Thursday, December 15, 2011

Hhoho Trip, Documentary & Bongomusa's Birthday

As the school year has let out things have slowed down a bit for us. We have taken advantage of this downtime and done a bit of traveling within Swaziland. Last week we went with Zande, a teacher at Ryan's school, to visit her homestead in the Hhoho region of Swaziland. Hhoho encompasses Swaziland's perenially green high-veld with its steep mountains, cooler temperatures and lush green vegetation. To imagine Hhoho try to think of the landscape of Colorado's foothills matched with the greeness and vegetation of Pennsylvannia. Or, imagine Heaven threw up outside your doorstep. Either way it was gorgeous.

While one imagines a vacation to be in the lap of luxury, our trip to Zande's homestead outside of Pigg's Peak was totally sans electricity. What we lacked in first-class ammenities we gained in staying with some of the kindest and most hospitable people in Swaziland. The homestead also had something our homestead in Mpaka lacks. Bantfwana (kids)! We had the funnest time playing bag-ball soccer, teaching them card games, telling stories, washing hands and constructing a tippy-tap sink with the kids for the homestead.

A tippy-tap sink is a fun way to increase hygeine and instill the concept of washing hands after using the latrine for kute emalengani (zero dollars). All you need is two forked sticks, another stick to use as a cross bar, a emasi bottle, string, woodblock and soap, and in 30 minutes...Bam! You got yourself a sink.

While there we visited some amazing craft centres including the Coral Stephens knitting factory that employs rural bomake to weave naturally sourced materials to create high-end products that are sold worldwide. It was really cool to see a Fair Trade loom in action.

Returning to Mpaka we were met with a long list of obligations. First, Ryan taught an imprompteu HIV class to the executives at the Swaziland Railway Company. It apparently went well, he has an invitation to return and teach a class to its employees. Second, we were asked to be part of a documentary that our American friends, the Smiths, are producing about members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Swaziland. John Smith is a Fulbright Scholar from Southern Utah University who is teaching Broadcast Journalism at  the University of Swaziland. Our portion in the documentary will be small and will more than likely feature the work we are doing in HIV prevention and will chronicle our daily life on the homestead/in Mpaka.

In preperation for filming Addy's health club spent weeks preparing  a program for the Smiths. The program included an original song about condom use, a presentation of the Swaziland National Anthem, a drama about Multiple Concurrent Partners, and a presentation of posters they made and will hang around the community. We couldn't have been more proud of these Swazi adolescents who gave up time from their holiday break to work hard and perform for total strangers. It gave us a lot of hope about this upcoming generation of Swazis who take ownership of HIV and prevent its spread in Swaziland. Sharp, bru!

We  will let you know where/when you can see it.

Last, but not least was Ryan's birthday on Saturday Dec. 10th. We spent the day volunteering at the Teen Club Christmas Party and eating ridiculous amounts of pizza. Teen Club is a club put on by the Baylor Clinic and third year Peace Corps Volunteers for HIV + youth to have fun while learning important skills for living a HIV + life. It is incredibly sobering to hang out with kids, ranging in ages from young to 18, who are living with HIV. Teen Club is great because it gives them a chance to forget their status for a day and just concentrate on being a kid. These kids are so full of life yet face incredible challenges. It definately puts the work we do in perspective.

After volunteering we headed into town to meet friends at Debonairs Pizza. Ever since arriving in Swaziland we have seen billboards for Debonairs' triple-decker pizza. Ryan, being a sucker for anything novelty food related, had his mind set on eating the triple-decker for his birthday. The Triple Decker is exactly what it sounds like. Three layers of pizza. Or, more accurately, three pizza piled on top of each other. Our eyes were bigger than out stomachs. Turns out two pieces of triple decker is the equivalent of six pieces of regular pizza.  Don't order two of them between four people. You will want to die.

This week Ryan had Sojournal training for most of the week in Mbabane. We are counting down the days until Ryan's brother Dallin arrives for 10 days of exploring Swaziland and chilling on the beach in Durban, SA. Merry Christmas!

P.S. We aplogize for the lack of pictures. We really have some fantasic ones. If you are friends with Addy on facebook check out here photo album "Summer in the Swaz". It more or less follows this blog post in chronological order

The Halls

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