About 5 to 10 years ago, my dad, for some reason, really wanted us to watch the movie "the great santini". The rest of the family resisted for some reason and I think we ended up watching "keeping the faith" for the twentieth time. However, my dad kept pushing it. And the more he pushed the more we resisted. To the point where we would pretend to put on the great santini...and then the opening credits would start. I think my dad fell for that one only a couple times. About a year or so after this all started, we finally ran out of excuses and watched it. I remember looking at my brother afterwards and saying "that was a good movie". The undertone being "Dad is right, yet again."
My father isn't right about everything. But there have been many behaviors that me and my siblings used to tease him about that we have now adopted. Little things like blotting our pizza with a paper towel, getting to the airport incredibly early, packing the night before, printing out directions to places we are going, not taking food from the mini bar. And larger things, like keeping incredibly detailed financial records, reading every line of every contract we sign, taking a lot of time to find the best or cheapest way to buy or do something.
A word I would use to describe my dad is thorough. While that quite annoying to us when we were younger, and still annoys us at times, my siblings and I have started to realize how helpful and necessary this.
My dad is not just thorough in regards to paperwork, but to people as well. Even though he worked anywhere from 60 to 90 hours a week when we were little, he made sure to come to almost every tee ball game, every dance performance, every hebrew school celebration. When we had to attend saturday services in order obtain our bar or bat mitzvah, he went with us to every single one. He stayed up past midnight to edit our papers even through college. He was our biggest supporter and our biggest cheerleader.
These two plus years will be the longest I have been away from my parents. However, my dad keeps in touch through calls and emails. He seems to spend a lot of his free time researching and learning about south africa and peace corps. That or talking about me and my siblings to anyone and everyone. Even though my parents aren't coming here for at least a year, my dad has started researching hotels and places to go. I'm expecting him to have a full itinerary of the trip very soon. While thousands of miles away, my dad still finds ways to supportsme.
Happy father's day (and late birthday) dad. I love you and miss you so much.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
Now that the school term is winding down, my Girls Club is over til Mid July. Since that was my biggest project, it has been pretty slow going in Bundu. I'm using the most of my extra time to write my Community Needs Assessment, basically a document that tries to synthesize everything I know about the town. It is "due" at the end of the week (In South Africa, both due dates and stop signs are just suggestions). I've been making progress and might actually get it done before the real due date, but I think if I finish it by IST, I will be good.
In approximately 12 days, IST starts. IST is a ten day conference in which we present our CNAs, receive presentations from several outside organizations as well as intra peace corps organizations, and what I am most excited about, A three day workshop with the CDC (Centers for Disease Control). The CDC workshops were my favorite part of PST and I am excited to have more of them.
But mostly I'm excited to see my fellow SA25s! I've managed to see a couple in my travels to Pretoria and am luckily close enough to Alyssa to see her about every other weekend. I'm also lucky to have a cluster of 22s right near me and a cluster of 24s within a couple khumbi rides. However, I spent two months with my fellow 25sw, along with a lot of blood sweat and tears. I am very excited to see their smiling faces and talk with them about their stories. IST ends July 3rd, so many of us are sticking around in Pretoria afterwards to celebrate the fourth. IST plus extra vacation time should be about almost two-three weeks straight out of site, which will definitely be fun, but I'm going to miss Bundu while I'm gone.
In approximately 12 days, IST starts. IST is a ten day conference in which we present our CNAs, receive presentations from several outside organizations as well as intra peace corps organizations, and what I am most excited about, A three day workshop with the CDC (Centers for Disease Control). The CDC workshops were my favorite part of PST and I am excited to have more of them.
But mostly I'm excited to see my fellow SA25s! I've managed to see a couple in my travels to Pretoria and am luckily close enough to Alyssa to see her about every other weekend. I'm also lucky to have a cluster of 22s right near me and a cluster of 24s within a couple khumbi rides. However, I spent two months with my fellow 25sw, along with a lot of blood sweat and tears. I am very excited to see their smiling faces and talk with them about their stories. IST ends July 3rd, so many of us are sticking around in Pretoria afterwards to celebrate the fourth. IST plus extra vacation time should be about almost two-three weeks straight out of site, which will definitely be fun, but I'm going to miss Bundu while I'm gone.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
What I do
In bundu, I play many different roles. I am a club leader, I am a friend, I am exercise leader, I am a marketing specialist, I am an HIV educator, I am a daughter, I am an ant killer, I am a teacher, I am a sister, I am a peace corps volunteer.
But the role I play most is one of a facilitator.
When I came to Bundu, I was inundated with resources. These resources mostly came in the form of people. The previous volunteer, who I will remain forever grateful to, spent a lot of her time training people, especially middle school girls, in areas of health education and self esteem. I quickly realized what these girls needed was not a teacher. They had that in the previous volunteer. What they needed was a place to teach themselves, to teach others, to have fun. They needed support, acknowledgment that their dreams could come true. I think what they needed was someone who would listen to them and say yes.
So with the help of an incredibly supportive principal, I've started clubs. Before school for an hour, and after school for about an hour and a half, a group of about 25 to 40 girls gather in the library the previous volunteer constructed. In the mornings, we do typical peace corps girls group activities, such as self esteem work, goal setting and sharing troubles. The afternoons are more typical club oriented. We've had math sessions, drama sessions, geography sessions and my personal favorite, library sessions. Sometimes I stand at the board and teach.
But most often, I am a participant, letting the girls run the show. They often are the teachers, the older girls sharing their knowledge with the younger ones. In the morning sessions, a few of the girls that were trained to be peer educators by the previous volunteer do all the teaching. In the afternoon, I teach the academics, but sit down for most of the lessons. I perform crowd control when needed (I taught everyone the quiet coyote signal) and also advise. With my gogos group, it is similar. I lead exercise classes, I help with the beadwork and vaseline work, I do some teaching about health but most of it is run by a very awesome woman.
I don't do much. I say I'm a facilitator. But what I really am is a believer. I believe in the power of these people. And that belief contributes to them doing great things.
When I came to Bundu, I was inundated with resources. These resources mostly came in the form of people. The previous volunteer, who I will remain forever grateful to, spent a lot of her time training people, especially middle school girls, in areas of health education and self esteem. I quickly realized what these girls needed was not a teacher. They had that in the previous volunteer. What they needed was a place to teach themselves, to teach others, to have fun. They needed support, acknowledgment that their dreams could come true. I think what they needed was someone who would listen to them and say yes.
So with the help of an incredibly supportive principal, I've started clubs. Before school for an hour, and after school for about an hour and a half, a group of about 25 to 40 girls gather in the library the previous volunteer constructed. In the mornings, we do typical peace corps girls group activities, such as self esteem work, goal setting and sharing troubles. The afternoons are more typical club oriented. We've had math sessions, drama sessions, geography sessions and my personal favorite, library sessions. Sometimes I stand at the board and teach.
But most often, I am a participant, letting the girls run the show. They often are the teachers, the older girls sharing their knowledge with the younger ones. In the morning sessions, a few of the girls that were trained to be peer educators by the previous volunteer do all the teaching. In the afternoon, I teach the academics, but sit down for most of the lessons. I perform crowd control when needed (I taught everyone the quiet coyote signal) and also advise. With my gogos group, it is similar. I lead exercise classes, I help with the beadwork and vaseline work, I do some teaching about health but most of it is run by a very awesome woman.
I don't do much. I say I'm a facilitator. But what I really am is a believer. I believe in the power of these people. And that belief contributes to them doing great things.
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