thobela

Hello in Sepedi! I'm sitting in an internet store in Polokwane in Limpopo province. Training started three days ago in Moletji (20 minute taxi ride from Polokwane). I'm learning Sepedi, aka Northern Sotho. I'll probably spend the next two years in Limpopo close to Polokwane.
I spent orientation at a former teacher's college in Mokopane, lovingly referred to as the compound. For our five days there, we were not allowed off of the grounds while children from the village came in and played ultimate frisbee with us. One night, we were herded into a bus and driven to the closest hotel for wining and dining with the Limpopo province education minister. It seems like every gathering of people has a MC, a prayer, three songs, and two superfluous speaches. After the speaches, we were given wine and American style food. With the aid of wine and spending too much time pent up at the compound, the gathering quickly turned into a dance party.
For training, we live with a host family. The first night I didn't have a host family and spent the night at the chief's crawl. Besides the throne in the living room, the cheif's place seemed like it was plucked out of the late 1970s without running water. There were several houses at the crawl, making it difficult to figure out where the food was coming from and who all the people that hung around were. From then on, I've moved in with another family. They are nice, but reply, "yes, I hear you," to about everything I say and don't seem to believe me when I say that I want to learn Sepedi. The neighbor children are great and spit words out to me rapidly and I feel like a collinder, only the really big pieces stick in my head and there aren't many of them.
There is so much more to say, I miss you all.

staging II

I'm sitting in the hotel the morning before I leave on the plane for Joburg. There are 88 of us intwo programs (the education that I am in and a NGO health prgram). Our hotel has the nicest beds that I think I've ever slept on. It's close to South St. and the clubs that I went to with my friends last year. (Joy, I can see your brother's apartment from my window). The hotel also hosted the first annual masct induction into the hall of fame. Most of them hung out in the bar when not in character and watched themselves on tv. One of them gave my advice on how to make my cartwheels better/funnier.
The staging program seemed to have two parts that were interspersed, one where we filled in a book and listened to a leader talk about the words in the booklet, and anoter part where we played games to learn a lesson. I really enjoyed drawing my aspiations and anxities on a poster sheet and discussing all of them with my group. It was comforting that everyon shares common anxities and that the aspirations are very diverse. A lot of the drawings were humorous and it made a serious topic lighter. My other favorite activity involved breaking the group in half and telling onegroup that they are anthropologists that need to help 'the people' with a problem. The other group was told hat they have three rules that they must follow. 1. They can only answer ys or no questions, 2. Women can only talk to women, men to men, 3. questions that are asked when smiling recieve a yes answer and frowning a no. The anthropollogits would say "they" and "they don't talk" and with what they were told determined that some of us liked soccer anoters were pologymists.
I'm sorry fo rthe typing errors, but I need to check out and get shots. I will update around October15th. Check the comments to see that I've arrived safely.

well wishes

I'm leaving for Philadelphia tomorrow and I'm pretty nervous. I'd like to thank everyone for the well wishes in e-mails, over the phone, and in person. I promise I won't get eaten by a lion, catch every communicable disease at the same time, or get trampled by an elephant. I will miss you all!

timeline, with correspondence forecasts

Here's an outline of where I'll be when and how good the communication will be:

• August 7-15, 2005: In Lake Geneva, WI; clear communication: available through cell and e-mail
• August 15-17, 2005: Philadelphia, PA; partly sunny: available through cell
• August 18- October 1, 2005: In Mokopane and Molkane, Limpopo, South Africa; overcast with slight breeze: available through mail
  

Melissa Leedle, PCV
US Peace Corps
PO Box 9536
Pretoria 0001
SOUTH AFRICA

• October 1, 2005- October 1, 2007: In either Mpulanga, Limpopo, or Northwest Province; cloudy with periods of sun: hopefully available through cell phone, post office box (and address above for packages), and weekly to monthly internet access

correspondance

Below is a lengthy letter from the Peace Corps explaining correspondance during Peace Corps service. It's rather long, so I've put the important parts in red text. During training I will not have access to the internet or a phone number. Enjoy!

July 2005

Dear Families and Friends,

Greetings from the South Africa Desk at the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C. It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to the Peace Corps circle of friendship. We receive many questions from family members and friends of Volunteers about life in South Africa, so we would like to offer you advice and assistance in advance.

1. Irregular Communication. (Please see #3 for the mailing address to Peace Corps' office in Pretoria the capital of South Africa) Mail from the United States to Pretoria is fairly reliable; however, mail service within South Africa is not as efficient and reliable. There is an enormous variation in the time it takes for mail and packages to arrive at Volunteers’ sites. Generally, Volunteers find that they receive mail and packages from the United States two to four weeks after it has been sent. The same is true in sending mail from South Africa. Of course, there are exceptional cases in which a letter or a package might arrive within a shorter period or be substantially delayed. Some mail may simply not arrive. The destination of mail for Volunteers is as varied as the length of time it takes for mail to arrive.

We suggest that in your first letters you ask the Volunteer to give an estimate of how long it takes for him/her to receive your letters, and then try to establish a predictable pattern of how often you will write to each other. We would also like to suggest that you consider the use of "aerograms," generally a blue sheet of paper which folds into an envelope. These are available in most stationary stores or post offices. Volunteers have had good success in receiving their mail in this form. Also, try numbering your letters so that the Volunteer knows if he/she has missed one.

Being a Peace Corps Volunteer is a rewarding experience; however, there will also be times when Volunteers may write home telling of their "war" stories. Letters might describe recent illnesses, frustration with work, isolation, lack of resources, etc. While the subject matter may be good reading material, it can often be misinterpreted on the home front. Volunteers have a support network in-country which includes counterparts and community members at their site, other Peace Corps Volunteers, as well as Peace Corps/South Africa staff. The Peace Corps’ highest priority is maintaining the health and safety of every Volunteer. Peace Corps/South Africa maintains a medical unit in Pretoria with two full-time medical officers, who care for the Volunteers’ primary health care needs. If the Volunteer requires medical care that is not available in South Africa, he/she will be medically evacuated to the United States. Fortunately, these are rare circumstances.

If for some reason your communication pattern is broken and you do not hear from your family member, you may want to contact the South Africa Desk or the Office of Special Services (OSS) at Peace Corps Washington at 1-800-424-8580, extension 1470. Also, in the case of an emergency at home (death in the family, sudden critical illness, etc.), please do not hesitate to call OSS immediately, so that a message can be sent to the Volunteer. Use the above number during regular business hours (9:00 am to 5:00 pm Eastern time, Monday through Friday). After hours, or during weekends, the Peace Corps Duty Officer may be reached at (202) 638-2574. Tell the operator your name, telephone number, and the nature of the emergency, and the Duty Officer will call you back.

2. Telephone Calls. The telephone system in South Africa is relatively good and service in and out of Pretoria to the United States is mostly reliable. In the interior of the country, where most of the Volunteers are located, phones are fewer in number and of decreased reliability. Volunteers do not have residential phones; however, many Volunteers choose to buy cell phones or use public phones to make and receive international calls. They will be able to inform you of the actual telephone numbers once they arrive at their permanent sites in the country.

The South Africa Desk maintains regular contact with the Peace Corps office in Pretoria through phone calls and e-mail. However, these communications are reserved for business only and cannot be used to relay personal messages. All communication between family members and the Volunteer should be done via international mail, personal phone calls, or e-mail. Many Volunteers are able to access e-mail at Internet cafes in larger cities and towns on a weekly or monthly basis, depending on their location.

3. Sending packages. Parents and Volunteers like to send and receive care packages through the mail. Unfortunately, sending packages can be a frustrating experience for all involved due to occasional thefts and heavy customs taxes. You may want to try to send inexpensive items through the mail, but there is no guarantee that these items will arrive. Even though many Volunteers choose to get local post office boxes, you may also use the following address to send letters and/or packages:

Name of Volunteer, PCV
US Peace Corps
PO Box 9536
Pretoria 0001
SOUTH AFRICA

It is recommended that packages be sent in padded envelopes if possible, as boxes tend to be taxed more frequently. For lightweight but important items (e.g. airline tickets), DHL (an express mail service) does operate in Pretoria. If you choose to send items through DHL, you must address the package to the Country Director, c/o U. S. Peace Corps, 126 Verdoorn Street, Sunnyside, Pretoria, South Africa (the phone number for the Peace Corps office in South Africa is (27) 12-344-4255, as DHL will need this information). If you send the item to the Country Director, no liability can be assumed. For more information about DHL, please call their toll free number, 1-800-CALL-DHL, or visit their web site at www.dhl.com. Other courier services may operate in Pretoria - DHL is only one possibility.

We hope this information is helpful to you during the time your family member or friend is serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in South Africa. We understand how frustrating it is to communicate with your family member overseas and we appreciate your using this information as a guideline. Please feel free to contact us at the South Africa Desk in Washington, D.C. if you have any further questions. Our phone number is 1-800-424-8580, ext. 2331/2, or locally, 202-692-2331/2.

Sincerely,

Alberto Sanchez-Perojo
South Africa Desk Officer
Ext: 2331

training

After the three days of staging and a long flight, I will arrive in Johannesberg on August 18th for a two and a half hour drive to the training location. Training will take place outside of Mokopane (formally known as Potgietersrus), Limpopo. All of the people doing the program will be staying with families in smaller towns any where from 1 to 7 kilometers from Moletji (the training town). There's a picture of the area that I found above. I also found out a little bit of information on the area.
The Mokopane area is one of the richest for agriculture, with wheat, tobacco, cotton, beef, maize, peanuts, and citrus. It's also rich in minerals with diamond, platinum, and granite mines. Culturally, it is a mix of Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Afrikaans, and English cultures. For tourists, you can see ancient caves (with drawings by the ancient San people) and the Big Five. In the early nineties, the town earned the nickname "the racist capital of South Africa" after local whites tried to prevent black children from entering schools that had been all-white during apartheid. Although that was ten years ago, "Club Members Only" signs persist over white filled bars and fighting over local services and amenities.
Training will consist of five major components: Language, Technical, Cross-Cultural, Health and Safety and Security. Most mornings will be spent learning one of the following langauges: SePedi, SeTswana, IsiZulu, TshiVenda, IsiSwati, and Xitsonga. The language that I'm taught will be one unique to the area that I will volunteer in and may not be spoken in Limpopo. I will also be assessed on my productive competence, motivation, emotional maturity, and social sensitivity. If everything goes well during training, I'll be sworn in on October 1st.

Staging. . .

As my departure date draws closer, I've gotten much more nervous about this. Sure the Peace Corps sounds like a great idea: helping others, travel, and personal growth. Along with that comes two years of questionable communication and missing my friends and family. There are so many unknowns, but I'm slowly learning more about what I'll be doing until October 2007.

For example, I received a mailing stating that the staging city is Philadelphia. After flying home to Wisconsin on August 7, I will fly back to Philadelphia on August 15. Here, I'll stay at the posh Sheraton on Society Hill (to the right) and attend two days of conferences telling me more about my Peace Corps experience. Although I'm going to be learning more about the Peace Corps, none of it will include information on South Africa or my specific job there. All of that information is reserved for when I arrive there. A benefit to spending time before flying to Africa, is that there should be bonding time amoung the people that are serving in South Africa. I expect it to be like a conference, not much free time, instant friendships, and slow discoveries. We're also given a generous allowance for food and spending money. Nothing like a little buttering up before a long flight into a third world country.

On August 17, we fly to New York, then Dafur, Senegal, arrive in Johannesburg, then a two and a half hour drive to the training location.