Ho Ho Ho! Merry 1 Year Anniversary!

July 6, 2010
8:22pm

The amazing Swaziland Group 7, that I am a part of, decided to celebrate our 1 year mark in country by having a potluck party! At a backpackers in Mbabane, we all met on June 25th, exactly 1 year since we stepped foot into this African country, to appropriately observe the special day (Dubbed – X-mas in June) with food, drink, and white elephant Christmas gifts. It was an absolute blast! I ended the night in possession of a homemade cardinal, flowers made out of recycled tin, a few Moroccan spices, and KAgillion cookies in my stomach! Since its winter here now, the weather was perfectly cool, and the fire was perfectly amazing.

This past week I was given the opportunity, as a Peer Support Network member, to meet the new Group 8 volunteers who arrived Monday June 28th. Many people already knew me from the welcome video clips on YouTube (still haven’t seen them myself), which they said were really helpful! I’m famous! Ha! Spending a few days with them made me realize how much I really have gained in a year. Getting bombarded with questions, hearing first attempts at siSwati, and witnessing the emotional bonding from this amazing group, really put my last year in perspective. Before Sus and I arrived at the training site (a trip that took over 6 ½ hours), we discussed how there was no way we felt like the seasoned “expert” volunteers. Come to find out, we kind of are.

Nothing would make me want to re-live the stressful, jam-packed, Swazi camp experience of pre-service training, but I certainly look forward to visiting with the new volunteers again in a couple of weeks. PSN members come to help with all of the medical sessions. Last week we got to experience the lectures and activities on diarrhea, sexuality, immunizations, medical kits, water filters, group diversity, and first night with a host family de-brief. Some were obviously more exciting than others. You know you are a PCV when you can discuss diarrhea with a room full of strangers. :-P WELCOME TO GROUP 8!!!

Updates on my work: My friend Andreas, the artist/doctor Claire and I met in Cape Town, is coming to Ekuphumleni to help me paint the remaining few bus stop health murals. He is good at graffiti art, so I’m excited at what he will come up with! For the new group, Sus and I updated and improved the Swaziland PCV cook book. Trust me, I was merely technical support. The title for our publication is, “Where there is no Chef: A Foodie’s Guide to Village Cooking” (spoofing – Where There is No Doctor). It will on sale at all Borders, CVAs, Barnes and Nobles (just kidding), or you can get an electronic copy from yours truly. :-) I just turned in a grant proposal to hold a male’s health and HIV prevention event at my community’s cow and goat dipping tanks in August. More on that if the grant is approved within the next few weeks. Still trying to work with the schools’ health clubs, but will have to take a bit of a break for the next couple months due to my frequent travels to the PC training site and the upcoming Baylor Teen Camp. There is also a possibility that our post will participate in a major book/library project for rural schools toward the end of the year. If this is the case, my primary schools will certainly apply.

FYI – Some of the projects our volunteers in Swaziland make happen are not a part of the HIV/AIDS education initiative (like the upcoming book project). Thus, these rural development programs can not be funded by PC PEPFAR grants. To make these much needed projects a reality, volunteers write Peace Corps Partnership Project applications and their ideas are put online to raise funds from the US. If you are ever interested in helping out these projects you can go to the Peace Corps website, www.peacecorps.gov, and find Partnership Projects then search for Swaziland. Currently, I am not involved in a partnership project, but my good friends Brandon, Laura, Tristan, and Rachel are. Consider supporting their efforts, or peruse the website for a project you are interested in giving $10 to. Thanks!

One year down, about one year to go. It’s going so fast!! Swazi/Africa time is usually ridiculously slow, so how are the months speeding by!?! I look forward to the next leg in this adventure as group 8 starts theirs.