Modjadiskloof. Site of the world’s largest Baobab tree.
Africa is The Wild in as many ways as any one thing can be anything. Recently, I confided in a
South African friend about some reservations regarding the environment in which I live. His exact
response was,“Stay tough, little lady. It’s Africa. That’s the only way you survive.”
In Afrikaans, there is a common saying, “Afrika is nie vir sissies, nie,” meaning, “Africa is not for
sissies.”
It is true. What I share in my posts is only a small glimpse of life here. Someday, long after I
depart from Peace Corps service in rural South Africa, perhaps I will publish more details about
the day- to- day risks of living here. To maintain my vitality and enthusiasm, and to deter folks
back home from incessant worry, I now choose to keep those details my lonesome secret.
There is one thing about this country that cleanses my mind and heart even on the most
disheartening of days: the pristine landscapes of Africa’s wild.
When I am confounded by contradictions of value within a single value system, when I am beside
myself over the apathetic attitudes which perpetuate some of the most heinous violations of
humanity, when I wonder if I have reached my threshold for tolerance of aversion, adversity, and
single mindedness, when I question whether a revolution of consciousness is possible in a world
whose leaders embody egoism and disorder, the lay of South Africa’s land baptizes me, and I
become whole again.