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.