Wednesday, April 17, 2013

I live in an area called kwandebele. The dominant language is Isndeble as well as the dominant tribe of this area. This is considered the Ndebele homeland. About 1.1 million people speak Isndebele in South Africa, the least spoken of all the South African languages. Most of them live here.

Because of several factors, including that kwandebele is about 45 minutes from Pretoria, there is little development there. There are no big malls or big grocery stores. There are no movie theaters and no big stores. There are two or three shopping centers that do not have much and that is about it. A comparison of several PCVs has shown I have the 2nd worst shopping town, the worst one being the other shopping town in kwandebele which doesn't even have our bank there.

However, since Christmas. I have seen some small changes. When I got back from America, my trip to my site took longer because they were building a tar road connecting my village to the next. They have been working on it for at least five months now, and it probably wont be done before I go, but still, progress. In my shopping town, two stores which had been selling low market goods have been replaced with stores selling much higher market goods, a Mr. Price and a Street Sheet. And on my last trip out, I saw a sign for the construction of a regional mall, in the village about 45 minutes away.

These are all small things, but in the life the life of a peace corps volunteer, it feels good to know that my adopted homeland is growing and dveloping.

Monday, April 1, 2013


Here, its all about the little victories. I haven't been writing recently because it seem that even the little victories I have had are few and far between and the failures numerous and great. This seems to be known in Peace Corps as the "Mid Service Slump". Having finished Mid Service Training a couple weeks ago, me and several volunteers in my class were definitely in it.

In Bundu, , I had to go back to the drawing board. I had an incident at the middle school which made me realize that I am not a teacher and that it doesn't make me happy. Luckily, I am not in the education program :).

But somehow coming up with new things to do doesn't seem as daunting as it did a year ago. Maybe its the fact that Bundu feels like home now or just the fact after a really tough learning curve, I've realized how to be a PCV. More importantly, how I want to be as a PCV. I've had a project idea since the beginning of my service that I finally feel like I've gained enough clout to actually do. I have contacts with the other schools in my area and I'll start reaching out to them. I'll keep on doing my old standbys.

One thing that surprised me was that MST was much less of a brag fest than I expected. People would only tell you about their successes if heavily prodded, most just wanted to relax and have fun. And of my group, SA 25, I am proud. Because the truth is, as a group, we have had a lot of success stories. A lot of growth and a lot of learning. 

So little victories. Right now I'm proud that I have taught my little sister to say please and thank you. Maybe next blog entry I'll have more