Princess Maya

We have had an exciting week or two at Daktari. Since I've been here we have gotten four separate phone calls with new animals for us, and we have found new cages, new routines, and new homes for all of them. First we received two beautiful Caracals, Shengaan and Zulu:

They are settling in really nicely, and people can go in and visit with them (as long as they don't get too close!)

Then, about three days ago, we received a phone call that a woman had a marmoset as a pet that she could no longer keep because she was moving. We had a lot of votes about what to name her, but ultimately decided on Princess Maya. This was mostly a compromise, as I took one look at her and declared her "Princess Leia" (look at her, I'm sure you'll see why), but not everyone knew who that was. Marmosets are South American, so other people liked the sound of Maya. Princess Maya was the obvious compromise. She appears to be settling in well, as we determine what her diet should be and where is the best place to keep her. Unfortunately she stinks. Apparently marmosets scent-mark everything, and it is really a horrible smell. We have been going in with her to change her food and water and she jumps onto our shoulders to visit. We started wearing a blanket as a cape to protect our clothes from her smell, because otherwise you have to instantly launder everything after she touches it. Here is a visit we had recently:

 

 All went according to plan until this afternoon, when I prepared her lunch and one of the volunteers, Luke, offered to bring it in to her. I opened the door for him and he snuck in. As he went to put her food down for her, she jumped onto his shoulder and bit his ear. We have absolutely no idea why she would bite him - she's visited with us dozens of times without problems - but obviously now we have to reassess how friendly she is and change our tactics a little bit. I think we have a special bond and she won't bite me - but I don't want to find that out the hard way. 

The third new animal arrived just yesterday, a third meerkat friend for our two meerkats Alice and Gasper. His name is Tiki, and I don't have a photo of him yet, but he's super cute and seems to be getting along well with the other two so far. We also prepared a cage for some dassies, which are a kind of small rodent, who will arrive at some point to be determined. 

So, anyway, a lot of excitement. In the midst of all this we had a group of kids last week who spoke very little English, and we had to make a lot of adaptations to our teaching program. We simplified everything, and replaced some of the most complicated lessons with a simple English vocabulary lesson instead. I also held a 1:2 remedial reading course instead of one of the harder lessons, and worked with two boys on really basic reading. It was very humbling to be working the same way I had been working with first graders in New York, but instead with 14 year olds who had slipped through the cracks without knowing how to read. We made a lot of progress in our two hours, but of course I wish I could have had more time to work with them. 

On Wednesdays we take the kids to Makalali, the game lodge next door, and these kids were so cute as they asked all the employees questions about their jobs. I took a bunch of photos, I may share more later. For now, here's one of all the kids crowded under a car with the mechanic:

We also had two really teeny boys this week, who said they were 14 years old, but appeared to be much smaller/younger. One of the boys, Tshepo, was doing the chore of "cleaning the bird tables" - which are about six feet off the ground. So what did he do? Climbed the tree, of course!

Here are two more photos for fun. First, the warthogs squeezed into the dog basket:

 

And here is a photo that someone else took that I found on the staff computer and thought was funny. These boys did not want to get out of the pool, and I had to put on mean teacher voice to get them out and into the classroom: 

 

There's my weekly update for now! We also went to the lodge next door this afternoon and played volleyball against their volunteers - which was very fun but involved getting very dirty and sandy, so it's shower time now. Got to rest up for the new group of kids who arrive tomorrow! 

Kruger With the Kids

First, some very sad news. Unfortunately during the day yesterday Rocky went to sleep and never woke up. We will give him a proper burial, and we understand that this is part of the "circle of life." Clearly, he was not meant to live. Next time we need a pet, we have been instructed to pick a healthier one.

On to better news! We had a very successful Kruger trip on Sunday. The kids really enjoyed looking at all the animals, and so did we volunteers. I took a ton of photos with my big camera, and I picked out a few to share here. No matter how many times I see them out the window, it is still amazing to be so close to these wild animals outside of an enclosure. Also - I was finally able to upload my video from weeks ago to the post titled "Palesa," so now it's there. On to the animals!

Mom and baby giraffe:

 Cape Buffalo:

 Black and white giraffe:

 It was exciting to see so many zebras because the last time I was in Africa they were nowhere to be found. Everyone else calls them "Zeh-bras" with a soft "e" sound, and I don't have any other Americans here to back me up!

 Waterbuck:

 Mommy and baby baboon:

 Zebra posing:

 All the kids and Charlie:

 This bird flew off right as I clicked the shutter.

I took a lot of photos when I took the kids to the game lodge next door today, I will add them soon! 

Daktari: Week Two

Another week flew by here at Daktari. We had a group of ten boys who were at a higher level than many of the kids who come here, and it was a lot of fun for all the volunteers and the kids both. I'm continuing to find my place in a leadership role, and learn the entire teaching program and all the animal care tasks that need to take place every day. I have started to take some photos to try and get across how funny life here can be. Sometimes it occurs to me at random times, such as last night when we were hanging out and playing cards into the night, and along came Spiky the porcupine begging for food (he likes potatoes and apples the best).

This week I got to do the social talk with a group of boys about safe sex and HIV/AIDS. It was really interesting to hear their questions, and it felt like perhaps the most important thing they get during their time here. It was me and Luke, an Australian boy who arrived on Saturday, and five of the rowdier boys this week. We talked about pregnancy, rape, disease, masturbation, and any and all questions that they had. It included lessons in putting on condoms, and the opportunity for them to speak openly about sex, which they do not usually get.

Today we decided not to go into town, so we are hanging out on site all day. If it gets warm enough, which it might, we are planning on putting bathing suits on and checking out the freezing cold swimming pool. Tomorrow, me and three of my favorite people get to accompany ten kids into Kruger Park, which should be an incredible experience. We have to leave here at four am, pick up all the kids, and get to the park gate by 7:30am. It is a reward for one child from each of the past ten weeks who the volunteers picked out as the most improved, polite, and/or respectful during their week here. They have been looking forward to it for weeks, and it is a once in a lifetime experience for most of them.

Here are some photos to update you on my day to day life here.

This is the "board" that is my domain. It includes the daily schedule, all the animal chores for the  days and the weeks, and any other reminders/projects that need to get done. Every night I lead a "board meeting" where we assign the tasks for the next day. The warthogs, Samantha and Miranda, are lounging in front of the board here, waiting for their lunch (the kitchen is behind the board).

As a long-term volunteer, I sleep in the main house in a nice private room. I will have to give it up in a few weeks (and switch to an only slightly-less-desirable room) - but for now it is lovely. The only funny thing about the main house is that its where Chico and Poncho the bushbabies live. For those who don't know what a bushbaby is, this is Chico:

She is SO cute. And soft. But unfortunately she is nocturnal, and lives in my house. Which means most mornings I get a five am visit from Chico (who they thought was a boy until she gave birth to Poncho) and/or Poncho jumping all around my room and on my head. It's a good thing they're so cute... 

My friend Charlie wanted me to write about her in the blog, and I told her I would only write if I could post an embarrassing picture of her. So here goes: 

Charlie is from England, and I am glad she is here to be my friend.  

It is really fun to watch the kids interact with the animals, when the only animals they usually see are domestic animals (most of whom they eat):

The last animal that it is very important I introduce is a rat named Rocky. There is another long-term volunteer named Andrea, and she works in the office. She took over the job of breeding the mice and rats that are used as food for many of the other animals, and now oversees a ton of babies all the time. There was one little guy who was the runt of the litter, with one eye, a head that's too big, and slightly lame back legs. So of course there was only one question... Can we keep him? 

 He is the sweetest little guy ever, and is something of a mascot. He has been near death at least three times since we found him, but so far he is pulling through, and if he makes it he will certainly be the friendliest rat ever. Even Charlie, who initially thought he was gross and ugly, is coming around (these are her hands in the photo) because he is just so sweet. 

The next time I write I will hopefully have photos of all sorts of crazy animals we see in Kruger tomorrow! 

Photos I Found

Found some photos other people had taken this week on this computer - just for some context.

"Politeness Math" lesson - incorporating how to be polite with the math of giving/receiving change:

 An art project for the kids involving painting what they hope to see in their future:

 Volunteers and kids on the last night of the week:

 A trip to Leopard Rock in a Land Rover that was guaranteed to break down. It did:

 Volunteers on Leopard Rock:

 The group of new volunteers I arrived with:

Daktari: Week One

First off, a big shout out to Giti, who got married yesterday in California. Missing this wedding (and one more to come in September) is actually one of the hardest things about being out of the country for 7 months. I know it was beautiful, and I can't wait to see the photos.

Secondly, it has been too long since I posted and I know I will not be able to capture everything. I know that I will be here for a very long time so I haven't been taking any photos yet, I figure I will have a lot of time for that in the next six months. This week my main job was to watch everything that happens during the week, because it is my job as Volunteer Coordinator to make sure that it all happens properly. There is a bit of a learning curve, of course, but I want to be able to do my job as quickly as possible.

The basic premise of Daktari is that we run a wildlife orphanage full time, and from Monday-Friday we also have 8-10 kids from a local village here to learn about their environment, job opportunities in south africa, and to do lessons in english, science, math, and biology. There are volunteers from all over, although mostly from Europe, whose job it is to lead all the lessons, chores, and generally make sure the camp runs smoothly. My job is to manage all these people.

Every evening after dinner I run a "board meeting," which takes place in front of a big white board in the Lapa (meeting area/dining hall). This board tells all the volunteers who is running which lessons for the following day, as well as what chores everyone is doing. We begin every morning at 7:00am with coffee, and then at 7:30 we take the four dogs for a walk on a loop outside the camp. When we get back from the dog walk, we do chores around camp. The chores involve cleaning and feeding all of the animals who live here, including (but not limited to) warthogs, porcupines, donkeys, goats, owls, meerkats, mongeese, a genet, ostrich, tortoises, and a leopard. Volunteers lead the chores, but the kids help out. After chores the days all look a bit different, but generally contain lessons in our classroom (where everyone must speak English) as well as fun games and social talks, which are less structured conversations about the environment, drug and alcohol abuse, and safe sex/HIV/AIDS. The kids go to bed at 8:30 (followed shortly by most of the staff), and then we start again the next day. This is why I haven't had much time to write.

There is a very intense 73 page "teaching program" that we follow, and I am slowly but steadily learning all of it so that I can help the volunteers teach the children. Volunteers come for different periods of time, with the shortest being 2 weeks, and the average being 3-4 weeks. They do not all come and go at the same time, however, so in a few weeks I will have a full changeover where all old volunteers leave and new ones arrive. This is sort of a deadline for me to know everything about my job - because there will be very few people left for me to ask.

One of the hardest things to adjust to is being the only American here, for the first time in my life. At last count we had 5 French volunteers, 3 Dutch, 2 English, 1 German, 1 Swedish, 1 Australian, and me. There are just so many things that only Americans do/say. Also for the people who have trouble with English, apparently my American accent is tough to understand. I also tend to use big words, which I am trying to phase out of my vocabulary because of the amount of blank looks I get. Some things I knew that only Americans did (like feet/miles, although the English do this too) - but some things are a surprise every day. For example, what we call a "period" at the end of a sentence is apparently called a "full stop" everywhere else in the English-speaking world. Who knew?

On Wednesdays we take all the kids to a game lodge next door where they take a tour of the lodge and learn about all the different job opportunities that are available there. We tie this into wildlife conservation by teaching them about tourism, and the fact that many tourists come to South Africa to see wildlife, and that they create all these jobs when they visit. Therefore if people kill all the animals, all these jobs will not exist anymore. Part of my job is going to include driving all the kids to Makalali, which would not be a problem, except for the whole stick-shift-on-the-wrong-side thing. It turns out that's another area where America is either ahead or behind of everywhere else in the world - I am definitely the only one here who doesn't know how to drive a manual car.

Last night Ian, the director, decided that I should have a trial by fire as he wanted my "lesson" to take the form of driving everyone home from a lodge/bar where we went to watch the rugby game. I actually did mostly OK on the stick-shift front, but driving a 14 seater van full of tipsy adults on small roads when sitting on the wrong side of the car was a little bit tricky. I need a bit more practice before Ian will want me taking the kids out all by myself.

Another funny thing to get used to is the odd variety of animals that are constantly walking around. Particularly the warthogs, Samantha and Miranda, who curl up in the dog beds, follow you around whining for food, and generally just want attention all of the time. It was also surprising the first night to turn around at the dinner table and see a huge porcupine behind me eating a potato. All these animals were bottle reared here at Daktari, and many of them were released into the wild but come back at certain times most days for a snack.

I will try to write more before next weekend, but it seems like weekends might be the only time I have enough time. Please continue to send me your feedback, I love to hear that you know what I'm doing!

Palesa

(written yesterday am):

I am currently sitting in the Bloemfontein airport, waiting for the plane to take me to Johannesburg for a quick overnight before I fly to Hoedspruit tomorrow and start my six month stay at Daktari. I'm trying to formulate the words for a wrap-up to my time in Mangaung, which is proving harder than I anticipated. When I was planning my trip, I thought a lot more about Daktari, because I will be there for so much longer. I had thought of Mangaung as a little stop-over on my way. It turned out to be so much more, and I am leaving with new friends, and a lot of new understanding.

All in all I visited eleven creches, with easily over 200 kids. Our guides through the whole experience were Mojalefa and Doreen, who invited us into their lives and spent three weeks making sure we had access to everything we needed, and that we were safe and comfortable. Our goodbye with them was very nearly tearful, and it is only my hope that I will go back in October for a planned training that kept it from being so. The day before we left I asked Doreen and Moja for a nickname, as everyone has a Sotho or Tswana nickname in their culture. Our last morning Doreen said my name had come to her in the night, and that my name would be Palesa (pah-lee-suh), which means rose. This was without her knowing that in fact my English name is Laura Rose. Pretty amazing, huh? So from now on they will call me Palesa, or “Pali” for short.

By the end of my time in the creches I could communicate on a basic level with the children, having learned some of the more important words in the language by hearing them over and over. These include: sit down, good, stop (or no), eat, and food. It's kind of amazing the amount you can communicate with kids with just these words. I wish I were spending more time where they speak this language so I could continue to learn more, I was finally beginning to pick it up when it was time to leave. South Africa has 11 official languages, and in Limpopo, where I am going next, they speak Venda and Zulu instead.

On one of our last nights in Mangaung we took the whole gang out for dinner at a Braai place in the township. The way it works there is that you first visit the butcher shop on one side and buy the meat that you want. We bought enough pork, lamb, beef, and sausage to feed 8 hungry adults for the equivalent of about 30 US dollars. They season up the meat for you and you bring it around to the other side, where the Braai-master braais it up for you. When your meat is cooked they bring it back to the kitchen, plate it with a ton of pap, and put it on the table in the middle. There is no need for individual plates or utensils, and everyone dives in with their hands. It was delicious. I really think there may be a market for this type of thing in NY or SF... If this whole education thing doesn't work out I may have a new business venture on my hands. Here's a photo of the crew, minus Emily who is taking the picture. Mojalefa is on the far left and Doreen is seated next to me on the right, with the braai behind us:

Our last week was very busy, with more creche visits as well as a presentation on Tuesday for the Kellogg foundation, who recently pulled their funding from MUCPP after nearly twenty years. We presented on the “ECD” project (early childhood development) which included the child health work that Chelsea and Sameen are working on, as well as the education work that Emily and I were doing. It was interesting to see the presentations from all the different departments of MUCPP, as they do a number of different services in the community including economic development for individuals in the township.

Of course the main focus of our whole time there was the children. We saw so many kids, some in really excellent care environments, and many more who were not. As we filled out the tool again and again it became apparent a number of things that could be implemented in the creches to help these young kids have better group care. In October, this information will be folded into an existing training manual based on previous trips, and a huge training will be held at MUCPP for the matrons, teachers, and parents of children in the creches. It is my hope that I will be able to fly over from Hoedspruit to attend this training; now that I have seen what goes on in the creches it would be very satisfying to be able to work towards improving them.

I will leave you with more photos from the creches (of which I have literally hundreds). The next time I write I will be at Daktari, undertaking a completely different scope of work. Thank you for reading!

One thing that comes with fewer teachers and more children is that the kids really take care of each other. Here a five year old is pushing an under- two year old on a swing, just for the fun of it:

Here I am in one room with over 70 children, 35 of whom were under three. I sat in this chair and observed all morning:

At this same creche I was called upon to help feed kids, here I am feeding two at once while a third looks on:

Here are Emily and I with a group of kids:

And finally, a video for all the teachers out there. If you ever wondered what would happen if you told a group of forty 3-4 year olds to sit still, and then left the room... this is the answer. I discovered the time-lapse mode on my camera:



Lesotho (7/30-7/31)

We had one weekend available for traveling, and a lot of ideas. We thought about going north to an elephant sanctuary (too expensive), south to capetown (too far), and lesotho (just right). Lesotho is a land-locked country within South Africa that has its own government and a different culture than South Africa. Tourists visit Lesotho for its natural beauty, with mountains and valleys, and the main recommended activities are hiking and “pony-trekking” on “tough Basotho ponies” (to quote the guidebook).

We decided to use Friday to finish up with our work from the week and prepare for a big presentation on Tuesday, so we went to the airport Friday evening to pick up our rental car. We got a “Picanto,” which is a cute little car, and Chelsea had to be our driver because she's the only one capable of driving stick shift (with the wrong hand on the wrong side of the road). Luckily she had a lot of practice before we got here, so she was really excellent on this drive. Friday night we drove into Bloemfontein, to a trendy restaurant/lounge called “Cubaña.” which I only mention because unbeknownst to us they were having a “Christmas in July” event complete with about three inches of fake snow blanketing the entire restaurant. This was very, very weird:

We woke up early on Saturday morning and headed out towards Lesotho. It is a beautiful drive East, only about 115k, but took us quite a while because there was a lot of construction on the road. At all of the construction points they stop traffic completely in one direction for 25 minutes at a time, then switch and let the other cars go. If your timing is unlucky it can take a really, really long time to get anywhere. We reached Maseru, which is the big city on the way into Lesotho, around 11am. We were searched by customs, showed our passports, and were waved on in to the country. Chelsea and Sameen had been to Lesotho before, and they did not get their passports stamped, so we did not either and continued on into the country. This is foreshadowing for our later adventures.

We stayed in Morija, which is a small town about 45k south of Maseru. The drive through Lesotho was lovely, and out our windows we saw dozens of herders with their sheep and cattle, often wearing Basotho blankets, roaming the fields. Lesotho is a very poor country, and the poverty of the homes and businesses was in stark contrast to the beautiful mesas and mountains as the backdrop on our drive. I snapped some photos out of the moving car:

We arrived at the guest house around noon, ate a few snacks, and got ready for a pony trek. This is basically a trail ride, but on ponies. Our guide, Kefoe, took us on about a three hour ride through the scenic mountains behind the guest house, and then all through the village of Morija. It was very peaceful, and it felt good to be surrounded by nature. The only animals in this part of the country are farm animals, and we saw pigs, goats, sheep, and cows from horseback. In the mountains there are non-indigenous pine forests that smell just like the mountains of California where I usually spend my summers, and it was so refreshing to be there.

Here I am with my pony, Ms. Brown:

Ms. Brown liked to stay at the back of the pack. Here we are in front of a small lake.

One of the coolest things about this ride was going through the village and seeing where the people of Morija live:

At one point we got off of our horses and climbed through a hole in a rock. Here we all are:

We arrived back at the guest house just about in time for sunset at our lovely cottage. We stayed in a three-room cottage for four with our own cozy fireplace and kitchen. It was perfect for us, and this was the sunset view from our little patio:

We ate a delicious dinner cooked for us by the staff of the guest house, and socialized with the other guests (from Texas and Germany). Then we discovered a guitar and an epic songbook, and the camp counselor in me surfaced for a few hours. We sang until I literally could not speak anymore, and then settled in for a rousing game of hearts. It was a perfectly relaxing day in a beautiful beautiful place. We woke up Sunday morning and visited an art gallery and museum quickly in Morija before we hit the road. We had a deadline to keep for the rental car, and because of the construction it's really hard to estimate how long anything is going to take.

What we were not expecting, however, was to be delayed for an hour at immigration leaving the country, faced with potential jail time on the border. Oops! So it turns out you are, in fact, supposed to get out of your car and get your passport stamped on your way into Lesotho. Of course no one told us this, and we were going with the knowledge of Chelsea and Sameen having successfully entered and exited the country a few weeks before, but that doesn't change the fact that we were illegally in the country for 24 hours. It was a pretty stressful time there at the border, where we were told to wait outside of our vehicle on the side of the road as they figured out what to do with us. It was a Sunday and the US embassy was closed (it is literally 100 feet from the border), so we did our best to explain the misunderstanding on our own. With my non-voice from the singing the night before I made a pretty pathetic sight for the immigration police, who listened as we told our story. I would like to publicly thank the Lesotho border police for eventually letting us go, so that we could get our car back (barely) on time, and get to work Monday morning. It was a stressful end to a relaxing weekend, but we certainly learned our lesson.

no internet!

the internet has been cancelled at mucpp as of august first. i am writing this on my kindle which miraculously works here, but i wont be able to write any real posts or post photos until i move on. i will type up my entry on our awesome trip to lesotho this weeend and on our last week of work in mangang so they will be ready to post when the internet gods allow it. then im on to daktari for the next six months! more soon,

laura