Zululand or Bust

No Peace Corps Volunteer wants to change sites in the course of service, but sometimes it seems that there is no other option. In our case Swartruggens was, to begin with, a second site, which we tried hard to make work (when our housing did not come together in Madikwe). Though progress there was sometimes slow and halting, we have done a lot of interesting things this year, looking back, and I know that we did what we could to make it work, fresh off the plane from America, so to speak. However recent events, such as the death of Tim's counterpart, and then our supervisor, and the month-long educators' strike, have presented challenges for our office, generally speaking. Looking into the future, we felt it was unlikely that our progress would continue in our last year here, as the office is facing challenges that go beyond what we can offer. That is, we're not here to staff the place, holding educators accountable--we're here to work with educators and school leaders in a collaborative setting. In an office-based climate, with the walls caving in, we couldn't see anyway for us to continue that kind of work even part-time, in the future.

Peace Corps-South Africa has been working hard since we made this decision, nearly a month ago, to find a site where our skills can be used. As with Peace Corps placement back in the states, it can be challenging to find the right match, and in South Africa local issues and changes are also something that must be considered.

However, today we made a decision, jointly with Peace Corps, on a new site. Next week we will be moving to the KwaZulu-Natal Province (8-9 hours away, driving), to the Jozini area (within the Zululand/Elephant Coast region), to live in a village with a host family there and work at a huge local combined (primary-secondary) school which seeks assistance with Physical Science, Maths, and English.


View Larger Map

What we know is that we will be living in a 2-room flat outside a family home, in a village outside of town--we'll have to take a short taxi ride (maybe 10 kilometers) to get groceries, eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken (just kidding) and the like. We will have electricity but no running water, and the rooms will be smaller than our rooms at the Area Office. 2 completely empty rooms await us, where we'll want to make space to live, eat, take bucket baths (yep, that's bathing in a bucket), and sleep.

We will be surrounded by the volunteers who arrived this last July to work in education, within an hour or so of nearly a dozen of them, and we will be 1 hour from some reportedly beautiful beaches, which is where some volunteers from the new group live, and 1 and one-half hours from St. Lucia, which we loved when we visited the area last April. Swaziland and Mozambique will be immediately north of us, Durban is 3 hours south, and the area is nearly covered with highly-regarded game parks. The area is also a malaria-area, which means we'll have to take malaria medication all the time, and finally make use of the mosquito nets we were given in training.

Zululand is not an Afrikaner area, like Swartruggens (so few white people), and the people speak Zulu, not Setswana. However, I hear English is also acceptable, although we will obviously want to learn how to greet and make some small talk, and possibly more. We know little about the family whose property we will be living on.

Although I've been looking forward to this day for weeks now, and I have no complaints about this situation, I am filled with mixed emotions, overall. On the plus side, I feel fortunate to have a chance to start over, and to experience life in a completely different part of the country, where the culture is different, the climate is different, the language is different, and life is different. I get to learn a new language, get to know life on the other side, and maybe go to the beach on a semi-regular basis! The site provides opportunities for us to work with learners as well as with educators and school leaders, and do some of the neat projects we have wanted to do but have been unable to, without a local school to work with. Additionally, it was kind of anti-climactic to move to South Africa and live in a flat with 2 bathrooms! I am looking forward to the village experience, including bucket bathing (and out-housing...cleaning two toilets stinks!). And if things get rough, at least we will have less than one year until our service is complete (and even if we extend our service, we will probably move as part of the extension program).

On the other hand, we are going to have to adapt, develop a new lifestyle from the one we live now, and meet and work with tons of new people. Though I am definitely more confident the second time around about the best way to meet and interact with others here, new jobs and new lives are never completely fun and games. Challenges are growth opportunities, but sometimes you don't feel like growing as much as you have to!

Tuesday is moving day. We have got a lot to do between now and then, including getting rid of household items, returning household items, and even buying household items. Then we head to Zululand. See you on the other side.