Peer Educator Training and Classes

This weekend I attended training for the HIV/AIDS Peer Educator Programme. The sessions on the first day focused on the psychology side of our duties--how to counsel without giving advice, being aware of our own emotional state, etc. In the second day of the workshop we went over the basics of HIV/AIDS--what causes it, the myths, the facts, and treatment. Of the 40-50 people at the training, there were nine American students, so we definitely stuck out. At the beginning of one of the sessions we played a name game where you go around the circle introducing yourself, but you have to repeat the name of each person who has introduced themself before you. I was about two-thirds of the way through a group of about 20 people, so that was about eight Zulu names to remember/pronounce. I think I offended about eight people. In general, the South Africans were open to our input and dumb questions, but I could also tell that at moments we didn't quite mesh and they saw us as outsiders. For instance, on the first day we did a role playing activity in groups of three where we alternated different roles--a peer, a peer educator, and an observer to critique. After we finished the activity, my group had some extra time, so the girl flatly asked me, "So why are Americans so arrogant and ignorant?" She went on to explain that she had met Americans who were surprised that they weren't living in the bush, that people don't wear traditional garb, and that there aren't lions wandering around. Her response to such thoughts is, "When you board a jumbo jet in New York, where do you think your plane is going to land?" She definitely had some valid points, and her frustration is somewhat justified, although overgeneralized. Both her and the guy in our group (who was less outspoken) seemed annoyed that when some black Americans (who they prefer to classify as "coloureds" or mixed-race people) come to South Africa they consider it the "motherland." They contend that African-Americans do not have ancestors from South Africa, rather their ancestors would have been from West Africa such as Ghana. I explained that the education we get in the US tends to be very Euro-centric, so the little that we are taught about Africa has to be generalized. African culture is incredibly complex because it is made up of hundreds of individual tribes, each with its own language and culture, not to mention the added diversity from colonial influences. There is no way that a survey course of African history, or a world history class for that matter, can do justice to the complexities of modern Africa. This girl pointed out that westerners tend to view Africa as one country, with one culture, and just a handful of languages, which I think is sometimes true. She also asked me if white people in America think they are immune to HIV/AIDS. I quickly dispelled this impression, which supposedly exists amongst some white South Africans (although I'm not sure who). I'm not sure why she was putting me on the spot like that--whether it was a test to see if I was another one of those ignorant Americans, or because she is frustrated with westerners and I was a captive audience--I don't know. I appreciate that they were open and up-front with me, which I tried to be in return. This was a good reminder that we are ambassadors and need to act in such a way because we are constantly being watched, judged, and criticized. On the second day during the tea break, all of the international students in my group were standing together in a circle talking amongst themselves while the South Africans were sitting down on the other side of the room. I could tell that the South Africans were looking at us in a somewhat scornful way because the body language of our group was very closed off. I casually walked away from the Americans to sit down with the rest of the group because it seemed like we were inadvertently sending the wrong message--especially since most of the Americans at the training were white and all of the South Africans were black.

Earlier in the week, Jacob and Erica--a couple other Jewish kids from California in Denison, reminded me that Purim was on Saturday night, so we decided to throw a Purim party (for those who don't know, Purim is basically the Jewish holiday equivalent of Halloween). So I dressed up as Queen Esther, using my bedsheet as a toga, and with a crown made out of scrap paper. Others put together makeshift costumes as well, and we set up a makeshift bar in my room since you're practically commanded to drink on Purim, and played some Yiddish music while playing Mafia--good times.

On an unrelated note, some people have been asking about my classes, which I have mentioned little about so far. For the most part, I feel like I am back in high school, which although boring and tedious at times is a nice relief from the pressures of more serious work. This is especially true in Zulu and Labour Economics. There's about 50 people in the Zulu lecture, so there is no way for the instructor to gage the progress of each student like they do at Berkeley where there is never more than 20 students in a language class. Also, we don't have daily assignments that force us to practice, and since I would rather do other things with my time, I feel like I am not learning much. In Labour Economics, although it is a third-year class (senior-level), it feels like high school because the lecturer puts the notes up on an overhead projector which we copy verbatim and the content is highly conceptual rather than theoretical/mathematical, so there are no problem sets which is a major change of pace. For the first couple weeks my Politics of SA class was very from-the-book, but the other lecturer started teaching last week and she makes the material much more engaging and college-y. I haven't taken anything like Ceramics at the college level, in fact I don't think it's even offered for credit at Berkeley, but my instructor here definitely has higher standards in terms of artistic quality compared to my high school Ceramics class which is good. The tough thing about it is that it is all Thursday afternoon and all day Friday--the time of the week when the last place I want to be is in class. But the professor is not strict about us being there during the scheduled times--rather that we put in the needed time and enjoy ourselves. We are going to start learning how to throw this week which I am looking forward to. The good thing about my classes is that thus far I don't have much homework, which is a good thing because I didn't come here to sit in my room and work on assignments and read boring articles. I am lucky though because not all of the international students have as little homework as me. But still, nobody takes their classes too seriously here, so I still have plenty of travel buddies.