Oh hi! Times are still moving here in Southern Africa. The hot has come. It's alright with me. I was going to make blogging more often one of my new years resolutions, but if I wait until the new year to post again, it will go down as a blogging disaster. In contrast to my traditional blog posts narratives due to the large gap in time, i'm gonna throw down a list of some of my favorite things about this place.

My favorite things about South Africa:

1. Free range chickens- I usually wake up in the morning to one of two things, the loud rooster that believes 4:30am is time to get up or the mother hen and three chicks rustling through the leaves below my windy. Chickens are everywhere here in the rural locations. If you own chickens, you wake up in the morning,open the gate, and know that they will be home at dark. Its that simple. The honor code is that basically you dont kill another man's chicken, and it seems to work. Other than the hungry dogs that sometimes catch a slow one, these chickens seem to roam free with no problems. I love the fact that in america free range chickens is kind of like a buzz word. It basically means that those expensive chickens you were eating from whole foods did not spend their whole lives in a cage. Here, they provide entertainment, alarm clocks, and insect repellant. Now if i could just get them from eating my garden, i dont think i would eat them.

2. Taxi rides- I live outside of a large township. The way they classify places people live here is very confusion. Some of my friends might say its not a township and is actually a location. Still, it is a large town with a mini-mall type complex with a grocery store. I dont have any of this in my village, so i need to travel up to two times a week to get to this town. The procedure goes as follows, stand by the road, point the direction you want to go, and hope and pray that the next mini-bus/koombie isn't full to the brim, or only has the back row seat between two fat people available. I love taxi rides because its always an adventure. Whether i am taking the 30 minute ride to my closest town or traveling for 8 hours straight to a distant city, its always an adventure.

3. Xitsonga- The language that I hear, and try to speak every day is called Xitsonga, or Shangaan depending on the location. The region i am in is more accustomed to calling it Shangaan, mainly because it is a mix of pure tsonga from Mozambique along with Swati, English and Afrikaan. I live in the border of Kruger National Park, which borders Mozambique. Many people from my area have immigrated to South Africa from Mozambique, bringing their own customs, culture, and language. The English and Afrikaan mix came during the Apartheid era when many white farmers used this fertile land as farms. The language is fairly simple in its basic form, but when you mix these languages together it creates moments of hilarity on my part of understanding, and pure joy when i get something right to those around me.

4. Gogos (grandmothers)- I live with a gogo, i work with some gogos, and every time when i take the previously mentioned taxi rides, i look to chum it up with some gogos. I remember during training another volunteer telling our group that she thinks gogos and middle age women run this country, after nearly ten months in this country i could never disagree with this statement. They care for the sick, feed orphans, cook, clean, and maintain order in place where a traditional family dynamic is rare at best.

5. Children- I may be a spectacle to many children i meet, and to others i am simply a scary bearded man, but when i have interacted and spoke with the children of this country i have grown to love and cherish the time we are together. While the school system continues to differentiate between social classes, the children of the village i live in are eager to learn, easily adapt to change, and are curious of the world around them. They are witty, and strong willed, and even the young ones get used to me and arent so scared after a while.

This list could go on and on, but i still do need to take a taxi today, speak some Tsonga, scare some chickens, talk to some gogos and play soccer with some children.

I will get back to blogging more often. I've been staying busy with Peace Corps Trainings and plenty of work at my organization, but sharing what i have experienced about this beautiful country with those of you back home should definitely be one of my priorities.

Woke up a little late today. I got home late last night from watching movies at work. I have successfully turned my work into an after hours movie theater with the help of a projector and my extensive supply of major motion pictures. Anyway, i woke up a little late, cooked me up some fine wild oats (brand name). My friend Never usually comes in the morning to walk to work with me but today he was off to work early, i woke up too late. Coffee and oats, an all too familiar way to start the day, but the perfect way to get you going. I splash some water on my face and take off to my home based care oasis. I know i've got to finish writing my grant proposal today, and start compiling the additional documents to be attached. This drop in center and soup kitchen should have been constructed years ago, but the funds were never placed appropriately to get it going. I'm gonna take my best stab at it, I hope to be successful, wish me luck!

The morning is pretty quick, everyone is busy, the day starts quickly. I finish writing the proposal and realize i need reference letters for the project. I've got a worthy counterpart today, our "hydroponic coordinator" but damn is he much more than that. I simply call him KG, and i've gotten to know him very well in the past few weeks. We take a stroll to the clinic and we talk to the principal at the primary school, we draft a letter to the clinic and the induna (traditional leader) and we get them signed and pressed with stamps. Things are running right smooth.

The manager of my project shows up, stipends in hand. Its been a while since the caregivers have received funds for their work. An always present challenge when working in the NGO field, and confusion leads to disagreement. Things eventually get straightened out, but we will see how things move forward.

Never tells me that he has finally finished the computer he has been working on. By scraping old part from various computers around town, he told me today that he actually got the thing working. We installed a hard-drive earlier this week and i was not optimistic the thing would ever turn on let alone be functional, so when he told me today that all he needed was a keyboard i was ecstatic. Never works at my organization, he struggled through school, and didnt finish grade 12, but he is a hard worker and is a whiz with mechanics and fine motor skills. He's a year older than me we share the same birthday month, we both agreed we need to through a big party. We struggle to communicate sometimes with each other but we are friends, and when he told me that he fixed a scrap computer to a working PC, I couldnt help but smile and know that as my gogo says "he will some day eat with a fork and knife."

The day was winding down by this time, and most of the people took off after they got paid, so i helped mix chemicals into our hydroponic garden before setting up my office into a movie theater once more. I shared bread, beans, scrambled eggs, mango atchar (sliced mangoes in a spiced oil), and a cup of tea with my security officer, and then watched Sherlock Holmes. It was a ten hour day at work, 9am-7pm, but I cant help but smile.

Oh hey! I almost forgot I had a blog. There was this thing happening in Mzansi that really sucked all the attention out of me. I will give you a hint, it involved Shakira, 32 countries, and Africa…you guessed it, the waka waka song! But seriously, the world cup has come and gone in South Africa and although I am a little depressed it is over, it was an amazing experience and a phenomenal showing for Africa on an international stage. Did you see the closing ceremony?? How cool were those elephants?! And a giant LCD floor in a country where a majority of the people live on dirt or concrete floors, that is something amazing. Sorry for the cynicism, I just got back from a twelve day vacation so I am experiencing a little bit of culture shock without even leaving the country.

Looking back since the 11th of June, the last month has been full of amazing adventures and unbelievable surprises. I spent the opening game, Bafana Bafana vs. Mexico, in my shopping town amongst fellow PCVs and friends from my village and watched as the boys from South Africa started the tournament off on an amazing note. Unfortunately, the next Bafana Bafana game which I spent at a tavern in my shopping town did not end on a positive note. I will spare you a rant on the Uruguayan national team, and relish in the fact that I got to boo Luis Suarez every time he touched the ball at a later match. But the 3-0 whomping of SA was only made worse by the bitter cold that night, and the drunk men who I struggled to communicate with in each others respective broken languages.

The first game I attended was Ivory Coast vs. North Korea in Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit. It was my first time out of my village in a long time (2 months) and the PCVs I met up with at McDonalds described me as wide eyed and confused at the bustling metropolis. But I soon adjusted, and although the game was seemingly meaningless in the grand scheme of the tournament it was an amazing spectacle, and the Ivory Coast fans, who danced for 90 straight minutes, were as much of a show as the players on the field. That night, while staying in a backpacker in Nelspruit, thanks to the peer pressure of fellow PCVs and a nice Australian man I bought a ticket to see the USA vs. Ghana game in Rustenberg. Rustenberg is about 8 hours away by public transport and although I was equipped with enough clothes to last me one whole night we all still woke up at the crack of dawn and traveled to watch the boys in red, white, and blue play against the last hope for Africa in the round of 16. The game was fantastic, and although I refrained from screaming “Reea” every time that the Ghana fans shouted Ghana (gets it, Ghana-Reea), I had a blast waving my American flag and yelling god bless America at the top of my lungs.

The finale of the last five weeks was a twelve day trip down the Wild Coast from Durban to Port Elizabeth with 7 other PCVs, and it was remarkable to say the least. The untouched coastline of the wild coast and the sprawling cities of Durban and Port Elizabeth really made me unsure of when I will be returning to the US of A. This country has such remarkable contrast, and it is unlike any experience that I will ever have in my life. The final game I attended was Germany vs. Paraguay in the third vs. fourth place game, and although the night was tarnished by an opportunist forcefully taking my cellular device, it was a great experience and a wonderful way to finish the world cup experience.

Life in the village continues on now. I have finally finished the three month “Community Integration” period in my village (better known as “lock down”) and can start doing projects within the community that will hopefully fulfill the real reason I am here…to meet hot girls. Just kidding, I actually am very excited about the new opportunity to open a soup kitchen/drop-in-center at my organization after space became available in the current building we are operating in. I am in the process of applying for funds, and I will not look too needy, but if anyone has any philanthropic itches to scratch, send an email my way and I will be sure to send you pictures of orphans with full stomachs.

I am also beyond excited to be back with the friends and colleagues who I have grown to love over the last four months. I’m still shocked at the generosity of the people I live with, and how easy it is to put a hole in a soccer ball, but this life is pretty darn remarkable, and as sappy as I sound right now, it would be better to experience for yourself. Please come and visit me, and I hope to hear from all of you very soon. I will be in my village this week, and then gone again next week for IST (Peace Corps In-Service Training) but send me an email and keep on sending packages. A quick reminder on packages, don’t get them insured, it costs me waaaay too much money to get them from the post office if they are insured, and send them in the padded envelopes. Coloring books, and stuff for kids is the best thing to send me. Also, deflated soccer balls and basketballs would be an amazing addition to the neighborhood, and if anyone can find cheap chess sets I would be beyond grateful. I am in the process of setting up a chess club and durable and lightweight chess boards and pieces would be a great asset to my community

I will hopefully get back to updating this frequently, I think my record is two posts in a month, but I hope that everyone reading this is enjoying life as much as I am and I hope to talk to you soon. Stay well. Peace Out.

I sit back and enjoy them laughing around me. We are talking in English, an unfortunate inability on my part. But I’m learning about their language. Castro sits beside me, he is in 7th grade, and lives across the street from me. He has sharp English, straight to the point, but he will sit next to me while I am talking and try to translate everything I am saying into Xitsonga, one hell of an English teacher for a12 year old. I’m still struggling with the language. No clicks, but very difficult pronunciation of letters that makes hearing the language very difficult. I need to keep working on it to start understanding the nuances.

We begin to talk about a business plan for Marula Business, a school assignment given to Honored, a 12th grader at the smaller secondary school in my village, written in English, from his business class. He has to work out a business plan for a startup company to run during the world cup, including an income statement, management breakdown, marketing plan and a SWOT analysis. There are definitely times when I wish I was working full time in the schools. English is not his home language, he speaks Xitsonga naa. His English is alright, but not good enough to come up with the words to write a business plan.

Miklatzi sits across from Castro, an 11th grader at the same school as Honored. Last weekend we worked through a 100 point worksheet that was definitely worth all 100 points. I hope to work with a teacher from his high school to start a math club and tutoring session on the weekends. It would be very beneficial to the students to get all the help that they can get when it comes to math, science, and English. I think I have a calling to Math, and having a name like Matthew in this country seems to continue my thoughts towards continuing my career studying and teaching math. They call me Matewu in my village, some call me Matthew, but the W seems to get dragged out where many people call me Matthews. Unfortunately for me, the word math in Xistonga basically sounds like “mats” which sounds very similar to Matt, so my attention is grabbed when anyone talks about Math.

We work out his business plan; I give him some ideas on running his Marurla Beer selling business during the world cup games. We agree he will sell to the stadium in the closets shopping town to my village, and if he wanted to expand he would go to the game reserves. We put together an income statement from his price per bottle and estimated number sold, put together a list of capital assets and startup capital, and started a SWOT analysis before the sun went down. I agreed to work with his group tomorrow.

The boys continue to talk as we are still able to look up words from the dictionary that would be often confusing to us both. A great conversation to say the least ensued. I find out that the initiation ceremony for the boys in my community will occur next month. It’s pretty manly to be a 10-12year old sent out into the bush for 3 months, especially during the winter months and the world cup. I think the tribal authority would make an exception if bafana bafana made a run for the Pashaba. World Cup fever is definitely heavy on this country, and it’s an incredible time to be in Africa, and a more incredible time to be in South Africa.

The boys love soccer, Miklatzi is usually opposite of me during street soccer, he is bigger but too lengthy to be a great soccer player. Castro has the moves and the skills and the enthusiasm to be a great athlete. He loves to dance and the house he lives in always blasts music and dancing is never far behind.

Nine people live in the house across the street from me, two orphans with six all together under the age of 17. I love the children from this house, they have the enthusiasm and happiness that makes my day better every day. Maber and Shane were orphaned when Maber was only 6 weeks old. Their grandmother took them in and brought this energetic duo to complete the bustling house they live in now. Maber is 6 years old, they call him “Hochi” (pig), “Zebra”, and “Kwirih kunkulu” (big stomach) and if his eating habits and basic need to be covered in dirt didn’t give him all his nicknames, it would definitely be his dancing skills. The kid can break it down like the best and learned best from his bhuti (brother) Castro in my rambunctious neighbor’s house.

For the longest time I thought Shane was a boy. Her short hair and the way that she ran with the boys made her look like an 8 year old boy in frilled jeans and pink skirts, not to mention a name like Shane didn’t help. I now see her as one of the toughest girls I have ever met in my life. I couldn’t imagine the life she has lived, and the time I have spent including her with the boys and taking a timeout from the rugby game to spin her around with her arms will always be fun to me. The boys all want to learn about computers, and need help with English. It’s pretty easy for the boys to know who to ask, and I am happy to oblige. It’s the least I can do for the neighborhood I live in.

The more children I talk to, the more I realize that they don’t have much to do outside of school. With the World Cup set to give a full month without school, the winter months will be cold and boring for all of the children outside of school, not just those waiting for circumcision.

I got the world cup fever pretty bad too. I will be attending two games and I can’t wait to cheer on bafanna bafanna and Team USA in the cup. It should be a great opportunity to get closer with the community and also get a very exciting break. I probably should have spent the time I spent writing this working on language, but I’m continuing to learn, and keep reminding myself that I have only been here for 2 months. I’m living very well, and loving every second I have here. If anyone you know is going to the World Cup please have them email me, and anyone that wants to visit me is always welcome! Stay well.

My gogo has finally started to loosen her grips over me in the last few weeks. I’m no longer a child in her eyes anymore. She does not seem to feel the need to protect me everywhere that I go, and I can feel my freedom slowly starting to come back again. She is an amazing lady, but she also feels responsible for me and my safety. This can lead to frustration and often confusion because of the lack of communication. When I am told “If you go there, don’t eat the food,” and only receive a skeptical laugh when I ask why, I am left even more confused at my sometimes puzzling day to day life. But I have started to sense that she has begun to see me as a friend, a colleague, and a roommate, more than her last born son, which is still my usual title.

This freedom has allowed me certain privileges that I am very grateful for, one being the right to go places on my own. Where before I would need an escort to do many basics tasks, I have begun to branch out and explore, meet, and investigate the village on my own. South Africa grants me the capability to be completely capable to interact with people using English, and this affords me certain opportunities that I can achieve on my own without the help of Magogo or my other colleagues.

Case in point, I visited the second High School in my area and, although my visit was not formally announced (it was my second visit, and I was told I could come back on any Monday before 8am), I was given the chance to talk with some teachers, greet the entire student body at their morning devotion, and talk to a class of 9th graders in their “Life Orientation” class. I took the opportunity to facilitate some participatory analysis of my community and starting spouting off questions to this class of timid 15 and 16 year olds.

“Do you know what HIV is?” A few heads nod, I’m not expecting to get an answer.

“Do you know how it is transmitted?” A few girls in the front giggle as I tell them that I don’t want them to tell me, I just want to know if they know.

They nod their heads and I realize that I am knee deep in cold water and need to slow down for them to get used to me. I ask them what they like about the community. A hand suddenly shoots up. He is wearing a blue blazer, sits in the back of the classroom, looks small for his age, and especially when compared to the girls that sit around him, but that is life. He tells me he likes that school is free, and that the government pays for his books and the field where he plays soccer. Those around him are in agreement and I’m happy that anyone is raising their hand to talk to me.

Kids at this age don’t have the English skills yet to feel completely comfortable talking to me and this is the biggest downside of going in alone. I tell them that they can speak Shangaan and their teacher can translate for me. I get the same answers and move on to the next question.

“What does your community need?” “How can I help?” The same hand in the back goes up; he is the only one with the courage to talk to me at this point so I hear him out. “A library” he replies, and I smile and ask for other answers.

The rest tell me that they need another soccer stadium, the second one in this town, but it needs to be closer to their school, the bitter rivalry with the other High Schools seems to carry over to the access to soccer grounds. I laugh and thank the teacher for giving me the time in class to address the learners.

As I’m leaving I ask the teacher the name of the very vocal student in the back. He hesitates and then decides to go get the student for a formal introduction. When he is pulled out of class he looks terrified. I put myself in his shoes, his mind racing at what he has done to get pulled out of class, the embarrassment that he is going to face from his peers when he goes back, he doesn’t seem to have the same confidence now, but when he talks I get a whole different sense of who he is. I tell him that his English is great, and thank him for helping me out.

His name is Maxwell, and he finally cracks a smile and tells me that he also writes poems. I tell him where I work and that I would love to read his poems some time. I tell him I will be back, and to stop me when he sees me. I leave the school feeling refreshed, and head back to work for a short day of circulating office gossip and some computer training.

Just before I am about to leave for home I see Maxwell entering the complex of my work, school books in hand. He goes to school about a 30 minute walk away and I am shocked to see him strutting in the door. He greets my coworkers, brave is the only word I can use to describe him at this point, and sits down next to me. I’m in the middle of an interview with one of my coworkers, but I finish and sit down to greet my new friend and can’t wait to read the poems he wants to share with me. They are beyond fascinating; he talks about his dreams in life, his dreams in sleep, his country, and crime, the meaning of peace and love. We share our favorites, I like all of them, but he tells me which ones he likes the best. I agree with him, giving him the positive reinforcement that is such a void in this country.

We sit and talk longer, about his family, his friends, his goals in life. He has an assignment that he needs help on. It’s a paragraph on HIV/AIDS in English. A tough assignment by any standards, but he has come to the right place. My coordinator and I help him with the right words to use, give him a book in English and Xitsonga, he definitely came to the right place.

It’s time to head home so I pack up my things and begin the short walk home. He accompanies the coordinator and me on the walk towards my house, and he continues with me towards my home. He is polite, intuitive, and witty. We sit and talk more and he teaches me traditional African games as I tell him about the chess club I want to start. He’s interested, but has no idea how to play chess; he would rather stick to Murhabarhaba, of which he is the uncontested champion.

He wolfs down a plate full of food and I am beyond happy with my day. He heads home at dusk, and I hope to see him again. I’ve had trouble connecting with men in my village. Those who are older than 16 or 17 seem to be uninterested in me. Too cool for the mulunghu (that rhymes if you were wondering). And those that are 18 to say 28 seem to spend most of their weekends in the tavern, so the little amount of time I am not in work on the weekdays are hard to make lasting relationships.

All in all, I have to say that Max may be the most sustainable friend I have made so far. He challenges the way I think, likes learning from me, and helps me learn from him. He is not afraid to ask me questions; even those that I think he knows that I don’t know, and seems to genuinely enjoy my company. Even today, when I was not at home, craving chips (French fries) beyond belief, I come home, and loe and behold, he had brought me chips. It may be too early to say, but I think he is my first real friend in my village.

My favorite Max quotes thus far “Do you know how to speak Xhosa?!” “What is rehab like??” and the best one to another PCV “I’m done helping you guuuurl!”

Sustainability, make friends with a 15 year old…they will be 17 when I leave.

Another Sunday in Africa. I wake up to the sounds of roosters and children in the streets. I stare out through the mesh net that covers my bed, and try to close my eyes again. I’ve been sleeping for 10 hours, my nights are so long here when life stops when the sun goes down, but I still feel tired. I’m exhausted from a sickness that is no different than what I have felt at home, but made worse by the lack of familiar comforts that make life so easy. I have to force myself out of my room to walk to the metal box with the plastic toilet to dump out the bucket of pee from the previous night and relieve myself from a long slumber after working on re-hydrating myself due to this damn sickness.

It’s a church day. I’ve agreed to attend church with Magogo every Sunday, and I sit in the tightly packed pews and listen to a language I have not even begun to understand. It’s a catholic church, a very small denomination amongst my rural community. No more than 20 people show up every Sunday, and the father is an Italian who makes his rounds to several in the area, only coming to this one about once a month. I bring my own bible, a King James Edition, printed a long time ago, written in old English that makes me feel even more like I don’t even have a full grasp of my own mother tongue. I hear the words that they say, I pick up the familiar verbs and nouns but the meanings get lost in contextual grammar variations. The songs that are sung are different from last week, no one gave me a song booklet this week, and I don’t mind much. My butchering of their language can’t be nice to hear amongst their melodic tunes and pure baritones, so I clap when I hear the beat and do the hand motions that go along with it to fake enthusiasm.

Church has been something that has always been engraved in my own personal culture, but I have never felt comfortable with the structure. The familiar format is easy to recognize, so I go through in my head what would be happening as I try not to focus on what I need to get from town today and how I really want to be doing laundry right now. I cannot help but get distracted from the stares from the children around me. I was told to sit in front, and my feeble attempt to sneak to the back was highly unsuccessful, so I stand alone in the front pew towering over all that are around me, trying to make myself as small as possible so those behind me can see around me.

I have grown quite accustomed to the stares; children as mostly confused by my presence and are just trying to understand anything about me. I doubt many of them have seen a white person before. The whites that come through my town are speeding through in there Toyota pick-up trucks on their way to the million dollar game lodges. No one stops in this village, I’m not really sure if there is anything to stop for here. The people from the bigger towns simply describe it as boring, but it’s the lack of movement, the lack of development, and the lack of just about everything that makes this rural wasteland so undesirable for most. The children though, they don’t know anything else, I doubt they know about the riches that exist in the world. They are so different from the children who don’t have to worry about when their next meal will come, or if they will see their father again. You can see the pain and burden in the eyes of the old men and teenage boys who are aching for something different, but the children, so naïve and so carefree, they know nothing else.

“Are you sharp?!” Is a text that I usually send or receive from other PCVs about once a week. It basically means, “is everything going okay?” I picked it up when I was at a wedding over training and had 4 host brothers to look after me who would take turns asking me if indeed, I was sharp. The usual response is “Yes, sharp sharp” but sometimes it’s really hard to say that everything is “nice nice”. Most of us, minus the couples, are kilos away from other volunteers and are lucky if we see them every other week, so these text messages really serve to keep us sane. We share stories that only make sense to us. About how being treated like a child by our host families is exhausting, and how the money from the EU is still being discussed when the final report was supposed to be turned in a month ago. Similar stories make us feel okay with our surroundings, a shared experience that can only be understood from those that are walking in our similar shoes. We can joke about how backwards things sometimes are in this country, and lament in the lack of alcohol that can be consumed to relieve any of the stress that builds up after a long day of work. It’s been a month now since we were all together in our training utopia, and as much as I was ready for it to be over, I would trade a big sack of rand to be able to spend a week with all my friends from a month ago. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still excited about being where I am, I’m just ready to stop “culturally integrating” and ready to start making a difference in my community. My organization seems to think I am a glorified intern that can make magic tricks with a computer, so as much fun as data input is, I would much rather be up and running with all the ideas that have been stewing in my brain for over a year. I had a friend tell me that a countdown to freedom from Peace Corps three month policy of sitting back and observing was keeping her sane, and I guess that I need to start adapting this idea for myself. It’s either start a countdown and begin planning, or just keep on counting the geckos on my wall, 13...

It was really hard leaving my last village. I stayed in a small community called Machipe during training and the warm welcome the village gave 14 of us from the training group was astonishing. I was not taught the local language during training, and even with only the greeting in the local language, I was able to make friends and become somewhat of a local celebrity on my side of town. My African name was Thabiso, it means happiness, and I couldn’t walk anywhere without someone yelling it to me. I felt welcomed by every person in the village and it was a sad day when I had to walk away from my host family’s home and know that there was a chance I would never see them again.

Today, I am in a new village with new faces and all the same confusion of who I am and what am I doing here. But I no longer have 13 friends to deflect some of the stares from the glare off my white skin. I’m an outsider, a foreigner, a malunghu (white person). And as friendly as I can be, and as much Xitsonga as I can try to speak, it is really hard to become accepted. Peace Corps has set up very specific tasks to make that happen, and the three month period that volunteers call “lock-down” due to our lack of travel ability, is much more what the PC calls it, Community Integration. Luckily I have an organization that is not only committed to seeing change in the community, but also very committed to helping me achieve my integration and full exposure to the community.

I will admit that the first week was especially hard. Everything was new, and not having one familiar face outside of work was often intimidating and disheartening. The lady I stay with, I call her Magogo (its slang for “granny”), was a huge help with this because her laughter and fascination with me helped me to get through many hard days. She has no formal education, but her English is remarkable despite this fact. The warmth she has showed me and acceptance into her home has given me strength when my head is hurting and I just need a hot meal and someone to sit with to enjoy each other’s company.

After three weeks in this not so tiny African oasis, I can see progress being made. I may not be the “famous man”, as deemed by my last host brother in Machipe, but I find myself being called “Bhuti Matewu” (“brother Matthew”) more these days than malunghu. I visited the local secondary school today to introduce myself, and I was thankful that not all the laughter was at me, but also with me, as I introduced myself in Xitsonga and English, as well as presenting the new campaign that is slowly starting to take shape in my organization. I never wanted to change the world when I signed up for the Peace Corps, I just wanted to give myself to those who could use it the most, and those faces that looked back at me gave me more strength that I could ever imagine. The covered smiles of the boys in the back of the classroom that may not know that I am a mere 4 to 5 years older than them and the girls in the front who are still in shock to see a white man speak their language are the ones that make me know this is where I want to be. Now I just need to show them that they are the future, and there is an end to HIV that isn’t about one white man coming to a poor African village, but is about all of us, working together to know that we can see the end.

During training, and even before I started my service, I was told by many people that there will be ups and downs during service. I remember thinking that this was an inevitable part of life in the first place, but since getting to my permanent site I have fully begun to realize what that actually means in the context of the Peace Corps. Take for granted the week that I had last week. It started on the up side, the weather was great, there was a considerable amount of rain which hides the blistering sun and cools off the tin roof of my room, but a good week for weather turned into some frustrating days of work.

I showed up Monday, which I was aware was a holiday for all of South Africa, and even though I was told by my supervisor that we would be in work on Monday and our “work plan” had tasks to accomplish, no one was at the office. It was not too much of a surprise, but the lack of communication threw me off. I did manage to install new anti-virus software onto the work computer and type up the agenda for the stakeholders meeting that was to be held on Wednesday, so not that bad of a week.

Tuesday was the kind of day that I think will seem pretty normal after awhile, but it was definitely a down point for the week. I showed up at 9AM, the time I get to work every day, and didn’t have much to do. I finished typing up a proposal for the gender based initiative that my counterpart and I are going to start, and then waited for another three hours until my supervisor showed up. He strolled in around 12:30 and I was very happy to get to work. Unfortunately, I had finished the work that we were supposed to be doing for the day in a half an hour, so I took the opportunity to talk with some of the staff about their perception of how everything was going in the organization. It was at this point that I started the long and tiring process of trying to understand the politics of the office. Office politics exist everywhere, and I was not shocked to find out that they existed in my organization, but the most salient problem for a Peace Corps volunteer like me is the ever existent issue of culture. While I can handle office politics relatively well in my own culture, I am always questioning my responses and actions as to not be culturally insensitive or worse yet, culturally biased. It was a big part of my stress last week, and will continue to take a toll on my days while I am trying to resolve the issues that are seemingly simple to solve, but much bigger than I will probably ever understand.

I came into Wednesday with very high hopes. My organization had planned a meeting to introduce me to the important community leaders and the invitations had been distributed, the agenda typed and ready to be printed, and the money in place to buy the food for the event. While the United States places a lot of attention on time, the SA culture, and most African cultures in general take a more event oriented view. This means that for my supervisor to be late on a day like this, even though someone would still have to go to town and get back to start cooking the food so it could be completed before the meeting started at 11, was really no big deal. My nerves were already on edge trying to fine tune a speech I prepared in Xitsonga and English, and things just couldn’t seem to go right. The agenda that I had typed up on Monday was saved on a computer that for some reason did not have the power cords accessible, and the printer to print the agendas was nowhere to be found. Of course, everything ended up working out, the man who had the power cords showed up, and the agendas were printed. The food was delivered with the printer, and the meeting started, albeit 3 hours later that it was scheduled. I guess I should consider this right on time from now on. The meeting was a relative success. My speech was well accepted, other than by one man who I think was trying to manipulate me into giving his organization help, under the assumption that I came to Africa with a truck load of money. I was later told to steer clear of this guy and that he was not very respected in the community, no matter how loud he is at community meetings. The day ended with the paying of the stipends to the staff of my organization, and the meeting was tense and tiring to say the least. What little I understood seemed like it was causing very high anxiety to everyone in the room and I was not left out of the mix, even to the point where I was offered part of the stipend for my work. Something that is strictly prohibited by PC policy, and unnecessary due to the PC stipend that I receive every month. I was pretty well exhausted at the end of this day, and was relieved as the rain started to pour right before I went to sleep.

My supervisor was absent on Thursday, but the day was relatively productive, but still filled with politics from the other members of the organization. I am lucky to be uninvolved in the power struggle that exists, but I did get a chance to make it clear to a few members of the staff that I am not here to work for my supervisor, I am here to work for the organization and more so the community as a whole. This seemed to get a positive response, and I also got a chance to strategize how to make the relationships and communication better in the office.

Friday was a day void of work. I was told to go into town early so that we could do work around town, and once I got there, and waited an hour for them to show up, I was told that we didn’t have anything to do and we should “knock off” (be done with work). After the tiring week that I had, and looking forward to going to visit another volunteer the same day I didn’t fight it. We did manage to open a post office box for the organization so that they don’t have to share with the college that backs the project, but that was truly the extent of my day. From there I met up with another PCV and we spent the afternoon shopping for food and cooking a delicious dinner at her site. It was a great end to the week that was full of ups and downs.

It’s now Sunday, and I am ready and prepared for the week of work. I have a game plan of things that I want to complete, and the knowledge of the politics that affect my work every day. I don’t think I will be relaying my weeks like that anymore, it was stressful just to relive last week through typing it. I will also try to post some pictures this week when I get a chance. Stay sharp. Peace out.

Life in Africa is not easy. The simple things in life I took for granted back at home feel like a distant memory, and now the simplest tasks can take hours and hours. But at the same time, it’s those things that make me enjoy being here and appreciate where I come from. This is on my mind especially today because I did laundry, and it is never an exciting part of my week, although it is very rewarding. I always look forward to laundry day because I know that I will be wearing only clean clothes for a short time after that day, and I will know my body will smell nice because my towel will be freshly washed. But my point is exactly that, I took for granted having 3 or 4 towels that I could cycle through at home before sticking them all in the wash and having them fluffy and dry after a short hour. Here I use the same towel for a week and I’m lucky if it’s actually clean when I finish the wash, and fluffy is a word that is nonexistent from my vocabulary these days. Well, I did use it to describe my new roommate recently. I call him Larry and he is a rodent of some sort, with big eyes and a long fluffy tail. He actually might be a marsupial by the looks of him, but he made an abrupt appearance in my room last night and after trying to coerce him into a bucket for the better part of an hour without any luck, I agreed to let him stay, and he is probably somewhere in my room right now, enjoying the smell of my clean clothes. I’ve had mice in my house in America, and it’s pretty easy to get them out, you open the door and chase them out, it wasn’t so easy here cause I didn’t want to lose sight of him and in order to get him out I would have had to use two different keys to unlock two different doors. Not easy, I’m telling you. And I could go buy a trap, but I don’t feel like killing an animal that I gave a name, and for me to buy a trap I would have to take a taxi that costs me 11 rand and then take the same taxi back, which is about thirty minutes to an hour each way. Not easy. I think what is the most difficult though is the water situation. If you are in America, go to the faucet now and turn on that water and wash your hands real good. Hands are filthy. If I wanted to do that, I would have to find clean water, without any worms swimming in it, and then boil it so it is clean and then find clean soap, and also find enough water stored somewhere to do all that. Most of the time I simply opt for hand sanitizer, it does the trick. I could go into a myriad of other things that are simply not easy here, but I’ll spare you the sob story and get on with my day.

Peace out!

MB

I’ve been at my permanent site for a week now, and life is starting to settle down for the most part. I can’t say that I am completely comfortable with my surroundings, and I can’t say that I am settling into my new home, but I am excited for each new day and skeptical and anxious for what lies around the corner. Last week I had the big Peace Corps swearing in ceremony where I took the oath and officially became PC volunteers, no more of this trainee stuff. I am now a on the job 24/7, as emphasized by the country director during her keynote speech. The ceremony was held at a nice hotel in a town between the three provinces that SA21 will be serving and I took two incredible showers with hot water. I think that was the highlight of the whole event for me, sad, but oh so true.

From the ceremony we didn’t waste time packing up the cars and getting out to the permanent sites. It was about a 6 hour drive from the swearing in site and I arrived in Enhlanzeni, Mpumalanga. This area of the country is home to Nelspruit and many of the resort towns surrounding Kruger National Park. It’s got beautiful canyons and mountain ranges that can only make me miss colorful Colorado even more.

So far work at my site is going well. I have only had 3 full days of work but I am beginning to understand the role of the people I will be working with and starting to develop an understanding of my role, if that is even possible. My supervisor, Aubrey, who is a man, and the man, is the manager of the project and currently has far too many responsibilities. He is in charge of most of the important decisions that are made and puts himself at the head of most of the issues. My “counterpart”, Ben, is a volunteer who is a close friend of Aubrey and other members of the organization. His interest is in gender based initiatives and incorporating programs into the organization that will target gender based violence and create positive role models for children and young adults. He is passionate and enthusiastic about my presence in the organization and the initiative that he is undertaking. Unfortunately, I came to the organization at a very tumultuous time because the hydroponic garden is having trouble maintaining a consistent crop and there are issues surrounding the monitoring of the systems for the garden. Some tasks have begun to be delegated to me regarding this process, but I don’t want to start burning bridges already that I have not even had the time to build. I am currently treading a fine line between my involvement on the management side and my role as just a regular member of the staff. It is going to be a challenge that I probably have not even begun to understand. But, I also think I am going to be a good asset for the programs that are beginning to come about and I think I will add a pair of fresh eyes that will be valuable for the community and Zig.

My day to day life really varies from each day. Take today for instance, I woke up at 5:30 walked to my organization to get a document from the Program Coordinator, Belrunik, and then took a taxi to my nearest town where I met up with Aubrey. From there we drove to the town where he lives and then waited for awhile while some things were sorted out, and then drove to another town to get some stationary supplies. From there we drove back to town and stopped by the training facility that is associated with my organization to pick up some forms before going to police station so I could meet with the station commissioner. After a bit (3 hour) delay, we ended up meeting with the commissioner and the captain who is in charge of the area where I am staying. Don’t worry Mom, it’s standard Peace Corps policy to meet with the police and make your presence known so I can have a direct contact with the station. It was a very good meeting and it was a good way to end my day. From there I took an absolutely loaded taxi back to my village and ate dinner with my granny, I call her Magogo, which literally means granny, and I have been on the internet now for far too long.

I can’t believe I have been in South Africa for longer than two months, it feels like time is simply flying by and I can’t hold on tight enough to see where this crazy life will take me. I still love every minute, and although it’s definitely not all easy, I would not want to be anywhere else in the world right now. This country is abounding with opportunity and a flare that is unlike anything I have ever experienced. South Africa has been in the shadow of apartheid for so long and they were just coming out of it when the world began to believe that it was a country full of criminals and murderers. I don’t go a day without someone asking me how I enjoy South Africa and telling me that it is a safe country and crime is really not a problem. Unfortunately crime is a problem, but the feeling of community and respect that also exists is unlike anything I have ever experienced anywhere else in the world. In the rural areas, like the one I am living in, the community looks after each other, and while petty thefts do happen, I always get the feeling that the country is trying so hard to prove themselves as not just full of criminals. I guess I just love this country, and I’ve not met one person who was anything but exuberant and welcoming to my presence and to their fellow South Africa’s. There is the word “ubuntu” in South Africa culture that means “I am because you are” and it is a sense of community that will always have an important place in my heart. I hope that everyone reading this gets a chance to visit this amazing country, it has so much to offer.

Today I bought a modem for my computer so I can connect to the internet. When I first applied to the Peace Corps I never thought that I would be able to say that sentence, and I now have more modern technology in South Africa than I did at home. The whole internet and phone thing is still in a pain in the butt because its all pay as you go and really expensive for a Peace Corps volunteer, but I will try to update as much as possible and keep you all back home in the know about my life here in beautiful South Africa.

For starters, six days from today I will officially become a Peace Corps volunteer. We have a big ceremony and on the same day my amazing younger sister turns 16 years old, I get to take the same oath of service that presidents and elected officials have taken for years before me. I guess that I always knew this would happen for me, but it seems like quite the accomplishment now. Peace Corps training is unlike anything I have ever done in my life, and probably anything I will ever do. Its one part intensive language learning, two parts cultural and technical lessons, and a dash of Peace Corps policy and procedure. Mix in group dynamics, homesickness, culture shock, and a pinch of illnesses, and what you have is the perfect concoction for getting ready for what will be the toughest two years of my life, without a doubt.

I should touch on the language aspect of training because I have gotten a lot of questions about how learning the language is going. Like i said in my last post, I am learning Xitsonga, or Shagaan, they are interchangeable, and might actually not be the same, but I am still a little unclear on that. It is going okay but learning a new language has never been easy for me, I took French for 6 years in middle school and high school, but still I don’t think I could accurately construct a logical sentence. So I can’t say that I am instantly picking up on the language, especially because I am not exposed to the language frequently, yet. Still, I guess I am doing better than I thought. The Peace Corps gives language assessments to test where we are at in development, and the final LPI (Language Proficiency I…) is an important step in becoming a volunteer. The official Peace Corps policy is that you have to pass, in South Africa, with a rating of Intermediate Low or above. The rating is based on three levels, with three stages in between, with a fourth level constituting full fluency. The levels are Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced, with Expert as the highest. The first three levels are broken up into low, mid, and high stages. Like I said, in SA you need an Inter-Low to pass and not have to take the LPI again. During my training I was given a mid-term LPI to test where I was at, and I fortunately scored an intermediate-low, although I was very shocked to find this out, and was skeptical at how my limited knowledge and telling the tester three separate times about how I like to play soccer in Xitsonga constituted this grade, but I was still very happy with the results. What this basically means is I was at the level to pass the language test three weeks ago, now I just need to hope I haven’t digressed in my learning and can maybe even improve to an intermediate-mid or high. I still have a lot to learn, and I pretty much know enough Xitsonga to sound like a 2 year old, my hope is to get up to the vocabulary of a pre-schooler by the time I am at site for three months. Haha…

As training ends I move on to “real life” in South Africa. I will be working in a local community in North Eastern Mpumalanga near Kruger National Park working in a Community Home Based Care and Training Center, I’ll call it Zig. Zig serves the local community by providing home care to orphans, vulnerable people, and child headed households, as well as providing support and assistance for those living with HIV/AIDs and TB. My organization provides food parcels to over 200 orphans in three local communities and school uniforms to those unable to access necessary funds. Zig also has a large hydroponic garden that serves as an income generating activity, and they are looking to expand to develop gender related topic training and workshops. I hope to serve on the latter two projects, and help build capacity within the organization to establish notoriety and sustainability. I am thrilled to be working with the organization because it is headed by driven and passionate young men who are looking to impact their local community. I still don’t have all the details about my complete role as a volunteer within the organization, but my supervisor is going to be an incredible asset for my life, and hopefully we can enable Zig to gain support and increase their programs to strengthen their community and impact their local region in raising awareness.

I am not quite sure what else to say, but I will have regular connection to email, so if you were too lazy to write me a letter, or even if you did and I didnt respond...because I didnt and I am sorry for that, writing letters is hard and I was pretty busy for the last two months, but please send me an email and I will get back to you as soon as I can. My email address is Matt The Bennett at Gmail Dot Com. I am up way past my bed time, it's 9:30 here, but I hope that everything in your life is going well. Ohhh, and if you want to send me a package that would be absolutely awesome. I am constantly craving anything American here, so if you can put it in an envelope and it will be able to withstand the heat and abuse of Africa mail send it to me. I think skittles would be awesome...maybe some beef jerky. Idk, whatever you think would be good. I will also try to post some pictures when I get the time and energy. I need to end this though, its getting far too long. Peace Out.

Just a qwuick update on how things are going. I have been in SA for about 2 and a half weeks and it has been nothing short of amazing. I am sitting in an internet cafe now in a shopping center close to our training site, it is absolutely beautiful here and i love every second of my life in the PC. I moved in with my host family last Saturday and i have a great family with a father, an older sister (28), a brother (22), and my sister has three children who are 2, 4, and 11. My host mom is off at a sewing clinic in Limpopo but she is very excited to get home and meet me. I was given my African name, its Thabiso (TA-bee-so) which means happiness in Setswana, but it was promptly changed by my language teacher to Ntsako the next day because I am learning Xitsonga (Shee-Tson-ga), although all the children in my village still now me as Thabiso. So far everything is everything that i have dreams of and more, and I can't even begin to describe my life.

I am on week 3 of training, and I swear in as a volunteer on March 25th, and will have more frequent communication after that, but I love and miss you all and wish i could send everyone individual e-mails telling you all about my life. Life is great! Peace out!

Thabiso

Hello all, i'm now a Peace Corp Trainee! I just wrapped up my day at staging in Washington DC. Tomorrow I head to Johannesburg to officially start training with the Peace Corps.

This will most likely be my last post for awhile because I won't have internet connection or cell service for the first couple months in SA, but please start sending me letters in the mail if you have a few minutes! My mailing address is posted along the side of this blog, and make sure to write Air Mail (Par Avion) on the envelope, and send stuff in a padded envelope if you are going to send anything more than a letter. Also, for customs purposes, declare that the content is a small (dollar) amount and declare it as "educational material." I can't really think of anything that I want people to send me right now, so just tell me about your life. I will be missing everyone very much, and it would be great to hear what you are doing.

Oh, and here is what I packed to South Africa if you are interested.

Clothes

Khaki pants

Jeans

Khaki shorts

Gym shorts

Polo shirts

Collared shirts(short and long sleeved)

Suit

Ties

T-shirts (short and long sleeved)

Thermal shirts

Sweatpants

Long underwear

Socks and regular underwear

Shoes

Sandals

Hiking shoes

Soccer shoes (indoor)

Black dress shoes

Brown dress shoes

Electronics

iPod

Netbook

External hard-drive

Shortwave radio

Camera

Steripen

Other stuff

2 soccer balls

1 football (American)

Hand pump

Soccer cones

Sleeping bag

Shake and charge flashlight

Headlamp

Multi-tool

Books

Journals

Crayons

Coloring book

World Map

Uno deck

Toiletries

I probably forgot a lot of things that I packed, and I have no idea if all of this will be worth bringing. But my bags are packed, and I'm waking up in the morning to head to South Africa. I will miss you all.

Peace Out!

How do you fully prepare for the Peace Corps? Should I stop using my shower and take bucket baths instead? Wash my clothes by hand in the sink? Change my diet to meat, pap (ground corn “porridge”), and vegetables? Stop watching football because I am probably going to miss the Super Bowl anyway!? Obviously not.

With all my preparation, (packing, paper-work, reading, isiZulu lessons, etc.) I've begun to wonder what it means to truly be prepared for 26 months in South Africa with so much unknown in front of me. I was a boy scout when I was younger, and if anything stuck with me, it was the simple two word motto “Be Prepared.” The scouts preached this motto on camping trips and summer camp, but the motto has always been a part of my life and has forced me to double check my triple check.

But now I must put the actual motto to the test, and know that as much as I can try to become prepared, I will never be able to anticipate what is ahead or rely on practiced skills from the past. I must simply wait and know that the PC will give me the tools necessary to succeed and trust myself to adapt to what is ahead. Like the woman I met in a frigid Chinatown store and Nelson Mandela said while in prison, “you can get used to anything.”

I have been away from writing for over a month now. Ideas were percolating, thoughts were a brewing, but I was so wrapped up in the moment to sit down for a second and reflect. With 18 short days left in good ole America I have begun to feel the growing emotions about leaving home, and starting my life in a new home thousands of miles away.

In 18 days from now I leave for Washington DC to start my Peace Corps adventure. Since the last time I have updated, my life has had some considerable changes. First off, I am now a college graduate! I finished all my finals, passed all my classes, and walked across the stage to receive my mock diploma. It is amazing to look back at the time I spent at the University of Colorado, and remember all the changes that occurred and the amazing experience I gained. Still, I was beyond ready to start a new chapter in my life, shown through completing my degree in three and a half years, with a few summer classes that pointed me towards the Peace Corps.

I then spent an amazing Christmas and New Years with friends and family. Santa brought some valuable items for my time in South Africa, and I spent New Year’s in style with my brother and sister-in-law with a weeklong trip to New York City. I was lucky enough to have a friend in Manhattan that let me crash on his couch for the week, and minus the frigid temperature, New York is everything it is cracked up to be.

So now I sit in my spacious Boulder apartment with a long to do list and shrinking time to do it in. The packing list has been developing for almost 3 months now, and I have shoved what I think I will need for 26 months into a suitcase, a large travel backpack and my school backpack as a carry-on. I even practiced carrying around my rather large “essentials” backpack which will be my lifeline for the first two months of training, and I must say that I am pretty satisfied with how it turned out. I’ll post my full packing list in a later post to give a full idea of what I am actually bringing. Many people have asked me what I actually needed or brought with me to Africa, so when I am completely finished I’ll give you an idea of what I am bringing.

My class going to South Africa is starting to take shape as Facebook groups and discussion boards are ripe with anticipation and excitement. I’ve also been given a clearer idea of the area I will be placed for two years of service and I now have an actual itinerary for travel to Johannesburg! The sites for our service, the 21st group to volunteer in SA, will be in one of two provinces, the KwaZulu-Natal or Mpumalanga province. This also means that my failed rolled Rs will probably not be an important aspect of the language, as we will be learning Tsonga, Zulu, or Swazi (not Sepedi or Setswana as previously thought). So now I must wait and wonder if any of my expectations are true, and soak up every second I can get with friends and family while I have them so close.

The count down to my departure to training before leaving for South Africa is at 52 days. In that short amount of time, I will graduate from college, celebrate christmas with my family, visit New York city for New Years and pack up my life into a backpack and a suitcase.

I really have had to put into perspective how huge the next few months of my life are going to be. I sometimes only realize how large the decision that I am making through the reactions of others. My invitation to join the Peace Corps arises in discussions soon after I tell people of my impending graduation, and it is really amazing the variety of responses I get from people. I am happy that I have been able to be a resource to some about their own personal interest in the Peace Corps, but I have also been met with shock and wonderment. I have never in my life been thanked for something that I have yet to do, and this is true with the Peace Corps. The amazing life opportunity that I have been given is both admired and respected throughout this country. I am proud to be able to be a representative of the United States, and I can't believe I am so darn close to starting my adventure.

I promise that this blog will get more interesting once I touch down in South Africa, and I will definitely start jazzing it up a bit with pictures. But for now, know that I am ready and eager to tackle the challenge of the Peace Corps in South Africa, I just need to finish college finals first.

Amidst hours of procrastination, and minutes of actual effort put into school work, I have started the language lessons provided by the Peace Corps. I downloaded the Tswana and Sepedi lessons to my iPod and have started listening to them, in hopes of getting used to the sound of the language.

To my surprise, and dismay, both language have a rolled R. While this is not the most alien of sounds in the languages, it is by far the most troubling for me. When the instructor said "the sound you make when you hock a loogie" for the letter G, I could only laugh and make the sound, but when the R sound game up, all the instructor says is "roll the R."

Now for some, this might be no big deal. My younger sister can roll her R's for days, but when it came to my first attempt, there was spit on my chin and the sound that came out of my mouth sounded more like I had Novocain shot in my mouth than the eloquent voice on the recording.

But still, rolled Rs or not, it is amazing to know that I will be given the chance to learn a new language and develop it for two years of my life.

When I set my mind on something and am passionate about what I want to do, I try to absorb as much information as possible. This has proven to be true with the Peace Corps, as I have attempted to retain a ridiculous amount of information since I first started the process towards becoming a volunteer. I obviously started with www.peacecorps.gov but one of the most valuable pieces of information was current volunteer blogs. I found the site, www.peacecorpsjournals.com, and was instantly hooked to current volunteers stories in Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Ethiopia, among others. I allowed my mind to drift off to these foreign lands that I knew close to nothing about. I tried to understand some of the culture, and examine the Peace Corps experience through the words of those living it out.

Needless to say, the blogs of current Peace Corps Volunteers were a huge inspiration for me to continue the process towards joining the Peace Corps and are still a part of my decision to serve for 27 months in South Africa. Looking back though, I had little representation of my demographic (single, male, recent college grad, serving in Africa). I often found that females and couples were the most likely to keep blogs, but I did not have much success finding informative blogs for my demographic. This gets to my reasons for blogging. While my primary purpose will, of course, be to update my friends and family on what I am actually doing while in South Africa for twenty-seven months, I would also like to provide a resource for those that are thinking about applying, or joining the Peace Corps. My story is unique, just as every Peace Corps story will be, but I hope to provide insight into what goes into becoming a volunteer and also give one man’s interpretation of life, culture, and all things Peace Corps during my time in South Africa. Although I will never claim that I am an expert on the PC or South Africa, I hope that by contributing this site to the blogosphere, and making it available on www.peacecorpsjournals.com, I will be able to give my demographic a little more representation.

In saying that, I also must give myself up as a resource. In my time during the application process, I was entirely anonymous while reading other volunteer’s blogs, and only contributed as a silent observer. However, I always wished that I would have established a connection with the individuals whose stories I was following so intently. I guess I am just too superstitious and didn’t want to jinx anything by getting ahead of myself, so simply reading the blogs of current PCVs was my best option. What I am getting at, is that I encourage future volunteers, current volunteers, or prospective volunteers to email me about questions you have. I am trying to make this blog as informative as possible, but I hope that anyone who has questions about me, my application process or general questions about the PC would please email me! My email address is on my profile page if you click on the About Me link to the right. Like I said, I hope to be a resource for those searching the blogosphere for all things Peace Corps, just as I have done for the last 6 months.

In other news, I finally finished my passport/visa application and sent it all to the Peace Corps office. I am now one step even closer to becoming a true Peace Corps Trainee! That’s all I got for now, over and out.

I submitted my aspiration statement and resume to the Peace Corps office in South Africa today. I copied and pasted the whole document in my previous post if you want to read it, but I'll give a short summary if you don't have the time.

Short Aspiration Statement

I have the continued belief that children are the key to the future success of South Africa, and the HIV/AIDS disease must be educated and talked about openly, or it will decimate and already dying population. I hope to do this by being a positive role-model to South African boys as well as men. To know the present, one must learn about the past, and my goal before my departure in January will be to become rich in knowledge of South African history so I can understand the cultural differences that will affect my daily life. Understanding the culture and language will help me adapt and better appreciate my future host country partners. With open communication and mutual respect, cultural differences disappear, trust develops and real work can be accomplished. This can only be accomplished through intent listening and finding ways to bridge social divides to establish mutual trust. I know that the process of cultural exchanges are slow, and often do not seem to fully happen, but if i put in the work with the language and become and open vessel for communication with those around me, I will be able to achieve my goal of cultural integration and understanding.

The full version, that answers each question in the Peace Corps template is posted below. Feel free to read it, and I hope this answers some questions about why I am going to South Africa with the community development program. This is going to be the "hardest job I will ever love," it felt good to put my goals and dreams into words.

A: The United States, with my parents to thank, has bestowed upon me a world class education at a top business school in the nation, and given me the opportunity to have a job and volunteer to help others from a very young age. From my time spent at the Leeds School of Business of the University of Colorado, I have learned valuable professional attributes that will help me work well within an organization and assist others in the growth and development of these organizations. During my time in school, I was given the chance to participate in numerous small group assignments and projects that helped me grow into the leadership qualities I posses, which I hope to pass on to others during my service. My degree is rich in operational management, which I can use to strategically implement new programs to get the best results possible. I have carried over this training in to my volunteer work as well, and understand how communication is vital to any organization. I will work hard to become familiar with the language of the region I am in, and use this as a tool to further my work. I have the continued belief that children are the key to the future success of South Africa, and the HIV/AIDS disease must be educated and talked about openly, or it will decimate an already dying population. I hope to do this by being a positive role-model to South African boys as well as men. A role model is to be a positive influencer at all times, and I have learned that young children, especially young boys, learn through observation. I hope that I can be a positive role-model to South African youth by presenting myself with professionalism and confidence, while also making efforts to relate and find common bonds in our different cultures. This can only be accomplished through intent listening and finding ways to bridge social divides to establish mutual trust. I hope to show South Africans the compassionate side of America, and use this as a tool to empower children. With open communication, and listening to the people of South Africa, I hope to inspire change, and bring about new ideas that I expect can bring progress. I believe in peace, and for peace to be realized, I must show it to the world, I hope to give this to South Africa.

B: If my four years of college have built up to one steadfast truth, it would be that communication is vital to success. No team, or organization, or business is ever successful if they do not communicate well, or find the right means to communicate well. My primary goal, upon my entrance to South Africa, will be to immerse myself in the language and culture. I know that I will never be successful in my goals as a volunteer if I am not familiar with the cultural and language elements of everyday life. My primary reason for choosing the Peace Corps to volunteer in Africa was for the two years of service and the language and cultural training. To achieve my goal, and follow through with my aspirations, I will have to become familiar with the local language, and not be hesitant to speak up. My opinions cannot be suppressed by timidity because I do not fully grasp the language or cultural norms. I will work hard to build trust and foster growth through frequent and open communication with all those around me, in the native tongue as much as possible. I will also do my best to learn about South African culture, and learn about the history that has led South Africa to become the nation it is today. To know the present, one must learn about the past, and my goal before my departure in January is to become rich in knowledge of South African history so I can understand the cultural differences that will affect my daily life. Understanding these two very important aspects of every day life will help me adapt and better appreciate my future host country partners. With open communication and mutual respect, cultural differences disappear, trust develops and real work can be accomplished.

C: I have never had complete cultural integration when I traveled abroad in Europe or Asia. My cultural exchanges were brief, and marked by colloquial greetings and short encounters at the most. From these experiences, I learned that I have always yearned for complete integration within a culture. I want to make a difference in the world, and I hope to do this by becoming fully immersed in South African culture. Like I have previously stated, this cannot be accomplished without communication. I know that I will be somewhat of a spectacle in a nation that sees white skin as privilege, and I will have to overcome these stereotypes through open dialogue, and a shared experience between myself, and those South African’s who wish to learn about me, the Peace Corps, and the United States. This cannot be achieved through a one sided discussion, and I must not preach or indoctrinate my own views without hearing the views of others. A culture cannot be experienced or learned without cultural exchanges, and exchanges are not one sided. I will make positive steps to understand the culture, and understand the people, so that I can be trusted and respected within my community. This could not be accomplished without hard work, perseverance, and most of all patience. I know that the process of cultural exchanges are slow, and often do not seem to fully happen, but If I put in the work with the language and become an open vessel for communication with those around me, I will be able to achieve my goal of cultural integration and understanding.

D: During pre-service training, I hope to gain valuable knowledge that I can use to develop my own involvement in the Peace Corps, and learn how to be a contributing member of a South African community. I have previously stressed the importance of language training, and I believe this will be the most valuable tool that I must focus on during training. I must put in the full effort to bridge the communication barrier, so that understanding can be accomplished and goals can be achieved. I also recognize that my training of the HIV/AIDS disease is limited. I hope that pre-service training can give me a better understanding of the disease, and give me the tools necessary to confront the challenges of everyday life in a country that is ravaged by the disease. I hope to learn strategies in presenting the topic to children, and activities that can help develop my understanding of the disease, and my ability to stress the importance to my future community and project. I will use the rich community based training, to learn from those around me, and develop the skills necessary to enrich my future site. Furthermore, I must learn from my co-trainees and become adapted to the environment. Knowledge of my support group in the country, as well as an understanding of the language, culture, and environment will help me grow as a Peace Corps Trainee and into a successful Peace Corps Volunteer.

E: My future professional goals and dreams were modified when I was nominated to join the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps presents professional goals that I did not think existed and were made available through the immense cultural and professional training that the Peace Corps provide. While I thought I would work at a job within my business degree before I returned to graduate school, the Peace Corps provided me with the opportunity to pursue my life dreams. I hope to transfer the knowledge that I learn abroad back home when I return to continue my graduate degree. The Peace Corps will give me the necessary resources to be a representative of South Africa when I return back to the United States, and use this knowledge for my further study of international development. By fostering grassroots development in youth organizations in South Africa through the Peace Corps, I will retain critical skills that will aid in my professional aspirations of worldwide peace, and show the youth of the world that compassion can achieve great things.

I realize now that I was very lucky to get placed in the time that I did. My time-line is relatively short compared to other Peace Corps Applicants, and everything seemed to fall into place from the moment I began thinking about the Peace Corps. I remember my recruiter telling me "it must be meant to be" when she called me the day of my interview to extend a nomination. I have to laugh now, because I guess it really was meant to be. I remember the anxiety of application, and although mine is unique to my situation, and much shorter than most, I will give a short overview of the steps I have taken to get where I am today.

TIMELINE

June 24th, 2009: Finished application and sent to Peace Corps (w/ recommendation letters)

July 12th, 2009: Mailed background check and fingerprint cards

August 14th, 2009: Interviewed and Nominated

August 24th, 2009: Legal Clearance

September 18th, 2009: Doctors Appointment/Physical

September 29th, 2009: Dentists Appointment

October 6th, 2009: Dental Clearnace

October 14th, 2009: Medical Clearance

November 6th, 2009: Emailed updated resume to placement office

November 9th, 2009: Phone call from placement officer, invitation extended!

November 13th, 2009: Received invitation packet from PC

Note that my time-line is only about 5 months, which is under the amount of time that the Peace Corps actually said it will take to get through the application process, so like i said, I am pretty darn lucky. I think it was all about persistence and taking the initiative to finish all the steps as timely as possible, and it was meant to be. My shock of actually getting invited has finally started to wear off and I am now left with the impending departure and the massive list of things I have to finish before I leave.

I qualified for a position in the community development sector of the Peace Corps, and my official title will be a "HIV outreach worker." I qualified for this job because of my college degree, the youth baseball team I volunteered to coach, and work I have done since nomination with the Colorado AIDS Project and the Boulder Counts AIDS project. In my program, I will be working with non-governmental and community-based organizations (NGOs/CBOs), with a focus in youth organizations. My main "job" will be working with these organizations to promote youth awareness about HIV/AIDS, and creating programs to foster growth and development of youth in South Africa. I will also be called upon to be a representative of the United States abroad, it's a pretty incredible feeling knowing that I will be a representative of a country I love so much, in a country I know I am going to love. I've come to reality with the immense change I am going to feel, and the PC handbooks put everything into words. But still, I'm beyond excited, and while I still haven't felt nervous, I'm sure it's coming, I am ready to tackle everything that stands in my way. I can anticipate the country shock I am going to have, and how much my life is going to change, but it's not gonna be real, or feel real, until I step on that tarmac in South Africa.

I will live and work in one of four provinces in South Africa, the KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, or North West Provinces, and based on this large regional difference and the number of languages spoken in S. Africa, I don't know what language I will be learning. These four provinces are located in the northeastern part of S. Africa, and are close to Pretoria.

A note on my homefront life, I bought the book Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela today, and I really hope that two and a half months is enough time to finish it amongst graduation and finals. I've always believed that studying the past is the best way to learn about the present, and the apartheid is still fresh on the minds of most South Africans. I'm going to have a lot to overcome, I best start preparing.

I've decided that I should start a blog for my time abroad in the Peace Corps. Well, I actually created this blog about 3 months ago after I was nominated, but I did not want to jinx my invitation so I deleted it. But, as of today, I was invited to serve with the Peace Corps in South Africa, and I even was able to revive the post I created on the day I was nominated!

My staging starts on January 28th, 2010. From staging I will be in South Africa for training from January 30th-March 29th, 2010. Although dates are subject to change, I will start my two years of service on March 30th, 2010 and finish on March 29th, 2012!! I have to say that I am thrilled to finally find out this information that I have waited five long months to get.

I hope to update this blog rather frequently before I leave in less than 3 months, and then keep my family and friends up to date on my life in South Africa with the Peace Corps. I hope you can learn about what i am doing, the Peace Corps, and South Africa.

I had my interview for the Peace Corp today, and met my recruiter at a coffee shop in Denver. We talked and she asked me a number of piercing questions about the amazing decision I am deciding to make. It went really well, and after our conversation she said that she wanted to nominate me! I was over joyed, even though I could not work in information technology because it requires two years of real world experience, which I don't have. My recruiter initially offered me a position as a community developer in Africa working with HIV/AIDS awareness that would leave in January of 2010. I was overjoyed when I heard about this position, Africa is where i dreamed of going and it was the opportune time for me to leave, but when she called about the position it had already been filled.

She let me know that it was one of the last possible positions for that area, and I should instead shift my focus towards teaching English as a second language. I had always been interested in teaching, and this allowed me to go to Africa, Asia, or the pacific islands, but the departure time was almost a year out and it required more training. I still was very happy with how the interview went, and i left the coffee shop and immediately called the English as a second language department at CU to inquire about gaining some experience working with English as a second language students.

Still, I left the meeting even more confused at what I wanted to do with my life, and still unsure about the time between when I graduate in December and when I would leave for the Peace Corp. At this point I thought that I possibly wouldn't be leaving until August or September of 2010. However, I got a phone call about two hours after my interview from my recruiter and to my surprise she had found another opening in Africa for the same position she had previously offered.

So today, August 14th, I was interviewed and nominated for service in the Peace Corp to leave in January of 2010. I cannot be more excited, and after some volunteer experience with the Boulder County AIDS Project I will be ready to go. At this point that is all i really know, I assume that I will have to start getting shots and filling out medical paper work for the next few months in preparation of my trip. But holy crap, I'm going to Africa.