Oh Afrika!

Wednesday night I usually have practice from 5-7 but arrive a bit late because class isn't over until 5.  This week, we went to the gym after receiving a confirmation text that practice was at South campus at 5.  But, life doesn't always go as planned.  Before we went downstairs to the locker room to change, I checked the gym because I was skeptical of its availability due to end of term activities which have taken up space there frequently.  It was full.  So we tried to get a hold of other team members to see what the deal was. 

A bit later we found out that practice was moved to Missionvale campus (about a 25-minute drive).  Transport was meant to arrive at 5:45.  Volleyball is oftentimes on of my favorite parts of life in SA, so I figured that although the changes were a bit of an inconvenience that would require us to waste time until 5:45 and have the potential to keep us out later than we planned, I would be happy once we got to practice.

So, we went with the few other team members who could take themselves away from end-of-term school work to Missionvale campus.  We spent the first 10 minutes trying to find the lights to gymnasium and once lit, realized that the space is not used very often.  The space has a great design with two large courts in a sunken arena with Colosseum-type seating all around, but big swatches of floor sealant were peeling away and the floors were very dusty.  We also found an orange cat who was keeping us company during practice. 

When we finally arrived home, after 9pm (two-hours late), my arms were completely brown from wrists to elbows from passing, I was really hungry for dinner, and I was a bit flustered at the lack of worth-while practice completed in a dragged-out practice with only seven women.  Seven is a very small number to do any smoothly-running drills with.  The whole time at practice I was trying to remind myself that TIA- This is Africa.  And, although I felt like I was mostly wasting my time, I was seeing more culture first-hand.  I observed that the ladies who showed up really care about the team and were willing to spend the majority of their night, during exam time, to play volleyball.  The athletic department, although they didn't let us know until after practice should have started, cares enough about the team to arrange transport for our practices. I also realized that a great community space was not being used very much or maintained.  That could be a result of the way that the people are treated.  I have learned through service and personal experiences that people begin to act how they are treated.  If the people in Missionvale are treated like dirt, they are going to act like it, unless they have a strong source of encouragement from somewhere, telling them that they are worth taking care of and keeping up with.

On that note, Thursday we learned that Missionvale-ians (inhabitants of Missionvale, the township which houses one of NMMU's campuses and one of the service sites that CSB|SJU students attend- see more about the social and economic conditions at http://lindsayganong.blogspot.com/2011/02/our-first-full-day.html or the blog "Our First Full Day"), dismayed at their lack of sanitation services, dumped their feces at the gates of Missionvale campus as a protest to municipal government's lack of ability to provide bucket toilet waste removal.  I'd be upset, too.  The politicians went to Missionvale on Friday and appeased them with more promises that the Missionvale-ians hadn't heard for the first time.  Perhaps if the government delivered service, and the people were treated with respect, they would treat their community spaces with respect out of pride for themselves.  Unfortunately, I think PE's municipal government is a long way from consistent and efficient service delivery.