Rain rain, come back.... its another day!

I realized today that I have been in a sort of funk for the last couple of days.  It is the kind of funk that creeps up on you, so it is hard to notice it initially.  Generally, I try to avoid writing about these kind of days because by the time I get around to posting it here, the time has passed and I am back to my smiling self just to become stressed out again by family and friends who ask me if I’m feeling better now.  It seems that my biggest stress is having others worry about me.  Although  I don’t particularly like writing these posts, it is part of life as a Peace Corps Volunteer to have down times or maybe this out-of-it feeling is just a part of being human since it doesn’t take living in a 3^rd world county to feel like crap from time to time.   

It took me a while to recognize the symptoms.  I stopped being interested in all of my craft projects, no desire to knit stuffed toys or crochet a mat from my stockpile of plastic bags or weave sisal baskets or my latest craft of weaving grass baskets where chickens lay their eggs (I think they are beautiful, but need to find a function for them stateside).  Then I couldn’t summon the energy to read a book, which is what I do when my hands and brain are tired of crafting.   So I turned to watching movies on my computer and by now I have watched them all multiple times.  These things have become my coping mechanisms for passing the time.  I am in my hut around 5pm every night including most Fridays and Saturdays.  Socializing at night, like at home, is not really possible here.



Chicken basket made by me completely from grass



I figured out today the cause of the stress I have been feeling: it is the lack of rain!  I have never had to deal with the unavailability of water before so I never thought about how it could affect me.   I know that America is suffering from severely high temperatures and drought these days, but I bet you aren’t worried about your shower cutting out with shampoo still in your hair.  I also doubt that you know where the closest stream is with flowing water. 



Every morning I wake up to a gray cloud-covered sky and I wonder if today is the day that the dry season will come to an end.  By 10am the clouds have burned off as we head to another scorcher of a day even though it’s still supposed to be winter.  On the windy days I hope that this wind is blowing in a wet weather pattern instead of the inevitable dust storm.  I think that the last time the wind was from the south, no rain, so now it’s from the north, so maybe?!  Nope, denied.  At night I listen closely to the sounds that are being made on top of my tin roof, rain drops? No again, just the wind moving the branches above my house.

I use between 5-10 liters of water a day for drinking, cooking, washing dishes, bathing, etc.  I was my hair about every 5 days now which takes about 4 liters.  Laundry once every 2 weeks takes around 30 liters.  My garden on the homestead died about 3 weeks ago when the tank next to it finished.

During the summer months I lived exclusively off rain water, and although it was a pretty dry summer it was still sufficient to sustain my wants andneeds.  In fact I still have some of that summer water left, but now I am using it solely as drinking water and keeping it separate from the river water.  Rain water is pure and clean while river water could be contaminated with micro-organisms, pesticides, and other gross things that I don’t want to think too much about since they are used for watering holes for the cows that pee and poop.  People bathe in the river, do their laundry in the river, and the few that own cars get them washed in the river.  If those aren’t reasons enough to justify keeping the water separate, I will always remember back to the day when I was still new in my community.  I didn’t prepare enough water for the day.  They teach us to boil and then filter our water to make it safe for drinking, but I decided that they were just being overprotective, and boy was I wrong!  I was sick for the next two days, laying on my floor in front of my fan when bodily fluids weren’t coming out either end.  Fortunately, that has been the only time I was sick like that throughout the whole year and I have only had one Cold which was over a year ago, right when I arrived this side (knock on wood, don’t want to jinx my good health for the coming year).

The water infrastructure in Swaziland is definitely lacking and ready access to clean drinking water is a definite luxury.  These are two facts I knew before coming to Swaziland but the reality of their impact seemed so abstract and hypothetical until I was actually living here for a year and having to adapt to water being a scarce resource.  The water infrastructure in my area consists of community taps along the road which remind me of camping at the RV parks.  However, the taps have not functioned since last October.  Fortunately my Make pays some guys with a tractor to take all the barrels to the river to get them filled, thankfully eliminating any physical labor on my part.  Most of my neighbors cannot afford to do this and instead have to do the work by hand (or foot or head, not sure of the right term here).  They carry 50 liter water containers either on their head (like it’s not difficult and no big deal) or they carry them with a wheelbarrow (or both at the same time) from the closet river or from the clinic which has the only working tap in the community.  It takes at least 30 minutes to walk to each of those locations from my homestead.  The clinic is halfway up a mountain so the way home would be downhill at least and the river is way down in a valley which would make the walk home horribly tiring.

Ok, here ends my rant on water.  Now you can add running hot/cold water to the list of things you are especially grateful for today as I anxiously await my next hot shower.   I can already feel the little black cloud that has been hanging over my head lifting (or looming, perhaps with some rain!).  It feels good to rant very now and then or maybe the good feeling is because NSYNC is playing on my iTunes!

In other news:  I am continuing to teach a lot of knitting to various groups around the community.  We started with cellphone bags.  Next we will move on to hats, leg warmers, and hopefully to stuffed animals which I like to make.

We had rescheduled a clean-up campaign scheduled for this week, which is postponed again.  Hopefully, third try will be the charm.

I have named the puppy that I wrote about in the last post.  My sister suggested the name Otto as an homage to my hometown, Syracuse.  After trying it out for a day or so and then my mom pointing out that Otto was a boy’s name, the name just wasn’t rolling off my tongue right.  So instead her name has transformed to Toto which is also fitting as ‘there is no place like home.’

Much needed vacation to Durban, South Africa’s 3^rd largest city and right on the beach commences in 2 weeks!

That’s all for now.  The sky is looking gray… maybe rain tonight?

Probably not! L

Help me name the new puppy!

As the previous group of Volunteers finishes their service and leaving Swaziland, the new group of 41 Americans are preparing to be sent throughout the country to start their service in communities similar to mine all around Swaziland, and at the same time I have transitioned from being the newbie to the veteran... Crazy! My new neighbor who will be located about 15km from me came to visit my site, we walked around talking with community members as I fielded all her questions about what its like to live and work out here as a Volunteer.

One of here questions was about pets. Now I am not a huge fan of pets since I am scared of most animals, they have fleas, and my house is too TINY for anything other than me but my Make is convinced I love animals since I don't hit them, kick them, or throw rocks at them and also I have been known to occasionally give water and food scraps to the poor things. Anyways, so I told my new neighbor that pets are nice, lots of Volunteers have them, but they aren't for me.

Life is funny here because the next day I went to town with the Trainee neighbor to show her around and do some shopping. I the evening when I came back home I found a new puppy there! Such a coincidence since my Make was not there for our conversation and then the next day I find a puppy. Even though I am not though I am not the biggest fan of animals I still think they are adorable and it hurts my heart to hear it cry when its freezing cold at night.

I made her a bed with a box from one of my care packages and the blanket I 'accidentally misplaced' right into my carry-on bag from the plane ride over here. Now I need to give her a name, so I am asking for your help! Help me name her! Suggestions for names can be submitted either as a comment here or on my facebook. All suggestions are welcome and appreciated!
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July Projects Update

The Orphan Garden Project is starting slowly but surely.  The winter is the dry season so the ground is really hard from no rain, so the field needed to be watered first before it is plowed and cultivated.  They promised me it would be done on last Friday, so we will see… I have found that once the ball gets rolling here, its goes from 0 to 60 pretty fast.  For example, one of my friends has been asking to start a volleyball team for a while now.  They had a volleyball team here when the last volunteer lived here, but I was delaying in buying a ball.  I finally bought a ball last week, practice started on Monday and every following day,  they found a team to play in Siphofaneni the closest town for Saturday, and got a community donation for transport and food after the game.  Fast, fast, fast!

At our game on Saturday. 

In other news, we are entering the 4^th week of the Teacher’s Strike.  The teachers nationwide are striking because the government has failed to uphold their contractual pay raise of 4.5% because of the lagging economy.  The fact that government officials accepted a 10% pay raise in the last year has added the fuel to this fire that has kept it burning this long and newspapers report that the end is not in sight.  Meanwhile the students continue to show up at school every day even with no hope of any meaningful instruction.  Poor kids already struggle in school as it is and now this.

Two girls I have been turoring.  I brought my computer along to let them practice their typing skills.

Lately I have been tutoring English, helping students in their last year and students wishing to re-take their exams prepare for the test.  I have also been working with a class for out of school students.  They are learning English and Siswati and I am going to teach them to knit. 

The clean-up project is also on hold until the teacher strike finishes.  The teacher strike has put a kink in a lot of plans, but I still feel busy all the time.

Swazi Weddings

I am tired of talking about marriage, but that topic here is on the list of most common topics.  It comes right after the topic of the weather.  So far I have attended 3 weddings while in Swaziland: two Western/Christian weddings and one traditional (umtismba) wedding.  I am curious in how a couple decides which one they want, but I still haven’t gotten a concrete reason yet.   From what I understand, they tell me that Christian weddings are expensive.  They must buy the ring and other jewelry, all the dresses and decorations, and enough food to feed the entire community (and the spouse’s community too which ends up seeming like half the country’s population!).  In a Christian marriage there is opportunity for divorce if there becomes a need in the future, and a Christian wedding supports monogamy.  In contrast, an umtsimba celebrates Swazi tradition, singing and dancing as they wear their Swazi attire, no expensive jewelry is exchanged, a cow is killed, but a traditional marriage doesn’t recognize divorce and the man can take as many wives as he wants.

A Swazi traditional wedding starts with the engagement which is called kuteka (koo-tay-gah).  The bride, who has spent the night at the groom’s homestead, is woken before dawn by the female members of the groom’s family.  She is taken to the kraal, the pen where the cows sleep (it’ where a lot of traditions take place).   When they are in the kraal, she stands basically naked and is forced to cry while the groom’s family sings until dawn.  If she doesn’t cry, they make her.  They might pour water on her, it’s before dawn, so she will be so cold she will want to cry (how’s that for welcome to the family!?!).  Then the bride’s family is notified and there is a meeting to discuss the bride price, the amount of cows the groom’s family must give to the bride’s family.

I have a few issues with this whole ceremony.  Firstly, I believe that it condones premarital sex.  I know, I know, almost no one stays a virgin until marriage these days. But I am living in a country with the highest HIV rate in the world and tradition says that in order for a woman to get married she must sleep at the groom’s home, then woken from his bed, and when she is outside she is naked.  So from that I am assuming that there wasn’t just sleep happening during the night.  Not only does this country have the highest HIV rate in the world, but there also isn’t great access to condoms, and I’m not sure the girls even know what birth control is until well after their sexual debut, let alone have the resources to access it.  And women equality and empowerment… ha, what’s that?  My second issue with this tradition is the crying.  I guess it is supposed to symbolize how she must lose her family because now she belongs to the groom’s family. I love my family too much to ever lose them and weddings/engagements are supposed to be happy days and not days to symbolize grief and loss.  My last issue is that a bride price implies ownership, so as an independent, free-thinking woman I cannot agree.

The wedding itself, umtsimba, was great fun though!  It is a cultural event with everyone in their traditional clothes, singing and dancing to their traditional songs.  I am sure there was a lot of drinking of the traditional brew which would be a lot of fun except I don’t drink with Swazis in order to better protect my own safety.  However, I did join in on the dancing and no one seemed to mind my horrible rhythm.  The biggest negative of the whole ceremony was that everyone looked beautiful, everyone except that is, for the bride!  The bride wears a big feather headdress that covers her face like a veil, except ugly!   She wears little balloons of cow intestine in her hair and an apron of goatskin over her traditional clothes.  On my wedding day I hope to look the most beautiful I will ever be.  Unfortunately, a traditional Swazi cannot say the same.

Umtsimba - Swazi Bride pictured on the right

This weekend, I attended a Western style wedding.  One of my neighbors who also attends the church I go to got married on Saturday.  It was held at the Primary School’s hall where two weeks ago I was teaching over 120 6^th graders how to knit scarves.  Now the room was transformed to a wedding hall and even more overcrowded than it is during school hours.  But as all weddings seem to do, it started late, so the choir from my church kept us well entertained with their gospel songs.  Finally the wedding party arrives and begins the ceremony with a choreographed dance down the aisle.  The flower girls came first, throwing candy at the crowd and suddenly I am having flashbacks 4^th of July parades after the fire trucks pass throwing candy to the children.  It is amazing how fast a group of mature adults become petty and childish.  I thought they were going to jump over each other and the toddlers in their way just for few pieces of penny candies.  The candy doesn’t even taste that good anyways. 

After the flower girls, then it’s the bridal party’s turn, more than two dozen people in all!  If I had a bridal party that big there would be no one to sit in the audience!  They had the opportunity to show off their moves in a choreographed Electric Slide-type dance that just couldn’t wait for the reception to be done.  Three steps forward, one to the right, some weird hand movements, two steps back, awkwardly get their faces as close as they can as if they will kiss, oh wait, but then they fake us out and repeat the dance down the entire aisle all the while with a stone-face look on their face.  The groom enters in the front door after the procession finishes.  He bravely wears a white suit, bravely, because nothing here stays white for long here.  Finally the moment we were all waiting for, the bride enters with her father.  She looks absolutely gorgeous, prettier than I have ever seen her look!  They reach the front and the father hands off his daughter just like would happen in America.  It seemed like what would happen in America until the father turned around, waved at the crowd, and then exited the way he came in.  I turned to the teacher sitting next to me and asked “Where is he going?  Isn’t he going stay and watch his daughter?”  She simply said “He left, so I don’t think so.”  Many parts of the wedding were overdramatized and exaggerated.  I attribute that to the TV they watch here which consists of Soap Operas like Days of Our Lives and WWE wrestling.  Can’t get much more dramatic than those shows.

Another highlight that seemed strange to me was when it came time to show the symbol of oneness, of two becoming one.  In America it is common to take the fire from two separate candles and together light a 3^rd candle or some other variation of this.  But here they choose to use Coke products, mixing Sprite and Orange Fanta!  I have seen that done at both Christian weddings I have attended here and it made me laugh both times.

The HUGE wedding party!

The best part of the wedding is in the transitions between speakers.  Swazis are gifted in leading congregations in songs, so whenever a speaker finishes their speech they automatically begin a song which is then backed up by the choir and then entire congregation.  It is beautiful and a small detail that is spontaneous and natural for them, but it really adds something for me and also gives the next presenter time to get in their place to start the next part of the program.

Actually most of the ceremony is similar to America except it lacks the sense of sophistication or appreciation that this couple is entering the next stage in life.  I got the feeling that most of the people were just attending for the free food that was promised following the wedding, but maybe my impression had to do with the overcrowding in the room, the length of the ceremony as it went on and on, and people losing patience.  When the ceremony finally finished mass chaos ensued as people lined up for food, ate their food, and went on their way. 

My Swazi mom

I was left wanting more.  I am accustomed to having the formal reception after the wedding, where the real fun takes place!  I wanted to dance and celebrate with the couple and all of my friends in the community.  Instead I was home by 6pm and in the mood to dance, so I improvised having a solo dance party in my hut!  I turned my music turned as loud as it could go and jammed out.  I invited my sisis and bhuti to join, but they seemed content laughing at me and playing with my iPod.

Sometimes I wonder which wedding I would want if I were a Swazi woman.  Thank God I am not because I prefer neither of them as I have seen them.  I love the cultural aspect of the Umtismba but couldn’t deal with the disparity women face here or the horrible costume the bride wears during the ceremony.  Whereas the Christian wedding tries to mimic American weddings but don’t do them justice.

My shopping trip today

This weekend I am going to the wedding of one of my neighbors. I am so tired of wearing the same clothes for every occasion. They are becoming faded and holey so I went to town this morning to buy something special for the special day. And man, clothes shopping is difficult here. The clothes have a lot of criteria in order for me to buy it, like it can't be white(that would last for .2 seconds), it has to be relatively wrinkle resistant(no iron, don't want to use Make's iron that gets hot coals from the fire inside it, and even if I had an iron I wouldn't want to use it), not too short(you'd be surprised how short everything is especially in such a conservative culture. I am going to a wedding in a church not a club) or too long (I can't pull off a maxi dress). I wanted a dress that would be nice for the occasion but could then wear anyother day too and not one of the multitudes of prom dresses or mother of the bride Hillary Clinton skirt suits. It is winter here now so sweater dresses are all the rage, but I would wear that 4 times before its 100* again. Ugh, to find all this criteria for my perfect dress and on my Peace Corps budget, mission impossible!

I feel like I went in every shop in the city. I eventually did find a nice skirt, but I didn't realize how late it had gotten. I missed the last bus to my house, so I took a different bus and make a transfer at my closest town, which is no big deal for me after living here for a year. I even know most of the people on the khumbi with me.
I finally arrive home. It was only 6pm, but the sun is setting fast these days, so it was already dark. The walk from my bus stop to my house seems long when its dark. One of the other passengers who also got out at my stop is walking the same direction as me, he says "Hello Fisiwe (my Swazi name). My name is Patrick. Do you remember me, we talked the other week."

I talk to a lot of people. I don't remember any particular conversation probably since most the conversations I have with guys his age is me telling them that I don't want to marry them and I don't really want to deal with a marriage proposal in the dark.

Then he says, "I'm a nice guy. Don't be afraid to walk with me.". Why is it that when someone tells you not to be scared that is the tome when you begin to feel the fear. I wasn't actually scared, just thought it was ironic that I didn't think to be scared until he told me not to be.

Disclaimer to my mom: I am safe at home curled in my bed and about to turn a movie on. At no point did I feel actually scared. My Make knew I was on my way home. I also got off the khumbi with a bunch of people. We went different ways, but other people were not far away so you don't need to worry about me.

Tomorrow is a busy day. I wrote a draft business letter for one counterpart, so we have a meeting tomorrow so he can check it, then we can edit it, then print it so he can use it. After that I have another meeting. Hopefully I will be able to start helping with tutoring out of school children, and I think I found someone to help me start a girl's empowerment club in the community. Then in the afternoon there is a planning meeting for a community clean-up day. Thursday and Friday I will be working with my counterpart. Our grant to make a garden for the Caregivers of the Orphans/Vulnerable Children was accepted so we need to get the project going. Saturday is the wedding where I will wear my new skirt and then Sunday I plan to be lazy all day!
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One year down, One year to go

One year anniversary in Swaziland and I spent my day teaching over a
hundred 6th graders to knit and scheduled a meeting to start
afterschool tutoring. Yesterday after a trip to Mbabane, submitting a
grant application to start a community garden for the orphans and then
a visit to Ruby and Lewis's where Ruby fed me awesome food, gave my
hair a trim, and let me check out one of their NCPs. I returned home
to find a planning meeting for a community clean-up day had just
started. Busy busy.
One year in review, looking back
Things I miss about America: Subway sandwiches, Hoffmann hotdogs,
Dunkin Donuts hot chocolate, sweet corn, a kitchen with a nice oven,
pots and pans and sharp knives, wireless internet everywhere, 24 hour
news (24 hour everything especially giant grocery stores), DVR, having
a car, squirrels, delivery pizza and Chinese food, limitless choices,
optimism, self-reliance, strong work ethics, and obviously being close
to friends and family.
Things I have become accustomed to: 8pm bedtime and waking up before
6am, using a latrine, bucket baths, way overcrowded public transport
on dirt roads swerving around the cows in the road, roosters in the
morning, visits from all the neighborhood children
Things I will never be accustomed to: constant marriage proposals,
women's inequality, never knowing what people are talking about
completely, mistreatment of animals, corporal punishment, screaming
pastors
I have only seen one airplane in the sky in the last year, but I see
tons of stars. I like to make a wish on the first star I see and then
when my 7 year old sisi is around we count the stars as they appear
until there are too many to count.
I saw road kill the other day, two goats. It was the first time I
have seen road kill in a year which is amazing because there are
always cows and goats in the road and speeding vehicles. I believe
it's also pretty common to see road kill in America. And that joke
about road kill being that night's dinner is probably pretty close to
the truth here.
Yesterday I said hello to the pig that lives in the sty next to where
I throw my trash out, this morning the pig is gone and my Make offered
me some pork meat. Not sure how I feel about that yet, but it tasted
good with some homemade applesauce. However I have no problem and
rather enjoy eating oranges fresh from the tree. There is something
really cool about watching your food grow. That is why I tried to
start a veggie garden, but it's harder than it looks and the chickens
don't share my joy of watching it grow and would rather destroy it
before it has a chance.
Looking back, this has been one memorable year and I am looking
forward to making more memories in the next year. Lots of projects on
the horizon, obstacles to overcome, and chickens to outsmart. I can
honestly say that I am happy living in Swaziland, but I am also happy
knowing that it is only a two year commitment.

My schools

Geography Class under the tree

My community has built a new high school in my community that just opened in January, but when it opened they had not finished building yet.  Right now the school has started operating.  There are 40 Form 1 (8th grade) students.  Then next year they will add Form 2 and so on.  When they were still working on the structure the students were forced to meet outside under a tree, exercise books in their laps and a small broken chalk board at front.  Good thing there was little rain this summer or I don't know where the would have gone.  Now they are learning inside the classroom with chairs and desks, but are still lacking a lot of things like toilets for example(an issue that is being worked on, I promise!)

Form 1 student doing his math homework

I have also been working in the preschools.  I love the little kids.  The all fight to give me a high five when they see me!  This week

I was accompanied by my counterpart to a workshop on Early Education where we learned different techniques and fun ways to get the children to learn.  Here are some pictures of the children playing at one of the preschools.  This particular pre-school has 25 children smashed into a tiny tiny room.  The teacher says they are trying to build a new school but a lot of times the preschools are not subsidized by government, so there is not enough money and resources to get nice things or proper spaces.. Somehow they make it work and the children are learning their ABCs and 123s.      

Playing with dolls

This little one has such a personality.  She is a born leader.