The Last Week of Hut Life!

In true procrastinator fashion, I waited the last week at my site to type up one of my final blog posts. I have seven days until Peace Corps picks me up from my community, ten days until I leave for Johannesburg, and a day shy of three weeks until I land in Boston. The last week of May was filled with lectures about how to get a job, what your Peace Corps experience has meant to you, and a good ol’ SiSwati test thrown in there just to make us sweat. We do all this wrap up at a four day conference called our Close of Service conference. It was useful in some ways and not so much in other ways. It was the last time we all came together as a group before people started leaving the country and it was good to hang out with some folks I hadn’t seen in a while. We were at Magadzavane north of Siteki near the border to Mozambique. It’s a nature reserve so we got to do game drives but it’s been so dry there wasn’t much around or much to see. On Thursday, I hustled home and repacked just in time to leave on Friday morning for Bushfire. I wrote about Bushfire last year but here’s a refresher. It’s a big international music festival with lots of delicious food and beautiful crafts to buy. The music last year was okay but this year was excellent. I think the music acts were much better. Bushfire also gave me a chance to see some of my friends from South Africa who I will see on my way home. I also got to meet new people which are always great since Peace Corps creates sort of a small, drama-filled bubble. After the craziness of the final week of May, everything sort of dropped off and moved much slower. I didn’t do much for my birthday this year. I went to Mbabane and had dinner with my friend Jess. It was far less interesting than my trip to Cape Town last year but it was a great way to celebrate regardless. Throughout June, I held a few meeting about the positive discipline workshop that my schools participated in during May. This was a way of evaluating the project so Peace Corps can justify spending money on the grant. The next big event was 4th of July. This is an exciting celebration because it’s the first time the current volunteers get to meet the new trainees. Of course, this is overwhelming for everyone especially since we have over 100 volunteers between the new and old folks. There is also always a lot of excellent food! It was great talking to some of the new volunteers because it helps you realize how far you’ve come. One girl asked: when does it all start to feel normal? I told her it all felt normal when I moved to my site and started making my hut my home. Now I’m tearing apart and emptying out that home! There’s a volunteer from Vermont in the new group so three out of the four groups from G10-G13 has had one! Go VT! July has been the longest and fastest month. My family finally got running water! The pipes that were laid in front of our homestead in December were connected! This makes a huge difference for my last three weeks, but it’s more important for my family’s entire life. That sound dramatic I know, but my family spends hours fetching water and going to the dam to wash laundry each week. Those hours have been cut out and they’ve started a garden that actually has a fighting chance. There have been moments in last month where I felt “hey I really made a difference here” and other moments where I feel “I did nothing and I’m just a passing through this village.” I went to my far school yesterday. It was the last day I was going to have a chance to visit and I had heard that not all the teachers were going to the celebration on Friday at my closer school. I showed up hoping to see the secretary, Busi, who I had grown close to. It turns out she had moved jobs and never called me. Its times like that where I feel like I haven’t really made an impact on people, but I also understand that she hadn’t been paid in three months because our school continually had money issues. I still plan to give her a call but it’s not the same as saying goodbye in person. I didn’t join Peace Corps to save the world or with the impression that I would change a whole community. In fact, in many ways my community doesn’t need changing. There are things in Swaziland that need to change, but it is almost impossible for volunteers to affect that change on the community level. Instead, I remember all my dad’s crazy little stories of international exchange students on our farm in Vermont when he was a kid. I can only imagine the crazy crap they saw from my dad’s stories. But he still keeps in contact with at least two of these people and, through that, he has a better understanding of two more corners of the world. That was my goal when I joined Peace Corps and it’s two of the three goals Peace Corps is based on. I wanted to touch a few people’s lives and make meaningful connections. The people of Kashoba have certainly changed me more than I have changed them. My career goals have always been international relations of some sort. Seeing the crushing poverty as well as the untapped potential has given me more direction. So I’m moving forward to work in international development with the hopes that I can work on projects that lift people out of poverty even in rural or remote communities. So that’s a little glimpse to how I’m feeling in these last weeks in Swaziland and southern Africa on the whole. I can’t wait to get home to the U.S. and I will be sad to leave my home in Swaziland. Watch out America! I’ll see you in two weeks and six days! Books: The Economist (working my way through the Jan and Feb issues) Show: Supernatural (Season 7)

A Long Overdue Update!

Wow it has been way too long since I’ve written a blog post. It’s been a mix of slow, slow weeks sitting in my hut and busy, hectic weeks. In addition, I’ve been able to make some decisions about my future after Peace Corps which are exciting! January and February were a bit slow as schools started a week later than they were planned to. Of course there was little explanation for this, but the King’s fields still needed to be sown following the male version of the reed dance (umhlanga) which is called incwala. While schools in Swaziland waited in suspense as did I. As many readers know, I submitted application to seven graduate schools. I was accepted to six but received funding from few despite the Paul Coverdell program through Peace Corps. My goal is to work in the realm of international development through small business and family financial planning projects. It’s hard to say what sort of job this will yield because everything from the UN to small NGOs are working on development projects that could relate. After a lot thought and some number crunching, I’m happy to say I’ll be working towards a Master of Arts in sustainable international development at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management. And in further good news I’ve already secured an apartment in Waltham! I can only imagine the day I return to the world of indoor plumbing and washing machines! Although I look forward to my July 30th close of service date, I feel sort of bad I’m so ready to leave a place that has absorbed me as one of their own. These past two weeks I have seen two big projects come together that help me realize how meaningful my experiences have been. The first project is Books for Africa. Thank you so much to all the friends and family who donated to this project! Unfortunately, I don’t have many pictures at the moment to post since I was helping direct the unloading and distribution of our 560 boxes of books! Now 28 schools in Swaziland will hopefully spread the joy of reading to all of their students. The second project was a positive discipline and classroom management workshop for my two primary schools. Here in Swaziland there is a Belgian woman who has worked in Africa for many years (nine of which have been in Swaziland). She is a consultant with amazing ideas on how to integrate a culture of positive discipline into schools. This is important because many schools, including my own, still rely on corporal punishment which is damaging for a long list of reasons. Instead of telling people to give up their ways completely, this woman shows teachers new ways of trying positive discipline. It was a stressful week planning all the food and workshop details, but Wednesday came and went without too much trouble. I as the uptight American caused a lot more stress for myself than necessary :) In other fun news I survived my fifth snake encounter in Swaziland! This time it was a puff adder. Lucky me they’re real lazy. Tuesday morning I was stressing a little about the food shopping I’d have to do in Siteki for my workshop the following day. I distractedly walk into my pit latrine. I did a quick once over as I’ve learned to do since my encounters with large spiders and a scorpion in there. As I turn and close the door behind me, I see something in the corner. At first it looked like maybe a sweater or something balled up but the realization slowly took over that this was in fact a very fat snake. Obviously I ran out of there which probably been hilarious had anyone been watching. I was looking for my host mother and she came walking down the driveway. Apparently the boys had found it the night before but make (mom) told them not to kill it in the dark. I told them next time they can wake me up at any hour to give me fair warning. The boys figured it would go away during the night and I suppose that was a fair assumption but still. As I left for Siteki, a neighbor came and killed the snake as me, my make (host mom), and his wife looked on with rocks ready just in case. It was quite the adventure! Pictures coming soon to a facebook profile near you! The two projects above were my last large efforts. My far school now has library books that need to be organized and my closer school still needs to learn how to incorporate theirs into the curriculum better, but these are all small feats compared to the rest. I’m looking forward to our Peace Corps close of service conference next week because it is the beginning of the end. As volunteers, we reflect back on what we’ve done and how to use that in our future endeavors. We also get tested in SiSwati…I can’t say I look forward to that! As of today, I only have 69 days left in my service and I hope to make them all count. When I think of all the things I can’t wait for back home (running water, a washing machine, etc.) I can’t help but be reminded that my host family and all the people I work with don’t get that option. It motivates me to work a little harder each week even though I’m on my way out. Lastly, I want to post a small shout out to my dad who turns 51 tomorrow! Happy Birthday! Book: No books lately, catching up on The Economist (December 2014 issues!) Show: Mad Men (Season 5)

Vacations and the New Year

January 15, 2015

It’s been over two months since my last blog post about what’s going on in Swaziland. December and January are not only the hottest months in Swaziland but also the most boring. The country shuts down for the holidays and on top of Christmas, Boxing day, and New Year’s Day there is also Incwala which is similar to what the reed dance is for the women. But here’s the highlights of what’s been going on for me:

Books for Africa:

I want to send a big thank you to everyone who supported our Books for Swaziland/Books for Africa project. We raised just over $7600 in less than a month! I’m very excited to get the project moving so we can receive our books hopefully by late April. Thank you thank you thank you to all of you that donated or spread the word.

Christmas:

Christmas isn’t a huge holiday for Swazis and I was away last year. This year I left on Christmas but I made sure to give each of the kids something small on Christmas eve. They were very excited. I spent Christmas at a hostel/backpackers where the owners know us and take care of us PCVs. They had food, music, and punch to make for a nice holiday party.

Vacation:

Obviously the most exciting part of the last two month is the two weeks I spent on vacation! I went to St. Lucia, Durban, and Drakensberg which are all in South Africa.

St. Lucia is a small little one-street town that sits along a huge estuary. I only stayed two nights so I didn’t get to explore it fully. I did get to see some hippos up close and personal. The first night I was pretty tired from travel so I ate, watched TV, and went to bed early. The second night I was joined by a group of PCVs from Swaziland and we had a nice lunch out and grilled cheese dinner in while we debated outfits for New Year’s Eve.

Durban was next. I stayed there the longest. The first night I got there I stayed at a different backpackers than the PCVs from Swaziland since it was full. Happy Hippo in Durban is really nice it’s just not the best location. It’s next to Ushaka Marine World which is pretty cool and it’s near the beach, but other than that there wasn’t much around. The next three nights I stayed at Tekweni’s near Florida Rd. Both Tekweni’s and Florida Rd. have a reputation of being the party place. Florida Rd. has more food options than Swaziland as a country. There was even a restaurant that served good Mexican food…still not real salsa though. I went to the beach, Victoria Street market, the botanical gardens, and a really amazing resort with an infinity pool and amazing views.

Drakensberg was the last stop on the trip and my favorite for sheer beauty alone. It’s no secret that I miss home a lot. The mountains in Drakensberg are very different than the ones in Vermont but it still felt like a small piece of home. We did a four night three day inclusive package. We went up the Sani pass to see Lesotho and get a view from the top. The highest pub in South Africa was a neat little place with money and signatures all over the walls. The next day was a hike to see the bushman paintings on the rock faces…a somewhat grueling hike I might add. We went over a partially broken bridge, up the mountain, and back down what was basically a very steep goat path. It ended at a beautiful waterfall but we did get a little rushed by a group of Germans who were trying to leave for Lesotho which was a bummer. I got the first real sunburn I’ve ever gotten here which was a bummer but hey the views were worth it.

The final day resulted in a very long and somewhat concerning car ride that took 10 hours from Drakensberg back to Swaziland. Low and behold we chose a janky little border post that actually checks for Ebola. And by checks I mean they take your temperature so let’s face it that could me anything from a mild cold to the flu to Ebola. Not a very sophisticated system. My favorite part of the drive was when my friend’s boyfriend who was visiting from the State said: they don’t even have a real gate; the guy just pushes it up to let cars through. Even better is we drove right around that gate after we got our passports stamped. Despite the drive, it all ended on a high note with dinner and drinks at Malandela’s with a bunch of friends.

I know I’m missing a lot of parts of the story like the gay bar I went to for New Year’s Eve and the crazy little children that drank my friends tea at Happy Hippo without invitation, but it would take a small novella to tell all those stories so I’ll just save those happy tidbits for when I come home.

What 2015 holds for my future:

I’ve talked to some friends and family, but I want everyone who is curious to know: I will be home by August 8^th of this year. One of my best friends from high school will be getting married in Maine and I fully intend to be there. So come April and May Peace Corps works with volunteers to choose a Close of Service (COS) date. I’ve also been accepted to Tufts University to their Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy program which was my top choice. I’m still waiting to hear from the other six schools I applied to so hopefully by April I’ll be able to tell everyone my decision. So weddings and grad school here I come! I’ll be sad to leave my home of two years here in Swaziland, but I also can’t wait to be back state-side!

Book: The White Man’s Burden by William Easterly

Show: Weeds (Season 4)