Setteling In

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My new little home was a rather unwelcoming site. The two little rooms were rather...empty. The only things occupying them were our local residents. Spiders in every corner, cockroaches scurrying along the floor and a large ant army marching along the walls. Fortunately, we have managed to dispose of most of our local residents. However, the ant army does persist with it's presence in the SPW house. We have decided to bare with the ant army, and have concluded that it adds character to our gray cracking walls.

Since day one, we have added some furnishings to our new home. Mosquito nets, pots and pans, jerry cans, a GIANT sack of charcoal, PILES of monitoring and evaluation SPW forms, mattresses and all of our personal belongings that we lugged from far far away. It's all rather snug and cosy these days. Our front porch is also a lovely addition to the house! We spend our evenings out there cooking, chatting and gazing at the AWESOME sky. And finally, the communal pit latrines....i have no positive words to share concerning these.

So once we'd settled in, it was down to work! The first few weeks on placement are called the 'Baseline' period. This time is dedicated to orientation and organisaition for the following 6 months of work. We've had dozens of meetings with headteachers, chiefs, out-of-school youth, council members, students, youth leaders, womans representatives, farmers groups, NGOs, health workers etc. It has all been rather stressful and overwhelming! We've also had to carry out various sessions that will aid our future work. For example, we've carried out Sexual Reproductive Knowledge Assessments with all of the classes we will be teaching. This will guide us on where we will need to focus our teaching. We've also had Focus Group Discussions with several groups of people, we ask the community members themselves what they believe are the biggest issues in the community and how best they can be resolved. Finally we have also started preparations for upcoming events we will be hosting in March. For example a Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) event.

Work had been tough and stressful, however, the fun times and crazy new cultural experiences have been well worth it! Riding a bicycle through sugar cane plantations, learning how to mingle posho, bathing with half a bucket of water, collecting water from the near by swamp, wearing a petticoat, sorting out the stones and stems from freshly ground rice....just to name a few!

Just before I end, I'd like to add that I'm all in good health again! I hope it stays that way :-).