Halala ngosuku lokuzalwa Nelson Mandela!

Today South Africa celebrates Nelson Mandela’s 94th birthday. Mandela’s birthday has now become the Madiba (or Mandela) Day. Madiba Day encourages people to take 67 minutes of their day to improve the lives of their fellow citizens. 67 is a significant number because Mandela spent 67 years of his life serving the people of his country and the world. Mandela inspired his people to take action to change the world for the better. He promotes people to “Take Action; Inspire Change: Make Every Day a Mandela Day”. I think that Nelson Mandela is an inspirational person; not only because of the amazing things he did to help put an end to the Apartheid, but for his will and drive to never back down from the things he believed in. I believe he has lessons we can all learn and grow from.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite”. Nelson Mandela

I have been excited for Madiba Day; excited to get out into the community to help people in need, but also excited to see people working together towards a better South Africa. To start Madiba Day off, Ron and I went to one of the local schools to collect warm clothes and food that some of the children have collected.

We combined our blankets, food, and warm clothes with that of the school and off we went. We (Ron, Mandla, and I) headed out to the rural areas and a crèche. 37 people received a blanket and a food parcel. After the blankets were gone, we handed out warm clothes that we have been collecting for a few months. Most of the people had no idea that we were coming and that made it really special. They just kept saying “siyabonga uNkulunkulu” (thank you God) and “uNkulunkulu akubusise” God Bless you). I was really happy to be a part of this great day and I look forward to partaking in it next year!

Training, Lion cubs, and Skulls

I can’t believe that in-service training (IST) has come and gone. I can remember sitting in pre-service training (PST) thinking that IST was so far away and wondering if I would make it this far! Well here I am and I am as ready as ever to get some projects started and work with some of the youth. A few days before IST I headed back to Pretoria for some more dental appointments. It is a long story but after several more dental appointments, antibiotics/medicine, and tears, my tooth is still not fixed. I am headed back in a few more weeks to have the rest of it fixed and I am optimistic that it will be the last appointment. IST started the 23rd and my counterpart Jules arrived the night before. Since he arrived early we walked with Dan to the Union Buildings in Pretoria. The Union Buildings form the official seat of the South African Government and is home to the President's offices. Below the buildings are beautiful gardens and multiple statues.

During IST each volunteer brings one supervisor and one counterpart. I was excited to have Jules with me and to work closely with him during IST. Some of the information that we learned is rather repetitive for the PCV’s, but several of the counterparts/supervisors have never had proper educational training in program planning, monitoring, and evaluation. Jules seemed really excited about all of the information he was given and looks forward to using it in his community. I feel that this training will really aid in a projects self-sustainment.

We were staying at a very nice conference hotel outside of Pretoria with a river, pool, sauna, wifi, and amazing food (thank you US tax payers). We ate meat like Kudu and Ostrich, and lots of other interesting food. I had to stop going to teatime because there were always samosas and deserts and it was just too tempting! IST is not only great for the awesome accommodations, but also to see my fellow PCV’s that I have not seen since PST. It is great to hear from them and see what they are currently working on at their own site.

We have a lot of great people in our group and I think some amazing things are to come. During IST we were invited to attend a 4th of July barbeque at the US Embassy America Club. It was awesome! The Marines that also attended did an amazing job at killing the PCV’s in the volleyball tournament. I was able to sit down and talk with several other Americans who were living in SA for all kinds of reasons. It was really neat to be able to spend the day with Americans.

As PCVs we also had our own 4th of July braai at the backpackers. We had all of the traditional 4th of July food and we finished the night off with an American Trivia game that the backpacker hosted for us. It turned out to be a great American holiday in South Africa. After the first 3 months in service (lockdown phase) PCV’s are finally allowed to use their vacation time. I took this as an opportunity to go to a few places with some of the other PCV’s. We first went to the Lion Park outside of Pretoria. It was AWESOME! The first part of the tour that we did allowed us to play with some lion cubs for about 5 minutes. I expected little cubs but these were about a year old and they are removed when they are about 18 months. I learned real quick that you have to pet them firmly or they will swat at you. I ended up with several scabs on my hand and was even bitten. The lady had to come over and flick the little bugger in the nose to get him to let go of my finger. I was not the only one who left with a little wound; Flat Mommy suffered a minor puncture wound to her lower leg. I think she will recover quickly!

After we saw the lion cubs we were able to go and feed giraffes. I am still completely amazed by how long and slimy their tongues are. It was really cool to be able to pet and feed them as well.

Next we moved on to the ostrich. Those things freak me out; I kept thinking it was going to peck me in the face. I was too afraid to try and feed it out of my hand but I would totally ride one if I were given the opportunity.

We then got in the van and drove through the park. This part was my least favorite because I felt like I was in a really big zoo. I liked the first safari that I went on awhile back because you have to go searching for the animals. Here they were everywhere and were not hard to spot. However it was cool to see all of the different types of lions and the leopards. The next day Dan, Cindy, Susan and I decided to rent a car and drive to the Sterkfontein Caves. I was nervous to drive that far but once I started going it was fine. It is just hard to get use to shifting with my left hand. The Sterkfontein Caves are a World Heritage Site located about 70k outside of Pretoria in an area known as the Cradle of Humankind.

Sterkfontein is one of the most productive palaeo-anthropological sites in the world. In the early 1800’s some limestone miners noticed several fossils located in these caves. One of the major fossils was one called Mrs Ples, a 2.1 million year old Australopithecus Africanus skull. There was also an almost complete skeleton that is more than 3 million years old that is called Little Foot. I didn’t know if I would enjoy the caves, but I was totally into it and was really glad that I went. After the caves we drove about 10k to a place called Maropeng. To me it seemed more like a children’s museum and I was not so into this part. They solicited this “boat tour” and I could not figure out where it would be because there was no water. We went it and it was like a Disneyland boat ride. We had to just laugh about it and take lots of pictures. On the way back to site we stopped in Durban and stayed with my host sister Sophia and her family. The next morning we headed to the beach and it was awesome! I can’t believe that it is winter and there were people surfing and laying on the beach. I definitely think that a long weekend trip to Durban is going to be necessary. Well after a long few weeks I am finally back to site and back to ECFC. It feels good to be back and I am ready to get back into my routine.