Year in Review by Photos

My home away from home for 9 weeks in Swaziland

Christmas morning in Swaziland

The beach front in Durban South Africa, which is on the Indian Ocean about 4 hours south of the Swaziland border into South Africa.  Spent 5 days over New Years in Durban with other Volunteers from South Africa, Botswana, and Swaziland.  Toured the city , hung out on the beach and got some 1^st world amenities for a little bit.

I lived with a family during my 9-weeks of training in a community near Matsapha, which was where we have classes and trainings most days.  The other days we staying in the community and had hands on trainings.  My family was made up of a Bhuti “Brother”, Skoni “Sister-in-law”, my brother’s wife, and Make “Mother”.  Most days during school there was a younger Sisi “sister” who was on the homestead, she was 12 years old.  I lived in a small rondaval hut, which was one room with a small veranda and electricity!

My host family during family appreciation day at the end of our PST.

The current G12 group after swearing in, we are now officially PCVs in Swaziland.  All of us with the Prime Minister of Swaziland, our Country Director for PC Swaziland and the current US Ambassador of Swaziland.  We learned about HIV/AIDS in Swaziland, how to create and sustain projects we will start, experienced traditional cultural dances and dress, went to a game reserve, and learned the local SiSwati language.

Traditional Men Dancing

I currently live with a family on a homestead made up of a Make “Mother”, Babe “Father”, Bhuti “Brother, and Sisi “Sister” where I will work for the next 2 years in my community.  It is a house with 2 rooms which I made one room into a bedroom with a bed, camping shower and my clothes.  The other room has my kitchen area, a desk and my hammock.  It’s the PCV life.

This was the first Briee “BBQ” on the homestead where men from the community came and we butchered a pig that was raised and cooked it up for the day.  We hung out and BBQ, talked and shared food with other members of the community and a near by volunteer came to share the day with us.

This was one of the first gatherings we had a PCV in Swaziland after swearing in and it was around Halloween time.  Great time with great people.  Jeremy Loops is a local South African musician who came to Swaziland, check him out, great music and does all his own tracks, hence “Loops”.

This was the end of Term 3 in December and it was a farewell function celebrating all the Form 3 and Form 5 graduating from school, the accomplishments made and was celebrated with food, dance and skits from all the students.

Traditional Dance from some of the students

We spent Thanksgiving in Mbabane at our Country Directors house where a feast was prepared for us by the staff and G11 volunteers.  Our turn this year to prepare and cook.

Spent the day with by bhuti taking the cattle to the dip tank where all the cattle from the community must go every 2 weeks or once a month depending on the season to be washed of all bugs and dirt.  This is mainly the role of the younger boys in the community to watch the cattle and make sure they don’t get into other peoples homesteads and fields and keep track of their cattle.

Mantenga Falls and swimming in Swaziland to wrap up the New Years Vacation

The Pre-School I am currently working on before we started the renovation of the building in January 2015.

Currently we have 35 students attending the school with 1 teacher.  We are working on building a new latrine, a new roof and putting a fence up around the premises.  This has been one of my main projects and has been very rewarding seeing the progress and growth in the community and with the children.

This is the annual marula festival in Swaziland, which celebrates the traditional drink and fruit of Swaziland.  Swazis from all over collect the fruit and make their own homebrewed marula drink from this fruit and all come together each year to present it to the King of Swaziland and this festival.  It is wrapped up with dancing from the mother’s of Swaziland and presenting the drink to the King.  It is pretty much a large party in Swaziland.

The dance at the marula festival

Spent the night at the Hlalne Royal National Park in Swaziland with some fellow PCVs.  We went on a sunrise game drive and saw lions, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, impala, hippos, and a turtle.

This was our first ever BRO (Boys Reaching Out) Camp that we put on for boys to attend from all over Swaziland.  We had 28 boys attend from 10 different schools all over Swaziland.  We discussed male identity, gender equality, self-expression, SRH (Sexual Reproductive Health), Fatherhood, and HIV/AIDS education and prevention.  We also played soccer, had a talent show, roasted smores, and played lots of other games with the boys.  Check out the video on YouTube soon.  It will be on our Peace Corps Swaziland YouTube Channel.

The group who recently participated in a Grassroots soccer training, which we hope to implement into our schools and community. It is a way to use soccer to reach the youth and educate them about HIV/AIDS.

Me hiking Sibebe Rock near Mbabne, which is one of the largest granite rocks in the world.  It was about an hour and a half to the top and I was able to hike all around the rock and view Swaziland from afar.  The local beer is named after Sibebe so I enjoyed a cold one at the top.

This is one of the most recent projects I have undertaken and we are developing a library at the high school for the students to get excited about reading and the English language.  We have over 1000 books to sort and organize and then implement into the school and English department.

And finally my current PC beard I am working on growing for my last year of service.  Who am I trying to impress, really? Taken at a local reserve near my community I went to stay one night to relax.  Got to sit outside and watch the thunderstorm roll in while it was raining and listen to Phil Collins’ Tarzen theme song.  This is Africa!

       So since I failed at keeping posts up and running each month I though I would do a double header and make this post all about photos.  I tried to choose the best photos I could about some of my Peace Corps Swaziland experience with short captions explaining them all briefly.  Mindful though that photos can never truly capture this experience or Swaziland 100 percent.  Enjoy!  (Also, I am not the best photographer sometimes, it has only been a year and I have almost 5000 pictures already on my computer.)

The Real Kingdom

          It was the day after Christmas back home in Oregon and my Dad and I were getting ready to go play some golf at a nearby course.  I got in the truck and pulled up my email on my phone.  There was a message from the Peace Corps.  Was this what I was waiting for since I herd I was accepted into the Youth Development sector back in June? It was a moment of excitement and hesitation at the same time.  This would be telling me where I would be living for 27 months.  I opened the email and read.  So many emotions and questions begin to run through my head.  The next 6 months would be an eventful time for me, preparing my life for 27 months abroad.

As you probably already know, I am in Swaziland now.  The Kingdom of Swaziland.  It has been almost a year from now that I herd of Swaziland for the first time.  I am living here now and couldn’t imagine being in a better place.  I arrived in Swaziland in June and have been living here now for almost 6 months.  What better time to reflect on the culture, food, people, history and just share some of the beautiful things I have seen, learned and experienced here.

Swaziland is Africa’s last absolute monarchy, hence The Kingdom of Swaziland.  A country of about 1.4 million people living in the size of a country comparable to New Jersey and rich in culture with little influence from the outside.  The larger country of South Africa with the exception of Mozambique to the east surrounds Swaziland, yet you seem like you are the only place in the World when you are in Swaziland.  Traditional cultural events such as Umhlanga and incwala still flourish today and the entire country turns out to support their national heritage and celebrate their unique culture.  Culture is what makes us who we are, it includes our religion, beliefs, morals, food, lifestyle plus whatever else shows our uniqueness.  Swaziland is one of a kind.

I don’t like spouting off a lot of facts, numbers and dates on things cause after about two sentences I honestly stop reading.  I just want to share some culture experiences first hand so you can gain some perspective on the history and the Kingdom of Swaziland.  If you like that stuff though there are hundreds of websites you can look up to find the GDP, exact size, average age, dates, and whatever else you like.  For me though learning about Swaziland has come from a few things, Swazis are always happy and enjoy helping others out.  Also, the strong presence of dance, music and singing in whatever they do and lastly are Swazi’s love of God and the Creator.

No matter where I have gone here I have always been greeted with great enthusiasm and a willingness to help out.  The respectful cultural greeting wherever you go and before you speak with someone is always Sawubona.  Yebo.  Unjani?  Ngiyaphila.  It is saying hello, acknowledging them, saying hello back, and asking how they are.  It is a cultural value and taking a genuine interest in everyone you interact with.  Taking time to learn a language of another culture is probably one of the highest forms of respect and showing that you want to be part of something more.  Speaking the native language creates a more enriching experience in any country, especially Swaziland.  I have had people walk with me great distances just to show me where a store is because they care.  Others have carried groceries for me because they care.  An entire bus stopped right in front of my house so I could unload my bed and not have to carry it because they care.  Killed chickens and a pig to celebrate me being with them because they care.  Being here and seeing what little most people have, I experience a giving of more than they have.  I think that is a lesson from the Bible somewhere.

Singing, dance and music is all around in Swaziland.  During the morning assembly at the schools the children sing beautiful praises each day, singing from the surrounding churches fill the air on Sundays, the young girls dancing and singing as they carry the reeds down the road during Umhlanga, and maybe even some Lil Wayne in between the gospel music on the Khumbi and bus rides.  There have been a few presentations and celebrations at the schools in my community here and they all center around these three things.  You can find students singing songs, performing dances, traditional and unique, plus music blasting while everyone dances around the speakers.  I don’t think anyone has a bad voice here when they sing, except for me, so I avoid it.  It all revolves around celebrating life, enjoying friends and family, and praises to God.  Worship is all around us in whatever you do, from skiing down the mountains, the working and serving, to singing.  Swaziland worships with their voices and talents every day.

         It is hard to really sum up the history and culture of Swaziland without writing 30 or more pages.  I have learned though they are proud of their culture, a group of strong people willing to work and learn, and love God.  Don’t get me wrong though there are other religions and this is not everyone in Swaziland, to be politically correct, but it is hard to deny the presence of God and see their love for one another.  So why does a country like this have one of the highest HIV rates in the World then?  You see people happy, helping each other, loving God, working hard yet they struggle with this devastating disease each and every day.  Everyone in this small Kingdom has been affected in one form or another with HIV/AIDS; with 26% of adults between 15-49 is HIV positive.  It has the highest rate of tuberculosis (TB) in the world and 80% of patients are co-infected with HIV.  The Kingdom of Swaziland is a beautiful place with friendly and loving people who only want this to go away.  They want to return to a healthy and empowered kingdom free of disease, death and able to worship fully and finally celebrate their rich culture to its full potential.