I’ve now been in Swaziland for over four
months and it feels like home. I am in love with my site. The students are
incredible, and the teachers continue to be supportive and a good source of
laughter. I feel as though I am really part of this community, and that
has really helped in my settling in. Although I’ve only been living at my new
home for two months, it feels like I’ve been here much, much longer (but not
too much long).
One of my favorite things about my site
situation is that I live in an apartment next to pretty much all of the
bothishela that live at my school. This means that in the early evenings, or
after dinner I can spend time chatting with their families, gathered around the
TV watching Generations (anxiously
awaiting the terribly intriguing plot twists…), and sharing the occasional
meal. I have made it a tradition that once a week I cook for my
counterpart Sanelisiwe and her family. It has been a really nice exchange, and
makes me feel like part of a family, and Sanelisiwe enjoys learning new recipes
and sharing food, so it generally works out. Most importantly I feel like a
real person again, in other words, I feel like myself again. Zinhle and I used to joke during PST
that we weren’t real people, because we felt that we couldn’t act the way we
would naturally, as we were trying to adjust to a different culture with
different social expectations, while the same time feeling constantly like we
were on stage wondering whether the audience was going to laugh with us or
start throwing rotten vegetables. Thus, I spent much of PST honestly anxious,
and uncertain. However, now that I feel more comfortable here, and understand
when a joke is being made, and when I need to quickly exit stage left… I can
laugh with the audience instead of feeling laughed at. It’s honestly quite
wonderful.
So where am I going with this…?
Sanelisiwe has a daughter who is five years
old, and at the age of being super curious and wanting to participate in
everything. She was sitting on a bucket in the kitchen and I decided it
would be a great idea to take a piece of my hair, and drape it across my face
above my lip, and below my nose, making a silly mustache. This sent her into a
fit of giggles. Sanelisiwe then turned around (although she was in the middle
of cutting some chicken), and burst out laughing. This has become a defacto
move if ever I feel I’ve walked my way into an awkward moment or if things
start getting too serious. Sanelisiwe has also been extremely wonderful
in making sure I’m doing okay, inviting me along when she goes into town (hey,
she even stopped the car long enough for me to snag some pictures of a few
giraffes), and not letting me miss out on the incredible VoetKoeks at
Shopprite. That’s a quality friend right there.
The other teachers have also been extremely
welcoming, and what is neat is that the Head Teacher suggested that I do little
workshops with them in the mornings before class, focusing on topics such as
mental health and wellbeing. This has been a neat project to work on, and a
great way to become part of the team. We just completed In-Service Training
(which was a crazy two week reunion…) and upon my return to campus several
teachers came up to me and told me they had been bored in the mornings because
I wasn’t there to teach them. The Head Teacher told me yesterday that she is
going to change the schedule a little bit, and have classes start later in the
day so I have more time in the mornings for my workshops. I am very excited
because my latest topic is Goal Setting and Planning. I think as many of you know, I enjoy a little structure in
my life… and the school has been without a school calendar, thus, things sort
of just happen, or they sort of don’t.
In thinking about the projects I wanted to start, but being unable to follow
this schedule intuitively, (as I feel the teachers here have a sixth sense of
knowing when things will happen…) I offered to help make a calendar. I am SO
excited. Seriously. I had the teachers generate a list of ideas of things they
want to do next year… clubs they want to start, programs they want to develop,
and fun activities even for the teachers themselves. They came up with an
incredible list. I then asked them to write their name next to the activity
they’d be interested in working on, and was pleasantly surprised that EVERY
teacher signed up to lead an activity, and some even signed up for multiple
activities. I had been really stressed that I was going to be the only one
starting projects, and that I wouldn’t have any support, so anything I did
would just fizzle out upon my departure. Now I feel like even if some of the
things still don’t actually happen, the teachers are learning the skills to program
activities in the future. I’m
having them write up little plans for these activities so that we can give each
other feedback on how they can best be carried out. Some teachers even came up to me and said they were excited
for 2014. This with the break in two weeks is really encouraging.
So where might you also find me?
Begrudgingly (although, admittedly, I am
enjoying it now…) I was placed in charge of the library operations at the
beginning of this term. It’s been a love/hate relationship for sure, but
I’m now at the point where I know enough sign to communicate “library clean
please now close” quite effectively. Other students also tend to follow my lead
and help me tidy up, and ask each other to wrap-up and go. The other day,
however, had me questioning what on earth I had gotten myself into. It
was the third or fourth day of rainy, cold weather, and it just so happened to
be pay-day. This means that the teachers were excused from class so they could
go to the bank. However, what I didn’t factor in, was that all of those kids,
that would normally be in class, would be free, and want to remain in doors
because it was unnecessarily cold outside. Therefore, my 11 person library
class quickly expanded to 20, then 40, and before I knew it I had over seventy
students crammed into the library, which is half of the entire school. Me and
70 students. For all you camp counselors out there, that’s a pretty terrible
ratio. I kind of forget where I was going with this, but I think for as
much as my blood pressure went up during the two hours I spent in overseeing
that many children as the library was pretty much bursting at the seams, it
made me realize that for starters, I really can never guess what I’ve gotten
myself into here, and secondly, that despite that horrible ratio, I must be
doing something right, because the library closed in a relatively orderly
fashion, and I’m glad that, despite my better judgment, I agreed to work in the
library this term. It has served as a means through which I have really gotten
to know the students, and figure out what role I want to have within the
school. I think many of them have incredible leadership potential, and if I
didn’t spend 15 or so hours a week hanging out with them in the library, I
might not have been able to see that, or know how to communicate with them as
well. I also made two checkerboards out of cardboard, and that has been a big
hit.
This past week (as noted above) we were
brought back together at our original training site to have “In-service
Training”, it was much more difficult than I thought to tear me from site, and
as I walked through the school gate I had to hold back tears, because I
realized how much I was going to miss everything about the school for the next
two weeks. While I do think it has been a nice break, and great to catch up and
learn more skills, I am looking forward to being back in my house, sharing
laughs over tea and chasing the pre-schoolers around pretending I’m a lion.
I think this means I’m integrated.
School holidays begin in December, and
although I’ll miss the students, I am looking forward to having time to work on
some of the projects I have started to develop, and practice my SiSwati. There
are a few vendors in town that I am looking forward to hanging out with. I got
super excited because I saw a “South Africa” version of “Monopoly” in Shopprite
at a reasonable price and bought it immediately. I then proceeded to march
proudly through town clutching the game like it was a long-lost teddy bear. As
I strolled through the Bomake market my pal Mavis saw me and exclaimed,
“Bongiwe! Can I play that game with you?” after which she promptly stated “I
will beat you”, and I remarked “Challenge accepted”. It’ll be fun to
spend a couple days playing monopoly in the market (although I am sure my game
will become a little rough around the edges), and hey, I’d say that’s a lesson
in financial literacy. This moment, along with many others that I now
cherish, are why I am enjoying this experience so much. This is truly the most
incredibly opportunity I have ever had.
I am also excited because I am now a
Co-Director for the GLOW Camp that occurs annually in the April/May school
break. GLOW stands for “Girls Leading our World”, and the camp counselor in me
is pumped beyond belief. It is also exciting because Zinhle is the main
director, and I like the other volunteer who is the other co-director. It’s
going to be a really fun and enriching experience.
Well, I think that’s a reasonable summary
of October for now… every once and a while I pause and am awed that I am where
I am, doing what I’m doing, things no longer seem so foreign, and I can easily
see how far I’ve come since the end of June, which is a pretty neat feeling.
Until next time,
Salani Kahle.
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