Sanibonani from Swaziland!

Alright! First blog post from the road! Go me!

The past couple weeks have been absolutely, unbelievably amazing. I’m only here two weeks and, honestly, from the first day of my volunteer project, I knew that wouldn’t be enough. It took absolutely no time at all to fall in love with this place and these people, and here I go, leaving before I’ve even really begun!

But let me back up a little bit and talk about the journey here first. It was an adventure to say the least. Five cities, Four flights, three days, and a combined 22 hours in the air left me . . . drained. Austin to Dallas/Ft. Worth to London (where I had a 12-hour layover) to Johannesburg to Manzini just kicked my butt. My time in London was just weird. It was my third or fourth time there, I had no desire or money to really see anything and my back hurt from carrying my stuff and sleeping upright. I did, however get a power nap in the grass in front of Buckingham Palace, though! It was delightful. The only good news from this epic journey: both the 9 and 11 hour flights were “overnight” based on the time zone I was headed to, so once I arrived, I didn’t end up all that jetlagged! Hooray!

Upon arriving in Swaziland (At last! At last!), it finally hit me: “Hey, Janie, you’re in Africa! Say whaaaaaaaaaaat?!” At the airport (and I use the word “airport” pretty loosely), I and some other volunteers made our way through customs. They seemed baffled by the fact that none of us knew exactly where we were going or who exactly was picking us up at the airport, but they graciously allowed us into their country on a 30-day tourist visa anyway.

The next two days are a blur of new faces and names, settling in, and general confusion. There was, in fact, a hot second there where I thought I might have ended up in the wrong place! Not so, thank God. Evidently, I’m just the only one here on my specific program. No biggie. Anyway, the first full day mercifully began with our orientation. I learned how to greet people in Siswati (the local language, although everyone speaks English as well), that Swaziland was the second smallest country in the world and one of the only remaining absolute monarchies, and that I would be the first volunteer EVER sent to the Lobamba Youth Centre, and I would be on my own . . . Super. At first, I was completely intimidated. I was to, completely on my own, organize these young adults (age 18 and up) in drama games and something called “interaction talks.” Nice. I had no idea what that meant. However, after meeting the coordinator at the Youth Centre, Welile (pronounced phonetically), I had a much better idea of what they wanted. They were trying to get the Centre off the ground. They wanted it to be a place where young people could come to relax, interact, get help, and excel. They just needed a little help getting there.

Once I knew their needs, the camp counsellor and theatre student in me kicked into action. The first day I planned was all games: name games, Schwing, Red Light/Green Light, Look Up/Look Down, etc. I’m still having trouble learning names since they are not only names I’ve never heard before in all my life, but because Siswati is one of those African languages that includes a clicking sound as well as some other pronunciations you won’t find in the King’s English. Despite that, however, the games were a HUGE hit. I was laughing and joking with everyone within minutes and I could feel the ice breaking. We also spent some time that first day just talking and asking questions. Mostly they asked about life in America, specifically Texas. They had even seen “Walker, Texas Ranger”! They were also surprised to learn that HIV/AIDS is a problem in America. Finally, I think hearts broke all over Swaziland when they found out that I have a boyfriend. And a firefighter, to boot! Thankfully, though, no one offered to be my “Swazi” boyfriend that day. That’s what any other man here will say. Even if you say that you’re married, they’ll say, “Ah, yes, but you don’t have a Swazi husband . . .” It’s hilarious, if a little awkward.

It wasn’t all fun and games that day, though. As we were all sitting around talking, one of the older boys, Sihle, asked if he could make a speech in his own language so that it would be his. I said of course, and Welile translated for me. He spoke passionately about how this Youth Centre was theirs and how they needed to treat it and each other with respect and kindness, whereas now, he felt like they would ignore each other if they crossed paths in the market. Even if Welile hadn’t been translating, he was so clear in his ideas and so invested in his words I think I still would have gotten goose bumps. I mean, this guy could PREACH. Eventually, his speech turned into a heated discussion with some of the younger guys who felt that it was his responsibility to include them since he was older and he had failed to do that in the past. Gradually, they decided to put the past in the past and start fresh. And then they did the unthinkable: they thanked ME for making it all happen. I felt like I hadn’t done a thing, but everyone was so grateful to me for bringing them together. I wasn’t sure how to feel about it, but I decided that I would earn their gratitude during my time there.

Anyway, I left that first day feeling completely inspired and bursting with ideas for the coming weeks. Over the next few days we played some more games, did some exercises with jelly beans and courage beads and trust webs to help them feel comfortable opening up to each other, and brainstormed how what it was they wanted the Youth Centre to be. I’m immensely proud of what we accomplished. I mean, all I really did was start the ball rolling and let them run with it, but I felt like I was making a difference. Something tangible and real would linger on long after I left Swaziland, and that felt great.

Most of the other volunteers here are working at NCPs (Neighborhood Care Points) where orphans and vulnerable children who cannot afford to go to school gather during the day to be looked after, fed at least once, and taught at least some basic skills, like literacy. While this is a highly noble purpose, I feel honoured to be where I am. Not only am I helping to build something new, but I’m able to connect with these Swazis much more easily than one can connect to a 3-year-old who doesn’t speak much English. I can ask questions, debate, discuss, and at least begin to truly understand the state of things for average people in Swaziland. Is the HIV/AIDS epidemic really that bad? Absolutely yes, it is. I have yet to meet someone who hasn’t lost almost their entire family to AIDS. Does the king really have 13 wives? Yes, he does, and he may acquire another one at the end of the month at the Reed Dance ceremony, but many people think he won’t since he hasn’t chosen a wife in the last four years. Can people divorce or be openly gay in Swaziland? No, they cannot. Are people here religious? Yes, about 70% of the people here are Christian, but these same people also believe in witchcraft

It truly has been amazing, the things I’ve learned. Ask me some time. I’d love to tell you about it.

The Youth Centre isn’t the only volunteering I’ve done, though. I also spent a couple days learning about and volunteering with an organization called Gone Rural boMake. This is an initiative to help Swazi women in very rural and traditional (i.e. highly patriarchal) communities generate income by selling handicrafts that they weave from grass. They weave everything from placemats and napkin rings, to home décor, to bowls. What makes these special is that Gone Rural buys the grass that the women have harvested and dye it fantastic colors before selling it back to them. This means that not only are the products very well made, but they’re also unique. Check it out at http://www.goneruralswazi.com/!

My role in all of this was to take one day and travel out with the Gone Rural folks into a very remote community up in the mountains, and intellectually stimulate and play with the women’s children while they bought, sold, and traded their grasses and finished weavings. It was the coldest day I’ve had here that we went up into the mountains (of course), but the children were so incredibly delightful and adorable, that I didn’t mind the cold one bit. They all huddled around me and we put puzzles together, read books, drew pictures on little chalkboards, and played soccer. It was amazing to see these children, who had probably never seen a puzzle before, figure out spatial relationships of the different pieces to try to make the picture again. Some of them used the chalkboard to show me how well they could write and speak English. Not that they ever actually said all that much. As so many little kids do around adults they’ve just met, they remained bashfully quiet and would only occasionally whisper and giggle to each other in Siswati. It was irresistibly cute. One little girl in particular took a shine to me. She was the youngest one there, probably about two years old. Her nose was running and she wore all pink. She sat right at my hip, then on my lap, then played with my camera, then guarded “her” book from all the other kids, then showed me her soccer skills (that girl will grow up to be a fabulous goalie, mark my words).

We spent about two hours on that mountaintop before I was back in the truck, rattling back down the dirt roads at a blistering 65 miles per hour. It was over way too soon. But, at least I got myself a little something to take home with me from the Gone Rural shop!

But it hasn’t ALL been good-deed-doing here in Swaziland. I have had some time to see and do things that one should do when they travel. One of our first afternoons here, we did a walking tour of the village of Lobamba. We saw traditional stick and mud houses, tasted the local beer, saw the king’s palace off in the distance, and tasted our first braii (the local and delicious version of barbecue). I also hiked the mountain behind the lodge where we’re staying, called Sheeba’s Breast. Unfortunately, I have no idea who Sheeba is or why this mountain is named after her mammary gland, but there’s no denying that the peak of the mountain does, in fact, look like a “tit” as one of my British co-volunteers so delicately put the other day. It was an excruciating hike up, thrillingly beautiful and triumphant at the top (minus the part when I thought I might never be able to get down), and a rather easy descent. I also took a day to go 4-wheeling (or “quad biking” as the Brits and post-colonial Swazis call it) through a private game reserve! I eventually got quite comfortable on the vehicle, though I never thought I would, and did some rather death-defying things. Unfortunately for me, I was the first in line behind our instructor, so besides him, I was the first to tackle any of the obstacles that were presented. I essentially became the group’s now-watch-and-see-what-NOT-to-do girl, but I conquered almost everything in the end! I did end up in a ditch once . . . but it was only because I’m an idiot. Yea. No excuse there.

OK, well this blog post is already FAR too long for anyone except my mom to read all the way through, so I think I’ll cap it there for now and maybe try a briefer post next time . . . maybe . . .

Hoping for one more post before I’m off to South Africa on Tuesday!

Loving and missing you all!