On assignment...: January 2009

Hello people! How are you all?? Hope you had great holidays and hope the New Year is treating you well :) I’m back to the project since the second week of Jan after a super holiday. I saw my whole family over Christmas and we enjoyed a road trip down to Cape Town and the Garden Route. Of course we did Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope, Table Mountain etc…Unfortunately we missed out on Robben Island because we were too late with booking – it was sold out until January :( Oh well…next time… :) I’ll try and post some pics, but you already know my difficulty with that so no promises…
I only have one and a half months left here, and I still have an investigation period to carry out in another project at the end of February so it’s going to be busy these last few weeks. I’ll be heading back to St Vincent in March to finish off the program. Just don’t ask me what then after that?? I will let you know when I know ;)
Now I’m just trying not to think about having to leave this place, although I’m also looking forward to St Vincent and seeing the friends I made there again. There’s still a lot to be done here and of course I had planned much more than I could do in reality…for example, I wanted to obtain bicycles for the Field Officers, but this has been a much longer process than I expected. I knew when I started that 6 months is not a long enough period to make what would generally be considered ‘big’ contributions, such as building a whole school (yeh yeh I know some of you are thinking anything is possible!), but still it is frustrating not to be able to do everything I want to do. The main obstacles are time and funds, as usual! But of course I am very happy with what I have achieved so far, especially regarding education. I am very glad that I have contributed to the education of many people here, not only those in the project itself, but people in the communities, in the streets, taxis, schools, workplaces, etc. I have not only educated about HIV & AIDS, but also other topics, especially world geography as people are always interested in where I come from and where I have traveled. Many people in the area I live in really do not know much about other parts of the world, let alone about the geography of their own country. They are, however, a bit more familiar with neighbouring countries and a handful of other African countries, because of the large number of migrants from those countries. For example when I mention Kenya, it is better recognized than when I mention The Netherlands, but then again I can’t really generalize because it depends on who you are talking to because the football fans will definitely know The Netherlands. And anyway who in the world, apart from anyone who is completely isolated from any form of media, hasn’t heard of Kenya by now ;)
Anyway, like I have mentioned before, this country is just humongous and it’s a pity that I have not been able to explore it as much as I would’ve liked to…But I cannot complain, I have been able to see different sides of this country – there are many different sides, many contrasts. I have seen cities with their modern infrastructure and affluent suburbs as well as their run down areas and poor townships. I have seen the rural areas with their beautiful vast landscapes, mountainous and flat plains, with fertile farming areas as well as arid areas with water scarcity. I have seen the well equipped universities in the cities and the barely standing school buildings in the villages. I have met highly educated people with well paying jobs and fancy cars and the poorly educated street vendors or unemployed beggars. I know you can find such contrasts in many countries, but for some reason it’s more accentuated here. I have also mentioned the great multiculturalism here, the various races, languages, traditional beliefs etc… it’s quite mind-boggling, especially considering events in recent history. I’m not gonna go there don’t worry…
I’m just happy to have gotten the opportunity to visit this amazing country! Now it’s as if I’m posting my last entry before I leave the country, but I hope not, I hope I will get another chance to write again and maybe post some pics before I leave. For now, I wish you all well. Take care and keep in touch…
Ciao!