Mozambique 2.0

In the United States, on average, workers get 12 vacation days a year. In the Peace Corps we accumulate 2 a month, totaling 48 vacation days in two years.  While it may seem arbitrary to give volunteers vacation days, we (usually) work very hard and deserve every day of the 48. Ryan and I have visited only 2 other African countries while we have been here, mostly due to lack of funds, but also because the majority of our time was spent back at home visiting friends and family for my brothers wedding. Although we have only visited 2 other countries, I believe we have found the Mecca in Mozambique.

Mozambique is every part beautiful as it is ugly, calm as it is chaotic, full of color as it contrasts dark; I appreciated the obvious contradictions as compared to false illusions, or so I thought a few hours across the border. Maputo is challenging – residents speak Portuguese and very few speak English. Unlike Swaziland, where the start of a conversation in SiSwati goes along way, and then eventually most people revert to English, the people of Mozambique only speak Portuguese.  While sometimes this works in your favor (the police have a hard time fining you if you don’t understand each other) the majority of the time you just feel lost and confused.  Ryan and I quickly procured a few key phrases, and when we were really stuck reverted to SiZulu, which some people understood. We were fortunate to travel with other volunteers with a car, which we thought at the time would work in our favor. Even though we ended up spending a small fortune in fines and bribes, it was still nice to be with friends in the confinement of air conditioning and good music.

On May 22^nd we were off and on our way to Tofo, a beautiful beach up north on the peninsula of Mozambique. (Well, we were off after the border post held us for 2 hours dealing with car issues.) After another 2 hour detour of getting lost down the wrong road, seeing a very unfortunate car accident and stopping at numerous police check points, we realized we wouldn’t be able to relax until we were out of the car. After 12 hours in the car, we finally made it safe and sound to Paradise Dunes Lodge in Tofo. It was paradise.  We each had our own private rooms, a huge kitchen, a deck overlooking the beach, and because it wasn’t tourist season, we were one of only a couple of groups on the beach. Everyday started with a run on the beach, and every night ended with a late night beach swim watching the red moon rise. Although we tried to snorkel with whale sharks, they were nowhere to be found, however we did see jellyfish, octopus and dolphins.

There was only one casualty, when Ryan got bit by a crab. 

We went on a lot of adventures, my favorite being the all-day island tour where we went out on a rustic boat with a local guide and toured the island off of Tofo called Survivor Island, named after being untouched after the Mozambiquan civil war.  We met the chief, played with the kids and ate great seafood with the village elders. The island has no electricity, they boat fresh water in from the nearest town of Inhambane, and they prize pigs. It felt very isolated and very African. 

While being in Tofo was paradise, again we had to venture out onto the road through Maputo to get back to Swaziland, and that proved to be hell. We got stopped by too many police to count, got fined an enormous amount once, and ended with a cop car side swiping our rental and then, naturally, making us pay for the (slight) damage on their truck. In the meantime, the rest of our group was also being hassled by police. I think it is safe to conclude that I did not enjoy the police force in Mozambique. By the time we crossed the border all 5 of us traveling in the car heaved a huge sigh of relief, and spent the night praising Swaziland for her honesty and kindness, which is truly a trait special to Swaziland. Ryan and I concluded that, for the first time in our African experience, we decided that public transport trumped private.

While Mozambique is a little more raw than Swaziland, it is my favorite African country that I have visited, and the most likely for me to come back and work in again. It is challenging and beautiful and I am so glad that we were neighbors.

Unfortunately, our camera finally bit the dust, but luckily our fellow travelers took some good photos.

Kelly, Ryan, Addy, Ashton and Peter

Close of Service Conference

The dogs are barking. The rooster is crowing his ritual death rattle. Batman is scratching at the door and has succeeded, yet again, in knocking down my perfectly placed mosquito net to keep out the unwanted – bugs, snakes, mice, spiders, and whatever else my imagination can conjure up. It is 5 in the morning, and Ryan and I have 30 minutes to pack up and be on our way to Mbabane. Today is May 6^th, the first day of our Close of Service Conference. We rush out the door with our backpacks stuffed to the brim of every electronic we own because with the promise of free wifi, you bring it all. We say goodbye to our family and are on our way. The chaos of the homestead behind us, we take a deep breath and for the first time think about what leaving really means to us.

We have thought quite a bit (albeit superficially) about this moment since arriving exactly 24 months ago today. It has always been inevitable to me that we wouldn’t stay here forever (not always the case for all volunteers) and yet it is very hard for me to believe that the time to leave is now.  I am very ready and at the same time not ready at all.  How do you say goodbye to people who have become your closest friends and family? Am I going to adjust well to working 8 hour days and going to school full time, as compared to teaching a class of 8 for an hour in a “classroom” that is actually the outside of a clinic and then reading the rest of the day?

I am going to miss the beautiful people and strong friendships I have made, the blood red sunset over the banana trees, the laughter of bomake (even when it is at my expense because of my poor SiSwati), the children asking me, “How are yooouuu” from across the field, singing gospel songs with my host family, and obvious, my homestead dogs. During our COS conference, that was where my mind was; How much I am going to miss this place, and how it will always be a part of me and how I will carry what I have learned from this little country for the rest of my life. I have learned more about life and happiness and sadness here than in all of my 24 years of living in America. Granted I still hope to have plenty of more time to learn, I am grateful for the insight that Swaziland has given me. And even in a place with more trial, grief and loss than any I have ever seen, Swaziland also has the most hope and perseverance of any country, the kind of hope that makes you want to be a better person. 

Yes, Ryan and I were thinking all of these things during our COS conference. We were also thinking about hot showers, automatic laundry machines, delicious ice water, our favorite foods, and of course, seeing our family and friends again State side.

Just maybe Ryan and I will have to do Peace Corps again…you know… when we are much older. :) 

 

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Group 9 Peace Corps Volunteers, Swaziland, Africa

 

G.L.O.W.

While last year I was able to attend GLOW with my faithful counterpart, Zandi, this year we were entrusted with four young women from Mpaka and a second counterpart, Xoliswa.  So much preparation and planning was put into this years Camp GLOW and now I am finally basking in the glow of its success. The Mpaka team taught me so much about patience, persistence and how to overcome adversity as a young woman here in Swaziland, and I taught them how to make Smores, so, I think we are even. This year we had 50 girls, 20 counselors and 17 Peace Corps Volunteers participate, and even made it into the Swazi Observer!  My favorite day was Art Day, where Yebo Art from Mbabane came in with local artists and gave the girls the very rare opportunity to express themselves in forms of writing, portraits and screen printing.  While American youth come together frequently to learn and have fun at camp functions, Swazi youth rarely have the time to get together and learn outside of school, and it was endearing how much they prized the opportunity to come.  Not one girl called home crying asking to go home – which I have done to my poor mother more than once while attending girls camp. (Sorry, Mom!)

Now our job is to recruit more young women to form a Mpaka GLOW Club, but first, I am off to Mozambique to swim in the ocean and eat clams!!

Here are some great pictures from GLOW 2013. We also performed a dance that will be posted as a video on Facebook shortly, however, I refuse to watch it because I feel like it will bring me down to the reality that it wasn’t that cool, but it felt really cool at the time! I hope you enjoy.  

GLOWING!!



Emma and her 2 campers living on the edge!






Self portraits created by the campers.



Bring Your Fire!

 

Food, Food and More Food

Ryan and I have embarked on some pretty fantastic projects in the past two months. (It turns out it takes 2 years to navigate development in Swaziland to have great ideas turn into great outcomes, or really any outcome.) I have great relationships with the women at the camp, however, because they spend most of their time in their home cleaning, cooking and taking care of children, I never was able to successfully get a project started with them – I just couldn’t get them out of their houses.  (They are very dedicated homemakers.) While talking to my friend Yvonne who is from Burundi about what the women might be interested in, we decided to ask Peace Corps for some money and have a week-long food preservation workshop. (Aren’t you glad that for once I wasn’t asking you for money? :D ) The idea behind the workshop was that these women could gain some new skills and maybe even create an income from those skills at some point. While we had them captivated, we also threw in a nutrition lesson, an HIV lesson, and a condom demonstration lesson, which is always fun.

We were able to hire a trainer from Rural Development Areas in Siteki to teach the class, which allowed me to sit back and learn myself. The outcome was delicious - Guava juice, marmalade, apple and banana jam, guava fruit rolls, atcha (canned peppers with chilies), dried apples, dried bananas, dried spinach, onions and carrots! Cakes, swazi buns, and more cakes, and peanut butter!

While we did learn how to create a lot of delicious things, the women in attendance took it a step further and are now currently working with Umphakatsi (the Chief) to raise funds to buy their very own industrial sized peanut butter grinder to start their own business! On their own! Without me! I am not involved at all! I am very proud of them and happy that they have found something they are passionate about. I wish them the best of luck.  Maybe someday Mpaka will have its very own peanut butter brand, like Bulembu does with honey!

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the event:

This little boy joined us for the entire week! He was brave enough to be one of the two males who attended.

Peanut Butter!!

Me with RDA's Make Simalene (left) and Yvonne (right).

Swazi Buns!

Another Day...Another Project...that needs your help

Another project!? That's right. As our Peace Corps service comes to an end we are tying up loose ends over here. One project that we are trying to get off the ground is a poultry raising income generation project over at the Malindza Refugee Camp. The poultry raising project is under the helm of the Malindza Refugee Camp Development Committee, a development committee comprised of refugees from the four different countries represented at the camp: Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia and Congo. I have been meeting with this group for about six months in an advisory capacity. I sit in on the meetings and have helped them design a constitution and business proposal (which will be presented below). This a dedicated and SMART group of guys who want to start income generation projects for the benefit of the camp. The profits from this project will go to paying school fees of refugee families who cannot afford it as well helping other refugees set up other income generation projects to help the camp be self-sustaining and self-reliant.

Below is a detailed business proposal that details where your money is going to be spent as well as a link to an indiegogo site with directions on how to donate. Thanks for your time. Any help is appreciated.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/poultry-raising-at-malindza-refugee-camp/x/2910989

Business Proposal:

My name is Ryan Hall. I am a Peace Corps Volunteer serving in Swaziland, Africa. I am working with a group of refugees who have formed a development committee to start and promote income generation projects at the Malindza Refugee Camp. The focus of this project is to lift refugees out of poverty and reliance on the Swazi government by creating a project that will generate income. Their initial project is to renovate a poultry house in order to raise chickens to sell on the market in Swaziland.The generation income will go on to address social needs at the camp such as paying school fees for residents. The profits will be used as seed money for other income generation projects for refugees. A number of these project ideas will come from women in the camp. A big component of this project is the training of the Development Commitee itself so as to assure the sustainability of this project. Below is a summary of their business proposal. You can help by donating money and telling your friends about this great cause.
Introduction

The Malindza Refugee Development Committee is an association comprised of refugees whose aim is to help the residents of the Malindza Refugee Reception Center. It aims to establish a variety of sustainable income generation projects to assist refugees in Swaziland to become self-sustainable. Our first project aims to raise chickens to sell on the market in Swaziland.
Refugees seeking asylum in Swaziland come from hardships including war, genocide, economic catastrophe and xenophobia. When they arrive in Swaziland they have little to no earthly possessions or means for employment. Many go hungry or rely on outside charitable organizations for food and assistance. The community is full of young parents who are not employed.
The Malindza Refugee Development Committee is a pioneer group working to change this paradigm by starting income generation projects that provide gainful work as well as emergency assistance to those in need. The profits from these income generation projects will go to a variety of ends including: assisting other residents to start income generation projects and paying school fees. This project has the potential to improve the general standard of living at the Malindza Refugee Reception Center. Our long term vision is to be a leading chicken producer in Swaziland to expand our operation to renovate other poultry houses on the premises as our business grows.

Objectives
The Malindza Refugee Development Committee hopes to:
            (a) raise 2,000 chickens per month to be sold on the open market with an emphasis on butcheries and restaurants that sell Halal meat products. A total of 500 chicks per week can be reared in our deep litter house.

Beneficiaries
The residents at the Malindza Refugee Reception Center will benefit from this project. Unemployed refugees will benefit by working as casual laborers. We hope to employ 12 people for the initial project. When this project is fully operational we will employ more refugees. After the project has shown to make a profit the Development Committee will hear and attend to the development ideas of other refugees in the camp. This project will address the camp concerns of idleness, food security and lack of gainful employment.

Input (in Emalengeni 1E = 9USD)

ITEM	QUANTITY	RATE	COST
Chicks	400	5.80	2,320
Starter Feed	4	265	2,120
Grower Feed	12	255	3,060
Finisher Feed	12	255	3,060
Vitamins	2	35.35	70.70
Fosbas (vaccination)	1	153.90	153.90
Casota (vaccination)	2	33.65	67.30
Gumbora (vaccination)	2	57.25	114.50
Feed Tray	8	39.90	319.20
4Liter Fount	8	40.50	324
10 Liter Fount	8	79.80	638.40
Tube Feeder	8	101.50	812
Sawdust	2	160	120
Wiring	2 x 100 m	300	600
Lamp holders	60	5	300
Globes	60	7	420
Heater	5	150	750
Gum Poles	10	50	500
Corrugated Iron	20	75	1,500
Doors	2	250	500
Bag of Cement	1	75	75
Nails	1 bag	25	25
Cleaning Supplies	5	50	250
Lulote Business Management Training	1 course	12,000	12,000

Grand Total Input:                                             30,000 (3,333 USD)

Return

Total Cost: 30,000 (3,333 USD)

Total Revenue after first five week rotation: 87,500 (9,722 USD)

Total Return: 57,500 (6,388 USD)

Every week through the production the project can manage to sell 500 broiler chickens (five weeks old) for the amount of E35 per chick. The total amount will reach E70,000 per month.
With this income after five weeks of our rotation the company will be able to raise 87,500 (9,722 USD) amount with 57,500 (6,388 USD)  profit. This will allow the company to pay its employees E350 per week and to establish a base of customers before expanding to meet the needs of an expanding market after the first harvest.

Community Group Contribution

The Malindza Refugee Development Committee is committed to a sustainable structure that will give long-term employment to Malindza refugees to ensure financial independence and nutritional improvement. To this end the residents of the Malindza Refugee Reception Center have contributed.

ITEM	QUANTITY	RATE	COST
Electricity			1,000 per month
Land	Held	In	King’s Trust
Structure	3	20,000	60,000
Water	1,000 L	15	1,500 per week
Labor for Rennovation	50	5	1,500 per month

A previous poultry project has afforded the Malindza Refugee Reception Center with a poultry house. In order for this to be operational it needs to be renovated to raise the chickens to sell. Otherwise, all other contributions have come from members’ private resources and outside private donors.

Timeline

April: Submission of proposal                      
June: Receive Money. Renovate and complete structure for chicken raising. Start raising chickens
July: First five week period. Sell first batch.
August: Second five weeks period. Sell second batch.
September: Third five week period. Sell third batch.
October: Fourth five week period. Sell fourth batch.
November: Fifth five week period. Sell fifth batch.
December: Clean poultry house. Start first batch for 2014.

Request
We are asking for donations to fund the start up costs of this project. After careful market research we are certain that after selling 2,500 chickens this will be a self-sustaining project and all incurring costs will be paid directly from the group’s profits.
Part of the start up costs include business management training by Lulote BMEP, a business management training organization that will provide training to the Development Committee and will oversee and monitor the project. This will ensure transparency, sustainability and wise management of resources.
The secretary, in liaison with the donor agents, will ensure proper project development by delivering a six month and annual report, as well as any reports the donor may require as the group’s constitution stipulates.
The Malindza Refugee Development Committee hopes to receive any assistance possible to ensure the livelihood of this project. This includes both cash and in-kind donations. We believe that implementing a successful income generation project we will change the paradigm at the Malindza Refugee Reception Center from one of helplessness and victimhood to hope and entrepreneurship.

Malindza Refugee Development Committee

Bushfire Music Festival Refugee Project - We Need Your Help!

-->Family and Friends –

Greetings from Swaziland! Once a year at the end of May the world descends on Swaziland. I am not taking about the Umhlanga ceremony (which if you google Swaziland will probably be the first image you see…try it), the Incwala Ceremony or the ever popular Marula festival, I am talking about the MTN Bushfire Music Festival which has the distinction of being one of the biggest music festivals in Southern Africa. About 5-6,000 people attend from all of over the world to see great international musical acts. This year we have a very special opportunity to make an impact in the lives of refugee women during the Bushfire festival.

As you know Addy and I do most of our work at a refugee camp. These refugees come mostly from Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi and Congo. These refugees live in destitute conditions at the camp, often not getting enough food to feed themselves. This multiplies if they have children, with many mothers skipping meals so that their children can eat. We are announcing a project that can help women put food on the table in a sustainable way.

If you have never been to Africa, it is massive. Each country has its own distinct culture, language and cuisine. Bushfire celebrates music, culture and cuisine from all over Africa and the world by renting stalls to vendors to sell their unique food. Last year there was Italian, Indian, American, German food being sold as well as stalls from Mauritius, Mozambique and South Africa. With my help, camp residents applied for and were accepted to sell food at one of these stalls provided by the festival. The stall will feature a unique dish from each of the major countries represented (Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi and Congo). This is an extremely exciting project. This project piggy-backs on a week-long income generation workshop that Addy is doing with the women at the camp to learn canning, baking and peanut butter making. The stall will be run and the food will be cooked 100% by refugee women and all of the profits will go back to refugee women themselves and to help them start a co-op to implement these income generation projects.

With that said selling at a festival of this size is a bit daunting. We want to make this funded 100% independently by outside donors or investors. This is where you come in. These women are refugees and we as Peace Corps Volunteers do not have the kind of capitol to raise this amount of money. We are looking to you to help cover the cost of the ingredients, serving trays, transport and decoration of the stall. We know this is going to be quite expensive. If you can donate anything, a little bit (thanks to a generous 1:9 exchange rate) goes a long way here. For example if you donate twelve dollars you have donated 108E this side. 100 dollars is close to 1,000 E.

The best way to donate is through my paypal account. It is easy. Click on the send money tab and type in my e mail address: dontsignanythingyet@gmail.com

I know you are probably sick of getting hit for money from your Volunteer friends but without your support there is no way we can pull this off. If you have any questions on donating or how to use paypal to send donations please let me know.

Ngiyabonga Kakhulu (thank you tooooo much)

Ryan and Addy

2013 – You are very welcomed.

The New Year came and went and 2013 has brought with it a jubilant ease and change of attitude that the last couple of months of 2012 was holding back.  This year has so much possibility, inside of Peace Corps and now the chance of looking onto what is after Peace Corps. I have been given way more than I could ever give from this experience and I need to thank the other Peace Corps Volunteers, my host-family, my ever-patient husband and my amazing and close counterparts from the refugee camp and else-where for these great experiences.  While not every project (or any project) was a decisive success, I came out of each one of them stronger, smarter, and ultimately a better future-volunteer.  I hope in 2013 I can navigate the ever-tricky waters of development work and contribute to projects in a more sustainable way.  While I am not sure how much success I have had in the last 20 months in building the capacity of others, I can say that my capacity has been built, and although sometimes I wish I could see even a sliver of change in my community from my presence, the change I see in myself is the best gift Peace Corps could give me.

How to wrap up 2012? My husband loves best-of lists.  I love making to-do lists.  This seemed obvious.

2012 Swaziland Favorites & Bests

Favorite Quote from a Swazi Child

“This one, he is poofing all the time!! Help me!” – Adelyn

“This white family is so smart with technology” (spoken while watching Mission Impossible) - Ryan

Favorite Memory

Swimming in the river with the Dlamini family

Worst Memory

The diarrhea that ensued from swimming in the river with the Dlamini family.

Favorite Restaurant

Fancy = Swazi Candles

Not Fancy = Tutsi’s Swazi Kudla in Manzini

Favorite Vacation Spot

Inhaca Island – Maputo, Mozambique

Best Food in 2012

Fish Market – Maputo

Favorite PC Memory

Christmas in June with G8/G9

Favorite Project 2012

GLOW

Favorite Swazi

My host-babe, obvious.

Favorite South African Saying

Is it? (An exclamation of surprise, shock, or question)

Favorite Swazi Holiday
Umhlanga (Reed Dance)

Favorite Place to Chill

Our hammock on our homestead

Favorite Swazi Animal

Sipoko

Senator John McCain

Favorite Vacation Spot in Swaziland

Hlane National Park

Favorite Albums I listened to in 2012 (Some are not from 2012)

Bon Iver - Perth

Iron and Wine – The Shepherds Dog

The Weeknd – House of Balloons

Frank Ocean – Channel Orange

Okkervil River – The Stage Names

Hammock – Departure Songs

Jay Z and Kayne West – Watch the Throne

Johann Johannsson – Fordlandia

Best TV Show in 2012

Boardwalk Empire

Best Books in 2012

War

The Mole People

The Pyschopath Test

What I Will Miss the Most

Host family, Camp family, and the wild lightning storms

Favorite Swazi Children

Our homestead neighbor bo-bhutis, Miso and Titsetso

Favorite Scary Creature

Flying termites that burst open from the ground after the rain, and only live through the night

Favorite object on the homestead

Babe’s Whip (Goodbye snakes!)

Best Moments from America in 2012

My brothers wedding

When Dan presented himself to the unexpected Potter’s out of the trunk of our car and Atlas screamed with fright/delight

When Dallin was forced to spend an extra 2 days with us thanks to Hurricane Sandy

Pizza from Roco’s with Corey and Katie in Brooklyn

Skyping with Wendy after the birth of her first baby boy, Conrad

Seasons Greetings!

It is safe to say that Ryan and I (unintentionally) dropped off the blogosphere for an indefinite period of time -  but we are back! In the last three (!) months of not updating, a lot has happened. We went to America and celebrated the union of my brother and his beautiful wife Caitrin in NY, we saw our nephew Noam for the first time, Ryan shot a few birds with my sister’s boyfriend Kyle, and we caught up with family and friends  while huddled together trying to stay safe from Hurricane Sandy.  After clearing the Atlantic without incident, Ryan and I spent a few days is eJozi taking the GRE and trying to re-acclimate to life in Africa.  By the time we strolled up to the Tsabedze homestead with kakhulu presents and emasnacks from America, Ryan and I were definitely grateful to be back on Swazi soil. 

While it took me about a week of sleep to get back in the Swaziland time zone, Ryan and I hit the ground running once we got back to site. We were each approved for our Books for Africa applications, which means we will receive 1,000 books each for the camp and the school.  I have been organizing a GLOW counterpart training which will take place in January, and Ryan has been doing manly things like painting and mortaring the library and preschool at the camp to get it ready for our book delivery in May.  While the last few weeks of school term were extremely busy for us, school term ended this week, which means I see hiking, reading, and lots of mango eating in our future. 

My goal for Christmas break is to teach our homestead pup, Senator John McCain, how to run with me on a leash.  The first attempt ended with me in a mud puddle and Senator free from leash and collar down the road, along with 3 of our other homestead dogs following enroute, but I am determined to have a running partner if it kills me! (Which it might.)

I cannot overstate how nice it is to have free time – to take in the sun rise and sun set, to swing in the hammock while listening to the oncoming thunder rumbling through the valley of Mpaka, to sit outside with the family and read while BoMake shuck maize and discuss matters in SiSwati that still go past me; this is time that I cherish and will miss while immersed in the chaos of American culture. 

As Ryan and I apply to graduate schools and plan ahead for the future it is definitely clear to us that our time in Swaziland is coming to an end faster than we anticipated.  While 7 months is still some time, it is nothing compared to the 27 months that we signed on for, and our Swazi bucket list is creeping up on us and making us both a little anxious.  We have gorges to see! Waterfalls to swim in! Mountains to hike! Wonders of the world to visit! Thank goodness Swaziland doesn’t move in December or January so we can relax and enjoy its beauty in the next couple of months. 

I can’t help shake the feeling that while I miss my family and friends greatly back at home, there is a constant inward struggle thinking that going home to them means leaving my home here.  I know I am not leaving tomorrow, but I have a great appreciation for the family and friends we have made here that has made Swaziland a 2^nd home.  I couldn’t get time to speed up our first year in Swaziland, and now I can’t get it to slow down. I guess that is part of Peace Corps charm – it isn’t always pleasant, but it opens your eyes to see a world bigger than you and leaves you with a dual appreciation for your own culture and the culture of others. It’s pretty cool.

Oh, and in the past 3 months Obama won office – that was win. (Ncesi to my entire family who voted otherwise. Except (I’m assuming) Dallin.  Good for us!)

Until next time,

Happy Holidays from the Hall’s! 

 

SiSwati to English Translator

Kakhulu – a lot

Emasnacks – Snacks

BoMake – Mothers

Ncesi - Sorry

Sweating and Swearing

Addy’s last blog post brought you up to speed with some of the projects and trips we have been on. We haven’t updated this blog in a criminally long time. Ncesi. One of the things she mentioned was that I was working on some pretty manly stuff like renovating a library. Truth.

Manly is one way to describe it. But the project, in fact, only has little to do with men. Most of it involves women, children and a couple of dudes doing most of the grunt work. Sweating and swearing a lot. Most of it in languages I don’t understand, but with a few choice expletives that cut across any language barrier.

 To bring you up to speed in the camp lies a derelict building that contains three rooms. Two small ones designated for a pre-school and nursery and a larger one designated for a library. UNICEF has promised to fund the running and operation of the pre-school pending renovation of the buildings. They have partnered with Swaziland’s acting partners Department of Home Affairs and their acting counterparts CARITAS. A E6,000 grant was approved to purchase some of the supplies to renovate the buildings. Jenny Hammond, a local businesswoman and former refugee agreed to kick in any additional funds.

Here is where Peace Corps comes in. Due to our extensive time and relationship investments at the camp we are pretty good at mobilizing the community to do the hard work. Replacing broken windows, painting, mortaring cracks, constructing a fence, replacing doors and building shelving (to come). This has been a unique and ultimately rewarding experience for us. The other day while installing the fence around the perimeter I looked around at the guys working. Somalians, Rwandans, Burundians, Congolese, two Swazi professional builders who are working only for in-kind food donations and the ubiquitous American twenty-something working together to construct a fence that, due to the refugees transient stay at the camp, may not be of any direct benefit to them in the present. Instead, for nothing but a scant meal of samp and beans they were working in the dead heat of a lowveld December afternoon.

This is, I think, where the Peace Corps shines. We are able to mobilize communities by integrating into them. I was sweating and swearing along with the refugees instead of sitting behind a desk trying to raise “awareness” about literacy or early childhood education.

I asked one of the residents early in the morning if people would come and work. He said, “if they see you, they will come”. That was cool.

After we finished I sat under a tree and played Scrabble with some Rwandans. It was a lively game although I killed with Kuwait on a triple letter space.

Merry Christmas!

Candy Beans

It’s hot. I’ve been sick now for four days. Puppies are everywhere and my phone will not stop “buzzing”.  I pack up with Ryan and decide it is time for a nice relaxing trip to town.  After some scuffling around and a mentally draining phone call from the camp, Ryan and I fetch a ride with our host family to the bus station.  We board the bus after only 5 minutes of waiting.  We take a seat. Ryan gets comfortable with The Economist and I with my book.  All of the sudden screams come out of the television set on the bus; they have decided to turn on “The Punisher.” Anyone familiar with this movie would be surprised that a conductor with a bus full of school children would decide to play such a movie, as I am under the opinion that people should have consent before having to watch such a terrible film.  Pouring salt into the wound, Ryan and I are right below the speakers. After listening to the screams of a man getting his teeth pulled out and a woman getting thrown off a building, I have had enough.  Enough of the constant noise.  Enough of the chickens.  Enough of the poverty and lack of efficiency and poor quality of every single item I have ever bought in the last 14 months. Enough of being so far away from home.  Enough, enough, enough…

Ladies and Gentlemen, I had hit my one-year-mark-what-in-the-hell-am-I-doing-here blues.  

Peace Corps has this chart called the “Peace Corps Volunteer Re-adjustment Chart”. It maps the highs and lows of most volunteers and when to expect the rough spots and how to deal with them.  I would call it ridiculous if it wasn’t so spot on.  I am sure anyone ever involved in development work, whether in or out of the States, has reached these re-adjustment points, and as our PCMO says, you either adjust or you go home. 

After getting off the bus from Mpaka to Manzini, we boarded a sprinter bus (what Swazi’s call a khumbi) and headed off to Mbabane.  We were jammed in the back but I was relatively happy because the window was open. Sitting next to Ryan was an 8-year- old girl.  She was eating jellybeans and I will be frank, I was staring watching her eat them.  I see her catch my eye, we smile at each other, and I look away.  A couple of minutes later, she turns to Ryan and says, “I saw your wife looking at me, she smiled and I thought it was cute, can you please give her these sweets for me?” My. Heart. Melted. Maybe it was the sugar high, maybe it was the adorable little girl showing me what I considered a very real act of kindness, but all the tension and frustration left me.  We sat together eating candy beans and talking about our lives here in Swaziland.  She lives in Manzini and is going with her brother to visit her family.  She asks about America and sees our big bags and asks us about camping.  “I think camping would be scary because of all the sharks, snakes and alligators.  Do snakes ever get you when you are camping?” I show her American money and give her some coins to show her friends.  She seems excited and gives me a “haibo!” when I show her a U.S. quarter, although she does exclaim, “No, it’s ok. I have real money. (Pointing to her emalengeni coins).  She gets off the bus and we waive goodbye and my “enough of this” attitude vanishes and I am left thinking that maybe we could just stay here forever. Maybe J

Malindza Community Cleaning Campaign 2012

For those of you keeping up on our blog, you know that Ryan and I embarked on a big project this last week.  Planning since October, the Malindza Community Cleaning Campaign went off without (too many) hitches! I had been preparing for weeks on getting speakers organized and making sure participants were willing to come, despite that they were not getting paid to come, something that NGO’s here for reasons I will never understand do to encourage participation.  (When I told the Rural Health Motivators that they were not getting paid to come but rather should be grateful for free education and the willingness of speakers to come teach for free, they looked at me like *I* was the crazy person.) Despite these small hiccups, Monday August 20^th came and we sat hoping that people would at least show up. 

They did not disappoint!  On the first day we had 90% participation and throughout the rest of the week we had 95% participation – I could not have asked for more. As the refugee camp has serious concerns about hygiene and sanitation, we spent the first couple of days covering workshops about hygiene, HIV/Malaria, sanitation, local resources, and how to make money through trash.  Several other Peace Corps volunteers came out to help as well as Swaziland Environment Authority and Siteki Health Inspector’s Office.  Furthermore, UNHCR flew in all the way from Pretoria to see what the community was involved in.  Throughout the week the participants collected around 100 trash bags, put up a newly fenced trash pit for the camp, and even managed through grit and guile to get the plumbing up and working again at the camp, literally staring in the face of broken sewage pipes and an open septic tank.  (Gross.)

 
 

 

It was fantastic to see the camp residents and the community of Mpaka working together, as this was really the first time they have ever come together to solve a community problem.  They all worked extremely hard and have a new zeal for keeping their area safe and clean for their children, which was the entire point of the project.  I am sure the best tool for making this a sustainable project is peer pressure, because after everyone worked so hard to clean up Mpaka, these participants won’t appreciate people throwing their trash on the ground.

(This is me saying some pretty important stuff about the harm of open defecation.)

(This is “Bingo” contemplating the information given about why he should never defecate out in the open.)

After a long week we wrapped up the campaign and went home to relax.  Our entire family came together and celebrated true Swazi style with a delicious braai.  I even got to work on my Swazi cooking skills, which made my boSisi very happy. 

Now that some days have passed I am extremely happy to have some time to relax.  Ryan’s Play Soccer/Learn HIV project will be coming next month, so we have that to look forward to.  Until then, we are enjoying our school break, reading a lot and of course studying for the GRE.  We will be visiting the States come October and cannot wait to be with family and friends to celebrate my brother Matthew’s wedding.  I am currently in town shopping for the craziest/highest high heels I can possibly find to make my mother’s mouth drop! Swazi’s know shoe fashion.

Check out facebook for more pictures of the cleaning campaign week! Thanks for your love and support, we send our love from this side –

Addy

 

 

 

It has been a little while since our last post so we thought we would treat you with an all photo edition abrakadafrica blog post.

This is one of my favorites of all time. Our headmaster dancing to Lil Wayne on the bus back from the countrywide music tournament. Mpaka Railway School came in fourth place.

Addy has been hard at work setting up a library at Malindza High School. It is a lot of sorting, organizing, taping, binding, etc.. All of which Addy is a pro at.

Some of the resourceful members of the camp built parallel bars in order to “gym” during the day. We are making a punching bag out of all repurposed materials. Be on the look out for that. This dude from the D.R.C is an acrobat.

This was my attempt.

Last weekend was the culminating soccer tournament at the Malalleni Soccer Tournament for all of the teams in the area playing in the Malindza Football League. I support the Mpaka Seven Stars. Obviously.

All of the fans of teams met in Mpaka and marched (with a full marching band, drumettes, traditional singers, motorcade and police escort) to the stadium. My day was 8-6 of all soccer related activities. I don’t even like soccer that much. It was fun to spend time with the community though.

There is a Catch...There is Always a Catch

Hello Friends and Readers of this Blog -

As you know you are reading a Peace Corps Blog. Peace Corps does development work. Sometimes development work in Africa. Like other NGO's and Development Agencies Peace Corps doesn't come in for a few months, drive Range Rovers out to a rural community, do some slap-dash assessment and hang our name on something that the community doesn't need or will break after we leave. At least, that's not how I see it. As some of you know I (Ryan) have been trying to put together an HIV soccer workshop with local teams in our community for some time now. The good news is we are zeroing in on our target. All of the necessary meetings have taken place, we know how many we are going to reach, the shareholders are into it, the coaches are on board,  kids are interested, grant has been sent in, yadda yadda. It has only taken a year. 

A component of this workshop is that every team participating will receive jerseys and a ball. Our close family friend Babe Watts from Texas has graciously collected over 150 jerseys. The problem is shipping 150 jerseys to Africa is expensive. Really expensive.Who knew?  


So far she has been able to raise 80$ out of the 220$ she needs to ship the jerseys to Swaziland. We are asking, not as the PR face of some vaguely intentioned NGO or Development Agency, but as friends of yours that if you could help us reach the goal of helping Babe send out the jerseys, we would be really grateful. Maybe even send you some nice African thing or give you a high-five when we get back. If you could spare anything. 5$, 10$, 20$, it would help a lot to get these jerseys out here. It would also play a crucial role in this workshop designed to educate youth (many of whom are not in school or orphaned) about HIV. So, whatever you can help with please get in touch with me and we will discuss how to donate money into Babe's pay-pal account. 

Contact me at: dontsignanythingyet@gmail.com

Kindest Regards,

Ryan

Waya Waya

We haven’t blogged as of late, not because we haven’t been busy, quite the contrary, but because we have a lot of projects in the works. We have our nose to the grindstones. By the end of August we will have lots to report. Right now we are plodding through the necessary groundwork to ensure successful projects.

A quick update as to what we are working on:

Addy is planning a massive camp/community clean up day with the Malindza Refugee Camp located down the road from us. For this project she has collaborated with the Swaziland Environmental Authority, our local Umpakhatsi (village council) and local Rural Health Motivators to put on a week long workshop focusing on health and sanitation, proper waste disposal and a host of other health-related topics. Speakers are coming in from all parts of Swaziland and different disciplines. The workshops will be held at the camp for residents and for the Rural Health Motivators. On the last day we will walk from the camp to the BoMake market picking up trash. Our grant went through which includes provisions for trash cans which we will place along the road and in the camp. Without proper waste disposal plastic bags and discarded wrappers from ema-sweets and ema-chips bloom and waste becomes a major problem. This is especially apparent in the winter months when there is no brush to hide the shocking amount of trash lining the road.

Ryan is still plowing through on his soccer tournament. The first meeting was held at the end of last month with coaches and players and the HIV Awareness Tournament has FINALLY been scheduled. Right now he is working trying to get an accurate count of all interested parties for the coaches/players worksho to include in his grant. Friends and family have come through in spades donating soccer jerseys to the cause. Big props to the Hall family, Stroup family and Kathleen and Nate Steel for donating soccer jerseys. This thing is really happening. Promise. Slowly. But it is happening.

English class at the camp is going swimmingly. We have broken the classes into three levels. Addy teaches the advanced class, Ryan teaches basic literacy.

In big news, the Refugee camp has found an “angel donor” for some much needed services. A donor in the states has raised money to pay for the school fees for several of the very needy in the refugee camp. School fees in Swaziland are criminally high and many families cannot afford to send their children to school. This donation has put us in touch a very nice lady who lives in Swaziland whom we have been working with to see that funds get to the children. She is passionate about refugees and has decided to help make three derelict buildings in the camp into a library and crèche. She is donating very generously from her own pocket. We helping her with preparation for the work and will, of course, assist in replacing doors, windows, painting, etc… The refugees are ecstatic about the prospect of having a library. A worn out paperback is passed among the camp residents until it is battered beyond readability. This is a big step and a huge boon to our English and literacy program.

Schools have been quiet these days as teachers continue their waya waya (indefinite) strike for a 4.5% increase in their salary. As a result school has been either canceled or erratic for the past month. Needless to say this has put a dent in Ryan’s previously air-tight schedule. Oh well. You can’t win them all.

Group 10 has come into Swaziland and Addy has been quite involved in their training as she is on the Peer Support Network (PSN) which acts as a kind of volunteer leadership program. Luckily their training is not as far as it was last year, but these duties have taken her out of the community quite a bit working with the volunteers.

So, our noses are to the grindstone. Next month will be a month of huge celebrations and sighs of relief as we close some of our projects. Look forward for good news to come.