One thing I think about and talk about a lot, but have not shared really on this blog is how gender plays out where we live in South Africa. My experience in Chad was extreme. In our village, I knew two women who had salaried jobs (and maybe 20 men). My students were only about 20% female, and there were less and less girls as they went on in schooling. Everyone told me and believed that men were smarter than women. My host father one day would say 'of course, men are smarter' and the next day would say 'wow, you know so much more French than me' but did not see those two statements as being in contrast to each other So I felt like doing a girls' club and working with the girls at the school was a valuable use of my time. Though I naively tried to extoll the equality of genders, that wasn't really something that I was going to get through to people about. I was happy to at least motivate the girls to stay in school and to take part in activities outside of the home (though they didn't really need my motivation since they loved playing soccer so much).
Here in South Africa, you can say that there are issues of gender inequity and there certainly are. The rape rate is extremely high. The HIV prevalence rate is higher in women then men (partially for biological reasons as women have more Langerhans cells in their vagina than men who have been circumsized do on their penis). It is difficult for women to exert control over their sexual lives – to say no or to say to use a condom. Transactional sex is also an issue.
That being said, I know many more formally employed women than men in our village. Of course, many men who are employed live outside of our village, but among those who do stay in the village and those who come to our village to work – teachers, nurses, etc – there are more women then men. Of the men who stay in our village, many are employed informally in different types of labor. Some of these men and some who are not employed at all spend a good amount of their days drinking at informal bars. So the children of our village can choose male role models who are unemployed and suffer from alcoholism or female role models who are teachers or retired women who are busy taking care of their households and grandchildren.
So it comes as no surprise that the girls in our schools do better than the boys. Even in grade 6, the vast majority of the girls are engaged in their studies and are doing well or at least passing. About half the boys are completely withdrawn, some do not know how to read, and are struggling if they are still trying. Some are already smoking marijuana after school. On the other hand, there are a group of boys who are motivated and love to spend time in the library or computer lab. I worry even for them as they go to middle school next year and will face increased peer pressure to try the myriad of drugs available to them (marijuana, huffing glue, and nyope – a mixture of heroin and marijuana – are the most popular) and not to be nerdy. When boys make the decision to drop out of school, they shape a future for themselves that mirrors what they see around them. Sexual encounters are one place where they can exert control in their lives and from that reality come the public health and safety disasters of rape and lack of condom use.
These boys need role models, and there is only so much we can do to encourage them. We know a few young men who are acting in this way for them, but in a culture (like that of rural America) where success is equated with getting out, these successful young men are mostly in Jo'burg. But one thing is for sure, these boys need to be educated and motivated to see a different future for themselves if people want to see change in the future of South Africa. Ironically, as I type this, I am watching a rerun of Oprah (we get them a few months late here) where she signed the One Goal petition that was happening during the World Cup and declares that we should educate our girls. Oprah, of course, has a boarding school for girls here in South Africa. Though her school presents a great opportunity for those girls, I would argue that what South Africa needs is the opposite. We must educate and empower the boys to live productive and healthy lives.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
up to the date
Well it’s been a while since the last update because things have been pretty busy since the strike ended. Coming back to school, there was lots to catch up on. I had planned for the third term to involve the bulk of the work for my after school clubs so there was a lot of improvisation to be done. My community service club ended up doing their presentation for the 4th and 5th graders at their school instead of for 6th graders from other schools, but it went very well. Each child got a pamphlet (made by the club members) to take home with them about HIV and nutrition so that will be a great supplement to what they learned during the presentation. As for the magazine, they are still working on it, but we should be able to print it in the next couple of weeks.
We just spent a week at a few different Peace Corps workshops with counterparts from our village. The first workshop was just for volunteers and we reflected on being at the half way point in our service, the second focused on the Peace Corps’ Life Skills Manual (which contains lessons about various life skills topics like decision making, peer pressure, etc.), and the third was a great hands-on workshop about permagardens (i.e. gardening using compost, double digging, less water, etc.) It got us really pumped to help out with gardening in the village and did not leave us so sad that our tomato seedlings didn’t make it through our absence (Mma has more that are still going strong and we bought some sweet pepper and watermelon seeds). We are going to work with our counterparts to put on some trainings for school gardeners as well as parents or grandparents of OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children). With that, planning our next camp, and all our normal responsibilities at school, we are going to be pretty busy for the next few months.
This time last year I was writing about our misadventures with mulberry jam. Well I am happy to report that we found a much easier and less time consuming solution…mulberry jelly. By crushing the mulberries to juice them, we did not have to worry about hulling them which was the most difficult part of the whole jam making process. Adding pectin also meant that we didn’t have to guess how long it would take to cook so we did not overcook our jelly and it congealed nicely. The whole process took about an hour to make 4 jars, and even the clean up wasn’t as bad. Just one mulberry tree could yield quite a lot of jelly but since we only have so much pectin and so many people to feed, we’ll probably just make one more batch.
Another characteristic of this time of year is the lack of water. The last time it rained was in May, and though the weather forecast keeps mentioning scattered showers, we have yet to see one. As a result, the municipality has been very stingy with the water. Months ago they cut off water in one of the pipes that comes into our yard (not so bad for us as we have another pipe, but for many people it means they haven’t had water at their house in months). The pressure in the other pipe has been so low that we have not been able to fill our water tank (which is maybe 10’ high) in at least two months. And it’s gotten worse. Yesterday it trickled out and took maybe 5 hours to fill a very small bucket. Luckily for whatever reason our neighbor’s water was coming out pretty hard, and we filled quite a lot of other buckets. One of our schools is completely out of water, and the children were pressing their mouths up to the tap of the water tank hoping that something would come out. When the water is on, we’ve seen lines of twenty people outside of abandoned houses that do have working taps, waiting their turn to fill their buckets. The whole issue really does show the divided nature of South Africa. In Pretoria, though they may issue warnings to cut back on water usage, this would never happen. Yet, in our village less than two hours away, people are resigned to the fact that they may go months without water at their homes. There are very few wells in the village, another issue that seems related to the development of the country. People expect to receive municipal water so there is not another system in place even though for much of the year, municipal water cannot be depended upon.
We just spent a week at a few different Peace Corps workshops with counterparts from our village. The first workshop was just for volunteers and we reflected on being at the half way point in our service, the second focused on the Peace Corps’ Life Skills Manual (which contains lessons about various life skills topics like decision making, peer pressure, etc.), and the third was a great hands-on workshop about permagardens (i.e. gardening using compost, double digging, less water, etc.) It got us really pumped to help out with gardening in the village and did not leave us so sad that our tomato seedlings didn’t make it through our absence (Mma has more that are still going strong and we bought some sweet pepper and watermelon seeds). We are going to work with our counterparts to put on some trainings for school gardeners as well as parents or grandparents of OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children). With that, planning our next camp, and all our normal responsibilities at school, we are going to be pretty busy for the next few months.
This time last year I was writing about our misadventures with mulberry jam. Well I am happy to report that we found a much easier and less time consuming solution…mulberry jelly. By crushing the mulberries to juice them, we did not have to worry about hulling them which was the most difficult part of the whole jam making process. Adding pectin also meant that we didn’t have to guess how long it would take to cook so we did not overcook our jelly and it congealed nicely. The whole process took about an hour to make 4 jars, and even the clean up wasn’t as bad. Just one mulberry tree could yield quite a lot of jelly but since we only have so much pectin and so many people to feed, we’ll probably just make one more batch.
Another characteristic of this time of year is the lack of water. The last time it rained was in May, and though the weather forecast keeps mentioning scattered showers, we have yet to see one. As a result, the municipality has been very stingy with the water. Months ago they cut off water in one of the pipes that comes into our yard (not so bad for us as we have another pipe, but for many people it means they haven’t had water at their house in months). The pressure in the other pipe has been so low that we have not been able to fill our water tank (which is maybe 10’ high) in at least two months. And it’s gotten worse. Yesterday it trickled out and took maybe 5 hours to fill a very small bucket. Luckily for whatever reason our neighbor’s water was coming out pretty hard, and we filled quite a lot of other buckets. One of our schools is completely out of water, and the children were pressing their mouths up to the tap of the water tank hoping that something would come out. When the water is on, we’ve seen lines of twenty people outside of abandoned houses that do have working taps, waiting their turn to fill their buckets. The whole issue really does show the divided nature of South Africa. In Pretoria, though they may issue warnings to cut back on water usage, this would never happen. Yet, in our village less than two hours away, people are resigned to the fact that they may go months without water at their homes. There are very few wells in the village, another issue that seems related to the development of the country. People expect to receive municipal water so there is not another system in place even though for much of the year, municipal water cannot be depended upon.
Friday, September 3, 2010
visibility
One of the interesting things I've noticed as a Peace Corps Volunteer in South Africa compared to other countries is the lack of visibility of Peace Corps here. Most people in my village have never heard of Peace Corps, do not know anything about it's mission, and though I have one friend who takes it upon herself to educate everyone about the history of Peace Corps, most people could care less. In fact some people do not even know we work at the schools, and those who do know we work at the schools often have no idea what we do there or only a slight idea (i.e. teach computers). Our neighbor and tuck shop owner has been extremely friendly to us since we arrived here and always wants to give us free vegetables and fruit. Maybe a month ago, he was at one of the schools and saw me and said, oh so you are working at the school now! We've known him for a year and he had no idea what we were doing here. And you may say this is our fault for not going around educating people, but in a village of 13,000 are you really going to go door to door and explain to everyone the name of your organization and what your role is.
The reason I find this so interesting is that it stands in stark contrast to the visibility of Peace Corps in other countries. In Chad, I was constantly approached by people asking me if I knew so-and-so who was their Peace Corps teacher in 1975. I would often get on a taxi going to visit my closest volunteers and be updated on the whereabouts of James or another volunteer from someone who had seen them the previous week. In America, I've met people from all over Africa (for the most part, I don't feel like I've talked with people from other regions about Peace Corps so I can't really speak to the visibility of PC in those regions) who remember fondly their Peace Corps teacher. My mom's colleague from Sierra Leone heard that Peace Corps was returning there before I did and shared the happy news with us. Even the old Somali Bantu ladies who would come into the office remembered Peace Corps when the younger. The Liberians who took care of my grandmother when she was sick remembered their Peace Corps teachers. In Botswana, my host mom tried to explain what we were doing our cousin's fiancee, and she replied, 'you mean they are in Peace Corps'. At the border between South Africa and Namibia, the Namibian border agents were excited by our Peace Corps passports while the South Africans took no notice of them.
So why this disconnect? I think there are multiple factors at play...the first being that Peace Corps has not been here that long, countries like Ghana and Niger have long histories of Peace Corps volunteers, while ours is relatively recent, the first volunteers arrived in 1997. But that doesn't account for the difference between here and Namibia where PC arrived not much earlier, in 1990 or even with Chad where Peace Corps' presence has been spotty.
The next is population. In a country of 50 million people, 100 something volunteers easily get lost in the crowd while in smaller countries in terms of population, they are much more visible. In contrast to Chad where people always seemed to know who I was before I met them, here I still see people I've never seen before almost everyday in the village. In towns and cities, it's even easier to get lost in the crowd.
The next is diversity. South Africa's white, South Asian, East Asian, and Coloured populations make this country much more diverse than the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa (Namibia is probably the closest after us at 87% black, but we come in at 79% black, if you consider Mauritania as subsaharan there is a pretty equal mix of Moor and black there, but it's definitely a different dynamic from what you find here) This means that I am far from the first white person that most people (except maybe babies) have seen. Though we are the only white people who live in our village right now, we have a neighbor whose white son-in-law is often coming by, and white people are often in the village for professional reasons. Living in our village, there are people of Indian, Pakistani, Somali, and Japanese descent. So the idea of an outsider coming and living in a village isn't such a crazy thing here like it is in other places. Though there are missionaries in other countries, people seem to draw a line between them and Peace Corps because PCVs don't stay in places separate from the people, but in the community. Though that does distinguish us from others here, it still doesn't seem to be so strange.
Finally, there is the issue of development and resources. In rural parts of other countries, it is quite a special event when a development agency comes in and does a project. They usually come in, do it, and then leave it to fail or succeed depending on the community's drive. Usually they fail. Peace Corps presents an alternative to that as the volunteer is there for a long time and becomes a part of the community. Here we have other people working in community development within our village. Our chief does a lot in this area. There's the youth centre, the department of education, etc. We are not the only resource that the community has, and the others were there before us and will continue after we are gone.
All this being said (and kudos to you if you read it all), I think these issues present a unique (maybe not unique, I feel it maybe be similar in a place like China that meets some of these same criteria) challenge and opportunity to Peace Corps Volunteers. We are not automatically seen as resources to our community in the same way that volunteers are in other countries. We must carve our own niche. While this can be frustrating, it can also be liberating as we do not have the same expectations put on us, and it may allow for more creativity. And with that, I'm done with my rant.
The reason I find this so interesting is that it stands in stark contrast to the visibility of Peace Corps in other countries. In Chad, I was constantly approached by people asking me if I knew so-and-so who was their Peace Corps teacher in 1975. I would often get on a taxi going to visit my closest volunteers and be updated on the whereabouts of James or another volunteer from someone who had seen them the previous week. In America, I've met people from all over Africa (for the most part, I don't feel like I've talked with people from other regions about Peace Corps so I can't really speak to the visibility of PC in those regions) who remember fondly their Peace Corps teacher. My mom's colleague from Sierra Leone heard that Peace Corps was returning there before I did and shared the happy news with us. Even the old Somali Bantu ladies who would come into the office remembered Peace Corps when the younger. The Liberians who took care of my grandmother when she was sick remembered their Peace Corps teachers. In Botswana, my host mom tried to explain what we were doing our cousin's fiancee, and she replied, 'you mean they are in Peace Corps'. At the border between South Africa and Namibia, the Namibian border agents were excited by our Peace Corps passports while the South Africans took no notice of them.
So why this disconnect? I think there are multiple factors at play...the first being that Peace Corps has not been here that long, countries like Ghana and Niger have long histories of Peace Corps volunteers, while ours is relatively recent, the first volunteers arrived in 1997. But that doesn't account for the difference between here and Namibia where PC arrived not much earlier, in 1990 or even with Chad where Peace Corps' presence has been spotty.
The next is population. In a country of 50 million people, 100 something volunteers easily get lost in the crowd while in smaller countries in terms of population, they are much more visible. In contrast to Chad where people always seemed to know who I was before I met them, here I still see people I've never seen before almost everyday in the village. In towns and cities, it's even easier to get lost in the crowd.
The next is diversity. South Africa's white, South Asian, East Asian, and Coloured populations make this country much more diverse than the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa (Namibia is probably the closest after us at 87% black, but we come in at 79% black, if you consider Mauritania as subsaharan there is a pretty equal mix of Moor and black there, but it's definitely a different dynamic from what you find here) This means that I am far from the first white person that most people (except maybe babies) have seen. Though we are the only white people who live in our village right now, we have a neighbor whose white son-in-law is often coming by, and white people are often in the village for professional reasons. Living in our village, there are people of Indian, Pakistani, Somali, and Japanese descent. So the idea of an outsider coming and living in a village isn't such a crazy thing here like it is in other places. Though there are missionaries in other countries, people seem to draw a line between them and Peace Corps because PCVs don't stay in places separate from the people, but in the community. Though that does distinguish us from others here, it still doesn't seem to be so strange.
Finally, there is the issue of development and resources. In rural parts of other countries, it is quite a special event when a development agency comes in and does a project. They usually come in, do it, and then leave it to fail or succeed depending on the community's drive. Usually they fail. Peace Corps presents an alternative to that as the volunteer is there for a long time and becomes a part of the community. Here we have other people working in community development within our village. Our chief does a lot in this area. There's the youth centre, the department of education, etc. We are not the only resource that the community has, and the others were there before us and will continue after we are gone.
All this being said (and kudos to you if you read it all), I think these issues present a unique (maybe not unique, I feel it maybe be similar in a place like China that meets some of these same criteria) challenge and opportunity to Peace Corps Volunteers. We are not automatically seen as resources to our community in the same way that volunteers are in other countries. We must carve our own niche. While this can be frustrating, it can also be liberating as we do not have the same expectations put on us, and it may allow for more creativity. And with that, I'm done with my rant.
Monday, August 30, 2010
the beat goes on
Well the strike trudges on though it looks like we may be nearing the light at the end of the tunnel as the government and unions are supposed to resume talks this week. Though other sources say that there is no such plan for talks. One of my principals said the unions told them not to pay attention at all to the media, but it's not like there's another source of information available.
So in light of the strike, I'm trying to find ways to keep busy. I bought some tomato and basil seeds that I want to get started and we're going to try some of our other seeds that we didn't have any success with last year - radishes, cauliflower, and lettuce - at least we know that we can grow basil without any difficulty, I feel like it's like a weed. Mma already has carrots and onions doing well in the garden. I'm starting preparations for our December camp and planning our January vacation. I just realized that the April vacation does not coincide with Easter this coming year which means that we end up having a 6 day weekend for Easter (Good Friday, Easter Monday, a random day off because the next day is holiday too, and Freedom Day) so it seems like the perfect time for a short trip to Lesotho.
James is off helping at training for the week which makes my time to do nothing even more empty, but it might actually be easier to be productive without him always switching on Tyra and Judge Mathis (yep, our daytime tv here is so quality that they have to take these quality daytime shows from the states).
We got to attend a luncheon with the Ambassador and his family on Friday while we were in Pretoria for committee meetings. It was great to get to sit down and talk with them. They asked us lots of questions about our experiences, and the food was delicious. The Ambassador's house here is amazing, it's like a museum. Much fancier than in Chad, but in Chad we did get to use the pool whenever we wanted so there was that.
And I think I've exhausted my blog writing ability. Off to try not to watch Tyra.
So in light of the strike, I'm trying to find ways to keep busy. I bought some tomato and basil seeds that I want to get started and we're going to try some of our other seeds that we didn't have any success with last year - radishes, cauliflower, and lettuce - at least we know that we can grow basil without any difficulty, I feel like it's like a weed. Mma already has carrots and onions doing well in the garden. I'm starting preparations for our December camp and planning our January vacation. I just realized that the April vacation does not coincide with Easter this coming year which means that we end up having a 6 day weekend for Easter (Good Friday, Easter Monday, a random day off because the next day is holiday too, and Freedom Day) so it seems like the perfect time for a short trip to Lesotho.
James is off helping at training for the week which makes my time to do nothing even more empty, but it might actually be easier to be productive without him always switching on Tyra and Judge Mathis (yep, our daytime tv here is so quality that they have to take these quality daytime shows from the states).
We got to attend a luncheon with the Ambassador and his family on Friday while we were in Pretoria for committee meetings. It was great to get to sit down and talk with them. They asked us lots of questions about our experiences, and the food was delicious. The Ambassador's house here is amazing, it's like a museum. Much fancier than in Chad, but in Chad we did get to use the pool whenever we wanted so there was that.
And I think I've exhausted my blog writing ability. Off to try not to watch Tyra.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Strike?
South Africa presents such an interesting mix of developed and developing that it sometimes still throws us for a loop. This country is extremely unionized (and I can't say what I think about that as per PC policy, but if you know us, you can probably figure it out) and this time of year is strike season as it's when unions and employers negotiate for raises and whatnot. There has been a continuing threat for the last few weeks of teachers and other public service workers going on strike because the government won't meet their request. The government is offering a 7% increase and a newly revised R700 housing allowance, and the unions are asking for a 8.6% increase and a R1000 housing allowance. To an American who is used to thinking in terms of 2 or 3 percent raises annually, this may sound really really high, but electric company workers received 11% and the auto workers are striking for 15%.
Now the thing that is interesting to me about this strike is that the time it has taken to get started. The unions first announced their intentions of striking at the end of July and gave some time for the government to revise their offer. Then we heard the strike would start Aug 6, but then they would get more time and the strike would start Tuesday, Aug 10 after the women's day holiday on Monday. Then the strike of the 10th (which happened) was declared to be a one day strike to give a taste of what's to come. They gave the government until Thursday to make a new offer which we thought meant the strike would commence again on Friday. But no, it will take through Monday to inform all the union members, and now the strike may start on Tuesday. Everything has to go through the channels and there are quite a lot of laws affecting labour. It's organized, yet the amount of time it takes to make it happen is distinctly developing world. In Chad, because of the lack of communication and organised unions, striking was decidely simpler. If you hadn't been paid in three months, you went on strike until you got paid again.
So the dilemma we face is the perpetual one of the Peace Corps volunteer - waiting (with a little bit of cluelessness thrown in their for good measure). I got back from helping with the new group's training last week ready to get down to business finally after being away for most of the first month of the term but unsure of when the strike would start and how long it would last. I have lots on my plate if there is no strike - substitute teaching English and life orientation to grade 6, restarting educator computer classes, doing a workshop for educators on the Foundations for Learning campaign, getting the kids in my clubs to do the bulk of the work (putting together their magazine and planning and presenting an HIV awareness event for kids at other schools), and making sure people actually are using the library that we made a timetable for at the end of last term. But if the strike happens, I'll be finishing up my grant report, watching a lot of TV, and attempting to help out at the old age home. But the first priority is to be a good Peace Corps volunteer and practice the art of waiting.
Now the thing that is interesting to me about this strike is that the time it has taken to get started. The unions first announced their intentions of striking at the end of July and gave some time for the government to revise their offer. Then we heard the strike would start Aug 6, but then they would get more time and the strike would start Tuesday, Aug 10 after the women's day holiday on Monday. Then the strike of the 10th (which happened) was declared to be a one day strike to give a taste of what's to come. They gave the government until Thursday to make a new offer which we thought meant the strike would commence again on Friday. But no, it will take through Monday to inform all the union members, and now the strike may start on Tuesday. Everything has to go through the channels and there are quite a lot of laws affecting labour. It's organized, yet the amount of time it takes to make it happen is distinctly developing world. In Chad, because of the lack of communication and organised unions, striking was decidely simpler. If you hadn't been paid in three months, you went on strike until you got paid again.
So the dilemma we face is the perpetual one of the Peace Corps volunteer - waiting (with a little bit of cluelessness thrown in their for good measure). I got back from helping with the new group's training last week ready to get down to business finally after being away for most of the first month of the term but unsure of when the strike would start and how long it would last. I have lots on my plate if there is no strike - substitute teaching English and life orientation to grade 6, restarting educator computer classes, doing a workshop for educators on the Foundations for Learning campaign, getting the kids in my clubs to do the bulk of the work (putting together their magazine and planning and presenting an HIV awareness event for kids at other schools), and making sure people actually are using the library that we made a timetable for at the end of last term. But if the strike happens, I'll be finishing up my grant report, watching a lot of TV, and attempting to help out at the old age home. But the first priority is to be a good Peace Corps volunteer and practice the art of waiting.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
watching the games
As the world cup comes to an end this weekend, it's a bit hard to process. It seems like the World Cup has been omnipresent in South Africa's consciousness since long before we arrived in the country so it will be a bit weird to go on without it. In fact, it already has started to feel like the World Cup is over since we returned from Liberia. With South Africa, Ghana, and Brazil all out, most South Africans don't care about the final. Well I'm sure some are very enamored with the Dutch, but obviously that brings up lots of race issues in this country.
For us, the highlights of the world cup were the many different venues where and people with whom we watched the games.
Greenpeace at the high school for the opening match - Greenpeace set up a big screen and projector powered by solar panels on the roof of the school. Watching South Africa take on Mexico with a couple hundred people, a cross section of our village...children, grannies, young people, was an amazing experience. Everyone was so into the game, and when South Africa scored, the room was electric. Vuvuzelas, screaming, hugging.
At the Royal Bafokeng Stadium - Decked in our US finest, we went to see the US play England. We got into a few fights with the England fans around us (they were actually all South Africans since we were sitting in the cheap seats), but had a wonderful time. Watching the game live was exhilarating as there's just something about having to follow the ball for yourself without help from the camera that makes it more exciting.
In our bedroom - Much of the first week of the World Cup, after we finished up at the camp, was spent sitting at home watching games and relaxing with the two visiting PCVs who came to help with the camp.
At the primary school - Some of the people who were planning the camp with us worked hard to get a projector donated so that we could show games at the school. Though the kids didn't end up staying (I think they were mostly exhausted from the day), we watched the 1 o'clock game there most afternoons. Also relaxing, it was a chance to hang out with some of the volunteers.
In the OR Tambo international airport lobby - We found a coffee shop with a big screen t.v. and plopped down in time to catch the US Slovenia game. The seating area was open and as the game started people started to trickle in until it was packed with people standing the back to watch. Airport workers and international visitors watched together, and I think it was the most men in sombreros I've ever seen in one place as there were lots of Mexico fans in transit.
At various restaurants in Monrovia - Since there was no TV at Matt's house (or satellite), all of our game watching in Liberia took place at restaurants and bars. At the Syrian and Bengali restaurants, it was just us sneaking peaks at the TV while enjoying delicious dinners, but there were some memorable games...
At an English pub packed with ex-pats - We watched the US/Ghana game. The pub was packed, mostly with American, but a group of Ghanaians was there as well. Though we would have been happy no matter who won, it was hard not to get caught up in the USA fever of being around so many Americans.
At a fancy resort - We lounged in Matt and Alvina's honeymoon room watching games on the flat screen TV then headed out to relax on the beach.
At a popular Lebanese restaurant - We watched the Ghana/Uruguay game, and there were probably more people there than at the US/Ghana game. This time almost everyone was pulling for Ghana, and the outrage was palpable after Suarez cheated (except for from one lady who declared that he's "a UNICEF ambassador" so we shouldn't be mean to him). Though disappointing, we shared in that exhilaration and disappointment with the rest of Africa.
And now we are back to watching games in our bedroom as the final approaches tomorrow. And that's all for now.
For us, the highlights of the world cup were the many different venues where and people with whom we watched the games.
Greenpeace at the high school for the opening match - Greenpeace set up a big screen and projector powered by solar panels on the roof of the school. Watching South Africa take on Mexico with a couple hundred people, a cross section of our village...children, grannies, young people, was an amazing experience. Everyone was so into the game, and when South Africa scored, the room was electric. Vuvuzelas, screaming, hugging.
At the Royal Bafokeng Stadium - Decked in our US finest, we went to see the US play England. We got into a few fights with the England fans around us (they were actually all South Africans since we were sitting in the cheap seats), but had a wonderful time. Watching the game live was exhilarating as there's just something about having to follow the ball for yourself without help from the camera that makes it more exciting.
In our bedroom - Much of the first week of the World Cup, after we finished up at the camp, was spent sitting at home watching games and relaxing with the two visiting PCVs who came to help with the camp.
At the primary school - Some of the people who were planning the camp with us worked hard to get a projector donated so that we could show games at the school. Though the kids didn't end up staying (I think they were mostly exhausted from the day), we watched the 1 o'clock game there most afternoons. Also relaxing, it was a chance to hang out with some of the volunteers.
In the OR Tambo international airport lobby - We found a coffee shop with a big screen t.v. and plopped down in time to catch the US Slovenia game. The seating area was open and as the game started people started to trickle in until it was packed with people standing the back to watch. Airport workers and international visitors watched together, and I think it was the most men in sombreros I've ever seen in one place as there were lots of Mexico fans in transit.
At various restaurants in Monrovia - Since there was no TV at Matt's house (or satellite), all of our game watching in Liberia took place at restaurants and bars. At the Syrian and Bengali restaurants, it was just us sneaking peaks at the TV while enjoying delicious dinners, but there were some memorable games...
At an English pub packed with ex-pats - We watched the US/Ghana game. The pub was packed, mostly with American, but a group of Ghanaians was there as well. Though we would have been happy no matter who won, it was hard not to get caught up in the USA fever of being around so many Americans.
At a fancy resort - We lounged in Matt and Alvina's honeymoon room watching games on the flat screen TV then headed out to relax on the beach.
At a popular Lebanese restaurant - We watched the Ghana/Uruguay game, and there were probably more people there than at the US/Ghana game. This time almost everyone was pulling for Ghana, and the outrage was palpable after Suarez cheated (except for from one lady who declared that he's "a UNICEF ambassador" so we shouldn't be mean to him). Though disappointing, we shared in that exhilaration and disappointment with the rest of Africa.
And now we are back to watching games in our bedroom as the final approaches tomorrow. And that's all for now.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
our liberian family wedding
On the plane both to and from Liberia, they showed the movie Family Wedding which I did not watch but is about a cross-cultural marriage, weirdly appropriate though I wish they would have shown something I actually wanted to see.
But before I get to the trip to the LIB, I should mention that our camp went down without much difficulty and the kids had a wonderful time. Because of the cold and unexpected vacations, attendance wasn't quite the 100 we wanted but we had in the 80s each day. I think it was a big change from school to be busy with activities - team building games, crafts, soccer, and HIV education - each day so by the time we got out at 1, they were all tired but eager to come back the next day. One of my favorite things about the camp was the volunteer participation. We had volunteers who we had trained before, but it seemed like everyone just wanted to be involved. One of the principals taught a fun game, and by the last day, even the campers were leading games. Hopefully they have been playing some of the games that they learned during the rest of the break.
So the day after the camp ended we headed to the airport for our flight to Nairobi and then Monrovia via Accra. Though it was a long enough trip for our ankles to swell up, we arrived safely on Saturday afternoon. We spent the first week visiting, preparing for the wedding, and helping out with the opening of an orphanage in a village near the Firestone plantation (Firestone has a huge plantation...in different tracts...of rubber trees. It is an interesting place as it's kind of it's own community with stores and "villages" of houses where the families of workers live. It's a very different model from the old farming and mining world here in ZA where men used to leave their families to work at the mines or on a farm, but more towards what they are doing now. I don't know that much about the South African situation, but Firestone has created a community that has everything people need...and I can't judge whether this is a good or bad thing from just driving through.)
Monrovia itself is an interesting place. You can see that it once was a developed (by West African standards, nothing like what you see here in Southern Africa, but much more than N'Djamena) city, and it's returning to that slowly. With the hustle and bustle, it's a bit difficult to imagine that less than a decade ago (in 2003) the city was under siege. As we drove around, Alvina (Matt's new wife) would tell us about where the rebels were and where Charles Taylor's forces were, but now it's all a mass of shops and street vendors. The evidence is in the shells of burnt out and abandoned buildings that still remain and the converted apartment complexes that used to house NGOs (they've found new homes). The orphanage that we helped with upcountry had been located in the old Voice of America building before moving to the new one.
It was crazy for us to go from living in a country with such an immense and usually effective infrastructure to one without any at all. Though they are building roads, it still takes days to drive to towns upcountry (Liberia is about the size of Tennessee). The roads around Monrovia are pretty good, but some are pothole heavy, and traffic lights are non-existent (I remember Chad had one traffic light that was for show, I never saw it actually work). In Chad, I never really thought too much about the fact that there was no electrical power plant, and that everyone relied on generators, yet in Liberia it felt like such a waste. With so much investment and foreign aid coming into the country, why could they not build a power plant? Actually they are building some sort of renewable plant that will recycle rubber trees for electricity (I'm not exactly sure how) so hopefully that will provide power to some people. The dull (or sometimes extremely loud) roar of the generator at night was a constant reminder of how we take our electricity for granted here. Even the people we hung out with living in air-conditioned ex-pat apartments had their generators turned off during the day.
There are definitely changes afoot though with municipal trash collection (from dumpsters not homes) and renovated market structures with concrete floors and tin roofs so going to the market isn't such a muddy experience. It seems like there are thousands of NGOs or at least hundreds, and I think we met more Americans in two weeks in Liberia than a year in South Africa. The UN presence is still huge as evidenced by the fact that I saw a truck with the license plate UNMIL - 15823 (or something similar...they start at 1 and issue license plates up from there so that means there are tens of thousands of UN vehicles in the country. Matt told us that there is a graveyard of expired UN vehicles, not surprising with the road conditions and constant precipitation.) The huge ex-pat community also meant grocery stores stocked with American products, weird to see after a year of South African brands. Much of it was off brand and expensive (a jar of peanut butter for $4). And you can use US dollars to buy most anything. In fact, prices of more expensive items are given in US dollars.
So back to our trip...we enjoyed the wedding. James fulfilled his role as best man nicely giving a toast that no one seemed to listen to because of the feedback in the sound system. We danced the Grand March which is a Liberian tradition (there was a marching part, soul train part, and then circle dance part...I'm not sure how much of that is traditional). The day after the wedding we all (the family and Matt's friends) went to brunch at a nice resort and spent the day on the beach and watching games in their honeymoon room on the flat screen. The second week, we did lots of errands, visited with Liberian and American friends, went to the beach a few times, visited an orphanage, and just hung out with Ron and Pat.
We had a great time with family, getting to know Alvina, and experiencing Liberia. As we start the post Peace Corps job search, it was neat to get to go and see Monrovia as we may just end up moving there (with all these NGOs, there are a lot more jobs than in other countries). Back in South Africa, the air feels drier than ever as we must have acclimatized to the humidity. I can even feel the altitude a bit in my breath coming from sea level. I'm most excited to hear Setswana again and see people we know. One interesting thing about Liberia is that people use English as the lingua franca. I think I heard about one conversation in Bassa (Alvina's language) the whole time though we spent lots of time with her family. Though Liberian English itself is difficult to understand for those of us who are not used to it, I expected to hear more other languages. I'm sure in the villages you would, but just like in cities here, lots of people speak English. The difference is that it's been that way for a long time and the grannies and children speak English just as often as the people who've been to school.
Hope to write another post about watching world cup games this week, but ciao for now.
But before I get to the trip to the LIB, I should mention that our camp went down without much difficulty and the kids had a wonderful time. Because of the cold and unexpected vacations, attendance wasn't quite the 100 we wanted but we had in the 80s each day. I think it was a big change from school to be busy with activities - team building games, crafts, soccer, and HIV education - each day so by the time we got out at 1, they were all tired but eager to come back the next day. One of my favorite things about the camp was the volunteer participation. We had volunteers who we had trained before, but it seemed like everyone just wanted to be involved. One of the principals taught a fun game, and by the last day, even the campers were leading games. Hopefully they have been playing some of the games that they learned during the rest of the break.
So the day after the camp ended we headed to the airport for our flight to Nairobi and then Monrovia via Accra. Though it was a long enough trip for our ankles to swell up, we arrived safely on Saturday afternoon. We spent the first week visiting, preparing for the wedding, and helping out with the opening of an orphanage in a village near the Firestone plantation (Firestone has a huge plantation...in different tracts...of rubber trees. It is an interesting place as it's kind of it's own community with stores and "villages" of houses where the families of workers live. It's a very different model from the old farming and mining world here in ZA where men used to leave their families to work at the mines or on a farm, but more towards what they are doing now. I don't know that much about the South African situation, but Firestone has created a community that has everything people need...and I can't judge whether this is a good or bad thing from just driving through.)
Monrovia itself is an interesting place. You can see that it once was a developed (by West African standards, nothing like what you see here in Southern Africa, but much more than N'Djamena) city, and it's returning to that slowly. With the hustle and bustle, it's a bit difficult to imagine that less than a decade ago (in 2003) the city was under siege. As we drove around, Alvina (Matt's new wife) would tell us about where the rebels were and where Charles Taylor's forces were, but now it's all a mass of shops and street vendors. The evidence is in the shells of burnt out and abandoned buildings that still remain and the converted apartment complexes that used to house NGOs (they've found new homes). The orphanage that we helped with upcountry had been located in the old Voice of America building before moving to the new one.
It was crazy for us to go from living in a country with such an immense and usually effective infrastructure to one without any at all. Though they are building roads, it still takes days to drive to towns upcountry (Liberia is about the size of Tennessee). The roads around Monrovia are pretty good, but some are pothole heavy, and traffic lights are non-existent (I remember Chad had one traffic light that was for show, I never saw it actually work). In Chad, I never really thought too much about the fact that there was no electrical power plant, and that everyone relied on generators, yet in Liberia it felt like such a waste. With so much investment and foreign aid coming into the country, why could they not build a power plant? Actually they are building some sort of renewable plant that will recycle rubber trees for electricity (I'm not exactly sure how) so hopefully that will provide power to some people. The dull (or sometimes extremely loud) roar of the generator at night was a constant reminder of how we take our electricity for granted here. Even the people we hung out with living in air-conditioned ex-pat apartments had their generators turned off during the day.
There are definitely changes afoot though with municipal trash collection (from dumpsters not homes) and renovated market structures with concrete floors and tin roofs so going to the market isn't such a muddy experience. It seems like there are thousands of NGOs or at least hundreds, and I think we met more Americans in two weeks in Liberia than a year in South Africa. The UN presence is still huge as evidenced by the fact that I saw a truck with the license plate UNMIL - 15823 (or something similar...they start at 1 and issue license plates up from there so that means there are tens of thousands of UN vehicles in the country. Matt told us that there is a graveyard of expired UN vehicles, not surprising with the road conditions and constant precipitation.) The huge ex-pat community also meant grocery stores stocked with American products, weird to see after a year of South African brands. Much of it was off brand and expensive (a jar of peanut butter for $4). And you can use US dollars to buy most anything. In fact, prices of more expensive items are given in US dollars.
So back to our trip...we enjoyed the wedding. James fulfilled his role as best man nicely giving a toast that no one seemed to listen to because of the feedback in the sound system. We danced the Grand March which is a Liberian tradition (there was a marching part, soul train part, and then circle dance part...I'm not sure how much of that is traditional). The day after the wedding we all (the family and Matt's friends) went to brunch at a nice resort and spent the day on the beach and watching games in their honeymoon room on the flat screen. The second week, we did lots of errands, visited with Liberian and American friends, went to the beach a few times, visited an orphanage, and just hung out with Ron and Pat.
We had a great time with family, getting to know Alvina, and experiencing Liberia. As we start the post Peace Corps job search, it was neat to get to go and see Monrovia as we may just end up moving there (with all these NGOs, there are a lot more jobs than in other countries). Back in South Africa, the air feels drier than ever as we must have acclimatized to the humidity. I can even feel the altitude a bit in my breath coming from sea level. I'm most excited to hear Setswana again and see people we know. One interesting thing about Liberia is that people use English as the lingua franca. I think I heard about one conversation in Bassa (Alvina's language) the whole time though we spent lots of time with her family. Though Liberian English itself is difficult to understand for those of us who are not used to it, I expected to hear more other languages. I'm sure in the villages you would, but just like in cities here, lots of people speak English. The difference is that it's been that way for a long time and the grannies and children speak English just as often as the people who've been to school.
Hope to write another post about watching world cup games this week, but ciao for now.
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