Third Day Back.

I am so tired... With slow or no internet connection (and firewall blocks), progress has been slow and so I carry my tasks back with me to the cottage. I'm under 1.5 hours of sleep right now...there are several time constraints I have in this brief visit so I told BTM that today and tomorrow is what I consider "CRUNCH TIME."

I am pleased with the published pieces over the summer. Here are two images. I'll bring some copies home. Looks like some more of my other pieces are heading to the printers soon (the were recently approved):

2006 Narrative Report was a word document. This is a vast improvement!

simplifying their data so everyone understands the course of web hits

Second Day back.

This visit to Africa is very different – I am living alone and a bit more stressed. Don't get me wrong, for the one full day that I have been here it has been mostly pleasant. But really, since my time here is so terribly brief most of the days will be busy with work and only work. Every day is so timed and carefully scheduled that there really is no time for leisure. I'm having internet difficulties so with 99 percent of my tasks being web-related...this is adding on extreme frustration.

Yesterday evening I went to a lounge call House of Nsako, a neighborhood hotspot that many cultural and international students like to hang out…even some celebrities (South Africa celebrities aren’t a big deal here…my friends say one sees them so frequently that just blend in very well). They were showing Obama's inauguration ceremony on three projections. After the ceremony finished, a live band played some contemporary live jazz. It was hard going to bed...just kept thinking about what I had to do the next day.

Oh, and I'm being blocked from our parsons server, prolonging trial and error testing.

Doris back in South Africa

Never thought I would be back so soon, but I am.

However, it has already been very emotional. Within the first two hours, I found out a dear friend of mine was diagnosed with HIV a couple of months ago. He was a Zimbabwean refugee and returned to his country to be with his family. They say grew very thin, weak, and eventually incapable of doing his work. Neighbors say they are unsure how much longer he has to live. He is only 30-something years old and his wife was someone I also befriended. He was not part of the organization but helped us with maintenance around the summerhouse. Since he left, no one really knows of his condition.

While anticipating a reunion with my South African comrades, I can’t help but think of all the work that needs to be done. I only have a total of four regular business days to get a bulk of it done. I’m hoping the office will open on Saturday. With an extra day, I’d be allowed more time to accomplish everything on this list. The purpose of this revisit is to clean up some loose ends and follow up with my NGO about what happened after our initial visit. What was the impact we made? How we can extend the impact into a foreseeable future? Specifically, this is what I have scheduled:

- Meeting with PCB to migrate and configure Drupal CMS onto their server
- Capture testimonies after the Parsons fellowship
- Visit, participate, and document any LGBTI events that may be scheduled
- Collect release forms from staff and all individuals previously photographed
- Pull quotes from current staff (some old members left but may try to send them an email survey)

I asked Thuli to sit with me this morning about how the organization is doing. Because of other challenges, they are really stressed right now. And let me just tell you, working with stressed people makes you even more stressed than you already are…I’m going to try my best to bring some smiles this week. Thuli (director) is out basically everyday and I'll only see her on Friday. The managing editor will not be here this week and the secretary is gone today. I'll be working with Stanley ("webmaster") most of the time.

This evening there will be a large Obama celebration at a neighborhood lounge not too far away that normally congregates those who are poetically, politically, and culturally open-minded. My landlord and neighbors will be taking me there as a welcome back to the American girl.

I’m not staying in the same summerhouse Joe and I lived in but my own private cottage that shares a courtyard with it. It’s very quaint but equipped with fewer things. There’s no stove or burners so personal cooking is not really an option (there is a microwave). No washer and no cleaning supplies. I’m sure I can borrow stuff from Mongezi, who lives in the private cottage neighboring mine. But there are restaurants nearby and dried foods can suffice for this short visit. If I buy soap, all I need is a rock to scrub any dirty laundry at the end of the week.