Getting the ball rolling...

What I’m doing and where

Good news! I received a novice intermediate score on my language test. I only have two more levels to move up in order to pass my final language test. I am fairly confident in my writing skills, however trying to remember everything when I speak is very difficult. Sepedi has “concords,” which are unlike anything I’ve encountered in other languages. Depending on what you are saying they change and if you don’t use them, the sentence does not make sense. Great, right? Here is a typical Sepedi convo:

Greeting

A: Thobela! (Hello!)

B: Thobela! (Hello!)

A: Re  gona, le nna le kae? (I am well, how are you?)

B: Re gona. (I am well.)

A: Wena o mang? (What is your name?)

B: Leina la ka ke Meris sephane Stone. (My name is…)

A: O tswa kae? (Where are you from?)

B: Ke tswa Amerika. (I am from…)

A: O eng dira mo South Africa? (What are you doing here?)

B: Ke moithaapi wa Peace Corps. Ke thusa batho. Peace Corps e aga go ba baetapele.

(I am a PC volunteer. I help people. PC builds people into leaders.)

A: Ke thobela go go tseba. (It is nice to meet you.)

B: Le nna ke thobela go go tseba. (It is nice to meet you too.)

A: Shala gabotse. (Stay well.)

B: Sepala gabotse. (Go well).

Keep in mind the part of the conversation I bolded happens continuously throughout the day. It is considered rude not to greet someone when you pass by. Interesting things about Sepedi:

*“G” sound= “H” sound

*The alphabet is based on 20 letters of English’s 26.

* There are no click sounds like in Xhosa and Zulu.

While the battle to improve my Sepedi continues, each village is tasked with organizing its own health event. Basically, we have about three weeks to create, plan and implement it. At first, it seemed as if this would result in an epic fail, but as a result of teamwork and the leadership of Sean, our unofficial event organizer, things seems to be shaping up. We decided to focus on a hand washing, targeting children 5-12 years old. We approached the local Red Cross and it turned out they were planning to launch the same campaign. They will be partnering with us and using our event to launch their long-term campaign. They are inviting the OVCs (orphans & vulnerable children) who attend their after school program. Even if half of the children attend and bring one parent, we are expecting 100 people. The event is based on a “Clean Hands Club” motif. We’ll have five stations (to match five fingers) all related to the importance of hand washing. While this seems like a simplistic health theme, we decided against delving into deeper health issues due to the brevity of our event. Plus, it turns out we tapped into something, as we have heard about recent cholera outbreaks in the village. We created signs for each station, which then evolved into a song:

Hlapa Diatla! (Wash your hands!)

Pele o eja. (Before you eat.)

Hlapa Diatla! (Wash your hands!)

Ge o bowa go bapala (After you play.)

Hlapa Diatla! (Wash your hands!)

Ge o festcha go gohlola. (*sorry forgot this one, whoops!)

Hlapa Diatla! (Wash your hands!)

Ge o bowa thoilette. (After you go to the bathroom.)

Hlapa Diatla! (Wash your hands!)

Pele o tsena ka ntlong. (After you get home.)

We practiced it the other day, with dance motions and it’s actually pretty cute. Don’t worry I will post the video of us singing it at the event.

Now for the exciting information (drum roll please)…I have received my site placement! I will be working with a local municipality! I only received preliminary information about it, but I will be visiting my site this week. On Tuesday, those of us who are placed in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces will have a workshop with our supervisors. PC puts us up in “hotel,” of which I have low expectations. However, I am very excited about having running water and most importantly a shower! On Wednesday, my supervisor will take me to my site to familiarize myself with the office, meet my co-workers and community officials, etc. I am not sure where I will be staying since my housing situation is still in the works. However, I should have the opportunity to at least visit it. I’ll be at site until Saturday and then in a twist surprise, PC informed us we will have to make our own way back to our training site. Luckily, for me this should be relatively easy. I am not exactly sure where my town is, but it is no more than two hours from Polokwane, which is my assigned shopping town. Polokwane, which I have not been to yet, is only 20 minutes from the training site. In comparison, some volunteers are going as far as the Eastern Cape Province and will have to travel 16 hours each way. Although, I was hoping to be placed further away from my current location there are many upsides to my placement:

*Polokwane has an airport, making travel to other parts of the country easier.

*I can easily take a three hour bus ride to Pretoria & Johannesburg. Because of my close proximity to Pretoria, where PC HQ is located, I will be able to serve on a couple of committees that meet there quarterly.

*I am placed near my group’s most revered couple—Robin and David. I am also within two-five hours of seven other volunteers.

South Africa Explorations

We went to Johannesburg on Sunday to visit the Apartheid Museum. I read a lot about it beforehand and it lived up to my expectations. When you arrive you are given a ticket that says “White” or “Non-White.” There are two entrances corresponding to each designated ticket. The design of the museum is similar to a prison. The two exhibits are side beside separated by a see through cage/fence. About a quarter of the way through the two groups converge for the remainder of the museum. There was a special exhibit on Nelson Mandela, which was well done, but a little redundant since the information mainly seems to be pulled from his autobiography “Long Walk to Freedom,” which I am currently plowing through. Apartheid ended in 1994 with the birth of a democratic South Africa. Considering, not much time has passed since then, SA has made great strides in improving the social and economic inequalities caused by the institutionalized segregation. However, it is hard to change individuals’ mindsets and economic power is still very concentrated among Afrikaners. I’m not sure what everyone’s background knowledge is about SA, so please let me know if you have any specific questions.

Personally, according to the racial categories here, I am classified as coloured. Coloured people are of bi/multi racial heritage (one being Black). There are coloured communities, but there are not (to my understanding) commonly mixed marriages. Coloureds marry other coloureds. Due to the law banning interracial marriages (during Apartheid) most coloureds with Afrikaans heritage probably trace their relatives back to their grandparents’ generation or further back. At least from what I’ve heard from PC training and panelists, coloureds are stigmatized for being neither Afrikaans nor Black. They are also stereotyped as being drunks, in prison and lazy. Most coloureds speak Afrikaans and/or English. This too separates them from the Black population. I have been mistaken a SA coloured and as a result, I have been greeted in Afrikaans. I really need to memorize the Afrikaans phrase saying “I don’t speak Afrikaans.” One South African told me that I may be mistaken for a “coconut--” brown on the outside, white on the inside. She said that people may mistake me as a coloured, who attended private school and appears to be too uppity to speak the native language. Oh, you know, just another obstacle to face. Anise (who is also bi-racial) studied abroad here for a year and lived in Capetown. She said that sometimes she was blatantly discriminated against and other times people’s attitude would change when they realized she had an American English accent. From her experience, Afrikaners viewed being American and Black/Bi-racial different from being a coloured/Black South African. I’m intrigued to learn more about this racial ideological disconnect.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge, knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” –Albert Einstein