Scout camp went well. they are doing great work in the communities here, it is amazing how they have adapted the program for poor communities, when i get back i will start setting things up in my village... a couple days ago i arrived at IST; it is very good to see my american friends from training again who are all doing different things in different places. good to see fellow chess player oliver, who is working with a water sanitation group. also good to see malenka, working with a home based care org in distant KZN. also darvis, working with a municipality. funny guy. and jared and kim the one married couple in our group though i forget what they do. on the negative side IST can be like training was in that the actual sessions turn out to focus on the negative stuff and problems in a less than constructive way, a problem that is just a consequence of how this group of thirty works when we get together. it is different in small informal discussions which i by far prefer as many people are doing great work.

On friday i leave my village and organisation after three months working here and go to training first with the scouts and then with the peace corps as things have come full circle. i am looking forward to trading experiences with fellow volunteers and taking the next step in starting a scout group. it will be two weeks before i get back so this is as good a time as any to look at what i have done and where i am going. while there have been plenty of fits and starts i feel like the first three months have been successful. i have become very comfortable in my village and organization and have developed plans for several activities that i think will be very beneficial: cultural interviews, a festival, educational programs and a youth group. but of course that was the easy part. the next few months will be about implementation, time is no friend to a volunteer, we only have two years and already an eighth of my service is over (ahhh!) so the upcoming months are going to be very full.

Happy fathers' day fathers! today is youth day in south africa commemerating the student protest in 1977 (i believe) which restarted the struggle against apartheid after years of repression. it is a testament to the things young people can achieve. and indeed the youth of south africa have more opportunities now then black south africans have had since colonialism took their freedom. but the threat of aids destroying this generation is a stark reality. the infection rate in southern africa is immense and the response to it is confused, there are many mixed messages and a lot of stigma is attached to the disease. so healthy lifestyles, testing, ARVs and other methods to prevent or treat HIV/AIDS are a tough sell here. i don't like throwing out percentages so i won't but this generation and those following it need help, the country must mobilize and take on the issue. optimistically this may be starting especially with grass roots efforts, but at present the situation is very grave.

Oy vey! i was VERY sick on sunday. it was probably food poisoning but might have been the flu. so today i am back at work again today as i am making a 25 minute presentation at a work shop tomorrow. other than that there's some fun stuff coming up, i am going to a scout camp next weekend, my first in several years, which will help pave the way for my dream of bringing a scout group to the village. i was in boy scouts as a child and teen and overall it was a great experience, i got to see the great outdoors (including hiking in and out of the grand canyon) and participate in volunteer activities. the spirit of service and honor is something the kids here could get a lot of value from. scouts is an international organization which was started by an english war hero who served in south africa. it has been here for over a century but only recently have they racially integrated and allowed in girls . it is still new to south africa's villages so the trick will be fitting it into that context.

After a busy couple days planning a festival for tinghwazi- details in a future post- things hit a lull as my organization had to handle a financial problem and my programs got set aside for a bit. when stuff like that happens i have to do "back-up" projects like learning tsonga, preparing materials for ist, and writing my blog... obama winning the primary was a very big deal here. the idea of a black man, the son of an african national, becoming the most powerful person in a world that seems to be dominated by whites captures the imagination of the people here. "race" is a very big deal here due partly to the cruel and ridiculous policies of apartheid and partly to the extreme cultural and economic differences between people here. i live in an area where almost all the people who live here are black tsonga speakers. people here are the nicest in the world but some tend to make a lot of assumptions about me purely on the basis of my skin color. obama helps them imaginea better future for themselves.

You kind of get used to eating different food in different ways here. not so much pap for me though i will always eat a bit when it is in front of me. today my lunch consisted of avacado spread on bread with a rabbit that my organization's vehicle ran over on the side. not sure how i feel about the taste of rabbit, it has got an interesting aftertaste. i would try it again though. the other day i tried chicken feet and they are about what you would expect: all skin, fat, and sinew. not at all worth eating i would venture to say.

I am pretty tired this evening. today i went with 14 tinghwazi members to a place called tsonga kraal. incredibly 13 people were in the back of the pickup which i don't think was a good idea, though i was seated as always up front. tsonga kraal is as close as anything to what thomo heritage park will be as it's a museum and a village that is a repository of tsonga culture. the lecture was illuminating in that it highlighted our weaknesses and strengths. tinghwazi lacks the professional skills for a true museum but at the same time i believe it can offer a far more dynamic experience. we will be providing a broad demonstration of traditional tsonga culture expressed in a dynamic way by the tsonga themselves rather than simply archiving things the focus will be on recreating the past for the purposes of education and development. i know this all sounds a bit partisan but i really do believe in this project, i think it is an incredible initiative.