Making Mud Pies/Walls
I don’t believe I have written before about my work with the community support group. I have become a member of a HIV +/- support group started by World Vision. Using my American perceptions, I pictured the support group to be a great psychosocially healthy experience where individuals sat in a circle and shared their experiences, challenges, knowledge, and resources (and if your mind also went to the musical RENT – singing about it :-P). My group has a different definition of support: financial. I have been told by other volunteers that this is a common focus of almost all such groups. People don’t wish to join a group that won’t provide them with some type of food or income generation. Not to fear though, I am also told that once the business aspects of the group are solidified, people have been more receptive to psychosocial discussions and education led by the volunteer! So, short of getting them singing, I hope in time I can assist the group in more than physical labor. Although, this is what I was doing when creating the story worthy moment (and pictures) I want to share in this entry. :-)
Every Saturday morning a group of about 6-12 women and 1 man (1 of only 2 males in the group) gather to continue to construct the chicken coop that the group has decided will be its income generation project. Previous Saturdays I have joined the women on their 20min track out to the woods to hack down some small trees as poles. I have to admit I was not naturally talented at this task, especially when they insisted I close my eyes because the sap is thought to cause blindness. Carrying the trees/poles on my head or shoulders was also a bit tricky to master, but after finding the balancing point it is not too difficult. A moment I wish I had had a camera for, though, was when I produced my membership contribution to the project: a live chicken. My Make (also a member) and I walked to the meeting together that day. I had on a baby blue baseball cap, salmon colored long sleeve sun shirt, and brown capris with a lihiya (long colorful fabric) wrapped around my taboo pants. I was a funny site to begin with. Now add to this comic picture a black live chicken under one arm and a 2 meter stick in the other! :-) We were quite the pair walking down the dirt road that day.
Somehow I have digressed from the story at hand! My most recent visit to the project, 2/13/10, started as they usually do… me completely clueless of what is happening and how I can possibly help. Behind the stick structure with a tin roof that has been constructed from our previous trips to the woods, a few women start digging up the earth and putting soil into a wheelbarrow. I think, “I can do that!” and grab myself a tool. This, as does everything else that involves me working, shocks all of the Swazis I in my presence. Many say, “Uyakwati!” which means “You know how!” Anyway, after a quite the pile of soil as been moved from its home behind the coop to the front, a bucket of water is poured on it and a few women take their shoes off and start mixing it with their feet!! Heck yeah! I was all about the mud stomping! My shoes quickly came off and I dug my toes into the gushy, mucky, probably bug infested natural goo. Laughter immediately ensued from the women and myself! A scene from “A Walk in the Clouds” came to mind and “Crush the grapes! Crush the grapes! Crush the grapes!” musically repeated itself over and over again. :-P
The mud that we were so gracefully creating (sarcasm alert – I almost slipped multiple times!), was slapped up against the stick walls as a plaster. I now know how to make the stick and mud structures that a large percentage of my community lives in. It was an interesting experience, and luckily I had my camera on me for it! Hopefully the project will be completed in a month… maybe two… and then I will try to get everyone to set a bit of time aside at the monthly meetings to discuss health related topics of their choosing. Right now I am enjoying the physical activity, the bonding opportunities with my neighbors, and an experience that allows me to finally put my childhood mud pie making skills to good use!
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