Get ready. This is going to be a big one! I think I will do this chronologically for simplicity sake. SO MANY big things to tell you! If you feel overwhelmed, take it in segments, one a day if you like. Or just pick and choose. I have labeled them for easy navigating. But this stuff ... you really will probably be blown away by every segment!
International Day of the Girl Child
We’ll start on Thursday October 11th. Peace Corps asked everyone to do something special for this new holiday, the International Day of the Girl Child, so I asked the school if I could have a few hours sometime that day to present something to the school. Clueless as to what that would be, I had all of the girls gather and discuss what they would like to do. We settled on writing and reciting a poem and doing some traditional dancing. Then the Peace Corps mentioned that the new American Ambassador to Swaziland might like to visit a site on that day. So I worked some magic, had the girls write a nice invitation, and do a little art work, and had it delivered to the ambassador who was all but beside herself to come and visit. When I told the school she would be coming, school was canceled for two days in preparation. The whole place was washed down top to bottom, inside and out. More poems were written, choral groups were assembled, dance groups, everyone rehearsed for two FULL days while the boys cleaned the school and yard. The head teacher (principal) went to the city and got all sorts of food for the event! Chips, peanuts, polony (a much more questionable form of bologna) and processed cheese on white buns, apples, bananas, and even KFC!!! I have NO idea where the money came from for all of that nice food, but it fed the whole school board, the school staff and the Peace Corps staff that came, and there was plenty left over! The program was incredible! The girls did SO well The visitors were blow away! The ambassador gave a WONDERFUL speech too (by the way, the ambassador is a black woman from Queens - how perfect is that for empowering the girls at my school?!) and presented some girls with some very nice books. It was the most perfect day! The school is STILL humming with excitement and energy. I was SO SO SO pleased.
My First Lobola Ceremony
Ok, the next big event was on Saturday and Sunday October 13-14. Mr Shongwe from my school has a daughter who was getting married, and this weekend was her Lobola ceremony. A Lobola ceremony is when the family of the groom presents the family of the bride with a payment in exchange for the girl. The payment of which is in the form of cattle. The whole thing is SO interesting! So on Saturday, the families gather in a small room, everyone (the elders, the parents, the couple, and about 20 other family members) all sit on the floor and discuss an appropriate price for the girl. It is a law that all first born daughters receive at least 15 cattle. Price is negotiated based on number of premarital children, skills, family (your surname determines a good deal of your life here), and your birth order, among other things. The price agreed upon was 19 cattle. The family had brought 11 with them, so they will owe the Shongwe family the other 8. But they can be paid over many many years, the payments being wonderful times to bring the families together and celebrate. So, after the price is decided, then each family conferences and selects the largest cattle. Then the bride’s family gives one cow to the groom’s family, and the groom’s family gives one cow to the brides family, and both are to be used for the celebration. After the cows are gifted, they must be slaughtered. All of the cows are put into a small kraal (maybe 20‘x20’) and a man enters armed with a traditional spear. He weaves himself between the cattle and sneaks up on the cows one at a time. He has to stab them in the heart just at the right time when its leg in up, so the spear will go directly into the heart and not be blocked by any bones. Then, when he pulls out the spear, he must lie on the ground (yes, on the ground in the kraal with a dozen cows all freaking out that their friend has just been stabbed in the heart and is now stumbling around, clinging onto life). He has to lie down because it wills the stabbed cow to lie down too. So this happens to both gifted cows and then the skin is removed and the cows are slaughtered in the kraal (the other cows are released for the slaughtering). This must be done inside the kraal because it is believed that the ancestors are in the kraal (Swazi traditional beliefs are based not on any god, but on one’s ancestors - hence the importance of surnames). Then the meat is carried inside of the skin to one of the houses. But on the way, they play a traditional game where they fight over one of the cows. They play tug-of-war almost with one of the corpses. It is just SO interesting! During all of this, everyone is drinking a Swazi traditional brew - fermented sorghum made in 20liter plastic drums at the bride’s home. People might sit around a plastic drum passing a tin cup, or have pitchers, or just pass big plastic buckets out of which they drink. Boy what a show!
That was the Saturday part. Now the Sunday part was REALLY interesting. When we arrived in the morning, people were already noshing on beef. Men standing around fires with sticks, pots, and metal grates all full of cow; plates, bowls, trays of beef all being shared by everyone. No one could shake my hand or take a picture because they all had either blood and flesh or (as was more often the case as the morning went on) cooked meat juice all over their hands. After a few hours of eating, another game was played. This one was a game of chase, using the bile of the cows. [The whole ceremony took place on the bride’s family’s homestead, but the groom’s family was given a house while they were there.] So the object of the game is to get the bile into the other family’s house. There are always 2 people running (one from each family) and the game is over when the person with the bile over takes the person who has just dropped the bile in their house, and deposits the bile in the other home before the person they’re overtaking gets there. After more eating and drinking was lots of traditional dancing. I wore a lihiya (traditional skirt-type deal - and no, if you have been doing your Swazi research, I do not mean the mini beaded skirt girls wear for Umhlanga) and was coerced into getting up and dancing for every one - traditional Swazi style, which basically consists of stomping and rhythmically kicking one’s leg up as high as possible, aiming at getting it over the shoulder. Then came the wedding ceremony. Now, I must say that there are multiple different wedding ceremonies that take place (one for the engagement, one at the groom’s homestead, and one at the bride’s homestead). This is only one-third of it. So, if anyone ever tells you about a Swazi wedding and it sounds nothing like this, that is because this whole weekend was only a third of it. Ok, now, the wedding. So this is a VERY small audience (I was let in on the account that I am white and thus famous - an honor to have in attendance). A few people go into the small house where the bride price was negotiated and sit on the floor. Some prayers and some words are said, and then the man and woman become one. (After careful analysis, I realize the act is very similar to lighting the Unity Candle in the Christian religions, but you make your own decision.) So, the bride takes the intestines of one of the cows and opens one end and feeds the bile to the groom. She then wipes the bile on his forehead, shoulders, elbows, wrists, ankles, and knees. Then the man takes the intestines and feeds the woman bile and does the same to her. Then the intestine is taken and tucked into itself, making a small circle. This circle of day-old cow intestine is slid onto the bride’s wrist to be worn as a bracelet. This is the Swazi form of a wedding ring. The woman will wear it for about two months to show she is newly married. Now, I realize some of you are worried that this practice might seem a little unclean, that she might be wiping bile on everything she touches with that around her wrist, but I assure you, the bracelet is salted and wrapped in a cloth for the first 2-3 days until it is dry.
Ridiculous Week
So, the following week was all a little more than yours truly could take. All of this exciting cultural stuff had no time to sink in when things started getting crazy. Without going into detail, I will just say that over a five-day period I had to deal with a guy getting after me (I am TOTALLY fine, please don’t worry) to the extent that both the Peace Corps and I have gone to the local police about it, child brutality, statutory rape, child-child rape (10 year olds), my house flooding, and some guy making off with my iPhone. In my normal life, (the LBA as we have taken to calling it - Life Before Africa) a single one of these events would have really shaken me up and had me in a real stir for weeks. But there is simply no time and no energy for that here, and being hit with it all at once just had me beat. Thank goodness for my best buddy Melanie though. On Friday we met up in Matsapha and ate good food, drank good wine, and talked all day. There was a point in the afternoon when we were just chatting silly and I began to laugh. The feeling surprised me so much that I began to cry, not a bad cry, but an amazed cry. You see, after my week I believed I would never be truly happy again. I thought that after all I had witnessed that I would have to live with that inside of me for the rest of my life, but in that moment, that laughing... I became Katie again. And I knew everything was going to be ok. So thanks Melanie.
That was some really huge stuff, and I totally skimmed over it here. I apologize if I seem insensitive, but after all is said and done, I just don’t feel the need to dwell on those things when there is so much good going on.
Camping and Dancing
Friday was only the beginning of the most perfect, most needed weekend of my life. On Saturday October 20, a whole bunch of Peace Corps Volunteers got together to go to a concert. One other girl and I went early to the camp grounds (9am) and after signing in, we settled down in this big reed shelter overlooking BEAUTIFUL rolling green mountains for a mid-morning Scotch (feel free to see it as tailgating for the Iowa game if that makes you feel better about the day-drinking). After a couple hours, more volunteers began to show and we moved to the pool (yes, a swimming pool! I think there are actually only like, 8 or 9 of them in the country... if I am not mistaken). Eating and drinking and hanging out in the pool all day was absolutely the most wonderful feeling imaginable. After such a relaxing day, we all went to this semi-outdoor venue called House On Fire where there was a dub-step (?- I had never heard of it either) concert. We danced the night away! It was great! We went back and I took a hot shower (I cannot express how good a shower feels after a month and a half with out one. It is euphoric), and crawled into my tent. It rained all night and the only drip in my tent was right above my face, but in all honesty, I didn’t mind. I was happy, and clean, and no amount of raindrops could take that away from me.
Private Safari
Just when I thought I’d hit the pinnacle of good feelings and happiness, one of the ladies at the backpackers lodge came and told me I had a phone call. The previous week when I had stopped in to make my reservation, I ran into a fellow with whom I chatted for some time who had offered to drive me back to the main road (it’s about a mile hike in from the road to the back packers’). He was very kind and told me that when I come back, I must ask for him as he would love to show me the highlights of the park. On the phone was this guy, Ted, determined to keep his promise. In ten minutes he was there and we took off in his pick-up. As we drove into the mountains, I was surprised when our first stop was to change vehicles to a big, open safari Jeep. How had I not known that the backpackers where I stayed was in the Milwani Game Reserve?! From there we went to this magnificent restaurant up on a mountain surrounded in the most beautiful flora I have ever seen. We had a delicious breakfast overlooking amazing Africa. Then we were off! We spent all day on safari, and boy, did Ted keep his promise! Zebras by the score, impala, wildebeests, incredible birds, spring buck, countless endangered species, crocodiles, you name it! But by far the most incredible part of the day was when we went hiking down into this ravine. Have you ever seen where Beecatchers live? A Beecatcher is a kind of bird that digs its home out of the side of a cliff. They live in colonies, and BOY is it spectacular! We stood for ages, just watching the birds fly in and out of hundreds of tiny caves - oh it was incredible. The more I talked to Ted, the more I realized, he is not just some nice guy who drives around game reserves all day. I should have picked up on it when the restaurant at breakfast was open only for us, or when we came out of breakfast and a man that would accompany us as a helper on the safari stood at attention (Ted said that he was standing at attention because he saw me coming ... and silly me believed it), or that at the drop of a hat Ted could get any vehicle he wanted manned by whomever he requested. But dummy me was just so infatuated by the animals and the nature around me that I didn’t pay any mind. So, as the day had begun getting late, (2:00 in the afternoon is about the bewitching hour around here if you have to get back to site) Ted offered to take me home since it was Sunday (sparse transport) and already past 1:30 (which allowed us to check out more crocodile!). On the drive home, Ted mentioned a conversation with the King... It turns out Ted started Milwane and three other national game reserves in Swaziland. He is the head of the department in Swaziland and works directly with King Mswati! I was blown away!! How I got lucky enough to meet Ted, I have no idea! But apparently he is very good friends with the king (making him quite a strong Royalist). l was baffled as to why such a preeminent person would take a whole day to show some dopey American volunteer around this enormous game park. He said only that my appreciation for nature was rare and that he found my love and enthusiasm for the things around me “reward enough” for the day off.
What a yoyo ride this past week was, but with so many wonderful things going on already, I know it can only go up from here!
Thanks for keeping up with me, and sorry this was SO long! I hope you enjoyed it though, because I am sure enjoying things here!
And now for a smattering of pictures!!!
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| Choral group on International Day of the Girl Child |
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| Traditional dancing on International Day of the Girl Child (I tried to get one with the least "nudity" possible) |
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| Tasting some traditional brew with a Makhulu at the Lobola Ceremony |
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| The Mighty Warrior with traditional spear getting ready for the slaughter of the Lobola cows |
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| Bogogo watching and singing as the cattle are stabbed with the (above) spear |
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| A studly Swazi sorting the cow innards before the bodies are moved to different houses |
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| Teacher friends! Nomsa, Zwai, Miss Dube, Me, and Daisy |
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| Gogo and I watching people dance! |
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| The new bride with her intestine bracelet |
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| These are some of the kids I live with! Gogo lets kids stay on the homestead who live too far from school. This is (Top Left to right) Hitman, Wiseman, Londiwe (Bottom) Boy, and me! |
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| Safari!! I can't remember what this guy was called... but isn't he cool!? |
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| This is the cliff where the beecatchers live!!! (I can't remember if that is what they are called, but just go with me on it) |
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| And BEAUTIFUL zebras!!!! |
