Tzaneen, Limpopo

I am extremely excited to learn that I will be serving in Tzaneen!

To give a little background Tzaneen is a large town situated in the Mopani district of the Limpopo province in South Africa. It is in a fertile region with tropical and subtropical agriculture taking place and the town itself holds a population of around 30,000.
The distance from Tzaneen to Johannesburg is 4 hours or so. There are many tourist attractions to the small town of Tzaneen, including: The Beautiful Tzaneen Dam, Magoebaskloof, Haenertsburg, and the Pekoe View Tea Estate. I have even heard talk of a Baobab Tree, which is regarded as the largest tree in the southern hemisphere. It has been transformed into a bar that seats 15 and serves beer, scones and some other yummy things. There is a fabulous coffee shop named the Purple Daisy and a bubbling brook a few feet from my flat! The town is also situated close to a number of game reserves and home to a ridiculous amount of B&Bs. As far as the climate is concerned it is mostly sunshine, long summer days with pleasant winters. A wide range of tropical fruits are grown in the Tzaneen area, notably mangoes, bananas, oranges and avocados.



This past week, I visited Tzaneen for a site visit and was happy to find that I would be working with an organization that understands my role as a PC NGO advisor and is prepared to support me in this effort. I was also pretty excited to learn that I would be living in a flat about a 15 minute walk from the mall! Wow! Some how when I think Peace Corps, I think of grass huts, bucket baths and boiling drinking water. I suppose this is due to the fact that I have been living that type of life for the past 6 weeks! lol



Also:



I feel that I would be doing you blog readers a disservice if I do not share with you my challenges along with my joys. Here in South Africa, because of my appearance, I am expected to speak the language of whatever area I find myself in. It seems that South Africans know very little about African Americans and don't understand that I am in fact just that and not a person that refuses to speak my native tongue or a foreigner that is here to take employment jobs from them! I have been referred to as coconut (white on the inside black on the outside) I have encountered resentment because I sound like a "white person" and I am educated ( both from whites and blacks), Kaffir, foreigner, etc. I have been meet with a ridiculous amount of hostility from the Black African community, which has, unfortunately, altered my perception of them and has dampened my experience thus far. It is amazing the disparity between the way White Americans are received by the community as opposed to Black American who are fulfilling the same duties as their counterparts. Internalized Racism comes to mind...





On a brighter note, although I wasn't aware of this challenge, I am determined to work through these misconceptions within my community so that I can serve powerfully... What that means is making an extra effort to learn the language, integrate into the community, and be prepared to have those difficult conversations with people who look just like me...



I suppose that is enough for now. Stay tuned and feel free to leave a comment so that I know that you've been reading!

Peace!





N