The People Are Gone and the Cats Have Moved In – South Africa Goes on Strike

South Africa is now going on its third week of the public sector strike. At first I was not fazed, thinking for some reason Bushbuckridge (the sub-district I work in) would not be participating. But wow have I had a rude awakening. I experienced my first struggle only the second day of the strike. I was leaving work at 4:00pm having arrived early that day at 6:30am and found the front gates blocked by protesters as well as huge rocks and random scrap metal blocking the exit. I promptly turned around, realizing that I had never really investigated the hospital premises and didn’t even know if there was another exit. After driving around for 15minutes I was finally directed by a nice man who had had the same problem earlier that day.

Still believing the strike was kind of a joke, I showed up to work the next day finding the entire road to the hospital blocked. I parked in the closest parking lot and walked in. People around me were yelling and chanting and there was one guy hanging off the gate entrance leading the chants, they all had shirts and looked rather organized. I tried to sneak by only realizing seconds later that it is hard for a white person in this town to sneak anywhere. I was yelled at in different languages but I just smiled and waved and didn’t have a problem.

I walked into the hospital to see a boy sitting with his mom on the step next to the outpatient department crying. I stopped to say hi and see what was going on. His mom explained that he had been badly burned all over his body in an accident and no one was at the hospital to care for him. I had his mom follow me back to our office and was able to track down a doctor that lives near me. He was willing to help and the boy was finally cared for 4 hours later. This is when I finally realized the impact of the strike. I started looking around the hospital finding most of the once full hospital (being the largest public hospital in the entire sub-district) now only littered with people too sick to get out of bed and go home.

Three weeks later, the hospital is completely empty and the strike continues although, the workers on strike seem to take a two hour lunch break between 12pm and 2pm (random, I know). I walked through the female surgical ward today to find cats sleeping on beds once used for women after delivery. The sheets on all the beds have been torn off and the smell of old trash takes your breath away when walking down the halls. The pillows that were on only every other bed have now been ripped to pieces and feathers litter the hallways. This place once full of people, now looks like an abandon building.

As the public sector continues to negotiate with the government for higher wages the people in the community continue to suffer. I have heard a number of stories already of sick people having nowhere to go and those trying to collect their ARV treatment are scared to even try to enter the hospital. Private sector organizations and businesses are also starting to be impacted, the grocery store was forced to close their doors and our organization has been threatened twice now to close our doors.

We are hoping this strike ends soon but currently there is no end in sight. All we know it is the worst strike most of the residents of Bushbuckridge have ever seen.

Part I: Storm Chasers on the Garden Route - Guest Blog Sonja Thomas

Where in the world can you cuddle with lion cubs, witness a family of baboons skedaddle across the street and play with 3 week old puppies at a B&B? South Africa, baby.

It was ages ago when I booked my flight to visit Shira that it always felt like a long way off and now it's so hard to believe it's only a memory. The weeks leading up to take off, we bounced emails back n forth trying to decide where to go and what to do. Who knew that no matter what planning was made on our end, Mother Nature had a whole other adventure in mind.

Shira, Kate and I flew to Cape Town (immediately after my 17+ hour flight to Jo'berg) ready to hike Table Mountain which promised an amazing view of the city and ocean below. Unfortunately the sky heavy with fog, known as a "table cloth", made visibility impossible. So, we nixed the hike, snapped a few picss and headed out to Stellenbosch wine country. The best was the Wine and Chocolate Experience at the Waterford. Shiraz with Masala Chai Dark, Cabernet Sauvignon with Rock Salt Dark and Rose Geranium Milk Chocolate paired with Heatherleigh Natural Sweet...amazing.

We continued on to Hermanus and spent the night at the cutest (and my first ever) B&B. Horrible hurricane force winds throughout the night convinced me that our teeny tiny car rental, the Great White Spark, had blown away. The only damage done, however, was that our whale tour was cancelled. After much pouting and discussion on whether to move on or stay an extra night, we wandered out onto a rocky cliff and spotted a whale!

Two tail waves and water spouts later, we were smiling and satisfied, so we continued driving on the Garden Route. And so begins the chase...from here on out for the next 3 days we were followed by a never-ending storm. One minute baby blue skies, the next, dark menacing clouds followed by a steady downpour. Commence whining about a horrible trip, right? Wrong! This was the most awesomest trip ever!!!

Along the 6 hour drive to Wilderness, we witnessed some of the most beautiful scenery in the world...mountains covered in thick brush, multi-colored rocky mountains, lush green landscapes...pictures don't do it justice. Although we wind up and around and drive through these mountain ranges, one would swear it was a movie image backdrop. With a copy of Lonely Planet as our guide, we visit two Berry Farms in Swellendam, sampling tasty fresh berry ice cream and sun-dried tomato mustard. At a quick petrol stop in Ladismith, since there's no tours at the local cheese factory, we conduct our own taste test and purchase 3 delicious blocks of cheese; Edam the winner, followed closely by Ladismither.

In Wilderness, I enjoy my first taste of Amarula, a Cream Liqueur, reminiscent of Bailey's, made with the fruit from the marula tree. Cute side note: Elephants love the taste of marula fruit and will go to great lengths to get it, subsequently becoming drunk. You tube has tons of videos of the tipsy effect. We also stumble upon the "Map of Africa", a viewpoint of mountains to the right, where one is shaped like the continent, hence the name (which we didn't learn until days later) outlined by the Kaaimans River and to the left the deep blue waters of the Indian Ocean.

Next stop, Knysna, my favorite town along the Garden Route. While here we visit the famous King Edward VII Outeniqua Yellowwood Tree in Knysna Forest, believed to be over 650 yrs old. The forest was once home to herds of 600 elephants of which now only 3 remain. My absolute favorite scenic moment was on top of the Spitskop. Somehow Shira navigated the Great White Spark up the steep, one lane gravel trail, with nothing but a "straight to your death drop" on either side to a breath-taking panoramic view of the forest and Knysna area.

The beauty didn't end here. Whether on the beach, atop one of the Heads, or walking a wooden plank above the crashing waves, the views of the Knysna Lagoon and Indian Ocean are indescribable. We even saw a seal while driving around Leisure Island.

Our last stop was Port Elizabeth where we visited the Seaview Game Park, my visit pick during the planning process. During the drive we spot wildebeests, duikers, antelope, zebras, and a family of giraffes. On foot, we see lions, including white ones, meerkats, a caracal, a crocodile, and 2 baby tigers. But the best was paying an additional 50 rand to play with five 4 month old lion cubs. And to my astonishment, they weren't soft to the touch, but rather quite coarse, but nonetheless super adorable. I OD'd on cuteness!

Thus, concludes our chasing storm adventure along the Garden Route and the first half of my trip in SA. Next stop, Acornhock and Kruger.

World Cup Fever

Today is the start of the world cup and until today I had seen no sign of excitement from the people in Acornhoek. However, that quickly changed this morning as I left my house at 6:45am for a run. As I approached the main road, 3 children surrounded me. One was wearing jeans and a bafana bafana (this is the South Africa soccer team and it means “boys boys”) T-shirt, the other was wearing a sweatshirt and a bafana bafana hat, and the third boy had the South African flag drabbed around his shoulders. They started running next to me singing Waka Waka, the official World Cup 2010 song by Shakira.

As we ran the boys started taking off their bafana bafana gear and dressing me with it. Before I knew it I was running down the road with a bafana bafana hat, t-shirt, and the South African flag tied around my waist. Every car that passed honked their horn and flashed their lights yelling in Xitsonga, “United We Stand.” Most cars were decked out with South African flags. I thought for sure the boys would soon grow tired and stop running but I was wrong and pleasantly surprised. The more cars that honked the faster the boys ran.

They introduced themselves to me as Jeffrey, Sylvester, and Patrick. They were brothers and from the local rural development project (low-income housing) across the street from where I live. The oldest boy was 15 years old and was in clearly better shape than me. The boys ran ahead doing soccer drills as I kept a steady, slower pace behind them. They continued to circle back and at one point even pushed me up a hill. The boys were glowing with excitement. They told me it was a new South Africa and they loved Afrikaners. I explained to them that I was from the United States and they began running circles around me. Patrick then said, “This is a great day. We run hand and hand with our American friend and we celebrate all together.” As we continued on together, the youngest Sylvester, grew tired and I decided to give him a piggy back ride, it seemed like the only option to continue our celebration together and I was just praying he would get sick of it sooner than later.

As we continued along the road, we passed over 50 people walking into town (more than I have ever seen while running). With each passing person the boys would stop and give them a high five (which I had just taught them minutes earlier). Every group of people had a vuvuzela in hand and some type of bafana bafana gear. After 11km we finally arrived back at my place and the boys each gave me a hug and suggested it would be a good idea if I continue to train with

them.

Everyone will be leaving work today at 1:00pm to celebrate the World Cup in South Africa – the first time ever on the African Continent and I am happy to say that I finally feel the excitement!! (All of the pictures are from later that day).

Coming Home

Order to Illegal Foreigner to Depart From Republic. This is the official deportation letter administered by the Republic of South Africa. How, you may wonder, do I know this? Well for those of you that know me well, know that this is exactly the type of stuff that happens to me. I am officially being deported from South Africa! Yes, you read that right.

So here is the story………

I have been flown by my company to Pretoria (the capital) on 4 different occasions to meet with the Department of Home Affairs (the department that handles visas). However, in typical Africa fashion we were told something different each time. Just as background, you can not apply for a charitable work permit if you have more than one visitors visa in your passport hence, the reason I did not just leave the country and return again. My visa officially expired in April and I was told I had to turn in my passport for proof that I was in the midst of applying for a charitable work permit. Although, apprehensive about turning over my passport I felt I had no other option. This was also the point that we were told that my application was incomplete and I needed police clearance from my country of origin. To the company this meant FBI clearance. I applied for FBI clearance and was told by them that this would take at least 13 weeks. Little did I know I didn’t have that kind of time. Three weeks later my passport was magically sent, via mail, to my employer. The package had no note, just my passport, my vaccination certificate, and my medical reports. My employer immediately went back to Home Affairs and asked why my passport was sent back with no visa. They said that my application was incomplete and I was now here illegally.

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it – all of this was unbenounced to me. I was living out my daily life in Acornhoek and had no idea that I was illegally here. After several trips by the company back and forth to Home Affairs they finally conceded to the fact that I would need to come home to work out the visa from the states. Over the past two weeks they have been arranging my travel home.

Today, I arrived in Pretoria to get a deportation letter from Home Affairs. Yes, an official deportation letter. We were instructed by Home Affairs to go to another Home Affairs in the area to get the correct form. This one was a bit out of the city in a clearly seedy neighborhood and when we pulled up there were lines miles long. You could tell people had been camping there for days. As we approached the premises, I noticed a strong police presence and someone was in the midst of being beaten with a baton and subsequently removed. I was becoming a bit timid and starting to understand the seriousness of being deported. As we walked up to the fence, the guard asked me what I needed. Being the only white person in the area he seemed a bit confused as why I was there. I told him what I needed and he immediately escorted my inside with two armed police officers fending off the swarm of people around me trying to get in.

The building was just as packed as it was outside. People were everywhere and it seemed like total chaos. I was asked by the guard for my passport. He said something angrily to the person that was with me from my company and escorted us down a long hallway, pushing past hundreds of people. Eventually we entered a large room with 6 cells filled with “prisoners” as it said on the wall. Again, people started speaking in a different language and I stood their clueless trying to interpret people’s facial expressions. As voices began to get louder and louder I knew this was a bad sign. After about 10mins, everyone became calm again and the head officer asked us to follow him to his office. As we walked I turned to the person with me and asked what had just happened. He said that they wanted to arrest me since I was here illegally. Basically, he said, they wanted a bribe. As we entered his office I tried my hardest to compliment him about everything – hoping this might help smooth things over and I also tried to insert the fact that not all Americans are made of money (A typical impression of Americans here).

After another 10 minutes waiting for the officer to clean the newspapers and crossword puzzles from his desk, oh and finish his coffee. He began filling out my deportation papers. He mentioned three more times that he should arrest me and each time I responded with some type of compliment trying everything to make sure I would walk out of that office with a new friend. Another 30 minutes went by and I was handed my Order to Illegal Foreigner to Depart From Republic piece of paper. I went to shake Bart’s hand and he hugged me – guess my strategy worked. “Good luck,” he said “and thank you for all the work you are doing here.”

All this being said I am returning to the states! I will be home long enough to work out my visa from that side. Hopefully, this can serve as a lesson to everyone that you should probably work out these details in advance and while mine seems to have worked out so far – the experience has been less than desirable. See you all soon!

Tuesday Night in The Bush

5:30pm the phone rings......“Hey there, you home” says Tian. “Yes, what’s up?” I said. “Want to go baboon hunting?” Tian says. “Umm of course,” I say. As Tian pulled up outside my place, I came out excited for the hunting ahead. He looked down and laughed and told me to go put on proper shoes. I was a little confused so I asked if we would be walking or driving. “No, we will drive,” he says. Still confused as to why my flip flops were not proper I obediently went back inside to change.

I hopped into his buckie (aka truck) and we went barrelling down the dirt road. We travelled along the perimeter of the property that is next to Kruger National Park. I had my eyes peeled in an effort to see any possible game on our way to shoot some baboons.

The dirt road began to get worse and worse till the bushes on either side of us were coming into the buckie. Tian stopped and opened his door. I timidly asked, “where are you going.” “Umm baboon hunting,” he sarcastically replied. A little perplexed by the fact that he had previously told me we were driving, I slowly got out of the car not wanting to be a burden. I carefully placed my feet in the bush, since I am constantly warned of stepping on a Puff Ader – apparently one of the many poisonous snakes to be wary of. However, I have started to notice that they say that about everything.

Anyways, I followed Tian through the now thick bush. He of course was in shorts and flip flops and I was in long pants and closed shoes yet still having trouble keeping up with him as the thorny bushes would pull against him and smack right into my legs. He didn’t seem to notice so I tried to keep my screams in pain to a minimum. After 15 minutes he stopped and turned around to tell me to be quiet. Little did I know that my constant swatting of flies might warn the baboons that we were coming.
We finally arrived to a little clearing and Tian motioned to me to sit down. I looked down and saw a pile of ants, I decided to squat instead. After 5 minutes of silence, squatting, and mosquitoes swarming my head, I decided to get a bit more comfortable and lean against the fence separating us from Kruger. As soon as I moved, Tian grabbed me and whispered, “What on earth are you doing that is electric.” Hmm, oopps, guess I forgot that part. I conceded and sat in the ant pile hoping the baboons would come soon.

As dusk turned to night, Tian stood up and said “Ok, lets go” doesn’t seem like they are coming tonight. I quickly stood up, pissed, I just spent 25 minutes hiking through the bush, 5 mins squatting, and another 30 mins sitting in an ant pile.
As we tromped back to the buckie, Tian turned and asked if I wanted to try again tomorrow. Umm, “No, Thanks” I answered. “Patience my dear, patience,” living here for a year should give you that.

So while we did not even see a baboon to even think about shooting. I was able to learn a little bit about the thing I have never had - patience. Maybe I should try again.

Life Just Isn't Fair

As some of you may remember, I posted a blog a month or so ago about the beauty of rain and the amazing things it brings people who are lacking many of the luxuries we in the states are so use to. However, this weekend I saw the destruction that rain can cause and the awkward balance of a praised position and an incalculable killer.

It has been raining pretty consistently for 4 days now, sometimes light sprinkles other times so hard that you couldn’t see a foot in front of you. In fact, my front windows are now caked in brown dirt from the rain hitting the dirt around my house so hard. Seeing as it was a long weekend I didn’t venture out much in the community but only found solace in the fact that I knew the community would be rejoicing. To my dismay this notion was incorrect.

On Monday, I decided I had had enough alone time and drove into the city of Acornhoek to visit a friend. As I entered the village center, I was forced to abandon my car on the side of the road because the rain had covered up all the pot holes on the road making it un-navigable for any vehicle more or less my little VW Golf. Typically this would have annoyed me but, today, I was again happy that so many people’s prayers were answered by the rainfall.

I trudged along the side of the road up to my calves in water and sometimes losing my footing as the dirt ground underneath me had been washed away by the rain. I soon turned off the paved road and ventured down a dirt path to my friends houses. No more than 100 meters into my walk down the dirt road did I contend to the fact that I would have to put on new clothes when I arrived at her place, not because I was drenched (which I was) but because the dirt was caked over every inch of my body, even impressively, making its way up to my face.

Soon the dirt road turned into a dirt river and I looked ahead to see if maybe this was a bad idea. Ahead of me I saw what I could now make out were people swimming in waist deep water. I then realized all the shacks along this road were floating (or at least pieces of them). I quickly plunged forward not thinking about my own safety but desperate to see what was really ahead of me and if in some way I may be able to help.

At least 50 people were swimming in the dirty water ahead of me trying to savage pieces of their homes now floating swiftly along the dirt river. Children were perched on their mother’s heads so as to stay safe from the swift moving waters. Higher ground was blanketed with people sitting and watching as their loved ones pulled out the pieces of their homes. They were all surprisingly calm.

I immediately thought back to a conversation I had had in the office last month, the girls were telling me about rainy season and the scary anticipation, mainly because most of the people in the community don’t know how to swim resulting in a large number of unnecessary/ accidental deaths which happens to be the second leading cause of death in this area (behind HIV/AIDS).
While my impulse was to help, having learned how to swim basically before I could walk, I realized I was useless. I called my friend who I was supposed to be visiting and told her I would have to come another day. This was all I could handle for one day and the feeling of uselessness and sadness was inevitable. How could a people that suffer and endure so much on a regular basis be thrown just one more hurdle in life! I guess my mom was right when she use to tell my brother and I that “life just isn’t fair.”

Parental Intermission

I apologize for my long hiatus away from my blog. I promise I am back and the stories will continue to come. My parents came to visit me at the beginning of March (ok I realize it is April and I have still not posted anything) and we had an amazing two weeks together.

We started off our journey by venturing around JoBerg finding it surprisingly vast and not as scary as anticipated. We were lucky enough to have our very own tour guide, a friend of mine whom I met while living in Acornhoek. She was from Soweto, so she offered to take my parents and I on a sightseeing tour. We were lucky enough to experience the city from a local’s perspective perhaps making the place much less scary than all the travel books made it out to be.

We stopped by her parents’ house in Soweto to drop off her children and meet her parents. They were a delightful couple and her father joined us for part of the tour. Her father quickly reminded us of the dangers of JoBerg. He was blind and we soon learned it was because of an attempted robbery where the gun man hit him with the gun in the head resulting in his blindness. It was clear that violent crime in the city saw no color, size, or shape but rather just the end product of its potential success. After a day in JoBerg we headed south to Cape Town, the city in South Africa everyone seems so proud of.

Being a typical Gitomer family vacation we did not hang out in the city long but, rather drove to areas much less traveled. People in South Africa were right, the area along the coast was beautiful. The first night we had dinner on a patio listening to the sounds of the penguins on the beach, which sound much like a donkey braying. Later we traveled to the southernmost point of South Africa, where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean. Along the way we stayed at some of the most amazing B&Bs, each with its own unique setting and character. We had a wonderful week driving around the southern coast and into the wine country of South Africa.

We left Cape Town to start our journey to my home in Acornhoek. We arrived at the Nelspruit, Mpumalanga Kruger National Park airport on a fairly cool afternoon. Not typical for the time of year and making my parents question my constant bickering to them about the hot weather. After a short stop in Nelspruit (the largest town near me) we began driving along the Panorama Route to Acornhoek. The countryside by where I live is unbelievably beautiful with rolling green hills and a huge canyon that goes right through the area ( kind of equivalent to our Grand Canyon). After a few small hikes to waterfalls and some spectacular views we arrived at my house on Orpen road.

You could tell my parents were uneasy as they entered not knowing what to expect – I guess I set the bar extremely low so as not to get up expectations. This worked well because they were pleasantly surprised with my accommodations. My parents spent the next week coming with me to meetings and doing some sightseeing on their own. We also did an amazing night drive in Kruger one evening seeing a lion, elephants, rhinos, and buffalo.

Upon arrival home one night, my parents were even lucky enough to see Elle (the 8 ton elephant that frequents our area by plunging through the electric fence)! She was back, pulling down trees and eating as much as her little heart contented. This night however, she was right next to my house. Literally, my parents and I hugged each other as we watched her eat about 10 feet from my kitchen window. She is an amazingly large creature and it made you realize the ease at which she could crush your house if she felt the desire.

After another week in the bush at my humble abode my parents had to head out to the reality of a 15 hour plane flight and work. It was wonderful to have them here! And remember all visitors are more than welcome.

Elephant Update - Final Chapter

Here is the latest update from the Wits management staff........

What a thrill and a pure privilege it has been for us to host this Gentle Giant over the past few days. Emails have been pouring in for the Elephants goodwill, sadly however, he had to be forcibly moved back to whence he came – Thornybush Game Reserve.

The whole operation had to be very carefully planned, coordinated and executed …..….after all he is a 7 ton plus elephant ……and a bushveld veteran of 54 years old.

• The local Hoedspruit vet, Dr Peter Rodgers who’s had many years experience, some gained in the early days with the Natal Parks Board Rhino Capture Team, was the right man for the job.
• Chris Mostert was the Game Capture Expert who had the right vehicles and machinery to successfully tackle the task at hand.
• Thornybush Game Reserve’s Chief & Coordinator of the Operation, Eugene together with Johan & Mike, both Section Rangers and the field staff were all at the ready.
• All the WRF field staff were on duty at 5am ready and anxious to assist.

Once the Elephant was found, the first 40 minutes had 4 of us in the all terrain Unimog, chasing after the elephant in very thick vegetation, while he played hide & seek. This was the less expensive way to go but it was just not working out, so the services of an experienced Pilot & Helicopter was summonsed, from Gravelotte area to assist and arrived some 25 minutes later. The chopper was in the air for all of 5 minutes when the dart from the vet’s gun struck home. Approx 8 minutes later the elephant slumped to the floor, in a deep sleep. Fortunately too Mother Nature smiled on us as it was a cool overcast morning with occasional drizzle, which aided in keeping the elephant cool.

The operation that followed took experts and a work force of 17, two hours, to load the elephant onto the mechanized flat bed trailer, together with the aid of a crane.

After this he was transported back to Thornybush through a section of the fence line near Caravilla. He was offloaded 15 minutes later and given the ‘wake up cocktail’ to get him on his feet again. Fortunately there were no mishaps and as far as we can tell no adverse effects on the Elephant nevertheless the Thornybush field staff will be keeping a watchful eye on him over the next 24 hours.

For interest the exercise took from 05:30hrs and finished at 12:00hrs and the cost implications came to just under R40, 000.00.

Elephant Update!

Can you believe it we made the local news!!! :-) By the way the picture is taken about 100 yards from my house.

Intranet Home >News >NewsItems

Elephant on Wits property

18 February 2010

A 54-year-old bull has been romping around the Wits Rural Facility (WRF) in search of water and marula fruit. The elephant wandered over from the Kruger National Park, onto Wits’ property close to the Orpen Gate. The WRF, 500km from Johannesburg, serves as a base for rural-focused research, student training, and community outreach in the Bushbuckridge region of Limpopo, South Africa. The facility is on 350 hectares of unspoilt lowveld savanna with an abundance of birds and wildlife. Read more at http://web.wits.ac.za/PlacesOfInterest/WRF/

Elephant on the Property

Here is an example of the emails I get here from my property managers.....

Dear all

Please note that it is confirmed that there is a big bull elephant on WRF property. He is not in “musth” which could make him aggressive, and his main reason ,we think for coming over, is the attraction of our ripe Marula falling off the Marula trees.

Thornybush personnel, section rangers and senior rangers are monitoring the situation and there is a plan to get him back to Thornybush. However, he will no doubt be on the property for a few days and hopefully return to Thornybush on his own accord. If this fails, the necessary action will be put in action i.e. to translocate him back.

He is not a threat to human life or property and has never been known to damage property at Thornybush.

Please therefore, do not aggravate the situation by throwing stones at him or by getting too close to him to take photos etc.

Your co-operation in the above regard is appreciated.

Kind regards

Geoffrey
Property Manager

So a few thoughts ........

1. What type of plan takes a few days...... wonder why they are so illusive
2. Why on earth would anyone throw stones at an elephant!
3. What type of emails do you get from your property manager?
4. The email after this one talks about the elephants agitated state since he was shocked by the electric fence we have surrounding the property. The email concludes by asking us to stay indoors for the duration of the night till he calms down. :-)

For those of you that don't know they have a fruit here called marula. It is actually really good they use it to make beer and a drink much like Baileys.

Oh the joys of rural South African living.

Notes from the Field

I haven’t really discussed the work I am doing to this point, but I now feel it is necessary to fill you in as I am sure a number of my experiences will be taken from encounters I have in the field. So here goes…I am working on a Home Based Care study that is seeking to examine the quality of care provided by community care givers to clients.

For those of you that don’t know, home based care organizations provide sick individuals the assistance they need in the home. This requires carers (community care givers) to enter these individuals' houses and provide a variety of services including: washing clothes, counseling, training them on how to take medications, cooking, ect. Basically, anything the person can’t do for themselves or doesn’t know how to do- the carer either shows them how, if they are able, or does it for them. Carers in this area of South Africa provide care to people with TB, malaria, HIV/AIDS, mental health problems, disabilities, chronic illness, and the elderyly. Most of them also care for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). Basically, the carers support the health system that is already overburden, especially in rural areas.

So my job for the first few months here is to write up an overview of the situation in the area I live. This entails me compiling a list of all the home based care organizations (easier said then done) and then visiting them to talk with them about their organization. This is one of the great parts of my job. For the month of February I will be visiting all 42 organization. Each organization is about a two hour drive since the dirt roads are so bad.

So now that I have given you a very basic picture of what it is I am doing, I of course have to share the most amazing story of the week. First, let me preface by stating each story I hear in the field is more impressive and inspirational than the last. The people I have met here have a sense of selflessness I have never seen. The love and devotion that abounds in the communities I am visiting is awe-inspiring and at times overwhelming.

That being said, I visited a women on Wednesday who was about 60 years old and retired – so she said. As we began talking she told me that her family had kicked her out of the home as a little girl because her father didn’t want her anymore. She was forced to leave her community and settled in with her Aunt and Uncle two hours away. Her Aunt soon became very sick and the family thought a spell had been cast on her. The Uncle sent her Aunt and her away so as not to bewitch the rest of the family.

For the next 15 years she lived taking care of her sick Aunt in a hut she had built for them. She began describing the house she built; “It had four tin walls,” she beamed. “And I lathered the outside of the hut all by myself in two days- with mud from 2 km away since that was strong mud. On my way home one day I decided I could make a door out of small wooden logs people had left behind.” And so she did. “My roof was left over tin I found down the road and I tried my very hardest to lift 4 huge rocks to hold it in place.”

She was six when she built this hut and instead of describing something that sounded like an awful 50 square foot room with no light, you could tell she was full of pride that she could build a house. This house that protected her and her Aunt for the next 9 years. While taking care of all the cooking, cleaning, and her Aunt, she also found the money from a local church to go to school. She said her Aunt always encouraged to get an education.

As her Aunt began getting more and more sick she started taking solace in the other members of the community she had met. Many of these people were also living in similar situations. After her Aunt passed away, she decided to make it her mission to help those who were not provided the type of care she was able to give to her Aunt.

This is how she got the idea of starting a home based care center. With no money and little education, she worked with the community to build a one room building. She then started working with volunteers she recruited to provide services to people in need around the community. To this day, receiving no outside help from funders (only the community), she has managed to keep her organization alive. Pouring everything she has into it, she now has 20 volunteer caregivers and 4 volunteer admin staff that work full time to meet the needs of many of the sick people in her community. They are caring for over 1,000 people in the community- people who would probably end up dying lonely, painful deaths without her assistance.

I asked her how she is able to motivate all 24 of her staff to come to work each day for 8 hours without pay. Her answer was simple - everyone here has been affected by death and grief and if no one is willing to help those who can’t help themselves, who is ever going to help them when they are in need.

These people are amazing! I usually hug every one of the staff members after our visit. Also, they always remind me to come back and visit my new "mom". I then quickly rush out to my car to make sure they are not packing it with the little food they have (they love sending you home with food – it is a cultural thing).

So that is a typical day for me! These individuals are an inspiration to me and really make me stop and reflect on appreciating the small things in life.

Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite!

Perhaps South Africa has a different saying than “don’t let the bed bugs bite?” After a full day out hanging out with new friends, driving around looking at the beautiful countryside, doing laundry (the old fashion way), and cooking, I arrived home to a fully lit house. When I first arrived in Acornhoek this would have been just what I had wished for, since I was so scared of stepping on a scorpion or a snake, but now that I have been here a while I figured out the secret that for some reason folks don’t tell you. I guess it is a live and learn kind of game if you can’t figure the lights out you won’t last that long. Anyways, the secret is that the lights only attract the bugs! Basically, me leaving the lights on all day meant that I was about to be greeted by every type of flying insect that lives here.

I stepped in cautiously, reaching to the right to grab my newly purchased and hung fly swatter and stepping again to the right to grab my new favorite thing…..a can of bug spray, convientely and purposefully placed next to the door for just these occasions. Armed for battle, I stepped forward and slowly looked up to find the most usual thing. You would think since I have been shocked day after day about things here in Acornhoek, I would not be shocked by things anymore...unfortunately, that is not how it works

Anyways, coming from my ceiling were thousands of spiders dropping down about 5 feet (my ceilings are about 15 feet). This would have been kind of a cool sight, if by chance, it wasn’t in my house. At that point, I didn’t even care about the beetles and the mouths flying about. Unfortunately, I also realized that my can of bug spray and my fly swatter were going to be useless.

In fear of all the spiders falling on my head at once, I walked as close to the wall as possible to get to my bedroom. Yes, I know pretty lame sight but you would have totally done it too if you saw how many spiders there were.

I walked in my bedroom flustered since I thought I had just gotten used to the life here and looked up to find another “amazing” site – about 20 flying cockroaches nested on the ceiling surrounding my light. As usual, cockroaches here are not like they are in the states. Here there are hundreds of different kinds and what was on my ceiling where huge cockroaches the size of dates.

Hmm awesome now I had spiders in one room and cockroaches in the other. What a lovely way to end the evening. I quickly turned off the lights not even thinking and the cockroaches swarmed down, causing me to drop to the floor – I know another lovely visually of me freaking out. When I had the nerve to look up I realized that they had only gone in search of new light in the other room. It is then that I realized the true beauty of what I thought were annoying insects. Almost every flying cockroach got stuck in the webs of the spiders that were dropping down from the ceiling. AWESOME! Better than any bug spray I had ever used.

I turned around satisfied and walked three steps to the bathroom to get ready for bed. As I laid down to go to sleep I started to wonder what would happen to the cockroaches, are they slowly going to fall onto the ground, or more likely on to me as I am walking underneath...

Before I could continue with my thoughts my legs started to itch. I turned on my flashlight to find fleas all over my bed. I got up, rather annoyed at this point and sprayed my bed with my favorite bug spray and tiredly laid back down. I fell asleep that night listening to the call of the lions – another thing you would find only in the bush! Night everyone – don’t let the bed bugs bite.

Singing In The Rain

Over the last 3 days it has been pouring rain every morning. While in the States I typically love the rain, in Acornhoek it just makes my life difficult. I woke up the first morning of rainfall to discover my main living area covered in a pool of water. Apparently, the wind was blowing the rain in. Unfortunately for me it is too hot to close the windows so I decided a wet living room was the better idea.

I got in my car to leave for work and found a pool of water on the floor of the back seat – guess my last passenger forgot to roll up the window all the way, which is dangerous for this area because monkey’s love getting into cars and pooping and peeing on everything. It is their way of marking their territory. So in hinds sight water is better than monkeys. Although, I quickly realized that pools of water also attract large numbers of mosquitoes. At least they had a nice meal out of me.

I started the car and found that the wind shield wipers didn’t feel like working that day. So I rolled down the window and tried to drive with my head out the window. That lasted for about 30 seconds till I decided that it was a dumb idea – not being able to see wasn’t that bad. I continued my drive down the now washed out dirt road ridden with potholes the size of small houses and bumps bigger than large tree trunks. I know, I know , I too am waiting for my tires to fall off the car or the engine to just fall out. My car makes such a noise as it is, the bumps are surely not helping things.

As I continued to the tar road (as they like to call it) I picked up my speed to about 60MPH which is really the fastest you can go in this area to make sure you don’t hit an animal or hit a pothole. Oh and yes, people hit animals all the time – not armadillos or squirrels we are used to but real animals, Warthogs, Impalas, Cows, Water Buck and just last week someone hit an elephant! Anyways, I digress. So as I continued down the tar road I noticed a car stopped ahead of me. A stream was now crossing the road. The man was outside his car collecting the water in a huge bin. I slowed down and once I realized the water wasn’t going to wash my car away I continued.

Today I happen to have a meeting about 30minutes away at a home based care organization. Thankfully, I had picked up one of my colleagues for the meeting so I didn’t have to drive alone. As we continued on, I hit pot hole after pot hole just bracing for impact. My windshield wipers were still not working and now the window was completely fogged up. Wow, the luxury of an air conditioner I am starting to miss.

Faith, my colleague, directed me to turn right down a dirt road. I turned right and immediately noticed the terrible shape of the road – there were streams washing away the path and rocks were now exposed that would pop a tire in an instant. As I preceded down the road slower than a turtle, I was just hoping the next road wouldn’t be worse. Of course, it was. This road was not only steep, had potholes, and rocks, but there were random patches of grass so you couldn’t even see where not to drive, a fun guessing game. At this point I had Faith wiping the inside of the window and I had my hand out the window trying to wipe away the rain – as you can imagine extremely productive. We finally arrived at the home based care site.

A meeting was about to start when we walked in. They were just finishing up their prayers (mandatory before any meeting here). We had a two hour meeting with Mama Anna, the head of the home based care organization, after our meeting she walked us through the facility and through the garden. There were over 50 children in the garden smiling and pulling weeds. I asked Faith why the children were so happy to be pulling weeds in the rain. She said that the children were excited for the rain because it would ensure they were feed that week. All the children were orphans and without the garden they would have no food to eat. Mama Anna must have heard me ask such a silly question and made us follow her down the road to the village. All the women were outside washing their clothes. Every container they had in their house was outside to collect the water. She turned to me and told me, “when it rains it is time to rejoice, bath ourselves, clean our clothes, and use everything the sky has to offer.”

Now doesn’t that just put my day into perspective?! Now I understood why the man had stopped to collect the water from the stream that had formed across the road and why the children walking to school without umbrellas were laughing and playing. When it rains again I will be sure to be singing in the rain.

Rabbits Anyone?

A few weekends ago I was called by a friend that lives near me to get ready and he was going to come pick me up. He didn’t tell me why but said it was urgent. I was waiting outside for himwhen he arrived, as I was eager to know what was so urgent.

He said that a house across the way had a little problem he needed to contend with. I asked him why he needed my help and he said he just wanted me not to be scared anymore. I knew this was a bad sign! As we continued along he told me that the little girl that lived in the house across the way went to go feed her bunnies in the coup behind their house. She noticed they weren’t moving and crawled into the cage to investigate. It was then that she saw a black snake pop up from the corner. She backed away without turning (apparently what you are suppose to do) and ran into the house to tell her parents.

Her parents called Tian and Tian called me to come with him. My initial thought was, wow, next time someone says it is urgent it would be smart to get more information before I volunteer to go with them – especially in this place. You never know what is going to happen. They have bigger and badder everything here! They have cockroaches the size of phones and flying ants the size of cockroaches – I mean really!

As we pulled up to the girl’s house they were waiting for us outside. They walked us over to the rabbit coup and Tian went inside with his shovel to try and find the snake. I wasn’t stupid enough to follow him that time around. I thought I would make friends safely outside with the family. Although I must admit I was very aware of my surroundings and was planning every move if I did see a snake.

Tian was in the coup for a good 30mins before he came out with nothing. He then called some friends and in 5mins the reptile control people were there. I thought that was odd considering everything around me is at least a 20 minute drive. The reptile people got out and went in with their shovels, they seemed more excited than they should be to catch a snake. Within 10 minutes they found what they were looking for.

One of the reptile guys carried out the snake with one finger positioned firmly on top of its head and the other under it mouth. They were all laughing and taking pictures. Tian was so excited the snake measured 2.5 meters long! I must have had a look of panic on my face as the reptile guy informed me that they hadn’t caught one of these black mambos in the area for months! My mouth dropped– a black mamba - awesome, great, just my luck. I had been warned several times about the danger of these snakes and here I was right in front of it. They were laughing at me telling me I had nothing to worry about and they started listing over 20 other animals that are more dangerous in this area that I actually should be scared of …..awesome…….doesn’t that always make a girl feel better (the picture on the right is not the snake they caught that day but a different cobra snake I encountered - another story for another day. I didn't have my camera to capture the black mamba unfortunately.)

At least I did learn that the black mambo is actually not the most dangerous snake here and that it only strikes if it feels cornered. Notes to self: never intimidate a snake and never have a bunny here as a pet!

Learning English: AGAIN

While I thought I had mastered the art of English I have recently learned that I am mistaken. While South Africa has 11 official languages most people I work with on a daily basis speak English yet, I still struggle to understand what they are saying. They emphasize different syllables and I have made a fool of myself several times as I was lost in translation (in my own language....is that possible?!)

My boss and I were driving to a meeting the other day and he told me to turn left at the robot. I laughed at his joke and continued driving. Five minutes later he told me I missed the robot. I just ignored him thinking he was trying to be funny again...haha. A second later he told me "turn around, you MISSED the turn". I turned around. Oh and by the way every time you guys make a turn in your car think about the amazing role of power steering….it takes all of my effort to turn the damn car. Again he told me to turn at the robot. I finally turned to him and explained that I didn’t understand the joke. He laughed hysterically again, something that happens to me often here. He then pointed at the light in front of me and said turn. I finally got it, apparently a robot is a traffic light.

Here are some other fun things I have learned:

Serviette – Napkins

Napkins – sanitary napkins (don't want to mess this one up)

Boot – Trunk

Cubby Hole – Glove Box

Truck – Semi-Truck

Braai - BBQ

I will continue to add to these as they come up...ENJOY!

The Funeral

My boss’ father passed away the day I arrived here and the funeral was planned for Saturday, my first weekend in Acornhoek. My boss’ family lives in Hapani a 3 hour drive north of Acornhoek. Seeing as I am the only one at work with a car or who even has a license I was asked to drive.

I was also informed on Friday evening that I would need to pick everyone up at their house because it is unsafe to walk alone at night. I stopped for a second and wondered why on earth they were talking about picking them up at night. It was only then that I found out the funeral started at 6am and we would be leaving Acornhoek at 3:00am – awesome...I have never heard of a funeral that started that early but I quickly realized why.

We arrived safely In Hapani and headed straight to church with 100 other people attending the funeral. The church was packed and we sat 6 to a bench that should fit 4. They had air conditioners on the walls but for some reason no one seems to use them – still working on figuring that out. Regardless, it was already 87 outside and probably hotter in the church. After 2 hours of singing, praying, and talking we left the church for the grave site.

It was a beautiful drive up the steepest mountain I had seen in a while. The mountains in the area are beautiful and the fields of trees and maize go for miles. Unfortunately I also saw something else that I was not so happy to see. On one side of the road there was an enormous house with a huge fence around it and directly across from the house was a structure the size of an outhouse made out of wood, tin, and trash bags. I watched as a women came out of this structure with her baby wrapped around her back and a huge container of water. The disparity was astounding and so sad to see.

As I sat quiet watching the scene I decided to bring it up with my co-workers. They all acknowledge the discrepancies and the discussion soon turned to apartheid. The conversation was interesting as people here are so open and they voice their concerns with the past and their expectations of the future with regards to race relations so openly. They are never scared of offending someone and when they do they talk it through with them. A nice change to what I am used to.

After 30mins we arrived at the top of the mountain and before we finished our conversation a guy knocked on my window. As I cranked my window down it was clear that the man was agitated. I didn’t understand a word he said and the girls in the car quickly intervened. His mood changed quickly and the girls handed me a scarf to put on my head.

When we got out of the car, I was told that this church required people to cover their heads. Christianity is a huge part of people’s lives here. They have uniforms for church and each church has its own costumes, I guess covering heads is one of them. This church also doesn’t allow girls to wear pants – of course I was wearing pants. Fortunately the girls were able to get me in playing the dumb American card. Being an American here is actually quite helpful – they love us.

It was now 95 degrees and we were out in the hot sun – it was then that I realized why the funeral started a 6:00am. For the next hour we stood at the grave site while they completely buried his father one shovel full of dirt at a time. There was more singing and a lot of waiting but all in all the spirit of the day was celebratory – honoring and reflecting on the life of a great man. Hopefully, I will not have to attend any more funeral while I am here but, in reality everyone I have meet has a relative or loved one with HIV and at least one family member in the hospital at this time.