21

Another boiling day on the ranch! I went out for a jog this morning, and was pleasantly surprised to see groups of small kids from Mmeshi Primary out there running my loop before school as well.  I think the principal is trying again to implement a phys ed. program this school year, and I hope that the kids keep it up as there was just an article published recently on how South African teens are becoming more and more sedentary.  

 One of the many things this experience has allowed me to think on and realize, is how grateful I am for the adults in my life who taught me how to take care of myself through physical activity. From my parents who supported me, signed me up for sports, paid for equipment, drove me to practices, tournaments, and games, and tolerated the sweaty, usually mud-covered, creature that would fling itself into the vehicles that they tried to keep clean.  Also for my teachers and coaches, who tolerated too much of my energy and taught me to direct it with a regimented skill set of drills and stretches that have aided me every day since.  Having always been active, I’ve taken my knowledge of physical health for granted, I am so happy to have been able to impart some of what was taught to me on to members of my community so that they can at least continue to keep themselves healthy, if they so choose.

23/22

Lesego started school this week! He looks so smart in his backpack, and has already gotten into the habit of putting it on and heading for the door as soon as he wakes up.  Let’s slow down, take a bath, and eat breakfast first little buddy.  It’s been so much fun watching him grow into a little person these past two years, when I look at pictures of him now he looks more and more like a boy and less like the baby I’m sure I’ll always see him as.  Leaving him is going to be terrible.

In other news, I stopped by the Garden Project on Wednesday, and harvesting is in full swing. There were bags of tomatoes, kale, and swiss chard for sale, and for the first time ever, I saw that there was uneaten beetroot, cabbage, butternut, rice, and soup leftover from our OVC. Not only are we able to adhere to our feeding scheme, but there actually appears to be too much! We’ll have to figure out how to deal with waste management, but it made me so happy to see that our IGP is paying off.

Success!

24

Happy MLK Day everyone! As the Peace Corps office is closed in observation of this American Holiday, I am going to keep plugging away on finalizing my VAST grant, work on my Description Of Service, and get some things printed out in town.  The sun is back out and shining away today, and a morning jog has helped kick things off to a good start. I must remember to keep doing this!

Sifting through items on my laptop yesterday, I came upon this jewel that was snapped in Machipe last March when Mom and Gil came to visit:

I am grateful everyday for the love and endless support of these two, and how without them I would surely not be where I am today.  My host families (in Mohlarekoma and Machipe) still ask about them and wonder when they are coming back to visit and will they be bringing sweets/Pendleton Whiskey with them? Shame. So precious!

25

Day 25 was a lovely, rainy relief from the hellish heat that has been baking us mercilessly for the past week or so.  After a refreshingly soggy run, I did some shopping for clothes to replace those that have recently expired when I boiled them to rid myself and my hut of a mysterious biting thing that traveled back with me from our Retreat. Limited water and capacity to boil it resulted in most of everything I own turning all sorts of strange colors as items of clothing I've had here for years now jumped at the opportunity to bleed all over the place. Thank you bugs!  Other than that development, life is going on as usual, the days are passing by, and I'm doing better at taking things slowly.  Ommmmmm...

26

26 days left and I've decided to take the weekend and get things done online like closing out my VAST grant, writing some very late emails, and catching up on YouTube videos and movie trailers in anticipation of my impending reintegration into American pop culture.  Yeehaw! We're in the midst of a heat wave here at the moment, which to be honest, isn't too incredibly bad, if only there was some air conditioning sanctuary to escape to! #firstworldproblems much? I think so. 

He has taken to emptying out his toy basket and using it as a fort. We may be more related than I'd 

thought.

Baby Lesego begins pre-school on Monday and has been parading around the house strapped securely into his new backpack. What he thinks he will be putting in there is beyond me, perhaps a pack of his new "big kid" pull-up nappies? A teddy bear? Someone's cell phone?  My money is on the latter as he has become recently aware that chucking the most valuable object across the room is apparently the most fun.  And so begin the Terrible Two's!

27

My 27th day left of life in Mohlarekoma began with a sleepless night. Again.  Trying hard to take things one day at a time, but those who know me well have seen how excited I get for the days and weeks and months, hell, the future to come, so this is proving rather difficult. But try, try I must!

Seeing as sleep and I aren't getting along well, I trekked to the office particularly early and worked with our Social Media/OVC Coordinator on building a website for MHBC that she will be able to update and manage upon my departure. Or at least that's the idea.  There was also the last monthly staff meeting that I will be around for, and I took the opportunity to bid farewell to all of our caregivers who I do not see very often. 

Debrah and I doing our Female Condom Demo

I walked home that afternoon in the beating sun with Debrah, the woman who has been my counterpart and right-hand lady for the past two years on a multitude of projects.  She saved the day at our Retreat last week by helping to translate my atrocious Sepedi into something that was actually comprehensible, and has done a phenomenal job of taking over our Community Garden Project.  On our walk home, she told me that a couple of the women who attended the retreat have started their own exercise club that meets daily at 5am to work out.  She said that they are all feeling so good now, and that they are going to remember to take care of themselves now, in addition to every other responsibility they have as heads of households and caregivers to at least 2 generations of children and family members.  The news made me so happy, I could hardly contain myself!  When you do outreach work in a community for two years, ANY kind of confirmation that your work means something to somebody else is a blessing that will make your day for weeks and weeks afterward.  Knowing that at least for now, women who attended our retreat enjoyed themselves and have since brought healthy life skills back to the village, was a HUGE validation for us that all of the hard work we put in to coordinating and facilitating those four days was worthwhile.  Huzzah!

28

Well, I officially have 28 days left in Mohlarekoma.  I topped up my internet data today and will do my best to make a short post every day until I leave the village on 14 Feb to supplement my dropping of the proverbial ball on the blog front these past two years. At least, that is my hope!

I returned home from the Limpopo Women’s Health Retreat that I co-ran with my friend and fellow PCV Doreh, and can say that the endeavor was a complete success.  Thank you once again to all of you who took the time to inquire and for the donations that made everything possible for the women who attended.  They were blown away by their accommodation, complete with a swimming pool and trampoline (!!!) and after the four days had passed, were begging us to extend the retreat.

Some of our lovely ladies from Sekhukhune and Venda, with myself, Doreh, and Sheila from CANSA

The next couple of weeks will undoubtedly fly by, and in anticipation of this phenomenon I am all but literally attached to the crisp, new, 2014 pocket agenda that Mom sent to me in what I can only assume was the last parcel I’ll be receiving here at the trusty Nebo Post Office.  My current goals include working with our new Social Media/Online Manager to build a simple website for Mohlarekoma Home-Based Care, and closing up projects like the “BIG’s & little’s” Peer Mentorship Program at Mmeshi Primary (Thank you to Grandma and Lisa Ellenberg once again for your generous shipments of books!) and teaching the grade 6-7 Social Sciences teacher, Mr. Mahlanya how to incorporate Mmeshi’s new World Map into his curriculum.

Until tomorrow,

Pebetse/Goitsimang/Alyssa