I'm back! Another blog update. Twice in a week...holla! I hope you are all well. I also realized I haven't been spell checking to save time. So please don't judge my intellegence level due to spelling errors.
Did I ever tell you guys about how I embarrassed myself at home? Well, than get cozy kids, because Mama Jack is gonna tell you a little bedtime story. Everyday I walk to the pit latrine near the grove to go to the bathroom. Its a natural thing, so I'm not shy to discuss. Somedays maybe I've tested the wrong Swazi foods leaving me to visit the hold in the ground more often than other days, but I usually have schedule of general times of the day I walk out there. Well, the children (there are a lot...there like ants) on my homestead have also learned this schedule. Every night I go out there before bed out of habit and prevention. So the children have started to gather around the square tin echoeing outhouse to wait for me to go. One night I went out, same thing as always, with my red bulbed headlamp strapped to my forehead and toilet paper at hand. The kids come running out of their rooms to gather around the stall I'm occupying. Yeah...well...the audience turned on me a bit as those naughty little poopers began pounding on the tin walls surrounding me with sticks. They began poking under the door of the stall making lots of noise as if it was Jesus' second coming. Yelling from within to "knock it off!" (as if they understand what that means) I finally come out of the toilet with my minor looking hat beaming in the faces of those short legged tallywackers. I softly closed the door behind me and they quickly stopped and watched me walk away. I did give them any ackwoledgement from their poor behavior. They should be ashamed of themsleves, but instead they all bust out laughing while my back is turned and a single tear trails down my cheek. haha JK. All I wanted was to go to the bathroom in peace. Is that too much to ask? The next day they were sitting outside soaking in the sun outside my door. As I walked past one yells, "When are you going to the bathroom?!?" (in broken English) I didn't respond. I walked away to my room and vowed not to visit the toilet until they left for school the next day. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction. It was a long night, I may have developed a urinary tract infection, BUT I won the war. I won...(whispered). No one is beating the side of my toilet tonight. Chalk up 1 point for the whitey.
As I walk out of the stall
Its the end of the week which is great, but sad all 30 volunteers are going their seperate ways. Also sad because I've been with 1st languauge English speaking friends all week, eating homecooked meals from bomakes at the convent (a change from popcorn and oranges I make for myself at my homestead), and getting showers/flushing toilets everyday and now I'm leaving that catered life today. We voted for Peer Support Network (PSN) also. You vote on about 5 PSN and 2 Diversity members. They are in charge of changing things to make Peace Corps better and welcoming the new group that will come for training next summer. Its me and 4 other friends on PSN, so its nice to be working with fun people and have another project to work on to keep me from being homesick. :) So back to Lomfa (my village)I go today. Time to find my rightful place among my family in the southern part of Swaziland where I go days without cell phone service, communication, and electricity due to the frequentlightening storms. I miss the flies coming out of the depths of the pit latrine and cooking on my propane tank. haha I might not be that convincing and I might have said that to remind myself of what I am going back to, BUT I am excited to see my little brothers. And my aunt in all her craziness. I also have projects to do and laundry to wash. I'm excited because I have 21 youth signed up from my community to go to an empowerment conference on December 10th. Me and a bunch of hooligans gettin' down and rockin' it out in eNhlangano. I'll let you know what happens. We are trying to get them all to understand how they can help their peers overcome the hardships of HIV/AIDS and pregnancy in their schools. Please pray for this because I really hope it helps me make friends with some of them and get the ball going in my village. Those teenagers can be a handful. I remember those days...all too well. Youth Conferences= boys flirting with girls...and girls fighting over boys. I don't care what culture you are from, its a recipe that is inevitably used wherever boys and girls unite. Where you find puberty, pimples, and ringtones of Jordan Sparks, you will find awkward youngsters searching for love. Boys showing off and girls putting on lipsmackers, but if they think they can just show up for free food and socialize than...well...I don't care. They can. :) I might even do the worm for them...BUT hopefully they will learn at least a few things while they do that and I will be able to build a trust with my group so they feel comfortable talking with me about more serious issues later.
About a 3.5 hour hike from my homestead is a married couple who are also volunteers. They invited me and some others in the region we live in to have a Thanksgiving Supper. We ate a Thanksgiving meal Thursday with everyone this past week too. It made me miss home. Last year I ate KFC with my roomies and friends in costumes of Native Americans and Pilgrims. Sieff, Tina, and I even recited the 1st Thanksgiving poem in our attire. This holiday was different. As I looked down the table at faces I was eating with, I became sad. No Judy or Darlo. No Ang and Mik or nieces and nephews. Not a single person in brass buckled pilgrim shoes or ribal paint. I missed home. I miss home. Better yet, I miss you guys.
Its plowing season, so I've been working in the fields a little bit with my family. We're plowing potatoes. Its awesome because its like the real deal. We have huge cows that pull plowing stuff. Yes, I'm from Iowa, but no I don't no anything about farming equiptment or the cool words and lingo for that stuff. :) Don't judge me.
Love you guys and miss you a lot. Write me letters if you have time. :)
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
I'd Rather Be Riding
I'm back! Sorry it took so long! I haven't been able to be in town for a while and so it was difficult to communicate with you guys the past month. I am in the city this week (Manzini) doing a workshop. We are staying at a convent (all 30 volunteers...if you like stained bunk beds and the smell of moth balls then you will love this place). We are talking with Baylor University doctors who are teaching us how to respond to the problems in the community. Its sometimes overwhelming because we play so many roles in our communities. The doctors are sometimes too busy or too far to mave visit into the depths of the rural areas we live in, so volunteers play an important role in giving them medical assistance and/or suggesting where to go and means to get professional help. I'm like Dr. Quin (Medicine Woman). Riding my donkey to each homestead and handing freshly delivered babies to the mothers while finding an herbal cure for hepetitis. :) Maybe I haven't done any of that, but I am learning better ways to acknowledge symptoms of certain common diseases in my community like TB and Malaria. The workshop this week has been really good. The main issues in my community where I live, as well as others, are as follows: H2O, food, and teen pregnancy. Did I mention that they all come from or are related to the 40% unemploymet rate and, of course, HIV/AIDS? So this week I'm learning how to save the world. haha Really, it feels that way and sometimes its overwhelming, but I get really excited because there are tangible ways I can help.
Two HIV positive women talked to us today. We were able to ask a lot of questions openly including why they never tested until it was too late and how people look at them now. HIV/AIDS has only been around since the late 19th/early 20th century. Its crazy how new it is and also strange because the 1st time they actually knew what it was happen to be around when I was born. Such a huge epidemic is taking place now and is still so new. No signs of a cure and being in Africa where it derived from (possibly Congo area) to learn about it is incredible. Especially learning about HIV/AIDS in the convent here and then while walking to the building where we sleep across the road we are probably passing multiple people with it or who are living with someone who has it. Its like a common cold it seems like sometimes. With HIV/AIDS comes TB in most cases and that is just as scarey. Out of every 5 pregnant mothers, 2 are HIV positive. The statistics are eye opening yet walking down the street you can't even tell who is infected and who isn't.
I've been challenged in so many ways these past 2 months especially. I have been trying to integrate into my new life and building relationshiops with a family of around 50 (over half are under the age of 30). I wanted to work at an orphanage, but I realized that I am living at one. About 8 of the kids are orphans and/or vulnerable children. There is so much to do within my family that it can be overwhelming to also try help all the numerous "problems" with the homesteads surrounding me. There are about 450-500 homesteads in my community that I am in charge of. Each homestead has a different amount of orphans, children, mothers, etc. Mine has 50, imagine the number of people in each homestead coming and going. There are a lot of people. My secondary school down the road holds around 700 teenagers. A lot of people around here...and sometimes they all are sick of hearing about HIV/AIDS. They live with it. They go to school with it. They try to escape it by drugs and sleeping with people who "understand" them. Its a difficult cycle and even more difficult to stop.
But really life is good here. There are big issues, but there is still hope and fun. You can't be too serious here because that doesn't help either. I like teaching Silent Night to my brothers on my guitar. We are going to have a Christmas Program in my room for the family. We are going to dress up in costumes (my favorite thing to do) and rock out to Christmas carols! I also want to have a movie night. :) When I get my computer I want to set it up in my room and escort them to a seat on my grass mat with a flashlight and serve them popcorn while we watch the movie "Heavyweights" (props to Sieff). Fat jokes are universal I feel and I know my family loves fat jokes. My aunt and brothers are always saying them to each other...and even at me sometimes. So then I do the "truffle shuffle" or play my stomach like a drum and we move on to the next fat joke. Now its my turn...revenge. But we just laugh and although we say the jokes, we somehow know its with love. Its okay here. If I learned anything, its to not take anything personally. :) We're all different. I've never felt so unique or like a minority in all my life. Its terrific! It was hard at first, uncomfortable and I almost went home (ask Angi), but I realized I didn't come here for me. So why am I focusing on my comfort? Skinny. Fat. Female. Male. White. Black...or even Purple. Who cares?! Just be what you are and have fun with it! The sooner you are comfortable with yourself, the easier for others to be comfomtable with you too. ;)
I'm tahnkful for this experience. God shows his face everytime I need it. I think of you guys a lot. Especially when I am bored. I've found lots of ways to pass time here. I've even tried to invent new ways do something different. Here is my list of bordem stoppers I've tried:
-Watch people play and join in at the climax
-Make a list of fun things I've done in the past and admire them
-Figure out how to get on T.V.
-Snap my fingers to think of a good idea and see if anything happens
-breakdance on my floor
-pretned I have a broken leg
-climb a tree
-hold my breath
-experiment with makeup
-play dead
Love you guys and hope you are well. :) Don't forget about me.
Help me God to take what I can do, who I want to be, and use it for a purpose greater than myself. ~Martin Luther King Jr. (this guy knows his stuff)
Two HIV positive women talked to us today. We were able to ask a lot of questions openly including why they never tested until it was too late and how people look at them now. HIV/AIDS has only been around since the late 19th/early 20th century. Its crazy how new it is and also strange because the 1st time they actually knew what it was happen to be around when I was born. Such a huge epidemic is taking place now and is still so new. No signs of a cure and being in Africa where it derived from (possibly Congo area) to learn about it is incredible. Especially learning about HIV/AIDS in the convent here and then while walking to the building where we sleep across the road we are probably passing multiple people with it or who are living with someone who has it. Its like a common cold it seems like sometimes. With HIV/AIDS comes TB in most cases and that is just as scarey. Out of every 5 pregnant mothers, 2 are HIV positive. The statistics are eye opening yet walking down the street you can't even tell who is infected and who isn't.
I've been challenged in so many ways these past 2 months especially. I have been trying to integrate into my new life and building relationshiops with a family of around 50 (over half are under the age of 30). I wanted to work at an orphanage, but I realized that I am living at one. About 8 of the kids are orphans and/or vulnerable children. There is so much to do within my family that it can be overwhelming to also try help all the numerous "problems" with the homesteads surrounding me. There are about 450-500 homesteads in my community that I am in charge of. Each homestead has a different amount of orphans, children, mothers, etc. Mine has 50, imagine the number of people in each homestead coming and going. There are a lot of people. My secondary school down the road holds around 700 teenagers. A lot of people around here...and sometimes they all are sick of hearing about HIV/AIDS. They live with it. They go to school with it. They try to escape it by drugs and sleeping with people who "understand" them. Its a difficult cycle and even more difficult to stop.
But really life is good here. There are big issues, but there is still hope and fun. You can't be too serious here because that doesn't help either. I like teaching Silent Night to my brothers on my guitar. We are going to have a Christmas Program in my room for the family. We are going to dress up in costumes (my favorite thing to do) and rock out to Christmas carols! I also want to have a movie night. :) When I get my computer I want to set it up in my room and escort them to a seat on my grass mat with a flashlight and serve them popcorn while we watch the movie "Heavyweights" (props to Sieff). Fat jokes are universal I feel and I know my family loves fat jokes. My aunt and brothers are always saying them to each other...and even at me sometimes. So then I do the "truffle shuffle" or play my stomach like a drum and we move on to the next fat joke. Now its my turn...revenge. But we just laugh and although we say the jokes, we somehow know its with love. Its okay here. If I learned anything, its to not take anything personally. :) We're all different. I've never felt so unique or like a minority in all my life. Its terrific! It was hard at first, uncomfortable and I almost went home (ask Angi), but I realized I didn't come here for me. So why am I focusing on my comfort? Skinny. Fat. Female. Male. White. Black...or even Purple. Who cares?! Just be what you are and have fun with it! The sooner you are comfortable with yourself, the easier for others to be comfomtable with you too. ;)
I'm tahnkful for this experience. God shows his face everytime I need it. I think of you guys a lot. Especially when I am bored. I've found lots of ways to pass time here. I've even tried to invent new ways do something different. Here is my list of bordem stoppers I've tried:
-Watch people play and join in at the climax
-Make a list of fun things I've done in the past and admire them
-Figure out how to get on T.V.
-Snap my fingers to think of a good idea and see if anything happens
-breakdance on my floor
-pretned I have a broken leg
-climb a tree
-hold my breath
-experiment with makeup
-play dead
Love you guys and hope you are well. :) Don't forget about me.
Help me God to take what I can do, who I want to be, and use it for a purpose greater than myself. ~Martin Luther King Jr. (this guy knows his stuff)
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