And now for something, completely different

You must by now actually be wondering what I have been doing IN the village, you know...what your tax dollars are actually contributing to apart from my fabulous vacations. Well you are in luck, because things are as busy as ever.

Before reading this post, I would like you to learn the Zulu term, Sizobona. It means, we will see. I could try counting the number of times in a day I say that, but I think I would lose count and you wouldn’t really care to know anyway. My point is, some things that I’m doing are really wonderful. Some are supposed to be wonderful, but they never end up happening. Some were never planned, but end up being wonderful. Some are just flat out the worst. If I’ve learned one thing over the past year as a PCV, it’s that things will never go exactly the way I want them to. So instead of freaking out and crying when my co-workers aren’t at work by 9:01 a.m., I’ve adjusted to a much more laissez-faire attitude, and I take each day and experience for what it is. And what it becomes, sizobona.

Things you already know about:

The Gogo group: The support group is going strong, and each meeting brings new participants and more questions and discussion than the last. This week we had a record high of 30 attendees, and a record high of 3 questions being asked on health topics unrelated to what we were discussing. In case this seems small, you should know that this is HUGE. Many people are very reluctant to talk about personal issues in public, and the idea of a support group is foreign to them. In fact, the first few meetings consisted of me talking about my problems and women sighing or groaning in relation to my pain, but not offering anything up of their own. Finally I wised up and realized that this would have to come, and we devised a routine that makes them more comfortable, in which we “lecture” on an aspect of health education for about 30 minutes and then ask some discussion questions. Afterwards, we quiz them to make sure that they understood or were listening. To hear them ask questions about other things they are struggling with or unclear on, is wonderful and I definitely consider it a breakthrough. My day is instantly turned around when a Gogo from the group spots me from across the road and proceeds to scream out a song or dance that we did in one of our meetings. AND, I brought the beaded AIDS ribbons that they had made to the Health Symposium and thanks to the generosity of other volunteers and PC staff, made over $100 for the Gogos to take home as personal and independent income. Yebo Gogo!

Girls Club: Also going strong. Due to graduations and some of the girls realizing after 7 months of meetings that I’m not actually as cool as they think I am, we added about 10 new members. It has been a lot of fun getting to know new girls and they add a great dynamic to the group. We have 30 yoga mats and we have impromptu classes other than the scheduled Wednesday for whenever girls decide they want to do it (best news ever: i found out that some of the girls got together and did it themselves while i was away on vacation. Yahoo!). What I love the most, however, is their willingness to finally open up to me and talk to me about serious issues that are affecting them at home and at school; issues that they may not have anyone else to talk to about it.

Things you may not know about:

Computer classes: Late last year I found out that the Jr. High that I am helping to build a library, was also stocked with 10 computers that had just been sitting at someone’s home for the past year because none of the teachers know how to use them. I finally forced the principal to bring them in, emphasizing the fact that I won’t be here next year (omg) to help teach and train. I honestly thought it was never going to happen until one day I show up at the school and all of the computers are inside and set up and oh I’m supposed to be ready to teach tomorrow. Who would have thought. After discussing that tomorrow probably isn’t best but I can be ready by next month, we agreed, fixed all of the virus racked computers, created a time table of when and how the classes will be conducted, and spread the word to the kids about what a treat they were in for. Well, Monday is that day. I’m excited to start, but am also pretty nervous due to my aforementioned rational fear of adolescent boys, combined with the fact that I know I’m not a great teacher. But regardless, Monday is approaching and I no longer have any excuses to put it off. Sizobona!

Pen Pal Exchange: My friend Eric has been doing Teach for America in LA for the past two years. We decided that s neat project could be for our students to participate in a letter writing pen-pal exchange. I remember having a pen-pal in third grade, I think she was from Japan and that’s all I remember but I do know that I really liked it. So last week the 6^th grade English class that I sometimes work with wrote letters to each of his 5^th grade class. The kids loved it, and though there will definitely be some cultural confusions and literacy issues (one kid wrote that his “fafored color is red”), I’m really excited to see what Eric’s class responses are. Some letters were pretty lame (the cool kids in the back don’t need pen-pals, they have mp3 players with Rihanna’s new song to listen to instead) but some kids got really into it and described their experiences as South Africans and how interested they were in meeting kids from America. I’m hoping we can set up some kind of Skype session once more contact has been established.

Camp Glow: This will be my major project for the next two months. Another PCV and I are planning on holding a 5 day leadership camp in July for the girls in our Girls Clubs. At her site in Limpopo, she is working with a similar group of girls to build knowledge of basic life-skills and help the girls in realizing their goals and dreams while achieving empowerment. I have really high hopes for the camp, (GLOW stands for Girls Leading Our World), and we have some great ideas on how to make this a unique and memorable experience for the girls. Many PCVs around the world conduct camps like this and I’ve seen them to be a highlight of service for those whom I know.

I promise it won’t be another two months before you receive 20 updates from me again. Until then, e-mail me and tell me what the heck is up with you!

Lots of love.