Finding my place

I'm not going to lie, the first few days at sight were rough. For the first time since coming to South Africa it really hit me that I am in a country half way around the world from home, and I had just said goodbye to the last people that understood where I was coming from. It  was extremely hard to go from feeling like I was at some strange summer camp to feeling like I was completely isolated in Africa. The emotional roller coaster that I was on was not fun, and it made me question what on earth I was thinking when I signed up to spend two years so far from anything I had ever known.

However, you will be happy to know (hopefully) that I am not writing this from the Johannesburg airport, and that as the days have gone on things have gotten easier here in my hut in South Africa. Those of you who know me well should also be proud that after about 20 minutes of raising my shoe and then jumping back and squealing like a child, I finally manned up and killed my first giant spider. As pathetic as I know that makes me, it was a very gratifying moment in my Peace Corps experience so far! Well that was until I discovered the black widow in my outhouse, but that is a story for another day. So here I sit, with one less spider, and thinking that I might actually be able to give something to this small community in South Africa. The first few days I spent with my principal meeting community members that looked at my like I was a science experiment that they didn't understand. I met the police chief, the Redcross staff, the clinic staff, and post office staff, the teachers, and the learners at my school. It was overwhelming to say the least, and I can still probably only tell you half of the teachers' names. I also got a very interesting tour of my shopping town while I tried to buy food that didn't have to be refrigerated. Aside from meeting a ton of new people I had nothing to do, which is what made it hard to feel like I was in the right place. I would do my few errands during the day, and then go home and sit in my rondavol all alone. I didn't really know where I fit in with my new host family, so I was nervous about trying to merge into their family.

My mind set didn't start to change until the third night in. I was sitting in my room debating whether eating peanut butter straight from the jar was acceptable for dinner, when there was a very timid knock on the door. At first I ignored it, thinking it was probably just another goat trying to break in, but there it was again. When I went to the door my oldest host brother was standing in the rain with his math book tucked under his arm. Not even saying a word he stepped around me, sat down at my small table and opened his work book. It was that moment that really gave me a feeling of purpose, so like any good teacher I sat down and helped.  Not to sound too full of myself, but I have to say, I am a pretty bomb math tutor. Who knew that after like seven years I would still remember how to explain a sine and cosine graph. After blowing through that math assignment we got to talking. Turns out my new brother takes two taxis to get to high school everyday (there is no high school in my village) and that this was the first time he has ever been able to get help with homework. He said that after 3rd grade his mom stopped being able to help him with homework because she cant read English. He cant stay after school if he needs help because he has sports and then has to make sure he catches the taxis home, not that I have seen any after school help offered anyway. It made me think back to all the times I sat down with my mom and dad at the dinner table getting help on any subject that I could possible need help in. Even in college I could always call my dad to talk science or email my mom my papers to have her edit them before I turned them in. Learners here have never had that, and I realized that even if I cant change all of these kids' lives, I can at least give them something they have never had, help.

So here I am, the new village tutor. So far it has only been my very large family who have decided that knocking is no longer a thing, and who barge into my room with their different books looking for help. I have been told by other volunteers that once word gets out that I am offering help after school that more will come, and that makes me excited for all of the tomorrows here in Africa. I am still trying to decide where I fit in at my school, but I have months until I actually start teaching to figure that out. I did decide that peanut butter from the jar is a completely acceptable dinner, lunch, and snack, and that being all alone in the middle of no where in South Africa isn't so bad.


Side note:
My new address
Kelsey Lynch
PO Box 994
Umzimkulu 3297
South Africa
*If you are sending anything larger than an envelope please write that it contains educational material and tell the post office that it is wroth nothing.