Village!

Some photos from around my place.
The tar road to Tzaneen

The road that leads into my village. The black dots on the dirt road are monkeys. Lots and lots of monkeys.

They are supposedly tarring the main road through my village. As yet, this has just meant them digging the road apart and putting piles of dirt in inconvenient places. Maybe the next volunteer will see the brilliant tar road.

Donkey Cart!

The bush on the eastern part of the village.

This tree is absurd looking.

The graveyard, which is on the way from my house to the dam.

Makoti market, our 'Indian shop' and petrol station. My house is just behind the market.

Miragoma Primary School.

The computer lab I'm setting up in the primary school.

Movie Day!

I put together a movie afternoon for the OVCs [orphans and vulnerable children] in the new (and still unfinished) building at the drop-in centre. We started with some Planet Earth and then moved on to Finding Nemo. I have no idea how much they understood of the rich, complex plot, but they seemed to have a great time. I'm going to try Wall-E or The Lion King next.

Gardening!

About a million years ago we had an organic gardening training. I've taken to doing trivia nights at the trainings. Grand prize this time was shaving Lanna's head.

As part of the training we built a garden at a nearby clinic. Mack, our trainer.


Like any good project, there was a lot of standing around and commenting on the work habits of others.

Mack led us in song most of the time we were working.

The House Mabasa, or, Trip the Longdrop Fantastic

Some photos from around my house.


The courtyard. This photo was taken on an overcast day right after it rained. The place doesn't usually look like a scene out of post-communist Russia.

 Our rondevaal, which was used for cooking and storage until it was knocked down. I'm still not sure why

 



Our mealie (corn) field.

 
  The pit latrine




 
Our mango and paw paw trees.



Clothing line and garden.

One of my green pepper plants.
Also, I hung a bok skull I found in the Eastern Cape from the roof. Motlare likes to hit me with it while making cow sounds. Yet another awful panorama - this time of my room. The room now has the table, clothing shelf, and book shelf I built. The tapestries are from Mozambique.

Fish!

I bought a fishing pole and have started fishing at the dam in my village. The real challenge is not being killed by the croc or poisonous water snakes.





I only actually caught one of those. My friend, Patrick, a local fisherman, gave me the rest so I could cook dinner for my family. Mme showed me how to gut 'em and clean 'em. For the sake of ego let's pretend I caught the biggest one.

As some of you know, I am planning a girls empowerment camp (Camp GLOW - Girls Leading Our World) with a few other PCVs in my area. The camp will teach 40 girls from our communities healthy behaviours and peer leadership as well as working to empower them. The camp is 100% free for the girls so we are trying to raise money for lodging, meals, and camp supplies. Check out the thingy below for more information and to learn how you can help!

Birthday

A while back my counterpart's nephew, Advice, had a birthday party. It was pretty bangin'.


My counterpart, Mangena, with his daughter, who is indeed gnawing on a chicken foot and drinking fanta pineapple out of a bottle.