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)