I am writing these for posterity’s sake, not to whine, or be grumpy. If nothing else, it will be interesting to look back at this post in a few months and see what was worth being frustrated over, and what I was just being ridiculous about…
- Peace Corps’s “no cell phone/ internet until April” rule. While I cannot comment and say that this is the OFFICIAL rule, everything I have read from PC literature to other volunteers info points to this being policy. I understand the logic behind such a policy…they want us to be focused on our studies, and immersing ourselves. This is great, and I have every intention of doing such. But cell phones are also key when meeting new contacts! I have found in my life adventures so far, that exchanging cell phone numbers with new contacts is crucial. What if I meet someone who I feel could be critical to my job while at post? Aren’t cell phones also a safety thing? I feel safer if I can txt/ sms someone and say hey, I got lost…hey, this happened, I will be late…in these such circumstances, a cell phone is beyond useful. I do not plan on calling home on a daily basis (especially because my mom said I could not). I do not plan on gallivanting around Jo’Burg giving everyone my phone number and having 800 boyfriends by the end of my first week. I think such a policy is ridiculous!!
- Now I have never been to SA, so this is based purely on some of the books that I have read. This “frustration,” if you will, is the one that I must be the most careful about: In my reading I have come across many rural South African’s attitudes towards HIV/ AIDs. It is shocking, unnerving, and well, frustrating. In reading “Sizwe’s Test” (see below), I read of Sizwe’s fear to test. In one part of the book, Sizwe says that he thinks white people must be behind the disease because people in America/ Europe have generally stopped dying from HIV unlike their African counterparts. I wanted to scream. If “whites” have stopped dying, it is because we TEST!!! At the clinic I have been volunteering with, they request that sexually active homosexuals get tested every 6 months!! They suggested that the general population get tested every 12 months at least. These testing suggestions of course are determined by number of partners and other risk factors…but the fact is WE GET TESTED. Then again, we also have the option to access anti-retrovirals, whereas many SA’s do not. But the Red Cross has made significant strides in that country to bring medicines to rural populations. Is the system perfect? No. Far from it. And if the South African government doesn’t start putting some effort in, unfortunately the situation is unlikely to change. In “No Place left to Bury the Dead” I was also frustrated by the idea that many of the villagers view HIV/ AIDs as a curse put on a person by a witch or another person. It is one thing to head out to SA with an open mind and understand that another culture is different and therefore not comparable to mine. But I have to contend with witchcraft?! How do I even begin to make progress with stuff like that? How can I argue against the supernatural? One person at a time is my only answer.
- This is not really a frustration, but I am scared to death of my 8 weeks with a homestay. Scared. To. Death. All I can say is that I hope they are cool, and have kids my age who dont mind me tagging along after them!!
I suppose that everything will work out how it should. I just have to remember to take some deep breaths, and I will be ok. Not everything is going to be perfect, but if it were I would not need to go to SA with PC, right?
Adventures on the Dark Continent 
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