Family

Without a doubt, one of the most salient highlights of my service has been my relationship with my host family. They have been such a blast to learn from, converse with, and spend long days doing nothing alongside.
The first day that I arrived at their home, it was my second week being in Peace Corps and I was scared out of my mind. How often do you just show up at the front door of a family that you know nothing about, can barely communicate with, and expect everything to be chill? From the first day, they have welcomed me into their family, giving me my African name of Sbongile Thubana (Thubana is their surname), showing me how to wash clothes with my hands, pick the ripe mangoes off of the tree in the yard, killing the spiders for me when I'm scared, and sharing soda or snacks when they have extra.

I have been so blessed to have them be a part of my experience here, and I know that one of the hardest things about finishing my service will be leaving them. The members of the family that live at home with me are the Gogo and Mkhulu (Grandma and Grandpa), 3 siblings who are around my age- May, Guphi, and Bena, and 3 small children- Collen who is 5, Mxolisi (the subject of many of my posts) who is 2, and Lisadie who just celebrated her first birthday (picture below). My family is fun, generous, sympathetic, outrageous, and wonderful. I will never forget waking up to the babies pounding on my door, barging into my room and subsequently destroying everything in their path, laughing with Gogo at something inexplicably ridiculous that I'm doing- like tanning in the yard or burning candles during the day-dance parties outside of May's taxi when he arrives home from work blasting his music loud enough for the whole village to hear, eating their food and pretending to like it, then watching them do the exact same thing to me when I cook for them; but most of all, those subtle realizations that I am really part of the family like when my sister decides she isn't going to help me do my laundry anymore, I am asked to help set up and clean up after the birthday parties (instead of being the guest of honor), or Gogo tells me that I no longer have to pay her for my monthly use of electricity.

They've seen me laugh, cry, celebrate successes, and be frustrated over failures; helped me with projects, hung out with me when I was lonely, and left me alone when I didn't want to talk to anyone. I could not have asked for a better family to teach me the culture of ubuntu (a concept of common humanity) characteristic of much of South Africa.