Departure (revised)

---

I’m here in the sweltering heat of Philadelphia getting ready for winter in South Africa; I don’t know what to expect...well, that is what this blog is about...what I expect (from what I’ve been told or read)



So, we’ll start with the letters in my blog name...CG is me, of course, PC is Peace Corps and SA is South Africa. PCV is Peace Corps Volunteer, which I will become after 2 months of PST (Pre-Service Training) I will be sworn in and move to my permanent site for two years of service in early September.



I won’t be using cell phone or email until I discover how that works at my permanent site in Sept. I will be writing letters July and Aug., with little access to email, so wait for additional blog posts to come in Sept.



In Feb. the Peace Corps sent me handbooks about being a volunteer, access to many resources at their web-site, and emailed me 25 lessons in each of three languages. (These are 3 of the 11 official languages in SA, which calls itself The Rainbow Nation) I practiced isiZulu during weaving time and while walking the Riverside trail in Chelan. I haven’t practiced all June though.



I left Chelan June 2, for Holden Village, then Idaho, Seattle, and now Philly. (Serena and Nate are at Holden and Amanda is in Philly) In visits with family and friends I answered lots of questions which I’ll try to remember here. The Peace Corps has recently celebrated 50 years, but they still need to get the word out....I went online to my financial institutions to check the updated address information I’d given by phone and one had used the spelling... “Piece Cor” I am NOT kidding.



After taking that in, here are some books.

“Living Poor” by a PCV in Ecuador in the 1960’s; I particularly enjoyed the author’s humor.

“Cry, the Beloved Country” a novel written about SA in the 1940’s or so. There is a movie with James Earl Jones and Richard Harris, but I haven’t seen it. It was a very good story about the country at that time with apartheid...there is lots of history for me to learn about this region of Africa.

“Power Lines” by Jason Carter, grandson of Pres. Carter (not Amy’s son though..it seems there were other children in the Carter family not as well known) Jason was in his 20’s when he served; the Peace Corps had been asked by the government (newly formed under Nelson Mandela’s Presidency in the mid-90’s) to help with a Schools and Community Resource Project. Much of what I expect life in a black South African village to be and what I think I will do in the schools (most likely primary school) comes from this book.



July 12, after a 15 hour flight from Atlanta to Pretoria, SA, our group of 45 trainees will be driven for 3 hours to where we will live in dorm-like accommodations for a week. The rest of our training will be in homestays. We will be dispersed in groups of 5 or 6 along with a staff facilitator to a village where each of us will stay with a family and meet together Mon-Fri. for training. “The purpose of training is to help you become immersed, without outside distractions, in learning a new language and living in a new culture.” from a staff email

Later, I will write about the food, the people, the living conditions. For now, I can tell you what one day’s schedule of topics is so you can get an idea about orientation to new life in a new country. In addition to learning basic phrases in isiZulu and Afrikaans, the list includes: Economic Disparity, Internalized Oppression, Panel on Gender Roles and Sexuality, and Slower Lifestyle. Included in the orientation for our homestay in the villages is a “bucket bath demo” !!! (I actually have a little experience in this from living in our cabin in Idaho)

---