Permanent Site Visit: A Look Into the Future, August 28 - September 3

One week of training was devoted to visiting our permanent site in order to meet our host families, the principals of our schools, and key community members. The week began with a two day workshop with the principals of the schools we would be working with for the next two years. The workshop was held at a resort not far from Bundu and attended by the education volunteers and principals in our region. Besides getting to know our six principals (we each have three schools) and discussing roles and expectations, we were treated to hot showers, excellent food, and a time to relax with the other trainees. The week continued with the short trip to our permanent site (we are only a 30 minute drive from Bundu) where we spent the remainder of the week visualizing ourselves in Vezubuhle for the next two years.

It was not difficult to visualize ourselves as part of our new family as we had a great time cooking, laughing, and exchanging pictures and stories with our new ma, Esther Jiyane (who is also the principal of one of Joe’s schools) and her sixteen year old daughter, Dora. The house however was a different story. We would be living in gogo’s house (very spacious with six rooms and a bathroom with a flush toilet!) right next door to Esther and Dora. However, we would be the only human inhabitants that the house had seen in over nine months. It was with mixed emotions that we explored our new home. We were thrilled with the space and spare bedroom (plenty of room for visitors) but overwhelmed with the dust, scat, mold, termite-eaten wood, chipped paint, gaping holes in the roof, broken windows, broken locks and clutter that overwhelmed the house. Each night as we snuggled into our sleeping bags on the cold cement floor, as the furniture promised by the department of education had not yet been delivered, we brainstormed about home improvement projects.

Although we had many ideas on how to make our house inhabitable, we were usually too exhausted from the day’s events to share them all. Our principals had scheduled a full week of introductions: the teachers, students and SGB (school governing body) members at all six of our schools, the traditional leader of our community, the local police and taxi stations, the circuit office of the department of education, the local doctor and community clinic, and the nearby shopping plazas. For each introduction, one of our principals explained our presence in one to two native languages before allowing us to say a few words. It was frustrating at times because some of the introductions would go on for 10 – 20 minutes with the two of us only understanding a handful of words. Although we are sure that more than a few misconceptions about our service were passed along during these introductions, the principals did do a good job of explaining two important messages: that we were to be treated as members of the community and that we do not come with bags of money.

During our visit, we also got to experience the adventure of Spring Day, September 21. In recent years the country’s youth have started a tradition of dumping water on each other in order to celebrate the first day of spring. Luckily we were forewarned and wore our rain jackets to school. Although Dora was drenched a few times during the day, we escaped unscathed. Spring Day not only introduced us to one of the many traditions here, but also opened our eyes to the flexibility of the school day. It appears that classes are cut short at the drop of a hat: a memorial service, spring day, not enough learners in the classroom, too much paperwork…. Although we understand and respect the differences in our two cultures, we also hope to inspire a culture of learning that will supersede these excuses to cancel classes.

Sunday was devoted to church. And what a church service it was! You might have to see a live performance of the Trans Siberian Orchestra before you can fully understand the 4 hour church service extravaganza. The church building was similar to all of the houses in the village, concrete walls, tin roof, bare, concrete floors, but it must have been held together with superglue because we are convinced that the volume of the church service would have blown any other building to bits. Picture 50 plastic chairs, 48 very excited South Africans, a sound system straight from the 80’s, including the massive keyboard, MC Hammer on the microphone and 4 hours of singing, dance circles, wailing prayers, clapping, moving testimonials, fire and brimstone sermons and the saving of souls. It was an experience we will not soon forget (the ringing in our ears will be a reminder for at least the next few years). Each member of the congregation got up to personally greet us and the entire service was translated into English for our benefit. We were overwhelmed with the love and hospitality extended to us.

The week finished up with a scheduled meeting with all six of our principals on Monday morning. Although we did successfully plan our school visitation schedules for the remainder of the year, we also got a huge lesson in patience and polychronic time. We finally started the meeting two hours after the scheduled time with only two of the principals in attendance (our mom and the principal of the hosting school) and had to wait while the principals recopied by hand our schedule from the previous week before we could plan our future school visits. We will definitely have to get creative in advertising meetings and provide incentives for attendance!

Our visit concluded with the journey back to Bundu – our first test in using public transportation by ourselves. We packed up our belongings, said goodbye to the family, and began the 25 minute walk to the tar road where we would catch our first cumbi (taxi). We didn’t have to wait long to catch a ride, but we did get a full tour of all the neighboring towns on our way. The 30 minute drive took over 2 hours and 2 taxis to complete. Always an adventure!

We were enthusiastically greeted by the Nkosi family upon our return and our bed actually didn’t look so bad anymore compared to the concrete floor!

pictures: our house; example of the language barrier; our new village