Since Last We Chatted...

      Hello again. I am writing to you all now from our In Service Training at the IDM facility in Matsapha where we had our original training. Our group of volunteers (now down to 40 as we lost one girl to medical separation) are all here for the week learning about more resources and NGO’s and opportunities to facilitate change in our communities.  It is SO great to be with everyone again and have a week of hot showers, catered meals, and generally 1st world life. 

     Let's see, since last I posted, we had an AWESOME Thanksgiving dinner at the US Ambassador's house, 

Then Melanie and I took the weekend to hike, and RELAX!!!

My primary school had preschool graduation (the only graduations they celebrate in Swaziland)

And I've been helping my buddies wrangle up cattle.

All in all, I've been pretty busy.

In regards to the "Roosters are Cocks" blog. First, my main reason for hating roosters is their incessant crowing habits. Despite my ear plugs, they still manage to band together and wake me up every night at 10, 12, 2, 4 and still they are sure to get me out of bed before 6. Also, it has come to my attention that the rooster blog may have been offensive to some readers. I apologize for that. You see, after living this life for over five months, these things are no longer or surprising or offensive to me any more. They have just become silly (albeit annoying) parts of my every day life. I suppose perhaps the shock of reading these things for some of you was sort of like the first time experiencing these things was for me. So, while I apologize if my language made you uneasy, I do want you all to understand that these are all just a part of regular life for me.  I’ll try to be more PC  from now on, (PC meaning Politically Correct... not Peace Corps), but I can’t promise anything! TIA (This Is Africa)!!

Roosters are Cocks

Things I like better than roosters:

1. Pooping in a STINKY pit latrine
2. Bathing in a bowl the size of Mom’s Sunday night supper salads
3. Hauling water from a creek for EVERYTHING
4. Boiling, filtering, and bleaching water before drinking a glass
5. Spending most of my Sunday in a stream washing my clothes on a rock
6. No air-conditioning to escape to in the African heat
7. Peeing in a bucket inside of my house after the sun sets
8. The smell of my hut in the morning after my pee has been sitting in a bucket since after sun set
9. Storms blowing my corrugated iron roof eschew so the rain can fall freely inside my hut
10. Men proposing marriage/sex to me on an hourly basis
11. Glen Campbell. Wait, no, I actually do really like Glen Campbell.
12. Corn meal and beans for lunch... every single day
13. Riding on a 13 passenger khumbi with 22 people and all of their shit and having the khumbi conductor use my lap as his business station
14. Men pinching my belly and telling me I am getting very fat (I’ve lost ten pounds since arriving here, by the way)
15. Men whipping it out and peeing while we’re in the middle of a conversation
16. People demanding I give them my clothing, jewelry, etc
17. Laying in a puddle of sweat in my underwear on my concrete floor, trying to soak up anything but the African heat



Evan very accurately demonstrating how to take a bucket bath!
(Picture stolen from, my sister, Jenny's facebook)



Yeah. Life is Basically Awesome.

My goodness! Will the excitement ever stop?! This past week flew by with HIV classes and library check-outs. On Friday we had a huge Peace Corps Halloween party in Mbabane at a 3rd year’s apartment (if you extend your Peace Corps service for a third year, you get to live in a regular apartment in the city and volunteer at an NGO). It was wild to say the least! You get 40+ Americans in their 20’s who have been cooped up in solitary cement huts for a month and things get crazy when they get together around running water! Also on Friday I went to Manzini and met up with the guy who was so kindly holding on to the iPhone Lizzie (my sister) gave me to use here. After finding it, he was nice enough to answer once and ask for 150E in exchange for it and then never answer again. It took me a couple weeks and lots of help from my community to track him down, but we did it (EVERYONE in Swaziland knows everyone. It’s like living in Boone with thatched roofs)!!  So I went to Manzini and got my phone back, ran some errands, and had lunch with Melanie.

Then Saturday! Whoa. I know I said I went on a cool private safari before, but that last one was nothing compared to Saturday! Ted is basically the coolest person on Earth, and is apparently getting a kick out of my excitement when he shows me incredible animals (I thank my Mom for that appreciation of nature - And I would like to take this time to reminisce with her and my family members over trips through Nebraska when the Sandhill Cranes were migrating through. Mom was CRAZY about them and insisted always that she, not Dad, got to drive through Nebraska. While Dad’s face turned blue and knuckles white from his grip on the ‘oh-shit bar’, the rest of us got whip-lash from constant trips past the shoulder of the road and back at 80 mph. Good times. Really taught me the true beauty of nature... You know... the cranes and all). So anyway, this time Ted took me to Mkaya in the bush veld. We saw giraffes, black rhino, African buffalo, I carried tortoises out to a pond, we got out twice to take pictures with white rhino (don’t worry, Ted and the ranger both picked up sticks. Everyone knows you can stop a charging rhino by throwing a stick ... I was ready to poop my pants). We saw BEAUTIFUL birds (Mom, I WISH you would come out here in the summer -December- the birds are breath-taking when they are in full mating plumage), zebra fighting, baby rhino feeding, hippos, fish eagles, it was too much! I am living in an absolute dream! 

And now for some completely inconsequential side stories that you are more than welcomed to skip over.

In Shape

So, I ran out of propane last week. I have the average sized propane tank that most grills in America use (Peace Corps gave everyone a propane cook stove, so I use the gas for boiling my water, cooking, etc). I got a khumbi back to my village after going to town to get it filled, but still had a bit over a mile to where I live. I thought about waiting until a car came by to hitch a ride with it, but being as it was Sunday, the likelihood of transport was slim to none. So I picked it up, and started marching. I was quite surprised at how much easier it was to carry that full tank over a mile home than it was to carry an empty tank 3/4 of a mile two months ago when I ran out of gas during training! I guess all of this walking and hauling water and hard labor is really starting to pay off in terms of getting in shape!

Magic Kettle?

Either I have a magical tea pot, or I have truly become a Peace Corps volunteer. So I ran out of propane the other morning for my gas stove which meant I could not boil water for my tea or to wash my dishes. I knew I wouldn’t have a chance to go to the city for a few days to refill my handigas, so when I came home from school and saw smoke coming from Gogo’s chimney, I figured I’d see if I could put my tea kettle on her stove to boil. Not wanting to be a nuisance, I only boiled one pot as I lamented over the fact that I would have to go another couple days without washing my hair (that is a total lie - I was thrilled for the excuse). When I got back to my hut, I prepared my bath and set out a mug with a tea bag. After my bath (Note: I do mix cold water with the hot while  bathing - I’m a double dipper), I lit a candle and put it under the kettle in attempt to warm the water a bit more (feeble), then poured myself a big almost-steamy tea and sat down to read for a bit. After a while I decided to see how the candle was holding up in the water-warming game (poorly) and poured myself a second mug of tea. After finishing that one I looked at my pile of dishes that had been piling since breakfast (two meals and a snack pretty much takes up all my dishes), and I wished I hadn’t had that second tea so that I’d have enough for dishes. I picked up the pot and decided heck, may as well go for it. Get as many dishes clean as possible. I don’t want another ant episode! I did all of my dishes (NOT double dipping. No water but the water from the pot), and thought, huh, this pot still feels pretty heavy. Maybe I’ll have enough water left to put through my filter and fill my water bottle for tomorrow. I looked. There was still over a third of a kettle left in there! Whoa. A bath, two mugs of tea, and 2.5 meals worth of dishes, and I only used just over half a tea pot of hot water?! Ridiculous! This isn’t some gallon-sized tea kettle or anything either! It is very average sized! So either I am an absolute champion at using little-no water for my daily needs (aka I am disgusting and dirty and a true PCV) or my kettle has magical water generating powers.

Thanks so much for keeping up with me and! And don’t forget, you are MORE than welcome to send me letters at:

Katie Walters PCV

P.O.Box 2797

Mbabane H100

Swaziland

AFRICA

I tried to pose as though I was helping the tortoise.
In actuality, I am fairly certain I terrorized the poor thing.

Beautiful Giraffe! I didn't get a very good shot of her baby though.
Sorry I couldn't share that.

Caption: Just take the d*** picture Ted! There is a horn pointed RIGHT at my stomach
and there is nothing stopping it from going STRAIGHT through me!!!!

Me with my buddies Nandipa and Andile!!

SO MUCH SO FAST!

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!!!

Choral group on International Day of the Girl Child

Traditional dancing on International Day of the Girl Child
(I tried to get one with the least "nudity" possible)

Tasting some traditional brew with a Makhulu at the Lobola Ceremony

The Mighty Warrior with traditional spear getting ready for the slaughter of the Lobola cows

Bogogo watching and singing as the cattle are stabbed with the (above) spear

A studly Swazi sorting the cow innards before the bodies are moved to different houses

Teacher friends!
Nomsa, Zwai, Miss Dube, Me, and Daisy

Gogo and I watching people dance!

The new bride with her intestine bracelet

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!

Safari!!
I can't remember what this guy was called... but isn't he cool!?

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) 

And BEAUTIFUL zebras!!!!

An Unforeseen Conversion

I hate doing laundry. You can ask my mom. Or my sister-in-law. Or any roommate I’ve ever had. I hate laundry. I wait until I run out of underwear completely (the only item of clothing on which I cannot compromise cleanliness), and I cram ALL of my clothes (this is usually a few weeks worth, mind you) in the washer at once to avoid having to do more than one load. Then, naturally, having felt accomplished, I leave the clothes in the washer for a few days (never mind the underwear situation, that part does not concern you) until someone else gets annoyed and moves them. Then the clothes stay in the dryer for a week as I visit every day to pull out a clean outfit and unders. Now, coming to Swaziland did not look to be promising at making me want to do laundry an more than before. And indeed hauling water 1/3 of a mile (2/3 round trip - just let me play my sad fiddle here) to wash my clothes with a bar of soap in a bucket too small to sit in has not been my idea of weekend fun. But a couple weeks ago some boys were walking by and called to me to come do laundry with them. Remembering the warning of schistomiosis I got from the Peace Corps, I politely declined. Strangely enough, a group of six teenage boys did not easily take ”no thank you” for an answer. I spoke with Gogo and she assured me that the water is perfectly safe in the river and I recalled conversations I’d had with currently serving volunteers who told us new comers, “If the water is moving, you are fine. There are no schistomes. It’s the ponds and lakes you really have to watch out for. We swim in rivers all the time.” I weighed my options and figured there was no way I was going to make it two years without touching the water in the stream (I have to cross it every day to go to school - no bridge, just jumping stone to stone), so I may as well jump in head first (not quite literally). Sitting on large flat rocks in the middle of a stream, chatting and laughing with the boys (ok, they were chatting and laughing, I was pretending to understand siSwati), the sound of the water rushing over the rocks, the sun, the spring trees budding their green leaves... I fell in love. I have done my laundry three times since. I hang my clothes on the barbed wire fence (yes, they do get little spiky marks all over them from the barbed wire, but I find I never see myself anymore, so I don’t really know what I look like. Thus, I don’t care) and sit the shade on the edge of the stream listening to the water and the birds, reading a book until they are dry. I just can’t get enough of it. I LOVE doing my laundry! It is the most peaceful, relaxing thing... I don’t have to haul water, my clothes get 5x’s cleaner (when you don’t have much water, you really can’t rinse well), and I just love sitting there! Who would have thought, to get me to do laundry all you have to do is take away the machine, the running water, and the laundry detergent!

 Here is what my mornings are like!

Dig This

So the other day, for less than $4.25 (US equivalency of Swazi currency) I got eight tomatoes, five apples, six lemons, five carrots, six eggs, and over a pound of margarine! And seven marriage proposals (those were complimentary). I feel like I am living in the 1940’s (sans the propositions).

And here's a little friend I had hanging out last week. i figured I had enough time to either take his picture or squish him... he ran away as soon as he saw my shoe.

Update



Melanie and I Birthday-ing



I LOVE SWAZILAND!!! So last week was the first week of school, and oh my gosh are the people there awesome! There are so many wonderful opportunities for growth, and the teachers are so eager to work with me! I LOVE IT! I have been doing a lot with English in grade 7. Comprehension is very low, so we are doing Little Gold Books and trying to get basic conversation skills in the form of simple debates. It is neat. Really neat. I have been organizing the books that the school has so I know where they all are and can get the book I want right away. I am reading to the different classes too. Kids LOVE that! I of course have a hard time just reading, so they are probably more amused by my voices and actions, but the more they get interested, the more they are likely to listen to the words and want to understand what I am actually saying! I’ve been taking lots of books home every afternoon too. Reading to the little neighbor kids, finding material that relates to things about which I’ve spoken with people around town and giving them books I think will help them. People get pumped about that kind of stuff!



Laundry Day at the River





Also my birthday a couple weeks ago was awesome! I went to Mbabane with Melanie (a Peace Corps pal). While I waited for her to come, I had a mocha at a cafe downtown (powdered hot chocolate with espresso - awesome) and took a hot SHOWER at the Peace Corps office (euphoria). We went out to a nice (I use “nice” loosely. Nicest thing I’ve seen since June 25) restaurant for lunch, and brought home frozen pizzas (did not expect to see those in the grocery store - those were impulse) and made a chocolate cake in Gogo’s wood burning oven! It was so perfect! ... Well, not the cake. The cake was charred on the side where the fire was and raw on the other side... but it was a good learning experience, and we ate every crumb of it anyway.



With Gogo and Melanie



So yeah, life basically is awesome right now! I love my family, my work, my community... Swaziland is pretty cool. Anyone wanna visit?!

Big Things!

Oofda! So much has happened since last time I wrote! Where to start, where to start...

Ok, so on August 23rd we got signed in as officialvolunteers. There was a beautiful ceremony and I got to meet the King's brother, Prince Masitsela. There were speeches by the Prime Minister and some American dignitaries. Very nice. Then on the 24th I moved to my permanent site! I LOVE it! The sun was beating on the front of my hut when I arrived in the afternoon and really heated the cement walls making my hut a little oven. So the next morning I went up into the brush and started hauling fallen trees onto my homestead to make an awning to shade the front of my hut. Some neighbor boys saw me and came running with saws and bush knives to help. It was great! Five hours, two trees, three nails, and a whole bunch of barbed wire and palm-like leaves later I had a NICE front porch. 

The next day I woke up and looked at the floor and thought I was dizzy because I saw the floor moving... then I realized it was. There was a carpet of ants hustling in squadrons around my hut. It was sick. So I walked to the shop (only a mile away to the little “sitolo” area) and was pleasantly surprised to find DOOM insect killer. I came home and took my table outside into the sun along with all my food. I moved all of my furniture into the middle of the hut and DOOMed around the whole inner perimeter. Soon I was able to sweep a mountain of bodies out the door.  While I waited for the chemicals to clear the air, I sat on my new front porch and sewed hems onto one of my new traditional Swazi skirts (emaheya I think is what they are called... something like that). A little boy was hanging out on my porch with me, but my siSwati language skills are pretty limited (like, to “hello, how are you”) so when his sister came to sit with us I decided to have them help me build a “tippy-tap” so I could teach them to wash their hands. We went up into the brush and I had them help me saw some logs, then we got a pick ax to dig some good holes to set up our tap. We found a laundry detergent bottle on the side of the road that I washed out, and some rope that I had was the last piece we needed. I made up a little song to teach them to wash their hands properly (the words were lost, but the tune and the motions worked out pretty well). Thank you Bakers Dozen for the miming skills, the whole afternoon was communicated in mime.

The next day was again spent on my porch. I sewed another skirt (sewing by hand takes FOREVER) and a different little boy was intrigued. He spoke English, so I asked him if would like to learn to sew.  He was pretty excited so I got him some pieces of fabric and taught him how to sew a bag. Boy was he proud!

Unfortunately in the night a cow came by and ate the soap from the tippy-tap and kicked it over. But, I took this as a learning opportunity to grab a new bunch of little kids and rebuild it! Kids love washing their hands. I think just getting to play in water is pretty cool.

I am not going to chronicle every day, sorry to get so lengthy. 

This past week was the Reed Dance. All of the girls in Swaziland (from the start of puberty until they are no longer virgins) are invited to partake, and MOST do. They are all taken (you literally see trucks- flatbed semi trailers, dump trucks, you name it- FULL of girls being taken) to Lobomba where they all walk to a certain place at a certain river (I don’t know where) to cut a reed and then walk back and present their reeds to the queen (this takes a couple days). Then they spend a couple days dancing for the king. I went on Monday to watch them dance. I got the only bus out of town (I should have taken a khumbi later in retrospect) at 6:50am and got to  the stadium where they dance around 8:45. I walked in with thousands of Swazis who all filed onto the field. I watched them line up in groups of maybe 300 or so and march across the field and disappear. I was the only one in the stands. I went and found a group of police and asked what was going on. Apparently they feed EVERYONE before the dance (everyone as in Swaziland). So, I hung out with the police until about 12:30 until other Peace Corps volunteers started to show up (why was I the only one who didn’t get the memo?!) Get this, one of the cops I was talking to, her husband’s grandfather is brothers with my grandfather (yes, we actually dissected that - I had drawn out a little family tree of my host family just the day before, weird timing!)! AND not only that, but her brother is currently attending Luther college! In IOWA! I couldn’t believe it! This world is TINY! Unfortunately the dance did not start until after 3pm, so I had to leave before it started as I had to get back to my site before sundown. So I took a bunch of pictures of girls coming in as I was leaving. Sorry no exciting pictures of the dance!

Well, I’d say this is about as long as a blog ever needs to be. If you’ve actually read this far, congratulations! You win... uh... all my love and adoration! Thanks for keeping up with me, and thank you to those of you who have sent letters!! I LOVE receiving them!!!

As my sister, Lizzie, likes to say: 

Do Good! Be Happy!

My "bobhuti" (brothers) and I making baskets

Fellow trainees and i hiking

In The Bucket

Hello again!

So, I had a horrible low point the other night I thought I probably ought to share... actually I probably oughtn’t share this, but it happened, and I feel the need to share it in order to truly illustrate the struggles I am facing here:

I went to the city for groceries and made a big American dinner for my family the other night. Garlic mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, baked beans, blah blah blah. Then I did some homework for training while watching Swazi country music videos with my family and the evening started getting away from me. By the time I washed all of the dinner dishes in a bucket on the floor it was well after 11pm and I had yet to “bathe” in a different small bucket. Now, mind you, I had never been up this late before in Swaziland. I was tired and not in the best mind. I didn’t want to wait for water to boil, so I decided to wash in cold water (not a big deal, I do this all the time because I don’t like to waste gas since I have no idea how I will get my gas canister to Matsapa and home again when I run out). This is when it happened. I stood in the middle of my room, soap crackling in my ears, shivering (it is winter here and, while it by no means compares to Iowa, it still gets rather cold under a tin roof), staring at the puddle of soapy water in bottom of the bucket. I had washed from the neck up, and it was nearing midnight. Do I really need to wash my armpits tonight? I thought. I sniffed one armpit. Then the other. Then the first again. I have never skipped a bath since I’ve been here. And I really haven’t gotten hot or done anything to make me smelly today. I sniffed again. “I am not going to put cold water all over the core of my body right now,” I mouthed to the cockroach skittering undisturbed across my floor to hide under my slipper. A minute passed and I was still sniffing my pits. “Oh my gosh.” I said out loud. “I am actually doing this. I am actually standing naked and half soaped in the middle of my room, sniffing my armpits.” I poured my dirty suds into my “to-dump” water bucket and crawled into bed. Hygienic low. I would like to hope this will not be a regular occurrence for me, but I am afraid that with how much work it will be just for me to retrieve water at my permanent site, it will be even easier to justify not washing my armpits... Huh... I just  made that whole story global knowledge.

Anyway, that’s the day to day here. Sat on a log today and washed my underpants beneath an avocado tree. Rainy season is late. Should be starting soon. Oh, also, about Swazi country music videos, I doubt they’d be on youtube, but on the off chance, you should probably look up “Ngiyabonga, music video” or some variation. It was the best one. It’s like a real American country music video. If it’s on there, you won’t miss it.

Thanks for reading up on me!! Salakahle (stay well)!!

My New Site!!

Hello again! I am excited as all get out at how awesome my permanent site is going to be! I did not have completely accurate information in my last report to you. I do not have a water tap in the yard. I do have to hike to a stream for water (eew. schisto). But it is not far. It is less than half a mile - probably not even a 3rd of a mile, so it is not bad. And Peace Corps is going to give me a couple 100 gallon drums to fill with water (I think I’ll set them up as rain buckets so they can fill up on their own in the rainy season) so I won’t have to worry about running out of water come dry season. But the rest of what I had heard was true. My house is HUGE (well... by Swazi standards. It is about 1.5 times the size of my bedroom growing up - for those of you who have been there). I have already drawn out 100 sets of plans for how it will be laid out. I have plans to make a big food/book shelf, benches to put along the wall for seating around my table, the table, and about 100 other things to make my hut a home.

The Methodist primary school where I will be working is really neat too. I am the third volunteer to be stationed in my village so everyone has an idea of my role in the school and community. They seem very open to any ideas I might have, and some of the teachers are really jazzed. I had some excellent conversations with a lot of the teachers and am pumped to work with them. I was surprised that we already covered the taboo topics around which Peace Corps suggests we tread lightly (corporal punishment and male dominance) and ended quite amicably with our differences in opinions, leaving, I believe, a good window to further discussion on the topics. AND (as I was hoping I would get to work on) they are really wanting to build a library. They have a bunch of books in the staff office, but no where for the kids to really access them. Also there is about a half an acre of land that used to be a garden but is no longer used, so I am thinking maybe start a gardening club for the kids and then they will have food they can bring home or eat at school and they will get a chance to try their gardening skills on different vegetables. They do have an agriculture class for the 6th and 7th grades where they grow a small plot of onions and cabbage (?) (I can’t remember what was in them exactly what was in them) which is fantastic, but hopefully we could grow enough food to feed the kids at school a variety of produce. Right now UNICEF provides the school with food to feed their ~150 kids one meal a day (which for many is the only meal they get) but it is only corn meal and beans every day. Some varieties of veggies would do wonders for these kids I think. I also really want to teach a life skills class for maybe the upper grades (5-7). But who knows. I am so full of ideas, but I still have three weeks before I move there, and then three months after that before I can start any projects. So right now it is just me being excited over potential.

here are my bhuti's making baskets - the family business

and a traditional dancer from last week

Sawubona everyone! Boy has training been busy! Things have been going very well down here in the SubSaharan. Last week we had a VERY fun trip. We spent two nights away in a hostel (SHOWERS!!!! OH MY GOSH IT WAS AWESOME!) learning about Swazi permaculture, water problems, and how to make a very productive garden with little water and hopeless soil. It was SO interesting and now I am just dying that I have to wait another 4 weeks before I can start planning out a garden. On the trip we also stopped at the Emsamo National Archives and Mantenga Cultural Village. It was interesting and fun to see where King Supuzo II took his final breath and watch some REALLY fantastic traditional Swazi dances. Also we had lunch in a game reserve - pretty cool! It was a tiny reserve, so there was not a very large variety of animals, but impala were everywhere. We saw zebras (very briefly from afar), warthogs, African buffalo, crocodiles, things that resembled impala but were huge and hairy, heron, monkeys, some really pretty birds, and a catfish that was most likely larger than me (he kept nibbling at the surface with lips maybe 18 inches wide! - good luck reeling that one in, Andrew Peelen!). 

Last week I also learned where I will be stationed after training! I will be partnered with a Methodist primary school in a very rural village in the Manzini region. The US government does not allow us to publish our exact locations for security purposes, so if you would like to know where I am, you can ask my Mom. She might not be able to pronounce it, but she has the spelling (actually I got three different spellings for it, so there is actually only a 33% chance that she has the correct spelling). Things I can tell you are that I will be living in a hut with a water tap in the yard (three cheers for not having to hike to a river!!!) AND (get this) electricity! Can I just say, whoa. Bring on the rainy season, Swaziland (but wait 5 or 6 weeks so I can rain proof my roof first) because  my computer will not run out of battery power, and I can listen to my jams (and of course the radio, which I would have been able to do without electricity - thank you Andy) and type stories, and even watch a movie or two. I feel prepared to spend days on end not being able walking out my door now (that’s at least what I’ve heard about the Swazi rainy season... I’ll keep you updated on the reality of it).

So this Sunday I got to go to my first church service! I went to Manzini with my family to a Methodist church. Can someone from St Andrew’s possibly tell me, isn’t Methodist a branch of the Anglican church? I thought it was, so when I was asked to get up and introduce myself to the church, I gave a hello from our diocese and congratulated them on their new female bishop... but then the priest got up and corrected me, telling me that I was not in an Anglican church, that I was in a Methodist church. Oh well. I didn’t understand anything in the service (I caught odd words here and there, but I am more fluent in Japanese than I am in SiSwati... and all I can do in Japanese is ask directions), but I really enjoyed the service and the music. I would like to experience one of the Zionist churches here. Apparently it is a mix between Christianity and traditional Swazi beliefs with an emphasis on polygamy. Sounds very interesting according to some of the Peace Corps trainees who went to a service. I think something like 70% of the country is some denomination of Zionist (including Jerrico which sounds VERY interesting)... I actually just completely made up that statistic. But I do know that it is the most prominent religion in Swaziland.

This week I will get to go to my permanent site for three days for OJT (On the Job Training). I am excited to meet my counterpart that I will be working with for the next two  years, and see my school, and meet my gogo (SiSwati for grandmother -) who is the head of the household on the homestead on which I will be living. Thanks for reading up on me! Things are going wonderfully down south here. I can’t wait to update you on my site!

Wahoo! Internet again! I need to start writing these so I have them ready in word processing when I get to the internet. Sorry these are so short with no pictures, but here goes!
I am really getting used to my new living conditions, and am having a blast with my new friends and host family. I have a room in a house with tin roof where I boil and filter and bleach my water before consumption and bathe with a liter of water in a bowl about the size of the salad bowl Mom uses on Sunday nights. I live with a Babe (pronounced bah-bay, SiSwati for father), a Make (pronounced Mah-gay, SiSwati for mother), a 20-year-old sisi (sister), and 4 bobhuti (SiSwati for brother is pronounced booty, but plural is bo-booty). I am busy all day with classes, but enjoy playing hide and seek and having tickle fights with my little brothers in the evenings. A small list here you might find interesting.
Things I did not realize I took for granted:
1) Counters
2) Pavement
3) Washing machines
4) EVERYTHING I knew I took for granted and now severely miss.
The dust here is ridiculous. By the time my clothes are clean and hung on the line, they already start turning brown because of the dirt/dust everywhere!  Also, if anyone is thinking of care packages, (Mom) I really need some of those wax ear plugs that seal off your ears. I have the kind that go in your ear but the nights are SO LOUD here (BIG dog fights all night outside of my window, roosters crowing, cows mooing... I WAY underestimated how loud nights would be) and I need to wear ear plugs all night, but the ones I have are really starting to hurt the inside of my ears. Also some trail mix would be killer... and maybe some paints or something... and spices... Ok, maybe it's too soon to be making requests, but just keep this post in mind when September (birthday) gets near.
Thanks for keeping up with me!! I miss everyone at home, but I am having a blast here!

Touchdown in Swaziland!

Wowza! So I made it! I made it to Swaziland! The flights were rather uneventful, but MAN was the trip long! I started in Philadelphia and met up with Aunt Ann, Auntie Jen, and Uncle Dill for a day before our Peace Corps “staging” event. It was so wonderful to see them and was absolutely the perfect send off. (Thanks again guys!) So far everything has gone pretty well. My group of volunteers down here is really cool. There are 41 of us, mostly in our mid 20’s but there are also a few retired people.

We are at a training center in Matsphasa right now where we get to spend four nights (yessss!). It is basically a hotel - 2 beds and 2 volunteers to a room, hot showers, space heaters, electricity, etc... I know I shouldn’t get used to it, but man am I enjoying it! I believe we will move to our training communities on Sunday... Or is it Monday? Then it’s bucket baths and hauling water from there on out. We didn’t really have any settling in time. We got to the center about 5:45pm Thursday and had dinner at 6. We got to our rooms a little after 7 and had a little time to unpack and shower before passing out cold. But then we met at 7am sharp to begin training on Friday morning and it is all business from there on out. 7am-7pm six days a week we will be in training and I guess there is stuff we’ll have to do on Sundays too, but I don’t know what yet. 

As you can see, there is (sometimes) internet at the training center, but since we are leaving here in a couple days, I am not sure when I will be able to get on and update you again, but I will sure try!

Thanks for keeping up with me!!!

Pictures to come...

I've Got Mail (well, a mailing address anyway)

Hey everyone! I have received my mailing address for my first three months in Swaziland. If you are a letter writer or post card writer or you like to color pictures in crayon or... you just like sending blank paper in the mail, send those sentiments south! It takes about 2-3 weeks for mail to travel between Swaziland and America, so now is the time to start sending letters... if you feel like it. My address is:

Katie Walters, PCV
PO Box 2797
Mbabane H100, Swaziland
AFRICA

Please note the stressed importance of AFRICA on the bottom of the address. Swaziland shares a very similar postal code to Switzerland and it only takes one keystroke from a busy postal worker for a letter or a package to end up in Luzern rather than Mbabane... and as much fun as I had in Luzern last fall, I don't think my friend Lukas will have much use for a bunch of letters written in English. This is the address to use if sending something through the postal service. If for some reason you wish to send something through a courier service (like DHL) it will be significantly more expensive and you will have to use a different address, but if you have your reasons for wishing to send through such a service, please leave a comment on here and I will post that for everyone also. Actually, even if you don't want the DHL address, I encourage everyone to leave a comment! I just think it's fun if we can have little conversations with lots of friends, and also it's cool just to see who is reading! You don't have to have a blogspot account or anything, you can just post under the 'anonymous' name and sign your name at the end.
Only two weeks left from today before I say goodbye to Iowa... bitter sweet time here.
Thanks for checking in!

Hello! Ok, so here's the scoop. I will be leaving Des Moines on Monday June 25th (pushed back from what used to be the 3rd) for Philadelphia. I am going to see some family there before my orientation on the 26th and on the 27th I will head to Africa. With the other Peace Corps invitees, I will fly from New York to Johannesburg, South Africa and then take a bus to Swaziland. I will have training for three months in a village outside of Matsapha, Swaziland before I receive my placement. Then... wherever I end up... I will remain for two years! I am armed with the Yellow Fever vaccination and will receive about a dozen more in Philly. Thanks for keeping up with me! I will really try to post on here soon, but my internet access in Swaziland will most likely be limited to once every 1-2 months (depending on how far I am from the nearest town with an internet cafe and my available modes of transportation).  So unil then, Sala kahle!!

Biggest Adventure Yet!

Hello everyone! I am just putting up a quick post to say "hey" and keep people updated. Since returning from Europe, I have been substitute teaching in West Des Moines. For the past few months I have been doing a long-term job working at the alternative high school and have really taken to it. In the beginning of June I will be heading to Swaziland to serve through the Peace Corps! I am VERY excited to begin this adventure. I will be in Swaziland for 27 months. The first three months will be training and after that I will receive my placement where I will live and work in a small community for two years. My main job going down there will be AIDS education and women's empowerment, but I will acquire many more positions as I settle into the community. Swaziland has the worst AIDS rate in the world with over 50% of people in their 20's being infected. The country is a very stable absolute monarchy. I am getting quite sad at the idea of leaving behind my wonderful new nieces and nephew, but I know this trip is going to be absolutely life-changing.