Hey Everyone! I am in the PCV office right now and quickly wanting to shout out to let you all know I am alive and well! The past few weeks I have been helping out with a Orphan and Vulnerable Children's Camp. It has been amazing! The kids are so SOOOOOO happy and it fills me with joy. I have almost lost my voice from screaming, cheering, and singing. I sound like I have smoked 2 packs a day for 40 years :) The second camp ends next Tuesday and I will certainly want to sleep for a few days straight.
Site is still amazing, but I have sadly been away from it for a while. After camp I am heading on a much needed mini-low budget- vacation to South Africa. Myself and other volunteers are meeting in Swaziland for X-mas and then going to Cozy Bay and then Durban for New Years!!! Yay!
Happy Holidays Everyone!! I probably won't get to a computer again until 2010 so know that I am safe, happy, and missing the snow.... NOT! :) Huge hugs friends!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Never Too Old to Finger Paint :-P
Saturday 7 November 2009
5:55pm
So, obviously the last blog did not get posted as expected. When I went to the internet café it was closed, even though the sign they should be otherwise. I haven’t been in town since. I had a blast painting the map at the orphanage, though! The kids were adorable and I even impressed myself with my ability to draw the general shapes of countries on a wall. Granted, Justine and I may have solved some border disputes or, more likely, created many new ones, but it looks pretty darn accurate. :)
That Sunday I was planning on getting back to my community via the 1:30pm bus, “Zinyane”. But, as I am constantly learning, no day in Africa will turn out exactly as planned in the morning. This day’s schedule was changed by the internet café being closed and the bus not showing up. Yup, there I was with my bags and groceries, ready to get home, and the bus never came! Also, within ten minutes the sky went from sunny to a downpour. Luckily, I was still with Justine, and we were already under the protection of the bus rank when the rains started. The sky cleared up just as we were making contingency plans. Now usually I would have just taken a khumbi to the next small town, Hluti (where my PO box is), and gotten on another khumbi that would drop me about 3k away from my house. Being a Sunday, already 2pm, and having a large load of recently purchased goods, I was never going to be able to make it home before dark. Walking in the dark is just NOT HAPPENING!! Instead, I went home with Justine, which proved to be the best decision all weekend.
We barely made it to her homestead when the sky opened up and produced the biggest storm either of us has ever experienced! Sitting on her bed we watched as rain came through under her door and the wind blew her roof (corrugated iron) up and down at least 5-6inches! With the rain beating on the tin roof and the thunder booming every 10-20seconds, we had to yell at each other to be heard. I would guess this lasted about 20-30minutes. After it calmed down we discussed how surreal that was. It felt like we were one of those “scary” rides at Disney where everything shakes, there are loud noises, and water keeps misting. Then we walked outside to see the damage. Her family’s thatched kitchen roof had completely collapsed, some of the corn was flattened, and the “main” houses tin roof had been pulled up along one side. We later found multiple power lines down and some power line poles snapped in half, along with massive trees uprooted! These were tornado-like winds and I was sitting in a hut during it! I called my family as soon as the cell phone network was back up, and they were fine. My homestead had gotten the rain but not the high winds. Phew.
After surviving the storm, what did we do? We made POPCORN and ate all of the cold food I had bought in town but would not survive without the electricity dependant refrigeration. Mmmm. :) All in all it was an enjoyable evening… after God’s heart-pounding Disney ride.
The following day, while waiting for the 1:30pm bus that I had wanted to take the previous day, I helped Justine paint the bus waiting “room” (a cement bench with roof) across from the school she teaches at. It states, “Abstinence is 100% effective against pregnancy, HIV, and STIs. SEX CAN WAIT”. The education system only officially supports teaching abstinence, which in some communities is hard for volunteers to break through. While painting, we talked about making this a much larger mass media project. There are two of these waiting rooms every kilometer or so on this main road between Lavumisa (South-Eastern corner of the country) and Nhlangano (South-Western corner). Any slogans, stats, drawings, education visuals health related (HIV/AIDS, TB, hygiene, etc) could be seen by TONS of people each day! Needless to say, we are getting a bit excited about making this happen. We will be turning to our communities for ideas and artistic talent. No doubt we would love any ideas you have too! My “coloring inside the lines” skill won’t quite be enough. :-P Thanks to a bus not coming, I may have my first PC project!
Another picture of Bondiswa! Although in pink, he is an adorable baby boy.
This is Gabi, my language tutor, running partner, neighbor, and my friend. She is sitting in my hut after a language lesson; we must have been looking at my computer.
Here is the map of the world in a close to final stage of the process. We still needed put a couple more coats of paint on the lighter colors, outline them in black marker, and label them. I certainly learned some geography during this project! Now hopefully the kids will too!
This is the bus waiting "room" that Justine and I painted. Now finished, it looks shnazzy... and educational!
5:55pm
So, obviously the last blog did not get posted as expected. When I went to the internet café it was closed, even though the sign they should be otherwise. I haven’t been in town since. I had a blast painting the map at the orphanage, though! The kids were adorable and I even impressed myself with my ability to draw the general shapes of countries on a wall. Granted, Justine and I may have solved some border disputes or, more likely, created many new ones, but it looks pretty darn accurate. :)
That Sunday I was planning on getting back to my community via the 1:30pm bus, “Zinyane”. But, as I am constantly learning, no day in Africa will turn out exactly as planned in the morning. This day’s schedule was changed by the internet café being closed and the bus not showing up. Yup, there I was with my bags and groceries, ready to get home, and the bus never came! Also, within ten minutes the sky went from sunny to a downpour. Luckily, I was still with Justine, and we were already under the protection of the bus rank when the rains started. The sky cleared up just as we were making contingency plans. Now usually I would have just taken a khumbi to the next small town, Hluti (where my PO box is), and gotten on another khumbi that would drop me about 3k away from my house. Being a Sunday, already 2pm, and having a large load of recently purchased goods, I was never going to be able to make it home before dark. Walking in the dark is just NOT HAPPENING!! Instead, I went home with Justine, which proved to be the best decision all weekend.
We barely made it to her homestead when the sky opened up and produced the biggest storm either of us has ever experienced! Sitting on her bed we watched as rain came through under her door and the wind blew her roof (corrugated iron) up and down at least 5-6inches! With the rain beating on the tin roof and the thunder booming every 10-20seconds, we had to yell at each other to be heard. I would guess this lasted about 20-30minutes. After it calmed down we discussed how surreal that was. It felt like we were one of those “scary” rides at Disney where everything shakes, there are loud noises, and water keeps misting. Then we walked outside to see the damage. Her family’s thatched kitchen roof had completely collapsed, some of the corn was flattened, and the “main” houses tin roof had been pulled up along one side. We later found multiple power lines down and some power line poles snapped in half, along with massive trees uprooted! These were tornado-like winds and I was sitting in a hut during it! I called my family as soon as the cell phone network was back up, and they were fine. My homestead had gotten the rain but not the high winds. Phew.
After surviving the storm, what did we do? We made POPCORN and ate all of the cold food I had bought in town but would not survive without the electricity dependant refrigeration. Mmmm. :) All in all it was an enjoyable evening… after God’s heart-pounding Disney ride.
The following day, while waiting for the 1:30pm bus that I had wanted to take the previous day, I helped Justine paint the bus waiting “room” (a cement bench with roof) across from the school she teaches at. It states, “Abstinence is 100% effective against pregnancy, HIV, and STIs. SEX CAN WAIT”. The education system only officially supports teaching abstinence, which in some communities is hard for volunteers to break through. While painting, we talked about making this a much larger mass media project. There are two of these waiting rooms every kilometer or so on this main road between Lavumisa (South-Eastern corner of the country) and Nhlangano (South-Western corner). Any slogans, stats, drawings, education visuals health related (HIV/AIDS, TB, hygiene, etc) could be seen by TONS of people each day! Needless to say, we are getting a bit excited about making this happen. We will be turning to our communities for ideas and artistic talent. No doubt we would love any ideas you have too! My “coloring inside the lines” skill won’t quite be enough. :-P Thanks to a bus not coming, I may have my first PC project!
Another picture of Bondiswa! Although in pink, he is an adorable baby boy.
This is Gabi, my language tutor, running partner, neighbor, and my friend. She is sitting in my hut after a language lesson; we must have been looking at my computer.
Here is the map of the world in a close to final stage of the process. We still needed put a couple more coats of paint on the lighter colors, outline them in black marker, and label them. I certainly learned some geography during this project! Now hopefully the kids will too!This is the bus waiting "room" that Justine and I painted. Now finished, it looks shnazzy... and educational!Busy Little Beaver
Friday 23 October 2009
11:33am
Hey Everyone! It has been CRAZY busy for me here the past couple of weeks. As Nov. 17th (date of In-Service Training and the end of our integration period) gets closer and closer, I am finding more and more meetings to attend, informants to interview, and homesteads to visit. In Nov. I am suppose to have all of this information compiled in a Community Assessment Report, which will be turned into PC and given to all of the NGOs and community leaders participating in the development of my area. It feels like I am doing a college research paper, except it does not have to be in APA/MLA format! :)
Sadly, I will have to make this entry short. I decided to finally go into town only about a ½ hour ago. Another volunteer has asked me to go into Nhlangano and help paint a world map on an orphanage. Yes, I did forewarn her that I lack any skill necessary to produce visual art of any kind, but she said that I would be fine coloring inside the lines. :) This gives me a nice chance to have a weekend away from site, bond with another volunteer, and play with kids and paint! Yay!
Some fun news on the hut-front, my sisi had her baby! Bondiswa is an adorable, healthy, little baby boy. My sisi left on Sunday morning via public transportation, had the child at 6:30pm, and by 3pm Monday she was getting off the public bus at our home, baby in tow. Also, other than hospital staff, she was alone during the delivery and hospital stay! According to her, it is actually against hospital policy to have family with you during delivery! She kept Make informed by calling the cell phone, and we had a fun time bonding trying to discuss Thobile and her baby without anyone on the homestead who could speak English. My siSwati is coming along, but not that well. :)
Well I have to go catch a 1pm bus to catch a khumbi to catch another khumbi to this orphanage…pheew… so I better wrap this up for now. Wish me luck with the painting! Hugs!
This is my new nephew, Bondiswa, only a couple days after he was born and my sisi, Thobile. He is so stinkin' cute!!!
I am sporting my new woven grass hat that I bought at the boMake market in my community. This is my armor against the crazy strong sun here. This is the inside of my hut... I should have picked-up before taking the picture. :-P
View of the back of the main house and the beautiful bush that is in our "back yard". Beware though, that bush has HUGE thorns! The open door is to Makes room and the blue door on the left goes into the kitchen.
Here is the front view of the homestead from the gate. My house is on the right, then the main house, then the girls house (behind the tree).
Hut sweet home! I am standing on the porch of the main house, which has two doors. One goes into a living room area, and the other goes into the boys' room.
11:33am
Hey Everyone! It has been CRAZY busy for me here the past couple of weeks. As Nov. 17th (date of In-Service Training and the end of our integration period) gets closer and closer, I am finding more and more meetings to attend, informants to interview, and homesteads to visit. In Nov. I am suppose to have all of this information compiled in a Community Assessment Report, which will be turned into PC and given to all of the NGOs and community leaders participating in the development of my area. It feels like I am doing a college research paper, except it does not have to be in APA/MLA format! :)
Sadly, I will have to make this entry short. I decided to finally go into town only about a ½ hour ago. Another volunteer has asked me to go into Nhlangano and help paint a world map on an orphanage. Yes, I did forewarn her that I lack any skill necessary to produce visual art of any kind, but she said that I would be fine coloring inside the lines. :) This gives me a nice chance to have a weekend away from site, bond with another volunteer, and play with kids and paint! Yay!
Some fun news on the hut-front, my sisi had her baby! Bondiswa is an adorable, healthy, little baby boy. My sisi left on Sunday morning via public transportation, had the child at 6:30pm, and by 3pm Monday she was getting off the public bus at our home, baby in tow. Also, other than hospital staff, she was alone during the delivery and hospital stay! According to her, it is actually against hospital policy to have family with you during delivery! She kept Make informed by calling the cell phone, and we had a fun time bonding trying to discuss Thobile and her baby without anyone on the homestead who could speak English. My siSwati is coming along, but not that well. :)
Well I have to go catch a 1pm bus to catch a khumbi to catch another khumbi to this orphanage…pheew… so I better wrap this up for now. Wish me luck with the painting! Hugs!
This is my new nephew, Bondiswa, only a couple days after he was born and my sisi, Thobile. He is so stinkin' cute!!!
I am sporting my new woven grass hat that I bought at the boMake market in my community. This is my armor against the crazy strong sun here. This is the inside of my hut... I should have picked-up before taking the picture. :-P 
View of the back of the main house and the beautiful bush that is in our "back yard". Beware though, that bush has HUGE thorns! The open door is to Makes room and the blue door on the left goes into the kitchen.
Here is the front view of the homestead from the gate. My house is on the right, then the main house, then the girls house (behind the tree).
Hut sweet home! I am standing on the porch of the main house, which has two doors. One goes into a living room area, and the other goes into the boys' room.Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Pictures & Mail Call!
I have been getting a few questions about the types of wild life that I have encountered. Monkeys are by far the most interesting. All of the big animals are protected in the National Gamer Reserves, which I certainly hope to visit after integration (off of hut arrest :P). Scary note: I killed a baby scorpion in my room a few days ago. Yikes. 'Tis the season. :-/ 
Here is a better picture of the traditional attire I wore at my swear-in ceremony at the end of August. Both the bottom and top pieces of fabric are tied on. Happily, we had no wardrobe malfunctions that day.
This is my first Swazi home in Embasheni and the cuties that were always around. My hut now is round with thatched roofing, but I have yet to take a good picture, sorry. I'll get on that soon. 
A fun self-timed photo (thanks to training by Kevan :-P) of some crazy PCVs during training. Surprisingly, the couch did not break.
The bugs are HUGE!!! All insects seems to be at least 2-3 times larger than they should be, but I haven't found one that was too big to kill with a shoe. Once that day arrives... I'm leaving!! Haha.So I have yet again changed my mailing address. No worries if you have recently sent something to Matata, because I will still get it. Hluti is just a bit closer and easier to get to. Here it is:
Darryn Crocker, PCV
US Peace Corps
PO Box 158
Hluti, S409
Swaziland
AFRICA
Wrestling (WWE style) with Christianity
Sunday 4 October 2009
6:22pm
As I write this blog post, I can hear my family cheering and laughing in the house. They are watching the second most popular sport in Swaziland (just shy of soccer): American “if these moves were real we would be dead 50 times a night” Wrestling (WWE). In training, we were warned never to question the validity of this “sport” because we would instantly be ostracized and maybe even exiled from our communities! Well, now yours truly has to integrate into a culture that LOVES wrestling. By the end of my 2 years I will not only know how to fight HIV/AIDS in a developing county, I will also be able to name all the men, wearing less fabric than my bikini over their gloss spritzed muscles, who can “pile drive” and “nut crush” and “clothes line” and … whatever. Yay for me. ** I apologize to any readers who enjoy WWE and are annoyed or upset at my sarcasm … sort of.** :-)
COMPLETELY different topic, but somehow able to be worked into the title, is Christianity. I have been having difficulty wrapping my head around the religiosity of my community and the majority of Swaziland. Please, in no way do I want to sound or be deemed judgmental. I just want to share this struggle. Approaching the topics of religion and politics can be considered taboo in America, depending on your company. In Swaziland, approaching the topic of politics can and will land you in jail if it against the King, but religion is as much a “small talk” topic as the weather is. For example, while walking with my sisi a few men, purely in greeting, asked if we were “saved”. Just shy of 100% of Swazis are Christian. Almost everyone’s (including the youth) favorite music is gospel. Although the community I was raised in had little diversity when it came to religion, and was mostly Christian, this is a somewhat shocking experience. The best way I can explain it is to say that I always feel like it is “over the top”. Personally, it is so present in everything that it seems like an energizing, fun routine or social expectation.
Being Christian myself, I thought this would be a wonderful entry point for me to bring up and justify safe practices regarding HIV/AIDs! Surprisingly and very frustratingly, this is not always the case. Having multiple sex partners, both in and out of marriage, is a contributing factor to the spread of HIV. Definitely not Christian!! But I have heard people who attempt to justify promiscuous actions based on their “Swazi culture” (traditionally polygamous), even though promiscuity does not follow Christianity OR a true polygamy. Pre-marital sex is anti-Christian, yet to get a woman pregnant out of wed-lock is more common than not. It is like a step in the courting process, sort of equivalent to an engagement ring. It lays claim for a possible future “union”. Homosexuality is against the law and punishable under that law, but faithlessness/adultery is a non-spoken social norm. Being inundated with gospel music, 3-5 hour church services, and salvation bus conversations could energize and boost my faith, but instead it leaves me struggling to sort out the oxymoron of “cultural Christianity”.
On a lighter note: I would like to close this entry with a verbal Polaroid. The other day there was a moment that I soooo wished was captured on film, but alas, no camera in sight. Thus, with my limited writing skills, I will attempt to paint you the picture. One of my two older female siblings has a 6 year old girl and a 7mon old baby boy. Both are a handful and constant attention seekers, so I, being a dutiful Aunt (“Make Lomcane” in siSwati = Small Mother) help feed their fire. On this occasion I volunteered to carry and walk the baby. I did it Swazi style – on my back and tied on with a blanket. :-) After we collected my laundry off the line and attempted to help my Make shuck the dried corn (making me feel rather domestic), the dog jumped up on my leg and I petted him behind the ears. SNAPSHOT!! There is my perfect family portrait, or for some reason that is what crossed my mind at the time. Yes, it has occurred to me that this shot has some flaws. It is minus 1 husband, has a child quite obviously stolen, and my bhuti would cry if I tried to claim his dog, but come on - work with me here. :-) It seems to me like a borrowed and pieced together picture of a possible future self. Yikes! Haha.
Well, thanks for reading my rants and tangents. Sorry to those who can’t follow my random train of thought, and even greater apology to those who can! :-P Free virtual hugs for all!
6:22pm
As I write this blog post, I can hear my family cheering and laughing in the house. They are watching the second most popular sport in Swaziland (just shy of soccer): American “if these moves were real we would be dead 50 times a night” Wrestling (WWE). In training, we were warned never to question the validity of this “sport” because we would instantly be ostracized and maybe even exiled from our communities! Well, now yours truly has to integrate into a culture that LOVES wrestling. By the end of my 2 years I will not only know how to fight HIV/AIDS in a developing county, I will also be able to name all the men, wearing less fabric than my bikini over their gloss spritzed muscles, who can “pile drive” and “nut crush” and “clothes line” and … whatever. Yay for me. ** I apologize to any readers who enjoy WWE and are annoyed or upset at my sarcasm … sort of.** :-)
COMPLETELY different topic, but somehow able to be worked into the title, is Christianity. I have been having difficulty wrapping my head around the religiosity of my community and the majority of Swaziland. Please, in no way do I want to sound or be deemed judgmental. I just want to share this struggle. Approaching the topics of religion and politics can be considered taboo in America, depending on your company. In Swaziland, approaching the topic of politics can and will land you in jail if it against the King, but religion is as much a “small talk” topic as the weather is. For example, while walking with my sisi a few men, purely in greeting, asked if we were “saved”. Just shy of 100% of Swazis are Christian. Almost everyone’s (including the youth) favorite music is gospel. Although the community I was raised in had little diversity when it came to religion, and was mostly Christian, this is a somewhat shocking experience. The best way I can explain it is to say that I always feel like it is “over the top”. Personally, it is so present in everything that it seems like an energizing, fun routine or social expectation.
Being Christian myself, I thought this would be a wonderful entry point for me to bring up and justify safe practices regarding HIV/AIDs! Surprisingly and very frustratingly, this is not always the case. Having multiple sex partners, both in and out of marriage, is a contributing factor to the spread of HIV. Definitely not Christian!! But I have heard people who attempt to justify promiscuous actions based on their “Swazi culture” (traditionally polygamous), even though promiscuity does not follow Christianity OR a true polygamy. Pre-marital sex is anti-Christian, yet to get a woman pregnant out of wed-lock is more common than not. It is like a step in the courting process, sort of equivalent to an engagement ring. It lays claim for a possible future “union”. Homosexuality is against the law and punishable under that law, but faithlessness/adultery is a non-spoken social norm. Being inundated with gospel music, 3-5 hour church services, and salvation bus conversations could energize and boost my faith, but instead it leaves me struggling to sort out the oxymoron of “cultural Christianity”.
On a lighter note: I would like to close this entry with a verbal Polaroid. The other day there was a moment that I soooo wished was captured on film, but alas, no camera in sight. Thus, with my limited writing skills, I will attempt to paint you the picture. One of my two older female siblings has a 6 year old girl and a 7mon old baby boy. Both are a handful and constant attention seekers, so I, being a dutiful Aunt (“Make Lomcane” in siSwati = Small Mother) help feed their fire. On this occasion I volunteered to carry and walk the baby. I did it Swazi style – on my back and tied on with a blanket. :-) After we collected my laundry off the line and attempted to help my Make shuck the dried corn (making me feel rather domestic), the dog jumped up on my leg and I petted him behind the ears. SNAPSHOT!! There is my perfect family portrait, or for some reason that is what crossed my mind at the time. Yes, it has occurred to me that this shot has some flaws. It is minus 1 husband, has a child quite obviously stolen, and my bhuti would cry if I tried to claim his dog, but come on - work with me here. :-) It seems to me like a borrowed and pieced together picture of a possible future self. Yikes! Haha.
Well, thanks for reading my rants and tangents. Sorry to those who can’t follow my random train of thought, and even greater apology to those who can! :-P Free virtual hugs for all!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
A Few More Pics!
Sorry guys, I am still trying to learn how to use this program. The last post was suppose to have more than one photo! Oh well. Here are some more, and I will get more pictures posted soon... I promise. Hugs!!
This picture is of the community project we did at a primary school during training. Of course, who would be thrown up there to entertain the kids... Zodwa and Nomathemba (Kate). We had a blast and every kid got a red and white yarn braclet to wear proudly.
I am now an official PC Volunteer! I even have the certificate to prove it. :-) I am also wearing a traditional Lahiya and sporting my new Swaziland flag bag that was a gift from the PC.
While away at a game reserve for a night I got to participate in traditional dancing! I ain't too shabby. :-)
We were so excited to finally spot some African animals. Yay to Zebras! Rachel is on the left and Kate is on the right.
I promised I would post a pic of the corn-rows... probably won't be doin' that ever again, but it was fun once.
This picture is of the community project we did at a primary school during training. Of course, who would be thrown up there to entertain the kids... Zodwa and Nomathemba (Kate). We had a blast and every kid got a red and white yarn braclet to wear proudly. 
I am now an official PC Volunteer! I even have the certificate to prove it. :-) I am also wearing a traditional Lahiya and sporting my new Swaziland flag bag that was a gift from the PC.
While away at a game reserve for a night I got to participate in traditional dancing! I ain't too shabby. :-)
We were so excited to finally spot some African animals. Yay to Zebras! Rachel is on the left and Kate is on the right. 
I promised I would post a pic of the corn-rows... probably won't be doin' that ever again, but it was fun once.Pictures Worth 1000 Words
1
This is Make Mamba and myself only a few days before I left for Ekuphumleni. She still calls me to say "hi". In this picture she is making a braided rope out of tall grasses. She also made the grass mat she is sitting on, and gave me one as a going away gift.
This is Make Mamba and myself only a few days before I left for Ekuphumleni. She still calls me to say "hi". In this picture she is making a braided rope out of tall grasses. She also made the grass mat she is sitting on, and gave me one as a going away gift.
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