Finetastic Adventures

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The End of Lock Down

Well, the date has finally arrived. Tomorrow is the end of our three month lock down period in which we are not allowed to leave our community. It's exactly three months since we were sworn in as PC Volunteers; in some ways it seems like longer and in some ways the time has flown by. Whatever, it's here and it coincides with our wedding anniversary. So what better way to celebrate than by being allowed to travel. Especially since Alyssa is now here and we plan to spend ten days 'on the road'.

Alyssa arrived here a week ago, the same day that our supervisor left for the UK. It was a great coincidence; she was able to get a ride from the Joburg airport from our super's husband since he had to drive to the airport anyway. It not only saved Alyssa the bus fare but the hassle of getting to Pretoria to the bus station and finding a bus to Polokwane. Plus she got to meet our supervisor for a brief time. It was so great to finally see Alyssa after six months! And she is happy to be back in South Africa. We've kept pretty busy. Dave and she have played basketball a couple of times; we've walked to town and all around town center. So many fruits and vegetables are in season and available at the street vendors, and they are so cheap. We've made some great meals and are eating sumptuous fresh fruit. We spent last Saturday at the jazz concert which you can read about in Dave's blog entry. Alyssa also spent time working on her research project which she has begun in Mauritius. It's just been great having her here.

South Africa goes on summer holiday from mid December til mid January, so we haven't had much work to do. Our clients went home in late November so we worked from home from the beginning of December. We brought the wireless router and laptop home from the office and have been able to get online from home, which is so great. But no one is really around for us to contact about our projects, so we'll just wait til after summer holiday. We do have our Peace Corps IST (in service training) in mid January, so we'll just have to be patient about completing projects.

This isn't the first time we have been in the southern hemisphere during the Christmas holidays, but it still amazes us how it just doesn't feel or look like Christmas as usual. It's not just the hot climate; it's the lack of all the hype surrounding it. Few decorations, very little Christmas music. And the stores keep their usual hours, closing at 5 PM during the week and 1 PM on Saturday. The stores in town don't open on Sunday and the mall is still closing at 1 PM that day. The city has been crowded, but it's been that way since we arrived in September. I must say, we've enjoyed the lack of attention to the holidays.

We are excited about our upcoming vacation. We've rented a car to drive south on Friday towards Free State and KwaZuluNatal (KZN), where we'll do some pony trekking and hiking in the Drakensberg Mountains. After a week we'll leave Alyssa at the Durban airport for her flight back to Mauritius and Dave and I will head to a beach backpackers where we'll spend 3 nights with other PCVs for New Year's Eve. Then we'll drive back to Polokwane. Fodder for a future blog.

Otherwise things are going along smoothly. We feel very comfortable here and are constantly surprised at how many people recognize us when we are out and about in the community. Everyone continues to be so friendly and helpful. We look forward to 2007 in our adopted home. Our wish to all of you is for a wonderful holiday season and a happy, healthy year ahead.

By the way, we've posted some new photos here.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

I Can Make a Difference!

World Aids Day was Friday. Here I am in South Africa, the center of the pandemic of AIDS, and I can’t find a decent forum or event to attend in all of Polokwane. I mean, it’s a pretty big city, over 150,000, and the provincial capital of Limpopo. You’d think there would be something happening here. After a phone call to a fellow PCV who works in the HIV/AIDS office of the Capricorn Municipal District (of which Polokwane is part) left me with nothing, I searched (briefly of course) online – still nothing. The nearest event was the national one, taking place in Nelspruit, too far for me to travel, within Peace Corps lockdown rules or not. So, needless to say, I was really bummed. I did attend, at the last minute, an event at our local casino/entertainment center, which had invited some of the orphans from our organization’s children shelter. Several staff members were there, and a few others, and I must say, I am impressed by the center’s Aids awareness and policies, but it was a far cry from what I had imagined attending. Maybe next year.

We are also in the middle of the 16 Days of Activism. This is a national period in which concern is focused on the violence against women and children. I hope more is being done than just our wearing a white ribbon during this period. In today’s news, the African Peer Review Mechanism report (from the African Union’s elite watchdog group of which SA President Thabo Mbeki himself was a founder) called on South Africa to make the fight against violent crime its top priority. And the FIFA World Cup will be here in 2010; does this country have its work to do!

Anyway, this leads up to my excitement. When we got home late Friday afternoon, after a bummer of a World Aids Day, I opened a letter that we had picked up from our mail box that morning. (Actually, I should say “the” letter since it was the only one. And we never open our mail until we get home so we can savor it!) After reading the very nice note that Barb Truit wrote I turned my attention to the newspaper clipping she had enclosed. It made my day! The North Shore Herald from Milwaukee reported that the Bayside village board had approved reworking an intersection to make it safer for cyclists. This was a campaign on which I had spent many hours. (For those of you in the area, it involves the intersection of the I 43 Port Washington Rd exit ramp and the road itself, where too many bicycle-car accidents have occurred.) Many of you may remember that for the last couple of years I have written countless emails, made many phone calls and spoken to the Bayside Police and Village Board on several occasions. For several months prior to leaving the US for Africa I was told by the DOT that the best that could be done would be painting in a bike lane and installing another warning sign. I vehemently fought against this option, knowing it wouldn’t be enough, and frankly might make matters worse. I strongly advised them to consider spending the extra money to straighten out the curve, thereby eliminating the blind spot in which cyclists always get caught. Then I left for South Africa and really didn’t think about it again – until Friday!

Wow! What is so great is the fact that once this work is done, cyclists can travel through the intersection without worrying that they will come through unscathed (and alive). What’s also great is that the work should be complete in 2008, the year we return to Milwaukee, so I can use the intersection with confidence. But what’s really the best is knowing that one person can make a difference. Which is perfect with my now serving here in the Peace Corps. Though we’ve only been here a few months, I already wonder if my being here is really going to matter. Somehow, now I know it will.