Mondi Fun Run and Flat Mommy!

Sunday my organization participated in the Mondi Fun Run 5K in Richards Bay. We competed with other organizations to see who had the best table (fun for the kids and decorations.)

We had balloons, hopscotch, candy, face paint, cold drink (pop,) popsicle bags, water and I was even dressed as a clown. I personally think that we had the most energetic and well-prepared table and the kids seemed to love it but unfortunately we lost. The race was also fundraiser for local schools and the school that had the most school spirit was awarded an extra prize. Because we participated in having a table we were given a check for R15,000 (approximately $2,100.) The race had been planned for a month or two ago but because of the rain it was changed. Thus meant that I was not involved in any of the planning but it was still great to be able help out. This was my first fundraising activity with my organization and I was glad that I was able to participate.

Yesterday I received my Flat Mommy in the mail. I was a little confused when I opened it because I could not figure out what it was and why I had received a drawn person. It took me a second to figure out, but once I saw the necklace I knew it was my mommy. For those of you who do not know what a Flat Mommy is, it is based off of Flat Stanly. Flat Stanley was a book that was written in 1964. There was then a project in 1994 that was developed to encourage letter writing. Instead of just sending letter, people would send Flat Stanley’s. They would take their Flat Stanley everywhere they went and take pictures with it. With my Flat Mommy I received and adorable letter talking about how I could now take my Flat Mommy with me allowing my mommy to experience everything with me. Flat Mommy also came with a bottle of Franks Hot Sauce, which I love. So Flat Mommy and I enjoyed our first meal out together last night. I can hardly wait for all of the adventures Flat Mommy and I have in the future! So if your ever wondering why I have a paper person in my pictures don’t worry, it’s just my Flat Mommy joining me in this crazy Peace Corps adventure! Here we are getting ready to hang the bananas to ripen. We cut them off the tree because they were on our side of the fence!

First Community Meeting

I have been pretty lazy with writing mostly because I have not been up to anything too exciting. On the 15th I held my first community meeting. This was held in the small village that I will be focusing most of my efforts. I have learned from other volunteers that things will not and do not go as planned. So I went into this knowing that it was the first thing that I put together as a PCV and I have never done a community meeting before. I figured it would most certainly have something go wrong. To start with I got a phone call saying that the individual who was going to translate for me was not where he was to be picked up. So my counterpart left him so that we would not be late. The meeting started at 8:30 and I was not picked up until about 8:20. You all know me and how much I hate to be late to important things. My counterpart and I show up at the meeting at about 8:35 and there is a sign on the fence that says the community meeting has been moved.

Great, the people who are hosting the meeting have no idea where it was. You would think that we would have been the first ones to find out! So eventually we got to the right place and the only people there were the ones who were helping set things up. I have mentioned African/Zulu Land time and how everyone is late and boy is it accurate. We finally decided to start around 9:30 when we had about 35 people. Eventually more came and we ended up with almost 50 people in attendance. I have been learning a lot about Participatory Analysis for Community Action (PACA.) This is an analysis tool that allows the community to determine its own needs and wants and it is what I based my meeting plan on. I broke the group up into groups of men and women. Then I would be able to see the needs of each gender group and compare them. It was very interesting to see the difference in their needs. For example the men’s group (which was composed mostly of younger boys my age) mainly wanted a new sports ground. Whereas the women’s group (Gogos and middle aged women) really wanted a crèche and a clinic. I would have been interested to see if the needs for the men’s group would have been different had it been an older percentage of men. Our meeting went for about 45 minutes and overall it went pretty well. I heard that people showed up for the meeting as late as 12:00. This is still so crazy to me to understand! I was able to get a great feeling for some of the community members and I look forward to working with them.

Who is the dumb A$$? Oh Stepho is the dumb A$$

The other night I thought it would be a good idea to cook dinner for my host grandparents. So I met Dan at the grocery store and we went to fetch all of the ingredients. Making chicken enchiladas and finding all of the correct ingredients in an African supermarket was a challenge. It took about two hours of shopping, walking, and scavenging for ingredients we ended up with everything we needed. We bought olives in a bag and cream of chicken soup in a packet. A little different then what we were use to but we made it work. Then the funny part…I was wondering why the oven did not go past like 260 degrees. So I thought that I would just turn it all the way up. A few minutes after that I tripped the breaker in the house! My Granny turned the oven down and then said it would cook even if it were not all the way up. In my mind I was worried because the recipes said to cook it at 350. Those of you who know me, know that I like things to be perfect and just the way it should be. But I figured Granny knew best so I left it. Well about 15 minutes after I put the enchiladas in I was so surprised that the cheese was melting so fast. Then about 10 minutes later while I was looking at pictures with Granny and G-pa I realized, I am an idiot! I interrupted them and asked if the ovens here use Celsius or Fahrenheit. Um ya its Celsius and Stepho gets the dumb a$$ award! I went running to the oven and I caught it just in time. They were only a bit burnt. That is a lesson learned!

Missing Home Like CRAZY

“Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other. It is the place of confidence. It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defense, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts. It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule.” ~Frederick W. Robertson

The last few weeks have been especially hard for me to be away from home. I think that once you see the pictures below you can see for yourself a few of the reasons why I might be feeling homesick. Miss and love you all!

Easter weekend and lots of food!

Easter weekend was a four day holiday weekend for me! We had Friday off for Good Friday and Monday off for Family Day. At first I thought that I was going to be really bored all weekend but it turned out to be loads of fun. Friday I joined Dan at the Catholic Church for the Good Friday service. It was nice to go to and the church was beautiful. Friday night I went with Natalie and her friends to a place called Lighty’s for Michael’s birthday. It is comforting to start seeing familiar faces and meeting friends.

Now the best part! Janien fetched me early in the day and we went to Richards Bay. Granny, Natalie and her kids joined us as well. We even met up with some of Janien’s family there. We got to the beach and it was the first time I was in the Indian Ocean.

I was expecting it to be freezing like the beaches that I have been to before. It was not very cold and it felt rather nice. I was so amazed by the sand because I am use to the nasty rocky sand we have in Utah. They all thought that the sand is getting pretty dirty but I thought it was great! After the beach we went to a small like sailors bay so that the kids could swim.

It was so nice and relaxing and the weather was quite nice. On the way home we stopped to get ice cream. Here they put this stick of chocolate in the ice cream cones, it is a novel idea and it is so good! After the beach Janien and I went back to her house. She was having a big dinner that night and I was able to help her prepare some of the food. It is a really good thing I am not a vegetarian anymore. We had loads of meat and I even tried Springbok. It tasted to me like pot roast.

Sunday I went to the same Catholic Church with my host Granny and Grandpa for the Easter service. The thing I like about this particular church is that half of the service is in isiZulu and the other half is in English. It gives me a chance to listen to isiZulu and see what I can figure out. I can’t figure out very much at this point! Later that night we went to the neighbors and had another braai. I also ate a lot of different types of meat there. I think that the PC is right when they say that most female volunteers placed in South Africa gain weight. I can now see why! I will really have to watch it because all of this food is so yummy! I am hoping to run a half marathon here so that should help!

Meeting the Inkosi

Last week I was able to go and meet with a gentleman named Julius and his wife Joyce. They live in the village where I plan to focus my efforts. They have made a crèche (early childhood development center) and they have about 16 kids so far. The crèche is located in a rondavel that is on their property. It is far too small to accommodate the needs of all of the children who need a crèche. Crèches here are made for children age 1-5. Julius and Joyce’s goal is to build a crèche that will accommodate about 50 children. The Inkosi (chief) of their village has given them a piece of land to build a new crèche. Empangeni Child and Welfare had some stuff that was for their crèche.

Ingrid and I took it to Julius and Joyce. Some of the stuff that we gave them was damaged. Such as sandals, shoes, and clothes that were cut. This made them impossible to wear. I asked Ingrid why they were cut and she thinks it is because staff members at local stores will try and damage stuff so the store can’t sell it, then they will try and take it home. So the stores just start cutting the partially damaged stuff so that it can’t be used. This was done in hopes that staff will stop damaging products. I don’t know if I said that very clearly, hopefully you understand! Luckily some of the stuff can be sewn so that it can be used. It does not always look the greatest but at least it can be worn. We were also able to give them a lot of flour that the bags had been damaged so the stores could not sell it. Julius took Ingrid and I to meet the Induna. It is required that we meet the Induna prior to the Inkosi. I think it is important for us to meet the Inkosi prior to starting our work in his village. It was interesting to meet him and he was thrilled that I was able to talk with him in isiZulu. I enjoyed my time with Julius and Joyce. I think I will be working closely with them in the future and I look forward to it.

Julius and the Induna planned for us to meet the Inkosi today. I got a good feel for Zulu (Africa) time again as people are always late. We planned to meet with him at 8. We finally got to meet him at about 10:30. While we waited I was able to meet with some of the locals who were also waiting to speak with the Inkosi. We meet at a tribal court and there were about 30 Indunas and then the Inkosi. I was pretty intense and I was not expecting that many people to be there. The Induna introduced Julius who then introduced us. I stood up and did my introduction in isiZulu. I have to switch to English every now and then for words that I forget but overall it is coming along. After I finished I said it was nice to meet you all in isiZulu and they all started clapping. I bet my face went bright red. I for some reason got super embarrassed. I felt like a little kid who just sang a song to a bunch of adults. It was pretty intimidating but it was an overall great experience.