African Birthdays

If anyone knows me well, they know that I love birthdays and celebrating them with friends and family.  I love to spoil friends with gifts and cards.  As an RA senior year, I made sure each of my residents got a birthday sign and made sure each of them got a special treat like cupcakes or brownies.  I always enjoy making other people feel special on their birthdays and feel so blessed when people do it for me on mine.  This year, my roommates and I were at a music festival for the weekend and had a great time camping and listening to some great music.  On my birthday, my roommates treated me to Titanic 3D which was amazing and a perfect birthday present!  They also made me a delicious dinner and cake and a great card to remember it all.  My birthday ended with a Skype call with my parents who missed having me home to celebrate but held up a pint of Cherry Garcia with two candles so they could see me make a wish.  It was all very thoughtful and I appreciated everything that went into making my birthday in Africa so special.  I even had the day off from work for South African Family Day which was a nice break. 

The following day at St. Theresa’s Lyle turned 13 and I was there to celebrate with him and the rest of the boys from Cottage 3.  I took down all their birthdays at the beginning of the year to make sure I remembered them all and were able to do something special for each of them.  Lyle was the first one I was here for so I brought the cottage mini cupcakes and candles so we could sing.  I lit the candles in the cupcake he picked and we all sang happy birthday to him.  It was a great moment to see all the kids singing and having the spotlight on Lyle for a couple of minutes.  From the looks of the excitement on the boys’ faces, I don’t think the Uncles and Aunties do anything special for the boys birthdays so I was happy to make Lyle for special.  Lyle is usually pretty quiet but when he does talk, he always has plenty of questions about what life is like in America.  He asked me how I usually celebrated my birthday and I told him that I always blow out a birthday candle and make a wish.  It was very nice to share this little piece of home with him and the rest of the cottage.  After Lyle blew out his candles, Auntie remembered that it was my birthday the day before so we relit the candles and everyone sang to me.  Of course the rest of the afternoon was blown from all the sugar the boys had but the lack of homework was worth the smiles on Lyle and the rest of the boys faces.

On Wednesday, we went to our biweekly dinner at Kloof Parish with the priests.  Gogo Flossy cooked a delicious pasta dinner and the conversation was great as always.  Then Father Frank said that there was a very special dessert for everyone.  He then came out with a birthday cake and everyone sang happy birthday to me and my roommate Kevin, whose birthday was 2 weeks before mine.  I had no idea this was coming and was flattered that they took time to get a birthday cake for us.  The extra special part of the whole meal was that Gogo Flossy actually sat down and had a piece of birthday cake with us.  Gogo is the cook for the priests and never sits down to eat her own meal.  Father Frank invited her to join us for dessert and she hesitantly accepted.  She sat next to me and quietly enjoyed her piece of cake while the rest of us continued our conversation.  It was great for Gogo to be a part of my birthday celebration along with all the priests and Brother Craig at Kloof Parish. 

Turning 24 has been quite the whirlwind of feelings and emotions but I feel so blessed to be a part of this community and program in South Africa.  My birthday was perfect because of Kellie, Kevin, and Matt and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for all the love they have showed me.  Birthdays are special no matter where you are in the world.  I am so blessed to be able to say that I shared my birthday with these amazing people in my life.  I hope you all special you are and enjoy your birthday whenever it is! Just a little shout out to my brother Steven whose 21^st birthday is ironically today, the day I am posting this blog about birthdays.  I hope you have a great birthday Steven and all your wishes come true.  I love and miss you all but know that I will be thinking of you on your birthday even though I can’t be physically with you to celebrate. 

Halala ngosuku lokuzalwa (Happy Birthday in Zulu) to everyone!

South African Fact: Dessert is called pudding in South Africa.  Also when we were teaching body parts at St. Leo, I found out that our American “head, shoulders, knees and toes” song is actually “head, shoulders, chest, waist, knees and toes” in South Africa/Zulu.

Pictures from Pomeroy

Classroom at Gordon High School which was the first school we went to

Soccer playing at Mozane

Girl dancing at Nkamba, the poorest place we went to

Younger kids drawing at Matshematshe

Playing soccer at Matshematshe

A view near Pomeroy

A view near Pomeroy

A view at Msinga Top which is 15km away from Pomeroy

Another view from Msinga Top

Pomeroy: the beauty of simplicity

When Americans think of Africa, they usually picture animals, huts, and black children running around. This deception is more or less what we found in Pomeroy, the "African bush," in addition to so much more.  The drive to Pomeroy from our house in Botha's Hill takes about 2.5-3 hours and consists of very windy, hilly roads, driving through small villages, and breathtaking sites of mountains, fields, and greenery.  There is one part of the drive in which you go down a small mountain on a windy road with no guardrails on the side! That was quite nerve-wracking for me to drive on but an adventure nonetheless.  This road winds all the way down to a valley which leads you on a road to Pomeroy after you pass through a small village called Tugela Ferry.  The greenery turns brown and gets drier as you get closer to Pomeroy but it is still beautiful and has plenty of green fields and trees.  The village of Pomeroy itself consists of an approxiametley two mile piece of straight road that goes straight through the town.  There is an Augustinian convent where we stayed at, a post office, a small prison, and a small section of stores on either side of the street that is considered  "downtown."  They do have a Shoprite but most of their stores are run by the locals such as the fruits and vegetables, the butchery, and the liquor store.  As soon as I drove into Pomeroy, I was struck by the simplicity and the small scale village that was busy and populous for a Thursday morning.  I instantly thought "how do these people live here with so little?" It wasn't until the end of the week that I realized the true meaning and beauty in the simplicity of this small, amazing village of Pomeroy.


The Augustinian convent we stayed at is the first thing you come to as you drive into Pomeroy.  There are five sisters that live here year round and run a clinic called Noyi Bazi which they share a property with and provides services for all the surrounding areas.  We thought we were there that week to help out Sister Delores in the clinic because her other sisters were going on a retreat by our house in Botha's Hill but we didn't end up working in the clinic too much.  Sister Madeline, who is a pint sized nun who has lived and worked in Pomery since 1965, gave us a tour of the property when we arrived on Thursday.  The clinic has tablets (medicine) for HIV, TB, and many other things and is always stocked with the right ones so Noyi Bazi is very busy all the time.  At the end of the day when our other work was done, I would go to the clinic and help organize/sort all of the patient cards they used that day and note how much each patient paid.  It was a very easy job but it helped make the end of the day process go quicker so I was happy to help.  On Friday when I was in the clinic, three boys who were 14, 15, and 15 years old came in and registered but then were sent home to get permission/consent to have a circumsion done the following day.  I didn't get the whole story about this but I know that the boys wait until they are old enough to get a circumision and I think it has to do with them becoming a man and having more responsibility.  One of the nurses also mentioned to me that there were going to be a lot of pregnant women in the winter because they need to keep warm and they are bored. The nurse said that these are the excuses they would use when they got pregnant! I was kind of disappointed that I wasn't able to work in the clinic as much as we were told we were going to do but the other things we did were good and were helpful.


Throughout the week we helped Sane and Nosipho with different groups of kids who are part of the Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) program.  All of the kids were out of school last week so we spent each day at a different school in a different area.  This was a great experience to be able to go to different communities outside of Pomeroy and really see/feel how these kids live in the "bush."  Each day was a completely different setting/area with some schools having actual classrooms and chairs while others just had  an empty room with half broken benches.  The first school we went to on Saturday had 45 kids crammed into one room sitting in chairs around the perimeter with us sitting in the front.  Each time we met a new group of kids, they started by singing some Zulu songs which were beautiful even though I couldn't understand what they were saying.  They also sang the South African national anthem which I enjoyed.  Then we would all pray the Our Father before introducing ourselves.  The kids would introduce themselves in English if they could and we butchered our way through a couple phrases of Zulu to introduce ourselves.  We said "Hi my name is ______. I live in America. I am ____ years old. I teach at St. Leo Primary School" which in Zulu is "Sanibonani Igama lami Janine.  Ngivale e America.  Ngemenyaga e u 23.  Ngifundisa e St. Leo Primary isikhole."  These were pretty simple phrases to say so I struggled with them in the beginning but by the end of the week I was much better but no where near perfect!


After introductions, we talked to the kids about some pretty tough subjects like jobs, HIV/AIDS, TB, education, and child abuse.  Each time we said something, some of the kids would understand but most wouldn't so our words were translated by Nosipho or Sane into Zulu.  Usually we would start by asking the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Some of the responses were doctor, nurse, teacher, policeman, dentist, solider, security guard, social worker, pilot and engineer.  Some groups were more creative than others but this was a good question to ask to get the conversation started about the importance of staying in school and getting a good education in order to grow up and do all of these great jobs.  We also told them that it is important to stay healthy which transitioned into the talk about HIV/AIDS and TB.  It felt a little weird at first talking to a bunch of African kids about these diseases but sadly they know about them even at the youngest age possible because they effect so many people in the country.  Another strange thing about it was that we were just saying things that got directly translated into Zulu so why would we need to say it? Sane and Nosipho told us that it was good for the kids to hear this information from young white people to show that we care and know the information that is effecting their lives but also some of ours.  Kellie and Kevin were really good about talking about HIV/AIDS and TB because of their work in the AIDS clinic but by the end of the week we were all able to contribute to that part of the talk.  We told them to cough in their arms or hands and not to cough out in the air because that spread germs.  We talked about the symptoms of TB and HIV and how they can go to Noyi Bazi clinic to get tablets to make them feel better if they are sick from these diseases or any others.  It was important for us to talk about the ways you can get HIV like through blood to blood contact or unprotected sex which some of the kids already knew but others didn't seem to.  Some of these children go to traditional healers who cut their arms from razors so we told them to make sure that they have their own razor when they go get their cuts.  We stressed the importance of wearing condoms, gloves, and most importantly abstinence.  It was quite interesting and shocking to talk to children as young as 5 about abstinence but HIV spreads so quickly that we want to try and prevent these kids from engaging in sex early and therefore decrease their chances of getting HIV.  We also told them that it is important for them to get and know their status which they can find out for free at Noyi Bazi clinic with just a prick of their finger.  After these topics we asked them if they knew what child abuse was.  Some responded with the correct answer while others didn't know.  It was easy for me to tell them about child abuse and how it is not ok for someone to hurt them like that because of all the studying I did with it in school.  Although the whole time I couldn't help thinking that most of the kids in the room were very young to talk about these things.  I felt like all of them have to grow up way too fast because of the society that they live in but in the end it is better for them to be educated and aware of these things at a younger age so they can ask for help if they need it.  This discussion also allowed the children to talk about their rights like the right to education, health care, a home, play, eat food, and the right to complain which we used to discuss how they should say something if they are getting hurt by anyone or they are not getting something that they are supposed to like education, health care or food. 


After these discussions we gave the kids a chance to ask us things about America and the differences between here and there. Most kids asked about the travelling to get here like the distance and time.  There were a lot of questions about the animals, the money, and food that we ate.  Most of them knew popular artists like Rihanna, Beyonce, Nicki Minaj, Kanye West and Justin Bieber.  One of the boys asked really interesting questions about the time difference and the if we were happy that we were in South Africa. A couple of the older kids asked questions about HIV and TB which made us happy that they were concerned about what we were talking about and allowed us to clear up the stigmas people have against people who are HIV positive or have AIDS.  After our talks, we took the kids outside and played soccer/pass with them until it was time for lunch.  We fed them hot dogs, an apple, and juice which they all seemed to enjoy.  Some days the butcher in town didn't have hot dogs so we had to given them pologna which is basically a pink hot dog which looked gross but the kids ate them.  


As I mentioned before, all of the places we went were completely different and unique in their own way but I want to briefly talk about two of the places we went that were quite extreme in their differences.  The first was the place we went to on Tuesday called Nkamba which was by far the poorest of them all.  There were a couple of mud huts that people lived in around us and the building we were in was long and narrow and made of cement with a roof made of sticks.  It was extremely hot that day but a little cooler inside.  The kids sat on broken benches and all crammed together to fit.  It was definitely a wake up call for us because we were complaining about the lack of things to do in the morning but this school definitely made me appreciate being there with the kids.  This group was by far the best singing group and performed songs about TB in addition to a little play about the birth of Jesus.  The first place we went on Saturday, Gordon High School, was probably the most well off out of all the sites because it had many different classrooms and a chalk board that we were able to use.  The kids were very attentive and asked a lot of questions which we enjoyed.  Matshematshe, which means many stones, had the smartest/most clever (the South African's use this a lot to describe bright kids) kids.  Almost all of them were able to introduce themselves in clear English and understood what we said when we were talking.  There were 2 older kids who could translate everything we were saying back to Zulu.  The oldest girl was also able to explain what HIV was and how you get the disease.  It was inspiring to hear them explain it and know what they were saying.  The week was quite the experience overall but I am so blessed to be able to have gone there and met all those amazing kids and people.  


Looking back on this week at Pomeroy, I really enjoyed the experience and all the people we met.  It was hard at times to see why were there/if we were helping in any way but in the end I realized how much we were appreciated and what a treat it was for us to come to their small village to meet them and live with them for a week.  We had a lot of free time which was discouraging at times but I enjoyed having the time to read and reflect.  Pomeroy is a very special village which is absolutely beautiful in every way possible.  The surrounding communities are full of vibrant children who are living in a society that might be difficult at times but their aspirations and dreams will help them to stay in school and succeed.  Nosipho told me that one of the most clever boys from Matshematshe will most likely be able to go to University which is a huge accomplishment for someone from the Pomeroy area.  This past week will always hold a special place in my heart and allowed me to see the beauty in the simplicity of things such as a smile, a song, a word, a mountain, and a gesture.  I hope and pray that I will continue to experience the beauty in the simplicity of many other things throughout my time here in South Africa.  I encourage you all to take time out of our day to embrace the beauty of simple things and feel the grace of God in everything that you do.


South African Zulu Phrases: when you leave someone you say Sale Khale which means "stay well" and you can also say Ngiyajabula ukuwazi or Ngiyajabula ukunazi which means "I am happy to meet you or you all."  So to all of you I say Sale Khale until my next post which will be pictures from Pomeroy!