A Few PCT to PSV Highlights

We, the 24^th group of South Africa Peace Corps Trainees (SA24 PCTs), arrived in Johannesburg South Africa then traveled by bus to our first training site.  It was situated next to a game preserve which some of us had the good fortune to be able to visit on a holiday during training.  The first few days were filled with classes, some of which were in 4 of the 11 official South African languages.  I thought being able to concentrate on one language would make learning the language of my future village easier.  For me it wasn’t.  A group of 7 of us were assigned the Tshivenda language which is used in the Venda District of Limpopo Province north of the Tropic of Capricorn and is known as the breadbasket of South Africa because it has rich soil, adequate rainfall and two growing seasons.

We traveled to Makapanstad north of Pretoria where 57 village families agreed to take in Peace Corps volunteers for the 8-week training period.  More families agreed to host the Language and Culture Facilitators who taught us our target language and culture.  The villagers speak Setswana but many speak more than one language.  The children in all villages are taught in their mother tongue up until grade 3.  In Grade 4 they switch to being taught all subjects in English.  They are also exposed to other languages.  For example there are 4 languages in the South African National Anthem.

We observed and taught in a school in the village during training and were introduced to the legacy of disparity including the reality of large class sizes, up to 80 students +, and lack of resources.  We also experienced morning assembly where I witnessed amazing singing and heartfelt prayer.  In the schools I have seen the students willingly do a lot of work not related to learning.  For example, they sweep the rooms, wash the meal plates and carry boxes of books kept at school for use during class.  Cleanliness is very important to them and I have seen students carefully cleaning their shoes which constantly become covered in the powdery red dirt that is everywhere.  It covers roads and any other place not irrigated to maintain greenery. 

Like most rural South African villages, Makapanstad is governed by a chief who actually is the one who owns all of the land and handles local issues and disputes if possible.  Because of the influence of chiefs, their relatives and village people these areas are relatively safe places to live.  My host family, like most people in the village, received permission to live in the village from the chief.  Then they paid him 200 Rand for which they were allotted a sizable piece of property on which they built 3 multi-room buildings/houses.  They also have a large area for growing food and raising chickens.

Learning about the history of South Africa is really fascinating and was one of my favorite class topics.  We were taken to the Vortrekker Museum which was built to tell the story of the people who claim to be the only white tribe of Africans, the Afrikaners.  It is an amazingly beautiful place surrounded by a wall of stone wagons representing the protective circle used by South African, and American, wagon trains.   Their story is carved into the white Italian marble covering the inside walls of the museum.
 
We also visited the Apartheid Museum that had a special Nelson Mandella exhibit which told the amazing story of the only known peaceful transition out of an oppressive regime and changed the conscientiousness and reality of South Africa.

The 8^th of September the American Ambassador to South Africa and the CEO of the Hope Foundation attended and gave stirring motivational speeches at our swearing in ceremony where the PCTs of SA24 became PCVs.

Friday September 9^th I arrived at my permanent site located near a Kruger National Park gate.  There are a lot of mountains in the area and mango trees everywhere.