Journal Entry 2: Life In Moletsi

6:11 am and the music is blaring in the Manyathela household of Ga-Ramphele, Moletsi (Mo-lay-chi). This is not unusual. But at least they have good taste. This particular song, which they listen to compulsively, is one of my favorites. I bought it when I was in South Africa 4 years ago and gave it to my new family on a mix CD. The song joyfully proclaims “the gates to heaven are open; come on in” in Zulu. ...just a typical African morning.

After staying in Moktapani about 5 days, we finally made it off the compound for good. All 88 of us have moved in with families in Moletsi a semi-rural town 3 hours from Moktapani and about a half an hour from Polokwani (formerly Pietersburg). We'll be training here until October 13. Then, after a brief stop in Pretoria, it's off to our permanent sites.

We received our assignments earlier this week: I'll be in the far north of the Limpopo province in an area called Venda which borders Zimbabwe to the north and Kruger Park, a large game reserve the size of Wales, to the East. The Venda people migrated south from Zimbabwe in the 18^th or 19^th centuries. Per experienced volunteers, our teachers and guidebook, Venda is a lush, beautiful country with a bounty of fruit, vegetables and wildlife. The people are traditional, living in circular huts with thatched roofs and dressing in colorful clothing. We'll be traveling to our sites next week, so I'll provide a more detailed update after the trip.

As for Moletsi! ...things here have been really good. My family is da' bomb. There are 5 children: Masechaba is 2, but people call her Rejoice; she doesn't even know her Sepedi name. She was scared of me when I showed up, but she's warmed up to me now. Refentse is 6 and reminds me of myself as a kid: adorable, mischevous and totally in a world of his own! Thsegofatso is 9. He just got back from a trip to Durban with his school. Boitumelo is 15, more of a young adult than a teenager and Makgauta (or Audrey) is 18. Audrey started acting oddly to me a few days ago saying things like “After you leave you won't come back and visit for more than 2 days at a time” and telling me “If you don't pray more you're going to hell.” ...I think she has a crush on me.

My father's name is Tlou, as is my mothers, so I call them by their English names: Bernard (pronounced exactly like Bennet) and Gloria. Bernard works in Polokwani. He usually works an 11 hour day leaving the house by 6 and returning 12 -13 hours later. Gloria is a teacher and works almost 200 miles away. She leaves the house at 4am on Monday morning and returns late Friday. She's been doing this for 12 years.

They are a wonderful family and I have been lovingly welcomed into it. They have given me a Sepedi name: “Moloko” which literally means “generations”. My mother said it means I am a part of their family.

The family – and society – are very religious; they make the Christian Coalition look like they're on spring break. Mass is two and a half hours long, my father cannot be spotted without his “Jesus is Lord” hat and at assembly each morning the kids are brought together to sing:
In the Bible I read and I pray.
In the church, I preach and I pray.
Hallelujah, hallelujah amen.
We need peace in our land!

It's really beautiful, though.

My day is roughly as such: I get up at 5 or 6 and usually hang out in my room and read, then meditate and study tshiVenda. (The biggest single drawback to living in this area is that people speak Sepedi, not Venda, which is what I will speak once I get to Venda. This greatly inhibits my learning process... but given that I'll have 2 years to brush up once I arrive at my permanent site, I should be able to make up for lost time.) Then it's a 20 minute ride on my mountain bike to Venda class with about 10 other volunteers. After a few hours of class we have lunch and continue to the town center for technical training where I see all 87 of us (sadly, we had our first departure the other day). Then it's an hour mountain bike ride home. I usually pull in between 5 and 6 and play soccer with the kids on the dirt road out front or we turn on the radio and dance to Coldplay, Lincoln Park or, if we're really lucky, Ace of Base. (Oh yes, though the African savanna stretches for miles and miles around, we get it all.) If Gloria and Bernard are home, they dance too. 7:30pm, it's time for dinner (love my pap, but not the chicken feet) and then I pass out, and I mean that quiet literally, between 8-10.

For now, that's life in Moletsi.