January 28 2009 marked the anniversary of my arrival in South Africa. This marks it as a time of reflection, it has been a year away from country, friends, family, and a year of new experiences both cultural and professional. To clarify, Peace Corps Volunteers are not sworn in until a little over two months of training is completed so April will be the anniversary and official half-way point of my actual service here (ending April 2010.)

 

Looking back, training was an experience probably necessary to go through but somewhat painful, as I learned about South Africa but was not really a participant. After that I came to my site and to my job at Tinghwazi. There have been successes and failures working with them, a festival that I tried to plan but never got funding for, some papers written, a groundwork for education programs that is still slowly being laid. I have also over the course of the months gotten involved in other village activities, started a small scout group, tutored, etc. but it is still a work in progress finding different ways to help and contributing. I have learned a bit of the home language here, though in the long run I still depend on English for most of my interactions. I have made a lot of great contacts both in my village and professionally, still they are not completely a substitute for the friendships, family, and connections I had back in the States before I left so I do get lonely sometimes. My attitudes towards international development have gained a certain amount of depth I think that I did not have before, I see education of the youth and economic innovation for adults as being the two legs that development must stand on and those are the two areas I have been focusing on lately. I went over with very vague goals, a general desire to do good without really knowing what good things I would be doing, something one cannot get without being here I don't believe. Now I have very specific goals that I want to accomplish before I go and a set of steps to get me there, I have become more pragmatic towards facing my service here. I have went from being somewhat wide eyed towards the country and the culture to getting used to it. It is not exactly home, and I have only been here a year or so but I still kind of have an idea of how things work here and a general comfort. Gone to a certain extent is that wild eyed experience where everything and anything was new and different, which I find opens the door for boredom or ennui if I am not careful. I have become an even more avid reader seperated from the major media and I have been writing a lot. My plans for my life and career, which have always been vague are taking shape. More clearly, I am continuing to define what I believe as an adult human being. My religious faith, my political opinions, what I want from myself and others have been thrown into clarity here and for that I am grateful. It has not been all sunshine and roses, especially lately as homesickness has become a constant, nagging background noise to my thoughts, still I feel I can use even this to grow and develop and come up with a measure of happiness for the present.

 

This is all very broad and reflective I suppose. On a more narrow note, I had a wonderful vacation to Cape Town in January and I may revisit, I certainly recommend it to anyone thinking of a vacation to somewhere exotic. It's got great wine, fantastic views, and a vibrant culture. Wonderful town. I may put a brief blow for blow account of what I did up later but needless to say it was an exciting experience. Aside from that work is going along, I am trying without much success to start a garden, goats being my main enemy. And life without a refridgerator is difficult. Anyway, I hope to write more of these entries in the future as I have been lax, I guess not many people are reading them anyway, but for those who are interested I want to make sure more info is up. Longtom is still coming if you want to donate let me know.