That's What She Said

Its pitch black outside and the African stars are really bright. It gets dark early here. If I walk out to the pit latrine to go to the bathroom right now, the glow from the moon and stars light up the path so much that I don’t have to take a flashlight! It’s kind of cool. My butt also probably glows in the dark, but I'm only telling you that to give you a visual.

I had my site visit and it was great. My family there is fun. I hope it wasn’t just some joke that they tried to make me think they were cool and liked me and when I return at the end of August it will be much different. Another polygamous family which explains is gigantic size. My grandpa is the indvuna (taking the place of the Chief), one of his wives is a rural health motivator, and another wife (a lady he takes care of because it was his brother’s wife and he died) has HIV. I live with all of them, so I am going to learn a lot. There are some projects I could do in the community. Water is a need here, but I don’t know how to even begin helping with that problem and world vision is trying to develop something. I’m thinking of helping with a youth project that’s been requested. So many youth are having problems filling their time there and so they engage in negative activities. After high school, they wait until they are excepted into college or find a job or get married. Colleges are few and hard to get into, so while they wait, pregnancy is high during this time, STIs, and HIV. The area I live in is the highest populated area for HIV and orphans in Swaziland. I can see their struggle though. Especially for the youth. It would be boring living on a homestead where your friends are few and far between with a few public buildings within the area. There is a bible college near my homestead. It is fenced in, but they gave us permission to use the court for activities if we take care of it and provide our own equipment. The youth director (he’s already working on it) and I are trying to get a grant from the Swaziland Tennis Association to donate a net and rackets/balls. The court is not well kept. The soccer pitch is also sketchy and the volleyball court is in need of repairs….and a net….and a court. Basically everything. Haha Actually, they were used a little before and then kids started bringing drugs to the activities and vandalizing the gates to the bible college. Then started using the place as a “hook up” place for teenage boys and girls, so the Bible College had to stop letting them use the place. They have agreed to give it another chance. The youth is so important to focus on here because the adults are almost too hard to reach with HIV/AIDS prevention. They are traditional and have their ideas about the virus already. Some use traditional healers instead of taking ARVs. Some think its witch craft put on them from a jealous wife....so many theories. It’s interesting to watch the culture and traditions of Swaziland still play an important role in their lives everyday like herbal healing and cutting for diseases like AIDS.

My new family is fun though and I think God knew what I needed during my visit because some of my family was able to open up to me a little bit. It wasn’t always awkward. “Always” being the key word. They played around with each other and made fun of each other. They made fun of me…I made fun of them. We all laughed. It felt like home. They would call me the umlungu meaning “whitie” instead of my name. They thought it was funny. My new permanent name is Sihle Kunene. It’s a family of about 50 people, but I have my own room. Its huge and they love to come in and stare at me. Haha. Sometimes I dance on my way to the toilet or walk funny because I know they are watching. Often times I hear little kids giggling and then I know they were watching. It makes it kind of fun to do really abnormal things because people think I’m nuts and I think I’m hilarious. A good friend always told me something his dad taught him, “You can let them know you’re crazy, just don’t show them your nuts.” Haha Touché.

I carried my auntie up a mountain the other day. She had a cold (fyi: always hide your carmex in case your auntie finds it and starts shoving the chap stick up her nose…needless to say, I told her she could keep it). Her breathing was heavy and we had gone down the mountain to get some bread at a store for gogo. On our way back she had to keep stopping. I told her to jump on my back and I would carry her. A) Because she needed help. B) It would be hilarious to tell people. C) I wanted to see if she would do it. She about 30 years old and bigger than me. She jumped on my back with delight. My sisi couldn’t get a grip she thought it was so funny. My auntie began kicking my sides like a horse…abusing my services if you ask me. I about passed out once I got to the top, but my butt was burning like I had done a buns of steel tape numerous times in a row. I felt like Rocky. Like I could do anything…as soon as I caught my breath.

I miss everyone. My new family has two orphan boys who are 18 and 19 yr. old brothers. I asked them if they would take me on an adventure, so instead of going to church we went looking in caves and for lizards. Their mom died in ’03 and so after the hike they showed me where their mom’s grave was. I can tell it’s still a little tough for them. They don’t know their dad. They live with the Sibandze family, my new family. They are the only two with the last name “Kunene” on our side of the mountain and surrounding villages. They told me they didn’t have a sister and I told them I didn’t have any brothers, so we adopted each other and now my name is Sihle Kunene (unless the elders ask my name, then I say Sihle Sibandze). I am an orphan with them They are really cool kids. They asked me the other day if I had to leave once the 2 yrs was over. I could maybe see a little kid asking that, but it surprised me that two 18/19 yr old boys cared if I stayed or not. That's when I made a new goal. I want to focus just as much of my attention on my family and the orphans living with me rather than on just the community. I want them to at least feel like there is someone they can talk to or help take care of them...and want to. Not because I have to, but because I want to. I just need to take it one day at a time. Just thinking that God goes through that heartache everyday for those kids on my homestead and than multiplying it times all the other kids in Swaziland and all the other orphans in the whole world is incomprehensible. I hope I can be the person God needs in this place right now and with this family and this village.

Sorry so long! I will write one/two more times before my training is over and then I won't have access to internet. I will be moving with my family. I miss you guys!
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