Business Time

I find it incredibly difficult to write blog entries!!! I want to paint a realistic picture of life here, but at the same time that is impossible. Anyway, the truth is that I’m doing pretty well here. We just finished up three months of “integration.” During our time in integration, we were expected to focus on gaining as much information as possible about our communities. I conducted interviews with various leaders, administered HIV/AIDS knowledge assessments, attended various community meetings and events, got to know local NGOs, shadowed some teachers at the local high school, and conducted a census by visiting 150 homesteads in my community. I then presented my findings in a report that I submitted to Peace Corps and my community.

I have enjoyed the times when this work has required that I rub shoulders with organizations like the UN, World Food Program, Doctors Without Borders, and USAID. I spent so many years reading about them in college and its very interesting for me to see how they work in real life. Swaziland is saturated with NGOs from all over the world. In an effort to provide Peace Corps volunteers with a community connection, each volunteer was given a designated counterpart. The counterparts are all working with an organization called NERCHA, which stands for the National Emergency Response for Coordinating HIV/AIDS. NERCHA is a government organization dedicated to organizing the nations’ efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. Each counterpart is responsible for overseeing all activities which occur in a building called the Gogo Center. There are Gogo Centers in most communities in Swaziland. The centers are meant to be used for activities fighting HIV/AIDS at the community level. The counterparts play a huge role in helping new volunteers adjust to their new lives in Swaziland. They are meant to be a mentor, guide, and translator in our new communities. Unfortunately, the counterparts get paid very little for their work. This means that most of them have great difficulty balancing the needs of the job with their needs for income (this means that sometimes they literally do nothing). Many Peace Corps volunteers have had a very difficult time adjusting in their new community, because of such problems. Fortunately, my story is different. I was given a very reliable and fun counterpart who made my adjustment to the community an enjoyable experience.

It was incredible to watch the election here in Africa. People were talking about it weeks before it even began. On Election Day, I met up with the other volunteers in the capital city and we stayed up the whole night for the big event. Obama’s win was huge in Swaziland. In the Swazi newspaper I read, it was the cover story and then half of the paper was about how important the win was for democracy. The election also had a profound impact on me. Those of you who know me well know that my education made me a bit of skeptic about what the U.S. often represents, especially when it comes to foreign policy. However, my experiences in Swaziland combined with what happened on November 4th, 2008 have left me with an entirely new perspective. Obama now comes up very often in daily conversations and I can’t help but show my pride in telling my Swazi friends about what that election means for me and for the world. It is incredible.

Now that “integration” is over, I must return to my community and get down to business. I have already begun teaching at the health club, but there are so many things I hope to do over these next two years. The war on HIV/AIDS here in the nation with the highest rate of infection in the world must be fought on every level. I know that my time here is short and that the work needed is enormous. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I would really love to hear from you!

The End of Training

So we just finished up our last week of training! Next week, we officially swear in as volunteers. We will have a special ceremony presented by the U.S. embassy that the Queen is expected to attend. We started the week off by going to visit the Swaziland National Museum and then a cultural village. At the end of this visit, we watched a traditional dance. I was sitting on the front row. The dancers pulled me up to dance in front of everyone not once, but twice!!! If only you could see!! Luckily, one of my fellow trainees did get it on video, so maybe I can post it some day…. We’ll see about that. And yeah, for those of you that have seen my moves in Seattle, they are even better in Swaziland!! Yeah, yeah.

Yesterday, we had our language tests! We each had a personal interview with someone who could ask questions in Siswati about everything we have learned so far. It was difficult, yet exciting at the same time. It was exciting to sit and have a conversation and realize that I have learned a lot these last few months. I’m not sure about the results yet, but it feels so good to have that behind. Today our families threw us a surprise party. It was so sweet! They gave each of us traditional Swazi attire and cooked a feast. These are our final days in our current villages. After our ceremony next week, we will be starting over new. I hope to hear from you soon!

These Last Few Months

Greetings! I hope this blog finds you doing well. I am doing pretty well here in Swaziland. Unfortunately, a problem developed with the blog spot I previously created. Anyway, I’ll try it again here.
I am still in the training phase of service. This means that each day we (the 35 peace corps volunteers that make up group 6) are in class for language, cross culture, learning medical procedures, and developing our technical skills. At times, it is very draining! We also each stay with a host family. My host family is made up of a mom and a dad and two young girls. They have taken such great care of me here. The first few weeks here, my homestead had no electricity. Then one day, we had a celebration and flipped on lights. Then a week later, the family got a t.v. A week after that, there was a satellite dish. I’m not sure if they had been planning to put in the electricity or what, but it was interesting to see the transition… and very nice to have the electricity! We now watch a soap opera (a soapie) from South Africa every night! Even though I did not watch soap operas in America, I look forward to it everyday here. It’s a different kind of soap opera.
Two weeks ago, we each found out where we will be spending the next two years. We then each traveled with a community leader to visit for five days. Despite a rocky start, my visit turned out to be great. The purpose of the trip was for each of us to have an introduction to the leaders in the area. I will be living on a homestead with a family that has nine kids! The parents on my homestead are both teachers who speak amazing English. The parents have four kids of their own, and then they took in five more when their parents died.
After training is done, I will move into this northern community and start meeting with leaders to decide what I can best do to combat HIV/AIDS here. My official title is an HIV/AIDS health educator. I really hope to strengthen support systems in my community. We visited a public school in my current community that had 561 students. Of those students, 400 of them were classified as an OVC (orphan or vulnerable child)!!! Seeing this blew me away! The school had an operating health club to discuss HIV/AIDS prevention, but the teachers were hoping to implement a counseling program as well. I hope to work with counseling programs such as this.
Thanks for reading my site! I would LOVE to hear from you, even if its just to say that you walked to the park or something.