dropped off at the cross. Caught a ride with a guy heading to Tzaneen.
*Our driver asked who we were and what we were doing here. "Oh, home based care and working with orphans work." So you work with old aged people and children? "Yes, children, people who are sick, old aged people." People who are sick, too? "Yep." People who have HIV? Can you tell who has HIV? "Yes. And no, you usually can't tell if they are HIV positive. They must be tested to make sure." I'm HIV positive. "Are you?" Yes. Was tested in 2005. It was a pretty striking conversation. He was so candid about his situation... but also admitted throughout the ride (which was only about 15 minutes) that he didn't disclose his status to everyone, only people he didn't know... it was safer that way. After hearing how his family and people he worked with talked about people who were sick, he decided it wasn't worth losing all those people in his life. His girlfriend died of AIDS in 2006 and although people suspect that he may be positive he hasn't told anyone. He's on ARV's and is taking care of himself, said he plans to live a long time and would like to move out of Limpopo and go to school... and maybe start to tell people his status while he is away from home. Fredrick, thank you for sharing your story with me... those 15 minutes reaffirmed a lot of things for me.
*Carried a Hershey Kiss cookie to Tanya's family's house and presented her with the treat. They were starting the little party that was being thrown for her.... pap, chicken, a cake, and some WWE on TV!
*Came home and sat outside with MmaDiapo while she pulled the feathers from a Guinea Fowl Mabu, the shepherd, had shot today in the bush, while he was tending to the cows.
*Ate an orange, looked the stars, and discussed my parents' vacation to South Africa. Yes they can stay here while visiting Metz Village! Yes we shall all go to Kruger! Yes that is fine that it is on my birthday! Yes, Mabu shall come with us, we can find someone else to watch the cows for the day!
*Some Honey Rooibos tea... some pajamas... a new book... and Mmapula heads to bed. This is one of those days where I thoroughly appreciated being given the opportunity to live here.
And I'm still sending prayers out to those affected by Gustav.... be safe, oh please be safe.

all out of sorts

10am Saturday morning- 30 August 2008
I feel distant. Maybe it doesn't help that I really wish I could go back to sleep. Was up at 5 to head to a funeral with MmaDiapo... washed, drank tea, put on my skirt, ironed a shirt, wrapped my hair in a black scarf... put on my shoes... and waited for about an hour before I was told we weren't going. Tried to go back to sleep and did rest for a couple of hours, but everyone else is up and outside working. So here I sit. I just checked the weather to see where Hurricane Gustav is. Looks like by Monday night/early Tuesday morning it will hit land... Vermilion Parish, Louisiana is right in the center of the cone. Gueydan is right in the center of the cone. I have been updated by my family and they are planning on evacuating sometime tomorrow. Hotels north of them are full, so I think they're heading west towards Austin. As much as I know they're going to be ok, they're going to get out of there in time, it still freaks me out. It does. I'm sending good thoughts and prayers out to everyone that side.

Moetladimo 0891

An ode to the best post office ever. Thank you John, Mathabele, and now, Victor for such great customer service, good conversation, and for smiling every time I walk through the door to greet you. The post office has been such a huge part of my experience... walking to check my mail, learning people's names all along the route, long talks with Tanya, Christy, Nick, and Elayna about everything, picking up and opening packages, eating candy/cookies on my way home, reading letters right outside the main entrance and tearing up, John being fair with his stamp and package prices, feeling safe and accepted, many offered rides, and always quite the adventure.
Tanya standing in line to mail a box of her things home.

Victor, Mathabele, John, Mpho (Tanya), and Mmapula inside the Moetladimo Post Office during one of Tanya's very last trips.

Lethabo

I can't believe it's been as long as it has since I last posted. Is it really so close to September? I have plans to write and catch the ol blog up... I'll make time this weekend.. but wanted to post a few pictures of some of my favorite people in Metz Village. They're not only some of my favorite people, but they also happen to be in my African family, are really cool, and get what being here may be like for me, someone who is a volunteer, an outsider, an American, and white. Maite (Sofia), MmaKgomo (Margaret), Karabo, Lethabo, and Charlie (Leshabane) have all shown me so much love since I've been here. This morning, on my way to work, I stopped by their house to take some photos of the whole family with Lethabo who was 7 weeks old yesterday. This blog is for the Phokungwane family that lives across the road from me. I don't think they will ever know how much they have done for me and how much they mean to me.
Lethabo Phokungwane 7 weeks and one day old

Three generations with a Charlie,too!
Maite (Sofia, Margaret's daughter), MmaKgomo (Margaret, MmaDiapo's neice), Lethabo (Maite's youngest daughter), Karabo (Maite's oldest daughter), and Charlie (Maite's cousin's son)

There is nothing like starting your morning off playing with some kids. When I first moved into my room, Charlie was very afraid of me, always backing away whenever I would come near, crying if I got too close... and now when I sit down with the family, he comes and crawls on my lap and makes himself at home. Love it.

A Typical "Busy" Day...Combination of Social Time and Work

My Thursday...exhausting, but I got a lot done.
6:15am- woke up. Dad called last night and we talked until almost 11(late!). I was wired on cold drink I drank with Tanya when we were hanging out with Collen and Beshu (work colleagues). Had tea, read a little, and managed to send off a couple important emails.
8am- worked a little on blogs and organizing my photos. Got dressed and ate Rice Krispies for breakfast.
9am-walked to post office with Elayna (for the last time!) and Christy (a new volunteer who will be taking over at Lepellele, the organization Elayna has been working with since last year in Mabens which is about a 30 minute taxi ride from Metz). Said hi to John and Victor and made sure to find out when they would both be around for picture taking with Tanya and I. Mailed off some stuff to the States and a few funding proposals Synett has worked very hard on went to Polokwane and Pretoria.
11am- checked in with my office. Synett is bored because there's nothing really to do... no money for transport to go see patients and check on drop ins, proposals have all been written up for the day. Hang out for a little while. Walk to Kodumela with Elayna and Christy to see Tanya and meet up with Nick. Three generations of PCV's all in the same room! Elayna and Tanya representin' SA-15, Mmapula SA-16, and Nick and Christy SA-17. Talked to Ledile, Program Manager for Kodumela, about planning community gardens for Maruleng CHBC (my organization) drop-in centers. Have to have a plan for getting food if funding from local government isn't going to be reliable.
12pm- walked to post office with Nick and discussed the difference between being negative and being realistic. I hashed out some things that have been really bothering me this week... and thanked him for listening. I'm really glad he's my closest neighbor after the SA-15s leave. Checked mail and got a letter from Grandma! It was good to hear from her... and it seems we were thinking of each other right around the same time, I sent one to her just a few days after she sent her's off.
1pm- walked to main tar road to catch a taxi to fax a funding proposal to an HIV/AIDS prevention organization funded by Irish Aid. Sat in the back of the taxi where I could open a window and have the breeze cool me off. After we had dropped off the last guy at Moshate, I asked the driver to drop me at the Lorraine Cross. He jumped. I had scared him, he thought he was alone in the taxi.. that there were no other passengers... he aplogized for not noticing I was still around and for his singing. I thanked him for the ride and paid him my R5. Walked through the door of the business office, greeted the woman (who was not Salvia, the woman who is usually working), and learned that the fax was down (just like all the faxes in Metz and the one at the hospital). Walked outside and ran to catch the driver who had just dropped me off. "Will you take me to the post office at Trichrdtstal?" He thought for awhile... it is a little farther down the road and not where a lot of people coming back down this way will be hanging out. Taking me would be out of his way. He agreed. Another R5 later, I'm on my way.
2pm- He dropped me off in the parking lot right next to the women selling fruit under the tree. I bought a banana and walked inside. Oh yes, I could send a fax, yes it was working. I started thanking the woman profusely. "Oh this is great! This really makes my day! I really needed to send this off and no other faxes are working!" My comments are met with a smile and an "Alllllllright." She takes the proposal and steps into the back. I hear the busy signal loud and clear before she even emerges to tell me the number is busy. Will I wait or would I like to take my papers and go? No. I'll wait. I'll just be outside using the phone. I'll come back after I make a call. Thank you.
3pm- Call Dominique to check in in the States. I love... LOVE... that there is a public phone "nearby" that can be used with my calling card. I wake her up, we talk for an hour, and she catches me up on all the happenin's in Austin. Getting off the phone is bittersweet. I've been distracted. Although people have been watching me for an hour and there is a little girl who has stared at me the whole time, I've beenso focused on the conversation and how normal it felt... it felt the same as if we would have talked in Austin... being 5 miles away instead of thousands. We say our goodbyes and I'm thrust back into reality with more of a spring in my step.
4pm- fax has been sent! All is well. I walk out of the post office to the tar road and start to worry I may not get a ride for awhile. The worry lasts mere minutes. I walk a little ways and am picked up by a taxi not 10 minutes after hanging up the phone. I catch the taxi back to Metz and am dropped off at the cross by Taposa Bakery. I see Maite walking to get meat for supper and yell her name to catch up. I see Synett leaving the office... the AIDS prevention organization has called, the fax has been received. We talk while Maite comes back from the bakery empty handed. Maite and I walk to the other tuck shop to see if they may have chicken legs for sale. We look in the freezer and see nothing but bags and bags of frozen chicken necks. She decides on Hot Chilli Pilchards (fish) in a can. We walk to her house and hang out out back by the cooking fire for a little while. I hold Lethabo (who is 7 weeks old), I make Karabo laugh, we make plans to take family photos, and I let them know my parents are coming to visit... ask them to help me with a few ideas I have.
5pm- Maite, Karabo, and Lethabo walk me to my gate. As I'm passing the kraal where all the cows have been put away for the night, I watch the sun slip behind the mountains. Maite laughs when she sees me pull out my camera, "Mmapula you take many photos!" I unlock my door, take out mac and cheese/ green beans leftovers and put them on the stove to heat.
6-9pm I eat, I write a few emails, I address a letter to be sent, I write my blog, I wash my hair and bathe, and I start a new book.
9:30pm- my light is off, my fan is on, my door is locked, and Van Morrison is singing me to sleep.

The post office with the fax and the public phones! Just a R10 taxi ride from Metz Village right in the middle of a bunch of private, Afrikaner owned farms.
The view of the sunset from my yard. Beautiful.

The Trip That Side

Cape Town is clear across the country from Limpopo where I stay... and it is clearly different from any place I've been in Limpopo or anywhere else this side of the country. Very European in feel, bordered by the South Atlantic Ocean, full of coffee shops, good food, good sites, and a false sense of security (we felt really safe in the beginning before we were shocked back to reality and were reminded that we were still in South Africa and needed to be on our guard). Some highlights and memorable times for me were wine and cheese tasting in Franschhoek, staying in our own room full of bunkbeds at the backpackers, driving to Cape Point and The Cape of Good Hope to stand on the beach of the most south westernly point of the African continent, taking Olan Mills style photos on the beach, Nathan treating us to a nice dinner (I tasted good wine, had a tomato basil soup for a starter, swordfish with avocado as a main course, and ate my share of the desserts we all ordered) and showing of 'The Fully Monty" musical, freaking out while standing at the The Cape of Good Hope Castle key exchange ceremony when the mini cannon was lit and fired (the guard warned us, but I really didn't think such a little cannon could make such noise... and, of course, I was talking through his warnings), getting coffee in the afternoons, creating our own cheese platters with good bread, having a "share shelf" in our room where we put food (mostly chips, chocolate, fruit, gummies, etc.) so we could constantly be eating, driving down to Hermanus in the rain to see whales off the coast (I really felt like I was on the edge of the world), having Nathan stand with me and try to distract me so I wouldn't puke my guts out while on the ferry to Robben Island... my pal Victor was very attentive, checking in throughout the whole trip to see how I was doing, seeing the boat that brought inmates who had been freed from Robben Island back to the mainland, talking to some American "activists" about my work here and what my experience has been like, staying in a fancy beach house in Simons Town, washing all my clothes in a real washer and watching cable TV while drinking hot chocolate, watching the sunrise over the ocean from the second floor porch at the beach house, seeing African Penguins in their natural habitat!, driving the Corsa Lite all over the place (stick shift, two doors, and 5 people), talking to Keri about how exhausted and out of it we were while at the airport, thinking of walking from the domestic terminal right on over to the international one while in the airport, gettin' a chocolate bar in my vegetarian meal on the flight, walking into the men's restroom at the airport with Keri and noticing we were in the wrong place after considering that the airport really has coed restrooms, and all the talking and good time I spent with some of my very, very close friends here.
Keri and I posing, Olan Mills style, with Cape Point just to the left of us, in the distance.
Sittin' on the edge of the world.

Rainbow out over the Atlantic Ocean. Although our trip was quite rainy, that meant a lot of rainbows!

A view of the backpackers we stayed in in Franschhoek. We spent an evening sitting around a big table, next to a fire in the fireplace, drinking wine and hot chocolate, eating cheese and other food we'd picked up at the Pick 'n Pay that stayed open 'til 9 (! this is unheard of around where I live!), listening to the creek flow just outside the kitchen. Oh and yeah we cruised around Franschhoek listening to Culture Spears in the Corsa Lite.

A view of Table Mountain from the car.

This picture is compliments of Justin. This is what Mmapula looked like when she finally got back on land after a 45 minute boatride to Robben Island. I didn't throw up, but definitely had to fight the urge. When you're feeling sick on a boat it helps to look at the horizon, what happens when you can't see the horizon because the boat is rocking too much? Dramamine next time!

A picture of the Blouberg boat taking prisoners who were freed from the island back to Cape Town and the mainland.

Nelson Mandela's cell was the fourth one from the left. We had a chance to quickly walk by it and see just how small his cell was.

This is a picture of me and my friend, Victor, the guy who was so nice and helpful throughout the rides to and from the island. He provided me with the barf bag I never had to use and led me (and Nathan) up to the top of the boat to get some fresh air even though it had been roped off to other passengers.

Maybe the boat was rockin' so much because of this storm that was settling over the Victoria and Albert Waterfront?

Sunrise over the ocean from the porch of the beach house we stayed in in Simons Town.

African Penguins on the beach in Simons Town.