my rondavel in the middle of nowhere.

sanibonani all! sorry for my extreme lack of posting but i hardly ever have access to the internet these days (and will probably have very limited access for the next 2 years!) i have lots to tell, so this may be a long post!

so i have officially become a Peace Corps volunteer. we had a swearing-in service on april 3, 2008 which means that my 2 years of service started from that exact date. it was a fairly simple process of taking an oath, but it meant it a lot to me, seeing as how training was not the most fun time of my life. since i have finished training and become a volunteer, i have left the village of bakenberg and the province of limpopo for my permanent site of bergville, kwazulu natal. this is where i will be living for the next 2 years of my life (if i make it that long).

bergville is a tiny town in the drakensberg mountains. it has one grocery store, a couple banks and a post office. there are no internet cafes or movie theaters. the whole town is made up of only 5 or 6 blocks as far as i can tell. the ngo that i will be working for is called world vision and it is located in bergville. world vision is an international organization that has its headquarters in seattle. i am not really sure what they do, but i know that their main focus is children and that they are very christian (you will find that christianity is attacking me here in rsa). as far as what i will be doing at world vision, i am not sure. my first day is tomorrow and i am supposed to spend the first 3 months just observing so i can find a place where my skills will be most useful. i want to do something with hiv/aids, so hopefully that will end up working out. i am excited to work there but at the same time nervous because a) i am not religious and b) both people i am supposed to be working under are very very very busy and i am not sure if they will have time for me. at this point i don't want to be left on my own to figure shit out but i get the feeling that that is what i will end up doing.

i am not personally living in bergville, but will instead be living in a village called moyeni which is about a 25-30 drive outside of bergville in a pretty rural area. i will be getting to and from work via khumbi or minibus taxi, which takes a bit longer and is the main method of transportation for black south africans (you will probably never see a white person on a khumbi!) i am staying in a double rondavel (a round hut with a thatch roof) that doesn't have electricity or running water. my rondavel is located on a family compound, so they have a house next door to where i will be living in the same fenced in area. the family is very nice, although i am nervous about the 17 year old host sister for reasons i will not write here. there is a father, mother, young son, the 17 year old and a dying brother-in-law. their home is quite small but very cute. they have a jojo tank outside their house (it collects rainwater to use for water) and there is a pump about a 10-15 min walk away where i will also have to get water from. the village of moyeni is very cute but very rural. the houses are very spead apart and i am still not sure how i will get from house to house to get to know my community. a bike is out of the question because the roads are so bad that even a normal car can't get to my house; it needs to be a truck to get through the mud. the mountains are off in the distance and are what i see every morning and there is also a lake nearby, although nobody swims in it. i am scared as shit to live without electricity but i am going to give it a go. i am the only volunteer out of my group of 30 that doesn't have electricity. i will cook using a two burner stove that has a gel i pour in and burn. i bought a gas lamp and a ton of candles and i am hoping this will do. i have no refrideration so that should be interesting and i might see if i can get a gas fridge, although i am doubting that i can pay for that. i will continue to bathe in a bucket and do my laundry/dishes in a bucket. oh joy!

there are two volunteers from the group two before mine that also work in bergville. one of them works at world vision with me. they have a different living situation because they stay in an apartment in town (and no, i cannot do that. i have already asked!) they will be leaving in september but at least they will be around to help me for the first 5 months. antoher volunteer from my group was supposed to work in bergville with me, and in fact when we came to visit for a week in march she came with me. the rondavel that i am living in was supposed to be her home and she was supposed to work for world viison. she decided after visiting here that she wanted to work someplace else, so she did not return with me and my living situation and ngo were switched. needless to say, it has been a stressful few weeks for me being moved from one place to another and finding out that i was no going to have to rough it on my own.

i have access to the internet on my cell phone but it is slow and i cannot send emails from it. i can, however, check my emails and post facebook messages (go figure!) so you can send me stuff from time to time that way. i am in the process of trying to hook my phone to my laptop so it can serve as a modem but it isnt working and i dont think i will be able to get it to work on my own. plus, i dont have electricity so i will probably just leave my laptop at work and will thus hardly use it anyways. if you do want to stay in touch, please send me mail. i love writing letters and love love love receiving them. my new address is:

heahter o'neil c/o OADP
po box 37
bergville 3350
kwazulu natal
south africa

you can also try texting me, cause i am able to text america and europe. my cell number is +27838639307. if you text (or call!! it is free for me!!) from america, you would dial 01127838639307. anyways, it is an option for you all.

ok i think that is the pretty much all i have to say. i must admit that right now i am having a really hard time here and kind of want to come home at least once a day. i hope that things will get better once i have been here awhile, but i still have doubts as to whether peace corps is right for me. i guess we will see how it goes ;-)