You can really squeeze
a lot in a week here.
The adventure started last Thursday when Lomaswazi and I
departed from my school to catch a khumbi to Mbabane. Our destination? The
country director’s house. What was guiding us there? The aroma of delicious
food. Although we weren’t
gathering strictly for our homeland’s festivities… the following day would also
sponsor an “AllVol” event where it would be the first time that all G10 and G11
volunteers would sit in the same room together for professional reasons. It was interesting to see how our two
group dynamics intermeshed…and they didn’t clash like I thought they
would. The main point for this
gathering was to discuss the new format for the VRF (Vacuous Rabble Forum)… er…
I mean… Volunteer Reporting Form. You know you’re an MI student when… you get really excited to
partake in Monitoring and Evaluation, followed by a statistical analysis of the
data you’ve collected… But in all seriousness, the new VRF mechanism is super
cool, and I am actually *nerd alert* super excited to begin filling it out. But
we’ll see when I actually sit down in January and begin scrutinizing my past
six months here.
I ventured home on
Friday (after walking through an amazingly well-stocked grocery store… with
cream cheese, curry paste, and many other magical things) with Thandolewethu
the volunteer at the High School for the Deaf. It was a nice trip home, and we got to talk about our
experiences at the schools, and brainstorm a little bit about uniting our
communities. Although there are
many aspects that are similar between our schools, we are living very different
experiences. For one thing, she
has ¼ the number of students at her school than mine. So it’s just nice to exchange stories and see what else is
going on. I won’t really go into
the history of the schools, but it would be amazing if by the time we both fly
home to ‘Murica they were working together.
On Saturday, I
attended Sanelisiwe’s daugther’s Pre-School Graduation. It was probably one of
the top ten most adorable things I have ever seen AND there was cake. It was fun to go and support her and
act as a photographer for the afternoon.
It was pretty much a little showcase where the students read poems, sang
songs, and there were even costumes.
Also, attending something like that made me feel like I was actually
part of a family, and of the community, which was a really nice feeling.
I had spent the
morning hanging out with the ten or so students who had yet to be picked up by
a responsible adult. It reminded
me yet again of being a camp counselor… waiting with the campers who’s parents
had spaced about the pick-up time. I broke out the checkerboard and tried to
keep them amused while they waited hopefully, not entirely sure if anyone was
even on their way. I think that’s
been one of the hardest things to adjust to… the different role of the parents,
or the absence of parents (for one of many reasons… the country has a saddening
percentage of Orphans and Vulnerable Children… OVCs). The supervision is also something that always catches me off
guard. Save for the kitchen staff
who remained to feed the students breakfast and lunch, none of the teachers
were there to ensure that the students were collected, or even picked up by the
right people. I am still unsure if I should feel encouraged by this, or
anxious.
Sunday meant it was
time to head back towards Matsapha. I was happy to learn that Sanelesiwe was
also traveling to Manzini, so we got to ride a kombi together. I then met up with Thandolewethu in
Manzini. We had planned to go to the bomake market and buy some crafty holiday
presents. Although not all of the stands were open (it was afterall Sunday),
but it was actually quite pleasant. We were the only shoppers strolling through,
and the usual hustle-and-bustle was not present, so I felt like I could take my
time to walk around and not have to simultaneously navigate through hoards of
people. I spoke with a few of the craftspeople in hopes that they would be
willing to come to my school to teach some of the students their trade. One man
who made drums, and incredible paintings offered, so hopefully that’s something
that can be solidified in the future.
Thandolewethu and I
then set off for Matsapha, in a sense our home-away-from-site. This time, as mentioned before, our
training would include program design and project management with a counterpart
from our community… This meant that we anxiously paced around the corridors of
IDM as we waited for them to arrive… we all had a not-so-secret fear that we
would be jilted and have to go back home. Fortunately, only two PCVs got stood
up, but have the opportunity to attend the training again in February. (See…
our fears were totally real). This was by far my favorite training since being
here. It was incredible to be able to sit down with our counterparts,
brainstorm a vision for our community, and address the challenges we think our
community faces, and then work to devise a plan of how to overcome those
challenges. It was just amazing to have the time to go through that process,
and in relative detail. I had
brought Nosipho, a teacher I have been working on the Sign Language Book
with. It was neat to see that we
both felt that in order to help our community grow, we needed to address the
lack of sign fluency amongst teachers and students, and develop a “staff
development plan”. I am very
excited to begin working on this new project (one, interestingly, that I had
hoped would happen… but had kind of given up on the idea… look how life works
some times!). The workshop really
rejuvenated me after a busy and stressful end of the term, and rekindled my
hope and faith in those I am working with that we can truly achieve a common
goal. Things are magical falling
into place, and it is beautiful… now we just have to wait and see.
At the end of the
workshop I traveled with Zinhle back to Manzini, where we met Tambile, a
volunteer who will be attending the same workshop only in February. We were going to spend the night at her
homestead. The drive to her site
was incredible. We passed the biggest lake in Swaziland, it the landscape was a
1,000 shades of green. I always
get a twinge of sadness when I visit another volunteer and see their homesteads
and observe their interactions with their families. While I sort of do have my
own kind of homestead here, it’s crazy how different their experiences are from
mine. It makes me feel like I live in a city… (which is not entirely false…),
but I’ve always been a country mouse, so it’s strange. Tambile lives in the foothills of some
mountains in the Hhohho region of Swaziland. The walk to her site was stunning, and her homestead was
cozy. A sisi offered to get us
some mangos so we meandered over to the tree and gathered at least 30
mangoza. We then went to the
“little kitchen”, a roundevel (…spelling?) with a thatched roof, seated
ourselves on grassmats and forgot to worry about juice dripping down our chins
or the uncomfortable feeling of mango-strings in-between our teeth. We then got to keep a ton of mangos,
which was awesome… I’ve been eating like 3 a day… so satisfying. It was a really nice visit, and we had
delicious grilled cheese for lunch. Tambile’s hut is super comfy, and I enjoyed
swinging in a hammock for a good chunk of time. I think I know where I am going to spend some of my break…
haha
Although kombis and
public transport in general tend to be an exhausting experience… I really love
having the opportunity to see how this country transforms from winter to
summer… from desert to tropical oasis.
It’s even more exhilarating when for a second I comprehend the fact that
this is my home. This, coupled with the fact that I feel like I have finally
found my footing in terms of transitioning from being a clumsy mlungu to a
volunteer/professional is pretty empowering.
And with that, here
are some parting words of wisdom from my counterpart, Nosipho. “Dig deep into
your brain box… it can’t be empty.”
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