Visitors, Visitors, Visitors

Just as I had a few visitors near the end of October, the second week of November proved to be another high season for coming to see the library, which is nice because I really do enjoy having people come, whether they stay at my house or stop by for the afternoon.

Grade 6 learners gather around as I
introduce the game Memory.

The first pair to come was Ted and Amy, who both live in Southern KZN. I met them in town on Sunday afternoon (after a big shopping spree at the grocery store) and then we headed back to my house. They were fascinated at how I lived without electricity and all the little things that I did to get by: the paraffin lamps, the concrete blocks on the floor as a makeshift refrigerator, and the solar panel that charges the car battery when I need to recharge my cell phone or laptop on weekends. They also like to cook, so I ate really well for a few days. Of course, their main reason for visiting was to see the school library in action, so they came to school with me on Monday, got the grand tour, met

Amy, me, and Ted in my front yard.
Always great to have visitors.

most of the teachers, and then helped out when grade 6 came to the library. It was nice because they took lots of pictures and a few videos of me, something that I really don’t have. They both had to leave Tuesday morning to get back to their own sites and schools, but I think it was a worthwhile trip for everyone.

The next pair to stop by was Katrina and Michael, who both live in Northern KZN. They weren’t really coming to see me, but instead were spending the week with Liz to help her sort through the hundreds of boxes of books that were delivered last week by Books for Africa. Since they were in the area, though, they thought it would be fun to visit a few others, and I was more than happy to play host for the afternoon. They followed pretty much the same school routine as Ted and Amy: arrived before lunch, met a few teachers, and then came to the library to help out with grade 7. At one point, Michael looked around and said, “Maybe I have been out of America for too long, but right now I feel like I am in a school library back in the States.” He can come back any time to visit J. It was a nice thing to hear. The added bonus of their visit was that when they were dropped off, they also dropped off the 23 boxes of new books for our school – no need to worry about picking them up! As much as I wanted to dive into them to see what we got, I realized that it is more important to wait until I have some additional help. I don’t want it to be only me that sorts and shelves these books. This is my big chance to make sure someone else knows what is going on. It will probably take until the beginning of next school year to get things going, but that is just fine. The principal suggested the same thing, so no one seems to be worried that I am not doing my job. For now the boxes are sitting in the computer lab until we are ready to get things underway.

The last visitor of the week was my Peace Corp boss, Lydia. She is the person that placed me at this site and has visited once or twice over the past year and a half to make sure that all is going well. She arrived at the school early Thursday morning to meet with my principal and be sure that there were no problems. After they were done, I had a chance to sit down with her and chat about my work this year and my plans for next school year. Of course, we took a quick look around the library.  While there, Lydia told me that the principal admitted that it was wrong of her not to have taken me to the awards ceremony in Durban last month. That was a bit of a surprise.  The principal certainly never said anything to me. Lydia said it may be something that she wanted me to know, but couldn’t bring herself to say. This was her way of relaying the message. Either way, it was nice to hear. After finishing up at the school, we took a quick trip to my house in the village to say hello to my host family and make sure that everything there was running smoothly. Lydia also wanted to check to see if my host family was up for having one more volunteer come after me, to which they said, “no problem.” She also agreed that my rondavel belonged on the cover of Architectural Digest for its stunning décor. With that, she dropped me back at school and was off to visit another volunteer in the area.

Sadly, I haven’t had any visitors since, but it is no matter. I have a feeling there will be another high season just around the corner.