Jeff Walsh
Ever wonder what life is like in the Peace Corps?
For me, life in the Peace Corps was the power outages I experienced every two weeks. My little village of 500 people would suddenly be a sea of total darkness. My solar powered lamp got a good workout in my 2 years in South Africa. For me, life in the Peace Corps was getting my housemom’s wheelbarrow and traveling a half mile to fill two 5 gallon containers with water at a pump while dodging chickens and goats along the way. I wouldn’t have traded these experiences for the world.
The Peace Corps is a total immersion experience. My journal entries from my time in South Africa are fun to look at and reminisce about. I would like to share 10 of them with you:
1) My housemom wants me to go to church. My housemom wants me to go to church in a white button down shirt. A really white shirt. She scrubbed my white button down shirt for a full half hour. Whether they are princes or paupers, South African women are excessively clean.
2) I am wearing a shirt of my alma mater the DePaul Blue Demons. I’m afraid the word “demons” might trigger some of the people in the village as they are very religious.
3) The neighbors are very nice. Ms. Magalihadi’s, a fourth grade teacher, has her son knocks on my door once a week to bring me a plate of food.
4) There are no regular bus schedules or taxis in my village. If you need to go anywhere in a taxi, you have to wait for the taxi to fill up. Taxis are the size of a large minivan. Sometimes you can wait a long time.
5) The stars at night are so clear and bright you feel you can reach one five feet away.
6) There are more goats and chickens than people in my village. If I want to see what the see what what the South Africans call “The Big 5”(Rhino, Leopard, Lion, Buffalo or Elephant), I will have to take some leave time and go on a safari.
7) Sunsets are quite beautiful. The sky looks like an orangy watercolor painting.
8) Some women in the village carry a 10 or 20 pound bag of rice on their heads. I don’t know how they do that without the bag falling off. Many times they are not holding onto the bag.
9) In South Africa, “now” means “when I get to it”. “Now Now” means “immediately”.
10) The tribal elders and teachers gave me the name “Tebogo”. Tebogo means “thankful” in Setswana. After my two years, my village counselor told my school, that he wants to name a village road after me “Tebogo Road”. I am honored. (If that is true, that would be the first street sign in the village as all the roads are unpaved. Maybe a 6th grade kid can stand on the corner a couple hours a week with a sign made out of construction paper that says “Tebogo Road”)
Like snowflakes and fingerprints, each Peace Corps volunteers’ time in service was unique and vastly different than the next. For one, its a rare experience altogether. Only 225,000 volunteers have served in 143 countries over a 62 year timespan. And in another type of service, the Armed Forces, 225,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guard personnel get out of the service every year.
I served in both in the Peace Corps and the military. War and Peace. Ironically, in 2023 Peace Corps volunteers will serve in Vietnam for the very first time in their 62 year history.
It seems when most American families look up their genealogy they will find someone in their family tree who served in the military- whether it was Uncle Elmer storming Omaha Beach during WWII, cousin Johnny in the jungles of Vietnam or a niece who is a pilot in the Air Force. Not so with Peace Corps. The Peace Corps is a rare animal- so much so that every volunteer who returns to the United States will hear this query at least once: “You were in the Peace Corps? Is the Peace Corps still around?”. Like Mark Twain used to say “The reports of my death have been greatly been exaggerated. The Peace Corps is alive and kicking. The Peace Corps is doing well..thankyouverymuch. Having shut down during the pandemic for the first time since John F. Kennedy’s founding of the Peace Corps in 1961….the Peace Corps in 2023 is back at full strength.
Advertising over the last 20 last years was primarily on college campuses and by word of mouth. I miss the old TV commercials from the 70s that said “The Peace Corps – the toughest job you’ll ever love” and “The corner office can wait. This remote corner of the world cannot”.
Here was my sample work day at the local primary school:
0740- It’s time for “Assembly and Devotion” at Maphoitsile Primary School. From Monday to Friday two different teachers lead the kids in singing up to 20 minutes of devotional songs until primary school classes begin. About once a week,the principal or deputy principal will put out some information about classes, safety, nutrition or a host of other topics. I try to lead the Assemblies during South African and American holidays like Halloween and Human Rights Day… and organize skits, games and prizes.
0800- My first class is an English class with 7b learners. It is a little crowded our classroom. The 7b “classroom” is actually designed to be a storage room. If I call a learner to the front chalkboard,the learner has to crawl under 5 desks and surface like a submarine at the front of the classroom! That said, there are stars in every classroom and this classroom is no exception. Osiame is one such learner. Not only is she in the top 10% of her class in English, she also came in 3rd in the 100 meter dash for her age group in the whole province.
0900- I usually reserve 9am to 11am work on the little school library. I assigned two “library assistants” per class to help me with assorting books, library cards, etc. I received books from businesses in my two shopping towns of Taung and Hartswater and donations from a non-profit agency Biblionef and an American non-profit agency Darien Book-Aid. Sometimes, I push two rolling bookshelves out into the courtyard for the kids to look at the books.
1100- My South African name is “Tebogo”. “Tebogo” means “thankful” in Setswana. Setswana is one of South Africa’s 11 national languages. I host something called “Lunchtime with Teacher Tebogo.” Today, I am teaching kids to play chess. Usually kids eat for 15 minutes, and then they participate in one of my activities for 15 minutes. In all honesty,I am quite surprised at the success of the chess lessons. I assumed wrongly that kids would only be interested in netball, football and the Guara-Guara dance. I also met with my Setswana teacher, Simphiwe. We will set up a time to meet tonight. He knows Setswana, English, and Xhosa.
1130- My 7a classroom is actually a “staff room.” Kids have a little bit more room to move about than the 7b classroom,but they are still crammed in like sardines. Learners don’t have individual desks in ANY classroom…and this “classroom” is no exception. Normally kids sit five at a worn-out table. Last November we got 500 portable lap desks from the Desmond Tutu Foundation. The desks made a colourful and practical addition to the classroom….and they came in four different types with pre-printed lessons emblazoned on the front for maths, geography, English and social science classes. Today, we are doing a “writing and presenting” class. I used something call Bostik to put up six posters around the classroom. There was a picture taped to the top of each storyboard. Groups of three to five wrote directly on the storyboard while I played soft-music in the background.
1330- In 10 minutes, it is the end of the school day. Kids typically take orders from their teachers and have to clean the classrooms. Some teachers also have kids scrub the concrete just outside their classrooms with something called “Pine Gel”….like American Pine-Sol but in gel form.
1400- Today I will go to my shopping town of Taung because I am out of groceries. I normally go to town with one of the Math teachers, Mr. Seboco. Interestingly enough, he won’t accept my taxi fare for gas. I also need to meet the head librarian at the Taung Library about my Maphoitsile Primary School Reading Program. I have placed a total of 20 “dropboxes” in local businesses in the two towns for extra magazines and books in English and Setswana to be donated to the Maphoitsile Primary School Reading Program.
1700- I am heading back from Taung to Maphoitsile on the Phumatra bus. The fare is 14 rand, and it takes me about 30 minutes to get back to my village. The temperature is starting to drop. South African weather can combine two or three seasons in one day. I found that no matter when I go into town, I pack extra warm clothes in my backpack. As soon as the sun goes down, “Summer and 80 degrees” becomes “Winter and 45 degrees”…all in a matter of hours!
When our cohort of 37 was sworn-in in September 12, 2016, the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa referred to us as “grassroots ambassadors”. And it turned out to be true. We did our best to represent America and in the Peace Corps in our little villages in the best possible way. What is it like in the Peace Corps? This is just one version of the 225,000 volunteers who have served since President John F. Kennedy signed Executive Order 10924 establishing the Peace Corps in 1961. If you curious enough to find out to sign up for the Peace Corps, you won’t regret it.