Quick updates while I'm in town:
1. Stitches are out and the wound is almost completely on the mend! Yay!
2. Search "PC Swaziland Welcome Video" on YouTube and you'll find many clips of the introductory video for the new Group 8 volunteers coming this June. Guess what! I'm in many of them. (For all you internet 'swavy' - inside joke with my mother - people that's www.youtube.com) :-P
3. I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter! I spent a good part of mine hopping a multitude of transportation options to get to my friend Lisa's where we enjoyed an assortment of non-traditional holiday foods.
4. I'll write another blog soonish. Hugs!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Getting Work Done in the Infirmary (aka Bed and Breakfast)
Thursday 25 March 2010
2:28pm
I’m back to site! After a two week stint in Mbabane letting my bug bitten wound heal I have finally been sewn up (3 stitches) and sent on my way for a little while. What did I do in Mbabane for that long? Surprisingly, I was somewhat productive. And no, I don’t consider watching all four Terminator movies for the first time productive, although I did accomplish that. :-P Networking was actually the biggest achievement of my medical hold. Here are some of the amazing people I met while living it up at a bed and breakfast.
The first few nights I stayed at Gloria’s (the AMAINGLY kind person who runs the B&B) there was another younger woman residing there and spending her brief time in Swaziland recruiting for the African Leadership Academy. This pre-college training takes youth (ages 16-18) from all over Africa to study together and prepare them to make positive future changes for Africa. It is a highly competitive program with a fast approaching application deadline. A couple of other PCVs and I talked to her at length about this program, and then offered our assistance in getting the information out to the youth in the rural communities. The next day I went to our office, and the Assistant Peace Corps Director scanned the forms and e-mailed them to every PCV in Swaziland! Many of the volunteers work in some capacity with their local high schools, for example, teaching life skills, leading health or debate clubs, organizing drama groups, and even tutoring in English. This gives us the most perfect opportunity to identify really bright, motivated students and give them the chance at a great education in South Africa with a highly diverse student body. Not to mention expanding the recruiting reach of our new friend by tenfold! Definitely a win, win, WIN situation!
A bit later in my stay, while enjoying a fantastic meal unlike anything I could make in my hut, we met two other fantastic people. One worked for UNICEF out of Jo’Burg, which is a wonderful connection to make. The other gentleman at the table with us was the photographer and author of what I found out later is an AMAZING book called The Bang Bang Club. I am very interested in reading this South African masterpiece, which was highly recommended by friend who just so happened to be finishing it at that moment! That was such an enjoyable evening.
I had very brief encounters with representatives from two other organizations that could and should become close partners with PCVs all over Swaziland. Both the National Youth Council and CEIT have similar goals to Peace Corps and can work together to accomplish them. I felt like a networking rep for the United States Peace Corps while sipping tea and hob knobbing with celebs. Not too shabby. :-)
Sadly, I was pulled from the gardening workshop for treatment, but all was not lost. I still may not be able to keep any kind of plant life alive, but my contact list as grown and blossomed beautifully. A grant proposal I submitted for a future bus stop health mural project also proved to be fruitful. It was accepted and funding should arrive within two weeks! ATTENTION!!! If you have any ideas for health slogans and/or artwork, please feel free to let me know. :-) They can be about anything from HIV/AIDS prevention to proper nutrition, from hygiene to anti-abuse campaigns, anything is welcomed for consideration in this health mass media project.
Other activities I did while in the sick ward: helped at the monthly Teen Club at Baylor, saw my good friend Shari back off to the States (you’re already missed hun:), learned the basics of knitting and pearling thanks to Gloria, watched, live, Obama sign a “history making” health bill that CNN then didn’t explain what it entails(??), celebrated St. Patty’s Day with beer, friends, and a work in progress premiere of the new welcome video for the volunteers coming in June (I’m in it sportin’ the braids :-/), took out the braids and adopted an afro for a few short hours, showered a MILLION more times than necessary, filled out a NCAA bracket that I will never know the results to, visited with many of my wonderful fellow volunteers as they passed through town, and became a regular at the Mbabane Clinic for my frequent dressing changes. Oh, and of course, got better acquainted with an earlier model of the current “Govinator” of California. :-P This is where I’m going to conclude my description of the two week vacation… I mean medical hold… that I experienced, but no worries ‘cause “I’ll be back!” ;-)
2:28pm
I’m back to site! After a two week stint in Mbabane letting my bug bitten wound heal I have finally been sewn up (3 stitches) and sent on my way for a little while. What did I do in Mbabane for that long? Surprisingly, I was somewhat productive. And no, I don’t consider watching all four Terminator movies for the first time productive, although I did accomplish that. :-P Networking was actually the biggest achievement of my medical hold. Here are some of the amazing people I met while living it up at a bed and breakfast.
The first few nights I stayed at Gloria’s (the AMAINGLY kind person who runs the B&B) there was another younger woman residing there and spending her brief time in Swaziland recruiting for the African Leadership Academy. This pre-college training takes youth (ages 16-18) from all over Africa to study together and prepare them to make positive future changes for Africa. It is a highly competitive program with a fast approaching application deadline. A couple of other PCVs and I talked to her at length about this program, and then offered our assistance in getting the information out to the youth in the rural communities. The next day I went to our office, and the Assistant Peace Corps Director scanned the forms and e-mailed them to every PCV in Swaziland! Many of the volunteers work in some capacity with their local high schools, for example, teaching life skills, leading health or debate clubs, organizing drama groups, and even tutoring in English. This gives us the most perfect opportunity to identify really bright, motivated students and give them the chance at a great education in South Africa with a highly diverse student body. Not to mention expanding the recruiting reach of our new friend by tenfold! Definitely a win, win, WIN situation!
A bit later in my stay, while enjoying a fantastic meal unlike anything I could make in my hut, we met two other fantastic people. One worked for UNICEF out of Jo’Burg, which is a wonderful connection to make. The other gentleman at the table with us was the photographer and author of what I found out later is an AMAZING book called The Bang Bang Club. I am very interested in reading this South African masterpiece, which was highly recommended by friend who just so happened to be finishing it at that moment! That was such an enjoyable evening.
I had very brief encounters with representatives from two other organizations that could and should become close partners with PCVs all over Swaziland. Both the National Youth Council and CEIT have similar goals to Peace Corps and can work together to accomplish them. I felt like a networking rep for the United States Peace Corps while sipping tea and hob knobbing with celebs. Not too shabby. :-)
Sadly, I was pulled from the gardening workshop for treatment, but all was not lost. I still may not be able to keep any kind of plant life alive, but my contact list as grown and blossomed beautifully. A grant proposal I submitted for a future bus stop health mural project also proved to be fruitful. It was accepted and funding should arrive within two weeks! ATTENTION!!! If you have any ideas for health slogans and/or artwork, please feel free to let me know. :-) They can be about anything from HIV/AIDS prevention to proper nutrition, from hygiene to anti-abuse campaigns, anything is welcomed for consideration in this health mass media project.
Other activities I did while in the sick ward: helped at the monthly Teen Club at Baylor, saw my good friend Shari back off to the States (you’re already missed hun:), learned the basics of knitting and pearling thanks to Gloria, watched, live, Obama sign a “history making” health bill that CNN then didn’t explain what it entails(??), celebrated St. Patty’s Day with beer, friends, and a work in progress premiere of the new welcome video for the volunteers coming in June (I’m in it sportin’ the braids :-/), took out the braids and adopted an afro for a few short hours, showered a MILLION more times than necessary, filled out a NCAA bracket that I will never know the results to, visited with many of my wonderful fellow volunteers as they passed through town, and became a regular at the Mbabane Clinic for my frequent dressing changes. Oh, and of course, got better acquainted with an earlier model of the current “Govinator” of California. :-P This is where I’m going to conclude my description of the two week vacation… I mean medical hold… that I experienced, but no worries ‘cause “I’ll be back!” ;-)
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