The Lonely Planet’s guide to SA suggests that you need not spend more than one day in Bethlehem to fully experience it. A weekend and a national holiday extended our 5-day training to 9 days in Bethlehem (with our wonderful Maluti mountain weekend) and hike in Golden Gate National Park on Youth Day. The Lonely Planet author has a point, but then again, he did not spend time with the parents and practitioners in our Tshepang group.
We finished our last training this week and as hard as it was to even believe we were really going to repeat the same training for yet a fourth time, we left with wet eyes today. This group “got” the essence of the material with depth and passion. There were also some characters in this group who made the whole experience quite enjoyable. We had lots of running jokes throughout. Early in the week we used the word “repertoire” and defined it. Everyone fell in love with the word, and a day didn’t pass without it being used at least once, and often in curious or hilarious contexts. The young trainer and translator Matilda made expressive faces and shared her frustrations when not finding the right words, whereupon others chimed in with suggestions of Sotho language that fit. We became a group.
Here in Bethlehem, we not only heard about the abused babies and toddlers, but spent time with a practitioner at the orphanage where she works. An HIV positive diagnosis accompanies most of their physical, emotional and cognitive challenges. We met a boy whose Sotho name means “Leave” (as in don’t come back). He had been abused in ways that seem unfathomable, as were his significant delays. When Faith and I visited, all the practitioners had the babies out on a beautiful clean rug, and were interacting with them. The next day Erin went by to visit. This time, they were all in their cribs, without much at all going on. Sigh.
Another dilemma arose when we had to decide whether to show one of our most problematic of all the pre-test videos after learning that the practitioner was, after all, in the training. We always begin with a message about learning from each other’s practice, about strength-based observations, etc. But the fact was, that this practitioner was alone with over 30 children under 3, and the results were not a pretty sight. With Matilda’s translation and me at pains to suggest that this would be a good learning experience, the practitioner said “no problem.” When I asked Matilda for counsel, she replied, “It’s OK, because this is the reality.” It did work out, and the practitioner clearly had a transformative experience.
The Working Group met Friday to roll out their plan to extend the knowledge they acquired into the community. They renamed themselves Tsebo ka di Bambinos, which means Knowledge for Babies. It doesn’t have the magic of the name Sesivukile, but these women are charged up and about to tell everyone they know about early brain development and why there need to be fewer babies in care despite the negative economic implications for the crèches. I ended my last entry thinking that the “Talking to Our Children about Difficult Subjects” would be a powerful session. I could not have imagined, and I can only say it is best summed up by one parent who said, “We need to become friends with our children.” They talked about how quickly the world is changing, and how they don’t want to raise their children as they were raised, yet they aren’t sure of the words to use. An elderly grandmother put it politely by noting that in their culture, certain ideas are just not given voice.
We’re back at Matol’s Farm in Viljoenskroon for the weekend, to finish up our draft syllabus and prepare for a week of meetings with the University of the Free State and their community partners in Bloemfontein, then to Pretoria for a UNICEF and national level Dept of Education and Department of Social Development folks, then Thursday evening we hop a plane to London and then JFK.
The closer I get to coming home, the more homesick I become, but will also miss our lives here and the people we have come to know deeply.
xxoova
Monday, June 22, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Maluti Mountains
The thorn bushes are ablaze with bright orange berries across this dramatic landscape. This northeastern part of the Free State looks a bit like Utah, with its strange red rock formations, but also has a mixture of beautiful trees and grasses. We are in the Maluti mountains, which is really the same range as the Drakensburg, but further east. The Maluti are mostly in Lesotho, which is a few kilometers from our cottage. Finally, a weekend of fun—horseback riding and hiking today through this remarkable area, and ending with a long yoga session facilitated by Erin, who just happens to be a yoga instructor. We are staying in a tiny stone cottage that looks out on a panorama that is so epic it is almost impossible to take in. Sunday, we are off to Lesotho and more hiking. We train on Monday, and then we’re off for the National Youth Day holiday that is a commeration of the Soweto uprising (June 16). On this day in 1976, Soweto students organized a march to protest the conditions in their schools and the apartheid government’s policy that half their subjects should be taught in Afrikaans. The police responded to the protest by shooting many unarmed children, which caused more protests and unrest throughout SA.
So, some of you may be wondering what is going on here politically. I’ve hesitated to weave the details into the blog because single facts can be confusing. We had stopped at a roadside rest stop on one of our first days, to catch Jacob Zuma giving his inauguration speech—in sunglasses no less. It sounded like a pre-election speech to us, but everyone in the building was glued to the t.v. as he spoke. We have also been here for the assignment of new cabinet posts, which except for the health minister, we don’t have much information to share. A new cabinet post was just created for issues relating to women and children. And, if you read the NYT you too know that unemployment is inching near 25% with the same percentage on government subsidies. COSATU, the Congress of South African Trade Unions are battling with Zuma, who made jobs his number 1 priority, but there isn't much to show for it. In his State of the Nation address two weeks ago he set out plans to create millions of temporary public works jobs, retrain workers facing layoffs, aid distressed companies and buy more goods made in South Africa. There is a strong tension in the country as a strong emphasis is being put on getting ready for the 2010 games (roads, stadiums, etc) versus keeping the pressure on jobs, education and everyday people issues.
This last group has been the largest yet—close to 30-- and very focused and sharp. As usual, the first day or two feels a bit uncomfortable as parents and practitioners and principals and others learn together for the first time. Then, the power relations break down and everyone is in it together. There are more community folks who are not practitioners or trainers in this group, such as those who work in programs for children with special needs, HIV/AIDS, or abuse, such as a two-year-old who was raped. They are a compelling group, and I particularly look forward to the session on “Talking with your children about difficult topics” because it feels like they will open up even more.
Nite,
va
So, some of you may be wondering what is going on here politically. I’ve hesitated to weave the details into the blog because single facts can be confusing. We had stopped at a roadside rest stop on one of our first days, to catch Jacob Zuma giving his inauguration speech—in sunglasses no less. It sounded like a pre-election speech to us, but everyone in the building was glued to the t.v. as he spoke. We have also been here for the assignment of new cabinet posts, which except for the health minister, we don’t have much information to share. A new cabinet post was just created for issues relating to women and children. And, if you read the NYT you too know that unemployment is inching near 25% with the same percentage on government subsidies. COSATU, the Congress of South African Trade Unions are battling with Zuma, who made jobs his number 1 priority, but there isn't much to show for it. In his State of the Nation address two weeks ago he set out plans to create millions of temporary public works jobs, retrain workers facing layoffs, aid distressed companies and buy more goods made in South Africa. There is a strong tension in the country as a strong emphasis is being put on getting ready for the 2010 games (roads, stadiums, etc) versus keeping the pressure on jobs, education and everyday people issues.
This last group has been the largest yet—close to 30-- and very focused and sharp. As usual, the first day or two feels a bit uncomfortable as parents and practitioners and principals and others learn together for the first time. Then, the power relations break down and everyone is in it together. There are more community folks who are not practitioners or trainers in this group, such as those who work in programs for children with special needs, HIV/AIDS, or abuse, such as a two-year-old who was raped. They are a compelling group, and I particularly look forward to the session on “Talking with your children about difficult topics” because it feels like they will open up even more.
Nite,
va
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Mpumalanga—Love and Attachment
Sithuthukile, in Middleburg, Mpumalanga, has been our most wonderful NGO experience to date. We don’t want to leave and they don’t want to see us go.
Middleburg is about a 40-minute drive from Witbank, the largest town in the area. Once again, the possibilities of getting lost abound, as SA is in the middle of changing road and town names from Afrikans/English to African names. So,
Warm Baths= Bela Bela
Black Creek Rd= Masekane Rd.
Witbank= Emalahleni
All this is well and good, except that, often, the old signage stays up while the new one appears (*@#%(@#%&(@??] leading to much confusion. I also got a perverse kick yesterday, when I responded to a phone call from an Afrikaner colleague. She asked where we were and “we’ve just left Emalahleni” rolled off my tongue. Ha! There was a pause, and I could hear her mental gymnastics at work. Actually, Emalahleni is a more appropriate name for the old Witbank area, as it means “place of coal”. A huge coal mine also sits outside of Middleburg as well (no name change yet) and I’ve heard multiple dynamite blasts. In Emalahleni, children’s eyes run from irritation and allergies run high, as they do in most mining areas. Between the smoke from the home stoves and the coal pollution, this once beautiful area is wrecked. In this dry season, too, multiple brush fires appear on the side of road.
Sithuthukile is the smallest NGO of the 4, yet they do such thoughtful work with their sites. This is exemplified in the quality of their preschools and as we found, the level of practice of the practitioners and parents in our training. Strangely, though, this group was hard to read at first. There was less overt enthusiasm for our learning games, and a bit less participation at first. Our experience in teaching has taught us not to let that faze us, and to keep faith in the program. This turned out to be true. Day by day, there were signs of deep understanding, as when we came to a differentiation of love and attachment. During all my 0-3 work in SA I have heard: babies need love, babies need love,” over and over again. When asked what that means, there is often silence. This group understood the attachment issues immediately, and most important, the link between creating quality attachments with children with how many children are in care. That aha moment and their enthusiasm for learning about early brain development put them in a quiet and solemn mood.
This is a site with a Working Group (made up of about half of the training group in addition to community members). This group in fact, is Sesivukile, and now you know why the blog is named after them. Their deep understanding of the new ideas has fueled a fire under them and they met yesterday to plan their work, which includes research on the number of 0-3 at-home and preschool crèches in all their areas, a web of workshops with the key ideas for parents, other practitioners and community members, and a long-term advocacy agenda that will roll out with some future funding.
Three trainings down and one to go. But that doesn’t really state the true facts. The truth is that we have a fun-filled day of meetings in Jo’burg on Wednesday on the way to our last training, where 5 observers will join the largest group yet. And when we are done with the Tshepang training in Bethlehem, we still have a week of debriefing and meetings with our new partner, the University of the Free State.
The wind is howling and last night felt like Halloween. We are sitting by a warm fire so don’t feel too bad for us, but we do miss home.
xxoova
Middleburg is about a 40-minute drive from Witbank, the largest town in the area. Once again, the possibilities of getting lost abound, as SA is in the middle of changing road and town names from Afrikans/English to African names. So,
Warm Baths= Bela Bela
Black Creek Rd= Masekane Rd.
Witbank= Emalahleni
All this is well and good, except that, often, the old signage stays up while the new one appears (*@#%(@#%&(@??] leading to much confusion. I also got a perverse kick yesterday, when I responded to a phone call from an Afrikaner colleague. She asked where we were and “we’ve just left Emalahleni” rolled off my tongue. Ha! There was a pause, and I could hear her mental gymnastics at work. Actually, Emalahleni is a more appropriate name for the old Witbank area, as it means “place of coal”. A huge coal mine also sits outside of Middleburg as well (no name change yet) and I’ve heard multiple dynamite blasts. In Emalahleni, children’s eyes run from irritation and allergies run high, as they do in most mining areas. Between the smoke from the home stoves and the coal pollution, this once beautiful area is wrecked. In this dry season, too, multiple brush fires appear on the side of road.
Sithuthukile is the smallest NGO of the 4, yet they do such thoughtful work with their sites. This is exemplified in the quality of their preschools and as we found, the level of practice of the practitioners and parents in our training. Strangely, though, this group was hard to read at first. There was less overt enthusiasm for our learning games, and a bit less participation at first. Our experience in teaching has taught us not to let that faze us, and to keep faith in the program. This turned out to be true. Day by day, there were signs of deep understanding, as when we came to a differentiation of love and attachment. During all my 0-3 work in SA I have heard: babies need love, babies need love,” over and over again. When asked what that means, there is often silence. This group understood the attachment issues immediately, and most important, the link between creating quality attachments with children with how many children are in care. That aha moment and their enthusiasm for learning about early brain development put them in a quiet and solemn mood.
This is a site with a Working Group (made up of about half of the training group in addition to community members). This group in fact, is Sesivukile, and now you know why the blog is named after them. Their deep understanding of the new ideas has fueled a fire under them and they met yesterday to plan their work, which includes research on the number of 0-3 at-home and preschool crèches in all their areas, a web of workshops with the key ideas for parents, other practitioners and community members, and a long-term advocacy agenda that will roll out with some future funding.
Three trainings down and one to go. But that doesn’t really state the true facts. The truth is that we have a fun-filled day of meetings in Jo’burg on Wednesday on the way to our last training, where 5 observers will join the largest group yet. And when we are done with the Tshepang training in Bethlehem, we still have a week of debriefing and meetings with our new partner, the University of the Free State.
The wind is howling and last night felt like Halloween. We are sitting by a warm fire so don’t feel too bad for us, but we do miss home.
xxoova
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Hello Free State
Friday, May 29—
Before me a rabbit stops munching on grass and holds his nose up to the wind as it rips through Matol farm, where we have the pleasure of staying for one night and a day on our way to Bloemfontein to meet with the University of the Free State (UFS) for a collaboration meeting. Guinea fowl chatter and shriek with hysteria, reminding me of wild turkeys in upstate New York.
Beyond the bunny are grazing sheep and beyond them, brown and white cattle. To the left of this, and as far as the eye can see, is maise – fields upon fields of dried up brown corn that will be harvested in about two weeks. It took me awhile to get it—he--ll--o?—that here in the Free State Province, the maize basket of the country––corn is harvested not when it is yellow and ready to eat fresh, but, when it is older and ready to be converted into the maize, from which pap, the staple food of the country is derived. On a quick tour of the farm this morning I almost cried as Elma showed us a long row of pomegranate bushes with many dried up pomegranates that were not harvested. I would have had to be here in February (drat!) to be as greedy as I would really wish—and not only pluck them off randomly to munch on a long walk, but to make juice (now we are really into deep fantasy). How does one make pomegranate juice anyway, without making a weeklong mess of it?
I digress.
Faith and I both slept in—until about 8 am--and by the time we were up, one of the sons in the family had already taken tails off about 7 lambs—a process, which he assured me doesn’t seems to bother most of them. Ahemm. For those who are curious, it prevents infection, so flies don’t congregate under the tails. Anyway, later in June our whole team will return to Matol’s for a 5-day respite to de-brief the entire two-months of the project rollout and write a grant with folks from the UFS. I for one can’t wait.
So to be here in the Free State means we finally finished with the East Rand—at least for now. The training was again powerful, with a somewhat more sophisticated crew, in terms of HIV/AIDS, and the “under threes” as we are now calling our work, due to complex differences in language referring to infants toddlers and twos. Most of the crew spoke and understood English, so the lack of translation made for shorter days, which was lucky, as we continued to get lost daily. An interesting moment occurred when we were discussing how to implement principles of attachment in group care when we learned from two mothers who had delivered premature babies, that the local hospital in Katlehong had a wonderful Kangaroo Care program for preemies. They demonstrated, and in doing so helped teach the module.
The videos we took of daily practice as part of our situational assessments have proven to be the very best training videos we could have. In one way or another, each one brings home one of the most important message of our “under 3’s” work: that no one, regardless of experience or expertise can be responsible for over 12 infants and toddlers, much less have relationships with them and help them develop and learn from each other. Each community will have to figure out solutions to this problem In the HIV/AIDS area, the factual and emotional content builds over the training. The second to last day with a session on having difficult conversations with your child. So far, this session begins with silence, and ends with wild stories in which participants indicate that that know that their 4 and 5 year-olds know what condoms are, so why can’t they talk about these issues with them in more frank terms? The last day we watch a most powerful film called “Thing with No Name” about two rural SA women who have HIV/AIDS. Finally, a mentor mother from Mothers 2 Mothers visits and talks frankly about her own situation as a positive woman living with HIV. This woman was so upbeat about her life we were able to incorporate her talk as part of the ending celebration. Some people disclosed their status privately, and others made pacts with each other to go for testing. It is so very clear to us that all the training in the world about the “under threes” will be for naught if these women do not live to carry out the work.
After our second meeting with the UFS folks Sunday morning we drive for 7 hours to Mpumalanga, where we finally rendezvous with the three other members of our team.
If it is possible to be exhausted and exhilarated simultaneously, that describes my state of mind quite well.
More soon, va
Before me a rabbit stops munching on grass and holds his nose up to the wind as it rips through Matol farm, where we have the pleasure of staying for one night and a day on our way to Bloemfontein to meet with the University of the Free State (UFS) for a collaboration meeting. Guinea fowl chatter and shriek with hysteria, reminding me of wild turkeys in upstate New York.
Beyond the bunny are grazing sheep and beyond them, brown and white cattle. To the left of this, and as far as the eye can see, is maise – fields upon fields of dried up brown corn that will be harvested in about two weeks. It took me awhile to get it—he--ll--o?—that here in the Free State Province, the maize basket of the country––corn is harvested not when it is yellow and ready to eat fresh, but, when it is older and ready to be converted into the maize, from which pap, the staple food of the country is derived. On a quick tour of the farm this morning I almost cried as Elma showed us a long row of pomegranate bushes with many dried up pomegranates that were not harvested. I would have had to be here in February (drat!) to be as greedy as I would really wish—and not only pluck them off randomly to munch on a long walk, but to make juice (now we are really into deep fantasy). How does one make pomegranate juice anyway, without making a weeklong mess of it?
I digress.
Faith and I both slept in—until about 8 am--and by the time we were up, one of the sons in the family had already taken tails off about 7 lambs—a process, which he assured me doesn’t seems to bother most of them. Ahemm. For those who are curious, it prevents infection, so flies don’t congregate under the tails. Anyway, later in June our whole team will return to Matol’s for a 5-day respite to de-brief the entire two-months of the project rollout and write a grant with folks from the UFS. I for one can’t wait.
So to be here in the Free State means we finally finished with the East Rand—at least for now. The training was again powerful, with a somewhat more sophisticated crew, in terms of HIV/AIDS, and the “under threes” as we are now calling our work, due to complex differences in language referring to infants toddlers and twos. Most of the crew spoke and understood English, so the lack of translation made for shorter days, which was lucky, as we continued to get lost daily. An interesting moment occurred when we were discussing how to implement principles of attachment in group care when we learned from two mothers who had delivered premature babies, that the local hospital in Katlehong had a wonderful Kangaroo Care program for preemies. They demonstrated, and in doing so helped teach the module.
The videos we took of daily practice as part of our situational assessments have proven to be the very best training videos we could have. In one way or another, each one brings home one of the most important message of our “under 3’s” work: that no one, regardless of experience or expertise can be responsible for over 12 infants and toddlers, much less have relationships with them and help them develop and learn from each other. Each community will have to figure out solutions to this problem In the HIV/AIDS area, the factual and emotional content builds over the training. The second to last day with a session on having difficult conversations with your child. So far, this session begins with silence, and ends with wild stories in which participants indicate that that know that their 4 and 5 year-olds know what condoms are, so why can’t they talk about these issues with them in more frank terms? The last day we watch a most powerful film called “Thing with No Name” about two rural SA women who have HIV/AIDS. Finally, a mentor mother from Mothers 2 Mothers visits and talks frankly about her own situation as a positive woman living with HIV. This woman was so upbeat about her life we were able to incorporate her talk as part of the ending celebration. Some people disclosed their status privately, and others made pacts with each other to go for testing. It is so very clear to us that all the training in the world about the “under threes” will be for naught if these women do not live to carry out the work.
After our second meeting with the UFS folks Sunday morning we drive for 7 hours to Mpumalanga, where we finally rendezvous with the three other members of our team.
If it is possible to be exhausted and exhilarated simultaneously, that describes my state of mind quite well.
More soon, va
Saturday, May 23, 2009
The East Rand in Jo'Burg
Jo’burg is a formidable challenge. It is large and spread out like L.A., but with more traffic. And we are staying in a motel in the armpit of Jo’burg, a few hundred yards from the off ramp of the N3 highway, so I hate to complain, but…. we aren’t in Limpopo anymore. This is our only peri-urban site, although once inside the townships, the rural and urban settings can look somewhat similar.
Our little VW was packed to the gills with the 3 of us, our belongings, two jars of almond butter, 75 prisms, reams of pre-and post-test measures and 23 anatomically correct brown rubber dolls. We drove 5 hours straight to our second training site—KELRU, where no one has been paid in about 5 months. Still, like Thusanang, the staff here sing and pray each morning and afternoon and go about their work with great zeal, showing faith that their director will soon find money. The government has also promised them funds, but so far, nothing.
The first day of training we followed directions but ended up in something out of The Road, by Cormick McCarthy, if any of you have read that post-apocalyptic novel. Imagine the first 10 miles of the NJ turnpike, but up close and personal, as in....without a turnpike. On the left were hundreds of new Mandela houses—houses provided by govt. in an initiative started by Mandela. I remember reading that in the 50’s in Appalachia, most houses, even shacks had t.v. antennas. Here, most Mandela houses now have t.v. satellite dishes. On the right side were informal settlements, the likes of which neither Faith nor I have ever seen in our years of travel throughout SA. We later found out that this area, without even a name, is where the refugees from Mozambique and Zimbabwe are living. Hardly anyone has papers, so it is hard to get work, and the settlements are very far away from anything that could be useful to them.
The training went well our first day, and everyone seems especially interested in learning about the brain. I ended up doing the cooking for lunch, because we wanted all the trainers to attend the am session. No knife, no can opener, and a flood in the kitchen while I was hard at work. Not my best chicken curry, but it fed all 20 of us well enough to get on with the afternoon: an HIV/AIDS Jeopardy Game that really got people going.
Monday return to training again through Thursday, then on to Mpumulanga. Stay in touch!
xxoova
Our little VW was packed to the gills with the 3 of us, our belongings, two jars of almond butter, 75 prisms, reams of pre-and post-test measures and 23 anatomically correct brown rubber dolls. We drove 5 hours straight to our second training site—KELRU, where no one has been paid in about 5 months. Still, like Thusanang, the staff here sing and pray each morning and afternoon and go about their work with great zeal, showing faith that their director will soon find money. The government has also promised them funds, but so far, nothing.
The first day of training we followed directions but ended up in something out of The Road, by Cormick McCarthy, if any of you have read that post-apocalyptic novel. Imagine the first 10 miles of the NJ turnpike, but up close and personal, as in....without a turnpike. On the left were hundreds of new Mandela houses—houses provided by govt. in an initiative started by Mandela. I remember reading that in the 50’s in Appalachia, most houses, even shacks had t.v. antennas. Here, most Mandela houses now have t.v. satellite dishes. On the right side were informal settlements, the likes of which neither Faith nor I have ever seen in our years of travel throughout SA. We later found out that this area, without even a name, is where the refugees from Mozambique and Zimbabwe are living. Hardly anyone has papers, so it is hard to get work, and the settlements are very far away from anything that could be useful to them.
The training went well our first day, and everyone seems especially interested in learning about the brain. I ended up doing the cooking for lunch, because we wanted all the trainers to attend the am session. No knife, no can opener, and a flood in the kitchen while I was hard at work. Not my best chicken curry, but it fed all 20 of us well enough to get on with the afternoon: an HIV/AIDS Jeopardy Game that really got people going.
Monday return to training again through Thursday, then on to Mpumulanga. Stay in touch!
xxoova
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Limpopo--Training Week 1
Tobela!
Dumelang!!
Light pours through the upper windows onto the concrete floor of the Thusanang training center. It is officially winter, and we are freezing, even when, as today, the sun is shining brilliantly outside. We all have blankets wrapped over us in our seats. Of course we sing and pray before doing anything, and that does seem to help––beginning each day, meal and learning feeling a part of the rich and multi-layered songs we sing together, loud, and in harmonies.
We began our first 7-day training last Monday here in Haenertsburg, Limpopo, one of SA’s northern provinces. Limpopo boasts orange and avocado groves in the northern parts, and mountains where we are. Further south, near Polokwane—site of one of the huge stadiums being built for the 2010 games– looks more like our U.S. southwest landscape.
Who are we? Some of you know that Faith Lamb-Parker and I are the partners in crime, and we have a wonderful Mailman Public Health graduate student named Erin Wheeler who is working with us to roll out the training. The other two members of our team, Folashade Ajayi and Sara Abbas are already in the Free State getting started with a community team, a Working Group, such as the one that named themselves Sisuvukile. You can see all our team members by double clicking on the partial photo up top.
We have chosen a new and different model of working, and instead of the “train the trainer” model that is so popular here, we are working with trainers, practitioners of the birth-to-three children, parents and other community stakeholders such as government officials and sangomas, using a community based participatory model of research and advocacy, and integrating HIV/AIDS education and prevention. Overall, this first week of the training has gone very well. We see spots to cut and others to better integrate. The NGO Thusanang has already put out a proposal to take the training forward beginning in July, so we are thrilled.
We stay in a simple by lovely guest house–– certainly number one in our minds out of our many trips here. Our host is an amazing cook and has a sideline of making cakes for a butcher shop in Tzanen, the nearest town. She mothers us in a way that we love, such as bringing us hot toddies in bed when we are sick or just exhausted from the day. This little village, however, is a throwback to the 1950’s—an all-white population on a magnificent hillside, surrounded by evergreen mountains. The black local population is about 30 k away, and nearby is the Zion HQ, the largest black church in Africa, I believe.
We invited one of our star participants and her daughter over for breakfast this morning, and she (age 27) had never been into the village, much less the home of a white person. Her 3-year old daughter really had no idea what to make of it all and let us know by wetting her pants.
Wednesday we leave for Katlehong, in Jo’burg—part of the East Rand to begin the training all over again. I see how the first few days are incredibly stressful, as we learn everyone’s name, sort out how to find the resources in that particular site, and work hard to engage everyone in what is for many, a new way of learning. Hopefully the transition will be smoother than the one from Ethiopia to SA, as we were turned back at Passport Control for not having Yellow Fever shots. Eighty bucks and sore arms later, we were in South Africa, feeling right at home again.
Hope to write from Jo' Burg next week-end.
xxoo to all,
Va
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Ethiopia
Endemn Adderu!
A day late and a dollar short (many) we arrived in Addis Ababa, after a major London adventure. Mechanical problems kept our plane from taking off.
Imagine this: 60 Ethiopians and 10 non-Ethiopians trapsing around Heathrow airport twice(including immigration and long scanning lines) behind an Air Ethiopian rep with his hand in the air, yelling--'' 'follow me!'' By the time we were on the plane the next evening, we were all fast friends, and had a lovely plane party.
We are here at the end of the dry season--the season of weddings-- and we have observed many, sitting in the park on Sunday-- celebrated in groups. Ethiopia uses the Julian calendar- so it is 1999, and there are signs all over looking forward to the 2000 millenial celebrations.
Our conference is 3 days- called tomorrow after tomorrow in many parts of the world-- the 6th AnnualAfrican Child Abuse and Neglect-- with about 500 Africans from all of the continent. We appear to be the only Americans, and in the minority in many other ways. We present today on our Developing Families work, paired with a presentation on child mothers.
E-mail has been beyond difficult. The only way I got to do this blog finally is that we dragged ourselves in to the UN (site of the conference) extra early. While the UN server in NYC is quiet-- while you sleep, the server is relieved of stress and can communicate.
Will write from Limpopo next week, after arriving in Jo'Burg this Thursday.
Dehnahunu my friends!
Va
A day late and a dollar short (many) we arrived in Addis Ababa, after a major London adventure. Mechanical problems kept our plane from taking off.
Imagine this: 60 Ethiopians and 10 non-Ethiopians trapsing around Heathrow airport twice(including immigration and long scanning lines) behind an Air Ethiopian rep with his hand in the air, yelling--'' 'follow me!'' By the time we were on the plane the next evening, we were all fast friends, and had a lovely plane party.
We are here at the end of the dry season--the season of weddings-- and we have observed many, sitting in the park on Sunday-- celebrated in groups. Ethiopia uses the Julian calendar- so it is 1999, and there are signs all over looking forward to the 2000 millenial celebrations.
Our conference is 3 days- called tomorrow after tomorrow in many parts of the world-- the 6th AnnualAfrican Child Abuse and Neglect-- with about 500 Africans from all of the continent. We appear to be the only Americans, and in the minority in many other ways. We present today on our Developing Families work, paired with a presentation on child mothers.
E-mail has been beyond difficult. The only way I got to do this blog finally is that we dragged ourselves in to the UN (site of the conference) extra early. While the UN server in NYC is quiet-- while you sleep, the server is relieved of stress and can communicate.
Will write from Limpopo next week, after arriving in Jo'Burg this Thursday.
Dehnahunu my friends!
Va
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