Holidays!

Sanibonani, Team America!

I never know how to answer the phone here. People keep cell phone conversations extremely brief because we're charged by the minute. I don't want to say "sawubona" because it means "I see you," and that certainly isn't accurate. I'll let you know if/when I solve the mystery. Usually I just say hello. That seems to work fine.

Jack and I enjoyed the Christmas holiday on the homestead. We had a long adventure with a gravel road when we decided to hit up the Simunye Country Club. The town is parallel to mine in the country, but the paved road would have led us either up and around or down and around. My host dad gave us directions on the gravel road. It ended up being almost disastrous (we had to turn around because of high water over a bridge; it took 2.5 hours to get there), but we made it. That meant a Christmas spent swimming and eating grilled meat. A barbecue is called a braai here. It was lovely. On the way there, we saw a baboon cross the road with some sugar cane in its mouth. On the way back, we saw a giraffe chilling and eating leaves along the road. Productive day!

My homestead is bustling with family. Now (just after 6 a.m.), two of my host brothers are starting the process of building a new hut for one of them. I'm excited to see it go up, and I hope I get to help. Also this weekend, one of my sisters has part of her wedding. It's a long process, getting married in the SWZ, and this part will involve dancing and her moving to her new homestead. The women go to live on the man's family's property when they marry. That's part of the reason for paying lobola, or bride price: The bride's family loses her to the husband's. Busy weekend.

Jack should have his car soon. He has a loaner now, and it makes our lives pretty different. I'm sure I'll still spend plenty of time on public transport, but it's so much easier when you can decide to drive to breakfast.

OOOH, breakfast. That reminds me: I recently had my best breakfast (possibly my best meal) since being here. It was at Swazi Candle, and it was called the Hangover. Eggs, chorizo, bacon, tomatoes, peppers, beans and cheese all in a bowl and served with salad and an amazing soft, warm pita. It was phenomenal once I added some spice to it. AMAZING. Y'all will have to check it out when you visit.

That's it for now. Nothing earth-shattering to report. Things get pretty slow around the holidays when the schools are closed. I hope to have some more photos very soon.

Happy New Year!

Salani kahle.

Christmastime in Swaziland

It is decidedly not beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Swaziland — that is, if your Christmas typically occurs in the Northern Hemisphere. The sunny days and high temperatures take the sting away from not being home for the holidays, I think. It’s easy for me to forget ‘tis the season at all.

“Ube ngakhisimusi lomuhle” is have a nice Christmas in siSwati, when speaking to one person. Plural, it’s “nibe ngakhisimusi lomuhle.” That “kh” is a hard “k” sound, so it’s easy to see the parallel with the English word.

It is nice because more of make and babe's children are home. That means grandkids, and I like having the small ones around. I haven't been playing with them much yet, but I'm thinking of either getting out my crayons or having them help me decorate a "Christmas tree." Maybe the mango tree? Oh, and there's a super tiny one. My host sister had a baby four days ago (!). Very cute.

Jack is settled into his new place and seems to be adjusting well to the Kingdom. His biggest challenge, I think, is Swazi time. You sort of just have to get used to that. It sounds like he’s going to be able to do a lot of excellent work for the organization he volunteers with. I’m excited for him, though he’ll have a lot of downtime during the office’s monthlong holiday break …

I had a week of training and then spent two days teaching journalism to kids at a children's home near Manzini. I'll have to write more about that soon. Then I was in Mbabane for three days working on the Swazi Sojournal, PC Swaziland's newsletter. I was elected to it at training, along with two others. It's a monthly newsletter written by PCVs and PC staff. It goes to all volunteers but also to the embassy, and it requires quite a bit of work. I just couldn't stay away, naturally.

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Today was an interesting exercise in the flexibility of being a PCV. As I was walking to the clinic in the morning, I passed what is called a kagogo center. These were established to serve as meeting places in communities where health information could be shared. They’re also meant to meet the needs of OVCs, orphans and vulnerable children. The one in my community has been less active because there hasn’t been food available to feed the children. Today, I saw three bomake there with a fire going.

“What’s happening today?” I asked.

“A white man is coming,” the center manager told me. “I want you to talk to him.”

She thought he was from South Africa and wasn’t sure if he was with an NGO or what. I asked the manager I the OVCs would be coming to eat, and she said yes. I texted my counterpart at the clinic to let her know I was going to hang around the center to see what transpired.

Pretty soon, a local woman who works with the NGO World Vision arrived. She’s excellent, and I love working with her. She started getting things ready inside the kagogo center, a cinderblock building with a concrete floor and a tin roof. Children started arriving and unstacked preschooler-size plastic chairs in lime green, blue and red. They sat clutching the dolls that live at the center.

The woman from WV led the children in songs. I joined when they were in English and went on long enough for me to catch the words. Suddenly, she stopped everyone. I had been engrossed and hadn’t noticed the crew of NGO folks arriving outside. It turned out that the group was from the World Food Program and USAID. The WFP provided food for the children for the day. I chatted with the NGO people for a while, and they were lovely.

“What were you doing in there? Were you teaching?” one asked me.

“No, I mostly was just hanging out,” I said. I explained that I’ll eventually be doing projects but am still figuring out the lay of the land. On a related note, I can’t believe I’ve been at site almost four months. I don’t have a lot of tangible work to show for it. Intentional relationship building, y’all.

I knew WFP worked with my local clinic. They’re part of a program called Food as Prescription, through which people who are sick and malnourished receive food parcels at clinics. I think the participants must have HIV, TB or both to qualify. A challenge, the WFP folks noted, is that people are put on the program until they reach a certain BMI and then are discharged. They’re finding that people often return a couple of months later because they can’t acquire adequate nutrition on their own. To combat this, they said, WFP is working with livelihood NGOs that teach people gardening and agriculture to promote self-sufficiency. Makes sense to me.

The NGO peeps stayed for a bit, talking to the community members and photographing the children as they ate. After they had gone, the children received two bars of soap each and a pair of Toms shoes before leaving. I probably contributed to the chaos of this affair, tickling children and throwing them into the air. I realized I should be more careful — I didn’t want any kiddos vomiting up their WFP meal. We cleaned up (“You are a real woman,” I was told as I swept the floor), and I moved onward toward the clinic. It was noon.

I had received some ambiguous information about a health event planned for my community today. I didn’t have a lick of detail about it and was unsure that whatever it was would come off. All I knew was where it was supposed to be held. As I headed in that direction, I heard people speaking into microphones. A crowd was gathering as children performed a drama.

From a couple of women I knew, I learned that the Clinton Health Access Initiative was in town to kick off the creation of youth clubs focused on health. This event included the drama, a lesson about hygiene and sanitation, food and a performance from an adorable 8-year-old gospel singer. I met a gentleman from CHAI and a woman from an organization that promotes male circumcision (have I discussed the benefits of that for HIV prevention? Yes? No? We’ll get there). I enthusiastically offered my services to the youth club, and I hope to get involved in whatever they have going in my village.

Finally, I headed to the clinic to finish out the day. I’d left home at 8:30 a.m., and it was after 2 p.m. I stayed at the clinic until we shut down the HIV Testing and Counseling side around 3 and then headed home with my counterpart. We stopped by her father’s nursery on the way, and he gave me more red onions, garlic and maize than I’ll be able to eat all alone.

All in all, it was one of the more rewarding days I’ve had as a PCV of late. It’s great to just make connections with people in the community and with members of other groups who are doing work here.

On an unrelated note, I received a wonderful packet of letters from a first-grade class at my former elementary school. I look forward to responding to each one, painstakingly addressed to “Mr. Terrell.” I would say that’s my father’s name, but he prefers to go by “doctor.”

Salani kahle, everyone, and nibe ngakhisimusi lomuhle!

GLOW money, mo' problems

Hi, team! I want to take a moment to ask for your help.

Peace Corps Swaziland is part of a broader PC effort called GLOW, Girls Leading Our World. This is a project that brings girls together to work on self-esteem, leadership, education and girls empowerment issues. Although I haven't yet begun a GLOW club in my village, this issue is near and dear to my heart. So, so, so many girls will benefit from attending clubs where they learn life skills and socialize with one another. It's an enormous boost to their self-esteem, and the SWZ is a society where women often don't have as many opportunities as men. An annual weeklong camp gives them a chance to meet and enjoy each other's company. This is HUGE, especially as many of the girls get few opportunities to leave home and go to camp.

If you can spare any amount of money, it would be an enormous help. One U.S. dollar is worth more than 8 emalangeni, and a few dollars makes a difference. Please, please take a minute and contribute. The link is below.

https://donate.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=645-096

Thank you! I will make sure to get photos and information about how the GLOW camp goes so you can see what your money helped accomplish. These girls will love it, I can tell you that much.

Random photos

 Here's me in my traditional Swazi outfit before swearing in several months ago. I can't remember if I posted it and wanted y'all to check it out. The fabrics are called emahiya (singular: lihiya).

 Me with some lovely folks from my community!

 Me with a gal who works at the clinic and is a killer net ball player. Net ball is kind of like basketball, but you play it outside in the grass and you don't dribble. There are two goals as in basketball, and you spend most of the time passing. Women play; men don't.

 Another view of my backyard.

 Babe and my host brother plowing with oxen! I can't remember whether I posted this one, so I apologize if it's a repeat.

One of the chairs Walker and I made! They're  not the mooooost comfortable thing in the world, but they get the job done.