Swaziland and beyond

Last weekend was adventurous in every sense of the word, as my three other BC classmates placed in South Africa and I joined up and took a trip to Kruger National Park and Swaziland. In between seeing many elephants, getting lost in Swaziland, negotiating our way across the border and 9 hour drives along unpaved roads we had a minorly stressful majorly exciting trip.

I also learned that I truly do love South Africa, and seeing the beautiful countryside and the diversity this country has to offer only furthered my appreciation for my new home. Getting out of the shopping-malls of Johannesburg and seeing the natural beauty made all the difference.

I continue to battle with the various layers of cultural diversity here; which represents the beauty of South Africa's "rainbow nation" and also the years and years of division. As I have read my classmates blogs from around the world, and hear painful stories of female subjugation, I am grateful to be in a country that somewhat endorses gender equality. 

And yet ... in most of the African cultures, gender roles are governed by patriarchy; polygamy is defended (most prominently by the President), rape is rampant, women are coerced into unprotected sex, at times even consenting to "dry sex" where men insist on covering a woman's vagina with herbs, all of these practices furthering the spread of HIV/AIDS. The new post-natal clinic I am setting up will have an emphasis on PMTCT (preventing mother to child transmission), as this seems the most feasible and promising effort to combat the spread of HIV. As a social worker we are repeatedly taught to respect culture. How do I respect culture when "culture" is a scapegoat for such atrocities? These questions remain unanswered for me.

Ari arrives next Saturday (yippee!) and we are spending two weeks to drive down to Cape Town, taking a scenic route that includes the South African wine country, plenty of rural farms (our fav.) and coastal villages. Beautiful pictures to come ...

It will also mark the 3 month mark on my internship here. Almost all of my Global Practice classmates will head back to Boston in May for graduation, which I, sadly, will be missing. However, I continue to feel contentment and fulfillment in my decision to stay longer in South Africa, and have settled on December for my return to the U.S.  

Perhaps the hardest part about being away from home recently has been hearing of my grandpa's losing battle with cancer. Supporting my mom and sister from afar, and wishing desperately that I could be near, is no easy task. I find comfort in knowing that the experience I am having at work, and in life, is unparalleled. Though often challenging, heartbreaking, and difficult, I know this is exactly where I am to be, as I let my environment change and affect me. Two quotes speak to this :

"The familiar life horizon has been outgrown; the old concepts, ideals, and emotional patterns no longer fit; the time for the passing of a threshold is at hand." 

-- Joseph Campbell

"When we get out of the glass bottle of our ego and when we escape like the squirrels in the cage of our personality and get into the forest again, we shall shiver with cold and fright. But things will happen to us so that we don't know ourselves. Cool, unlying life will rush in..." 

-- D.H. Lawrence