Flowers and Stones

It was been a dramatic time for us in South Africa the last several months. The recent posts have mentioned National Science Week, the Public Service workers strike, participating in training new volunteers, and the passing of our supervisor and friend, Palma.

Palma is sorely missed around the office and the office just can't seem to run properly without her. Several months ago, our Peace Corps supervisor met with Palma and the Area Manager to discuss the fact that I shouldn't be involved in activities that put me in authority over educators. Without Palma here, there is no memory of this meeting and it seems the attitude at the office is that I should continue to be Physical Sciences subject specialist indefinitely despite my lack of qualification for this work or the inappropriateness of a voluntary worker being in a place of authority over paid educators. Liz's presence at the office now seems completely without consequence.

Our Peace Corps supervisors aren't any more pleased with this situation than we are, and are working on trying to find us a new placement. It seems that there are places where we could be used, but there is a challenge of finding us accommodation on the meager Peace Corps housing budget. That housing budget typically puts a volunteer in a "granny flat" or 1-2 room flat behind a main house in a rural village. There, Liz and I could work with local schools, most likely teaching. This is sounding more and more favorable to me.

My observation of the education system here in South Africa is that many problems are structural. However, I find few in the heirarchy above the level of Principal are willing to admit this or see things this way. It is true that many principals and educators are not self-empowered, go-getters. It is also true that despite the conditions of rural schools, that an empowered principal or educator can be a success at delivering quality education. Our initial impression was that the Area Office would be a good place to help in that regard. Our experience has been the opposite. Some of our colleagues here seem to have little personal commitment or passion for improving education. The Area Office does not have a supportive role in the eyes of the schools it governs. It has the role of baas or chief. Some of our colleagues here seem to have little personal commitment or passion for improving education. It seems impossible for principals and educators to look at Liz and I as people who want to support them when we come from the Area Office.

We don't know what the future holds, but we have shared with Peace Corps what has gone wrong with our work here and what we could hope to avoid in the future and they seem on our side. In fact, over and over again Peace Corps has proven to be on our side. Once we were on our way to Pretoria when our mini-bus taxi broke down about 40km away from the Peace Corps Office. Within an hour we were in a Peace Corps vehicle getting a ride directly to our accommodation. When Peace Corps staff saw us waiting for Avis to pick us up to start our holiday, they pitied us and gave us a ride to Avis instead.

Liz and I just returned from a much needed holiday in which we toured the west coast of South Africa and caught the tail end of the spring flower season. The trip was amazing and very romantic as it also marked our two-year wedding anniversary. There are pictures here. Usually when we go on holiday I feel some need to be participating in those goals of Peace Corps' that talk of sharing culture between the US and Peace Corps' host countries. However, this trip was much more focused on having a great time relaxing with each other. A lot of trips we have been on involve packing a lot of activities together to see and do as much as we can. This trip was full of afternoons soaking in pools, drives on gravel roads to see pristine wilderness in full bloom, putting our feet up, and enjoying the beautiful serenity that South Africa can offer in its empty spaces.

When we returned to Pretoria to drop off our rental car, we were lucky to catch one of our colleagues during his last few days in country. The reasons for his leaving are controversial to say the least. It turns out he was caught being away from his site without approved leave. This much I can say with certainty. Other speculations as to why Justin was asked to leave which is essentially the harshest disciplinary action that Peace Corps can dole out would be just speculation. I like to think that it was done with reluctance. I do not think his unauthorized leave showed a lack of commitment to his work as it was taken during the public service strike. The Peace Corps had asked all education volunteers to down their tools not so much in solidarity but because of security issues with crossing picket lines. That left many of us with nothing to do and even now that the strike has ended, many of our programs are disrupted beyond recovery for the year and it seems that this was true in Justin's case. I believe that Justin was an excellent volunteer with a commitment to improving IT in rural areas that is unrivaled in our volunteer community. He represented America to South Africa with honesty and sincerity and you all reading this can be proud that such a person stood to represent you in the most rural places of South Africa. I greatly admire the dignity that Justin displayed throughout this whole process and confidently hope that he will meet up with continued personal success in the US.