I was walking over to the hardware store with my friend the other day and commenting on how some of the houses were really nice. They were mostly made of brick (some of corrugated tin) and many of those were plastered over and painted brightly. A vast majority of the houses have at least some grass which is not what I expected when I was coming here.
I also noticed that I didn't see ANY "house for sale" signs. During Pre-Service Training another trainee said something about Americans being a more transient society where we may move several times throughout our lives (I've lived for longer than 3 months in 5 different places). Rural South Africans are not transient. The men may leave for 3 months to a year to work in a mine, thus seeing his children and wife 1-4 times a year, but the family would never move.
The father bears ownership of the house. Once the father dies, his wife gains ownership. If she is no longer alive, the YOUNGEST son gains ownership of the house. If there is no son then the daughters own it. If there are no surviving children then anybody from the family can move in. People do not sell their houses.
A majority of houses and low-rise apartment buildings built in the U.S. have light wood-framed construction with vinyl siding, wooden shingles, or a brick facade. Since the wood used for framing the house cannot be exposed to weather through more than one freeze-thaw cycle without losing a lot of structural integrity it must be built quickly.
Since few people have the money to pay for a house in one payment, most people take out a mortgage and pay for it in 20 or 30 years. The advantages to this are you get to move in right away, your payments may be less than renting, and you will eventually own the house.
All houses that I've seen in rural South Africa are a combination of: brick or corrugated tin walls, corrugated tin or clay tile roofs, and dirt or concrete floors. Houses with brick walls rarely have dirt floors and the exterior walls are either bare brick or plastered and painted. Houses with corrugated tin walls never have clay tile roofs and sometimes have concrete floors. In some areas of Africa at higher elevations it does snow so some people live in rondavels. Rondavels are cylindrical brick buildings with conical grass thatched roofs which are far warmer.
Since the structural materials are all water proof (the window frames are even made of steel) and there is no freeze-thaw cycle in my area, they can be built over several years; which is in fact how it is done. The advantages to this are that there isn't a monthly payment and when it is built it is completely paid for.
Since employment is often hard to come by and income is not always steady people can't afford to pay a monthly mortgage and many would default on their loans. As people get money they build a new part of their house. Some houses have just a foundation, half-built walls, window frames with no glass, or finished walls with no roof.
My closest friend's house has all of the brick walls built with a tile roof and is almost finished with the ceiling. He still needs to finish the ceiling, install the rest of the glass on the windows, and install burglar bars in the windows and on the porch. Eventually he will get running water which can only be achieved by having a jojo which is like a mini water tower that is filled by a tap.
He started making the bricks out of cement and sand that he is going to use to build a fence around his house yesterday. Every house has a fence around it; it could be a tin shack with with a fence made from wooden sticks and metal poles held up by barbed wire, there will be a fence.
He plans to have finished all of this by September of next year; he started 6 years ago. After that is finished he will knock down the tin shack behind the house that contains the kitchen and living room and his mother and sister and her two kids' bedroom and build a new building in its place.
At the end of those two years, he will own a house that is completely paid for. And some day, his wife, son, daughter or family member will own it.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Coming Home to the U.S. for Vacation (at a Breaking Point)
I have been counting down the days until I come to the U.S. for my sister Cate's wedding on June 13th for about 4 months. About 3 weeks ago I was excited to go but frustrated because I felt I would be leaving right in the thick of things which might cause problems with my projects' progress. Two weeks ago I was overstressed and hospitalized and my trip to the U.S. turned from a frustration to a goal.
Since I came here and started to work on projects my sense of urgency has transformed. After talking with the people and observing the site I determined what we both saw as problemed areas I could help with and found some people who agreed with me and wanted to help change these things. After establishing that, I (very naively) thought that we would quickly come up with a plan, get funding, and implement the plan, and then things would work perfectly. Nothing has gone "according to plan" but I guess a lot of life is that way.
Initially I was distraught about leaving for vacation since I felt that my projects would come to a screeching halt without. But then I realized that if I had never come then these projects would never have been started in the first place. The schools and community spent a long time without these changes and they can wait a little longer for them; I am alright with that.
Since I came here and started to work on projects my sense of urgency has transformed. After talking with the people and observing the site I determined what we both saw as problemed areas I could help with and found some people who agreed with me and wanted to help change these things. After establishing that, I (very naively) thought that we would quickly come up with a plan, get funding, and implement the plan, and then things would work perfectly. Nothing has gone "according to plan" but I guess a lot of life is that way.
Initially I was distraught about leaving for vacation since I felt that my projects would come to a screeching halt without. But then I realized that if I had never come then these projects would never have been started in the first place. The schools and community spent a long time without these changes and they can wait a little longer for them; I am alright with that.
Sports Field Project Update
This has been the most stressful of all of my projects however I think it has the greatest potential for enhancing the children's education. My APCD suggested that I drop the schools whose principals have been less than helpful in the project thus far. I really want to drop 3 of them however there are 4 reasons that I wont:
1. This isn't about improving the principal's school but increasing the educational opportunities of the children
2. If I don't do it now it will be extremely difficult and unlikely that it will ever happen.
3. There is a jealousy mentality that if someone else has something that you don't you should vandalize and destroy it. I would rather build fields on all 6 schools and have them remain undamaged than build them on only 3 and then have them be destroyed.
4. This project is part of a larger plan that cannot come to fruition fully unless this part is complete.
When doing a large development project it is usually well planned with a tight schedule with specific goals that must be met on or before a specific date. Since I started the project in a foreign country with no guidance or precedent, the process has been convoluted with a lot of struggles and setbacks.
I recruited 9 students to help me with this because I thought this would be a good learning experience for them and I could teach them a lot about engineering and running projects. This has turned out to be much more of a learning experience for me and much less of a teaching one.
I spent way too much time trying to get "official" site plans for the schools. After months of going through these channel I extrapolated site plans from a property plan of my village that I had for months. Then I measured the size and location of the existing buildings using a 100 meter measuring tape with the assistance of the students. I drafted the site plans and the existing structures on Microsoft Visio. I used these drawings along with field templates to consult the educators in the design of the fields.
As of Tuesday I had consulted with a professional engineer who has 20+ years of sports field construction experience and had started designing the field placement. I had planned on leaving the project at that point and completing the design and proposal upon returning since today I am leaving South Africa.
The South African LOTTO provides a lot of funding for sports programs, new sports field construction and upgrading of old sports field facilities. My key school, Mnyamana Primary School, received some funding last year so I intended to finish the proposal with a final design and then just tell them to go ahead and build the fields. Tuesday morning I received a call from the field consultant saying that Mnyamana and the LOTTO both called them and said they wanted him to start building the fields and he needed the location where I wanted the field built. Wednesday I rushed out and came up with a design and staked out where I wanted the combination field to be built. They claim that they want to build it immediately so we'll see if it gets built by the time I get back; it would be awesome but TIA so it's highly unlikely.
Initially I wanted to have the project completely done having all fields built by next year; approximately 4 per school with 6 schools. I envisioned each school having beautiful grass soccer fields, cinder running tracks, baseball diamonds, basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts like the ones we had in high school. This is exactly why you don't do projects unilaterally. My imaginary world had several problems:
1. Grass fields are expensive and difficult to maintain (fertilize twice a year, water everyday, cut three times a week) and they would be destroyed withing a few months since none of the schools have the resources or training to maintain them
2. The sites were far too small to have all of those fields built on them
3. Some sports are extremely expensive due to the amount of equipment required
The project scope has now been revised:
1. Each school will get a running track (some will be smaller than 400m so that they fit) with a soccer field inside
2. Each primary school will get 2 combination volleyball, netball, tennis courts
3. Each secondary school will get combination volleyball, basketball tennis courts
4. Courts will be made of concrete and fields of clay to minimize maintenance costs
5. Each school will have a concrete palisade fence constructed around its campus.
6. Berms or "seating hills" will be built next to the fields instead of building bleachers since they will be less expensive to construct and require less maintenance
7. I will help them design the placement of the fields and structures taking into account future construction plans (libraries, computer labs, etc.)
8. They will design and build the brai stands and pavilions for their own schools.
I have also changed the construction schedule. I initially wanted to have them all built by the time I leave in September 2010 by building a new field constructed every three months. This pace would not allow the schools to fully utilize the fields and would also be extremely stressful for me. I have decided that the community should take more responsibility for the project. I will help them complete the design and acquire funding but fields will be built on 6-month intervals.
Once the development forum has been established they will take over the management of the project and oversee the completion of the project which will occur in 2011 or 2012 depending on when we can get started. The fields will not be done by the time I leave but I am fine with that because constructing the fields is not the only goal of the project. I also want to build the people's capacity to do such projects on their own.
1. This isn't about improving the principal's school but increasing the educational opportunities of the children
2. If I don't do it now it will be extremely difficult and unlikely that it will ever happen.
3. There is a jealousy mentality that if someone else has something that you don't you should vandalize and destroy it. I would rather build fields on all 6 schools and have them remain undamaged than build them on only 3 and then have them be destroyed.
4. This project is part of a larger plan that cannot come to fruition fully unless this part is complete.
When doing a large development project it is usually well planned with a tight schedule with specific goals that must be met on or before a specific date. Since I started the project in a foreign country with no guidance or precedent, the process has been convoluted with a lot of struggles and setbacks.
I recruited 9 students to help me with this because I thought this would be a good learning experience for them and I could teach them a lot about engineering and running projects. This has turned out to be much more of a learning experience for me and much less of a teaching one.
I spent way too much time trying to get "official" site plans for the schools. After months of going through these channel I extrapolated site plans from a property plan of my village that I had for months. Then I measured the size and location of the existing buildings using a 100 meter measuring tape with the assistance of the students. I drafted the site plans and the existing structures on Microsoft Visio. I used these drawings along with field templates to consult the educators in the design of the fields.
As of Tuesday I had consulted with a professional engineer who has 20+ years of sports field construction experience and had started designing the field placement. I had planned on leaving the project at that point and completing the design and proposal upon returning since today I am leaving South Africa.
The South African LOTTO provides a lot of funding for sports programs, new sports field construction and upgrading of old sports field facilities. My key school, Mnyamana Primary School, received some funding last year so I intended to finish the proposal with a final design and then just tell them to go ahead and build the fields. Tuesday morning I received a call from the field consultant saying that Mnyamana and the LOTTO both called them and said they wanted him to start building the fields and he needed the location where I wanted the field built. Wednesday I rushed out and came up with a design and staked out where I wanted the combination field to be built. They claim that they want to build it immediately so we'll see if it gets built by the time I get back; it would be awesome but TIA so it's highly unlikely.
Initially I wanted to have the project completely done having all fields built by next year; approximately 4 per school with 6 schools. I envisioned each school having beautiful grass soccer fields, cinder running tracks, baseball diamonds, basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts like the ones we had in high school. This is exactly why you don't do projects unilaterally. My imaginary world had several problems:
1. Grass fields are expensive and difficult to maintain (fertilize twice a year, water everyday, cut three times a week) and they would be destroyed withing a few months since none of the schools have the resources or training to maintain them
2. The sites were far too small to have all of those fields built on them
3. Some sports are extremely expensive due to the amount of equipment required
The project scope has now been revised:
1. Each school will get a running track (some will be smaller than 400m so that they fit) with a soccer field inside
2. Each primary school will get 2 combination volleyball, netball, tennis courts
3. Each secondary school will get combination volleyball, basketball tennis courts
4. Courts will be made of concrete and fields of clay to minimize maintenance costs
5. Each school will have a concrete palisade fence constructed around its campus.
6. Berms or "seating hills" will be built next to the fields instead of building bleachers since they will be less expensive to construct and require less maintenance
7. I will help them design the placement of the fields and structures taking into account future construction plans (libraries, computer labs, etc.)
8. They will design and build the brai stands and pavilions for their own schools.
I have also changed the construction schedule. I initially wanted to have them all built by the time I leave in September 2010 by building a new field constructed every three months. This pace would not allow the schools to fully utilize the fields and would also be extremely stressful for me. I have decided that the community should take more responsibility for the project. I will help them complete the design and acquire funding but fields will be built on 6-month intervals.
Once the development forum has been established they will take over the management of the project and oversee the completion of the project which will occur in 2011 or 2012 depending on when we can get started. The fields will not be done by the time I leave but I am fine with that because constructing the fields is not the only goal of the project. I also want to build the people's capacity to do such projects on their own.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
New Project: Community Development Forum
A big part of Peace Corps is to work towards sustainable change. I had recently met with my APCD (Assistant Peace Corps Country Director) and he suggested that my projects were too large and that I needed to make sure that if I had to leave unexpectedly they wouldn't collapse.
My community counterpart, Jerry, approached me a few weeks back with the idea of forming a Community Development Forum. The Forum would be in charge of identifying community issues, formulating a plan to address them, and implementing the solution. I was astounded by the brilliance of the idea.
The Forum will consist of representatives from all major stakeholders in the community: Mukhanyo Community Development Center, a development organization that does a large amount of HIV/AIDS and OVC work; the 6 schools in the village; South African Police Service (SAPS); Ward Council; Community Development Worker, the municipality's employee in charge of community development initiatives; Tribal Council, the traditional chief's council. Each stakeholder will be responsible for choosing their representatives however they choose. Every person in the community should be represented by at least one of those representatives.
Being represented in development plans and taking initiatives to address their own development needs are two foreign concepts to the people of my village. Initially, people will be skeptical and since they haven't seen the government doing the things that they promised, may have been burned by the government before, and insist on waiting for change to come. The goals of the Forum are to unite the people to work towards a cause they believe in and make change come to them.
The CDW and Jerry are very dedicated to this cause and are working on gaining the support of the other stakeholders. The beauty of this project is that the idea was generated by Jerry, he and the CDW are taking the initiative to form it, and I only have an advisory role in it.
Once the Forum members have been selected I would like to form a Non-Profit Organization(NPO) whose main goal is to serve the communities interests whether it be infrastructure development, educational seminars, or cultural events. As an NPO, the Forum will be able to lobby for change for the community and apply for government grants and funding from private companies and organizations. The International Development Co-operative(IDC) in the South Africa Treasury operates the Development Co-operative Information System(DCIS) in order to distribute the Official Development Assistance(ODA) funds. In order to be eligible for ODA funds from the IDC listed in the DCIS our NPO must be tied to the South African government; our CDW represents the municipality therefore satisfying that requirement. South Africa really likes their acronyms.
After the Forum has been established I plan to engage it on any unfinished projects that I'm still working on. I would like to transfer the management of all of the projects over to the Forum and have all new initiatives to come from it. This will give me(and my APCD) a sense of security in knowing that my projects have a reasonable chance of being completed even if I do need to leave.
My community counterpart, Jerry, approached me a few weeks back with the idea of forming a Community Development Forum. The Forum would be in charge of identifying community issues, formulating a plan to address them, and implementing the solution. I was astounded by the brilliance of the idea.
The Forum will consist of representatives from all major stakeholders in the community: Mukhanyo Community Development Center, a development organization that does a large amount of HIV/AIDS and OVC work; the 6 schools in the village; South African Police Service (SAPS); Ward Council; Community Development Worker, the municipality's employee in charge of community development initiatives; Tribal Council, the traditional chief's council. Each stakeholder will be responsible for choosing their representatives however they choose. Every person in the community should be represented by at least one of those representatives.
Being represented in development plans and taking initiatives to address their own development needs are two foreign concepts to the people of my village. Initially, people will be skeptical and since they haven't seen the government doing the things that they promised, may have been burned by the government before, and insist on waiting for change to come. The goals of the Forum are to unite the people to work towards a cause they believe in and make change come to them.
The CDW and Jerry are very dedicated to this cause and are working on gaining the support of the other stakeholders. The beauty of this project is that the idea was generated by Jerry, he and the CDW are taking the initiative to form it, and I only have an advisory role in it.
Once the Forum members have been selected I would like to form a Non-Profit Organization(NPO) whose main goal is to serve the communities interests whether it be infrastructure development, educational seminars, or cultural events. As an NPO, the Forum will be able to lobby for change for the community and apply for government grants and funding from private companies and organizations. The International Development Co-operative(IDC) in the South Africa Treasury operates the Development Co-operative Information System(DCIS) in order to distribute the Official Development Assistance(ODA) funds. In order to be eligible for ODA funds from the IDC listed in the DCIS our NPO must be tied to the South African government; our CDW represents the municipality therefore satisfying that requirement. South Africa really likes their acronyms.
After the Forum has been established I plan to engage it on any unfinished projects that I'm still working on. I would like to transfer the management of all of the projects over to the Forum and have all new initiatives to come from it. This will give me(and my APCD) a sense of security in knowing that my projects have a reasonable chance of being completed even if I do need to leave.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Is Jabulani Dead?
My supervisor has had three volunteers who previously did work at her school all of who early-terminated (ET'd) meaning they chose to end their service short of their contractual obligation.
The first two were involved in the famous Drakensberg Mountains incident which is told at every Pre-Service Training (PST)as a warning to incoming volunteers. The first three months of our service was meant to be "community integration" where we get to know our communities and all volunteers are on "lockdown"; meaning we are not supposed to leave our sites for any reason other than medical or shopping. The two volunteers were a married couple who chose to break this rule by leaving five days early for a hike through the Drakensberg Mountains in KwaZulu-Natal, another province in South Africa (my village is in Mpumalanga Province). In the middle of the night tsotsis (South African criminals/thiefs) robbed them of everything except for the clothes they had on and the things in their pockets; this included their cell phones and some pocket change.
They panicked and decided to phone the U.S. Embassy who very promptly picked them up in a helicopter and brought them back to the embassy in Pretoria. This kind of activity is frowned upon by the Peace Corps so they were given the choice to either be Administratively Separated or resign from their service. Administrative Separation from the Peace Corps is like being fired and all but nullifies anything good you've done during your service. The couple wisely chose to resign and within 24 hours they were returned to their site, packed their things, and were whisked away to the airport.
Their 2nd attempt at hosting a volunteer was a 24 year-old journalist whose career was also tragically cut short. A few months after arriving at site his father passed on so he chose to ET to go home to support his family.
As the expression goes, the third time is a charm. Now my supervisor has a 26 year-old civil/architectural engineer who is on the verge of getting a badly needed renovation done and building some well-deserved sports fields amongst other things. Given her history with Peace Corps Volunteers leaving early she is extremely protective of me.
The recent health emergency occurred at the other school with the principal who has a reputation for not handling situations such as this too well. My supervisor told me that she received a call from him in a massive panic. The conversation between my supervisor (Ester) and the other principal (Paul) went something like this:
Ester: Hello (answering phone)
Paul: Jabulani (my African name they gave me which means "we are all happy")is gone!
Ester: What?
Paul: Jabulani was here and then he couldn't walk or talk and then a white man, He took Jabulani!
Ester: What?
Paul: A white man took Jabulani!
Ester: What white man?
Paul: I don't know!
Ester: What do you mean you don't know?
Paul: He was meeting with this white man and then he took him away!
Ester rushed over to the other school to find Paul in a panic, educators crying, and a general state of chaos. Knowing Paul and playing this whole series of events out in my head it seems extremely comical but I realize the severity of the situation. I now know that in case of an emergency I should not contact Paul.
They were going to come visit me in the hospital but they were told I was going to be discharged so they shouldn't bother. Two days later I was released from the hospital and they finally got a call from me saying I was fine. When I returned to site I visited my schools to let them all know I was OK and was ready to work.
Some volunteers have very unsupportive educators and supervisors at their schools. Many feel that they are there as a trophy allowing the schools to say "Look at us, we have a volunteer". It is very comforting to know that mine are so concerned about me and makes it seem all that much more worth it to be here doing this work.
The first two were involved in the famous Drakensberg Mountains incident which is told at every Pre-Service Training (PST)as a warning to incoming volunteers. The first three months of our service was meant to be "community integration" where we get to know our communities and all volunteers are on "lockdown"; meaning we are not supposed to leave our sites for any reason other than medical or shopping. The two volunteers were a married couple who chose to break this rule by leaving five days early for a hike through the Drakensberg Mountains in KwaZulu-Natal, another province in South Africa (my village is in Mpumalanga Province). In the middle of the night tsotsis (South African criminals/thiefs) robbed them of everything except for the clothes they had on and the things in their pockets; this included their cell phones and some pocket change.
They panicked and decided to phone the U.S. Embassy who very promptly picked them up in a helicopter and brought them back to the embassy in Pretoria. This kind of activity is frowned upon by the Peace Corps so they were given the choice to either be Administratively Separated or resign from their service. Administrative Separation from the Peace Corps is like being fired and all but nullifies anything good you've done during your service. The couple wisely chose to resign and within 24 hours they were returned to their site, packed their things, and were whisked away to the airport.
Their 2nd attempt at hosting a volunteer was a 24 year-old journalist whose career was also tragically cut short. A few months after arriving at site his father passed on so he chose to ET to go home to support his family.
As the expression goes, the third time is a charm. Now my supervisor has a 26 year-old civil/architectural engineer who is on the verge of getting a badly needed renovation done and building some well-deserved sports fields amongst other things. Given her history with Peace Corps Volunteers leaving early she is extremely protective of me.
The recent health emergency occurred at the other school with the principal who has a reputation for not handling situations such as this too well. My supervisor told me that she received a call from him in a massive panic. The conversation between my supervisor (Ester) and the other principal (Paul) went something like this:
Ester: Hello (answering phone)
Paul: Jabulani (my African name they gave me which means "we are all happy")is gone!
Ester: What?
Paul: Jabulani was here and then he couldn't walk or talk and then a white man, He took Jabulani!
Ester: What?
Paul: A white man took Jabulani!
Ester: What white man?
Paul: I don't know!
Ester: What do you mean you don't know?
Paul: He was meeting with this white man and then he took him away!
Ester rushed over to the other school to find Paul in a panic, educators crying, and a general state of chaos. Knowing Paul and playing this whole series of events out in my head it seems extremely comical but I realize the severity of the situation. I now know that in case of an emergency I should not contact Paul.
They were going to come visit me in the hospital but they were told I was going to be discharged so they shouldn't bother. Two days later I was released from the hospital and they finally got a call from me saying I was fine. When I returned to site I visited my schools to let them all know I was OK and was ready to work.
Some volunteers have very unsupportive educators and supervisors at their schools. Many feel that they are there as a trophy allowing the schools to say "Look at us, we have a volunteer". It is very comforting to know that mine are so concerned about me and makes it seem all that much more worth it to be here doing this work.
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