if you read the last post, you'll know that i've been in need of a little encouragement lately. so i decided to start a regular feature (!): a top-10 listing some first-time experiences so i can track my adjustment process and laugh at myself in a few months when i'm well-adjusted and loving it here.
so, after 5 weeks eSwatini...
1. i have crusty feet from being outside and barefoot so much. i now require my very own pumice stone (used in the shower to file the callouses on your heels) which my make gave to me.
2. i am continually frustrated by the language, but can pick out familiar words in conversations, and exchange greetings and some basic information with people i meet.
3. i've mastered public transportation and have figured out how to yell "STASH!" loud enough that the kombi drivers know when to let me out (or the other possiblity is that since they all know me now and that i get off at eShaweni, they just stop automatically)
4. i've turned down 9 marriage proposals.
5. i've done battle with monster cockroaches that invade the outhouse at night.
6. i've taken pictures with a prince and princess at the umhlanga (reed dance).
7. i've been stung by a bee while bathing.
8. i discovered a delicious new fruit - lihlala or monkey orange.
9. i explored sibebe rocks and climbed up into an awesome cave in the rock formation at the top.
10. i fried my 110-volt battery charger by plugging it into the 220-volt current here, which blew a fuse in my house and filled the room with some acrid smoke.
Friday, September 28, 2007
a different africa
these last couple weeks have been really hard. the newness is wearing off, and i'm being reminded that people are people anywhere you go, they will annoy me and be rude here just like anywhere. i think part of it too is that in my mind africa has always equaled benin which has meant home. so i'm just beginning to realize now that in coming here i was expecting another homecoming of sorts, similar to how i felt returning to benin last summer. but i feel so different here. nobody knows me or my parents, there are no favorite places to revist and rediscover, i don't speak the language, i don't have my friends and fellow volunteers kristy and chanel with me to process things with and to provide emotional support, and there's no one like nancy and bruce (the couple who replaced my parents in benin) to be facilitators and liasons. so i'm realizing that i had unrealistic expectations, maybe. and just because i grew up in benin and am familiar with that part of africa does not make this experience now any easier. just because things here aren't entirely unexpected does not make them any easier to live with.
also i'm dealing with big messy abstract questions like "what does it mean to be a volunteer in this setting" and "what is the purpose of development" and "what am i actually doing here, what am i trying to accomplish?" i've never had to think about them because africa was always just home, but now i'm here in a different role.
but it's not that life is all difficulties and frustrations here. there are lots of joys... like the sun finally coming out today after three straight days of drizzling and cloudy skies. swaziland really, really needed the rain, by the way, which i kept telling myself as i huddled in blankets and long underwear and drank cup after cup of rooibos tea. which is another joy, by the way. tea time is very popular here, and often involves slices of brown bread and peanut butter (at least at the tfwala house). which is a lovely change from liphalishi (finely ground mealie meal) and samp (coarsely ground mealie meal).
and this weekend looks to be very exciting as tomorrow i'm attending a traditional swazi wedding with hlobi (the mcc rep) and sane. and sunday sane and trevor and i are going to an all day concert called bushfire, where there will be tons of great musicians: hugh masekela, thandiswa (south african gospel/blues/rock) and a bob marley tribute band, among many others, including swazi groups.
also i'm dealing with big messy abstract questions like "what does it mean to be a volunteer in this setting" and "what is the purpose of development" and "what am i actually doing here, what am i trying to accomplish?" i've never had to think about them because africa was always just home, but now i'm here in a different role.
but it's not that life is all difficulties and frustrations here. there are lots of joys... like the sun finally coming out today after three straight days of drizzling and cloudy skies. swaziland really, really needed the rain, by the way, which i kept telling myself as i huddled in blankets and long underwear and drank cup after cup of rooibos tea. which is another joy, by the way. tea time is very popular here, and often involves slices of brown bread and peanut butter (at least at the tfwala house). which is a lovely change from liphalishi (finely ground mealie meal) and samp (coarsely ground mealie meal).
and this weekend looks to be very exciting as tomorrow i'm attending a traditional swazi wedding with hlobi (the mcc rep) and sane. and sunday sane and trevor and i are going to an all day concert called bushfire, where there will be tons of great musicians: hugh masekela, thandiswa (south african gospel/blues/rock) and a bob marley tribute band, among many others, including swazi groups.
Friday, September 21, 2007
african men
i'm sure the title has got you wondering exactly what i'm going to say here. i was inspired to blog about this topic as i was writing an email to my dear friend, kristy about two very different encounters i had with african men today.
the first one was on my daily route from the bus rank where the kombi (15-passenger vans that are swaziland's main public transportation) drops me off to the faith bible school office. a taxi driver lounging against the side of his vehicle called out a cheery "good morning!" i smiled, replied "morning!" and was prepared to continue on my merry way when he grabbed my hand. if i was in a hurry or a bad mood, i would have grabbed my hand back and ignored him.
but the sun was shining, it was a warm day, and my morning had started off right with a lovely run through the hills as the red sun rose high into the sky, a warm bucket bath standing on a stone in the back of our compound, and a breakfast of warm milk and weetbix (a very fiber-full south african breakfast cereal) with my little sister, tema, who taught me the word for hot - "shisa" - as we blew on our cereal to cool it.
so when the taxi driver grabbed my hand, i allowed myself to be pulled back to face him. after exchanging greetings, he wanted to know how old i was. upon finding out that i was 20 years old, he apparantly decided it was high time for marriage and proposed to me on the spot. when i kind of laughed him off and said i was going to wait a bit before contemplating matrimony, he was genuinely perplexed. "but don't you need a swazi husband?" he wanted to know. "no thanks," i said. "ncesi" (sorry) and i reclaimed my hand and continued on to work.
honestly, i should keep a log of marriage proposals. i think i probably haven't even understood half of them, because anything men yell at me on the street is lost to me unless i have someone along to translate.
for instance, coming back from a home-based care visit with make ndzimande (the hbc coordinator at fbs), she burst into giggles at something that a passing youth had murmured. when i asked her what was so funny, she replied, "he said he wants to make love to you!" needless to say, i didn't think it was as funny as she did. again, one day i was walking with sane (she's a zimbabwean who's been studying in canada for the past 4 years and is doing an internship at fbs. she's a huge help as a cultural/language intermediate and is also an awesome person to talk to and hang out with) she "hmmfed" in disgust at a comment addressed to me by a young man sitting in front of a shop. "he thinks you're fine" she told me, shaking her head.
what followed was a good discussion about how men see women as objects that they somehow feel entitled to, especially in africa where many men see wives/girlfriends as cooks and washing machines.
BUT. soon after i got to fbs this morning, percy maphanga showed up. percy is a peer educator with fbs' hiv/aids project and volunteers to do yard work at the office two days a week. he speaks excellent english and is one of the friendliest people i have ever met. he's also an incessant "buzzer".
"buzzing" is when you call someone's cell phone, but only let it ring once, so that they don't have a chance to pick up (because then it costs you money). but your call will show up as "missed calls". at first i didn't understand this phenomenon. what happened? did they start calling me, decide they didn't want to talk, and hang up? am i supposed to call them back? what's going on?
a friend, hlonipho, explained the concept of buzzing: it's just a (free!) way to say hi, and let someone know you're thinking of them. when someone buzzes you, buzz them back to acknowledge their greeting. if they actually want you to call them (because they don't have any airtime/don't want to spend money yet they want to talk to you for some reason) they will buzz you two or three times in a row. then if you're feeling extravagant and generous, you call them back. (and spend a ridiculous amount of money! i've spent close to 7 emalangeni - one dollar - on a 30 second call. then i decided to stop talking to people and text message - "sms" - instead, which only costs .80 E)
it's taking some getting used to for me to own a cellphone (purchased on fbs' initiative, i might add). it's crazy that i had to come to swaziland to own my first cellphone. it's really convient, i must say, but i don't enjoy being a slave to my ringtone, scrambling for the phone whenever it begins playing the cheerful, annoying melody. but that's a topic for another post.
back to percy, the friendly, incessant buzzer. whenever he comes in, we always have a lovely conversation, which begins with him asking earnestly, "but how is life, my sisi (sister)?" he will go out of his way to help with anything. he washes dishes and has even been seen chopping vegetables in the kitchen, which is unusual indeed, considering the maxim that "african men don't cook". so here is the latest example of what a wonderful person percy is.
today as we were talking about how hot it was outside, i mentioned that i've really been enjoying fresh-squeezed lemonade using the lemons from the tree in the fbs yard. usually i just wait until the lemons fall to the ground and collect them, to avoid the razor-sharp lemon-tree thorns. but percy immediately gets up and without hesitation shimmies up the tree, weaving skillfully in between the thorns to pick me not one or two, but a whole bowlful of lemons. so all day today i've been enjoying homemade lemonade with ice, courtesy of percy maphanga.
so there you have my interactions with african men for today, along with a few reflections on cell phone etiquette.
the first one was on my daily route from the bus rank where the kombi (15-passenger vans that are swaziland's main public transportation) drops me off to the faith bible school office. a taxi driver lounging against the side of his vehicle called out a cheery "good morning!" i smiled, replied "morning!" and was prepared to continue on my merry way when he grabbed my hand. if i was in a hurry or a bad mood, i would have grabbed my hand back and ignored him.
but the sun was shining, it was a warm day, and my morning had started off right with a lovely run through the hills as the red sun rose high into the sky, a warm bucket bath standing on a stone in the back of our compound, and a breakfast of warm milk and weetbix (a very fiber-full south african breakfast cereal) with my little sister, tema, who taught me the word for hot - "shisa" - as we blew on our cereal to cool it.
so when the taxi driver grabbed my hand, i allowed myself to be pulled back to face him. after exchanging greetings, he wanted to know how old i was. upon finding out that i was 20 years old, he apparantly decided it was high time for marriage and proposed to me on the spot. when i kind of laughed him off and said i was going to wait a bit before contemplating matrimony, he was genuinely perplexed. "but don't you need a swazi husband?" he wanted to know. "no thanks," i said. "ncesi" (sorry) and i reclaimed my hand and continued on to work.
honestly, i should keep a log of marriage proposals. i think i probably haven't even understood half of them, because anything men yell at me on the street is lost to me unless i have someone along to translate.
for instance, coming back from a home-based care visit with make ndzimande (the hbc coordinator at fbs), she burst into giggles at something that a passing youth had murmured. when i asked her what was so funny, she replied, "he said he wants to make love to you!" needless to say, i didn't think it was as funny as she did. again, one day i was walking with sane (she's a zimbabwean who's been studying in canada for the past 4 years and is doing an internship at fbs. she's a huge help as a cultural/language intermediate and is also an awesome person to talk to and hang out with) she "hmmfed" in disgust at a comment addressed to me by a young man sitting in front of a shop. "he thinks you're fine" she told me, shaking her head.
what followed was a good discussion about how men see women as objects that they somehow feel entitled to, especially in africa where many men see wives/girlfriends as cooks and washing machines.
BUT. soon after i got to fbs this morning, percy maphanga showed up. percy is a peer educator with fbs' hiv/aids project and volunteers to do yard work at the office two days a week. he speaks excellent english and is one of the friendliest people i have ever met. he's also an incessant "buzzer".
"buzzing" is when you call someone's cell phone, but only let it ring once, so that they don't have a chance to pick up (because then it costs you money). but your call will show up as "missed calls". at first i didn't understand this phenomenon. what happened? did they start calling me, decide they didn't want to talk, and hang up? am i supposed to call them back? what's going on?
a friend, hlonipho, explained the concept of buzzing: it's just a (free!) way to say hi, and let someone know you're thinking of them. when someone buzzes you, buzz them back to acknowledge their greeting. if they actually want you to call them (because they don't have any airtime/don't want to spend money yet they want to talk to you for some reason) they will buzz you two or three times in a row. then if you're feeling extravagant and generous, you call them back. (and spend a ridiculous amount of money! i've spent close to 7 emalangeni - one dollar - on a 30 second call. then i decided to stop talking to people and text message - "sms" - instead, which only costs .80 E)
it's taking some getting used to for me to own a cellphone (purchased on fbs' initiative, i might add). it's crazy that i had to come to swaziland to own my first cellphone. it's really convient, i must say, but i don't enjoy being a slave to my ringtone, scrambling for the phone whenever it begins playing the cheerful, annoying melody. but that's a topic for another post.
back to percy, the friendly, incessant buzzer. whenever he comes in, we always have a lovely conversation, which begins with him asking earnestly, "but how is life, my sisi (sister)?" he will go out of his way to help with anything. he washes dishes and has even been seen chopping vegetables in the kitchen, which is unusual indeed, considering the maxim that "african men don't cook". so here is the latest example of what a wonderful person percy is.
today as we were talking about how hot it was outside, i mentioned that i've really been enjoying fresh-squeezed lemonade using the lemons from the tree in the fbs yard. usually i just wait until the lemons fall to the ground and collect them, to avoid the razor-sharp lemon-tree thorns. but percy immediately gets up and without hesitation shimmies up the tree, weaving skillfully in between the thorns to pick me not one or two, but a whole bowlful of lemons. so all day today i've been enjoying homemade lemonade with ice, courtesy of percy maphanga.
so there you have my interactions with african men for today, along with a few reflections on cell phone etiquette.
Friday, September 14, 2007
judea church in zion
another journal excerpt
so. my first sunday at judea church in zion. not exactly what i expected. after we had tea this morning, we set off for church, gogo in her green robes, and zinhle and make looking like glowing angels in pure white, the children swinging their white outfits in shoprite bags on their arms, along with a frozen bottle of water wrapped in newspaper and some cornflakes, cheese pops and bananas. if the provisions didn't give me a clue that this was going to be a journey, i started getting the picture as we went out the back gate, toward the river. well, that and the fact that we were heading out at 9 and church doesn't start until 11.
anyway, as we took off across the river and over hillsides, i felt like we were in a swazi version of the sound of music. it was tempting to burst out with "the hills are alive...' because they were just so beautiful, the sun starting to break through what had been a cloudy morning. we crossed over hill sides on cowpaths, or no paths at all. we crossed two umfulas -rivers- which you could see from a distance because they were in little ravines marked by a ribbon of lush green twisting through the crackly brown grass that covers most of the landscape. then we literally climbed straight up a mountain, gogo leading the way with her walking stick. tema took turns ride-hopping, but wandile had her and was starting to cough (he's asthmatic) so i took her. it was fun to carry her on my back and truck up the mountain. it reminded me of benin. only here they haven't mastered the panya technique - maybe i'll suggest that next time.
after we crested the mountain, we came to a dirt road that seemd like a highway compared to where we'd been. we walked through a little village, including a solar-powered water pump which made the kids giggle because it sounded like crying. across a pasture scattered with cow droppings stood the little blue and white cement church building. after we unlocked it, as the children opened windows and swept the floor, we relaxed outside. they told me that although the bulding was built sometime in the mid-90s, the judea church is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.
after waiting half an hour, we started church with only one other member besides the nine of us. as we sang, four others trickled in. make led the service today, which meant that after every age group took the stage to sing a few songs, she got up and started the service off, carrying her staff painted white. i don't know why gogo didn't have one or why she was wearing green and had a black strip of cloth knotted around her neck. after make, gogo took the floor, speaking on the same passage - john 15:1, the vine and the branches. then i caught my name at the end of gogo's testimony, and looked up from reading the notes in my bible to see zinhle motioning me to the stage with her eyes. so i went up and gave my carefully rehearsed little speech in siswati, which was greeted after every hesitant line with loud amens and hallelujahs of affirmation. zinhle said it's always like that - somebody leads, opening and closing, but a variety of people share their testimonies. it seems like a good model, this way you can't get tired of a certain pastor's sermons. i just wish i could understand what they were saying.
when make took the floor again after zinhle shared, i was trying to compare the vine and branches passage in my bible to zinhle's siswati translation, but all i managed to work out was that "titselo" is fruit. which is a good word to know, i guess. throw in a couple prayers kneeling on the woven mats in front of the benches and a chanted amen chorus after each testimony, and there was your two-hour service. after locking up, we headed home. the hills were just as beautiful, but sunnier and hotter. tema had less concentration to hold on and a combination of that with my sweatiness meant she was a lot more slippery coming home. after rehydrating and eating a meal of leftovers, the homestead is now peaceful. even though this didn't go exactly as expected, i still got in an awesome hike. next time i'll wear my keens (super-duper waterproof odorproof walking shoes)! we take our shoes off for church anyway.
so. my first sunday at judea church in zion. not exactly what i expected. after we had tea this morning, we set off for church, gogo in her green robes, and zinhle and make looking like glowing angels in pure white, the children swinging their white outfits in shoprite bags on their arms, along with a frozen bottle of water wrapped in newspaper and some cornflakes, cheese pops and bananas. if the provisions didn't give me a clue that this was going to be a journey, i started getting the picture as we went out the back gate, toward the river. well, that and the fact that we were heading out at 9 and church doesn't start until 11.
anyway, as we took off across the river and over hillsides, i felt like we were in a swazi version of the sound of music. it was tempting to burst out with "the hills are alive...' because they were just so beautiful, the sun starting to break through what had been a cloudy morning. we crossed over hill sides on cowpaths, or no paths at all. we crossed two umfulas -rivers- which you could see from a distance because they were in little ravines marked by a ribbon of lush green twisting through the crackly brown grass that covers most of the landscape. then we literally climbed straight up a mountain, gogo leading the way with her walking stick. tema took turns ride-hopping, but wandile had her and was starting to cough (he's asthmatic) so i took her. it was fun to carry her on my back and truck up the mountain. it reminded me of benin. only here they haven't mastered the panya technique - maybe i'll suggest that next time.
after we crested the mountain, we came to a dirt road that seemd like a highway compared to where we'd been. we walked through a little village, including a solar-powered water pump which made the kids giggle because it sounded like crying. across a pasture scattered with cow droppings stood the little blue and white cement church building. after we unlocked it, as the children opened windows and swept the floor, we relaxed outside. they told me that although the bulding was built sometime in the mid-90s, the judea church is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.
after waiting half an hour, we started church with only one other member besides the nine of us. as we sang, four others trickled in. make led the service today, which meant that after every age group took the stage to sing a few songs, she got up and started the service off, carrying her staff painted white. i don't know why gogo didn't have one or why she was wearing green and had a black strip of cloth knotted around her neck. after make, gogo took the floor, speaking on the same passage - john 15:1, the vine and the branches. then i caught my name at the end of gogo's testimony, and looked up from reading the notes in my bible to see zinhle motioning me to the stage with her eyes. so i went up and gave my carefully rehearsed little speech in siswati, which was greeted after every hesitant line with loud amens and hallelujahs of affirmation. zinhle said it's always like that - somebody leads, opening and closing, but a variety of people share their testimonies. it seems like a good model, this way you can't get tired of a certain pastor's sermons. i just wish i could understand what they were saying.
when make took the floor again after zinhle shared, i was trying to compare the vine and branches passage in my bible to zinhle's siswati translation, but all i managed to work out was that "titselo" is fruit. which is a good word to know, i guess. throw in a couple prayers kneeling on the woven mats in front of the benches and a chanted amen chorus after each testimony, and there was your two-hour service. after locking up, we headed home. the hills were just as beautiful, but sunnier and hotter. tema had less concentration to hold on and a combination of that with my sweatiness meant she was a lot more slippery coming home. after rehydrating and eating a meal of leftovers, the homestead is now peaceful. even though this didn't go exactly as expected, i still got in an awesome hike. next time i'll wear my keens (super-duper waterproof odorproof walking shoes)! we take our shoes off for church anyway.
family day
last saturday (sept. 8) was the first time i'd spent any time with my family without one of my host sisters who speaks english. the rest of my family kind of does but not really. here is a journal excerpt.
i had a big bowlful of oatmeal for breakfast. well, i saw njabuliso (my host brother, age 12) putting lemon on his cereal, so i asked him to get me a lemon from the tree outside so i could try it. little catch - he was eating "emabele" (sorghum) not oatmeal. the lemon in oatmeal was nasty! i was going to suck it up and eat it anyway, but zinhle tasted it and wouldn't let me. she dumped a whole bunch of sugar in it and gave it to the kids, and dished me up a fresh bowlful. when make and gogo heard about this, they thought it was hilarious! and they were still chuckling about it at supper time. just one example of a willingness to try new things gone slightly too far - but as long as you can laugh about it, it's all good!
[after zinhle left]
so i wandered around and found the back gate, put it together with the knowledge of a river somewhere and seeing the kids race in with wheelbarrows carrying waterdrums, and decided to go exploring. i found a cow path (with some cows on it, whom i disturbed) leading down to a trickle of muddy water (the river) and some men mixing cement to build a dam (for what water?) and eventually notsopi (host sister age 9) discovered me and rescued me from the men, who were getting a little too curious. i helped notsopi and wandile (brother age 9) fill their water drums and push them back along the cow path in the wheelbarrow. then repeat X 2! it was fun to be able to do something. and the kids loved it!
by the last time, everyone was along, including tema (sister age 3, zinhle's daughter) riding on top of the drum in the wheelbarrow like a little princess, and njabuliso, who is so much stronger than he looks! he pushed a wheel barrow with two huge containers halfway, and i did the other half. and he carries them up the steep riverbank - what a machine. we took numerous rest stops along the way though. while we were down waiting for the waterhose to fill the containers, the kids were teaching me siswati for hill/grass/monkey/river/soil etc. and laughing incredulously when they'd quiz me on a word they'd just told me and yet i couldn't remember it. this evening i got them to do it again when i had my vocab sheets out, so maybe i'll nail them this time. i just have to see them written down, or the words go in one ear and out the other.
but i felt like this afternoon finally broke down a wall with them. before they were so shy and wouldn't even look at me when i spoke to them, and my early attempts to use them as language teachers were futile. but today they couldn't do enough of it! i think making a fool of myself imitating their devotional song & dance routine helped, as well as making ridiculous animal noises to help in learning common livestock - moo! baaa! woof woof! meow! cook-a-doodle-doo! no holds barred. and make and gogo were impressed at my wheelbarrowing skills ("oh, you know how to push a wheelbarrow!") and then, since we were getting this water for the garden, i helped make water the onions and lettuce and tomatoes and carrots as the sun disappeared behind the mountain peaks and the dusky night spilled into our valley. i can't communicate too much with make, but i did manage to convey that i like gardening and that i had been hlping my mkhulu (grandpa) with his in america.
so today, of course everybody could have gotten by just fine without my help. but this is what i need to do to figure people and places out-get involved with whatever's going on. and it helps to build relationships and shows them that i'm interested in their lives. and i get to find out a little more about what it takes to keep this homestead running. so my arms are sore and my feet are dirty, but it was definitely a day well spent
i had a big bowlful of oatmeal for breakfast. well, i saw njabuliso (my host brother, age 12) putting lemon on his cereal, so i asked him to get me a lemon from the tree outside so i could try it. little catch - he was eating "emabele" (sorghum) not oatmeal. the lemon in oatmeal was nasty! i was going to suck it up and eat it anyway, but zinhle tasted it and wouldn't let me. she dumped a whole bunch of sugar in it and gave it to the kids, and dished me up a fresh bowlful. when make and gogo heard about this, they thought it was hilarious! and they were still chuckling about it at supper time. just one example of a willingness to try new things gone slightly too far - but as long as you can laugh about it, it's all good!
[after zinhle left]
so i wandered around and found the back gate, put it together with the knowledge of a river somewhere and seeing the kids race in with wheelbarrows carrying waterdrums, and decided to go exploring. i found a cow path (with some cows on it, whom i disturbed) leading down to a trickle of muddy water (the river) and some men mixing cement to build a dam (for what water?) and eventually notsopi (host sister age 9) discovered me and rescued me from the men, who were getting a little too curious. i helped notsopi and wandile (brother age 9) fill their water drums and push them back along the cow path in the wheelbarrow. then repeat X 2! it was fun to be able to do something. and the kids loved it!
by the last time, everyone was along, including tema (sister age 3, zinhle's daughter) riding on top of the drum in the wheelbarrow like a little princess, and njabuliso, who is so much stronger than he looks! he pushed a wheel barrow with two huge containers halfway, and i did the other half. and he carries them up the steep riverbank - what a machine. we took numerous rest stops along the way though. while we were down waiting for the waterhose to fill the containers, the kids were teaching me siswati for hill/grass/monkey/river/soil etc. and laughing incredulously when they'd quiz me on a word they'd just told me and yet i couldn't remember it. this evening i got them to do it again when i had my vocab sheets out, so maybe i'll nail them this time. i just have to see them written down, or the words go in one ear and out the other.
but i felt like this afternoon finally broke down a wall with them. before they were so shy and wouldn't even look at me when i spoke to them, and my early attempts to use them as language teachers were futile. but today they couldn't do enough of it! i think making a fool of myself imitating their devotional song & dance routine helped, as well as making ridiculous animal noises to help in learning common livestock - moo! baaa! woof woof! meow! cook-a-doodle-doo! no holds barred. and make and gogo were impressed at my wheelbarrowing skills ("oh, you know how to push a wheelbarrow!") and then, since we were getting this water for the garden, i helped make water the onions and lettuce and tomatoes and carrots as the sun disappeared behind the mountain peaks and the dusky night spilled into our valley. i can't communicate too much with make, but i did manage to convey that i like gardening and that i had been hlping my mkhulu (grandpa) with his in america.
so today, of course everybody could have gotten by just fine without my help. but this is what i need to do to figure people and places out-get involved with whatever's going on. and it helps to build relationships and shows them that i'm interested in their lives. and i get to find out a little more about what it takes to keep this homestead running. so my arms are sore and my feet are dirty, but it was definitely a day well spent
first week at work
so. first, apologies for not posting for so long. but you should all be happy that i'm living my life and not obsessed with my blog like some other people i know...just kidding.
i've completed my first full week of work at faith bible school. yay! it's a lot of fun. i'm in the office with sithembile (in charge of the fbs hiv/aids programs), make sallie (the home based care coordinator) and sane (an intern working with fbs until december). she's from zimbabwe but has been studying in winnipeg for the past four years. she's awesome and it's been really great getting to know her. we have a lot of things in common. my projects so far have included organizing their library, writing a report on the peer education training i attended(the peer education coordinator, nomcebo, is out of the office at a different training for 3 weeks), helping make sallie with hbc record-keeping and helping sithembile get ready for an hiv/aids workshop this weekend. a highlight was getting to go on my first hbc visit with make sallie on wednesday.
two reflections on this experience: 1. i wish i understood siswati!!! i'm so impatient with how slow i'm learning this language, when i want to understand everybody and be able to communicate with them right now! but i can introduce myself, say my name and where i stay and where i'm from, and this always brings smiles to people's faces. and usually a flood of siswati at which i can only shake my head and reply "angiva" (i don't understand). 2. i don't know what i was expecting of someone who is hiv+. i guess someone laying in a bed, sweating and moaning and skin and bones. but this woman, although she was weak and wrapped in a big sweater and her hands shook, came and talked with us in the living room, and could move around the house fine. we talked about her reactions to the drugs the clinic gave her, what food will be easy for her to eat and keep down, her worries about her daughter's school fees now that she can no longer sell fruit at the market to earn money. i'm glad to have this more realistic picture of the face of people who are hiv+ instead of some skewed media version. i'm looking forward to many more home visits with make sallie, and also with my gogo tfwala, who is one of fbs' 18 volunteer home-based caregivers.
i've completed my first full week of work at faith bible school. yay! it's a lot of fun. i'm in the office with sithembile (in charge of the fbs hiv/aids programs), make sallie (the home based care coordinator) and sane (an intern working with fbs until december). she's from zimbabwe but has been studying in winnipeg for the past four years. she's awesome and it's been really great getting to know her. we have a lot of things in common. my projects so far have included organizing their library, writing a report on the peer education training i attended(the peer education coordinator, nomcebo, is out of the office at a different training for 3 weeks), helping make sallie with hbc record-keeping and helping sithembile get ready for an hiv/aids workshop this weekend. a highlight was getting to go on my first hbc visit with make sallie on wednesday.
two reflections on this experience: 1. i wish i understood siswati!!! i'm so impatient with how slow i'm learning this language, when i want to understand everybody and be able to communicate with them right now! but i can introduce myself, say my name and where i stay and where i'm from, and this always brings smiles to people's faces. and usually a flood of siswati at which i can only shake my head and reply "angiva" (i don't understand). 2. i don't know what i was expecting of someone who is hiv+. i guess someone laying in a bed, sweating and moaning and skin and bones. but this woman, although she was weak and wrapped in a big sweater and her hands shook, came and talked with us in the living room, and could move around the house fine. we talked about her reactions to the drugs the clinic gave her, what food will be easy for her to eat and keep down, her worries about her daughter's school fees now that she can no longer sell fruit at the market to earn money. i'm glad to have this more realistic picture of the face of people who are hiv+ instead of some skewed media version. i'm looking forward to many more home visits with make sallie, and also with my gogo tfwala, who is one of fbs' 18 volunteer home-based caregivers.
Monday, September 3, 2007
still alive and kicking!
hi everyone - i mean, "sanibonani"! i'm trying hard to make the most extensive use of my limited siswati vocabulary that i can, always to the great delight and amusement of everyone around me. i've started taking lessons, which helps a great deal.
anyway! i know you haven't heard from me forever. i just have 10 minutes here because zinhle (one of my host sisters) and i are off to the "umhlanga". it's the "reed dance," one of swaziland's national holidays. young women dress in traditional costume and dance for the king, who can select a new wife to add to the 14 he already possesses if he so chooses. it should be an interesting cultural experience! people have been telling me i should dance in it, and zinhle was all for it, but unfortunately :) she didn't have time to get me the proper traditional attire, so i'll have to wait for "next time". but i am eager to see the king, after seeing his portrait all over the place, in stores and homes.
thanks to everyone for the emails and especially the birthday wishes! it was a great birthday. i woke up in the morning and read all the notes and cards people have given me before i left - which made me happy but also a tiny bit homesick and so i was feeling a little lonely and sorry for myself as i emerged from my hut to greet my family. never fear: they had ordered a huge chocolate cake that said "happy birthday nobuhle (my swazi name - it means beautiful)! you are 20 yrs" on it in frosting. and we wore party hats and they had maxwell, a photographer friend, come and take pictures of the festivities. and then that evening was the first day of a week-long hiv/aids and child abuse conference sponsored by faith bible school, which i just got back from on saturday. but at this conference, they had another huge cake (black forest this time) and they sang to me. so i celebrated by 20th birthday very well here.
and i'm very much looking forward to this 21st year of my life. because of conferences, national holidays, visa work to be done etc, i haven't been in the office yet - i think my first day at work will be wednesday. so i'm eager to get started. all this introduction and orientation has been good but i'm ready to feel like i'm actually living here, and not just visiting or being a tourist.
anyway! i know you haven't heard from me forever. i just have 10 minutes here because zinhle (one of my host sisters) and i are off to the "umhlanga". it's the "reed dance," one of swaziland's national holidays. young women dress in traditional costume and dance for the king, who can select a new wife to add to the 14 he already possesses if he so chooses. it should be an interesting cultural experience! people have been telling me i should dance in it, and zinhle was all for it, but unfortunately :) she didn't have time to get me the proper traditional attire, so i'll have to wait for "next time". but i am eager to see the king, after seeing his portrait all over the place, in stores and homes.
thanks to everyone for the emails and especially the birthday wishes! it was a great birthday. i woke up in the morning and read all the notes and cards people have given me before i left - which made me happy but also a tiny bit homesick and so i was feeling a little lonely and sorry for myself as i emerged from my hut to greet my family. never fear: they had ordered a huge chocolate cake that said "happy birthday nobuhle (my swazi name - it means beautiful)! you are 20 yrs" on it in frosting. and we wore party hats and they had maxwell, a photographer friend, come and take pictures of the festivities. and then that evening was the first day of a week-long hiv/aids and child abuse conference sponsored by faith bible school, which i just got back from on saturday. but at this conference, they had another huge cake (black forest this time) and they sang to me. so i celebrated by 20th birthday very well here.
and i'm very much looking forward to this 21st year of my life. because of conferences, national holidays, visa work to be done etc, i haven't been in the office yet - i think my first day at work will be wednesday. so i'm eager to get started. all this introduction and orientation has been good but i'm ready to feel like i'm actually living here, and not just visiting or being a tourist.
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