The Final Chapter...

            With only 4 days left of being a Peace Corps Volunteer I wanted to take time to reflect back on this three-year journey that took me places I would have never imagined. I experienced some highs, some joy, some sadness, some frustration, some anger, some happiness, and all those feelings in-between. When joining the Peace Corps you never know what to expect and just have to go into the adventure with open arms and letting God lead you. It all comes full circle, “All my life I have seen where you’ve taken me. Beyond all I have hoped and there’s more left unseen. There’s not much I can do to repay all you’ve done so I give my hands to use.” I am going into this next chapter of my life the same way I started my Peace Corps journey. Letting God lead and giving him my hands to use because I know he has a purpose and a plan for me, it will not be easy, there will be challenges, struggle, but in the end I trust and enjoy the life God has given to me each and every new day.

Swaziland and Sibebe Rock

            I recently finished my close of service interview with my program manager and one of the questions asked was what am I most proud of from my service. I was thinking backing to my youth clubs, the preschool, libraries, relationships built and my new family here in Swaziland. It is hard to think of just one but one thing does stand out during my time here. I have realized it is not the number of people you reach but the quality and relationships built during your service. There are two people who particularly stand out and have been a blessing to me and seeing them succeed and grow. These are their stories:

            Lindokhule approached me one afternoon when I was home washing clothes on a hot Swazi afternoon. Those over 40 degree days when your fan isn’t working, there is not water and you want to wear as little clothes as possible. She was a friend of my make from the community; a young woman aged 24 who was living at home taking care of her brothers and sisters. At the time she was living with her uncle as her mother was passed and her father was away unable to contact much. She completed her Form5 (Grade 12) studies but was unable to continue on with her studies due to grades and financial struggle. For the last five years she has been trying to provide enough money to take care of her siblings. We started talking and she wanted to return to school to upgrade her marks so she could get a scholarship and go to university. The problem was exam and school fees to retake Form5. It always seems to be an issue with money here in Swaziland for education purposes. We are very lucky in the US to have free education and many opportunities for scholarships to attend University. School should not be taken for granted, as there are millions of girls and children around the world who do not have the opportunity to go to school. After talking more we came up with a plan.

            I was able to create an online fundraiser to help her with the exam fees. I thank everyone who supported that cause and how much you helped change a life. We were able to raise the fees required in just a few short weeks and then went to register her for the exams. She still was unable to attend school so we worked with a few other students after school and had tutor sessions on English, Biology and Math. The high school was very generous in allowing us to use a classroom after school and to work with some other students as well. Finally she was able to start attending classes there and complete her Form5. We also got some of the past exams for her so she was able to review those and practice taking the exams.

Lindo on the far right with her brothers and sisters and uncle's family

            She worked extremely hard and was motivated to improve her marks and get into university. She was always the first one to show up and last one to leave the classroom and focused on her studies. While all the others were out at the soccer pitch or hanging out at the shops, she was in the classroom focusing on her studies. We made flash cards for some of her subjects, which she would review on her walks home or the bus rides to town. I could tell how much she wanted to succeed. I moved from my community in July 2016 to Mbabane to start my new position with Young Heroes and working in the Peace Corps office. She would be taking her exams in November of 2016 and would not receive her results until February of 2017. It was a long wait and was praying for her success.

            I started work, went back to the US for the holidays and then returned to Swaziland and got even busier at Young Heroes. My life in my community seemed so long ago and the next short chapter of my Peace Corps journey was underway. It wasn’t until April that I receive a text message from Lindo saying that she got accepted to continue her studies and will be starting them in March of 2018. Lindo got accepted into Bradford school for a teaching diploma, which is a private college in one of the main towns in Swaziland. It was so great to hear from her and learn that she is pursuing her dreams.

            The other story is about one of my closest friends and most motivated counterparts from my community. Without her the preschool would not be where it is today, continuing to service the community and now having graduated almost 100 children from grade0. The project started at the beginning of my first year in my community with the idea of creating a library for the Primary School. We looked at an old teacher’s house to renovate and make a library to serve both the High School and Primary School. As a Peace Corps Volunteer you have to be flexible and willing and open to work on projects that may not be your desire or expertise but is desired from your community. The library idea was not going well with the schools as many of the community members expressed concern over education and the need for a preschool.

The teacher and my beard at our new latrine being constructed

            Early childhood education is new for Swaziland and curriculum is still being developed for schools. Most of the preschools in Swaziland are privately funded or operated through NGOs or other organizations. This was going to be a challenge but one I was excited for. We started meeting at the schools with the parent committee and introducing the idea to them. Our first step was to start cleaning the building and work on funds for renovation. I had no idea how to start a preschool or what is needed so I set up a meeting with an organization here in Swaziland who focused on establishing and supporting preschools in my region of Swaziland. They agreed to help in any way they could and provide some training for our teachers. This was great news and excited to go back to my community to tell them and begin the work.

            The process of renovations started with cleaning the building, getting all the dirt out of the rooms, repairing cracks and clearing all the bushes from around the building. During this process we began to ask for volunteers or those with experience in teaching to help out and be teachers at the school. Few came forward to help out and of the few; one young woman has been there from the beginning. She was the one who organized the community members, lead the renovations, called the kids to come and made the first preschool my community has had succeed. Through the struggle or organizing parents, trying to get renovations and improvements done, feed the children, educate them and be a teacher she always has a smile on her face and never gave up.

The start of the Preschool Building

            We were able to take an empty old building and give it life and make it a safe and friendly place for the community to gather and mold young minds. The school now has a garden to supplement the food for the children, water harvesting system and holding tanks, toilets and hygiene station to wash hands, school supplies, desks and chairs, books and fencing around to keep the children safe from the road and animals. It is hard to put into words how much Lungile, the preschool teacher, invested and how important she is to the success of the school. Spending evenings preparing lessons, working on the weekends to clean the school or improve it and cooking for the children early in the morning so they had food at lunch time. I was able to work with her the last 2 years and see the growth in not only the school but also her as an individual. I was happy to find out that she was recently accepted into Ngwane Teachers College to finish her education and obtain her degree in teaching. This will be huge in her future allowing her to support her children and provide better education services to the kids around her and her students at the preschool. I am so happy to hear these stories and proud to have worked with someone so dedicated to life and the growth of young children.

The Preschool Today!

          There are so many others stories I could tell about my time in Swaziland and the people I have worked and interacted with. Eventually I would like to write more of these stories down and share them with others to realize what an impact an individual can have. Even if you think you are one person and that you don’t have the power, that is a lie and affecting the life of just one individual is worth it. It is the small things that will create change in the world today and it needs to start with that one person. I want to thank all who have supported me these last 3 years with your prayers, thoughts, care packages, monetary support, letters, messages and encouragement. You have made a difference and I would not be where I am today without all of you.

Siyabonga Kakhulu (We all thank you very much!)

PS: 7 days left in Swaziland. I will continue to write about my experiences in Peace Corps even when I get home and the memories and friends that have touched my life from Swaziland.

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

The Last 500 Days

Sawubona “Greetings” from Swaziland.  I hope all is well back state side and just wanted to give all my wonderful friends and family and update on how the last 500 days have gone in one email.  That is going to be hard to do but I wanted to highlight some of the things I have been able to experiences, places I have seen, projects I am doing and just try and capture a little bit of what it is like to be serving as a US Peace Corps volunteer here in the small Kingdom of Swaziland.

One of the first projects I started when I arrived was starting a boys club, BRO (Boys Reaching Out) and a girls club, GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) at the high school.  We would meet about every 2 weeks during school terms at the end of the day.  The main focus of these clubs is to educate the young men and women here in Swaziland about HIV/AIDS and how to make a difference and avoid the virus.  In order to do that we have to address other issues surround the culture here and some of that is gender equality, women empowerment, fatherhood, sexual and reproductive health, self-esteem and building a future.  My boys club has around 12 boys who attend regularly and the girls club is upwards of 25 girls who attend.  I have been able to build a relationship with many of the members in both clubs and have been able to see an improvement in many of there lives in the short year and a half I have been here already.  Some of the things we do are games, dramas, play sports, arts and various crafts, music and movies and lessons teaching various life skills.  Each year there is a camp for BRO and GLOW where the clubs around Swaziland bring 2 to 3 members plus their local Swazi counterpart to a weeklong camp.  At the camp the kids get to interact with other kids from around Swaziland and discuss some of these issues more in-depth, have guest speakers, play sports and activities with each other and enjoy a camp like environment.  Not to mention many of them it is there first time leaving their communities, seeing the larger cities, riding in a bus, and getting all the food they could want, plus showers.  As Peace Corps volunteers we organize this camp each year for all the clubs to come together and it is one of the highlights of our service seeing the kids grow and learn together.

Another project I began was to develop libraries at both the primary and high school in my community.  The primary school has around 350 students from grade 1 up to grade 7.  The high school has just over 200 students from Form 1 up to From 5, ranging in ages from 14 years old to 24 years old.  The school systems are all managed under the ministry of education here in Swaziland allowing students to attend school for free with fees being paid by the government up to grade 7.  A fund has been set up to allow OVC (Orphaned and Vulnerable Children) to attend high school and the government will pay those children’s school fees for them at a set rate.  The high school I work at is comprised of over 90% of the students are OVC, meaning they have lost 1 or both parents.  Most have died from the HIV/AIDS epidemic that hit Swaziland hard leaving 33% of the population living with HIV and 100% of the 1.2 million people living in Swaziland affected in some way or another by HIV/AIDS.  The library projects will allow the kids access to 1000s of new books in the schools enabling them with a greater future.  It will allow students to escape this world and get lost in a good book and discover the joy and culture of reading.  In Swaziland, English is a pass/fail subject and kids need to pass English with a good proficiency if they even want to consider furthering their education here in Swaziland.  All high schools are English mediums but in the rural schools the students lack motivation and the drive to pursue their studies.  They continue to see their fellow peers and community members drop out of school, get in trouble, make poor choices, and they believe this is their only option as well.  The libraries at the schools will give students a place to go where it is safe and help give them a brighter future.  As Peace Corps volunteers we have a program we organize every year called Books for Africa/Swaziland where we are able to provide 1000 new books to 30 school libraries each year.  We also provide training for the teachers and librarians of these new libraries and continue to monitor and help sustain these school libraries long after we depart.  Through grants, donations, community contributions and volunteer work one library at the primary school is coming to completion and a library at the high school is waiting on a grant approval through the US Embassy here in Swaziland.  It is very exciting to see the teachers and students get involved in this project and the joy on their faces when they open a new book.

One of my last big projects here has been the development of a preschool in my community.  There was no preschool when I arrived and many parents expressed the need and importance of a preschool for their children here.  We were able to secure an old building near the schools to renovate and turn into a school.  I was lucky enough to get partnered with a group of individuals from Canada and the United States to help with this project.  They have been a huge support with funding and donating material needed for the school to succeed.  We started with 4 walls and a leaky roof and now are able to provide schooling for over 40 students.  It has been a huge project and one I am very proud of here for my community.  Some work we have done is put a new roof on, build a 3 stall latrine, provide tables and chairs for the students, school supplies and toys, new glass in the windows, fresh paint and artwork on the school, and new fencing.  The parents and community have come together to help with the labor and making this school function.  I have also been working with Megan’s preschool that she currently works at in Vancouver, WA doing cultural exchange with their students and they have also been able to provide financial support for further renovations and needs for the school.  We are still working on getting a water tank and rain gutters for rain water harvesting, building a kitchen so the children can have food at the school, and building a playground for the children.  The school has already made a huge impact in the children and their education.  It will help them be prepared for primary school and help with their English.  We will be having our first graduation ceremony for the school on December 3^rd where 22 students will move on to Grade 1 in January.  It will be an exciting event and the community will come out to celebrate this achievement of the students and community for all their hard work.

All of these projects would also not be possible without the support of friends and family back home.  There are some links you can look at to learn more about these projects and support them financially if able.  Other ways you can support is just to pray for these projects and their success and share them with other friends and family.  The Kingdom of Swaziland is a beautiful place with people who care and love one another; it is the hidden gem of Africa as many like to call it.

I have also been able to do a little traveling while here and get to enjoy all that Swaziland has to offer during my free time and holidays.  I was able to go to Durban, South Africa for New Years last year and recently was in St. Lucia in South Africa for a week.  I am planning to go to Lesotho for New Years this year with another volunteer and do some hiking and camping.  Another trip in the works is visiting Mozambique and the beaches there.  My girlfriend Megan is going to be here in February for a few weeks then shortly after her visit my family will be arriving in March.  I am looking forward to my last 8 months here and getting to see my projects come to a completion and the success of them, some more beautiful places that Africa has to offer, and being able to share my experience with Megan and my family when they visit.  In Swaziland I went on a game drive at one of the largest game reserves here called Hlalne Royal Game Park and we saw Lions, Elephants, Rhinos, Giraffes, Hippos, Impala, Water Buffalo, Warthogs, pretty much The Lion King.  Have dome some great hikes around Swaziland, attended the Marula Festival, went to Bushfire Festival and been able to visit other volunteers around Swaziland.  In my community I have been to traditional weddings, all night church services, school cultural days with traditional dancing, and helped slaughter chickens, pigs and cows.  It is hard to explain all that I have been able to experience and put into words some of the things but it has been a life changing experience already.  They say the Peace Corps is the toughest job you will ever love and they are correct in so many different ways.  I want to thank you all for the support and prayers during this time and I cannot wait to share this experience with you more through my photos, blogs and stories.

Here are some links to our fundraising efforts and please take some time to read through them and pray for all our work here in Swaziland.

GLOW Camp 2015

https://donate.peacecorps.gov/donate/project/glow-swaziland/

BFA (Books for Africa)

https://donate.peacecorps.gov/donate/project/books-for-africa/

Preschool

https://www.gofundme.com/swazilandpreschool

My Blog

http://peacecorpsswaziland.blogspot.com/

The children at the preschool

Work Hard, Play Hard

        It really has been Swazi time since I last posted on my blog.  Lots have been happening with school being in session, and they are actually coming to a close of the first term already.  The schools are run quite differently than back in the states and working on community projects is much more challenging than anticipated.  Peace Corps is a demanding job sometimes however extremely rewarding in the end.  We have to have some time to play as well and our motto seems to be work hard and play hard here.  It is all about enjoying life; enjoying work and enjoying the people we come in contact with.  I have learned more about patience, understanding, forgiveness, self-control and love while being here in Swaziland, not only with Swazi people but even interacting with other Peace Corps Volunteers.  We as volunteers are from all different backgrounds, walks of life, cultures, beliefs, and all have our own baggage as well.  40 volunteers placed in a foreign land to work and make a change while staying sane with one another.  We are one another’s new family whether we like it or not for the next 2 years.  Let the journey begin.

         The school system is run by the government here in Swaziland and includes a Ministry of Education to oversee pretty much all aspects of the schools from Primary school up to Secondary and High Schools.  They are starting to even take more control over Preschools and support them as well.  The Primary School starts at Grade 1 and goes up to Grade 7 before they can move on the secondary school.  It is pretty similar to schools in the states.  Most kids start at age 6, some 5 if they don’t have a preschool they are able to attend.  Currently at the primary school I work at there are about 300 students.  I am working with a few of the teachers to develop a library for the school.  We have a small room with shelving already put up but that is about all.  Our goal is to have over 1000 books, at least 1 computer, and tables and chairs for students to study and read in.  Our dream is to have more than 1 computer for other students and teachers to do work and even research on if we can obtain internet, have a television for students to view, and have all classes visiting the library once a week.  We would like to have it open by the beginning of next year and have books arriving from Books for Africa in May right before I will be closing my service here.  Our tasks consist of organizing a committee, setting up rules and guidelines for the library, writing a grant for the renovation, supplies and furniture, and finally training teachers and introducing the library into the school.

         At the high school I work with a boys club and girls club once a week.  We call them BRO (Boys reaching out) and GLOW (Girls leading our world).  There is an annual camp for a few of the boys and girls from each club to attend in Swaziland where they get to meet other students from all over Swaziland and discuss issues to bring back to their own clubs.  It is a great thing for the students as many of them have never been able to leave their community and get to interact with other students.  It is such a rewarding thing for them and to see the students slowly open up more and see the smiles grow larger each day.  We are gearing up for our BRO camp here in Swaziland in April for about 30 boys from all over Swaziland to attend.  I will be bringing 3 boys from my club to attend this weeklong camp.  The BRO camp is being hosted at our favorite backpackers here in Swaziland called Sundowners.  (I like to call it “downers”, some call it “sunnies”, but than again I like to be different)  In both of these clubs at the school we address issues such as gender equality, self-esteem, and leadership while touching on HIV/AIDS and how they can prevent the spread of the disease.

         The high schools can be somewhat different from our perception of high school back in the states.  Once you complete grade 7 you can continue on to secondary school, which is form 1 to 3.  The High Schools have form 1 up to form 5.  In order to get into a university in Swaziland you have to have completed form 5 and have passing marks in English.  You can repeat forms in order to obtain higher marks but each school requires school fees for the students.  They can be as high as E3500 per term if you do not qualify for OVC (Orphaned and Vulnerable Child) stipend.  Students will travel many kilometers each day to attend a school or even move in order to get into better schools.  The age range I work with is 14-years-old in form 1 up to 24-years-old in form 5 at my high school.  The form 1 class has almost 60 students while form 5 has only 9 students.  Students will drop out because they cannot afford school anymore; have to take care of their families or just loose interest and motivation to continue.  The OVC stipend allows students to attend school and the government will pay a certain amount to the school for them to attend.  (Orphaned and Vulnerable Child – A child who has lost 1 or both parents)  The difficult situation for these students can be that they have to take care of their family and can be as young as 14 years old, trying to provide food and shelter for their brothers and sisters.  The school can struggle since the OVC stipend they receive is not sufficient to cover the full amount for the student and what the school has budgeted for fees per student.  It then has trouble providing high quality education, materials and programs for the students.  If the student body is made up of 50% OVC children the school budget will suffer since they don’t have enough money to cover the remaining fees.  It is against the law for the school to ask these children to pay the difference because they are under the OVC fund and most cannot afford to pay the remaining fees.  It becomes a catch-22 for many schools.

         As if these things don’t keep me busy enough I am also working on developing a Preschool for the community.  We started with 4 walls and somewhat of a roof.  The building is located across from the primary school and has been there for over 20 years being used as teacher’s quarters at first and tried to be a preschool once.  We have been blessed to be working closely with a Christian Organization in the town of Nhlangano, my shopping town for me, although it still takes me about 2.5 hours by bus to travel there.  They have brought multiple groups in to help us with the development of the school and training teachers.  The building currently has fresh paint, some murals inside and out, and new doors and windows being put in.  We are working on getting a new roof and some repairs in the next few weeks.  The preschool also has small tables and chairs for the students, toys, art supplies, cleaning supplies and a great ABC board on the wall.  The community has been hard at work with forming a committee and providing labor for clean-up projects and repairs needed.  The remaining things to be done is to build a latrine, finish the fencing around the school, clear the yard of those thorny bushes, and obtain a water tank and food for the children.  Lots of work still to be done yet we have come a long way from where we started.  The community and parents are extremely excited about the school and the benefit it can provide.  There were over 40 kids who registered for the preschool the first time.  It will be an enormous asset to the community and the schools since the younger children will be able to start schooling at age 3 before heading to the primary school.  Our goal is to have students able to attend in May when term 2 starts and have it fully functioning and sustainable by the beginning of next year.

         Playing hard in the meantime.  Planning a trip up to Hlalne Big Game Park here in Swaziland next weekend to hopefully see 4 of the big 5.  (The African Lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, White/Black rhinoceros, and the African leopard)  A group of 9 volunteers will be camping for one night and taking an early morning game drive through Hlalne Game Park.  After the boys camp in April I will be planning a trip to St. Lucia in South Africa which is on the coast of the Indian Ocean about 2 hours north of Durban.  It is a small coastal town on the edge of a large wetland park home to crocs, hippos, dolphins and whales.  Finally at the end of May is the weekend long music and art festival in Swaziland called Bushfire.  There are thousands of people who attend to see handmade local art and crafts with musical artists performing all weekend coming from as far away as Europe to local South African and Swazi musicians.  A few short weeks after Bushfire the new group of volunteers will be arriving to the Kingdom of Swaziland. (G13)  We all look forward to that since it is always nice to see new faces, especially Americans…and get the new season of Game of Thrones, Walking Dead and Orange is the New Black.

         Everyday I continue to thank God for how blessed I am to have this opportunity.  Even the hard days when I am missing friends and family back home, my power is out, haven’t had a shower for over a week, and the bats will not shut up in my hut.  It is such a blessing to be able to experience another culture and see the joy on their faces when your Make (host mom) laughs at you when you still are washing your clothes wrong and brings you food after a long day of traveling back to site.  The younger children’s smile when they see you at the school cause your white and hearing the debate going on in the high school between students about HIV/AIDS and taking up leadership positions.  Even those community members yelling your name across the field when you’re outside just to say hi and how are you.  It has only been 6 months, and sometimes I feel like I have been here a year, other times like I just arrived.  It will be such a mix of emotions when this journey is over and I will have to say goodbye to my family and friends in Swaziland who have made this an amazing experience already.