Changes
My two years in PC is pretty much at an end, and last week as I was getting ready to leave my site I was astounded about how many changes I have witnessed. My time in Buffelshoek varied between going super fast and agonizingly slow, but somehow the 24 months passed and now I am on the way out. I think the physical village changed the least. There are a few more buildings, a few more water towers, a few more animals, a few less trees but largely the village is the same. The road remain as dusty as when I first arrived; cows, chickens and goats still wander around the houses and in the streets; the mosquitoes are still present and will always be there; we are still hauling our water from the nearest water tap a kilometer away. This largely remain the same.
Changes in School? Well, I must admit that there aren't as many as I would have liked. The teachers still use corporal punishment, but maybe a little less than before I started making a big stint about it. There is a library in one of my schools now, a computer in the other, and a photocopy machine at the third. All of my schools now have boreholes, and the children play with the taps and in the water during break now, when two years ago they had to walk as much as a kilometer to get a drink of water. There are new fences to keep the goats and chickens away, more teachers are making lesson plans and long term plans for their classes, and more teachers are using outcomes based education- and actually enjoying it. Some teachers still do not go to class, and some teachers still do not come to school. I know this will continue-somethings do not change no matter how hard you want them to.
The people have changed the most. I still remember when I first met my host sister Lethabo. She was a bubbly 13-year-old with pigtails and a jumper playing jump rope with our neighbors. Now she is 15, still bubbly but more interested in make-up and music than jump rope. Lerato was 17 when I arrived and was your typical teenager who couldn't care less about school and worried more about her social life than her grades. Now she is more serious- she has buckled down in her studies and is busy planning her life for when she graduates high school next year. My youngest host sister, Leago, was 9 when I first arrived and is now 11. She has remained largely the same, maybe a little taller but still the sweet little girl she always was. My "cousins" Thabang and Tsepho, 14 and 15 respectively when I arrived are now much taller and both are sporting (or trying to sport) mustaches-freaky if you ask me. I have seen 4 babies born into my host family in my two years here- Mmpele, Lithle, Koketso and Tuka and they have grown the most noticeably from the teeny babies I held when they were only a few days old. Now all of them are walking and somewhat talking. My host mother is still the same- maybe a little older but still the same woman who greeted me with open arms two years ago.
Then there is me. I know for certain that I have changed. If I met the person who got on the plane in New York City two years ago today, I would not recognize them. In some ways I am still me, but in other ways I know I have changed forever. Unfortunately I am not as optimistic as I once was, but I thought I was patient before but here I learned what REAL patience is. I am more realistic now and not as naive as I once was. I have grown more introspective and less materialistic. I have a strong appreciation for running water and flush toilets, and I realize how much I took for granted in my life in the US. I know what it's like to live in poverty and I know what its like to be a minority now and also I know what racism really is after having witnessed it for the past two years. Honestly, after everything I have seen and done living in South Africa, I do not know how I will adjust to living in the United States. We will have to see, I guess. I have always had a difficult time with change, but after working in the developing world, I have a better appreciation for it. Change is hard, but it is inevitable, and it is necessary for growth...
Changes in School? Well, I must admit that there aren't as many as I would have liked. The teachers still use corporal punishment, but maybe a little less than before I started making a big stint about it. There is a library in one of my schools now, a computer in the other, and a photocopy machine at the third. All of my schools now have boreholes, and the children play with the taps and in the water during break now, when two years ago they had to walk as much as a kilometer to get a drink of water. There are new fences to keep the goats and chickens away, more teachers are making lesson plans and long term plans for their classes, and more teachers are using outcomes based education- and actually enjoying it. Some teachers still do not go to class, and some teachers still do not come to school. I know this will continue-somethings do not change no matter how hard you want them to.
The people have changed the most. I still remember when I first met my host sister Lethabo. She was a bubbly 13-year-old with pigtails and a jumper playing jump rope with our neighbors. Now she is 15, still bubbly but more interested in make-up and music than jump rope. Lerato was 17 when I arrived and was your typical teenager who couldn't care less about school and worried more about her social life than her grades. Now she is more serious- she has buckled down in her studies and is busy planning her life for when she graduates high school next year. My youngest host sister, Leago, was 9 when I first arrived and is now 11. She has remained largely the same, maybe a little taller but still the sweet little girl she always was. My "cousins" Thabang and Tsepho, 14 and 15 respectively when I arrived are now much taller and both are sporting (or trying to sport) mustaches-freaky if you ask me. I have seen 4 babies born into my host family in my two years here- Mmpele, Lithle, Koketso and Tuka and they have grown the most noticeably from the teeny babies I held when they were only a few days old. Now all of them are walking and somewhat talking. My host mother is still the same- maybe a little older but still the same woman who greeted me with open arms two years ago.
Then there is me. I know for certain that I have changed. If I met the person who got on the plane in New York City two years ago today, I would not recognize them. In some ways I am still me, but in other ways I know I have changed forever. Unfortunately I am not as optimistic as I once was, but I thought I was patient before but here I learned what REAL patience is. I am more realistic now and not as naive as I once was. I have grown more introspective and less materialistic. I have a strong appreciation for running water and flush toilets, and I realize how much I took for granted in my life in the US. I know what it's like to live in poverty and I know what its like to be a minority now and also I know what racism really is after having witnessed it for the past two years. Honestly, after everything I have seen and done living in South Africa, I do not know how I will adjust to living in the United States. We will have to see, I guess. I have always had a difficult time with change, but after working in the developing world, I have a better appreciation for it. Change is hard, but it is inevitable, and it is necessary for growth...
posted by Brittany at 1:18 AM
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