My new excuse for not having updated the blog in a while is my being out of town. What can I say? It was the busy time of the year.
August 23rd was the new group’s Swearing-In Ceremony in Pigg’s Peak. It wasn’t quite as fancy as ours, but they did have a few unexpected surprises. This year the Prime Minister actually made it so that was kind of cool. The U.S. Ambassador was there along with a bunch of the volunteers from my group. All of PSN got to spend the rest of the week with the new volunteers so we had a bonfire and attempted to make Smores one night and then showed them around the capitol the next couple of days. All in all, it was great seeing a bunch of new people excited to be here and to start getting to know their communities.
The 26th was the day the new volunteers were taken to their sites so after that we were free. As a treat to myself that morning I left for South Africa to meet a friend from California and spend a few days seeing the big country next door. It was a relaxing week, if not super-productive. As a treat to you all, instead of telling you all about it myself, this week I have a special guest blogger who can offer a little bit of a different perspective on what she’s seen of Swaziland and South Africa so far. So, here’s Kelly.
It’s been 25 days since I’ve arrived on this continent, and after dozens of hot and smooshed combi rides, staying the night in six different locations, carrying my belongings from city to city and meeting new people, I definitely have to say that my most favorite part so far has been the days spent in Zombodze. Whoa, what an opening run-on sentence! So far so good.
I flew into Johannesburg last month where Kris and I spent 5 long days. Johannesburg is really like any other large metropolitan city in the world- traffic, pollution, tall buildings, fast freeways, lots of people and busyness. I have to admit that it was nice going to the movies and eating popcorn, and I know Kris really enjoyed that; but, after seeing two Nicholas Cage films and Inception, eating out at restaurants, and the constant reminders of just how big Johannesburg is, I was ready to get out of the city. We traveled an hour away to Pretoria that is a much smaller city than Johannesburg, and really enjoyed walking around. After Pretoria we were planning to go to Nelspruit; however, somehow we ended up taking the wrong bus and going right back to Johannesburg… great! So instead we took a four-hour combi ride to Nelspruit and stayed at a really nice and friendly hostel there. The idea was to meet up with Kris’ sisi (sister) who is living there and attending the university, but it turned out that she was at home in Zombodze (Kris’ community) instead! So the next morning we decided to wake up early and head into Swaziland to get to Zombodze, which is where we are now.
For the most part we’ve been here in his community, but for about six days we traveled to Mbabane (Swaziland’s capitol) which is where the Peace Corps office is so that Kris and some of the other volunteers could have a “health week” and get checked out for any parasites, dental damage, diseases and things like that. Kris passed. Supposedly we only needed to be there for a few days, but the PC office called Kris and the other volunteers and asked them to travel to Mbabane earlier in the week. They did this since the country was currently going through a slight civil unrest and there were protests occurring in the big cities. Although it felt like we (or they) were in lock down for the week, it was super great being able to meet Kris’ PC friends who I’ve heard so much about. They were all really nice and it was great being able to converse with them one-on-one over where they’re from, what they’re projects are in Swaziland, and what they want to do when they return home. It really makes me think about what my next steps are in life.
Ok so: Zombodze. This is the name of Kris’ community which is only a short twenty-minute combi ride to Manzini (the second largest city in Swaziland after Mbabane). Since being here I’ve gotten to meet a good amount of his homestead family- the Mtetwa’s. I understand that Zombodze isn’t a very big community and so everyone seems to know each other, but I’m still under the assumption that his family is kind of a “big deal”. Even when Kris went to get his teeth cleaned a few weeks ago in Mbabane (2 hours away) the dentist said he was apart of the same family. It turned out that he was even at Kris’ homestead earlier in the summer playing the sax at a party! His babe (father), mother (can’t remember the siSwati name for mother), sisi’s, brother Kenneth and aunt are all nice and welcoming. None of them refer to Kris by his “American” name, but only by his Swazi name: Jobe. I have yet to meet his Gogo (grandmother), but I hear she only speaks siSwati, so that might be a bit of a difficult conversation for me to have.
Kris’ room here is like a little studio. He has a loft bed which gives him a lot more room for other things, like his desk that is built into his bed that is filled with PC papers and binders, LSAT prep books and stacks of books he is ambitious to read like Farewell to Arms, The Right to Privacy, Father of Frankenstein and The Fountainhead. He has a small little couch in his room that faces a little table with a stove/oven on it where he prepares his food, room to store his bike, and even a good amount of space in the middle of the room to lay two thin mattresses down for visitors when they stay the night. It’s a pretty nice set up he has here. Since being here we’ve done a ton of cooking- curry, fried chicken, stir fry, tacos, fried rice, sandwiches, Tuna & Ramen (I call this the Kris Special), and tonight we’re doing spaghetti and meat sauce. Is any one reading this?... Kris is doing the cooking!!! I thought I would never see the day! He’s actually pretty handy around here. Just a few days ago he was working on building screens to put on his windows out of mosquito net cloth to keep the bugs out of his room when he leaves the windows open in the heat.
Just by looking on a map, geographically, it’s easy to see how small of country Swaziland is. But man, looking at it on a map is nothing compared to seeing how small it is while you’re here. Kris has only been here for a year and yet it seems like we’re always running into people when we’re out and about. The first day in Manzini after traveling in South Africa we ran into Steph and Andrew, who are two of the new volunteers who just arrived in June, and while hiking yesterday we ran into one of Kris’ PC bosses with her husband and daughter. While picking up our laundry two days ago we ran into this really nice guy named George who is from Nigeria, who apparently Kris knew because George use to work at a computer store Kris would go to, and walked with us a few blocks almost all the way to the laundry place, just to chat. (I don’t remember the last time my watch repair guy stopped me on the street just to chat back at home…. Ummm yaa… never.) Maybe it’s just the culture here to be friendlier than I’m use to strangers being. While passing people on the street it is appropriate to wave or say hi whether you know them or not. I leave that to Kris who greets them in SiSwati while I just smile and wave. And whenever conversing with new people, the person you’re sitting next to on the combi, the lady at the laundry store, the person ringing our groceries, it seems to be customary to greet them, say hello, ask them how they are.
How I'm treated- everyone is really nice and seems to want to get to know me. I'm always asked how long I’ll be here and where I'm staying. I'm not sure if it’s just the culture, but after meeting new people they’re motivated to invite me to their home, or to their church… like the cleaning lady at the hostel Bombasos in Mbabane, or the random lady on the street who stopped to talk to me for an hour who lives near Pigg’s Peak.
Combies. I must have referred to them at least a half-dozen times already, but I have yet to describe what they are. Combies are combination vehicles the size of a big van and usually sit around sixteen people along with as much stuff (fruits, bags, children, buckets) that can be jammed in as possible until every square inch of the combi has been utilized. They can get pretty hot and uncomfortable as you can imagine, especially for the long rides, but the trips are priced really cheap so it’s worth it. The worst part about the combies (pronounced cumbies by the Swazi) is that the rank (depot) never fails to smell like urine.
I suppose this is something that I often take for granted as an urbanite living in my smog-filled home I call Los Angeles, but the night sky and stars here are amazing. At home, it’s only during times like meteor showers that I lay out on the ground and appreciate the sky, but being here I have the advantage of being able to see it whenever the sun has gone down for the day and the moon and stars light up the sky. When it’s dark at night and Kris and I are going from the outdoor sink to clean dishes to his room, I usually take a moment to appreciate the innumerous amount of lights in the sky and think of how big the earth is in comparison to our little bodies- and that while I’m taking that quick moment to stare into the sky, my parents, sisters, brother and friends are at home waking up and just getting their day started… half a world away.
So for the last week all I’ve really been doing is reading, thinking, lots of sudoku puzzles, going to town and cooking. All of that has been really relaxing and comforting, but we have also done a few other things as well. Last Saturday I went with Kris to a support group in town for kids in the greater Manzini area who have been infected with HIV/AIDS. Apparently they do these support groups twice a month (one in Manzini and the other in Mbabane) for kids (mostly teens) to get together with their peers and other people in the community who wish to help- some mothers, PC volunteers and other volunteers as well, and each meeting is usually targeted around a particular theme. The meeting we attended focused on their medications and why it is important to take them. The day was filled with conversations, games, skits, singing and dancing and ended by feeding the kids. As a volunteer here Kris is constantly surrounded by the realization of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, whereas I’m not; but after attending the support group and hanging out with the kids, it definitely has gotten me thinking. After the meeting I asked Kris a bunch of questions regarding the kids such as “do their friends in their communities and schools know that they’re infected?” “Are they treated differently at school?” “Were all the kids who attended the support group born infected or have they recently contracted it?” He’s currently reading a book called The Invisible Cure that focuses on the epidemic in Africa and has offered to lend me the book next which will answer a lot of questions.
The day after that was Sunday and we attended church with his family at an Evangelical church. Every bench and seat in the one room building was filled with people singing and dancing, which was fun; however almost the entire service was done in SiSwati, so it’s safe to say that I didn’t understand a thing. What was helpful though was Kris’ aunt who I was sitting next to kept whispering to me what was going on, or what was being said that really helped me stay attentive. Even though I was thoroughly lost during the service, we were glad we went, and it seemed like his family and other people at the church were too. A few people came up to me to introduce themselves, asked me how I liked it and inquired whether we would be attending next week. We thought maybe, but seeing as it’s Sunday night right now as I write this, I can tell you that we didn’t.
Yesterday Kris and I went to a game park where we set up our tent, and went on a five-hour hike up to a peak called “Execution Rock.” I’m not going to lie, that hike got me pretty winded and out of breath! But once we got to the top and we were able to see what seemed like all of Swaziland, it was well worth it. We brought peanut butter sandwiches with us, but by the time we got to the top they were so squished and we were almost out of water, that I opted out of eating them. Kris however had no problem. It was a really fun hike with a lot of different scenery to walk through, and we even got to see some wildlife like hippos, a crocodile, warthogs, zebras and some type of deer looking animal. By the time we got back to our tent from the hike, we were pretty dirty and our legs were exhausted that all we did for the rest of the day was make dinner and play cards.
So that’s my interpretation of Swaziland and Kris’ life as a visitor. Hopefully I was able to successfully describe a few things that Kris has failed to mention in his blogs and that you’ve gotten a better idea of his life here.
Kelly
Well, there you go. That’s Swaziland through the eyes of someone coming straight from the U.S. Not quite the same as being here, but hopefully that’ll help. I have some new work stuff to write about and a bunch of photos to put up, but I think I’ll save that for next week. See ya then!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Hey all. Long time no blog, huh? It’s been a busy couple of months with the new group getting here and everything. The other problem with updating the blog has been the iPhone. I’m sure you will all feel my pain when I tell you my iPhone is currently not working. There were some problems with the last software update and I’m hopeful future update will fix the problem, but until then my Internet access is kind of limited. With that said, I’ll be trying to make it to the Internet café in town to update the blog a bit more often.
Over the last couple of months 37 new Peace Corps trainees arrived in Swaziland and almost the entire previous group has left. It’ll probably take a while before I’m used to seeing all of these new faces, and not seeing others, but that’s how it goes. One or two of us from PSN have been up at Ngonini (the training site in the northern part of the country where we also did our training last year) every week helping out with some of the training sessions. Some of the sessions weren’t very much fun to sit through for a second time, but getting a chance to hang out with some new people was nice. A couple of weeks ago they finally found out where their permanent sites will be. We made a big map of the country with flags all over to show where the volunteer sites and big towns are and then walked them out to their site so they could see where they’re going to be in relation to everything else. The next week was their OJT (On the Job Training) which is when they go to their communities and meet their host families for the first time. The other part of OJT was meeting up with one of us older volunteers so we could show them around the closest shopping town and our community. They have another couple of weeks of training left then it’ll be time for their Swear-In ceremony. PSN will be with them that whole week to show them around the capitol and for some other fun activities. One thing I’ve figured out from last year is that training goes by MUCH faster when you aren’t the one being trained.
Because it’s been so long since my last post, as a treat I have some new pictures and video for you all. There are a couple of random pics in there, but everything else is from a traditional Swazi wedding I went to last weekend with my family and another volunteer, Reid. The whole ceremony lasts three days, but the day I was there was when the groom’s family gives the bride’s a bunch of cows (naturally, the families with higher social status get more cows for their daughters). Then each family slaughters and skins a cow to eat the next day. Reid and I were given the chance to try skinning part of my family’s cow (I got the job done, but my technique needs some work) and my sisi was there to get some good video. WARNING: as you might imagine, some of the video might be a little graphic for the kids. Don’t worry, the zebra pictures should be fine. You can find the video on my YouTube page under "My First Lobola" or just click on this link: My First Lobola. Enjoy!
Well, hopefully I’ll have another update next week. See you then.
Over the last couple of months 37 new Peace Corps trainees arrived in Swaziland and almost the entire previous group has left. It’ll probably take a while before I’m used to seeing all of these new faces, and not seeing others, but that’s how it goes. One or two of us from PSN have been up at Ngonini (the training site in the northern part of the country where we also did our training last year) every week helping out with some of the training sessions. Some of the sessions weren’t very much fun to sit through for a second time, but getting a chance to hang out with some new people was nice. A couple of weeks ago they finally found out where their permanent sites will be. We made a big map of the country with flags all over to show where the volunteer sites and big towns are and then walked them out to their site so they could see where they’re going to be in relation to everything else. The next week was their OJT (On the Job Training) which is when they go to their communities and meet their host families for the first time. The other part of OJT was meeting up with one of us older volunteers so we could show them around the closest shopping town and our community. They have another couple of weeks of training left then it’ll be time for their Swear-In ceremony. PSN will be with them that whole week to show them around the capitol and for some other fun activities. One thing I’ve figured out from last year is that training goes by MUCH faster when you aren’t the one being trained.
Because it’s been so long since my last post, as a treat I have some new pictures and video for you all. There are a couple of random pics in there, but everything else is from a traditional Swazi wedding I went to last weekend with my family and another volunteer, Reid. The whole ceremony lasts three days, but the day I was there was when the groom’s family gives the bride’s a bunch of cows (naturally, the families with higher social status get more cows for their daughters). Then each family slaughters and skins a cow to eat the next day. Reid and I were given the chance to try skinning part of my family’s cow (I got the job done, but my technique needs some work) and my sisi was there to get some good video. WARNING: as you might imagine, some of the video might be a little graphic for the kids. Don’t worry, the zebra pictures should be fine. You can find the video on my YouTube page under "My First Lobola" or just click on this link: My First Lobola. Enjoy!
Well, hopefully I’ll have another update next week. See you then.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Building a Library, No More Welcome Video and No More Swim Lessons
Hey everyone. Things have slowed down quite a bit in the last month, and by “slowed down” I mean I’ve spent much more time in my community, and that’s a good thing. I still can’t say I’m busy, but just being around here more feels like something good.
The big thing to happen this is month is our schools finally getting the books from the library project we’ve been working on for what seems like forever. Both of my schools were able to pick up their books last week and now it’s a matter of getting everything set up. One of the schools, Ludzeludze Primary, already has a pretty decent library so there’s not a lot for me to do. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be working with the school to find the best way to organize the new books with those that they already had to make sure the students are able to actually use them, but other than that it’s kind of all up to them. On the other hand, Zombodze Primary School has an empty room…that’s about it. Interesting fact: Zombodze Primary is one of the oldest schools in Swaziland and will be celebrating it’s 100th anniversary with a visit from King Mswati III next month. The room that will be the library is one of the original buildings and was actually a classroom used by King Sobhuza II, King Mswati’s father, when he was a child. So unlike Ludzeludze, the Zombodze school has some work to do to build a viable library for its students. The first step is to build shelves so I’ll be working with the school to try to get some funding to start work on that. The Head Teacher is really hoping to have everything set up by the time the King comes next month, but we’ll see how that goes.
After kind of disappearing for the last couple of months, I was pretty excited when the Principal of Zombodze High School said he still wanted to work together. Today was the last day of the first term so the students and teachers will be on break for the next couple of weeks, but when they come back I’ll be talking to the teacher in charge of the Health Club about me helping out. The high school also has a vegetable garden where they (somewhat successfully) grow food for student lunches and I might try putting to use what I learned at that gardening training last month. Since I don’t really have any space on my homestead this is probably my best option, but as long as I don’t mess up what they already have growing I don’t think they’ll mind me playing around a bit. There’s also a teacher here who stays on a homestead near mine who I was told would make a good siSwati tutor so I’m supposed to talk to her after the break about getting started with that. Right now it seems like the schools will be my main focus of work in my community, even if I don’t have a ton of face-to-face time with the students.
Swim lessons are also going on hiatus with the end of the term. There’s not a lot we can do as it starts to get colder here so we’d probably end up spending more time playing games indoors instead of swimming, but maybe next Spring. There’s also supposed to be a school nearby in Manzini that has a pool so I want to try talking to them about doing lessons since it would be a lot much easier for me to get there.
Baylor University is really active in working with children living with HIV/AIDS in Swaziland and there are several PCVs involved with them in one way or another. Last December they put on two one weeklong camps for these kids with a few PCVs working as camp counselors. They also do a children’s support group once a month and I’ve started helping out with that. The kids range from about 5 to 20 years old so everyone is split into groups based on age. Every month there’s a general topic (last week’s was “peer pressure”) with the kid’s doing a fun activity related to the topic and then the staff leading a discussion based on the activity. A lot of time is just spent playing with these kids who otherwise have pretty tough lives. It’s pretty clear this is something they look forward to every month, but I can’t say they’re the only ones enjoying themselves.
I’m sure everyone has seen the previous post about the Welcome Video being up on YouTube, but I just want to say it again because it feels good: I’M DONE!
One of the other volunteers, Kate, started teaching a yoga class at the gym in Manzini so a few of us have joined and started doing that. Two things I’ve learned so far: 1) I’m not nearly as flexible as I used to be, and 2) I have HORRIBLE balance (I blame my busted ears and gimp ankle). Still, it feels good to be able to exercise in a pretty decent gym again. Even though membership costs about the same in U.S. dollars as it does back home, it takes up a considerably bigger chunk of my paycheck here. But they have showers with WARM water, and what I’ve come to realize here is that you can’t put a price on warm water.
Well it’s getting pretty late here and I’m still undecided on whether or not I feel like making real food for dinner so I should get going. The good Internet café in town closed a couple of weeks ago and I’m not able to get online as much as I used to, which may be a good thing, so it’s not quite as easy for me to post to the blog or answer email. For the most part, I can do just about everything with the iPhone, it just takes a bit longer so some patience will be required. Talk to you soon.
P.S. Go Lakers.
-- Post From My Hut
The big thing to happen this is month is our schools finally getting the books from the library project we’ve been working on for what seems like forever. Both of my schools were able to pick up their books last week and now it’s a matter of getting everything set up. One of the schools, Ludzeludze Primary, already has a pretty decent library so there’s not a lot for me to do. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be working with the school to find the best way to organize the new books with those that they already had to make sure the students are able to actually use them, but other than that it’s kind of all up to them. On the other hand, Zombodze Primary School has an empty room…that’s about it. Interesting fact: Zombodze Primary is one of the oldest schools in Swaziland and will be celebrating it’s 100th anniversary with a visit from King Mswati III next month. The room that will be the library is one of the original buildings and was actually a classroom used by King Sobhuza II, King Mswati’s father, when he was a child. So unlike Ludzeludze, the Zombodze school has some work to do to build a viable library for its students. The first step is to build shelves so I’ll be working with the school to try to get some funding to start work on that. The Head Teacher is really hoping to have everything set up by the time the King comes next month, but we’ll see how that goes.
After kind of disappearing for the last couple of months, I was pretty excited when the Principal of Zombodze High School said he still wanted to work together. Today was the last day of the first term so the students and teachers will be on break for the next couple of weeks, but when they come back I’ll be talking to the teacher in charge of the Health Club about me helping out. The high school also has a vegetable garden where they (somewhat successfully) grow food for student lunches and I might try putting to use what I learned at that gardening training last month. Since I don’t really have any space on my homestead this is probably my best option, but as long as I don’t mess up what they already have growing I don’t think they’ll mind me playing around a bit. There’s also a teacher here who stays on a homestead near mine who I was told would make a good siSwati tutor so I’m supposed to talk to her after the break about getting started with that. Right now it seems like the schools will be my main focus of work in my community, even if I don’t have a ton of face-to-face time with the students.
Swim lessons are also going on hiatus with the end of the term. There’s not a lot we can do as it starts to get colder here so we’d probably end up spending more time playing games indoors instead of swimming, but maybe next Spring. There’s also supposed to be a school nearby in Manzini that has a pool so I want to try talking to them about doing lessons since it would be a lot much easier for me to get there.
Baylor University is really active in working with children living with HIV/AIDS in Swaziland and there are several PCVs involved with them in one way or another. Last December they put on two one weeklong camps for these kids with a few PCVs working as camp counselors. They also do a children’s support group once a month and I’ve started helping out with that. The kids range from about 5 to 20 years old so everyone is split into groups based on age. Every month there’s a general topic (last week’s was “peer pressure”) with the kid’s doing a fun activity related to the topic and then the staff leading a discussion based on the activity. A lot of time is just spent playing with these kids who otherwise have pretty tough lives. It’s pretty clear this is something they look forward to every month, but I can’t say they’re the only ones enjoying themselves.
I’m sure everyone has seen the previous post about the Welcome Video being up on YouTube, but I just want to say it again because it feels good: I’M DONE!
One of the other volunteers, Kate, started teaching a yoga class at the gym in Manzini so a few of us have joined and started doing that. Two things I’ve learned so far: 1) I’m not nearly as flexible as I used to be, and 2) I have HORRIBLE balance (I blame my busted ears and gimp ankle). Still, it feels good to be able to exercise in a pretty decent gym again. Even though membership costs about the same in U.S. dollars as it does back home, it takes up a considerably bigger chunk of my paycheck here. But they have showers with WARM water, and what I’ve come to realize here is that you can’t put a price on warm water.
Well it’s getting pretty late here and I’m still undecided on whether or not I feel like making real food for dinner so I should get going. The good Internet café in town closed a couple of weeks ago and I’m not able to get online as much as I used to, which may be a good thing, so it’s not quite as easy for me to post to the blog or answer email. For the most part, I can do just about everything with the iPhone, it just takes a bit longer so some patience will be required. Talk to you soon.
P.S. Go Lakers.
-- Post From My Hut
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Welcome Video on YouTube
Hey everyone. I have a bigger post in the works, but I wanted to let you guys know that the Welcome Video is finally up on YouTube, though in many many parts. The "YouTube" link to the left will take you to my profile, which then has links to all of the different parts (there are 24 in all so look around). Enjoy.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Botswana and Learning to Farm
Hey everybody. Ya, it’s been a while, but I have a good excuse this time. I think I can count the number of nights I’ve spent at home by myself this past month on one hand. There’s been a whole lot of running around so it’ll be really nice once things settle down after next week.
A few weeks ago me and two other volunteers, Laura and John, went to a workshop on HIV/AIDS prevention in Gaborone, Botswana and it was AMAZING!!! First off, the per diem they gave us for the week that we were there was as much as we usually make in a month. They put us up in this pretty nice hotel right next to the really nice conference center the workshop was at. Pool, huge buffet, tv, and warm showers: it was almost a vacation. There were also two Botswana PC volunteers attending the workshop so they were able to show us around the city, which was waaaayyyy nicer than anything Swaziland has. We were able to get Chinese take-out one night and see Avatar in a real theatre the next. All of the fun stuff aside, a lot of information was covered during the five days we were together and it all looks like it’ll all be pretty useful here in one way or another. So the next step now is figuring out how we’re going to share what we learned with all of the other volunteers. John and Laura are working on an article for the next issue of our monthly newsletter and we’ll be putting together some presentations for our Mid-Service Training and the new group’s Pre-Service Training.
After getting back from Botswana, I had a couple of days at home until I had to leave for a gardening training the World Food Program put on for us for five days up at the place where we did our Pre-Service Training. WFP donates food to a lot of schools and Neighborhood Care Points all over the country and they want to start using PCVs to monitor the places in their communities getting food to make sure everything’s working as it’s supposed to. The first part of the training was showing us what to look for and how to report what we find, but the second half was teaching us actual gardening techniques and that was really interesting. We spent a whole day practicing making a compost pile and learning what plants go well together depending on what exactly you’re trying to do with your garden. All of that is meant for us to start on a small scale with a little garden on our homesteads, then hopefully people will see how amazing our garden is doing and then we can share these new techniques with others, and so on. My homestead doesn’t have a ton of space, but I’m planning on starting small by doing a few things in plastic containers and seeing how that goes.
Last Thursday was our big presentation of the Welcome Video to our bosses at the office. We had spent the three previous days in town working on the video, almost non-stop, including not sleeping at all the night before, and they still said we have more work to do. A lot of their comments were about some parts being too long and to try to cut out stuff that isn’t super important. We have to present the final thing next Monday so it can all be sent out April 1st, and we still have some work to do before then. The whole thing has been fun and all, but I’ll be a lot happier once it’s finished. We’re still going to try to put a lot of the video up on YouTube so I’ll let you guys know when that happens.
One of the girls here has a birthday coming up so we’re all going to go to House on Fire, the big concert venue in the country, to see this pretty popular (so I hear) South African band called Freshly Ground. We’ll be staying at the hostel on the game reserve so hopefully we’ll get to spend some time just hanging out in the pool watching the ostriches wander by.
Ya, it’s been a crazy month and I’m exhausted, but I’d much rather have things like this than how they were, with me walking to the store for some bread as the highlight of my day. With that said, it’ll be nice to take a day or two next week to just relax. All right, now back to sweating.
P.S. One of the presenters from the Botswana workshop just put up a bunch of pictures he took. Enjoy!
A few weeks ago me and two other volunteers, Laura and John, went to a workshop on HIV/AIDS prevention in Gaborone, Botswana and it was AMAZING!!! First off, the per diem they gave us for the week that we were there was as much as we usually make in a month. They put us up in this pretty nice hotel right next to the really nice conference center the workshop was at. Pool, huge buffet, tv, and warm showers: it was almost a vacation. There were also two Botswana PC volunteers attending the workshop so they were able to show us around the city, which was waaaayyyy nicer than anything Swaziland has. We were able to get Chinese take-out one night and see Avatar in a real theatre the next. All of the fun stuff aside, a lot of information was covered during the five days we were together and it all looks like it’ll all be pretty useful here in one way or another. So the next step now is figuring out how we’re going to share what we learned with all of the other volunteers. John and Laura are working on an article for the next issue of our monthly newsletter and we’ll be putting together some presentations for our Mid-Service Training and the new group’s Pre-Service Training.
After getting back from Botswana, I had a couple of days at home until I had to leave for a gardening training the World Food Program put on for us for five days up at the place where we did our Pre-Service Training. WFP donates food to a lot of schools and Neighborhood Care Points all over the country and they want to start using PCVs to monitor the places in their communities getting food to make sure everything’s working as it’s supposed to. The first part of the training was showing us what to look for and how to report what we find, but the second half was teaching us actual gardening techniques and that was really interesting. We spent a whole day practicing making a compost pile and learning what plants go well together depending on what exactly you’re trying to do with your garden. All of that is meant for us to start on a small scale with a little garden on our homesteads, then hopefully people will see how amazing our garden is doing and then we can share these new techniques with others, and so on. My homestead doesn’t have a ton of space, but I’m planning on starting small by doing a few things in plastic containers and seeing how that goes.
Last Thursday was our big presentation of the Welcome Video to our bosses at the office. We had spent the three previous days in town working on the video, almost non-stop, including not sleeping at all the night before, and they still said we have more work to do. A lot of their comments were about some parts being too long and to try to cut out stuff that isn’t super important. We have to present the final thing next Monday so it can all be sent out April 1st, and we still have some work to do before then. The whole thing has been fun and all, but I’ll be a lot happier once it’s finished. We’re still going to try to put a lot of the video up on YouTube so I’ll let you guys know when that happens.
One of the girls here has a birthday coming up so we’re all going to go to House on Fire, the big concert venue in the country, to see this pretty popular (so I hear) South African band called Freshly Ground. We’ll be staying at the hostel on the game reserve so hopefully we’ll get to spend some time just hanging out in the pool watching the ostriches wander by.
Ya, it’s been a crazy month and I’m exhausted, but I’d much rather have things like this than how they were, with me walking to the store for some bread as the highlight of my day. With that said, it’ll be nice to take a day or two next week to just relax. All right, now back to sweating.
P.S. One of the presenters from the Botswana workshop just put up a bunch of pictures he took. Enjoy!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
New Pictures
Hey people. I have a new post coming soon, but I just wanted to put up some pictures from the Botswana trip. Enjoy.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Valentine’s Day and the Welcome Video
Hey everyone. Things are starting to pick up a bit now. I can’t say I’ve really started any real “work”, but there have been or will be a bunch of random things keeping me busy this month. I probably won’t be starting any regular work at my schools or clinic until next month (which might be a good thing considering its about 90°F in my room and even hotter outside) so until then I’m still looking for ways to keep entertained.
Book project update: the Peace Corps Partnership is fully-funded, hurray! For those of you who were able to help out with a donation, thank you very much! Because of you 30 schools or community libraries and several thousand kids will have access to these new books. I’m not sure how we’re going to do this exactly, but there is some sort of “thank you” in the works for all of the donors. We’re also trying to get some posters and other decorations donated from another U.S. group to help make the libraries look nice. We still have a couple of months before the books get here, but there will be plenty of pictures when they do.
Me and two other volunteers have also started working on a new Welcome Video for the next group of volunteers. They try to send a DVD with some basic information about Swaziland to the new group a month or so before they get here. Every few years they let the volunteers make a new video and we were lucky enough to have the money this year, which is especially a good thing since pretty much no one had anything good to say about the last video. There’s going to be a lot of interviews with people talking about the good and bad of PC life in Swaziland, pictures of all of the different regions, a lot of examples of some of the work we do, and whatever else we want to throw in there. I’ll be going to the sites of a few volunteers to film their communities so all of this free time I have right now will actually come in handy. We’re going to try to put the video up on YouTube once we finish so everyone back home will be able to check it out too.
A small group of us are going to try to go out to dinner for Valentine’s Day this weekend. The other week we found this kind of nice restaurant in Matsapha, the small town close to me. So the plan is to go out during the day and then take a taxi back to my place afterwards. Who knows how this will all work and being out at night always complicates things, but it’ll be an adventure if nothing else.
Last week I started doing swim lessons again. There’s another volunteer helping out this term, at least on some weeks, so it’ll be a lot easier to handle all of the kids. Now if I can only remember to bring the sunscreen next time I’ll be good.
Starting next Monday I’ll be in town all week for meetings. The first couple of days are Warden’s training for our Emergency Action Plan. In case something crazy happens, like a big natural disaster or someone tries to overthrow the government, there’s this whole list of steps we go through depending on how bad the situation is, everything from just having to stay at home to being airlifted out of the country. PC volunteers in two or three countries had to be evacuated last year, so these things do happen, but the chances of anything serious happening in Swaziland are extremely low (one of the benefits of living in an absolute monarchy). Each region has a warden from the older group and an assistant from the newer group who are kind of in charge of making sure everyone in their area is where they’re supposed to be if something happens and I’m the assistant for my region. I’m not sure what this means exactly so pretty much this training is just an excuse to hang out. Then right after that starts Peer Support Network training. I mentioned PSN before, but pretty much it’s a group of 7 of us elected to be people the rest of the group can talk to if they’re having a hard time with something and stuff like that. PSN also plays a big part with the training of the new group coming in June. I’m not sure what we’re going to be talking about next week, but it should be enough to keep us busy for a few days.
And then they finally got around to rescheduling the CDC HIV/AIDS workshop that was originally supposed to be in South Africa the first week of December for Botswana the first week of March. This thing has been canceled and rescheduled so many times I don’t really remember what the whole thing is about, but I’m sure it’ll be informative.
Wow, when I write it all out like that it actually looks like I’m doing something. Then I remember most of these things aren’t really helping my community, at least not directly, and that’s something I’m still working on. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to get down to work once things settle down.
Well I’m off to go wash my dishes before it gets any darker. Thanks again for everyone that helped out with the book project and to those that weren’t able to this time, don’t worry, you’ll get another chance. Talk to you guys soon.
Book project update: the Peace Corps Partnership is fully-funded, hurray! For those of you who were able to help out with a donation, thank you very much! Because of you 30 schools or community libraries and several thousand kids will have access to these new books. I’m not sure how we’re going to do this exactly, but there is some sort of “thank you” in the works for all of the donors. We’re also trying to get some posters and other decorations donated from another U.S. group to help make the libraries look nice. We still have a couple of months before the books get here, but there will be plenty of pictures when they do.
Me and two other volunteers have also started working on a new Welcome Video for the next group of volunteers. They try to send a DVD with some basic information about Swaziland to the new group a month or so before they get here. Every few years they let the volunteers make a new video and we were lucky enough to have the money this year, which is especially a good thing since pretty much no one had anything good to say about the last video. There’s going to be a lot of interviews with people talking about the good and bad of PC life in Swaziland, pictures of all of the different regions, a lot of examples of some of the work we do, and whatever else we want to throw in there. I’ll be going to the sites of a few volunteers to film their communities so all of this free time I have right now will actually come in handy. We’re going to try to put the video up on YouTube once we finish so everyone back home will be able to check it out too.
A small group of us are going to try to go out to dinner for Valentine’s Day this weekend. The other week we found this kind of nice restaurant in Matsapha, the small town close to me. So the plan is to go out during the day and then take a taxi back to my place afterwards. Who knows how this will all work and being out at night always complicates things, but it’ll be an adventure if nothing else.
Last week I started doing swim lessons again. There’s another volunteer helping out this term, at least on some weeks, so it’ll be a lot easier to handle all of the kids. Now if I can only remember to bring the sunscreen next time I’ll be good.
Starting next Monday I’ll be in town all week for meetings. The first couple of days are Warden’s training for our Emergency Action Plan. In case something crazy happens, like a big natural disaster or someone tries to overthrow the government, there’s this whole list of steps we go through depending on how bad the situation is, everything from just having to stay at home to being airlifted out of the country. PC volunteers in two or three countries had to be evacuated last year, so these things do happen, but the chances of anything serious happening in Swaziland are extremely low (one of the benefits of living in an absolute monarchy). Each region has a warden from the older group and an assistant from the newer group who are kind of in charge of making sure everyone in their area is where they’re supposed to be if something happens and I’m the assistant for my region. I’m not sure what this means exactly so pretty much this training is just an excuse to hang out. Then right after that starts Peer Support Network training. I mentioned PSN before, but pretty much it’s a group of 7 of us elected to be people the rest of the group can talk to if they’re having a hard time with something and stuff like that. PSN also plays a big part with the training of the new group coming in June. I’m not sure what we’re going to be talking about next week, but it should be enough to keep us busy for a few days.
And then they finally got around to rescheduling the CDC HIV/AIDS workshop that was originally supposed to be in South Africa the first week of December for Botswana the first week of March. This thing has been canceled and rescheduled so many times I don’t really remember what the whole thing is about, but I’m sure it’ll be informative.
Wow, when I write it all out like that it actually looks like I’m doing something. Then I remember most of these things aren’t really helping my community, at least not directly, and that’s something I’m still working on. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to get down to work once things settle down.
Well I’m off to go wash my dishes before it gets any darker. Thanks again for everyone that helped out with the book project and to those that weren’t able to this time, don’t worry, you’ll get another chance. Talk to you guys soon.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Christmas, New Years, and a Rat Bite
Hey there, long time no talk. Things have been pretty up and down for the past month: at times there will be a million things going on and at others pretty much nothing. In general, this part of the year is as slow as it gets in Swaziland. The school year ends in early December and the new year doesn’t start until the end of January so the schools are shut down for the most part. The Incwala ceremony also takes place throughout these couple of months and a lot of community members are involved with that. This is similar to the Reed Dance that took place in September, but for the boys. I wasn’t able to go this year, but hopefully next year. With schools starting next Tuesday and the Incwala finished, things should be picking up soon, but there were a few exciting things that happened over the last month.
So, I got bit by a rat in early December. It was just sitting there in the middle of my room one afternoon. I tried grabbing it with a plastic bag and as soon as I got it, it turned around and bit me. Then I got mad. I tore my room apart when it ran into the corner, throwing bags and boxes everywhere. Finally, I was able to grab it by the tail and cover it with the bag. After throwing it in the trash pit on the other side of the homestead, I noticed my hand was covered in blood. For 3 days I had to stay at the same hostel in the capitol as last time and get 2 more rabies shots, which brings the total up to 6. Not sure what I could’ve done differently.
Christmas plans changed at the last minute, but it actually ended up being pretty fun. Half of the volunteers went to Durban, South Africa and everyone else was invited to our boss’s house for Christmas Brunch. I never expected to spend a Christmas getting sun-burned playing volleyball and swimming, but that’s Swaziland.
A couple of days after Christmas me and another volunteer, Kate, took a little rafting trip. Some of the rapids were pretty intense, at least compared to what I was expecting, and I got tossed out several times, but it was a lot of fun. The guides were so amazed by my ability to swim upstream to get back into the raft after getting thrown out they named the rapid after me. Ya, I’m amazing.
For New Years we all went to the big club/concert venue in the country called House on Fire. We spent the afternoon at a hostel on a game reserve hanging out in the pool before going out. It was a Michael Jackson themed evening so there were people with some interesting costumes. Overall, it was a good time.
Just an update, we’re still working on trying to raise money for the Books for Africa project. Almost all of the schools have come up with their money, but the Peace Corps Partnership still needs some work. I know it’s tough with the holidays and everything, but just consider it a late Christmas present to me. Here’s the link again: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=645-077& . Thanks.
All righty. Right now I have 2 PC volunteers who just finished their 2 years in Namibia and are traveling through Swaziland staying over tonight so I should probably go help with dinner. Hopefully it won’t be another month before I have some more to write about.
So, I got bit by a rat in early December. It was just sitting there in the middle of my room one afternoon. I tried grabbing it with a plastic bag and as soon as I got it, it turned around and bit me. Then I got mad. I tore my room apart when it ran into the corner, throwing bags and boxes everywhere. Finally, I was able to grab it by the tail and cover it with the bag. After throwing it in the trash pit on the other side of the homestead, I noticed my hand was covered in blood. For 3 days I had to stay at the same hostel in the capitol as last time and get 2 more rabies shots, which brings the total up to 6. Not sure what I could’ve done differently.
Christmas plans changed at the last minute, but it actually ended up being pretty fun. Half of the volunteers went to Durban, South Africa and everyone else was invited to our boss’s house for Christmas Brunch. I never expected to spend a Christmas getting sun-burned playing volleyball and swimming, but that’s Swaziland.
A couple of days after Christmas me and another volunteer, Kate, took a little rafting trip. Some of the rapids were pretty intense, at least compared to what I was expecting, and I got tossed out several times, but it was a lot of fun. The guides were so amazed by my ability to swim upstream to get back into the raft after getting thrown out they named the rapid after me. Ya, I’m amazing.
For New Years we all went to the big club/concert venue in the country called House on Fire. We spent the afternoon at a hostel on a game reserve hanging out in the pool before going out. It was a Michael Jackson themed evening so there were people with some interesting costumes. Overall, it was a good time.
Just an update, we’re still working on trying to raise money for the Books for Africa project. Almost all of the schools have come up with their money, but the Peace Corps Partnership still needs some work. I know it’s tough with the holidays and everything, but just consider it a late Christmas present to me. Here’s the link again: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=645-077& . Thanks.
All righty. Right now I have 2 PC volunteers who just finished their 2 years in Namibia and are traveling through Swaziland staying over tonight so I should probably go help with dinner. Hopefully it won’t be another month before I have some more to write about.
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