Category: Peace Corps Swaziland

​Everyone has a part of the story 

by Kirby P., posted in Peace Corps Swaziland, Reflections

During our first three months in Swaziland, we had all kinds of training. There was technical training and language training. There was training about the history and culture of Swaziland. There was probably more training that I have since forgotten. 
One of the things that I haven’t forgotten is a session in which we watched Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk about the danger of a single story. 

My story is, indeed, a single story. It is one of many. A single, personal view of a complex world. During this session, our training manager advised us not to perpetuate the single story of Africa being a singular, homogenous experience, culture, and people. After all, Swaziland is only a piece of Africa. And even in the kingdom of Swaziland, there are varied cultures and experiences among 1.2 million Swazis. In the spirit of promoting multiple varied stories and viewpoints, I would like to share some of my favorite blog posts from PCVs around the globe. 

This post was inspired by Nicole, also in Swaziland, who also wrote about the danger of a single story. I have been inspired by Alexa discussing the gifts from the garden in Uganda. Alison captured the magic and mystery of Swazi greetings and praise names. There is Abbie’s insightful look into things that are uniquely Moroccan. Ally listed common phrases that are heard throughout Swaziland, but would be unusual in America. I read about April’s language challenges in Kosovo, and was comforted by a shared struggle. Recently, Nate explored what the first day of school looks like in Swaziland. Nathalie shared the things that she’s learned in her first six months as a PCV in Swaziland. Faith, in Tanzania, compiled many memes about serving as a volunteer of color. 

Feel free to link to some of your favorite PCV blog posts in the comments.

Be kind to yourself. 
Onward. 

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​Monday in a Picture – The Homestead 

by Kirby P., posted in Monday in a Picture, Peace Corps Swaziland, pictures

In Swaziland, we live with a host family in a rural community for the duration of our service. These communities tend to be very family oriented. Families live together on a plot of land called a homestead. Homesteads vary greatly in size, structures, and composition. There are some common elements with all homesteads around the country. 

I have yet to see a homestead that doesn’t have a farming space to grow crops, typically maize. Most homesteads have multiple buildings on them. On my homestead (pictured above), there’s the main house, my house, a tool house, a chicken house, a guest room, and a pit latrine. Many homesteads also have a kraal (pronounced crawl), which is where the family’s cows live. Some homesteads with many extended family members may have one house for school age female children, and another house for school age male children. Some homesteads have a kitchen house, where food is cooked in a large three legged pot over an open fire. 

There is, of course, a process to acquiring land to build your homestead. It starts with going to the inner council at the umphakatsi (pronounced om-pa-got-see) to ask for land to build your home. The umphakatsi is the local governance structure of a chiefdom. In many rural communities and chiefdoms, only a married man can ask the inner council for land to build a home. It’s expected that you give a number of cows to the umphakatsi for the land you are given. Once the land for your homestead is acquired, you can start building whatever structures you’ll need. I’ve noticed that building homes tends to be a local community and family effort. 

Be kind to yourself. 
Onward. 

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From the @whatisKirbydoing Instagram: February 04, 2017 at 07:40AM

by Kirby P., posted in Peace Corps Swaziland, pictures

Today I learned that Dr. Carolyn Payton was the first Black director of the #PeaceCorps. She was also the first woman to lead the organization. #BlackGirlMagic #BlackExcellence #BlackHistory
Another cool fact: she started her teaching career at my alma mater, #LivingstoneCollege.
Photo credit: Getty Images

​Monday in a Picture – Build Your Own Bookshelf 

by Kirby P., posted in Monday in a Picture, Peace Corps Swaziland, Photo, pictures

When I moved into my home here in Swaziland, it was a blank canvas. There was no furniture. There were empty walls. It was an invitation to create. 

After settling in to my home with a bed and homemade closet, it was time to tackle the next challenge. Where do I store all of the notebooks, manuals, and other random books that I’ve acquired since beginning my service? Thankfully, I rid myself of my book collection before leaving DC. Furniture can be expensive, especially when factoring in transportation costs. Building my closet provided me with the confidence and inspiration to take on another project: my bookshelf. 

I had some five empty soda bottles, thin rope, cement nails, zip ties, and duct tape. In my first attempt, I wrapped the bottles with the duct tape. Then, I tied the rope onto the ends of the bottles and wrapped the rope around the cement nails to hold it up. This setup wasn’t the best for bearing heavy loads. In my second attempt, I pushed all air out of the bottles and poked holes along the sides of the crushed bottles. Then, I zip tied the crushed bottles together and tied rope to the zip ties on the end. Finally, I wrapped the rope around the cement nails. This setup has been great for bearing the load of books. 

Be kind to yourself. 
Onward. 

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​ Sweet Dreams – Peace Corps in an alternative universe 

by Kirby P., posted in Peace Corps Swaziland, Sweet Dreams

Because I am posted in a country where I might contract malaria, I have been given an antimalarial medication called, “Mefloquine”. One of the side effects of this medication is lucid dreaming. The following is what I dreamt last night (as best I can remember). 

I was in Las Vegas. It was for my Peace Corps staging event. There were no hotels. There were no conference rooms. I don’t remember any Peace Corps staff. We were all in a very large house. It seemed that the house had countless rooms. I only remember a very massive bedroom with a massively impressive bed. There was even a large, intricate wooden headboard and snazzy lighting. Despite ample sleeping space, no one slept due to immense excitement. 

We arrived in a city in the country of service. I’m not sure which country it was. It wasn’t Swaziland. I was taken to an apartment building and given keys. Upon entering the apartment, I was very excited and impressed. There was a full kitchen and two bedrooms (or so I thought). The bedrooms were on opposite sides of the apartment. My roommate was a PCV I had met in Madagascar (in real life). I chose a room and started settling in. I was exploring the apartment when I opened what I thought was a bathroom door. It was another bedroom with a closet full of dresses. Apparently there was another roommate who wore a lot of dresses. I never actually met this roommate. 

Be kind to yourself.
Onward.

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​Monday in a Picture – The Bus Rank 

by Kirby P., posted in Monday in a Picture, Peace Corps Swaziland, pictures

The majority of transportation around Swaziland is done by minibus taxis, known as khombis. Imagine hundreds of fifteen passenger vans (typically Toyota Quantums or Mercedes Benz Sprinters) taking men, women, children, and chickens everywhere. The khombis travel through the cities and the rural communities. They travel on paved, tar roads, and on gravelly, dirt roads. Although the vans are  15 passenger vans, sometimes there are more than 15 passengers on board. The good news is that everyone gets to wherever they are going. The not so good news is that personal space doesn’t exist when riding in khombis (or buses) here. 

One of the features of Swazi transportation is the hub and spoke system. There are two major transportation hubs in Swaziland: Mbabane (the capital) and Manzini. These transportation hubs, known as bus ranks, are typically filled with khombis, buses, and young men yelling and/or whistling to advertise their khombi or bus, and where it’s going. For example, you might hear a loud whistle followed by Mankayane! Mankayane! Mankayane! If you don’t hear your destination being yelled, you can always stop to ask the bobhuti (pronounced bo-boo-tee), or young men, where you can find the khombi or bus that you need. One of the really helpful things about the bus rank is that khombis and buses tend to be in the same spot or area everyday.

While buses tend to have specified (though not posted) departure times, khombis tend to leave whenever they fill up with passengers. This could be why the bobhuti sometimes grab your bags while yelling questions like, “Uyaphi?” (pronounced oo-yah-pee), or where are you going? It makes great sense. A khombi sitting in the bus rank is not a khombi making money. 

You can also find all kinds of items for sale at the bus rank. There are clothing items, cosmetics, snack food, produce, drinks, and more. While buses are waiting to depart, various vendors will also come around to sell their wares. There are also various shops and stores that surround the bus rank. Because most urban businesses in Swaziland close in the early evening (between 5PM and 7PM), the bus rank has much less activity and traffic at this time. 

The picture above shows rows of khombis parked and waiting to fill up with passengers in the Manzini bus rank, which is the largest in the country. 

Be kind to yourself. 
Onward. 

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​Monday in a Picture – Grow Your Own Food: the Garden

by Kirby P., posted in Monday in a Picture, Peace Corps Swaziland, pictures

Last week, I finished my garden. I used the techniques that we learned in a training session last month. Read about that training here. Building this garden was a great way to test my own knowledge and skill before leading trainings in my community. I’m still planning the community demonstration gardens with community leadership.

Double digging to depths of 30+ centimeters is hard, tedious work. The Swazi sun made the task even more unappealing. I hyped myself up by watching Ron Finley’s TED talk about guerrilla gardening. While the entire video is extremely motivational and inspiring, one quote stuck out to me.

“Growing your own food is like printing your own money.” – Ron Finley

I like money. I like food. Challenge accepted! It took four days to complete. I’m happy to announce that it’s done. Some of my neighbors came over to learn and help. It felt great to actually understand permagardening well enough to explain it to others. 

I’m sure that I didn’t do everything perfectly. There were measurements that I forgot to take. My idea (and practice) of companion planting is definitely not what we learned. I didn’t add ash or charcoal to the soil because we didn’t have any available. 

For those who may be wondering what I am hoping to grow, I planted seedlings of lettuce, red cabbage, Chinese cabbage, butternut squash, onions, okra, basil, something called rocket (which the sales associate told me is like spinach), broccoli, cauliflower, and eggplant. I planted seeds of chamomile, flowers, tomatoes, and spinach. Now, I’m just hoping that the seeds and seedlings turn into food.

Be kind to yourself. 
Onward. 

P.S. – This is what the space looked like before it became a garden. 

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Sweet Dreams – Fanboy

by Kirby P., posted in Peace Corps Swaziland, Sweet Dreams

​Because I am posted in a country where I might contract malaria, I have been given an antimalarial medication called, “Mefloquine”. One of the side effects of this medication is lucid dreaming. The following is what I dreamt last night (as best I can remember). 

I was with a large group of people. They may have have been classmates. They may have been teammates. They may have been my Peace Corps Swaziland cohort. We were in a restaurant waiting to go somewhere or do something. There were maybe 50 of us. The restaurant was a cross between a McDonald’s and a Starbucks.

Anyway, I get up to go to the counter to order something. In my periphery, I notice a man sitting down. To my left. In the distance. Holy shit! It’s Dak Prescott. I get out of line to nervously and eagerly approach. I try to put a sentence together, but manage to say something unintelligible. He’s cool. He shakes my hand. No big deal. He smiles and gets back to whatever he was doing. I don’t even go back to the counter. I go back to my group to excitedly tell them that Dak is there. They don’t seem to care as much as I do. I tell them that they don’t understand, and that this is like meeting the president of the United States. They blow me off. 

Fast forward. We’re in the same place. But they now offer banking services. Dak is getting a new bank account. On his way out, he jokingly offers me his signature. On the back of his card. I’m still so giddy and excited. 

Be kind to yourself. 
Onward. 

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