On Christmas morning I was awoken at 6am by the sound of knocking on my door.  Although I did not want to get out of bed I sleepily opened the door to find two of my students from my Boys’ Club bearing gifts of fresh mangoes from their trees and sweets from the little village shop.  I welcomed them into my home and shared some of the  Christmas sweets my family had sent me–no match for the generosity they had shown me. At that moment I thought to myself that this could easily be the most special Christmas morning I ever have.

After the boys left I was eager to get Christmas started! I spent the rest of the morning baking with the children of my host family, which has come to be a Christmas tradition as this was our second Christmas together.  The kids started asking me long before Christmas day if we would be baking cakes like last year! So in the same fashion as the year before my tiny hut was quickly transformed into a bakery with kids mixing batter, rolling out dough and decorating cookies! The smiles on the children’s faces made finding sprinkles inside my bed that night totally worth it!  

After completing Christmas morning in my hut I ventured out to pay a couple visits to people around the village.  The first visit was to one of my students from Girls’ Club, Slindokuhle, who has been begging me to come meet her mom for awhile now.  So I met her at the village carwash (something I will never understand as my village hasn’t had water in two years) and we made the trek to her home.  When I arrived at her house I was initially taken aback by her very humble two-room home made of wood planks that housed herself, her mother and her two siblings.  Yes, this simple structure is a common one in the village, but when I work with my students at school or they visit me at home I somehow forget the poverty that they go home to every night and that realization is never an easy one.  These thoughts were quickly taken out of my mind the moment I was ushered into the “sitting room” to enjoy biscuits and apple soda with the mother, uncle, grandmother and children.  We sat around the table watching old recordings of Celine Dion and Kenny G music videos on their tiny television.  (Celine Dion and Kenny G are some of the most popular singers in my village and although I will never understand it I try to embrace it!) During our time together the family explained to me how much they love Christmas because they get to be together and enjoy one another. As I left they couldn’t stop thanking me for spending my Christmas with them and how honored they were to be with me when in reality I was the lucky one to have shared the holiday with them. 

Still full from my biscuits and apple soda I headed over to my friend Jabu’s house to share a Christmas meal.  Jabu is a cook for the orphans at the HIV/AIDS organization in my village and was one of my very first friends here! When I arrived at her home her family, just like that of Slindokuhle’s, was gathered around the TV, but in this case they were watching an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie as they always seem to be on TV.  (My students always like to tell me they think it’s so funny that Arnold is the “chief” of my village of California!) So as we sat around the TV I was fed the most glorious Zulu meal complete with chicken and beef, rice and maize meal as well as various side dishes.  Zulu people take great pride in spoiling their guests and I was for sure spoiled in the sense as I was so full that I could hardly walk home! During our meal and TV watching we discussed my upcoming departure from the village and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.  Jabu put it perfectly when she said, “when you first arrived we thought it was crazy that you would be here for two years without your family and now nobody can believe those two years are almost over.”

This Christmas was one that I will never forget as it taught me that true beauty lies in simplicity.  Whether it be receiving a gift of mangoes, baking cookies in a hut, watching old Celine Dion music videos or eating a large meal with friends, simple beauty is present in all of it.  

Now I have an answer for my host brother, Sanele: “you are right; the famous Santa in a red suit does not come to South Africa because he only has clothes for winter, but the true meaning of Christmas is present all around you.  It can be seen in the joy of a family sharing a meal or the smiles of children walking down the road eating fresh mangoes. Hidden in the small things we take for granted is the simple beauty that makes Christmas so special”  

Happy New Year to you and may your eyes be opened to the simple beauty that is present all around you. 

The second day of the camp was even more fun-filled than the first! The planned morning activity was tie-dying camp shirts, but of course the graphics I had painted on the day before came off the moment the shirts touched dye as the fabric paint apparently wasn’t waterproof (only South Africa would have fabric paint that isn’t waterproof!!) so I quickly stopped the activity to save the shirts. The rest of the day was absolutely fantastic! In the morning we went to the Crocodile Centre located along the estuary where the campers were given a fabulous presentation on the local ecosystems as well as the wildlife that populates the estuary. The girls even had a chance to hold a baby crocodile! The fun didn’t stop there as immediately after the Crocodile Centre we headed down to the beach for some fun in the waves and a delicious braai (South African BBQ) prepared by my host brothers. Watching the girls play in the water and enjoy their meat feast was so wonderful. These are girls who have more responsibility in their homes than I could have ever imagined at their age and for the first time in their lives they were getting the chance to just be kids!

That evening after some long hot showers the girls participated in an wonderful session by African Impact, the local voluntourist organization in St Lucia. The volunteers led the campers in acting, movement and musical activities as a way to show the importance of self-confidence and self-expression. If that wasn’t enough for one day the night session was quite memorable as we did a little gender role swapping through the “Ask A Boy” session. Since in Zulu culture it is the “woman’s job” to take care of a man I thought it would be fun to show the girls that gender roles are interchangeable. The South African constitution so clearly states that men and women are equal so why not show them what equality looks like! So for dinner that night I had four guys from my host family as surprise guests to dinner, but instead of being served by the girls they were the ones doing the serving. The girls could not get over how strange the situation was yet quickly began to feel more comfortable as the guys showed that what they were doing was perfectly normal. That’s what two years of living with an American woman has done to my host brothers! That night the guys led the “Ask A Boy” session and literally had each girl at the edge of her seat during the whole thing. Before the session began I had the girls write down the questions they’ve “always wanted to ask a boy” on slips of paper so that they wouldn’t feel embarrassed asking the boys the questions directly. My host brothers then took the box of papers and answered each question much to the girls enjoyment. I think this session was equally rewarding for the facilitators as it was for the campers as they were able to tell the girls things that most Zulu men never feel comfortable saying, but would like to say to girls in their community. Since the girls were all wound-up from the session with the guys I decided to add to the madness with some South African style s’mores with flavored marshmallows, marie biscuits and Cadbury chocolate. The girls could not get over how funny it was to “braai marshmallows” as they’ve never done such a crazy thing before, but the moment they tasted their first s’more I couldn’t get them away from the campfire! From morning to night it was constant fun so I thought the girls would be exhausted, but who was I kidding? They had so much energy that they even managed to lock themselves out of one of the bedrooms and then break and door handle…nothing like a little extra excitement!

The next morning was the beginning of the final day of camp. After a delicious breakfast I led the campers in a teambuilding session complete with silly games and songs to bring up the energy after a fun-filled evening. Then I presented a lesson on stress management as this is a huge issue in the community today with youth suicides being all to common. The girls did excellent skits to show stressful situations they frequently find themselves in as well as the constructive solutions they would use to rid themselves of the stress. The acting skills of Zulu children never fail to amaze me! During the entire camp I had the girls keep journals as a learning tool to be used as a way to relieve stress outside of the camp setting. After all the learning was concluded I had one final surprise for the girls up my sleeve….a boat cruise along the estuary to see the hippos and crocodiles that inhabit the water! This adventure was extremely special to the girls as many have dreamed of being on one of the boats that they so frequently see the white tourists enjoying! This outing as well as the ones to the Crocodile Centre, pool and beach were things they will never forget as even though these amazing places are so near to their homes the majority of people in my community lack the means to ever visit them.

That evening as the taxi pulled into Khula Village the girls were yelling out the windows with excitement bragging to everyone on the road about their special camp experience. When we finally reached my home the girls all followed me to my door begging me to let them sleepover so that the fun wouldn’t end. Unfortunately, my tiny hut is a little small for 15 people to sleep in, but their enthusiasm was a true indicator to me of how much the camp meant to them. As they exited my gate to go home with huge smiles across their faces and a spring in their steps I knew that the camp was something that they would never forget. For three short days these 14 girls had the opportunity to step away from their typical lives and focus on being kids, something all to rare to a village child.

This camp was made possible thanks to the generosity of donations from family and friends in America. This camp was truly life changing for the 14 girls who had the opportunity to participate in it. I look forward to doing another camp like this for a group of 20 boys in November. Yay for Youth Empowerment!

Although there were many memorable things about their trip it was their experience in Khula Village that really stood out. From the moment my parents’ pulled into Khula on a bush taxi they seemed to fit right in! My tiny hut quickly became home to the three of us. My dad and my dog, Bruni, bonded as they slept together on the floor and both my mom and dad immediately mastered using a pit latrine and bucket bathing. After just a few hours in the village my parents were sporting traditional Zulu attire as well as showing off their skills as Zulu dancers.

The next day was the real treat as we planned to visit the primary school and the community organization where I had been working since last year. As we trekked through the sand to get to school I noticed that many students were hanging out around the school, but not in class. When I asked one of the boys why the students weren’t in class he said, “Miss Piccinini, we are waiting for you guys.” Of course I thought he was pulling my leg, but sure enough when we got to school a huge formal function had been planned to honor my parents. My mom and dad processed in though a tunnel of singing children and were led to the front of the school where the remaining students were eagerly awaiting their arrival. I’ve never seen the students so excited! The event continued in a large tent with speeches and performances to honor “Mr. and Mrs. Piccinini.” The event could have not been more perfect as the learners and staff were truly excited to have them there and had prepared many special things for the day. One of my personal favorite parts of the program was a poetry reading by one of the 7^th Grade Boys where he recited a poem which began, “Miss Piccinini from the country of California in the village of America.” Other highlights from the program were the traditional song and dance routines done by the students and the speech from the principal where he compared my parents to royalty; “we have not had visitors this important since Prince Charles!” Now that was quite the statement! The event ended perfectly with the entire student body singing the South African national anthem in beautiful harmony. The teachers put it best when they said, “this is the day we will never forget!”

Later that day we ventured to my community-based organization where my parents distributed teddy bears to each of the orphans at the centre. Each of the children’s faces lit-up as they were presented with their own teddy bear. For some of them this was the first toy they ever personally owned. It was funny to watch how each child played with his/her bear; the play ranged from perpetual hugging to staging fights with their friends’ bears. As the children were happily playing with their new toys my parents and I set-up tables filled with used clothing they had brought from America for the staff members of the organization. Even though we were all a little concerned about what the reaction would be to this we were quickly put at ease when all the staff started signing and dancing with joy!

It’s amazing how things that seem so small to us have the potential of making a huge impact on the lives of others. It only took a visit to the school to warrant a huge celebration, a teddy bear to render extreme joy in the orphans’ faces and used clothing to create a desire to sing and dance in praise.

Although my parents’ time in Khula Village was limited the lives they touched and the impact they made on the community are far greater than we could ever imagine.

With a year and a half of life in a village behind my belt I felt pretty confident in myself as a volunteer and in my impact on the community. Whenever anyone would ask me about my life in South Africa I would say with confidence that I loved my time here because I genuinely did…or so I thought. I mean how could I really know I truly loved it until I took a step back to gain some perspective? I had the opportunity to gain that much needed perspective during my visit to America.

When I was preparing for my trip home many volunteers warned me about feelings I might have upon my return to “the land of plenty.” So I boarded the plane with nerves of culture shock, the potential that I may not relate to my family or friends anymore and the possibility that I might not want to come back to South Africa. Luckily for me, the moment I arrived in America I was thrown back into my “old” life wearing a fancy dress, heels and make-up (things I haven’t worn in almost 2 years) for my brother’s graduation. I didn’t even have time to think about the adjustment as it was forced the moment I got off the plane.

This made the initial step back into American life much easier than expected as being my “American” self couldn’t be any more different than my “South African” self. So a few days went by and all was “normal.” Then little things started to set me off like breaking down in tears upon seeing a man begging on the street or needing to pull over every so often to buy caffeine because driving in traffic is draining or the inability to sleep because the excess clothes in my closet stressed me out. Then there was the fact that I missed about every pop culture reference, but I guess that’s to be expected when I live in a hut!

My biggest “light bulb” moment was when I was in Target and Costco at the end of my stay at home. I mean Costco and Target are the definition of excess, but are places that volunteers dream of when sitting in our little huts, but now I was experiencing it through different eyes. While walking in the clothing section of Costco, getting completely distracted by all the stimuli, my mom said to me, “what things could your host family use?” I thought about it for a second and then realized, “what things couldn’t they use!” With that realization I told my mom it was time to leave because I was afraid I might break down. That singular moment had a huge unexpected impact on me.

Up until that point in my South African Peace Corps service I was very aware of the great need for “development,“ but I was pretty blind to the raw poverty that was right before my eyes. Having immediately transferred from Niger, the poorest country in the world, South Africa didn’t even seem to compare. It wasn’t until I took a step outside of it that I realized how wrong I had been. Maybe the Zulu people in my village don’t initially seem as poor as the rural villagers in Niger, but take away all the “show” and the reality is not a pretty one.

Because of South Africa’s unique history rural South Africans have always taken great pride in presenting themselves with dignity. Although a person may only have 2 sets of clothing you can bet that those clothes are washed and ironed each day so that he/she always looks his/her best. Then there is the style of homes. With the heavily white South African influence many Zulus have transitioned from traditional huts to what look like typical western homes on the outside, but a step inside would show something a little different: unfinished ceilings, broken furniture and numerous people sharing a single bed. These facts all go completely unnoticed to the typical visitor and even apparently to someone like me who prided myself on my integration in my village. It wasn’t until that moment in Costco that I had clarity on the reality of village life.

With that realization in the back of my head and the burning desire to get back to work I boarded the plane back to South Africa. Now after being back for about a month the perspective I gained during my trip to America has been the driving force behind my work. I have eight more months to continue making as large of an impact on my community as possible and I am dedicated to doing just that!

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Everyone who knows me in South Africa, villagers and Peace Corps Volunteers included, knows that I ooze Zulu pride as I absolutely love every aspect of my life in the village. Okay, maybe that’s exaggerating a bit as I could do without the 5am wake-up calls by the extraordinarily melodic birds that live in the trees near my home, the trudging through deep sand to get to school in the morning and the endless amounts of rice and maize meal, but all in all I love my simple Zulu life! At this point in my service I can honestly say that I am the happiest I have been yet as I am feeling extremely integrated into my community, I am very busy and I am starting to see the impact of my projects.

Although my main assignment in the village is at the local HIV/AIDS organization I have found fulfillment by doing projects and sharing my talents in various places throughout the village. In the primary school I have implemented a reading component into the English curriculum where I split the grade 7 students into groups of 5 and we are reading The Phantom Tollbooth together. This is extremely exciting for the students as they have never had “individualized” attention due to the fact that they are used to the typical 60 students to 1 educator ratio. Also, because reading is not a prominent part of Zulu culture completing The Phantom Tollbooth will mark the completion of their first “big book” ever!

Also at the primary school I am running two extracurricular clubs that I began at the start of the new year: a PenPal Club and a Girl’s Club. The PenPal Club is made up of 30 Grade 7 students and we meet once per week to write letters to and read letters from our American PenPals as well as discuss the differences between South African and American culture. This club is a blast as this is the first time any of my students have ever received mail and they love to show off their letters to the rest of the student body as well as constantly talk about their American friends. The Girl’s Club is my favorite project thus far! The club is made up of 20 girls that meet once per week with the underlying theme of female empowerment. The girls love the various components of the meetings: ice breaker games, snack time (their real favorite), journaling, lecture/discussion, activities and dance parties! I always know that even if I am having a bad week that my Girl’s Club girls will remind me of why I love being a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Aside from work at the primary school I am also working in the village high school. This is something I avoided like the plague during my first year in the village as I was extremely intimidated by the students as many of them are my age or even older. Although I began my work there as a learning specialist for those students who had fallen behind my work became an endless battle as the timetable changed on a daily basis making it impossible to have a consistent schedule that worked with my other projects. Because of this I switched my focus to developing a youth empowerment program for the high school . My most direct role in the program is holding a weekly Life Skills Club for a selected group of 40 students that will begin next term. In the meantime I am working with the principal to develop a strong and complete curriculum for the program. It is hard to know how successful a program like this will be, but the potential is sure there! Also, at the high school I am currently putting together a comprehensive school-wide English proficiency test that will be given to the students at the beginning of each school year to assess their English knowledge. Based on the results of the test the educators will tailor the curriculum to the most pressing needs of the students. This is extremely important as all high school classes are taught in English and unfortunately the current English standards at the school are rather low thus resulting in extremely low pass rates.

So without even meaning to I have become more of an education volunteer than I expected to be, but I have learned during my time in the village that development needs to start at the most basic level and the schools are the best place for that. Aside from my work in the schools I am still very active in my village HIV/AIDS organization as my most recent project there was the development an after school educational and recreational program for the orphans that we serve. When I first got to my organization we had a decent feeding scheme where the orphans would come after school to receive a nutritious meal, but I noticed that there was something missing. That missing piece was the love and care that the orphans greatly needed thus my reason behind the development of the after school program. Since instating the program I have watched the number of orphans that attend increase dramatically as well as the overall morale of the group.

My biggest fear with these programs is that they won’t be sustainable and after I leave they will all cease to exist. Although I am doing my best to get as much community buy-in as possible I know that a lack of sustainability for some, but hopefully not all, of my projects is inevitable. I need to come to terms with the fact that the work I am doing now may not be completely sustainable in its original form, but that I am impacting the lives of those I serve directly on a daily basis during my two years of service. My hope is that my impact will have a ripple effect and that the people I personally influence will go on to impact and change the lives of others.

Well, one year down and one to go…who knows what the future holds!

Two weeks ago I was asked by the principal of the primary school where I work to chaperone a field trip. I naively agreed somehow forgetting all of my past field trip experiences. As I got ready for the day I put on warm clothes as it was raining and cold, but of course that managed to be the worst decision ever when the day turned to 100 degrees with 85% humidity. Gotta love the bipolar weather in KwaZulu Natal! Anyway, I boarded the bus super excited for the day because once the students saw that I was going on the field trip they were all cheering! The moment the bus started I was reminded of why field trips are so exhausting: the house music immediately started blaring, the kids started singing and yelling and the general madness began! The field trip itself was rather cool as we took 100 7^th graders to a career and science centre for some educational motivation and then ended with at a trip to a reptile centre. When I say there were 100 students you would think there would be quite a few chaperones, but that wasn’t the case as there were only 5 of us! The field trip as a whole ended up being 10hours long as we left school at 7am and got back at 5pm. It’s things like that that remind me that that I am not in American anymore! By the time I got home that night I was dripping in sweat and exhausted mostly from our transit times when the bus was a madhouse!

The following week I had some very interesting times with nature. I got my very first wasp sting, which was extremely painful! I didn’t know this about wasps, but apparently they continue to sting until they are removed from the body so it feels far worse than a bee sting. My arm ended up swelling so big and radiated heat that everyone in my village was very worried for me as they had “never seen anything like that in their lives.” Of course that made me feel good when the locals were worried! Luckily that went away within a few days just in time to discover the three dead rats in my water supply.

So my host family has a water tank on the property that we use to collect rain water for drinking and bathing. One day we had someone visit who mentioned that the water smelled funny. We all immediately chimed in that the water has been smelling and tasting funny for weeks now, but never said anything thinking it was normal. Well, sure enough we looked in the tank and there were three dead rats inside! Lovely…I had only been drinking and bathing with that water for a long time…that can’t be good for my health! Anyway, since there wasn’t anything I could do at that point I decided to make light of the situation and make a delicious Ratatouille for dinner!

If that wasn’t enough two days after that lovely discovery we were hit by Cyclone Irene! To be honest cyclones always seemed like fictitious things to me until I experienced one first-hand. When I say I experienced it first-hand I mean that I was awoken by rain falling on my face while I was asleep in bed. Once I was fully awake I noticed that my bed was soaking wet and that my hut was flooded! Joy joy joy! Luckily I have the best host sister in the world and she helped me clean everything up, but the one thing that we couldn’t fix was the door. So I spent a week without a door praying that nobody would break in (well I guess it would be more like walk in) to my house in the middle of the night!

The day that my door was fixed I was so excited that I was skipping to my hut from the main house after delivering my host brother hot water and I tripped on the wheelbarrow that was hidden in the darkness and I gashed open my left leg. Again everyone in my village was freaking out saying, “who will believe a lady with a scar?” They really know how to make me feel good sometimes!

So I thought I had my fair share of strange situations for awhile, but I was mistaking. Last night I was awoken by a strange itching sensation on my shoulders and face. I tried to ignore it and just figured I was so tired that I was hallucinating. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case! I turned on my light and found thousands of tiny iridescent insects all over my bed, my body and my walls. I had no idea what they were and so I did the most logical thing at the time: spray Raid all over my bed and bug spray all over my body. It probably wasn’t the healthiest thing in the world, but I figured that I had ingested rat water for a month and I survived so a few chemicals wouldn’t hurt. In the morning I decided to take a nice long bucket bath to rid myself of the insects, but instead I was disturbed by a little mole that was in my bath bucket. After removing him from the bucket he was so terrified that he stood by my side for the duration of my bath!

All I can say about all of this is:

1.) My life is strange (but awesome)!

2.) This is Africa!

SOUTH AFRICA’S ‘LOST GENERATION’
New York Times, January 2012

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – The first blow to Martha Netshiozwe’s future came when her parents died of AIDS. The second came when she ran out of money and had to drop out of a South African high school. Netshiozwe, 23, is a product of the first post-apartheid generation who entered a new and aspiring education system which aimed to heal the economic divisions created by the white-minority government. But like many, she left without the skills to qualify for anything other than manual labor.

Despite pouring billions of dollars into education, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has little to show for its money except for public primary schools regarded as among the worst in the world and millions of students destined for a life in the underclass. ”If you don’t have an education, you don’t have a chance in life,” said Netshiozwe, who is unemployed with little prospect of finding regular work. She and her HIV-infected aunt live together and scrape by on about $100 a month in welfare benefits. Nearly half of South Africa’s 18 to 24 year olds — the first generation educated after apartheid ended in 1994 — are not in the education system and do not have a job, according to government data. Academics have called this group the “lost generation” and worry it will grow larger unless the government fixes a system riddled with
failing schools, unskilled educators and corruption that stops funding from reaching its intended destinations. ”This is an appalling waste of human potential and a potential source of serious social instability,” the Ministry of Higher Education said this month when it unveiled sweeping plans for boosting university enrollment and improving vocational colleges. The lost generation poses long term risks for Africa’s largest economy, which is trying to grow its tax base as it funds increased social spending. There are about three people receiving social welfare payments for each taxpayer. While the recipients of state funds are set to increase substantially under anti-poverty programs, the number of taxpayers is not, which should cause already yawning budget deficits to widen. Major ratings agencies are also worried. Fitch, this month, and Moody’s a few months ago, downgraded the outlook for South Africa, saying the government has not done enough to tackle structural problems including chronic unemployment, growing state debt and a broken education system.

CRIPPLED BY CORRUPTION South Africa does not suffer a lack of plans or finances for education, the largest sector of state spending and accounting for more than 20 percent of the budget. The problems are with implementation. Corruption eats away at money. Teachers are poorly trained and challenged by a constantly shifting curriculum. Schools are often shut by teachers’ strikes. There have been numerous changes for the better in the ANC-run education system with more of the country’s blacks, excluded from most high-quality education under apartheid, entering high-performing schools. Once almost exclusively white, universities now reflect the racial composition of the country with more people from groups disenfranchised by apartheid climbing the ladder with a degree or diploma. But at the same time, the number of people living in poverty has
changed little since apartheid ended, with no remedy in sight given the structural problems in education. ”As things stand, the ANC is wreaking untold damage on our children and, consequently, on the country’s future, just as apartheid education did in the past,” said Barney Mthombothi, editor of the influential weekly Financial Mail. Hundreds of schools do not have electricity or running water and absenteeism has become such a concern that President Jacob Zuma has begged teachers to show up for classes. A study by graft watchdog Transparency International last year pointed to massive local level corruption resulting in millions of students not having desks, chairs or books. The central government has been trying to take over two provincial education systems that are effectively bankrupt.

In Limpopo province, students started the school year in January without textbooks even though millions of dollars had been allocated for purchases, with media reports saying a politically connected figure may have pocketed the funds. This month, the central government said Limpopo, which has recorded some of the country’s worst results in standardized testing, had unauthorized expenditure of 2.2 billion rand ($275 million). The province had more than 2,400 teachers on the payroll, including 200 ”ghost teachers” who were not in classrooms but were still paid.

TICKET OUT OF POVERTY A university education is seen as the best ticket out of poverty. Competition is fierce and at some of the top schools, there are about 10 applicants for each place. The desperate demand for higher education led to a stampede at the University of Johannesburg this month when thousands of applicants lined up for a few hundred available places on the final day to submit paperwork. ”The lofty status of universities is an indicator of a lack of status for any other alternative for post-school education,” said Frances Faller, an education expert at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. About eight in 10 unemployed have not completed secondary education or just made it through high school. Only six percent of South Africa’s jobless have a university degree, a study from the South African Institute for Race Relations said. The odds are also stacked against those who hope to find entry-level employment. Economists say labor laws make it difficult for employers who want to take on new workers and train them for jobs. A cozy relationship between the ANC and organized labor, formed in their partnership against apartheid, has hampered apprenticeship programs.

The ANC, which relies on the 2 million members of top labor federation COSATU as a source of votes, has put off plans denounced by unions but
backed by economists to reduce youth unemployment by allowing firms to hire youths at cut-rate wages and train them up. ”We will never let them get away with making these laws even more ’flexible’ to allow even higher levels of exploitation,” COSATU said in a statement. ANC governments have spent billions of dollars on job training programs only to see large sums lost to corruption, while producing few graduates with skills required by employers. ”I know what will happen to me if I don’t get into school,” said university applicant Eddie Ncube, 18. ”Look at what I am exposed to. I am from the ghetto. Without school, I will get into drugs and I’ll never find a job.”
($1 = 8.0169 South African rand)

END STORY

Since moving to my village my primary assignment has been working with Senzokuhle, a local NGO that provides home-based care for the extremely ill members of the village and runs an after-school feeding scheme for orphans and vulnerable children. Yes, the work done at Senzokuhle is very important and has had a positive impact on the community but there was something completely absent from the work being done. That missing piece was a focus on the prevention of HIV, which I believe should be a major focus of any organization working to better the HIV epidemic.

So in early October I decided that I wanted my primary work focus for the next few months to be organizing an awareness campaign for World AIDS Day. Although my organization initially seemed excited about the idea their willingness to put effort into the planning phases of the project was slim to none. Because of this I bit the bullet and tackled all the planning on my own. I did this because not only was it crucial for me to show the staff of Senzokuhle how successful an event of this kind could be, but it was also important to me that I have a tangible way to sum up my first year of Peace Corps service.

Planning this event was a big learning experience for me as the reality of “African time” really took effect. Not only did everything move extremely slowly, but there were so many obstacles (ex: the management canceled my event twice) that it often felt like with each step forward I took I was being dragged back two. Although I spent two months planning everything finally fell into place a few days before the event.

On the day of the awareness campaign I awoke early full of anxiety about the event. I was worried how I would feel if it failed and all my hard work had been a waste, but by the end of the day I was on a high as the event turned out to be absolutely amazing and even better than I dreamed it could be! With over 300 people in attendance the event was extremely vibrant. Because I wanted the event to be a mixture of American and South African type events we started the event in the traditional Zulu way with a formal seated program. The program included various introductions, guest speakers and performances. True to Zulu style there was impromptu singing and dancing in between each program item. The highlights of the program were the young girls who preformed traditional Zulu song and dance, the poetry read by some of my students and the performance by the gospel group. The energy of the event was felt by all and this vibrancy continued into the second, “American” phase of the awareness campaign.

This is the part of the event I worked on most extensively as it required a lot of collaboration with other volunteer organizations. Part two of the event was in a carnival type format in the sense that I had many booths set up with HIV/AIDS themed activities. Mphilonhle (IsiZulu for “good life”), an organization based in my shopping town, Mtubatuba, ran a mobile clinic for HIV testing and counseling. African Impact, a voluntourism program based in St Lucia, played “healthy living” games with the young children and did condom demonstrations for the young adults in attendance. The best part about this particular station was that it was run by my dear friend and fellow Signature A Cappella alum, Laura Zdrowski. It was very comical/memorable to listen to her scream over the crowd about proper condom use. The final and most creative station was run by fellow Peace Corps Volunteers, Elisha Naylor and Charlie Merrow. This activity had each attendee write on a slip of paper the answer to the prompt: “How have you been affected by HIV/AIDS?” Each piece of paper was color coded and then pasted together to form the South African flag. The final product was a beautiful representation of how HIV/AIDS affects each and every South African. While all of these activities were happening the DJ played a variety of House Music (The South African go-to) and the constant dancing brought a positive energy to the event.

At the completion of the awareness campaign everyone seemed so excited about what they had experienced. As each attendee left it was obvious that a small difference had been made in his/her life and with a red ribbon pinned to each person’s chest it was impossible to deny the visible representation of the knowledge acquired at the event and the power of each individual to make a positive change.

Story #1:
The school year is quickly coming to a close and yesterday when I went to school I was greeted by an eager group of my students. When I started talking to them I realized one of the girls was carrying something large wrapped in newspaper. Before I could enquire about what she was carrying she unwrapped and presented me with my gift, a tortoise! Yes, I was gifted a TORTOISE!! I swear that something like this would only happen in Africa and potentially only to me. To make it even comical, when I asked the name of the tortoise I was told her name was Grace! So I left school that day with my new tortoise Grace in hand!

Story #2:
The other day I got up very early so I could have a super thorough bucket bathing session. I heated two kettles of water for an extra treat and I even pulled out a new body wash. You can’t even imagine how much I was looking forward to this bucket bath. After waiting the 30min for my water to boil I entered my bathroom with the heated water only to be greeted by the two birds who had apparently been diligently building a nest there during the night. After I got over the shock of the birds I took a quick toilet stop before bathing and as I was about to sit down the most beautiful yellow tree frog came out of the bowl. You would think that those two events would be enough to remind me that I lived in Africa, but that wasn’t the end of it. So the trick of my bucket bathing is strategically balancing my small bath basin on a bucket I guess I was to excited for my bath because just as soon as I began bathing I accidentally knocked over the basin…so much for my hot water. So you guessed it, my much anticipated bath because a dreaded one as I had to bathe entirely with cold water! But the fun didn’t stop there because when I was finally done bathing and I was feeling clean I was immediately pooped on by one of the many geckos that live in my bathroom!! Needless to say I will never forget that bathing experience and if I have learned one thing from the experience it is to NEVER look forward to a bucket bath!

Yes, I am extremely thankful for my daily “African” experiences as highlighted above! Those experiences aside, I am very thankful for many of the other things I do, see and learn on a daily basis. I spent the week of Thanksgiving compiling a list and then narrowing it down to the 10 things I am most thankful for here in my village. The list is as follows:

1.) Water…when I have it of course
2.) The fresh bananas and avocados my co-workers bring me from their trees
3.) The endless stream of students who come to my hut to greet me on a daily basis
4.) My dog, Bruni, because he is always excited to see me
5.) Baby wipes and hand sanitizer—the keys to living without a regular water supply
6.) How my nerdy go-to dance move, the pulsating peace signs, is thought by my fellow villagers to be and I quote, “the coolest dance move in America!”
7.) Family and Friends: Between phone calls, emails, letters, packages and visits, I am convinced that there has never been a Peace Corps Volunteer who is more supported than I am!
8.) My mom’s amazing talent of getting freshly baked homemade cookies to me TWICE even though I live across the world!
9.) How everyone in my village pronounces my last name correctly…a first for sure
10.) Sand because if I were to have one day without pounds of sand on my floor, between my toes and in my bed I might cry of separation anxiety

Here is to another year of things to be thankful for! Enjoy this holiday season and know that your support is what makes my experience so special J

Ngiyabonga (Thank You)