Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Just a very quick journal entry to fill you in... I'VE GOT A NEW NUMBER AS WELL WHILST IN SWAZILAND - 00268 6543645. Don't delete the other one though as I'll be back on that when travelling. Last week I spent my final week in Barberton - even managed to find somewhere to go out finally! It was a good night, helped along by the tequila and Jack Daniels shots - seperately of course! Then it was time to say goodbye to Tao which sucked but I will see her again soon as she's going to bypass Swaziland on her travels. It's great meeting nice people on your travels and getting to know them etc but then it's really rubbish when it comes to time to say goodbye. Anyway last week Melissa and I spent the whole week in typical African style - not knowing what was happening! One we weren't sure what day we were going to be leaving for Swaziland and I also had no idea if school was going to start again... Of course school didn't start again so I spent most of the week at Tao's creche minus Tao! I actually had a lot of fun there as the kids were really sweet and I think maybe I managed to help teach them something - even if it only happened to be that if you get the answer right you get a sweet! That bit was their favourite!
Anyway Thursday we were supposed to go and see a Sangoma, which in Western terms is basically a witch doctor but here they prefer to call them spiritual healer or someone who contacts the ancestors. We arranged it all but it fell through as we found out that some of the kids who go to the multi purpose centre for food needed our 70 rand a little bit more. Melissa went to their house and ended up bringing all 4 of them back with her to stay at our house because their 'house' was so bad. The kids mother had died a little while ago and the oldest kid who was 15 was looking after her younger brother and sister and her own child of 7 months. Crazy stuff. They stayed at our house and all had nice showers, ate good food etc and then the next day we took them shopping to buy baby clothes, food and toiletries for all of them as they didn't even own toothbrushes. It was really strange and I had real mixed feelings about the whole situation. Obviously not because I didn't want to help but its hard to draw a balance between helping and imposing our western 'better way' on people. I mean of course its great that the kids had a nice place to stay for one night, nice food and that we then left them with nice food and clean clothes, but it doesn't solve the problem long term. I'm not sure if it just reinforces how bad they have it when they have to go home the next day. When we took them back, it was awful as they were such nice sweet kids and where they live is awful. Its a wooden shed basically with one double bed for all 4 of them, dirt on the ground and they have to share bathroom facilities with all the people around them. I have no idea where they cook or eat. I'm not sure what difference we made but I guess at least the 15 year old had a break from being the responsible one and we did get them food that will last a little while which is better than nothing. Its just really shocking that in a country like South Africa which is so much more modernised than other African countries that there should be such a disparity between its people. I guess that was the main thing I disliked about Barberton, it was the nice white area and that's not what I came to Africa for.
Now Swaziland is a different story... from what I've seen so far, it's more like the Africa that Ghana showed me. Yea we live in a nice lodge, where backpackers also come and stay, but its in a mixed area and there's not such a difference between black and white here. I guess it's done to the fact that they never had apartheid and therefore people here have a different mentality. So far I really like it and the people are really nice, both other volunteers and the locals. Friday night we went for a few drinks which was cool. Saturday I went in to Mbabane (where I am now, with the wonder of the internet!) and then we went up a mountain to watch the sunset late arvo. Really nice but we had to go in the back of a pick up truck - not fun when you've got ready to go out and there's obviously no roof! The sunset was nice though. After that we went for a really nice meal as two of the girls were leaving on Sunday.
Sunday morning I went with Kalib, one of the guys who works here, to the market just down the road from us. Of course I managed to buy a few things.... Its so cheap that you end up looking at things that you really don't need but buy anyway under the pretense that you're buying it for someone else at home... hmm maybe I actually will have to give a few of my things away as presents when I get back...! Sunday afternoon Melissa, Kalib and I went to the cultural village which is fairly close to where we live, walking distance (if you like walking that is!) There were more shops, oops! And also a traditional Swazi village which we got shown around and then they performed a traditional dancing ceremony for us which was SO good. It was good until they made the girls join in - lets just say Melissa and I definitely aren't traditional Swazi girls! After that we walked, again, to the waterfalls which are near. It was like rock climbing in flip flops - always a good idea! The waterfalls were really nice though but it was definitely too cold to swim in the water which was a shame.
So Monday was my first day at school. There are two other girls also teaching there so this week I'm helping them but they leave on Friday so I'll then take over the classes. We teach English, social skills and practical arts - not sure what the latter two are yet! The school is called Ezulwini Catholic School and is really nice. I think I'll have a lot of fun there but will keep you updated! Hopefully with pictures next time too as still no luck yet...
Please all send me updates of what you're doing as I feel like I missing a lot.... Much love as always XX
- comments