South Africa continues to be beautiful and interesting. At times being here seems almost too easy, and at other times everything seems to take much more energy than at home: driving, communicating, shopping, using a cell phone, drinking water, etc.

The people who buy the produce from Siyavuna Development Centre (the brand is called Kumnandi) appear to be very diverse. The whites who buy the produce seem to be genuinely interested in it for its quality and are by no means buying it out of pity. It is interesting to see manifestations of a sort of generosity or “white guilt”, if you want to call it that, however; often the white people who buy Kumnandi produce will tell use to keep the change. (The most someone has left us in change so far was R84.00, or $10.51. To put that in perspective, we’re currently selling bananas for R7/kg and onions for R8/kg). If “white guilt” leads white South Africans to such random acts of generosity, then all the better, but of course that’s not enough by itself. In my experience, though, when privileged people make such relatively small sacrifices for those who are much less privileged, they tend to feel more or less absolved of their guilt.

The fact that POR is a Christian organization which has some expectation of volunteers making time for spiritual activities has turned out to be a good thing for me. I didn’t think I wanted to volunteer with a religious organization, but then again, I didn’t think I wanted to go to a religious college, and then I ended up being one of those Oles (aka St. Olaf students) who majors in religion and goes to chapel every day. It seems to be something I can’t get away from. I am enjoying the religious opportunities here: groups of volunteers go to church together most Sundays, and we’re also sort of expected, though not technically required, to go to home group meetings (smaller groups within the church) on Wednesday nights from around 7:00-9:00 pm. These church experiences and home group meetings have been interesting. The church next to POR (Gates of Praise International Church) is most definitely the Pentecostal/charismatic sort, and never lacking for passion and enthusiasm, though probably not how I would want to worship all the time. Already I’ve sometimes left home group meetings with my head spinning, and I can tell there will be many interesting discussions with these new church friends in the months to come.

A lot of friends have asked, understandably, about the ethnic diversity in South Africa, languages spoken, race relations etc. Here in KwaZulu-Natal the most common African language is Zulu, and most of the white people speak Afrikaans, though there are also whites who speak English as their first language. There are eleven official languages in South Africa, with most South Africans (it seems) speaking more than one. There is an incredible income gap in South Africa (the country has the highest, or second highest, Gini coefficient in the world) and I’m continually shocked at the handful of fancy houses in the undeveloped areas. In few places is it so normal (though it is not really normal) to be in a rural area that gives one the feeling like one is on the edge of the earth, and then to be in a mall not unlike one that would be found in the U.S. 20 minutes later. Needless to say, the potential for misunderstanding between people here is tremendous. I feel like I have to make a constant effort to communicate myself clearly here because most of the people I talk to here speak English as a second (or third) language, and also because most South Africans have a picture of Americans that is mostly or entirely derived from TV and movies and is often very stereotyped.

One of the hardest things for me to get used to here, culturally, has been “African time”. The things that seem to consistently run on time are planes, buses, church, etc. However, when you’ve made a plan with someone to meet at a certain time, any time up to half an hour after you agreed to meet is fair game. I can be very obsessive about following schedules, so this continues to be quite an adjustment for me. Of course, the time difference between here and home has been an adjustment too; since South Africa is six hours ahead of U.S. eastern time, finding a time to Skype with people back home can be complicated.


We’ve been having time for fun in addition to the work-related activities during the week, which is great, though I generally want to spend as little money as possible. So far I’ve gotten to go on a hike, to one of the beaches, shopping (shopping centers here are as extensive as any western country, for better or worse), to a Crocodile Farm, to the houses of some friends of POR/former volunteers, and out for food/drinks a couple times. The kinds of activities that I’m really excited about doing here, though, are cultural/historical things like music, museums, etc. I’m not sure how much of those sorts of things I’ll get to do here in Margate, but I’m pretty set on going to a concert in December with the Drakensburg Boy’s Choir and Ladysmith Black Mambazo (see link below). Experiences like that one would make the entire trip here worth it for me, if that turns out to be as awesome as it sounds.

http://dbchoir.info/index.php/choir/festivals/christmas-in-the-berg

That’s about all that’s on my mind this week. As usual I’d love to hear from any and all of you.

collecting/weighing/packaging vegetables with Siyavuna

my Swedish housemates (fellow volunteers) and I

selling Kumnandi (Siyavuna) vegetables in front of the Good Health Shop - where we sell every Friday

Hi friends!

Now that I’ve been here a week I think I owe everyone an update of life in South Africa, so here it goes. I’ve never done a blog before and am honestly a bit leery of them. To me it has always seemed presumptuous to assume that people want to read all about your life. Granted some people’s everyday lives are so incredible that it makes sense that they would have a blog (though such people are generally not the types to broadcast what they do for anyone to read about) and some people are so glamorous and gorgeous that people are interested in reading their blog even if the contents thereof is actually very dull. Since I don’t really think I fit into either of these categories I’m going to try my best to hold your interest in describing my current life in this wonderful country.

It’s been a crazy week. After arriving on Saturday in the late afternoon (October 8th), going right to a barbecue with the other volunteers (“braii” is the Afrikaans word), and going to church and on a long hike/picnic/sight-seeing tour on Sunday, my first week began. But now I’m getting ahead of myself.     

I’m staying in the volunteer house at Give a Child a Family, aka The Place of Restoration, in Margate, South Africa, in the KwaZulu-Natal province. The POR is a place where orphans and vulnerable children from this area stay until a secure foster family can be found to place them in. The POR has been around since 1992 and was founded by a Swedish couple, Basil and Monica Woodhouse. Over the years it has become recognized as a best practice model for care of such children. Because the founders are Swedish, many of the young people who come to volunteer at the POR are Swedish. This particular group is entirely Swedish, with the exception of me (there are six of us girls and one guy). Their work consists of rotating between the various areas of the POR that need helping hands including the nursery, the primary school (older children attend local schools), the kitchen, etc. Some of the volunteers also work with another organization that grew out of POR and which POR still supports: Siyavuna Development Centre. It is here that I will actually be working until the end of the year, since POR doesn’t need new volunteers until then. Siyavuna was created in 2010 as a project of POR, and they still use some of POR’s office space, but they are now a separate organization. Siyavuna works on projects in Southern KwaZulu-Natal to teach poor rural farmers how to farm organically, and then to market what they sell to earn some extra income. That would seem to be a common type of organization in South Africa, where unemployment is extremely high, but there are actually hardly any organizations in South Africa that teach people to farm and also give them the tools and skills to market what they sell (there are, however, many organizations in South Africa that simply teach people how to farm).

In any case, this week I got to participate in the regular traveling to rural communities that Siyavuna does to help collect the vegetables from the farmers who have gone through Siyavuna’s training and have agreed to participate in the program. We pay them for their produce on the spot (after quality-checking and weighing it) and then resell it according to current mid-range retail prices. There are several locations where we sell during the week: a flea market, outside a shop called The Good Health Shop (a supporter of Siyavuna), and outside a chicken farm, where you can buy every chicken part imaginable (and even live chickens if you want to slaughter them yourself). Until the end of the year I’ll be working with and learning from Siyavuna in the hopes of later being able to help replicate their model elsewhere in South Africa with the help of the connection who told me about these organizations: an amazing South African woman called Marjorie Jobson.

I also had a few orientation things to do this week, like take the driving test (learning to drive on the left side of the road in a stick-shift car has been fun, shall we say), meeting most of the employees at POR, and spending some time in the foster care training agency located near POR. I’m getting used to the schedule here, which is very much a reflection of POR’s religious (Christian) roots. The period for devotions every morning (from 8:00 - 8:20 am or so) is quickly becoming the highlight of my day - prayers, announcements, Scripture readings, and Zulu women singing hymns in Zulu in a manner that could only be described as Sacred Harp-like. (If you don’t know what Sacred Harp singing is, ask me later and I’ll gladly fill you in.) There’s a church next door to POR which the volunteers usually go to (though there are many other churches in the area too - no Orthodox ones though) and there are also small groups within the church that meet once a week. I actually feel sort of overwhelmed with opportunities for spiritual growth and development, which really isn’t a problem at all. Overall I am doing well and I think I will be useful and engaged (read: very busy) during my time here, which is really all I could ask.

Thank you all for your interest in my adventure! As usual, comments and questions are most welcome.