Another Africa

I threw the budget to the wind this weekend and flew to J'bourg to see Lucky. I'd been told that South Africa would feel different to other parts of the continent, but wasn't prepared for quite how different. J'bourg is reminiscent of Dubai or LA - all highways and shopping malls. After 10 months of trying to figure out how to exist in a very different culture on a limited income it was a real treat to be somewhere that felt so familiar and to be taken to shops, restaurants and the new Harry Potter movie.

Not normally a mall rat, I've been trying to work out exactly why I liked the city so much more than other non-pedestrian friendly, Disneyland-esque towns I've visited. Apart from the novelty value, I think there's a certain mood of hope in South Africa because it's flourishing economically in a region that sometimes feels light-years behind the rest of the world. I know that I only visited the affluent parts of a country that has an extreme wealth gap, but the tone of the city seemed so optimistic. We visited the brilliantly curated apartheid museum, and it's astonishing to think how recently the country was divided when (the middle classes at least) now seem to co-exist with less obvious tension than some other places I've been to.

All in all an excellent weekend, and now only a week to go til the Christmas break. Work-wise last week redeemed itself slightly when my boss arrived back from a workshop on volunteer management, thrilled that he was able to say we have many of the appropriate procedures in place because I've been working on them. Not altogether flattering that he seemed slightly surprised to realise that I did know what I was talking about after all, but always nice to be appreciated!

Spoke too soon...

After last week's enthusiasm about work, this week has been incredibly frustrating again. Things often start late in Zambia, but I've now been waiting 4 days for the Monday morning meeting... Sigh!

I've spent some of the time starting to work on the leaving procedures for VSO as my placements ends in just over 2 months. Starting to work on my end of placement report, I was encouraged to see that I'd achieved more than I thought, and the pace of work has definitely taught me to be more patient! I've also had time this week to start looking for jobs in the UK and am reassured to see that there are some being advertised.

And meanwhile I'm continuing with the holiday experience. My friend Stephanee came down from Lusaka this week, and we went swimming in the Devil's pool, right on the edge of the Falls. You cn only do it at this time of year when the water's really low, but it was still utterly terrifying and not something I feel the need to repeat!

Work

It's been ages since I blogged again...unusually because I've been working pretty hard! It's quite frustrating that with only a couple of months to go I can finally see what I'm supposed to be doing, but I'm certainly not complaining to find so many staff and local volunteers busy in the office.

This last month has been hectic as World AIDS day is on 1st December and there were several events leading up to it, including a concert organised by my organization. On the day itself we marched in a parade (this seems to be how every day of significance is marked in Zambia...) with newly printed t-shirts. It's hard to work out if events like that, which require a lot of planning and considerable donor funding, actually have any impact om the epidemic. But it was good to see so many young people out for the event and a great chance for me to see what my colleagues can achieve when they're on form. We set up displays of the various awareness raising tools that we use to talk to young people about HIV, and lots of people were keen to look at them. (Although not as keen as they were to take away anything at all that we were distributing free, regardless of it's relevance..)

I'm doing my best to take advantage of everyone's enthusiasm and we're busy completing various funding applications to start new projects. My colleagues are very capable so mostly they're completing the applications and I'm considering how best to put together template proposals and answers to make their fundraising easier in the future. I've also started a monthly e-newsletter, which I won't inflict on family and friends, but if anyone would like to be added to our mailing list please do let me know. It'd be good to be able to show that I am actually achieving something professionally in between all the fun!