2 Months Late - Holiday Stories

Wow. Every part of my Type A personality is screaming right now. I wrote the following blog at my house within the first couple weeks of January. I wanted to get some pictures from Cameron to go with it. Next thing I know, it is the end of FEBRUARY!! What happened!? I'm staying busy, that's for sure. :-) Hope you enjoy.

Vic Falls Vacation

I really want the beautiful pictures, which Cameron took, to show how much fun we had on our pre-Christmas vacation to Victoria Falls. The falls are between Zambia and Zimbabwe on the great Zambezi River. I had the pleasure of visiting these breathtaking waterfalls with my mother in March 2011, but just like the differing water levels over the falls this trip was also quite different and just as perfect… perfectly adrenaline saturated that is.

Within a few hours of arriving we both jumped off the Unity Bridge which connects the two countries. The following day we made our way down the rapids of the Zambezi River on individual inflatable kayaks. I can say that I probably swam more rapids than successfully kayaked, but it was a great day nonetheless. Our guide called it the triathlon: you hiked down and then back out of the steep gorge, you kayaked some rapids, and you ended up swimming even more of them!

On our last full day in Zambia we decided to go out to Livingstone Island situated right at the top of the falls. At the backpackers we were given two options for this adventure. We could boat out there or walk for a little less. As PCVs, we are certainly not adverse to walking or saving money, so we opted for the walk. Little did we know “walking” to the island means gingerly stepping from slippery rock to slippery rock, with strong currents up to your knees, holding on to nothing but the local guide and an equally terrified Cameron. Earlier in the year the water levels are so much lower that the way is dry and much less dangerous. What takes 30minutes to traverse then took us 1 ½ hours to safely cross. They were going to close down this activity all together within two weeks due to the rising waters. We got some great pictures at the precipice of the falls, but we chose the boat ride on the way back.

While on the island, though, you can swim up and across a current to jump into Devil’s Pool. This is a small catchment of water, held in by a small rock ledge, before tumbling over the edge. Cameron and I both sat on that ledge knowing that if we moved back more than a foot we’d be heading over as well.

With all of that unexpected excitement we decided to relax that afternoon and go out for drinks and then dinner at the Royal Livingstone Hotel, on the river, that night. We bopped over to Zimbabwe for our final morning to see the falls from that side of the bridge. It was certainly a spectacular view from both sides. From that point, though, we could see the places we were walking and swimming just the day before from a completely different vantage point. Great pictures were taken.

We hurried back across the border and bridge to grab our bags and make our flight back to Jo’Burg, South Africa. I guess I carried an unwanted souvenir back with me: a stomach bug. Our night at the Jo’Burg backpackers and 4 hour shuttle ride to Swaziland the following day was not so much fun. Luckily it didn’t last for more than a couple days.











Conference Money Update & Thank Yous!

This past week we received an update on how our fund raising efforts are going for sending our Teen Club members to the International AIDS Conference. Thanks to everyone who has already contributed to this amazing effort we are currently able to send two teens to the US! We are still working to get our numbers within our goal range of 3-6 awesome representatives, but this is such an overwhelmingly positive response. For those of you who donated for me or are planning on donating: thank you so very very very much!!! I couldn’t feel more supported and loved.

We also narrowed our selection of these stellar teens from 70 to 11, based on their age (must be 16years old or older to attend this conference), their attendance and participation in teen club, adherence to their medication and clinical staff recommendations. These 11 came into the clinic this past Wednesday for our first meeting and workshop. We discussed timelines, final selection process, conference requirements, conference programs, and then had a mini-workshop on scholarship/application writing and public speaking. These truly amazing teens will come back in this Thursday to hand in their scholarship applications and give a small presentation based on a question we gave them at the end of our previous meeting. Choosing the final six to register and submit, I already know, will be very difficult.

Christmas/New Year’s Eve

I hope everyone enjoyed this holiday season as much as I did. Even carrying back the stomach bug souvenir from the Zambezi River, I had a terrific Christmas day with my PCV family. We ate good food, went to the Christmas vigil service (complete with Swazi-fied manger scene  ), ate more good food, opened gifts from each other and Santa, listened to Christmas music the entire time, and watched one of my favorite Christmas movies: Love Actually.

Come to think of it, my New Year’s Eve was very similar. Same friends, same location, and the same caliber of amazing food and drinks! The only differences were that I was sans a stomach bug, we lit off fire crackers (per Swazi tradition) at midnight, and danced in our living room… ‘til 3am. It was a perfect way to welcome in 2012.

Visiting Site

The first weekend of January I took a trip to visit my host family, the Broodryks, and friends in Ekuphumleni. It is hard to believe that 5 months have come and gone since I have last slept in my thatched roof hut and dined on Make’s excellent emahewu (soured maize meal drink). To be honest, I was a bit anxious to get on my deathtraps, I mean public transport buses, and make the journey across the country. Luckily, the bus broke down only a little and I was to the Dlamini homestead by 12:30 on the Saturday afternoon. I’m also very grateful that the rare set of clouds had decided to follow me down from the mountains, cooling the blistering hot summer days I have not missed in the lowveld. It was probably only in the 80s. :-)

My family is doing great! I got to give everyone massive hugs, which they still laugh hysterically at, and twirl every child. Babe was home and even one of my sisis and her baby, who live off the homestead now. We played cards, talked, watched Cameron’s and my bungee videos (they were shocked), and made/ate every maize dish that I had not had since living there. They even kicked my bhuti, Lindo, out of “Zodwa’s house”, so I was able to sleep in my thatched hut yet again. The spiders and lizards missed me. :-P Lindo have even written “Welcome Back” in the house. It was good to be home.

Sunday I was able to walk up to A1 and visit my counterpart, Vusi, the Group 9 volunteer that was stationed in my community after I left, and the Broodryk family. This was also a wonderful afternoon spent relaxing, catching up, and even watching Extreme Home Makeover on TLC! Ha! I left to come back up to Mbabane on Monday with Johanne, who quite conveniently had to do some errands in the capital! No bumpy rattle boxes on wheels for me on the way back! Yay!

Data Collection/Grant Writing

The first Teen Club of 2012 was certainly a busy one! We are currently applying for grants to keep Teen Club going, and to do that we need to show that Teen Club works. To prove that these support groups are as awesome as I know they are, we are performing an evaluation of the program that includes 184 youth interviews, 4 volunteer interviews, 8 participant focus group sessions, and an interview with the coordinator: me.

Most Important Post Ever -- MUST READ

This blog post is probably the most dear to me, and I will not have written much of it. Instead of writing my own blog account of this amazing opportunity for the youth I serve and how you can help, I have copied Cameron's very moving and personal description and posted it below. Remember as you read it that my feelings about this program are the same, my desires and hopes are the same, and that all of the volunteers listed below are working together (completely outside of normal working hours) to make this happen. Thank you for all of your help, love, and support! Merry Christmas. - Darryn / Auntie Zodwa

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Many of you have heard me rant about Teen Club. If you haven’t, then I have failed you: either as a friend or as a frenemy. Teen Club is a support group for HIV positive kids and teens; a support group that I have had the luck to be able to work with for the last two years here in Swaziland.


In my two and a half years in Peace Corps service, I have had nadirs and peaks in dealing with this world; I have had traumas and blessings. Working with Teen Club has been the richest and most satisfying work that I have ever done... that I probably will ever do... and it is with that in mind that I write to you today.


Nothing has changed either me or the content of my character as Teen Club has. I am forever indebted to them, all 1000 or more of them, for the way in which they have affected my life. They took a ragged, broken part of me and made it whole. They showed me that it doesn’t matter than I am goofy or weird, or that I like science too much; they showed me that as long as I act like an idiot, that I can make someone smile. They made me remember that as we walk through our bland adult lives, that the colours and the tastes and the loves and the hopes of the days jejune that we had once still exist around us. They showed me more about myself and the world than I ever thought I would know. They made me see the brilliance of the human condition, the spirit that embodies hope, and the reasons I really have to live and love and learn and lose and long and every other thing that makes life great. They have done for me more than any other.

These kids have changed my life. Now it is my turn to change theirs.


On July 22nd, 2012 the 19th annual International AIDS Conference will take place in the District of Columbia, in the good old United Stated of America. For the last five months, I have had the pleasure of working with Darryn Crocker, Allie Bailey Hughey, Kimberly Johnson, and Rachel Piper to pave the way for some of our teens to take part in this conference.



These teens are the future of Swaziland. I owe it to them to help give them what I can; to help build a brighter future for them.


As of last week, Baylor Texas Children’s Hospital [the organization that Baylor Clinic gets its funding through] put up a comment tab on their donation site. It was then that we began raising money to bring some of our bright, smart, outspoken teens to Washington D.C. to contribute in an international dialogue on what the future of HIV treatment, care and support will and should look like. As of last week we started making our dream a reality.


I stayed for them. I stayed because I believe in them. I stayed because I will make sure that they get to tell their stories at the XIX International AIDS Conference.


I want you to do two things right now: Step one, look at the picture above. I owe the kids, at least enough to ask you for five bucks to help them get to this conference. Step two, tell two people about this. It isn’t crazy to dream of being able to bring our kids to America. Even if it was, I would think it otherwise. This is doable. With your help – with the help of your families and co-workers and nephews and former room-mates – I can show some of these kids the Washington monument on my birthday, July 22nd, 2012, and know that I can die happy.

How to donate:

1. Go to this page (or swazilandteenclub.wordpress.com, which will link you there)

2. Click on “donate now”

3. Enter your donation information.

4. Click on the drop-down bar and select SWAZILAND TEEN CLUB. In the comments section you MUST write “AIDS CONFERENCE”. If you do not write that, your donation will go to other Teen Club activities. That is still nice, but it won’t help us get our kids to D.C.

5. Feel absurdly satisfied with your life as a whole. You are amazing. People love you. Hell, I think you are the coolest person I know. Go outside. You feel that sun on your face? Bet it feels pretty good. That’s good-karma sun right there. Need some coffee? No worries, hit that Starbuck’s down the street. When you roll into that drive-thru and throw 8 bucks at a cashier for two kinds of chocolaty drink, you are going to feel like a boss.



If you are a visual learner... then here you go!


From here you make it look like this.


Then like this. Do it like the pretty pictures say to.



This is all I want for Christmas. This is all I want for Hanukkah. This is all I want for my birthday next year (he said, begrudgingly, knowing he wouldn’t have a job in 2012 when he returns to America) and for Valentine’s Day and for Labour Day and for Secretary’s Day (that one seems a bit dated to me... is it still called Secretary's Day?) Don’t send me more packages. Don’t send me sweets. Just take that money and put it into this fund.


Do this for me and I promise that when I welcome these kids at the causeway next summer, that you will feel better than you have ever felt in your entire life.



Thank you kindly and happy holidays,


Cameron Price

Surviving Christmas

December 14th, 2011
8:36pm

I barely survived Christmas and it is only December 14th.

You had Black Friday with crazed mobs going for the last (insert whatever was popular this year – ibook thing - I don’t know. I’m in Africa). Well, I had almost 500 people descend upon one school yard and me looking for festive frolics and frivolity. Did you ever stop to think how that ibook felt? Something along the lines of, “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”.

This last weekend we had the Teen Club Christmas/Party. It was epic, and most certainly the biggest event that I have ever put together. All of the teens from the 5 different sites (1 new site is being run by MSF/Doctors Without Borders) got together at the Nazarene High School in Manzini for an end of the year bash. Planning for this massive shin dig has been in the works for a couple of months already. I was feeling pretty cocky about my mad organizational skills about two weeks out from the big day. Food had been ordered. Buses were hired. Donations were secured. Right on schedule. Then I was called into the Executive Director’s office…

We had been given an opportunity of a lifetime: the entire Christmas party would be paid for and then some by UNFPA!! All I would have to do is change almost everything that had been finalized and start from scratch by writing an entirely new budget (9 days til X-mas). Then losing all control of the decisions and especially the speed at which those decisions were made (5 days ‘til X-mas). Then having to create more educational activities around specific health topics required by our funding source (3 days til X-mas). Receiving supplies to do all of the above mentioned items (15 hours ‘til X-mas). Losing my mind, if you are under the assumption I had one to begin with, (28 minutes to X-mas). Then we just smiled and jumped in! T - ZERO minutes to X-mas happened at 7am this past Saturday when we arrived at the site … kids started arriving shortly after.

I ran around like a mad woman wearing green and red. I could tell you all about the snafus and obstacles that cropped up every few minutes, like the power outlet not working for the inflatable bouncy castle (that showed up 3 hours late) or the two classrooms that didn’t seem to have corresponding keys on the ring. I could tell you about the Santa that couldn’t make it or the transport money that was in E200 notes instead of E5 coins, but that is just seeing the yucky admin side of the day. Instead, I’d like to show you what my kids saw.

They got to the Nazarene High School and found a large tent in the parking lot blasting Christmas tunes. Inside were registration tables and a morning snack. Games were being played in a grassy area behind the new makeshift parking lot. At 10am everyone was gathered to listen to Auntie Zodwa (me) and my awesome friend and translator, Wandile, for beginning announcements. The teens couldn’t go to the carnival array of activities yet. They first had to pick up their new drawstring backpacks and ruler/pencil sets that said, “I’m the World’s Greatest”. Which, of course, they are.

Then it was off to the games! They had to make very tough decisions…”Should I get my face painted first or take a picture with Santa?” or “Would it be best to make this awesome Christmas craft or go play medication adherence jump rope?”. Yes, the educational games were still fun AND gave out candy! We had old favorites like Delaying Sexual Debut Limbo, HIV Knowledge Memory Game, Med Adherence Jump Rope, and Finding Support Fall Circle. When the kids had a moment in between the fun learning games they got to put on a fashion show, dance, play soccer, get a glass of juice, make a Christmas card, pose with Santa, jump on a colorful castle of air, get a candy cane painted on a cheek (flags and soccer teams came out later), or relax and talk with friends from camp that have been attending a different Teen Club site. At 12pm-ish everyone finished up gluing the last bulb on the construction paper Christmas tree or remembering where the correct answer card was to that HIV question and filed into the lecture hall. The MSF/Doctors Without Borders expert client drama group performed a skit about preventing mother to child transmission (PMTCT in acronym speak). Then Auntie Zodwa gave out the graduation certificates to our >19 year olds, new policy announcements for 2012, and appreciation to the Teen Leaders, adult volunteers, and everyone that made 2011 Teen Club possible. The Teen Club anthem, “World’s Greatest”, being performed by ~400 kids and ~60 volunteers was the most moving experience of my extension year so far. Amazing.

Everyone got hot food, cold drink, and a cookie before grabbing a baggy with exactly double the amount of transport money needed for them to make the return trip to their homestead which could have been located in anyone of the four regions of Swaziland. Armed with a neon colored backpack declaring their awesomeness, fun memories, health information, and holiday joy, they got back on the bus or public transport vehicle that brought them to the site just 5 hours before.

Sadly, I am still not allowed to post pictures on this blog of our Teen Club shenanigans. Thus you MUST go to swazilandteenclub.wordpress.com to see all of the wonders I described above. Below is the best representation of how I was feeling during the day, and why I need the vacation Cam and I are planning to Victory Falls for next week!


Taken at around 9am Saturday morning.

Where Did October Go?

November 7, 2011
1:22pm

I feel that many of my blogs this coming year are going to start with the same apologies for not getting an entry posted sooner. This blog is no exception. I’m quite shocked to type the date in at the top of the page! Where has the time gone? Why have I been so darn busy? Doesn’t October come after September? Hopefully this blog entry will shed some light on those questions, for my benefit and yours.

I blame work. Although my position at Baylor probably should not have to carry the full brunt of culpability when auditing my time, it sure took up a large part of it! The last month I have been flying solo after my September orientation. The five Skillshare volunteers working in my “team” have really been flexible with my learning curve, and have actually attended their mid-term meeting last week. Four out of the five of them are only here for 3 months, so all of their training will have to be repeated come January! Managing others is a skill that I have certainly had the opportunity to develop, and I would like to think that they have learned new skills from this experience as well.

October’s Teen Club lesson plan included the life skill topic of “basic finances”. We discussed the concepts of wants vs needs, and how saving your money, instead of the immediate gratification of a sweet or a cold drink, can accumulate quite quickly. This is a concept that is not well adopted in this culture, and can really help these youth plant the seed that it is better to look and plan for the future. The younger youth (10-14) had the opportunity to perform dramas/skits about how to keep money safe (ie putting in a bank, not showing it off, keeping bags zipped on transport, hiding it someplace secret, etc). FNB (First National Bank), a large bank in Swaziland, sent representatives to discuss banking basics with our 15-19 year old teens. It was a wonderful collaboration, and really gave the youth a chance to learn something that they would probably never have had exposure to otherwise.

Sadly, I would love to post all of the amazing pictures that we take at our Teen Club sessions, but I cannot. Many of our teens have not disclosed their status to family or friends in their own community. Stigma is so bad in this country, that they feel they have to keep their status a secret for their own protection and wellbeing. Thus, it would be wrong of me to post their pictures on a public site for the entire world to see. We do have all of our youths’ guardians sign consent forms, and one of the questions on this sheet is consenting to photography to be used by Baylor. Some of our youth are at a place where they feel comfortable with this, and some of those photos can be viewed on the Teen Club webpage: swazilandteenclub.wordpress.com. Even if I am not in the photos, I am running around at each of those sessions organizing the volunteers, discussing the lesson plan with the Teen Leaders (who have been trained and empowered to lead some of the lesson material), juggling the food and transport money, keeping time, and a laundry list of other expected and unexpected tasks (during the last month some of these “surprises” have included: a child’s sprained wrist with first aid, power outage, stolen yogurt, neighbor’s complaint of a night guard jumping a fence to take avocados, and sudden lack of adult volunteers, among others). I really recommend you visit this site to see the Teen Club aspect of my work!

**

With the Christmas season coming up and many of us looking for a charitable organization to bestow a holiday gift to, I would like to put Teen Club and our other psychosocial support programs on your radar. There is a donation page on the Teen Club website, which can be accessed all year round. There will also be a unique opportunity for 3-6 of our older Teen Club youth to attend the International AIDS Conference in Washington DC next July! I and two other volunteers are working through all the logistical planning right now, and will be getting back to you regarding how to best support this amazing, once in a lifetime experience for these teens. For family and friends – please know that all Christmas gifts to me will be going to this program. Thank you in advance for your generosity!

The final weekend in October happened to hold a treasured 5th Saturday, which meant no Teen Club. Being Halloween weekend, this worked really well. My Mbabane “family”, which includes the PCVs that live in my apartment and the one just downstairs, went on a ~10k hike up a mountain called Sheba’s Breast. It was a beautiful overcast day, and the trail was perfectly challenging. We treated ourselves to a delicious meal in the Ezulwini valley and went straight home to take a much needed nap. Transforming our apartment into an obvious place of Halloween frivolity did not take much time with our printed out witches, bats, haunted houses, and signs. Transforming ourselves into amazing Star Wars characters took a bit more effort. With the help of Laura, Nancy, and a couple bottles of hairspray, I became Princess Leia. Laura was my honey bunny, Han Solo, and Brandon was my bro, Luke Skywalker. Quite fitting relationships if you ask me. Our guest list included Dexter and his victim, Frankenstein’s Monster, two zebras, Waldo, two khumbi conductors, Pinky from Pac Man, mysterious masked fairy, and MTN airtime sellers, among others. It was a really fun shindig. On the actual Halloween night, Cameron (my boyfriend and additional October time consumer :-P) and I watched “Hocus Pocus”! My favorite Halloween movie, and probably the scariest one I could handle. :-)

** Although living in the capital and it being a beautifully sunny day, our power went out. I am just finishing this blog at 8:42pm. Oh Africa.




Birthday picture, as promised. An amazing spread plus amazing friends!


All of the extending Group 7 volunteers were asked into the PC office for a meeting. This is how we chose to spend the time directly after.


Taking a break at about 2/3 the way up Sheba's Breast.


Han, Leia, and Dexter, plus their doppelgangers. :-P


Yay Star War Roomies!

Wine Tasting Birthday & Exhausting Week

Monday September 26th, 2011
11:26am

Firstly, I must thank everyone that made my birthday (over a week ago) super super special!! The cards, emails, facebook messages, gifts, and surprise shindig made me feel amazingly loved. I can’t express the gratitude to all of you for making my 25 years on this beautiful planet so fantastic. Cheers to a quarter of a century of knowing me or 5 days; either way, you make my life better! Thank you.

Now for the details: For all intents and purposes, my birthday celebrations started Friday night. There was supposed to be a highly revered DJ Cleo show at a unique performance venue, House on Fire. At the last minute, he cancelled and was replaced by two local DJs. We went anyway and joined the very large representation of Peace Corps Volunteers. Dancing to the very techno sounds of “house music” is sometimes challenging for us westerners, but we had a blast nonetheless. Some friends and I were even photographed and made appearances in both Monday’s and Tuesday’s newspapers. Under a picture of some of my PC friends dancing they wrote, “Fun lovers doing a popular Duran dance style”! I can tell you none of them had spent more than 48 hours in Durban in their life. Good reporting Swaziland Times.

Saturday’s Teen Club went well in Mbabane. Our “Stress” lesson plan has been well accepted by the youth. They especially like the session were they discuss physical stress relievers and get up and dance. These kids school me in sweet dance moves. :-P The other two sections of the lesson plan cover relaxation coping methods (ie breathing, tension/relaxation exercises, and guided imagery) and a game which looks at what helps and what does not help with stress (ie talking to a friend vs ignoring stressor or taking drugs).

I went to church on Sunday morning. I figured if there was anything I needed to do on my actual birthday, it was to go thank God for my life. Although I was told there was an 8am mass in English, I arrived to find out that it was a special day for the church and all services were going to be combined at 9am. It was a very long mass with the multiple translations and special music, but it was still a great way to start my birthday. I got home in the early afternoon and planned on having a relaxing day with the roomies. Unbeknownst to me, other plans were brewing. Under the pretext of work and gift giving my friends lured me downstairs into Kramessa’s place (apartment in our complex that houses PCV friends Kris, Cameron, and Vanessa :-P). When we returned to my apartment, I was greeted with a boisterous, “SURPRISE” from many of my closest Swaziland friends, decorations, and a table spread with wines, cheeses, and veggies of every type! They had planned a wine tasting party where we tasted an assortment of different types and vintages as Laura read about them out of a Wine Lover’s Guidebook! It was so much fun! They even made me a yummy pasta dinner and a cake in the shape of a popcorn kernel!! Hahaha. Do they know me or what?! :-) It was a perfect birthday.

Everyday since then has been an absolute whirlwind!! My 7:30a-4:30p days at Baylor turned into 7-dusk (~5:40pm) with working lunch breaks! This is Kim’s (my predecessor) last week, so I was trying to extract every bit of information from her that was humanly possible and didn’t verge on torture. On Tuesday the 5 volunteers from the UK that make up my Teen Club team arrived. Orientating them, getting my work done, giving a presentation with my Country Director and Brandon at an international High School for Peace Day (Wednesday), and attempting to learn more from Kim kept me hopping. Multiple nights I came home so mentally exhausted that I couldn’t decide between food, sleep, and a hot shower/bath.

Thus, this has my first opportunity to write a blog entry on my blissfully wonderful day off. I apologize for not responding to emails or facebook messages, and will certainly be more prompt with responses after my team is adequately trained and flying solo. Thank you again for all of your support, love, and happy birthday wishes!

Sorry - Photos to come

Apartment Pictures (post- unpacking hurricane)

This is my bedroom! To the left of the frame is built in closet cabinets.


This is actually a "before" picture of the kitchen, but not a lot has changed. We did get a fridge/freezer and a toaster!


This is the den or study. :-) The other side of the room has two stuffed bookshelves.


This picture was taken in the middle of the living room space. Directly left, out of the frame, is our entrance door. To the right, the hallway to my bedroom, the den, and bathroom. The glass doors behind the kitchen table go out to our small balcony. In the corner is the small stairwell up to Laura and Brandon's room and bathroom. To the left of the kitchen table is the kitchen.


This picture was taken standing infront of the kitchen table facing the living room! My favorite spot to sit is next to the lamp on the couch to the left. :-P

There Goes the Neighborhood

Wednesday September 7th, 2011
7:40pm

I am sitting on my couch, after taking a real shower, and conversing with my English speaking roommates about the 9-5 jobs we all recently started. Hard to believe this is still Swaziland.

Although, it didn’t take me long to realize that it wasn’t America anymore. Two weeks ago tomorrow I opened the door to my apartment, after a brutal 36 hour / 3 continent trip, to find stacks of tiles, cement, a pile of ripped up carpet, a broken window, and two men welcoming me back. After months and months of discussions with the government run organization in charge of renting out these apartments and multiple promises that all of the renovations and necessary fixes would be completed by my move-in date, I found out all the work started one day before I arrived. I was exhausted. I was homeless. I REALLY missed America. Things like this just don’t happen in the fantastical land I had played in for a month. Damn Swaziland. Humph.

Luckily, I have awesome friends who put me up for the night with a bottle of wine (three sips of which and I was unconscious), a bed, and a snuggie(yup, care package items to Africa are crazy). Supposedly the gentlemen working in my apartment were going to be finished the following day… which then became the day after that at 1pm…. which turned into just after 3pm on Saturday. By 6:30pm I, 2 saints masquerading as my friends, and an awesome Peace Corps driver had carried all of our bags and furniture (4 PACKED trips in a good sized truck) up 3 flights of stairs into my new home.

Laura and Brandon** missed out on all of that fun, but certainly had plenty waiting for them when they landed in Swaziland the following day, Sunday. The subsequent few days’ activities included intense unpacking, cleaning, furniture arranging, household item shopping, and general nesting. Our efforts really paid off, because now this apartment is by far my favorite place in Swaziland… just don’t tell my hut. :-P

For me, work started on the 2nd of September. I guess I have not done an adequate job of describing my new position, because of many inquires while I was home. Summarized: I organize and put on support groups for HIV+ teens (10-19) at 4 different sites around the country. These support groups are called “Teen Clubs” and include games and activities, an educational topic and lesson, and food before the youth return to their homesteads. Baylor, the medical university in Texas, has clinics in multiple African countries to aid in the treatment of maternal and pediatric HIV and associated illnesses. Teen Clubs and a handful of other smaller programs I’m working on are a part of Baylor’s psychosocial support initiative. My official title is Teen Club Coordinator, and I will manage all other volunteers that come to Baylor to assist with our youth programs. In Swaziland, this program is just about a year old with lots of opportunity to develop and expand. After the first few days on the job, I’m as excited as ever to be a part of that growth.

I hope everyone enjoyed Labor Day! Monday I was working, but here everyone got September 6th off for Somhlolo Day (Independence Day). There weren’t any fireworks or huge national events, but everyone enjoys taking a day off of work. I celebrated Swaziland’s end to British colonization by going for a hike with a few other friends up Sibebe Rock, which is a famous mountain very near the capital city. Unlike my previous Swazi abode location, I am up in the mountains where temperatures stay cooler and not every plan has two inch thorns. The views were beautiful, and the rock climbing was quite adventurous. Happy Independence!!

So, all in all, I have to say I’ve had a pretty productive first couple weeks back on the African continent. Even with the rocky start (and end ;-) CORNY!!), I’m glad to be back and continuing my service in Swaziland. I think it is where I’m supposed to be, for now.

**Honestly, the BESTEST roommates EVER!

Move-In Day Pictures


Bedroom


Living/Dining Room (and Laura and Brandon's Bed)


Den


A beer with the awesome roommates in our new apartment on our first night.