Off The Grid

I have been living in my new village for a little over two weeks now. So far I am adjusting well, but I am still getting used to things. My new host family is absolutely wonderful! They really do what they can to make sure that my needs are met. They also are very patient with my limited language skills. No one in my host family speaks English, so I have been trying to improve my Sarahule. Even if my progress is slow, they have no problem with helping me learn. One of the main challenges I am facing is being separated from other volunteers. I am placed further into the country than most of them. So I have been finding ways to stay busy and keep feelings of isolation and boredom at bay. I have mostly been doing a lot of reading, but I do try to venture out into my village and talk to people. My village is actually quite big; it’s bigger than my hometown. So far I have not seen all of it, but I am sure I will before too long. I will be living here for the next two years, so I should make myself at home.

I have been able to see some interesting wildlife as well. Every time I walk into my yard I almost always see some kind of lizard. Lizards and toads seem to be everywhere. There are also many brightly colored birds that I have seen. Of course there are some animals that I need to keep at a distance. There are hyenas in the bush areas outside of my village. So far I have not seen any, but some of the villagers had told me that they are more active at night. Also last week when I was riding my bike, this warthog the size of a cow ran across the road. I remember seeing programs on TV about boar hunting in parts of America. However, the warthog I saw was much larger than anything I have seen on TV. So I need to keep a sharp eye when I venture out into the African wilderness. Of course I cannot be too off guard when I am indoors either. Even as I was typing this blog I saw a brown recluse spider climbing on the wall.

My school also started up last week. I have established a good rapport with the teachers and look forward to working with them. It looks like I will be focusing my efforts to helping with early literacy. I also will be starting a project to improve the school library. More details of my work will come as school goes on.

Overall things are going great! It will take some time until I am fully integrated at my village, but I will remain flexible and keep an open mind. Every now and then, the fact that I am living in Africa feels unreal to me. When I look at a map of the world, I look at where my family and other loved ones are and then look at where I am on the other side of the world. It can be tough at times, but this is an exciting challenge for me. And I look forward to see how things unfold in my village and at my school.