We came back to SOuth Africa a bit earlier than planned, and hung out with the rest of my intake group before I flew out April 1st. Flying out was really really difficult. Peace Corps was hard. Really really hard at times, and I definitely considered leaving early at some points. But I also learned a lot about myself, made great friends, and had some amazing adventures along the way, so it was hard to leave all of that behind.

Currently, I am in Italy on my COS (Close of Service) Trip. I met a friend of mine from America in Rome on the 2nd, we travelled around Rome and Florence before she left on the 10th. Currnetly I am in Pesaro visiting my cousin before heading to Germany the 14th.

Just prior to leaving my village, I found out that Drake Law awarded me a full tuition scholarship, so chances are I will be starting Drake (again) this fall. A lot of you either wrote recommendations, edited my statement, or just gave me support during my application process, so thank you so much!

I come back to Chicago May 6th. See you all then!

It really has been an amazing two years, and as I sit in Pretoria and write this, I am reflecting on the hardships, the fun, the small successes and the great friendships that I have experienced over those 2 years and I am truly sad to be leaving.

What makes leaving South Africa so much more difficult than coming here is the sense of finality. I have every intention of coming back for a visit some day, but who knows what will happen in the near or even the far future? Knowing how quickly things change, here, how fast people themselves come and go, I know that some of my friends and family won’t be around by the time I can make it back. And that is terrifying. I hate goodbyes; saying goodbye to all of you for a mere 2 years was difficult enough, so saying goodbye for forever is even more trying.

Some of you may have seen a few random updates on facebook regarding my inja (dog); He went missing for a few days 2 weeks ago. I wasnt worried for awhile, as he normally runs off to find himself a new girlfriend or two every once in awhile. But after about 4 days I began to feel nervous and went looking for him. Nothing. After about 6 days my host family told me that someone had stolen him! So my baba and I promptly traipsed over to some mans house. This man stated that he had bought Thunzi as a puppy (aka at least 3 years ago), and this was his dog. Negotiations ensued, and suffice it to say that Thunzi is now back with me, but I am scared the crazy man is going to attempt to steal Thunzi again.

I have started packing!! I am trying to get myself down to 1 bag, as my two easyjet flights in Europe allow only 20kgs (44lbs)!!! and damnit it is difficult! I have already mailed about 4 packages home, and have 2 more waiting here. I have been planning to give my host sister a majority of my clothes, but fitting in a sleeping bag, netbook, an enough clothing to last for almost 8 weeks, especially when transitioning from late African summer to an early European Spring! My final schedule is 12 days in Italy, 10 days in Germany, with a 1 night stop over in Prague, a week in London, and about 6 days in Paris with my mom! I am oh-so excited!

On the 18th a few friends and i will fly to Namibia for about a week. Namibia is the only country in the region I have yet to visit. We will see the sand dunes in Soussvlei, hang out in Swakopmund, and a few days in Windhoek (apparently more German than Germany) before coming back to South Africa on the 24th.

The 25th myself and a friend will go to Swaziland for a last hoorah, with about 2 days in Maputo (assuming the cheap visas at the Mozambiquan embassy in Mbabane are in fact real). I am planning on being back in Pretoria the 31st of March, as my flight off the continent is April 1st. I bought my ticket Friday, and it has definitely made everything seem real. I am in fact leaving. And very soon at that.

My plane ticket was decently cheap, but I have to lay over in the UAE (Heeeey Abu Dhabi!!).At least, inshallah, I will get to practice some Arabic. From there I am meeting a friend in Rome, hanging out with my Italian cousins that I haven’t seen in 14 years, then jetting up to Germany. My plans for Germany really only entail Munich for a bit, visiting an old friend outside Frankfurt, and of course Berlin. I am excited to see how much German I can dig out of the recesses of my brain.

After that it’s off to London! England is definitely in my top 5 countries to visit, because I am so fascinated with the history (especially early modern history). I am not sure what I will do yet, but the British museum is definitely on my radar. I need to check out some travel books next week when I am in Pretoria.

In the mean time, my org is planning a goodbye party for me, about which I am very excited. On our first day back at work for the year last week I started crying; I am going to miss everyone so much! Now I really have to focus on saying all of my goodbyes, and packing stuff.

COS
In early December the remaining ten people in my group went to Pretoria for our final training. COS (Close of Service) was the last time for many of us to come together as a group and look back on our service. It was great to get together one last time with everyone. I have put in an application to COS about 2 weeks early, on March 17th (our official date is April 1st), but I am still waiting on approval from the Country Director. Hopefully I will know soon!

December Holidays
From mid December to mid January every year South Africa essentially shuts down and goes on holiday. The cities are deserted, and holiday accommodation is booked up months in advance. After some last minute changes, myself and another volunteer went down to Warner Beach, south of Durban. It was great to be able to spend Christmas on the beach. Christmas Eve we went SCUBA diving on the Aliwal Shoal, considered one of the ten best dive sites in the world. I was really hoping to see my third species of shark for 2010. Alas, it was not to be! I will have to content myself with 2 species in 2010! We did see a turtle right as we were about to get in, a small ray, a giant star fish, and plenty of really amazing fish. I was a little scared to dive again after so long (2 years) since my last dive, but after a few problems getting down I did fine. I blew through my oxygen really fast, but still surfaced with the group. Warner Beach as a town was a bit of a disappointment (I think anything would have been after Tofo), and the backpacker was sort of weird; all families and not the usual young travelers that I have come to expect. For Christmas we ate a meal provided by the backpacker; curried lamb and duck, and some veg. It was delicious!
A few days after Christmas we were expecting to meet up with some volunteers in Lesotho. We took a night bus from Durban back to Pretoria; not even 15 minutes outside of Durban the bus broke down(I think exploded is a better way to put it; there was a loud pop under my seat and then smoke billowing from the rear tires). Luckily the company just sent us another bus (rather than a mechanic to try and fix the problem). I am delighted to report that that should hopefully be my last night-bus experience EVER!!
Due to a late start f rom Pretoria(one volunteer forgot her passport at site and had to go back and get it), we drove to Clarens, a town in the Eastern Free State just north of the border with Lesotho. It’s a small town with a lot of little shops and TWO breweries (this is amazing for South Africa)! Since we arrived in Clarens after dark we pretty much ate pizza (at the Nottingham Road Brewery) and went to bed. The next morning we walked around a bit and then crossed into Lesotho via the Camdoonspoort (Camel Rock in Afrikaans) border. Lesotho was the easiest border crossing ever. We didn’t have to pay a road tax for our car, or even register it! A few hours into Lesotho we stopped at some ancient dinosaur footprints. Apparently there are the markings from three different species in the rock at this particular site, but two were completely covered under water, and the third had to be scrapped out for us to see it. “Covered in water” certainly foreshadowed the rest of this trip!
We arrived to the Maseru backpackers to find that the lodge was out of water (toilets, showers, taps, etc). We went to dinner at an Indian restaurant, and discovered that Lesotho’s Maluti beer cans look exactly like Swaziland’s Sibebe beer cans. I bet they’re brewed by the same company…
The next afternoon we left Maseru and go on the road to Semonkong. We were booked to stay at Semonkong lodge in the mountains from the 30th until the 2nd, and to take a donkey pub crawl for New Years Eve. Roughly 50-60 Km’s outside of Maseru we noticed a clump of cars sitting on the road. Thinking it was an accident of some kind, we pulled over and got out of the car. It was an accident for sure, but not of the automobile variety; a flash flood had come down the river and was covering the low bridge. The water was quite high, and moving very fast. Our tiny clown car was never going to make it across. We were told to wait about 3 hours and the water would go down. We climbed a mountain next to the river and watched a large delivery truck attempt the crossing. He made it, but his giant wheels were completely covered. Next a Basotho man crossed on a horse. After that the minibus taxis (Combis) started crossing at a pretty fast pace. It started raining again, and at about this time we noticed that the river behind us had started spilling over the bridge immediately behind us. We had to leave or we would be trapped on a tiny peninsula of land! We made our way back to the nearest town and found a restaurant/shebeen to wait out the storm.
After about an hour and half we headed back to the river. The water level had dropped considerably, and was no where near as fast. However, it still looked slightly too high for the clown car. We hung out and watched how other cars made it. It appeared that the water was no longer the biggest problem; the raging river had washed away a bit of the concrete road on the far side of the bridge, and left a divot that our car would not be able to manage. Some Afrikaaners in a Jeep helpfully offered to cross before us and tow us out should we get stuck. This was a nice offer, but what if the bridge flooded again on our way back? Eventually we decided not to risk the divot and the 70KMs of untarred road on the opposite side of the bridge. After making a phone call, we found that another lodge about 3 hours away still had space for us that night. Off we went!
We arrived at night and in the rain, after 7 Kms of dirt road (Through a pass. In a Picanto.). Since I had been slogging through muddy river water all day, and hadn’t had a shower since South Africa, I was really excited to bath. I turned on the shower, and dark brown water shot out of the nozzle. There was no point to shower, I would come out dirtier than I went in! Eish.
The next morning it was still cloudy, but we were at least able to see the mountains all around us! Lesotho really is the mountain kingdom. We took a 5 hour hike to a water fall. Luckily I hadn’t showered, because we walked through so many rivers and hopped so many banks it was ridiculous. It was definitely an all-encompassing hike; fording rivers, kloofing, climbing up and down rocks, etc. The rain even stayed away until we were almost finished hiking! Luckily, after arriving back at the lodge we were able to shower! HOT water, and it was decently clear! Hands down best shower ever! As it was New Years Eve, we went for dinner at the lodge; rice, turkey, gammon, mashed butternut squash, chocolate cake and some other bits of deliciousness! AND we could go back for seconds!! Turkey! Twice in one year! So exciting!
This lodge didn’t have a donkey pub crawl, but we did head out into the village in order to visit some shebeens. The Basotho people are known for their blankets. Quite a few people wore their large blankets even when dancing at the shebeen. Traditional Basotho dancing involves a lot of shoulders (unlike Zulu dancing, which is characterized by kicking a foot high above the head, and pounding it into the ground), so that was cool to see. Someone even put their Sotho blanket over my shoulders. That thing was hot as hell to dance under!
We rang in the new year with some fireworks at the shebeen. It was a lot of fun…until some drunk guy took one of the still exploding fireworks out of the ground and started running around pointing it at people. Yikes! It was back to the lodge for us, for some dancing. The night got more and more crazy; I went to bed around 3:30…definitely one of the latest nights I have had in Southern Africa. On new years day we took a pony trek. The Basotho, in addition to their blankets, are known for their sturdy mountain ponies. We went for about an hour until we came to some 7000 year old San paintings (the San are the original inhabitants of this area; think of the movie The Gods Must be Crazy). The paintings were beautiful, and it was awe-inspiring to stand in front of something so old! Again, the rain held off for our pony trek, and started just after we arrived back in camp. Later, we met some Bots PCVs who had just completed a 4 day hike through rural Lesotho. Wanting to shower after being on a horse, we found the water worse than the first day; chocolate brown water sludging out of every faucet throughout the entire lodge. I managed to find one tap were the water was clear-ish, and showered there. Most of us were asleep by 10PM the night of the 1st.
The 2nd we crossed back into South Africa. One of our friends had to catch a bus to Durban, and there was an intense half hour when we couldn’t find the Intercape bus, or even anyone who knew where the Intercape bus stopped. Eventually we found it, and the rest of us missioned back up to Pretoria after a brief stop in Bloemfontein. I have never been so happy to get to Pretoria! Sun! Clean Water! Agh!!
Currently, I am back at my site, biding my time until my organization opens again on the 12th. My supervisor, who applied for me to come, quit the organization Monday for a better paying job at the clinic. Even though she is still really close, I feel so sad! It really is the end of an era. Next week our organization will have to elect/ decide on someone to take her position.

Leaving
I now have about 2.5 months left as a PCV. I put in application to finish up 2 weeks early (I will leave the village March 13th, and officially finish Peace Corps march 17th). My plan is to visit Namibia (the only country here in southern Africa I have yet to visit!), then do a crafting trip with Anne (Maputo via Swaziland). Roughly the 1st I will fly to Italy to meet up with Aditi, and then travel through Italy, Austria, Germany, London and possibly Paris. I am thinking I will arrive back states side about mid May. (My mother is decidedly unhappy about this new date). I am so so excited to get back to the states! Driving! Ginos East! All Night Grocery Stores! Family! High Heels! Friends! Newcastle! Wrigleyville! EEK EEK EEK! But I have already started bawling to Anne and my host family about leaving (my co-workers refuse to talk about it, because they themselves don’t want to cry). Life here was hard. Tons of ups and downs. Yes, I did think about leaving, especially within that first year. But at the end of the day I have really enjoyed my time here. I don’t think it would be worthwhile if it wasn’t hard. I will miss a lot of aspects of life here; weekends in Swaziland, traveling, month-long vacations, sense of independence, my host baba, my administrative co-workers (Samu, Nunu, Sibongile, Lindiwe), meeting tons of new and interesting people, my dog (OMG! I don’t know how I will leave him!! Tears just writing this!), certain aspects of village life, and tons of other things. Yes there are certain things I wont miss, like living out of my day pack for 2 years, packing my groceries in from town, drunk men slurring sweetie to me on the street, etc etc. But I have enjoyed my time here more than I have wished it was over.
One thing that really attracts me to Africa is how alive I feel here. Everything is much difficult here. Life and death are much closer to the service. Last week I had a rel-life Oregon trail decision situation: FORD THE RAGING RIVER. I don’t feel this way in America (I am now expecting a sharp rebuke from my father for writing that). There is something about this continent that, after visiting, never really leaves you. I know I will be back one day. Theres no way I could not come back.

I was reflecting on my service this past week, and I feel overwhelmed by the changes that have occurred around me the past 2 years. I came in with a lot of goals, which I humbly had to reassess once I realized that I really am only one human, and not superwoman as I sometimes like to believe in my head. But that changes that have occurred have really left me wide eyed in wonder.

ARV’s
When I first arrived, the population that a)knew they were positive b)knew their cd4 count and c) had a cd4 count of less than 200 had to travel at least 100km’s to one of three hospitals to access life-saving drugs on a monthly basis. At the cheapest this would be R100 round trip, a price that is unmanageable for those eeking a survival out of grants and unable to feed themselves and their dependents. I had foolishly believed that I might be able to get ARV’s into my local clinic by working with the Department of Health. After only a few weeks of being in the village and seeing how the DOH does/doesn’t operate, I quickly scratched that goal. However, a few months ago, the DOH reversed its order that only hospitals (read doctors) can dispense ARVs, and the drugs are now (technically) available in my village clinic. I don’t know how reliable they are (as in, are all the right meds consistently there?), but it’s a start! I am really happy for my positive community members, as this will do wonders to increasing their quality of life.

TAC
TAC, or the Treatment Action Campaign, is an organization that I was constantly reading about (Jonny Steinberg’s Three Letter Plague or Sizwe’s test, depending on where it’s published), and hearing about in the news. I had googled them and tried to find out how I could get them active in my village. Of course the website wasn’t as informative as I had wanted it to be, and could never find out much about local chapters. Then Thursday (11th November), I showed up at work and there they were! Perhaps twenty people in all, many wearing brightly colored shirts with HIV POSITIVE emblazoned across the front. I almost fainted! TAC had come for a visit to explain about their work, and because they want to start a group in my village! Thursday we went down the main road through the village (the gravel one leading to the police station from the tar road, for those of you who have been here), all the way to the taxi rank. Literally every person we saw was stopped and given a flyer and a packet of condoms. Even people who obviously didnt want to look any of us in the face! The best part was the people who saw what we were doing and left their wash in the yard to come out and collect condoms from us. That was really uplifting for me to see. TAC should start a group here in my village in early 2011, and I am excited to see the beginnings of this wonderful group!

Development
Although not on the scale of my neighboring town, Nhlazatshe, my village has developed in the past two years. Our Cash and Carry (pseudo African Costco) has expanded. Several entrepreneurs have set up braai (charcoal grill) stands to sell grilled chicken feet. There are two new drinking establishments (not the best form of development, but development nonetheless) near the taxi rank. One even has a snooker table! In the taxi rank someone has brought a trailer and cooks food to order out of it. My personal favorite is the “Shisa Nyama” (hot meat) braai stand, where you can go and buy raw meat (beef or wors) and then cook it out back. This stand is rather inconveniently located at one of the aforementioned drinking establishments, but if I don’t go on a weekend I am normally OK.

My Organization
When I first arrived, my organization was operating out of a garage. More or less a closet sized space inside the garage. In the past we had one virus-laden desktop computer, a rickety desk and plastic chairs. As of last week, we now operate in a spacious building (thanks to money we received in the Telkom charity grant last year) with a full kitchen, three offices, two toilets (currently not operating, but maybe soon?!), and a large meeting room. We now have two desktops and one laptop. I created an email for our organization and all of the administrative team can scan a document and attach it to an email. This has saved us a lot of faxing and mailing fees. Huge filing cabinets and several large desks were delivered earlier this week and proper chairs are on their way. By early next year we should have the bakery equipment installed and the bakery should be starting.

My house
When I first arrived, my host baba (father) hadn’t really been present for roughly the past twenty years. He lived outside Jo’Burg with his 2nd wife, and only came home about twice a year. The house wasn’t exactly neglected, but it could use some work. He retired and moved back here to the village last July, and we now own 4 cows, 20 chickens for family consumption, plus we sell chickens to our neighbors. Our garden has grown, and the pump has been moved from a muddy pit to the backyard. This makes my life slightly more difficult, but its better for the garden. He has also installed water in the big house, so my mama has a running faucet now. He has plastered both my house and theirs, and built a garage. There is also a large fence around the property so its difficult for people to break in now. I think he has several more projects planned as well, so further change is coming!

Even though I have in no way been a catalyst for any of this change, I feel proud to have been witness to it. I know change always takes a long time. I am an impatient person by nature, and I know I have gotten frustrated with both Peace Corps as an organization as well as my village as a whole, but in the end it has been worth it. As I am planning on finishing my Peace Corps service in mid March, I only have about 4 months left, and now I begin the process of wrapping everything up!

After the conference, it was off to Mozambique! Myself, two other volunteers, and two South African friends all went to Maputo (the capital), and to Tofo (the beach) for a nice holiday. It was a lot of grueling travel; of the 8 days of the trip, we were up at 5 AM four of them. Pretoria to Maputo was about 8 hours in a Kia Picante, which belonged to one of the South Africans. Think clown car, plus bags. This was supposed to be the easy part, what with South Africa’s nice roads. But of course less than 200 km’s outside of Pretoria we got a flat. Ugh. So we lost a few hours changing it, and finding a tyre repair center to patch it up for us at 7 AM. Maputo to Tofo was supposedly pretty rough road conditions. Although it is only about 500 km’s up the coast from Maputo, we still planned for it to take the whole day. Amazingly, we didn’t have any problems until just past Xai Xai. Suddenly the tar road just…ended…But the dirt road was well packed and despite the large number of trucks we still made good time. What made it miserable was the oppressive heat and lack of air con in the packed car. One of my college roommates best friends is in the Peace Corps in Mozambique, and she made reservations for us an absolutely amazing lodge right on the beach in Tofo. She met up with us in Inhambane and took us around, to show us the ropes. A 6th person in the clown car was disastrous, but luckily it was only about a 30 minute drive.

Tofo was amazing. You could see the beach from our porch! Within 15 minutes of arriving and checking in, we were all down in the water, riding the waves, and splashing away like crazy. It was heavenly! A couple of times that first night I woke up confused…”What is that sound?” Then I would realize it was the crash of the surf and go back to sleep happy. Tofo is super touristy…but not in the built up American way. No holiday inn etc, and thank god for that! Our first full day there we just lazed about, and swam so so much! Our second day we swam in the morning, and then walked to Tofo Scuba because we had all decided to try our luck with animal viewing, but this time in the Ocean. Tofo has one of the only “resident” populations of whale sharks in the world, with roughly 300 individuals regularly spotted along that coast. The world-wide population of whale sharks is only thought to be +/-1000, so it truly was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Although it is a shark, the largest one in the world at that, the whale sharks feeds on plankton and other tiny creatures and doesn’t pose any sort of risk to humans. Unfortunately, the clouds rolled in and the waves got monstrous. So we didn’t spot any whale sharks, even though the boat just before us (THAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE ON) had seen 3 sharks and a giant manta ray!! A few people did get seasick though. That morning a few fisherman had come literally to our doorstep and sold us a bunch of prawns (think shrimp). That evening we cooked up a bunch of prawns and potatoes using some stuff we had purchased in the local market (I know I wasn’t the only PCV from South Africa who was really excited to see real live markets again!), and had ourselves a fabulous dinner. The electricity went out shortly after that, so the other PCV’s and I walked down the beach a bit. The difference in tide levels was really high, probably close to 80-100ft.

The next morning 3 of us decided to try our luck with the whale sharks again…they gave us half off a second try since we didn’t see them the day before. This time we were in luck!! The first shark they spotted, everyone lunged off the boat, I was so nervous/ excited that I wasn’t breathing, despite the snorkel in my mouth. I couldnt see this supposedly giant thing anywhere, so I pulled my face out of the water to look at the guide (who was still in the boat), saw where he was pointing, and put my head back into the water. And then…HOLY SHIT! IT WAS COMING RIGHT AT ME! Right under me!! I tried to swim backwards, but it was a diver free-for-all, so I was a bit stuck/ in shock. It passed by uneventfully, and then I remember to swim after it. It went down shortly after, then it was back on the boat. For the next hour and a half we were jumping in and out of that boat (what a work out! My abs are still a bit sore!), and saw about 6 or 7 different sharks. There was another time when I got surprised by a shark right under me, and when I got back on the boat the guide had a good chuckle at my expense. But it was soo worth it! I am so happy that I went the second time. Between the whale sharks and the great whites earlier this year, I think 2010 will forever been known as the year of the shark!

The next day was the dreaded trip back to Maputo. Luckily the day was cloudy and so the drive wasn’t quite so miserable. We ended up wandering all over Maputo, half exploring, half looking for a decent restaurant that met our budget and wasn’t a South African chain. We ended up getting some pizza and beer (AHAHA so American), but it was so good. By 10PM we were all asleep. I know I definitely needed that sleep after all the sun sand fun! The next morning (early of course), we went and took a wee tour of the city. Saw a building designed by Eiffel (of the Eiffel tower), a pretty church, and then went to the Central Market. The Market was a great mix of touristy stuff and produce. So not every one in there was a touristy d-bag like us. We made a few purchases, but I had been really excited to pick up some African fabric, which is really difficult to find (read nonexistent) in South Africa. I had spotted a shop across the street, so we headed back over there, and let me tell you, it sorta felt like heaven! I was really overwhelmed by all the beautiful colors and designs, and restrained myself to only 2 pieces. I am really excited to get them made into some really amazing skirts! We walked back to the backpacker and lounged about through the heat of the day, then it was off along the coast to the fish market. All I can say is wow, it was super overwhelming! Before we even crossed the STREET to get into the market we were each being accosted by guys wanting to take us to their fish restaurant. We wandered through the fish market proper with every kind of fish/ crab/ mussel/ crayfish ever caught sitting out on wooden tables. We didnt loiter long, because we were getting hassled quite a bit, so we went and sat at a table and ordered crab, prawns, barracuda, and calamari along with some beers rice and chips (french fries). It was a really great last meal, and we were all super full and not in the mood to walk the hour back to the backpacker so we caught a chapa (Mozambique’s version of the South African taxi) back towards the lodge. It was amazingly cheap, especially compared to South African transport prices (South African taxis are pretty much all unionized…jerks).

Mozambique was an adventure in languages. As they were colonized by the Portuguese, the main language spoken is still Portuguese. Portuguese is alluringly similar to Spanish so that when you read it you think you might know how to say it. But wow the accent is a lot different. I tried as best I could with my restaurant Spanish…but I think Anne’s comment of “um, I think he pronounced it the exact opposite of how you pronounced it” sums up my attempts pretty well! All in all we got along decently well, the biggest issue was ordering tap water…we would ask for agua, and get bottled water. But all in all, that really isnt that big of an issue! It was a really great trip, and I would love to go back!

As for my applications. I submitted my first application (to University of Illinois) while at the hotel for the Embassy training, and submitted all ten (I rearranged things and only applied to ten) prior to leaving for Mozambique. In theory I should start hearing back within the next two weeks (aka I will have a pit in my stomach for the next two weeks), and should hear back from U of Illinois by around December 15th! Hope for the best for me, cause if I don’t get in anywhere, I am moving to Mozambique for 3 months and getting my master dive certification and you may never see me again. ;)

So! On the work front, My Home Based Care was nominated for the best project in the province . On Friday myself and several co-workers went to Nelspruit to a banquet dinner for all the nominees across the province (it was quite swanky). It involved a tortuous 7.5 hour (one way) bus ride because government officials were so disorganized, but a really great hotel! In the end we won out of the whole province! It was great to see my 4 co-workers dressed up in their finest (think prom dresses), and for them to be recognized for all their hard work was just great!
As for my girls club…it no longer exists. But! It has morphed into a co-ed youth group. Every Wednesday I teach a little class to about twenty OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) youth. Recent classes have included a debate about gender roles (what is ok for men? Women? Both?), sexual reproduction (every time I draw a uterus it looks like a monster), and condom use (this was the best day. Ever.). I think things are going well.
I was thinking last night (when I should have been sleeping) about doing a “Take Back the Night” rally here in my village. Take Back the Night is about rape awareness, but it seems so important to do it here because of the fear people have (literally) of things that happen after dark. I will talk to my organisation tomorrow and see if it’s feasible.
Additionally, my supervisor was applied for a grant from the US Embassy here in South Africa several months back, and we were awarded US$20,000 to start a bakery! This is such great news not only for my org, but for our community. It will help with income generation, and will create bread that can be sold for less than current loaves that are imported from other towns. Even if they are only R2 less, this will help the impoverished people here.
Right now there are a lot of exciting things happening for my org, and I am excited and proud to be a part of it. In the near future there will be a bit of a shake-up as both myself and my supervisor will be leaving early next year, and I am honestly a tad nervous for the future, but I know that the ladies we leave behind will do an awesome job!

On a personal level, I am getting ready to head to Mozambique at the beginning of November. Myself, a few other volunteers, and some South African friends are going to do some diving. Mozambique is known for whale sharks, and giant manta rays, and I am hoping to see both! By early December I will have my COS (Close of Service) conference. I am almost done! I can barely believe that two years has literally flown by! At the beginning (and various bumps along the way), when the full two years stretched out in front of me, I didn’t think I would make it. And now, with less than 6 months to go, I am already sad at the prospect of leaving.
To date, my service has been filled with a lot of smiles and tears, but overall I think it has been worht it. At what cost to my personal sanity remains to be seen, but all in due time!

Cheers!