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Molly Hanson writes...

...about her experience while volunteering in South Africa.

Molly Hanson: 15 July 2008

Well the time has finally arrived to head to South Africa. I have almost everything packed and ready to go. I just have to help my parents with haying today (Monday) before I leave tomorrow. I am most nervous about the flight of having to sit still for the looong flight. For those that know me, I don't sit still very long

I'm here: 18 July 2008

Well we made it here safely after a very loooong flight. On the flight we were wondering why we chose to go somewehre so far away, but once we got here it was all worth it. I will have to say that they feed you very well on international flights and there is a lot of entertainment. The most interesting thin on the flight was looking out as we were flying over Northern Africa and seeing miles and miles of sand and nothing else.

Today we spent the day touring around Soweto and Johannesburg. It was very impressive and I will have to say the country is improving rapidly. We went to visit a school, a family (that invited us to stay with them if we come back), the Hector Pieterson Museum, the Aparthied Museum, and downtown Johannesburg at rush hour. The people and traffic were crazy, but organized.

I am impressed with the level of security here and hospitality.

Manamani: 23 July 2008

De Masiari (Good afternoon)

Well, I arrived at Manamani very late on Saturday night. Since then things have been pretty busy. On Sunday Chief and Nyawira took us around Thohoyandou and the village. Before that at 6;00am, we went to a funeral. I didn't understand a word, but it was interesting and the music was very good.

Monday morning I started working at the school. It was a shock, but I am getting used to it. There are 35 to 70 students in a classroom and there are some culture differences. Each day is getting easier. Yesterday, Marie and I washed our clothes by hand and today we are in town, since there was a teacher strike and school got out early.

Everyone here is very nice and they are very patient as I learn the language and they enjoy improving their English. I will have to say that I have gotten some good exercise walking around the village every day (Marie doesn't know how to get to her creche, so I walk her there everyday, which is on the other side of town.)

I don't know when I will be back, but this weekend we are all going to Kruger National Park to hopefully take a safari.

Happy birthday to me!: 29 July 2008

Kruger is an amazing place. It was a great way to spend my birthday. We drove to Kriger on Friday night and stayed there until Sunday afternoon. It was great to see all the animals; giraffes, hundreds of elephants, warthogs, a rhino, two servels, civet, water buffalo, millions of antelope, monkeys, baboons, hippos, corcodiles, chameleon, and hundreds of birds. (Yes Chris we did see the killer ants and all they eat is termites.)

It is now back to Manamani. I enjoy everyday here. Working at the Primary school is a little bit stressful, but the kids are a joy to be around. My family is amazing and they take very good care of us. Yesterday I went for a run and Agnes was worried about me the entire time, luckily Marie was there to tell her that I would be okay.

Time has flown by and in a week I will be back in the states. This weekend we are going to go to Johannesburg and spend a night with our family's kids that live there before flying out. Today I am going to buy some ingerdients to make scotcheroos.

My favorite words in Tshivenda:
madi: water
kusha: a person who eats a lot

It comes to an end: 5 August 2008

My three week journey has come to an end. I am sitting here at the Amersterdam airport waiting for my final flight to the states.

As I look back at the experience is was an extremely beneficial trip. It really hit me on how much us coming to Manamani meant to the people at the school staff meeting on one of the final days. One of the teachers was talking about how the children in the village have never seen a white person before or heard anyone speak fluent English. With me coming to stay in Venda I hope I was able to help squelch myths about white people and the world.

We spent the weekend in venda and attended chruch. Marie and I had to sing a duet that we completely messed up. Then I climbed a mountain with kony. That was fun, but when they say there is a trail, it does not go the whole way to the top, only half way then the rest of the way you are hacking through weeds and trees. The view at the top was amazing!

Then we rode back to Jo'burg with chief and Nyawira and spent the night with the father and three older kids of the Tshifularo family. They were very welcoming and it was nice to finally meet the rest of the family. We also got another tour around jo'burg through the eyes of a worker through the power company.

I know I will miss the readily available fruit, especially the tangerines (I did eat pretty close to the entire tree!).