Day 1:
Sperm travels a long, arduous way to the Fallopian Tube. The strongest sperm fertilizes the Egg and a Zygote is formed. The genetic information in the zygote is ready to be incorporated, and changed.
I travel a long and arduous way to Lesotho. When I land, and arrive in my host family’s house, a Peace Corps Trainee is formed. My knowledge of what a volunteer was, and my idea of Lesotho was ready to be tested, and changed.
Days 2-6:
The zygote is tested within its first few days. It travels into the fallopian tubes, and goes through a number of rapid mitotic cell divisions. It now has a permanent location, and can start growing with regular sustenance from its mother.
I quickly adapt to life in the training village. I change the way I bathed (I now bucket bathe), I changed the way I ate, (I started eating a lot of papa, maize meal), and I changed my name to Tebatso Mapiloko. I now had a semi-permanent location in the Makola village. I started getting regular training and Sesotho language instruction from Peace Corps.
Week 3:
The microscopic fetus now has a beating heart and has its own blood separate from its mothers. It gains its own experiences now having minor neuralation with the creation of its brain and spinal chord. Its gastrointestinal tract starts to take shape.
After traveling with the help of other volunteers to Mokhotlong and back I now gained a more personal sense of what Lesotho was going to be like separate of how Peace Corps taught. I had regular bouts of diarrhea or constipation.
Week 4:
The fetus is about 10,000x larger than the fertilized egg.
I lost 10lbs...
Week 5:
Fetal buds form indicating where arms and legs will shape. The lower jaw forms along with the larynx with the rudimentary ears and eyes.
I became quite skilled at walking up and down mountains and rocks with flip-flops. I started cooking for myself. I also visited my future home, Fobane, where I saw and rudimentarily experienced the village for 2 days during site visit. My teachers heard my premature thoughts and opinions about Lesotho and service, and I started understanding a bit more Sesotho.
Week 6:
The fetus weighs about 1/1000th of an ounce, and has webbed fingers and toes. Its palate and nose develop.
I ate at least 16oz of turkey on thanksgiving. I went swimming at the ambassador’s house, and webbed fingers could have been useful. I smelled and tasted so much on my favorite holiday.
Week 8:
Every organ is in place, and bones begin to replace cartilage. Fingerprints form, and the baby can start hearing.
I started practice teaching, and I was nervous. I began to develop my own personality and method for teaching. I listened to feedback on how to change and adapt to better teaching styles.
Week 10-11:
The baby can turn its head, frown, smile, and hiccup. The baby can “breathe” the amniotic fluid and urinate. It can grasp objects, all organ systems function, and the baby has a skeletal structure, nerves, and circulation. Now it just needs to grow.
I swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I frowned because I am would no longer going to see all my friends in training regularly. I smiled because my adventure finally began. I hiccupped during my first week alone in Fobane, stumbling to make my place my own. I had all the tools, and knowledge. But I was just there to learn; I was not yet ready to start projects. I also started urinating on my garden.
Week 12:
The baby is now able to experience pain. It’s vocal chords are complete. The genitalia are now clearly either male of female.
I walked 3 hours to my friend’s village up a mountain, then 3 hours back down a mountain. I was extremely sore the next day. I was now essentially fluent, or capable in Sesotho. I slaughtered a chicken, and therefore I became a man.
Month 4:
The fetus now makes active movements. The heart beats 120-150 times per minute, and brain waves are very detectable.
I read all of Harry Potter waiting for school to start January 28th. I immediately started teaching strong, and started a tutoring club, which has remained, pretty effective, yet difficult to manage. I teach about 120-150 kids a day, and my fellow teachers beat about 120-150 students a day.
Month 5:
Sweat and oil glands are now functioning. The mother can feel the fetus kicking, and the heartbeat can be heard with a stethoscope. The baby can dream.
I started playing soccer on the Fobane Teacher’s team. They can play soccer a lot better than I can. I was getting about 10 hours of sleep per night. Our Peace Corp Phase III workshop and vacations were coming up, so we new volunteers were getting a bit antsy.
Month 6:
The fetus now has a startle reflex, and there is a rapid brain development. A baby born at this time can survive, but the chances of complications and death are high.
I went to my final Phase III training workshop where I got to see all my training friends and host family. I was startled to hear about a lot of people’s experiences, and how different and similar they were to my own. I learned a lot during the workshop, and refreshed a new sense of what it was to be a volunteer. Mike, Kyle, Laura and I went to South Africa for the first time in a rented private vehicle. Our chances of complications and death on this vacation to Port Elizabeth were high (driving on the left), but we survived unscathed, and fattened up from amazing food.
Month 7:
The fetus develops regular breathing rhythms, a partially self-controlled temperature, and has more control over body functions and movements.
I have now been teaching for about 3 months, so I got into a rhythm with teaching and my schedule. I now know all my teachers, and many of my villagers. I am much more integrated and aware of my presence in the community. At cultural day, I was able to control my body movements to sort of dance in a traditional way. This will take more time.
Month 8:
Antibodies are built up in the fetus, and the skin begins to thicken. The baby is able to use all 5 senses. The baby continues to grow and gain fat.
I created my Random Hacks of Kindness video (more to come in future blog) and went to Pretoria to give a presentation on my idea and form a team to create an innovative application for smart phones. With my new sense of security and having travelled in South Africa, I travelled through Johannesburg and survived. I gained back my 10lbs.
Month 9:
The baby prepares for birth by sliding its head toward the birth canal. It continues to grow.
I attended the PDM and HIV workshop where I learned properly, and effectively how to start my projects to help develop Fobane. My counterpart and I have planned to organize a large HIV testing event in my village, and we start the beginning of August.
Birth:
After having spent 9 months in Lesotho, and only 6 months after Phase I, and then only 3-4 months after Phase III, I now feel capable, and integrated enough to begin what I intended on doing when I joined the Peace Corps. Although I have not been entirely active in pursuing projects, it was crucial to take this time, step back, and observe. Our premature ideas of volunteerism can be considered forceful, culturally insensitive, ineffective, and unsustainable. Therefore, gaining respect in my village, learning Sesotho, and adapting to life here will have hopefully made the next year and a half of my service that much easier to start projects that my community has expressed a need for. I look forward to the challenge of true volunteerism, now that I feel more like a Mosotho man.
