8401 Days

As of tomorrow I will have been alive for 8401 days, which is 276 months, 1200 weeks, or 23 years.  Yes tomorrow is my birthday...so you should probably write on my Facebook wall or at least send me an email since you are stalking my blog. :)

The point is, I've been thinking about how amazing this last year has been and how little time I have left in South Africa. The rest of this post is going to be a humble-brag about how legitimate this year has been, so I don't blame you for skipping to the picture. Since turning 22, I:

• Started and completed my first year of graduate school
• Met the former President of the United States
• Met the Secretary of State
• Met the US Attorney General
• Met the Director of Homeland Security 
• Traveled through 7 countries
• Went on a safari
• Ate a worm (technically a caterpillar, but still)
• Moved to South Africa
• Slept under a mosquito net
• Lived alone
• Was a Maid of Honor
• Had a nose ring
• Had bangs
• Washed my hands in the Nile River
• Sang  karaoke totally solo (Journey's Don't Stop Believing  in case you were curious)

University of Pretoria-another 1st

Some of these are silly, but they are all still things I have done for the first time...that I can think of at the moment. (This list doesn't include all of the awesome people I have had the privilege of meeting or all the other great moments of this year.) I think turning 23 with four weeks left in South Africa is a pretty solid way to ensure that the next year is great, but 23...you have a lot to live up to. 

"The Warm Heart of Africa"

Warm, dry air blasted me in the face as I stepped off the airplane and onto the tarmac in Malawi. Such a change from the humid, muggy air of Uganda and the chilled, dry air of South Africa. In three days I had been in three different countries, a non-stop tour of meetings, sightseeing, and hours in the Hilux. Two constant weeks of butchering other people's language, being completely dependent on other people for communication, and knowing what was happening about 15% of the time. Don't be mistaken- these are not complaints, merely my reality.

We flew into Lilongwe, Malawi on Monday morning. (Side note-I don't know why sitting on an airplane or in a car makes my inner narcoleptic come out, but it seriously never fails). Quick meeting with the National Office staff and the next morning we were off to Salima. Luckily for me, Salima happens to be on Lake Malawi so that was my beach/lake moment that I missed out on this summer. Again, not a complaint. We finished up in Salima and headed to Blantyre and Mulanje. Pictures are below, but some stories first. 

There is a little thing in Africa called Peri-Peri sauce. Every country has their own version, but it is basically really hot hot sauce. It is delicious. Everyone I have met (despite being from other African countries) loves HOT peri-peri. I went down to breakfast one morning at our hotel in Blantyre and asked for chili/peri-peri sauce with my eggs. The waiter looked at me like I was crazy, started to say something, then decided not to and went to get it. I noticed he was watching me use the peri-peri and finally came up to me. "May I ask you a question?" Ummm yeah? "Where are you from?" The states. Why? Do you not see very many mzungus eating peri-peri? "No. None." and then he laughs and walks away. Moral of the story: I'm putting this JV notion that the white kids can't hang to bed. You are welcome peri-peri lovers of the world.

Not all of my experience was playing in the lake or taking pictures of random people (see below). This trip also included some powerful, but painful stories about the clients in the area. We were privileged enough to meet Fanny, a 20 year old girl that had been taking care of her brother and sisters for 8 years and working odd jobs to put them through school, giving up her own education. . After talking to her I realized, she is still a twenty year old girl. She still wanted her own life. She worries about boys, wants to get married, and only politely laughed at my attempts at Chichewa. I immediately thought about my own capabilities as an older sister. I adore my siblings, but in no way have I ever had to give up something as precious as my own future to ensure they had opportunities. Would I even be able to do some thing like that? Much less, could I have started doing something like that at 12? My siblings would have been 6 and 4...babies. Heartbreaking, complex, and somehow still hopeful and wonderful all at the same time-Fanny and her country seem to have more similarities than differences.

So Zikomo (Thank you) to the "warm heart of Africa".

Lake Malawi 

Mt. Mulanje and the tea fields

I took a picture at the market and this joker says "Flash Me!" Don't worry, he just wanted his picture made

Famous in Mayuge: Tales of a Mzungu in Uganda

One of the coolest parts about my internship is that I get to travel to two countries other than South Africa. As if it wasn't cool enough to be living in SA for 10 weeks, Habitat thought I needed some field experience to really grasp the work they are doing to make my recommendations. As I write this, I am in my hotel in Kampala, Uganda. I am nearing the end of my week touring the eastern part of the country, visiting the two field offices and families in the Mayuge and Kumi districts. 

The week started flying into Entebbe and traveling to Kampala. Ugandans drive like no one I have ever witnessed, they overtake one another at breakneck speeds, dash around giant potholes and narrowly miss hitting a boda-boda (motorcycles). Ugandan roads are not for those that get car sick easily. We began our work week by visiting the National Office to meet the staff and hitch our ride to Mayuge. The Ugandan OVC Specialist, Gilbert, and our driver, Hajji, Annette (the AME OVC Specialist and my boss), and I loaded up in the Toyota Hilux and were on our way.*  Fun fact: Hajji is a term of respect in Islam used for someone that has taken the trip to Mecca. The first stop was the Mayuge district. We pulled up to the field office and I instantly hear "Mzungu Mzungu!!!" I look up from packing up my bag and see twenty kids outside my car door. Staring. "Mzungu means white person" Gilbert tells me. I died out laughing. I get out of the car and give a little wave, they giggle and attempt to follow me into the office. They crowd outside the door and giggle until the field director, Soloman, has to tell them to go away because we are trying to have a meeting.  We discuss how the field office is doing, what the challenges are, and then leave to visit some families. We drive into the BUSH. We are literally on goat paths driving over tall grasses, trying not to hit goats, cows, chickens, or people and dodging huge rivets in the ground. The first thing that happens is the kids notice the truck and start yelling "motocar motocar" then they see me in the front seat and go berserk. They start jumping up and down, shouting, waving. What do I do? I laugh and wave back like I'm Grand Marshall of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. It only gets better when we get out of the car and visit families. The parents are always very reserved, but it becomes a game between the kids of who will be brave enough to talk to the white girl first. I say Yoga! (hello in the Ateso dialect) and they laugh or whisper Yoga noi! (more respectful if you are speaking to someone older than you). I usually get out from them that they are doing fine and that they are in grade X. One of my favorite families had a five little boys that were enthralled with my camera. They loved seeing their picture on my screen. My experience in Mayuge was great, I was happy to be the excitement for the day. It isn't usual that people get so excited just because I showed up. 

Habitat House in Kumi District 

After the field visits we crashed in the hotel and then set off for Kumi the next morning. I had my first experience sleeping under a mosquito net. It was the best sleep I have had since I left home, I think having a princess canopy bed for 10 years  prepped me very well for the mozzi nets. We spent two days in Kumi doing the same routine. Kumi is a little bit bigger, with WAY more white people (NGOs and missionaries stop through here) so the kids were not as impressed I was in the village. The truck stole all the thunder in Kumi. This morning we said goodbye to the field director, as I had a rendezvous with a little body of water known and the Nile River. 

Taking a break from field work with the HFH Uganda Staff 

So my obsession with the visiting the Nile started the week before we left. I figured out that we would be crossing over the Nile to get to Kumi and Mayuge. I dropped hints all week and finally Gilbert told me that we would go to the source of the Nile on our way back to Kampala. Today was the day friends. I was pumped, the 5th grade geography nerd came out in a major way,  but then the buzz kill happened. Hajji told me the proper source of the Nile is a huge tourist trap. It costs 40,000 Ugandan Shillings (which is like $15 USD) and they take you on a boat and you look over a bridge. Never fear! Hajji, being the genius driver that he is, knew a side route that got us really close but we were still separated by a golf course. In the true spirit of travel we did the only thing we could do, we asked the golf course staff if we could cut across the golf course to get to the river. This super nice staff member took us across the golf course and through the bush until we got to a clearing to see the river. Was that enough for the super nerds? Never! We asked if we could take the tiny path down to the water. He looked at us like we were crazy, obviously tourists don't do this very often, but he took us down. Long story short-I hiked through the jungle and washed my hands in the source of the Nile for free!!!! 

Hiking through the jungle

Nile River lovin' 

Uganda has been wonderful. I can't say enough nice things about the people, the scenery, and the work that Habitat is doing. If you have been keeping up with the news, Ebola has struck the western part of the country and there have been isolated cases in Kampala and Iganga (where I was 2 days ago). I'm not worried about getting it (see my post about washing your hands) but say a prayer or send good vibes to the people of this beautiful country. Cases like this have wipeout huge numbers of vulnerable populations in 2007, there is no cure, and when a person is infected they have a 2-90% chance of dying from it. 

Next week...adventures from Malawi!

*A note to the HFH Auditors...you cannot, I repeat cannot, drive a car to visit beneficiaries unless it has 4 wheel drive. Don't be cheap. 

My giraffes are better than yours.

Sorry for not updating this, I will make it up to you with TWO posts this evening. Let's catch you up on what has been happening.

Saturday morning I crawled out of bed at 4:50 am, got dress, packed my backpack, and ran to catch the 5:26 Gautrain from Hatfield to Marlboro (the Gautrain is a really fancy metro from  Pretoria to Johannesburg). Mark (my fellow Clinton School classmate and short term South African resident) picked me up at the station in the infamous Chevy Spark and we drove off into the morning to (drumroll) GO ON SAFARI!!!!!!!! We had planned a 10am safari drive in Pilansburg National Partk about two and a half hours outside of Johburg. We left plenty of time to get lost (which I was actually the cause of) and to drive around the park in the Spark before the planned drive. We got into the park around 8:30 and took a little tour. This is a national park, so it cost a total of $15 USD for Mark, the Spark, and me, which is unreal. Could you imagine driving to the Ozarks and seeing a lion or elephant, because that is exactly what South Africans are doing. The very first animal (I spotted) was a giraffe, followed by some wildebeest, baboons, impala, and warthogs. It was beyond a top ten day. On our actual safari we saw two herds of elephants (with babies!) playing in the lake, rhinos, zebras, more giraffes, about a million wildebeest, impalas, etc. I witnessed two out of the Big 5 (lion, rhino, elephant, buffalo, and leopard) and missed a lion sighting by thirty minutes. I could talk about this some more or I could give you what you really want...pictures!!


PS. We saw so many giraffes that it became a game and the person that saw the giraffe first got to claim it. Mark may have taken better pictures, but my giraffes were definitely better in every way.

Impala 

Pilansburg National Park, South Africa 

Warthogs

Wildebeests #5454908463

Zeebs!!

Little elephant family playing in the water!

OMG!!!! Elephants! 

Water

So I have been living in South Africa for two weeks as of tomorrow, which sounds like a long time until I think about that I only have 8 weeks left. In those eight weeks I have to visit Cape Town, go on a safari, play with baby lions, oh and do an analysis on ten country offices for Habitat. The big part of the project gets going in the beginning of August when I visit the Ugandan and Malawi (or "real Africa" as everyone here has told me) national offices to implement my survey, talk to partners, and visit build sites. Since my survey is written and in the editing process, I am currently working on some other internal research stuff for the Orphans and Vulnerable Groups (OVG) project. We are in the process of grant shopping and really interested in a grant that incorporates Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) into the communities where we are building. The past two days have made me realize my love/hate relationship currently with water.

My task was to do some quick Best Practice research on WASH and figure out how to make past projects Habitat friendly. So for those of you that didn't read about 2947385103 pages of info, here are some things I learned about WASH:

• 884 million people in the world don't have access to piped or some type of well water
• 2.6 billion people don't have access to improved sanitation (improved sanitation means there is hygienic separation between human contact and waste) 
• Clean water and good hygiene can reduce the spread of disease and mortality rates
• Only 31% of sub-Saharan Africa has access to improved sanitation 
• 1.7 million people in the US don't have access to plumbing in their household
• it is unbelievably important to wash your hands, don't be gross

(See this cute little girl washes her hands..I borrowed this picture from UNICEF btw)

The love: Tourists, ex-pats, and even some South Africans have really weird phobias about water here. They are convinced that they are going to get "a belly full of worms" (you are welcome Class 7). It is safe to drink out of the tap here and our office has a purified water cooler, so I'm not exactly brushing my teeth with Dasani.. until I go to "real Africa". Reading about WASH made me really thirsty, really sad, and really thankful. I have been almost in tears when my approximate 4 minutes of hot water runs out in the morning, but I'm also not walking hours, sharing an outhouse with 10 other families, or part of the 1.7 million Americans without plumbing. Perspective always wins.

The hate: My refrigerator left a nice big pool of water in the kitchen..I'm calling it "the great flood of Craig Park"

If my rant touched a soft spot in your heart, you can donate to Habitat or organizations like water.org that are doing cool stuff to alleviate water issues around the globe. Mark your calendars because March 22nd is World Water Day!

Skype Dates and Madiba

So this nearing the end of my first week of work with Habitat. The past four days have been a total orientation-filled blur. Everyone in my office has been incredibly nice and really helpful when it comes to figuring out this place called South Africa.



Wednesday was Nelson Mandela's 94th birthday, so naturally we celebrated Mandela day here! In honor of his 67 years of public service, South Africans were encouraged to give 67 minutes of public service yesterday. Since Habitat doesn't do anything small, they are celebrating Mandela week by building 67 homes in the country. Sixty seven homes in one week is unbelievable. The man-power, supplies, and organization it takes to make that happen could rattle even the most organized of offices. Major kudos go out to South Africa HFH for getting the local sites organized. Twenty five of those builds happened in Johannesburg, while the remainder were divided between Cape Town and Durban. Our office was split, the newbies went to the build site, while the veterans went to an orphanage to donate food and play with the kids. The build was in Orange Farm, but it might as well have been on Mars..it took us over an hour to get there in traffic, which apparently is normal in Johannesburg. Several of corporations here in South Africa had volunteers, hundreds of people out for the day. It was the most incredible way to celebrate someone who dedicated his life to a country he truly loved. During the lunch line people were playing music that was written for Mandela, dancing, and just having a good time. I have yet to meet a South African that doesn't love Madiba (in South Africa it is a sign of reverence to refer to someone by their clan). President Clinton was even in South Africa for the celebration, sadly he didn't get my message about making it to Orange Farm. Mr. President, feel free to contact me while you are in Africa if you need a student photo op or something!

The statue of the man himself in Nelson Mandela Square.

The office building a house, normal Wednesday activities. 

The community of Orange Farm and the cool Habitat flag

Getting directions, you can see the temporary HQ to the left 

What I feel like I did on Wednesday...

what I actually did on Wednesday.

The perfect way to start ending my first week of work was a couple of Thursday night Skype dates. The first was with none other than team Arkansquad in India aka Mitchell and Maggie. I got a tour of their apartment and got to hear about all of the shenanigans they are getting into. Everyone should check out their blogs to hear about the cool work they are both doing. I also got to call my parents on Skype...just in time to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! Love you and hope you have had a great day!

The First 48hrs

Not the crime show, just my life over the past two days:

London's Terminal 5. If you ever need recommendations on what to do for 8 hours while you are there; I can give you the best places to eat, nap, how to get internet, and the secrets they don't tell you about gates B & C.

I arrived into Pretoria around 10am which is 3am home time. My initial thought about Johannesburg was how big it was. Seriously this city is HUGE! I was told that it is the largest city in the world not located near a body of water. Since it is winter here everything is a reddish-clay color. The days are around 60 ish degrees, but it is overcast. The best way to describe it is if Arizona met Northwest Arkansas in the winter then grew about 500%.  After getting picked up and taken to the office to get my keys I decided that I would push to try and stay awake for the rest of the day...woof. The very first thing I did was take a shower-cue the Hallelujah chorus! Annette, my awesome boss, was kind enough to take me on a tour of Hatfield and show me how to get a cell phone/use the train. The cell phone is my life source. I can't explain to you how amazing it was to call some of my classmates that have been here for a month and hear their voices. Today (Saturday) I explored Hatfield and went to brunch with Annette in Johannesburg. I'm really looking forward to Monday to start work, everyone in my office has been incredibly nice and some schedule will be just what I need. British Airways happened to lose my small bag, which should be delivered tomorrow. Say a prayer that it comes and my hairdryer and jacket are still there.

View of a street in Hatfield. The bright green tree on the right is called a Jacaranda tree. Sometime during September they should be turning purple!

The University of Pretoria is a few blocks away...just in case I need to get another degree when this is all said and done.