Strike and death

There's a lot to say. Life has been incredibly busy recently, and things are constantly changing. I knew that my last 6 months of Peace Corps service would be anything but boring!

(about 6 weeks ago, my friend Eric had a VAST event in his village. He put pictures up on his blog, check it out)

First off, I have not been to any of my schools for over a week. Why not? you're wondering. Well, last Friday, 1 June, all public sector employees in the entire country of South Africa went on strike. This includes all teachers, all nurses, police officers, etc. The nurses and police are so-called "essential services" which means that members can't officially strike (it would create chaos) but they have been taking part in the actions when possible and "going slow" when at work. COSATU, the Congress Of South African Trade Unions, which is the main participant in the strike, has been holding firm to their demands for a 12% pay increase for all members, in direct opposition to the government's offer of 6% (the government later raised their offer to 6.5%, but this was basically spat upon by the union). Both sides have been firm in their stances, and I doubt that the strike will be over anytime soon. The real losers in all of this: students all over the country. Grade 12 students especially are losing valuable time every day, since their Matric exams are coming up very soon.

The strike hasn't affected me personally all that much, however, because I have been so busy planning my VAST project. Every day has brought a new meeting---with a local mine, with local businesses, with the Municipality, with the Red Cross, etc. I haven't had a chance to rest at all!

Yesterday in town I saw a pedestrian hit by a car. He was lying on the side of the road, his body broken, sprawled out. A crowd formed around him, spectators. People walked by. The police arrived but nobody attended to him; he was still breathing and his eyes were twitching. The police put up traffic cones to direct cars away from him, and then just stood there. Nobody attended to him; it was like he wasn't even there. Time went by. 5 minutes. 10. 15. Eventually an ambulance showed up, at least 20 minutes after the incident. I'll remind you that this happened IN TOWN----imagine what would have happened if he had been hit in a village? It would have taken hours for any help to reach him.

Perhaps you are thinking that this is a result of the police's "go slow." That might be the case, except that this isn't the first time I've seen something like this happen. Last October I was on a day-trip to Polokwane; some Peace Corps friends wanted to go to the public pool and I accompanied them. I didn't swim because I was fasting at the time, so I sat on the grass and lounged. I noticed a small commotion; a young male, probably high-school aged, had been pulled out of the pool, not breathing. Lifeguards eventually attended to him, while other pool-goers laughed, jumped in the pool, and pretended as if he wasn't there. Eventually the lifeguards gave up; he was dead. People just stood around, detached from the whole thing. After almost THIRTY minutes, an ambulance showed up. The paramedics calmly got out of the ambulance and strolled over to him; they confirmed that he was dead, calmly strolled back to their ambulance, brought out a stretcher and body covering, put him on the stretcher, covered him up, and calmly took him away. The real tragedy of the entire thing was that the public pool in Polokwane is only 100 meters away from a Medi-Clinic.

I have no idea what happened to the pedestrian yesterday. He was obviously badly injured; nobody's body should lie slumped in that position naturally. There's a good chance that he is now dead; the lack of attention given to him by police and the slowness of any paramedic's arrival obviously contributed.

But hey.....T.I.A.

There's much more that's been going on in my life recently, and I'll be updating again soon. Until then, take care.