Update from Africa

So this will probably be my last posting until I come home (so soon!).  Things have been picking up in the work department – especially after a difficult discussion with the culture barriers in full effect.  Apparently UBC gives part of our program costs to the organization to assist with things like transportation while on our placement.  So, 7 weeks into our placement we receive these funds and we are able to visit support groups! 

At our first support group the ladies were very kind and explained what being in a support group means to them (through our translator/colleague Thabiso).  It is a place for them to be with their peers – other HIV positive women – and it is a chance to share information.  Also the women have a mini co-op on meeting days – the people that have fruit bring it to share as do those with vegetables, and by the end of the meeting everyone has had a balanced meal!  These women were examples of living HIV positively and were truly inspirational.

I feel that this is an appropriate time to introduce you to the transportation system that is in place here in Swaziland.  First of all there are no bus timetables or maps or schedules – what happens is this: If you happen to be at the bus depot you get on a 12 to 22 seater van (called a kombi – see photo) and wait until it fills up with people – then you depart.  Sometimes it takes 5 minutes, and other times (like today) it takes an hour… If you are not at the main bus depot, you basically stand by the side of the road and wave at the buses to stop.  Hopefully you stop a bus (which is like a greyhound bus in size – not in style) and you can grab a seat.  If not – you get onto the kombi and try to squeeze yourself between a granny and a child going to school and pray that someone opens a window to let a little bit of a breeze through.  It’s pretty exciting – and I will share with you our most memorable kombi experience. 

After a long day of meetings at the SWANNEPHA National Office Aye and I decide to grab a burger for the ride home.  Once we have our lunch in hand we try to get onto a kombi – little to our knowledge that it is rush hour in the main city.  So we ask a young man if there is a kombi to Manzini and he informs us that there will be one shortly and to wait with him – or we can get into the 3 block long line up… So we wait with this man and sure enough a kombi pulls up.  It is so intense that Aye and I have to hold hands to block people from cutting in front of us (this is rush hour remember).  This particular kombi is one with 2 seats, the aisle, and then another two seats.  The only two seats left when we get on are across from each other and in each occupied seat is a lady with larger proportions.  So this is the seating plan: Large Methodist Church nun – Me – Aisle – Aye – Other large Methodist Church nun.  Now Aye picked the seat next to the smaller large lady and I sort of had to perch on the remaining 3 inches of seat and the rest of me was in the aisle.  I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to squat the hour to our destination so I sort of straddled the aisle and was pretty much in Aye’s lap.  It wasn’t so bad – but was really funny was when we were in the middle of eating our hamburgers someone had to get off and basically climbed over the two of us while we continued to eat…  Oh Swaziland…

Well, that’s all for now – your Siswati word for the day is “Stesh” meaning stop. It is what you say to the kombi driver when you want to get off the bus – a very useful phrase!

Thanks so much and love to you all!

xoxo

Gina

SWANNEPHA: The Siteki Story

So, there is a reason why I haven't talked much about the work I am doing here with SWANNEPHA, and to be honest, it's because there isn't any.  The Organization has been going through a lot of difficulties lately and we happened to come right in the middle of the chaos.  The lady who we were supposed to work with quit two weeks before we arrived and the woman who was promoted to the position is less than desirable.  Right now we have no electricity, no telephone, and no petty cash, so working on projects is incredibly difficult.  SWANNEPHA has no money whatsoever, and it has definitely taken a toll on our motivation and desire.

But enough of the depressing stuff, Aye and I have some things on our own to keep busy.  We have talked to school children about basic hygiene and self esteem.  We have created a lesson plan about body parts and taught at a local preschool. We have visited rural clinics and brought the samples back to the hospital for testing.  The two of us REFUSE to sit in the office staring at each other or reading books.

Something that I am struggling with is the sustainability of my actions.  When I leave here, everything that I am doing will stop.  The challenge is creating something that can be used even when I'm back at home.  Unfortunately, I don't believe SWANNEPHA can assist me with this task as they are scrambling for funding and support.

The next couple of weeks are going to be full of critical thinking and brainstorming ideas to work on for the remainder of my placement.  Wish me luck!

Your SiSwati word for the day is 'Sondzela' meaning 'come closer'.  We now say this to kids that we pass on our way to and from work so that they can get close enought for us to give them stickers.  On another note, it is also the backpackers hostel that we love. http://www.hostelz.com/hostel/27966-Sondzela-Backpackers-Lodge-Hostel We had our orientation here, and we spend a night last week with the rest of the SWANNEPHA team.

Thanks so much for your patience,

Love,
Gina

Bushfire 2011… and a photo of a crocodile.

So I found a photo that a friend took of our crocodile friend that we met, so if you look very carefully in the left hand corner you can see him.

Most exciting thing that has happened in the past couple of weeks = BUSHFIRE.  Last weekend the 5 of us SWANNEPHA volunteers went to the biggest Swaziland music festival in Mbabane.  It was rather awesome.  The music festival supports Young Heros, an organization that helps orphans pay for school, clothing and textbooks so that they can get an education here in Swaziland.  The event was really well done, and we were able to listen to some pretty cool Swazi bands and DJs.  The musician in the photo is Bholoja, and he was the main entertainer for the evening with his 'Swazi Soul' style of music.

There was also a great poetry reading that we went to by an award winning Jamaican/Canadian artist named D'Bi Young.  She made me miss Canada just a little bit…

Things are picking up a bit in the work department, just trying to keep busy!  We are working with Primary Schools in the area about basic hygiene and hand-washing techniques.  Hopefully next week we will attend Health Clubs at High Schools and talk more about HIV and the stigma and discrimination that accompanies an HIV positive lifestyle.

Your Siswati word for today is “Mnganiwami" meaning friend. :)

Love and hugs and roaming cattle,

Gina

First Time Blogger - Beware...

So I'm just going to warn you all before I start that this is my first 'blog' experience, so you must be patient with my erratic postings and blabberings.

Anyways, WELCOME to my life on the internet as I work with people in a small rural town in Swaziland for the summer.  Thanks for your interest and I will do my very best to keep this thingy updated and interesting… no promises though, this is a very small town…

I should start with the beginning of my adventures, which led me to the City of Lights, Paris.  It was amazing, even better the second time I must admit.  I was there with my friend Taylor and her friend Ruphen for five awesome days.  We did everything, saw the Mona Lisa, climbed the Eiffel Tower, ate baguettes with ham and cheese, took the metro everywhere, spoke French like pros (well, almost), and we had an all around great time.  There is so much to do in Paris that I feel the need to go back and live there…maybe next summer… :) I love the crowds of people going different places and the strong emphasis on family – especially on the weekend, when we saw a lot of families just chilling in the park adjacent to Versailles (Louis XIV’s castle, probably the most intimidating house I have ever seen.  My word for this place would be grand – I think that was what Louis was going for…).  I got to practice my French, and we realized why EVERY year in high school they review how to order food in French – it was very useful there.  We went to museums, the aquarium, and to the Tuileries – my favourite place in Paris.  It is a beautiful garden between the Louvre and the Champs-Élysées, there is a fountain in the middle and it is the perfect stop to just realize that yes, you are in Paris.  In all, Paris was fantastic and I am so glad that I was able to go back!

Onto a different country, a different hemisphere, and a different culture.  The country of Swaziland is simply beautiful, like taking a scene out of the Lion King and pasting it into real life – yes the sunsets are that epic.  My first weekend here was spent with the nine students going to live in Swaziland.  Five of us with SWANNEPHA, and the other four with SOS Children’s Village.  The weekend was an basic introduction to Swazi culture, language, and customs by our contact here, Jabu.  One evening we went on a Safari and saw impalas, a crocodile, some warthogs, and some zebras.  At our camp there was an ostrich and some more impalas.  They just sort of lounge around, not really taking notice that there is a human only a couple of meters away.  The weekend was quite fantastic and I feel that it helped prepare me for the rest of my stay.

My town of Siteki is very small.  There are 6,152 people living here according to the GeoNames geographical database, well, currently there are 6,154.  I am living with another UBC student, Ayelen, and we have an amazing host mom, Mage, meaning mom in SiSwati.  The house is small, but welcoming, and we have electricity and a tv!  I was not expecting that, but it’s a nice little perk.  Our Mage has given us Swazi names, mine is Busie – meaning blessed and Ayelen’s is Dumsile – meaning to be praised, Aye says that I should start the praising now… :)  We’ve been in Swaziland for a week now, and we really haven’t done much work with SWANNEPHA so far.  I think that it’s because there isn’t any funding right now, but we are going to think of some projects to keep us busy.  Maybe visit high schools and have discussions on HIV and dating, but we have to make a plan, I shall keep you posted.  Other than that, it is a beautiful sunny day in Siteki, we just got out of church – I’m going to have to save that experience for another post J and we are going to head home and cook something up for lunch (I know, a scary image has popped into your head of me cooking/burning something…but no worries, I have Aye to supervise)

I’ve decided to end my posts with a word in SiSwati and its translation.  Today it is the greeting “Sawubona” [Sow-bone-a] which literally means “I see you”.  This greeting is said to everyone, and I mean EVERYONE.  From cashiers to close friends, the Swazi people greet everyone with this saying, and its response is “Yebo” [yay-bow] – meaning yes.  Pretty cool no?

Love you all to bits and I hope you have an amazing day!

xoxo

Gina