PCT PEACE CORPS TRAINGING Jan 2011-March 2011

Here is a brief and kinda dry summary of my training for Peace Corps. During the first two months I didnt have access of phone, computers or internet so I am just now getting to sit down and write about what i've been doing! It was all very exciting and new at the time but now seems kinda boring to me since training is over and i'm excited about starting my service and livng in my new village. But here it is anyways! I promise my next post about starting my service as a volunteer will be much more exciting then this one about training!

Sunday, January 23, 2011 I went to Hopkins airport accompanied by my loving family to say my goodbyes as I left to begin Peace Corps Training (PST). I flew to Philly where I met other Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) and had a brief introduction into Peace Corps (PC). In philly, I got to know other volunteer, what they did, who they are etc. We are SA23-the 23^rd PC group in South Africa. There is 46 of us with 3 married couples(one in 50s, one in 60s, one 30) and age ranges from 23 to 78 yrs old! The oldest member is a retired nurse practicior for planned parenthood. She rocks! Most of the volunteers are right out of college, either undergrad or grad school. Most of the volunteers couldnt find jobs (out of college and others who just couldnt find work). We have several retires. On Jan 25^th we took a bus at 2 am to JFK and departed for a 17hr flight to Joburg, South Africa. The flight wasnt too bad. It went by quicker than I thought it would. We arrived in South Africa in the city of Johannesburg-one of the biggest cities in SA.

The first 10 days of training we stayed at Mokopane University in Limpopo. I stayed in a dorm room-moddest by US standards. A bed, closet, desk, communal bathrooms-no tp at first (thank god I brought my own!) but then PC provided some. (most bathrooms in SA dont have tp or soap). The showers also did not have curtains! But key word SHOWER! (you'll see why later). In training, we learned polocies, language, culture, religion, dress, integration and what exactly we would be doing.

So what will I be doing??? I am a CHOP (Community HIV/AIDS Outreach Project) volunteer. SA has two PC programs, CHOP and Education (teachers). As a volunteer we are taught about sustainable development and capacity building. In short, we train people/skills trasnfer so that when we leave they can continue. Its about empowering people to make the change they want to see, not just buidling things and throwing money at problems.

My Homestay:

Feb 5^th, I learned what my target language will be!!! Xitsonga! The south african language of romance! It was very exciting to learn what language I will be speaking for the next two years! We learned greatings in about 5 languages during training. SA has 11 offical languages! Also I moved to my homestay where I will be living during the two months of training. My homestay is in the village of Thamahansi. I life with a single african women, Johanne. She is a very modern women for this village from what I can tell. Odly enough-she only dates white men (Afrikaners) and walks around topless. She is very nice, speaks 8 languages, only made it to grade 5, currently unemployed but worked in a city doing fianece. At my homestay, everything is different-from how I brush my teeth, bathe, wash clothes, cook etc etc. I boil water and filter it before I can drink it. I get water out of large barrels (no running water). My toliet is a pit latern or outhouse. At night, its a bucket in my room I empty and clean every morning! (and yes number 1 and 2). I bathe using rain water in a large tub or bucket, hence a bucket bath! If I want a warm bucket bath I make a fire (which I am really not good at but getting better-my host mom thinks its funny I cant make a fire-she doesnt really get that I dont do it daily in the US but shes slowly getting that I do things different in the US). I only wash my hair about every 3 days. And i've totally given up shaving-everywhere...when water saftey and security is a issue and people in your vilalge run out of water...you really cant waste it on something like shaving your legs or armpits. I do dishes in two basins kinda camping style. Soapy water in one and rinse water in another. Washing clothes is quite the workout too! Wash them by hand in buckets outside. Also I learned why people in SA dont wear white deoderant its all clear roll on bc its a pain getting the white deoderant out of clothers by hand!

The food:

my host mom is a very good cook! I eat squash, spinacch, chicken, tomatoes (the tomatoes here are awesome-soooo good) apples, bannana, rice, bread, bread, bread, eggs, cabbage, corn flakes, COFFEE (its instant but surprisingly very good-way better than any instant i've ever had in the US and if u know me well U should know I LOVE my coffee...so this makes me very happy!). The one downside to food here is everyone cooks with a TON of butter, oil, salt and sugar...prob why it all tastes so good. Also PAP. The staple food of SA. We dont have it in the US but its this white stuff that they eat with everything! My host mom says I dont eat enough. She fixes huges plates. Most south africans eat a loaf of bread a day by themselves. When I cook for my host mom—she doesnt like it. I made her roaster veggies (potatoes, carrots, green beans-little oil salt and peper) They were sooo yummy to me! The veggies still a little crisp! My host mom said I didnt cook them enough or add enough salt! I loved them-it tasted like home!

Animals:

In my village animals roam around freely and there is poo everywhere. Goats, mules, cows, sheep, chickens, rhusters, dogs etc all roam around the streets. Also lots of cock roaches, mosquitos, spiders, and little lizzards. Also, SCORPIANS. I was proud of myself the first one I saw I didnt even flinch! It was in my basin for dishes dead luckly. The second one I saw was on the ground in my house when I was getting my bucket for the night. I killed it. Also rats...leason learned-dont look down in your pit latreen. I saw a huge rat...lets just say I was uneasy going to the bathroom for the next week. However, luckly I havent gotten too sick yet. I'm def pooping a lot more than I normally would and its softer...but nothing major. However, my stomach does make werid sounds, lots of gas and little cramps and pains...so its def adjusting to the different food/water..

One day my host mother showed me picture...it was very sad. In a lot of the pictures she would tell me who someone was and then say but they are dead now. It was a large number...really made me start thinking but it didnt phase her.

History of SA:

Learning about the history of South Africa has been a beautiful and truly moving experience. I cannot put it into words elequently how it has effected me but I will attempt to. First, I cannot believe something like Apartheid occurred in MY LIFETIME. A brief history lesson... Apartheid ended in 1990 which essentually was white rule and black surpression. SA became a Democratic republic in 1994 when Nelson Mandela was elected president. Black were restricted to low paying jobs, unable to move, had land restriction and received lessor educations all to keep them down. Hence today there is such a economic disparity between the rich and poor (white and black) in south africa. SA is called a 3^rd 1^st world country bc it is a 3^rd world nation with 1^st world cities. If you have time I recommend learning about SA history its very interesting. I was amazed to see how similar it was to the US's history of slavery too. Diffrence being that in SA blacks are the majority and white the minotiry and reverse in the US. Also that the US's civil rights movement occurred almost 50 years ago and SA's 10 years ago.But what is sooo interesting and moving is the forgiveness in south africans and how Apartheid ended. Nelson Mandela is truly a amazing human being. Learning about him has been a eye opening experience. When the country was on the verge of a civil war and tensions could have turned violent-he pleaded people to forgive. Its amazing that a man imprisioned for his skin color can come out and ask people to forgive their suppressors to strive for a better south africa. Just amazes me. They had something called the truth and reconcillation trials where people states the crimes they commited and by doing so avoided punishment and all was forgiven (rough summary). People (white afrikaners) would come out and talk about killing africans(blacks)... Its a very emotional experience to learn about this and to know and meet people that can now sit and talk with people that in Apartheid held guns to them threatening to kill them and having killed family members and find it in themselves to forgive to move toward a better united south africa. (This description just isnt doing it...I'm sorry for this. For the first two months we didnt have access to computers or internet so I am writing this later. For those who got a hand written letter I explained it much better at the time.but the history is just beautiful y moving and very sad).

Fieldtrips!!!!

During trainig we got to take two field trips to the Aparthied Musem in Joburg and Voortreker musem in Pretorai.

The Aparthied musem was very moving. It showed the history of SA, racial tensions, bantu education, truth and reconcilation, Nelson Mandela tribute (what a great man...truely moving), and about laws implaced during Aparthid etc. The Voortreker musem was deticated to the Afrikaners. It was very interesting to go to the two musesms both representing a different side of the story of Apartheid.

The effects of Apartheid are still felt very strong today. Hence why I am here...well that and AIDS. The disparity between the rich and poor is so great. I was able to watch the presents yearly address being here. It was very interesting because he mentioned connecting with people through facebook and twiter...which was unbelievable to me because I was living in a vilalge wehre most people didnt have electricity or running water and no phone lines. But overall it was a typical presidental address just like we would hear in the US.

HIV/AIDS:

HIV greatly affects South Africa. The saying here is your either infected or affected. It means Aids touches the lives of everyone here. The rate is 40% roughly in the village I am staying in. That means one in four people I meet have HIV. That is just unbelievable to me. Such a high rate. During training I was lucky enough to go to the clinic in my village and speak with a nurse for 3 hours about nursing in SA verses the US and HIV/AIDS in my community. This was a great learning experience and cultural exchange for the both of us. I learned that teenage pregnancy is a huge problem and that young girls get a stipen (very small) of money when they have a child so some do it to get the money even though its nowhere near enough to raise a child on. I learned the ABCs Abstain, Be faithful (one partner) and Condomize. I also learned the culture of HIV, myths, sterotypes and much more.

CULTURE:

The culture here is very very different! I cannot show my thighs. I actually never see them anymore and when I do it surprises me...mostly because they are sooo white! But you can show all the boob you want. But I dont. I am learning so much on a daily basis about the culture here. The pace of life is different. Much slower than in the US. Walk slower, things dont start on time etc etc.

SITE ANNOUNCEMENTS:

On March 4^th I learned where I would be living for the next two years!!! I was very happy with my site placement! I feel it is perfect for me! I am the first PC volunteer for my organization. It is a small home based care in a village in Limpopo provience. (for saftey and securty purposes I will not be putting the name of my village on my blog). There are 7 caregivers and 3 staff: coordinator, finance and project manger -which is who i'll be working with on a daily basis. My org was started 2 years ago and is a NPO(non profit org). It works with orphans and vulnerable children, women, people living with HIV/AIDS and community members. Activities include home care, hiv prevention and awareness, palliative care, health education, community development, door to door education campagins and life skills education at schools. At my org I will be doing skills training, financial management, staff training, board development, policy and procedures, OVC program, health education, proposal writing, grant writing, fundraising, IGP (income generating projects) and computre traings and much more. Actually, when I arrived at my village they told me they want me to build a orphanage for the orphans of the village from AIDS. No pressure. Unfortuntley, PC is about building people not things (ie: buidling) PC is about training people and skills transfers to build sustainablity so when I leave they can continue and are empowered. But if I can do this and help them accomplish getting a orphanage built—it will prob be the single most rewarding thing I do with my life.

END of TRAINING:

Tosay goodbye to the villages that hosted us we held a health event and fairwell celebration. In these we did condom demonstrations (female and male), handwashing teaching of a tippy tap, and nutrition. At the fairwell celebration my language group Xitsonga ( a great group of girls! 6 of us- and my amazing LCF (language and cultural facilitator) MACY!she taught me my language) did traditional shangan (people that speak Xitsonga) dancing! It was great fun partaking in the cultural experience.

Also I passed my language test! Language was a struggle good and bad days...but I needed intermidet low to pass and I got intermidet mid (one above) so I actually did better than I needed to! Not that I feel I know that much or did that well but in the end I PASSED!

MISSING HOME:

I do miss the US. Every day is different. But overall I have had a second thoguht about why I am here or what I am doing. I really miss my sister. I love her soooo much and shes a daily influence in my life. It is very hard to be away from her esp now that she is a new mom. But with that in mind she was also the FIRST person to send me a package! I dont know how she does it! Shes a new mom, has to breast feed, her husband doesnt drive and shes apolopizes for not writing more...yet shes the one who I got my first package from...which was just perfect! I just love her to death. Which lead me to the topic of getting letter! LOVE LOVE LOVE getting letter from home! I have gotten letters from my mom and dad, shelly and thad, my aunt patty (who is great at writing letter! I love all the details she gives me from home, and updats, and gossip, its little but its nice to hear the little details I am missing. Also she sent me a saint pattites day card! And Easter card! I really appreciate the thoughtfulness to make sure iget the letters intime for the holidays. Shes sends them early enoguh so I get them and the saint patties day one had clover tatoos in it!!! my aunts the best!!!) I also have gotten letters from my aunt maryjo and my little cousins jordan and nick with the cutest drawlings ever! All about hippos and not going in the water! My cousin jordan gave me a hippo silly band to remind me! I wear it everyday!

This brings me to my next topic my WORLD WISE SCHOOL and great friend Kristen Fudale

I love my world wise class. My good friend kristen teaches a 4^th grade class in stow and i've teamed up with her to pen pal with her class while I am here in SA. I went to her school and did a presentation on Peace Corps South Africa. It was so much fun and the kids asked the greatest questions! I posted pics of this on my facebook page! You could be hooked up with a class through PC or choose your own. All the other volunteer are jealous I got to meet my class and have so much interaction with them. Kristens school has been great! The prinicpal and other teachers were very supportive of my adventure and I did presentations with each grade k-4. I actually sent my first post card from SA to the class! I really am enjoying this and not to mention I know kristens putting in a lot of effort into this. The kids made me going away posters and all. Not to mention Kristen also pretty much threw me my going away bar crawl. SHE ROCKS! I am very lucky and blessed to have her in my life.

Finally...Swearing In & offically becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer

OnMarch 24^th I was sworn in as a PCV! Also that morning I offically pooped my pants for the first time in SA so I feel it really made it offical. I wasnt feeling sick or anything...just in my towel about to shower and a little leaked out...it also happened to others so must have been something in the food (we stayed at the college the night before swearing in and had group dinner). But I figure this just made it offical! It was bound to happen at some point. I mean this is Peace Corps.