BigThink

The past few weeks have flown by with community members welcoming us with open arms and eagerly teaching us anything they can about life here. For two weeks we spent our mornings putting on a camp for the students while they were on a break from school. We passed the hours teaching lessons in English, math, and computers, and playing games like soccer, tag, and—the biggest hit—kickball. Camp was just as fun for us as it was for the kids who came, and it helped us get to know more of the kids in the village. Camp helped the kids get to know us better, as well. Now, it is almost impossible to walk down the street without hearing my name shouted from all directions. Camp wasn’t the only thing keeping us busy these past few weeks. It was, after all, over at 11:30 every day. Our afternoons were spent completing monitoring and evaluation reports of past SMRC projects in Dixie. To do this, we observed, surveyed, and interviewed community members involved in the projects. Though we found, as expected, that further improvements can be made, it was uplifting to learn that the projects thus far have had positive impacts on the community. In our downtime, we have continued to immerse ourselves in the local way of life and do things we would not normally do at home, like getting barrels of water and wheeling them home, doing laundry outside in buckets, and collecting firewood. A personal highlight from the past few weeks was the day we hosted a braai (similar to a barbeque in the U.S., only instead of using a grill, you cook over a fire) to celebrate Dena’s (one of the interns) birthday. This day was especially noteworthy for me because I had the opportunity to prepare a fresh chicken from kill to cook—something I had never imagined I would do. I am not sure how the experiences to come in the next few weeks will be able to top those I have already had here, though I do have a lot to look forward to. We are all busy planning a soccer tournament/health day event for all of the nearby villages and working to provide after-school tutoring to the students at Manyangana High School in Utha. Additionally, we are all beginning to work on side-projects for our villages. I will be working with Steffi to set up a girls group in Dixie, where preteen and teenage girls can form a circle of trust and discuss common goals. We all plan to be continuously busy, but are excited to get as much done as we can in the next few weeks.

–Alissa Schulman, intern