A Place I Call Home

It has been a little over one month now since I started my new role with Peace Corps Swaziland and Young Heroes.  Almost two months since I left the place I knew as home here in Swaziland and the people I called my family.  It is still home to me though here and they are still my Swazi family.  Life in the capital city of Mbabane has been completely different than the last two years of my time here in Swaziland.  I miss the lazy days of being around the homestead, watching the animals and just staring at the world around me.  The quiet times in the evening where all you hear is the sound of a nearby dog and off in the distance the songs from some church service or all night vigil going on.  I also took pleasure of spending the entire day doing my laundry outside in the warm sun and then waving to the kids as they walk home from school as I hang my laundry to dry.  I think one of the things I miss most though are the times of sitting and talking with my “make”, host mother, and visiting with the teachers from the schools.  The people in my community and my host family are what really made me connect with my community and make it a place to call home.  I remember during the first three months in my community, known as Integration, there was a moment of doubt and thinking “What am I doing here?” and “I don’t know if I can do this.”  I am sure most, if not all Peace Corps Volunteers have a similar thought at some point in their service.  Mine came towards the beginning.  Sitting here now in my 3^rd year with Peace Corps Swaziland, after all my fellow volunteers have gone home and completed the “required” two years, I am thinking about what changed.  The people are what changed.  I came to love Swaziland, my family here, and the friends I have made here in Swaziland, and just the culture and way of life of being a Swazi.  My family here is what kept me going and not wanting to give up on my time with Peace Corps Swaziland as well as the connections and relationships I built with the people here.  It wasn’t the projects, or the traveling, being in Africa, or even my fellow Peace Corps volunteers.  It was Swaziland.

Photo of my family during the Braai on my last week

I won’t say though that I am not enjoying what I am doing now in my 3^rd year, because I really am.  What I am most looking forward to though is the continued cultivation of the relationships I have currently as well as the new ones that will develop in my workplace and city.  Life is much different as I get up early in the morning, go to either the Peace Corps Office or the NERCHA (National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS) Office where Young Heroes is located, and then get home just before dark every Monday to Friday.  Unless of course there is a Swazi or American national holiday, then I get to celebrate a three, four or five day weekend.  Most of my weekends consist of just being at home and relaxing or spending time with friends.  Sometimes if there is an event going on like a show, festival or concert I will attend, which is another benefit of living in the city now is the access to these things with ease.  The downside though is the limited funds; I after all am still a volunteer.  It has been nice though to wake up and take a warm shower, cook a meal using an oven, keep food in a fridge and be able to walk around barefoot not worrying about what bug you will step on next or washing your feet before getting into bed.  I have learned to appreciate the simple things in life more.  My new home does have a full bathroom now, a bedroom with closet and larger bed, kitchen with a sink, stove and fridge plus living room with couch and a desk to work at.  I feel like I am living in a palace now.  Plus running water and electricity that is constant.  One the sunny days I am able to lie in my hammock on the porch and read a book while gazing at the mountains nearby.  Almost every weekend though lately has been cold and rainy, a change from the hot and hotter weekends in my community.  City life isn’t that half bad after all.  No more 5-hour bus rides on a long, dusty and bumpy road hoping that my bread doesn’t get smashed or eggs break along the way.  No more carrying around a 2-ton backpack with everything I own just to go away for a weekend.  I can actually blend in around town now and not be worrying about how I am going to get this thing on transport, or where will I store this while doing errands in town and then slinging two more bags of groceries on my arms.  I came, I saw, I conquered.

View from my hammock in my new place in Mbabane

 Currently I am a Peace Corps Volunteer Leadership position with Peace Corps Swaziland in the Communications and IT field.  We are working on finding better methods to communicate with volunteers in the field as well as beefing up our public image of Peace Corps Swaziland.  I get to sit in the office most days and play around on social media and our website along with editing photos, movies and other media to showcase all the work the volunteers are doing to the world.  That is what I have been doing as of lately while also assisting with any other projects volunteers may have, finding resources for them and helping staff with trainings and workshops for the volunteers.  My other position is with Young Heroes in the communications and marketing field also.  I work with their marketing officer and we plan strategies to obtain more donors and sponsors for the programs that Young Heroes offers.  A large part of work will be getting ready for Bushfire 2017 since it is one of the largest events and donors to Young Heroes here in Swaziland.  It is a 3-day music festival featuring music from all over the world along with food and arts.  Its theme is centered around creativity and expressing oneself.  Will be the third time attending this year, only this time will be supporting and working with Young Heroes at the festival.  It has been a 360-degree turn from what I was doing in my community but everything that I have been learning while with Peace Corps has been invaluable and I take everything as it comes.  I never would have thought that joining the Peace Corps would bring me to where I am now.

       
I am thrilled to see where this will take me as well as the opportunities that will come from the work and knowledge I have gained.  I would like to continue in this field and working for Non-Profits, specifically here in Swaziland.  I will be taking home leave over the holidays this year and get to spend a Thanksgiving, my 28^th birthday and Christmas all stateside back home.  I am looking forward to being home and seeing some snow, eating Mexican food, drinking good beer and catching up on ALL the movies and shows I have missed while being here.  There is such a thing as reverse culture shock and I know after being away for two and a half years that I will experience some of this.  I know that when I step off that plane in Portland I will be filled with a mixture of emotions, but it is like they say, “If you’re not uncomfortable, you’re not growing,” or something along those lines.  I am looking forward to this next opportunity, this next adventure here in Swaziland, and this next “short” chapter in my life.

Umhlanga/Reed Dance 2016