Rolling Along

It has been over two months since the last blog update so it’s time to check in although not a tremendous lot has happened with us here in Africa since the end of August.  We can write about our weather, baboons, special events, and service highlights.

The weather has changed from cold to warmer.  In August nighttime temperatures were still just above freezing warming up into the 70’s during the day.  We were still wearing our fleece jackets inside the house, wrapping a blanket around our waist to keep warm, using our bed warmer to prep the bed before we jumped in, and huddling on our couch in front of the space heater at night. Notes of explanation:  When cold, South African women wrap themselves in a blanket at the waist down.  They do this all the time in winter and don’t hesitate to go out in public wearing a blanket. This is not to be confused with another common sight when mothers and gogos (grannys) wrap a thin blanket around their upper body to hold a baby or toddler on their back.  A bed warmer is an electric mattress pad that fits under the bottom sheet and, when turned on ten minutes before you hit the sack, makes the initial chill of the bed evaporate into sweet warm comfort.  The couch we are sitting on is a cot that has a mattress folded in half and tied with twine as the backrest.  The coffee table is an old wooden Italian packing box once used to ship medicine to the clinic and found discarded out back.  Once cleaned up and lightly sanded, it substitutes as a coffee table nicely.  When in the Peace Corps, one learns to improvise furniture just like impoverished college students.

Starting two months ago, the weather began to grow steadily warmer and in October the wet season started.  There was no rain here during winter about May until September. When it rains here in Mmakau, it is violent falling hard for about a half an hour then quits. During the last few weeks we have had storms like this about two to three times a week.  The mountains are turning green and the wandering cows and goats are busy fattening themselves on the emerging grasses.  Now our bed heater and space heater have been put into storage, the extra blanket on the bed removed, and the electric fan made ready.  Grannys wrapped in blankets are a rare sight.  Shorts and umbrellas for shade from the hot sun are common but the kids are still sitting in hot classrooms wearing long sleeves and their jerseys (sweaters).  What those of us used to cold weather think is a warm tee shirt day is to most South Africans still a cold jacket day.  They look at us as we sweat in the heat and say “Aren’t you cold without a coat?”

No discussion of our spring would be complete without mention of the Jacaranda trees.  These trees were brought here from Australia long ago and have become the signature tree of Pretoria and the surrounding areas.  Sometime in October before their new leaves emerge, the jacarandas sprout clusters of purple blossoms that are beautiful. In Pretoria jacarandas line many streets and create a purple overhang of solid blossoms. There are also many jacaranda trees around our house from which this year we enjoyed their colorful blossoms for over a month.

This is a picture from the window of our apartment looking across the school yard of Mmakau Secondary School at classrooms in the foreground with blossoming jacaranda trees in the background.  The young men in the picture are members of a local soccer team having their afternoon practice.  They have no uniforms, play without shin guards or decent shoes, are lucky to have a functional soccer ball, and use a large rock on the ground as the goal.  But their skills are very good and they are fun to watch play.

 This time of year also sees our friends the baboons making their presence known. Winter robs the baboon of their usual fruit based food supply in the mountains and their appearance becomes more of a daily experience as they scavenge for whatever they can find.  Nearby Tsogo Secondary and Morekolodi Primary Schools both back up to the mountain habitat of the baboons and each school day feeds 700 learners daily.  Whenever there is fruit with lunch, the baboons seem to know beforehand and openly raid the school grounds for discarded fruit.  Although the baboons keep their distance from people, they scare the younger learners.  It is not uncommon to hear some kids shrieking as they spot a baboon coming their way and flee in terror. When the school day ends, the baboons invade opening classroom windows and doors, overturning dust bins, and messing up the classrooms just cleaned by the learners. At other times if they find a learner’s school bag (backpack) or food container, they open them and take anything edible.

Most educators (teachers) and other adults swear that the baboons can recognize the difference between women and men because they seem to ignore the women but run when a man appears.  Last week when Tsogo’s day ended, I stood in the courtyard and counted a dozen baboons wandering down the walkways and into classrooms of the two story school building.  If someone comes close, they just scamper up onto the roof.  Gardens cannot be grown anywhere close to the mountains because the baboons steal all of the ripening vegetables. It’s impossible to build a fence that they cannot find their way through.

To me the baboons are clearly a nuisance.  They have pulled pipes apart and collapsed the roof of water tanks.  One story is told that a few years ago the lid to one of the water tanks was open and a juvenile baboon fell into the tank and drowned.  This wasn’t discovered until someone noticed bits of fur coming through the tap.  Allegedly once the South African SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) was called in for help and they concluded that eradication of the baboons was not possible because the baboons were here first. Baboons rights.

To us the baboons are a lot like bears were in Yellowstone in the 1960s.  As long as the schools provide them with food from discarded fruit, open access to garbage cans, and kitchen scraps dumped onto each school’s burn pile, the baboons will keep appearing.  There just doesn’t seem to be sentiment by the educators, school administrators, or school governing boards that action should be taken to implement measures to reduce the nuisance.  Baboons are wild animals and deserve to live in the wild.  These animals are dependent on people and are being artificially supported to the point of over-population. Public safety and respect for the baboons are not being considered.  But it’s a small problem here in a community with many other bigger issues like unemployment, crime, and poverty.

One day not long ago I came home through the bedroom door going outside and was talking to Merideth in our den.  It was a warm day so I had left the door open.  While we were talking, we heard a rustle in the kitchen and found two adult baboons stealing vegetables.  Alarmed they quickly scurried out carrying half a dozen onions.  A similar invasion had happened to Merideth a couple of months ago.  That time as she jumped up and chased the baboon out the door.  Although in general she likes the baboons (especially the mothers carrying their babies on their backs) at school the kids admire her bravery because she will chase the baboons away when they get too close. 

One last baboon story:  A few weeks ago I was returning to Roma (the mission’s name because of the Roman Catholic Church) in a taxi and struck up a conversation with a young woman sitting next to me.  She had matrixed (graduated) from Tsogo in 2011 and told me that a few years ago the baboons had entered a house that backs up to the mountains and made off with an infant.  The girl said the police had very difficult time tracking down and rescuing the kidnapped baby from the baboons.  Whether this was a true story or another village legend remains to be determined but I bet that night it made the policemen’s what-did-you-do-today story interesting.

At the end of the third school term, there was a week school vacation.  During that time all of our Peace Corps class gathered in Pretoria for our mid-service training (MST).  We are halfway done. These were 53 of us at MST which is a few less than the 58 that initially came here.  Just recently three more left so we are now down to 50.  We are called SA-24 which stands for the 24^th Peace Corps group in South Africa since Clinton and Mandela agreed to start Peace Corps here in 1996.  MST was two days of the usual PC meetings and two days of medical checkups.  The most fun was seeing again all those we had trained with when we first arrived and sharing our stories.  For me the biggest treat was the whole group singing Happy Birthday to me during dinner on October 1^st.  They said I turned red. Here is a group picture of all the SA-24s at MST. We are third row far left.

Merideth and I along with a few other PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) left MST early and travelled about two hours west to Phokeng near Rustenburg.  We had volunteered to assist with an event sponsored by Special Olympics called the African Unity Cup.  Teams of Special Olympians from about nine African countries had come to SA to participate in a soccer tournament.  Each Special Olympic team consisted of a set number of athletes half with developmental challenges and half with no challenges.  This made the matches competitive and provided same age player coaches for the special needs athletes.  The winner of the tournament (South Africa) qualified to go to Brazil next year for the Special Olympics world cup.  The actual event was held at Lebone College which is a new deluxe high school facility constructed by the Royal Bafokeng Tribe.

The story of the Royal Bafokeng Tribe is interesting.  Many years ago this tribe started to buy land and invest money earned by tribal members working in the gold fields near Johannesburg.  Once last century platinum was discovered on tribal land, the tribe began to collect and invest royalties from the mining companies. Lebone College was built from mining royalties and is the nicest school we have seen in South Africa.  Today the Royal Bafokeng Tribe is one of the most successful tribal organizations in South Africa.  If you are a member of this tribe, they will pay all of your university education costs. And the tribe has many other programs intended to improve the lives of tribal members.  One night we assisted Special Olympics to host a dinner at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Complex which is home to a five star hotel, contains the practice area for the Platinum Stars professional soccer team (tribal owned), and is without question exceptionally nice.

The African Unity Cup was a treat for all of us because we got to meet some celebrities.  We met the Bafokeng king, a young man in his 30s.  We met the king’s mother called the Queen Mother. Once the king got wind of Peace Corps, he cornered our director to lobby for PCVs in Phokeng.  From Special Olympics we met CEO Tim Shriver, son of Sargent and Eunice Kennedy Shriver and President Kennedy’s nephew.  The tribe has hired a US basketball coach to work full-time with b-ball programs and so Special Olympics brought along Dikembe Mutombo who is a former NBA (shot blocking) star who grew up in the Congo. During a basketball clinic, a bunch of us PCVs 9 (orange shirts) posed next to the 7’2” Mutombo.  The top of my head as you see in this photo reached his armpit.

On Sunday there was the final boys soccer match held in the Platinum Stars home stadium in Phokeng.  Merideth was in charge of organizing the opening and closing procession.  When the athletes walked onto the field, they were each escorted by a young Special Olympian.  Here is a picture of Merideth entertaining three of the escorts before the entrance.  She loved being with these little guys because she felt like she was back in her pre-school classroom and they were adorable.

The African Unity Cup was a lot of fun.  It showed us an example of what a focused tribe can accomplish, let us help out with the Special Olympians, and we got to meet some celebrities.

Peace Corps transported us to Phokeng and back to Pretoria.  On the return trip we got a little off track and drove by Marikina where back in August 34 striking miners were shot by the police.  The strikers had gone having returned to work but the streets are still littered with strike debris. Because the miner’s wages are so poor, many of the locals can get better paying jobs elsewhere so the mining companies hire workers from other SA provinces.  Most of these itinerant workers live in hostels under marginal conditions.  If their families come, local housing is equally inadequate.  A miner’s wages are barely enough to subsist let alone get ahead or support a family. The mining companies are making decent profits that the miners feel should be reflected in their wages.  The strike demand was to raise typical salaries from less than $1000 per month to about $1500 per month so that miners could afford better homes and family support.  The miners also felt that their labor union was not acting in their best interest thus the strike was wildcat. Mine union officials were collecting large salaries and were seen as being in collusion with the mining company officials. Not long ago this strike was settled and the miners returned to work.

As the result of the Marikina Massacre a blue-ribbon investigation is now underway and is revealing some disturbing facts about police behavior during the incident.  In addition other miners and workers throughout SA have joined the platinum miners in striking.  The result is the country’s economy is facing some difficulties due to lost business revenue and President Zuma is pleading for workers to end their strikes and return to work so the economy can recover. 

October saw the start of the fourth school term.  Although the term ends December 7^th, by the  first week of November any meaningful classroom instruction had stopped.  Educators are getting ready for the learners to write (take) exams.  Nobody besides us seems to think not having instruction or classes for five weeks is a problem.  To pass high school classes, the learners only need to score a 30% or better.  Someone who only gets one out of ten correct does not know the subject matter.  South African public education has a long way to go before it could be considered as effectively educating the population.

In August I started a new project involving some of the carpentry students at Mmashiko ABET (Adult Basic Education and Training) School – one of the four public schools here at the mission.  The Tsogo high school principal was out of functioning classroom chairs and tables.  Behind Tsogo was a small mountain of broken chairs and tables.  I had repaired chairs and tables at one of our primary schools earlier this year but in this case had the idea to recruit the services of a few of the trade school students.  It was arranged and during four days each week for the next three weeks three to five Mmashiko students and I worked on the chairs and tables.  When we finished we had repaired over 300 pieces and the crisis was averted.

Our next project involved replacing a plugged water line serving one of the buildings at Morekolodi Primary School.  The old ¼-inch water line was plugged with algae and buried under concrete driveway. We dug up the courtyard and installed about 80 meters of new pipeline.  We also went room to room at Morekolodi to fix broken shelves, chairs, desks, and whatever the teacher needed.  Our final project at Tsogo involved fixing the water tap used by the learners to replace a single muddy pit with two nicely paved faucets with catch basins.  Over the last three months working with these young men I have grown to know and like them all.  We have a fun time together.  They have taught me as much as I have learned from them

At the start of this project, the principals all agreed that the ABET learners needed to be compensated for their work.  Unfortunately, that was as far as the principals went with the idea. I had suggested giving the guys some cash and buying each of them a toolbox equipped with some basic tools.  One weekend in October we went to see a movie at Wonderpark Mall and wandered into a Home Depot like hardware store.  On a whim I asked the manager if he’d consider donating tools and to my surprise he agreed to consider it.  So I wrote him a letter and he  replied that he was trying to organize the donation.  The ABET term ends in two weeks and I hope this donation comes together. Here is a picture of three of the four workers – Oarabile Makgapela (that’s a twig not a cigarette), Johannes Madibana, and Alfred Moselakagomo.  Half or more of SA surnames start with the letter M.

 

Our other interesting time recently involved two weekend trips in October north to the Borakalalo Game Reserve to help other PCVs with their camps.  These camps are funded by a Peace Corps grant and involve about 60 students in the 12-15 year old range.  The first camp was just for girls and was focused on teaching girls leadership and empowerment skills.  It went well even when a few warthogs and monkeys appeared.  The campers slept in large circus-like tents and cooks prepared food in big cast iron pots over the open campfire.  The weather was good although sleeping on the hard ground was hard on our bones.

The second camp the following weekend was half boys and half girls with a focus on HIV/AIDS education.  Friday night and Saturday during the day went well.  But then the weather took a turn for the worse. 

Seeing a dark storm coming all of the boys went into their tent and the girls into their tent.  Then the wind started to blow - hard and strong.  It collapsed the girl’s huge tent forcing all of the girls to flee into the boy’s tent.  Merideth stayed with others in the cook tent bravely trying to keep it from collapsing.  After about an hour the rain and wind stopped giving everyone time to recoup for the night.  The girls moved their sleeping gear into the cooking tent and the rest of us retired for the night into our tents.  Adults were in four man tents and all the boys were in their large tent.

Unfortunately the bad weather wasn’t over.  Another storm front arrived from a new direction and in short order the entire campsite was flooded with water flowing over the ground. It was worse than the first storm.  The ground in the girl’s tent was completely flooded soaking all of their bedding. Merideth and I were huddled inside our tent trying to keep our stuff dry and the tent upright.  The bottom of the tent felt like a waterbed.  We could hear the girls screaming and people shouting but the rain was falling so hard it was fruitless to try to help. When this second storm stopped about midnight, the campsite looked like the scene following a tornado.  The situation was desperate.  Most of the bedding was soaking wet and there was nowhere dry for 60 kids and about 20 adults to sleep. 

The solution for most everyone was to hike to the next campground where the bathroom building offered a dry but clearly uncomfortable place for the night.  Merideth and I spent an equally uncomfortable night at the wiped out campsite. At dawn the day began dry and we started the task of sorting through piles of wet stuff and hanging it out wherever possible to dry. 

When the kids returned from sleeping in the bathrooms, they were hungry and cold.  We had heated up water a large cast iron kettle to make tea and to prepare jungle oats (oatmeal) for breakfast.  Unfortunately the distribution of sugar for the tea got out of hand and all of the sugar was used.  There was none left for the oatmeal.  This shouldn’t have been a problem except the three women cooks refused to make the jungle oats without sugar.  No amount of threatening, pleading, or begging would change their minds. The kids didn’t care about the sugar.  

This was an example of outright refusal by someone to do their job.  We have seen this before and each time it baffles us.  The only explanation is that losing your job because you perform poorly is rare.  So why worry?  Managers are unwilling to fire someone for not doing their job.  They don’t realize it’s their job to fire deadbeat employees.  As long as this type of practice continues, SA will never operate effectively or efficiently.

Peace Corps to the rescue!  With a little consultation to the directions, Merideth soon had a ten gallon kettle of jungle oats cooking away and in short order the kids were eagerly lined up to eat.  The small problem of bland oatmeal was solved with typical American ingenuity when  chocolate spread (meant for Some-mores the night before) was spooned onto the oatmeal.  

It was amazing how good these kids were throughout this nightmare.  None of the kids cried or got angry.  They just took it all in without batting an eye.  For many, it was their first experience camping.  Hopefully, their future trips will be drier.

Starting in July I took on myself to help out with the mission water system.  It took me awhile to figure out how it operated and gradually I worked to fix broken valves, clean dirty tanks, simplify operation, and run the system efficiently.  In August I wrote a memorandum to the parish priest outlining a number of recommendation I felt were necessary for the water system to become viable and self-supporting.  An operator, meters, user charges, and improved controls were suggested.  When October came and the priest had not responded in any way to my recommendation, I gave him notice I was done because he had totally ignored my suggestions.  So as of last week, I am no longer helping.  (Ya-hoo!) The priest’s failure to make any decision is not uncommon here in South Africa.  Often long discussions are held on an issue but no action is taken.  The need to address a problem with action is forgotten once everyone is allowed to express their views.  Consequently problems persist and never get fixed.  What they need here are effective managers not aid or money.

A bright spot happened last week when after hearing that the US Presidential race was neck to neck, Barrack Obama won.  We can truthfully say we never came across a South African who didn’t support Obama.  As one of the other PCVs said, “With Obama’s re-election, we can now return to the US in 2013.”

Merideth is going to give her Grade 7 English final next week which will finish her English teaching responsibilities for the year.  She has grown very attached to these 75 kids who will be moving to other schools at the start of the next school year in January. In 2013 she won’t be teaching English like she did this year because we will leave partway through the year.  Her school has already identified a teacher to take over the Grade 7 English classes.

 Some of Merideth’s learners recently seriously told her that they thought they’d been delivered to their family in a package.  So she decided it would be good to have a few days on human development during the down time after the final exam and the end of the term.  It’s planned that  she will take the girls and I will take the boys.  Sexuality is not something SA parents normally discuss with their pre-teen children.  We located an excellent book to help us approach the topics.  We’re hoping for an open and frank discussion with the students so that they have the knowledge to make the right choices. 

Another exciting thing recently happened for some of Merideth’s students when they were given the chance to apply to attend a new LEAP school starting up in nearby Ga-rankua.  All of the Grade 7 learners took a test and those that scored well attended a weekend camp where about twelve of the learners were selected to attend the LEAP school next year.  LEAP schools are academic-focused, privately-funded schools that aim to accelerate the math and science achievement of disadvantaged village students.  They have small class sizes, a rigorous curriculum, and strict behavior standards.  The LEAP school in Ga-rankua is the sixth such school in South Africa and presents a wonderful opportunity for these students. 

So the next couple of months will see us finishing out the school term and going into the “festive season” which is Christmas and New Years.  Thanksgiving this year for us is planned to be a trip to Polokwane on the weekend to have dinner with a bunch of other PCVs.  We’re looking forward having some important visitors and doing some exciting travelling during the festive time.  Life will return to normal life by mid-January by which time we will be on the Peace Corps backstretch with just 8 months remaining and coasting toward the finish line in early September.

And that’s the way it was.

Our African Road Trip

Our African Road Trip

In May we realized that there was going to be no school during the three week period between the second and third school terms.  When our son Devon arrived to spend his summer (our winter) in Africa, we decided to take a road trip with him to see more of this part of Africa.  So out came the travel books and maps and we began looking into accommodations and places to visit.  Gradually, a route and schedule came together.  The trip would take us all the way east-west across the southern African continent through four countries.  We had most but not all of our arrangements settled when our June 23^rd departure date arrived.

The first glitch came the morning of our departure.  Devon and I had gone to Pretoria the previous day and picked up the rental car – a nice compact Nissan Micra - and were all set to leave early the following day.  We had read that it was critical to have yellow fever vaccination proof with us but while I was gathering up our passports they were nowhere to be found. Then we remembered that Peace Corps had the documents, called the medical office and detoured thru Pretoria to get the papers.   So our trip got off to a late start.  The funny thing is we never had to show the documents at any border crossings.  Ugh!

Day one took us 400 miles north into Botswana and about halfway to our first destination – Victoria Falls.  We stayed the first night in a small guest house in Frenchtown and dinner was fast-food pizza since we were so tired we did not care.  Food improved as the trip progressed.

Day two took us further north in Botswana through vast unpopulated areas.  At one point we stopped to watch three or four elephants grazing in the bush alongside the road.  The terrain was the typical flat African landscape with small trees, thorny bushes, and dry grasses.  To our surprise and good luck, the secondary road we were driving towards Zambia turned out to be a smooth paved highway with only a few potholes. Devon was able to make good time cruising along at 120 km/hr (75mph) as we travelled 350 more miles towards the border.

The border crossing from Botswana into Zambia was the strangest circumstances we encountered during the entire trip.  As we drove down a long hill towards the ferry that would take us across the Zambezi River and into Zambia, we passed a mile lineup of lorries (big trucks) parked alongside the road.  A nearby bridge crossing the river was closed forcing these trucks and their drivers to wait three days at the border for the ferry.  We passed through the Botswana checkpoint without a problem and arrived at the ferry landing where we were approached by a couple of friendly Zambians.  They indicated we’d probably be sleeping in our car that night due to the typical delay but they would be willing to help expedite the paperwork and get us on our way before dark.  Not relishing sleeping in the car, I took them up on their offer in spite of Merideth’s skepticism.  Long story short, we eventually got through the Zambian crossing after paying five different fees (visa, police, ferry, extra car insurance, and something else) but it cost us $600.   It should have costs $300 but when it came to converting our South African Rands to Zambian Kwacha, the friendly Zambians quoted an exchange rate that favored them.  By then it was late, we were frazzled by the turmoil of the ordeal, and we just wanted out so I paid them and drove off for Livingstone. Only later we realized we’d been robbed.  Naturally, I heard a much deserved “I told you so” from Merideth.  Devon was so mad he wanted to go back and beat up the crooks.  Getting tricked and robbed at the border cast a shadow over the trip.  Eventually we were able to file it as a very bad travel experience.  We made four other border crossings during the trip and none of them were expensive or chaotic. If you are going into Zambia, avoid the Kasane crossing.

We then stayed at the Jollyboys Backpackers in Livingstone for three nights.  Victoria Falls is on the Zambezi River about 10 km south of Livingstone with Zambia on one side and Zimbabwe on the other side.  We visited the falls on the first day seeing it from the Zambian side.  Victoria Falls are gradually cutting out a series of narrow canyons from softer limestone rock that runs across the river channel. As the Zambezi River water pours over harder rock, it erodes the limestone and makes the falls.  We were able to hike down alongside the falls inside the canyon where the mist and cascading water creates its own rainfall.  Luckily we brought along our raincoats so we stayed dry.  It was a good time of the year to visit because the river was flowing high filling the falls all across the face of the falls.  

The highlight of our Victoria Falls visit occurred on the second day when, following the advice of the owner of the backpackers, we took a guided trip in a powerboat down the Zambezi River to Livingstone Island which is a small island right at the top edge of the falls.This spot is where the local Africans took David Livingstone to first see the falls. The locals called the falls the “Mist that Thunders.” Once on the island, we put on raincoats and made our way over to the edge of the falls.With the guide firmly gripping our arms, he took us one by one out to the very edge of the falls where we could look over into the roaring water and the plunging mass of water below.Every so often the mist would part letting us see down to the bottom of the falls 300 feet below.It was a 30 story drop to the bottom.One missed footstep or overeager lean might have caused a slip where the unlucky tourist and guide would be swept over the falls to certain death.We felt fortunate to have the opportunity to stand and look over the edge of one of the most amazing waterfalls in the world. Below you see the three of us with Victoria Falls in the background.

 

When we were escorted back from the brink of the falls, we were presented with a table with a white tablecloth set in the shade alongside the river where we were served a delicious breakfast.  It was elegant and we enjoyed the experience immensely as we ate while listening to the sound of the falls in the background.  We did not want to leave when time came to get on the powerboat that took us upriver to the launch site.

Livingstone is a somewhat rough town so we were glad to leave the next morning bound for our next destination in Botswana.  We drove west through Zambia and then into the panhandle part of Namibia called the Caprivi Strip.  The next border crossing into Namibia went well and we drove the length of the Caprivi Strip which once was closed to travel because it was a war zone.  By afternoon we crossed back into Botswana and drove south to our stay at Mbiroba Camp.  This area contains the Okavango Delta which is one of the largest inland river deltas in the world.   The Okavango River flows east between Angola and Namibia and spreads out into a huge delta area in Botswana where massive waterways and wetlands are formed with the river eventually disappearing. Devin had booked our stay at this camp because it was run by and benefitted the local people.  It also sought to preserve traditional values by supporting local boatmen who travelled the delta in their mokoro boats.
Our way to Mbiroba Camp took us across the Okavango River on a four car ferry.  Since rural areas only take cash payments, we first detoured to the nearest town’s ATM to stock up with Botswana pula.  We caught the last river ferry of the day at 6:30 pm.  As we headed south from the car ferry, the road soon turned to sand and gravel and our speed dropped to 40 km/hour.  The camp was 100 km away and in short order it was dark.  Luckily, we had offered a lady stranded at the ferry a ride to her village so we knew as we were on the right track and not lost.  There was no traffic and the countryside was pitch dark.  At one point we got stuck in loose sand but with a little pushing were soon freed.  At another point we came across a stranded bakki (pickup) loaded with passengers suffering from engine troubles. We had no tools so we could not help them.   The road went on and on, it got later and later, and we grew more and more exhausted and nervous about whether we’d make it or be forced to sleep alongside the road.

Eventually we dropped off our passenger at her village and continued on down the road totally exhausted and wondering how many hours we would have to bounce down this dark rough road. After 2 ½ hours of agony, we finally reached the village of Seronga and made our way to Mbiroba Camp where we woke the night watchman and were escorted to the thatched cottage where we stayed.  There is no electricity supplied to Mbiroba but they do have a diesel electrical generator that they run for a couple of hours in the evening.  We were so tired, we just dumped our stuff on the floor, washed up, and fell into bed.

The next morning I woke up before the rest and wandered across the camp to check out the river.  There I spotted a hippo grazing nearby in the river.   When Devon booked our stay, he arranged for us to take a trip into the heart of the delta in a mokoro which is a traditional flat-bottomed narrow boat piloted by an oarsman who stands in the back using a long pole to propel the mokoro through the delta waters.  We took a transport truck south from the camp to the launch site where Merideth and I rode in one mokoro and Devon in another.  The pollers were local men who had grown up travelling the delta in mokoros.  The trip went through long stretches of branchlike channels where the water flowed clear and cool.  Reedy areas separated the narrow channels as we were polled out further into the delta.  Here is Devon in his mokoro.

After two hours, we landed on an island. At the island we started walking with our pollers acting as guides as we searched for animals.  It wasn’t long before we came across a group of elephants grazing peacefully as pictured below.  We were careful to keep our distance and had a good look at this herd of about a dozen animals.

  As we moved around the elephants, one of the guides stopped short and, after a whispered discussion with the other guide, turned us around and lead us back the way we had just come.  Once we had retreated out of earshot, he explained that up ahead he had heard a lion roar and it was wise to turn back.  As we continued on another way around the group of elephants, we heard what sounded like a dog bark and spotted a wild dog not far in the distance.  As we stood there watching this single dog, other dogs began to appear as they became aware of us.  These other dogs started to separate from each other and moved to encircle us.  Wild dogs are some of the best predators in Africa and are known as skilled hunters.  Not wanting to become their next hunt victims, the guide lead us away.  We were thrilled with these three encounters especially welcomed the move to avoid getting too close to the lions and wild dogs.

The island we were on is in the middle of the delta and was once used by locals to graze their cattle.  Conflicts between the wild and domestic animals resulted in the Botswana government building a fence to separate the animals.  However, the fence was soon destroyed by the elephants and use of the island by locals for grazing cattle stopped. 

The guide showed us some large tunnel burrows dug into the soft dirt at the base of some of the larger trees.  He explained these were dens that were shared by two different animals on the island.  By the day the nocturnal hyenas slept there and at night the warthogs took up residency after the hyenas went off to hunt for food.

We were soon back in the mokoros and headed back to camp stopping off for a brief swim in the cool delta waters.  We stayed another day at Mbiroba during which we went into the village in search of petro (gas).  Eventually we were directed to a house in the village where in a shed out back a young girl poured 10 liters of petro from a 55-gallon drum and siphoned it into our car.   This gave us enough gas to get back to the nearest petro station and was the most unusual gas station we’d ever seen.

We were impressed with this part of Botswana because it seemed like it had not been affected by modern life.  The villages conformed to our preconceived notions of rural African villages.  The homes are constructed with mud walls and roofs made from thatch.  They use materials only available locally.  Most homes had no electricity and water appeared available only from distant taps.   A lot of the homes had corrals for their cows made from reeds and other local materials. There are very few cars anywhere.  In the larger villages we saw a number of modern schools many which included teacher housing.  The delta people get by farming in a subsistence manner because there is no industry or jobs in the area.  Here is a typical home we saw with mud walls, thatch roofing, and a reed corral.

On June 30th we drove on into Namibia to a town called Runda where we stayed overnight at a lodge along the Okavango River just across from Angola.  The highlight of our stay in Runda was a visit to the market where Devon bought a locally made axe and knife.  He wanted to buy one of the spears for sale but at the time we wondered how he could fit it into his luggage to be taken back to the US.  As we slept that night in Runda we were able to hear the Angolans across the river celebrating Saturday night with music.

Our next destination was a day’s drive away from Runda to Etosha National Park in Namibia.  This park is part of a pan which is a large flat area that becomes flooded during the wet season and dries out the rest of the year.  It has now been preserved as an animal reserve.  Unfortunately, we arrived without a reservation but, since it was Merideth and my wedding anniversary, we decided to treat ourselves.  We ended up staying the night at a beautiful place called Mushara Lodge.  We booked an afternoon game drive into Etosha Park, ate like kings, and slept the night in luxury and comfort.  The game drive consisted of riding around in the back of an open sided safari vehicle during which we saw some elephants and other animals but were generally disappointed by seeing so few animals.   However, dinner was delicious and our anniversary was made special by the very nice place and being able to share the occasion with Devon.  We felt like 1%ers. Here we are outside our cottage with me holding up 3 and 4 fingers for 34 years of marriage.

 

 From Etosha it was a two day drive to our next stopping point at the Atlantic Ocean.  We had seen in Lonely Planet a hot springs resort located about halfway.  However, when we reached the place we discovered it had gone out of business two years ago. (Thanks Lonely Planet!)  So we pushed on searching the map for a possible stopping spot and finally deciding to try a place called Ameib Ranch.  It was getting late in the day as we found ourselves driving down another gravel road way out in the veld hoping to find someplace decent to stay the night.   We eventually reached Ameib Ranch which turned out to be a charming 100 year old place.  It was once a German outpost which has now become a guest ranch.  The owners also rescue abandoned cats (there were at least 50 wandering around).  At the time we were the only guests.  Dinner was delicious featuring grilled gemstock shot by one of the owners. The area was surrounded by towering mountains popular to rock climbers and other outdoors types.  The morning we left we went on a hike to visit a nearby cave where there were paintings by the Sans (indigenous) people and to another place called The Bull’s Party where giant round boulders as big as a house as pictured below were scattered and amazingly  balanced throughout the area.  At Ameib Ranch we felt we had discovered a diamond in the rough.

Swakopmund was our next stopping point.  It is located on the Atlantic Ocean and is known as a popular vacation, shopping, retirement, and recreation spot for Namibians and for Germans as well.  Namibia has a lot of German influence because many Germans emigrated there before WWI.   We stayed in Swakopmund for three days to rest up.  The highlight of our stay was booking a trip to snowboard down the giant sand dunes.   The weather was cool and since the Atlantic here influence by the cold Antarctic current, swimming was not possible. 

We were ready to leave Swakopmund behind on July 7^th and head off towards a place to the south called Sossuviei famous for its red sand dunes.  After a night in a guest lodge along the way, we got up early and spent several hours hiking up these red sand dunes which are known to be some of the tallest dunes in the world.  Here is a picture of the dunes showing some wild ostriches in the foreground.  Previously we had hiked up to the top of the dunes shown.

 

We were soon on our way to our next stopping spot, a town called Luderitz.  We travelled down long empty stretches on Namibian gravel back roads with very little traffic.  The scenery was interesting because it varied.  It wasn’t all sandy desert as we were led to believe from the travel books.  We would go for long distances crossing flatlands then suddenly come onto some hilly areas and then pass through into the open vistas again.

It was getting late and we again found ourselves getting car weary when we pulled into this tiny town called Helmeringhausen. This town had about 200 yards of paved road with a single hotel, one set of gas pumps, and a small grocery store.  There was no electricity since the town was too far from the grid.  They used wind and diesel generators.  We stayed the night at the hotel and were the only guests except for a few people camping.  The place was very nice because it seemed like an oasis of comfort out there in the middle of nowhere.  We had lucked onto something good and were grateful for another good night’s rest.

We had planned to visit Luderitz because we were told it had German old-world charm and was an interesting place.   On the way to Luderitz we stopped and watched some wild Namibian horses as they came into a watering hole.  They reminded us of the Mustangs in the American West. In Luderitz we stayed in an old house that had just opened up as a backpackers.  The place used to be a private residence and the rooms were large with high ceilings and minimal furniture.  To us, Luderitz seemed more like an old Mediterranean seaside town because with its worn down, shabby, and decrepit buildings   It had little of the quaintness and tidiness of a German village.  One day we took a boat tour down the Atlantic coast to an island that had a population of penguins.

After two nights at Luderitz we decided to move on.  We had planned on visiting the Fish River Canyon which is supposed to be somewhat like the Grand Canyon but then realized the place was going to be hard to reach and we’d only be there overnight.  So we cancelled Fish River and turned our trusty Micra towards home.  We made it back into South Africa the first day and stayed a night in Upington then continued on the next day to Kuruman where we met up with a number of other Peace Corps Volunteers.  These volunteers are serving in the Northern Cape province and are the furthest volunteers from Pretoria.  It was nice for us to spend time with everyone and see what it was like in their area. 

By now we had been travelling almost three weeks.  We were weary of the road.  On the 13^th of July we travelled the last leg driving the remaining distance across South Africa to our village and the comforts of home.  We had travelled 6500 km. This equates to driving from Seattle to New York and then back to Chicago.  We finished our trip feeling we had seen all we had wanted to see in that part of Africa.  And although there were the unavoidable moments of frustration, irritation, anger, shouting, and unhappiness during the trip, we overall got along great and came away with memories we will keep forever.  Our one regret was that Rowan wasn’t there with us.   Devon was able to overcome the embarrassment of a grown man travelling with his elderly feeble-minded parents.  Merideth and I tried to suppress our urge to parent our grown adult son like he was a teenager.  We parked the helicopter (hovering parents inside) and Devon stopped caring what others might think.  Here is a picture of the three of us when we went snowboarding on the sand dunes in Namibia.

 Since returning Devon took a trip by himself to Swaziland and Mozambique.  He took public taxis and buses and stayed in backpackers.  He met some interesting people and had some fun enjoying the ocean and scuba diving.  He did great although when he returned he concluded that it was no fun travelling alone.  We think he gained a lot of confidence in his ability to independently travel.  In Mozambique he had some difficult times and as the result is not apt to return there.  We were glad to have him back here safe in our village and enjoyed listening to his stories about the trip

Even before our three week road trip, Devon had earned his travel stripes by visiting a number of other South African Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs).  They had invited Devon to come visit them so he went out on his own travelling by taxi from one location to another along with other South Africans.  It is rare to find a white person using the taxis but we have found the drivers and passengers to always be helpful and tolerant of us.  Devon spent a couple of weeks leap-frogging from one volunteer’s village to another.  He was able to experience a good cross-section of what the PCVs do here and that was valuable for him as he considers his future.  On his way back one of the taxi drivers invited Devon to drive his taxi for a short distance.  We wrote the story up and it was published in the South African PCV newsletter which provided Devon with a degree of notoriety with other PCVs.

 Last week Devon flew back to Missoula and is settling down for another semester of college.  He told us his trip here gave him a more thorough understanding of the African experience.  Time will tell if Africa will figure into his future or not.

Here in Mmakau we have returned to our routine.  Merideth is teaching English to Grade 7 and the Grades 1-3 and doing a library reading day.  I decided to concentrate on just doing projects at the schools.

For the last month I have been working on the water system serving the mission first by cleaning out the insides of the water storage tanks, repairing faulty valves, and replumbing areas.  For now I am operating the water system which serves about 2000 students.  My plumbing skills have been tested and  I have become adept at fixing toilet tanks so they do not continually leak.   I have proposed to the parish that they automate the controls, meter and charge users for water, and hire an operator.  Since things move slow and endless talk is often required before an obvious decision is made, we will have to see how many of my suggestions are taken up.  At times it can be frustrating.

At the end of September Merideth and I will spend four days in Pretoria for Peace Corp’s Mid Service Training (MST).  It is two days of meetings and two days of medical checkups. Our service ends mid-September 2013 so we have just twelve months remaining.  At times it seems like our service here in Africa has gone so slowly and at other times it seems like it has gone quickly.  We are certain we will be leaving in September 2013 but might not be back to the US until late November because we are planning to do some travelling in Africa before we had back.  We are also looking forward to a post-Christmas trip to Cape Town and the Wild Coast with Devon, Rowan, and Miranda.

And that’s the way it was.

 

March to April Pictures Part 2

Wrinkled Wanderers (WW) from Sabie

WW's favorite waterfalls

Potholes Falls near Blyde Canyon

near Blyde Canyon

Elephants in Kruger

Water buffaloes in Kruger

Baobob tree in Kruger

Wandering giraffe in Kruger

Warthog

Landscape near Kruger

Free State

At our Clarens B&B

Maluti Mountains from Clarens

Golden Gate hike



At the top of the Woodehouse Trail, Glen Reedan Rest Camp, Golden Gate Park




View from Woodenhouse Trail



Blog Post #6 on May 12, 2012

March and April 2012, “And now a few words from Garideth”

After two months we figured it was time to update the blog.  Also we had taken a couple of trips that we wanted to write about.

The South Africa school year begins in January and the first quarter is over at the end of March so now we are into the second quarter.  Merideth has kept her teaching schedule where she spends time at three of the local primary schools.  This involves teaching Grade 7 English, introducing English in Foundation Level classrooms, conducting reading and library time, and visiting a village crèche (pre-school).  If that was not enough, she has just organized after-school English classes for her Grade 7 students.  She stays busy.

My schedule is more of a ‘floating’ plan split between one village primary and the high school as well as on my other projects.  Just recently we were able to get funding to replace the pit toilets at one of the primary schools and I will be busy with that for a few weeks.  In February I agreed to substitute for a Grade 4 and 7 English teacher while she was absent for health reasons.  It started as being for one week, but then expanded to six weeks.   I could somewhat manage the Grade 7 kids but when it came to the Grade 4 learners, it was a disaster.  Not all of them understand English so well and they know I won’t beat them, so they tend to talk a lot and get rowdy.  As the noise level in the room creeps up and up, the constant buss of voices make it impossible to instruct.  As soon as you get one group quieted, another group across the room starts chatting. I tried being threatening.  I tried taking them out on the soccer field to run until they were exhausted and calm.  I tried yelling.  I tried making some sit outside.  I went and got the principal. Nothing was completely successful.  Oh well……nobody told us this would be easy.  In spite of all their classroom antics, they are fun and lovable children.

Our life here in Mmakau has settled down into a routine.   We have most of the comforts of home except a car.  We were both reflecting recently that the longer we are here, the less we miss home.  When we first came to South Africa, I think we pined for what we left behind.  But now, we seem to be into a groove where the things we used to miss and wish for do not seem so important.  We are growing more and more accustomed to village life.  We still complain to each other about aspects of village living like litter and neglect.  We enjoy the warmth and friendliness of the people and can’t help but think they are growing very accustomed to seeing us around.  We know we will never fully blend in because we are the only white people in a village of thousands.  Whenever we go anywhere in the village, folks still check us out or have a double take when we appear.   As long as we can look forward to doing some travelling every so often, it‘s all good.

We are gradually beginning to piece together how life goes here.  The pace is slower so the stress levels are lower.  People do not usually have a car and tend to stroll slowly where they need to go.   Some just seem to sit around a lot.  Unemployment and poverty are high.  People commonly have what appear to us to be boisterous  conversations.  Although it seems like they might be angry, they tell us it is just their way of talking.  Most everyone can speak English but talk to one another in Setswana even when we are present.  We are still baffled by some things that do not happen and are trying to understand why.  It may be we are slowly becoming indoctrinated and assimilated into the culture.  Peace Corps warned us that South Africa would change us way more than we would change it.  That is becoming true.  But don’t worry, as much as we like it, we are not thinking to immigrate.

During the last two months we were able to take a couple of nice trips to two different South African areas.  One of our goals while here is to see all of the nine provinces of South Africa.  For our first six months, we were restricted to the North West Province for training and site orientation.  We live about 5 km from the Gauteng Province border and 45 km from Pretoria.  In December we became free to travel and during early January we visited the Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape Province where we got to enjoy some splendid ocean scenery.  This trip was described in our last blog.

At the end of March we were both busy giving term finals and compiling grades.  (Merideth and I spent one weekend grading over 400 term exams.)  We managed to finish up just in time to pick up a rental car in Pretoria (yahoo I can drive again but it’s on the left hand side of the road!!) and went east 5-6 hours to a town called Sabie in the Mpumalanga Province.  The next day we participated in the Longtom Marathon.  (We opted for the half marathon.)  A few years ago two Peace Corps Volunteers used Longtom as the platform for raising money to send deserving students to a very good middle and high school.  So along with about 50 other Peace Corps Volunteers, we found ourselves walking/trotting Longtom as we promised those that pledged money for the cause.  (Thank you again contributors)  The day proved to be a success on all accounts – we finished in a little over three hours and the funds raised by Peace Corps folks exceeded the goal.  Both of us had tender rear ends the next day since our training was minimal or none.  It was fun – the area has mountains covered with pine tree plantations and is somewhat reminiscent of North Idaho.  It was also fun to see some of our PC cohorts again and hear how they were managing life in ZA. 

We stayed in Sabie a couple of days to relax and to do some hiking.  Sabie’s private pine plantations provide most of the wood products used in South Africa.  One day our B&B host matched us up with a local group of retirees called the Wrinkled Wanderers who invited us on their weekly hike which was to one of their favorite waterfall hikes.  It was a beautiful hike (see the pictures) and so nice to meet this group of local people who graciously invited us along for the hike and lunch.   This was an unexpected surprise.

We had a week off from school so from Sabie we went on to a place called Blyde Canyon for some hiking and sightseeing.  It was also interesting.   From there we drove further east to Kruger National Park which is South Africa’s largest and most famous nature park.  We arrived without reservations so we were unable to stay inside the park at one of the rest camps.  However, we did spend a day driving through the park where we were able to see just from the car plenty of the signature animals like elephants, zebras, springbok, and others many in a herd environment.  We will probably return later this year (this time with reservations at the rest camps) and arrange to go on some of the guided morning or evening game walks where one can see the animals more closely.

After Kruger we drove west to Tzaneen for Easter where we attended Mass given in English by the local bishop.  In our village, all the church services are given in Setswana so this service in Tzaneen was a treat.  In the church yard were avocado trees loaded with fruit and we were able to pick a bag of avocados.  This area is low veld terrain with more rain and a warmer climate than our village.  It is known for fruit growing and farming.   From Tzaneen we drove home and returned the rental car back to Pretoria.  It was definitely a plus to have a car for this trip.

At the end of March two South African holidays (Freedom Day and Workers Day) were so close we had a five day weekend.  So we rented another car and drove south from Pretoria through the Free State Province to a small resort town called Clarens.  Free State is a rolling farming and ranching area with wide open spaces and modest rainfall.  Free State butts up to Lesotho which is the small mountainous, land-locked country completely surrounded by South Africa.  Lesotho became its own country as early settlers found it hard to conquer because the tribes could hide and fight in the mountains.  Besides they saw it had limited agricultural potential and remains today a poor country.  Clarens is an arts center with many galleries, shops and restaurants as well as being close to Golden Gate National Park.  We drove from Pretoria  to Clarens the first day, visited Clarens the second day, took a great hike to the top of Golden Gate Park the third day, went west of Clarens the third day to explore and do some more hiking, and then returned home in time to return to school at the end of the weekend.  This trip gave us a chance to see Free State and look at another face of the South African landscape and experience.

So now we are in May.  The second school term ends the third week of June after which we will have the three week winter break.  In early July the third school term begins and by then we will have been in South Africa for one year.

We are eagerly anticipating our son Devon’s arrival here on May 17^th, one day before his 23^rd birthday.  We are thrilled that we will be able to celebrate his birthday with him in South Africa.  He is thoroughly excited about coming here and plans on staying in Africa until the end of his summer break from college in August.  We think he will divide up his time staying on and off with us, travelling on his own, travelling with us during our three week winter break (perhaps to the Drakensberg Mountains and the Indian Ocean near Durban), and whatever else he decides to undertake in the way of volunteer work.  He has told us he is looking forward to having some “adventures” during this visit and, being parents, we hope and pray that whatever they are, they are safe and legal.  It should be a blast for him as well as lots of fun for us, and we will report on what happened in future blogs.

We may have other visitors in December when Merideth’s sister visits and our other son Rowan visits.  Cape Town, the ocean, and Kruger trips are likely.  In the meanwhile we will busy ourselves with our work in the school and village. If you can, take a look at the pictures we plan to add to the blog and give us comments.

And that’s the way it was.