Friday, March 20, 2009

3 months and counting

Wow, I can't believe it's been over 4 months since I've blogged. I'm really sorry. Funny how time flies when you're having fun!!!! So, for Christmas I went to Cape Town, South Africa to visit Tracy. It was so much fun. Unfortunately I gained 10 lbs eating at McDonalds and KFC most of the time. I just couldn't help myself. I really had no self control. Back home I never even went near McDonalds, but in South Africa I just couldn't get enough. It was the best food in the world. It was legit McDonalds...just like home.

While in South Africa Tracy took me to a township (also referred to as "the Location" because that's where all the South African's were located during Apartheid) of Guguletu where Xhosa is spoken. On the day we arrived 2 local boys were coming out of the bush. This is when 18 year old boys are taken into the bush to be circumcised and taught to become men. I believe they stay in the rural area for 2 full months. See pictures of them emerging below. It was truly amazing to see how excited the community was to see these new men emerge from their solitude. I actually had tears in my eyes, but I don't quite know why. (Feel free to chime in with your own opinions of why I was crying). To show our appreciation each person had to bring a bottle of brandy. There was so much food. It was unbelievable. It was so tasty. Especially the goat....yummy. We also went to a place called Mzoli's where everyone goes to eat and be seen in the Guguletu. I loved it. Tracy really showed us the true Cape Town. It wasn't all tourist spots and white washed fun. It was a true experience.














For most of January and a lot of February I was doing trainings outside of my village, but they were in conjunction with the Ministry of Education (MOE) and other NGO's in Zambia. The MOE has a radio program called "Learning at Taonga Market" which is used to help teachers with lessons. It comes on everyday at a certain time and teachers follow along with the broadcast. It's a great idea, however the problem was that many community school freeplay radio's went missing, or teachers were missing parts of the lesson because it moves to fast, etc. So, QUESTT has a program where they give Ipods to community schools in place of the former freeplay radios. I and other RED (Rural Education Development) volunteers were helping to train MOE officials on how to use the Ipods, then they in turn teach community school teachers how to use them. It seems to be working. I also did a Peer Education workshop with CHANGES2 which helps High School students prepare to implement training with their peers through things like AIDS Action Clubs, and Mentoring. Through this program we want to address behavioral change, gender issues, traditional beliefs, and to raise awareness of the ways that HIV/AIDS is spread amongst the population, and promoting life skills. Working with the teens was a great experience. They were not afraid of asking any and everything! They wanted clarification on certain things, and if one of the facilitators didn't know something they called them out on it. It was very refreshing. I loved it. It's definitely different than working with adults here, because they never say anything. They take lots of notes, but rarely ask questions or interact with the facilitators.

I also went to Zanzibar which is an island off the country of Tanzania for a music festival. There were local artists from all over Africa and beyond. It was really an amazing festival and not commercial at all. For the last night of the festival they had a bonfire on the coast. It was absolutely beautiful! It is the Indian Ocean so the water is pure blue and warm. And all I ate was fresh seafood for every meal, drank fresh juice and ate fresh pineapple and fresh coconut juice. Everything was fresh! It was awesome.

Those have been the highlights so far. I wish some of the family could come visit but I know times are tough right now.

I think that covers everything. Talk to yall later. Love ya,

Kim