Only in Swaziland

June 28 makes it one year that I have been in Swaziland. I feel like I have a good enough grasp of this country. I’ve observed, I’ve integrated, and I’ve enjoyed my time. When people ask me how I find Swaziland or what I think about it, the only thing I can say is that it is unique. So I have compiled a list of things my fellow PCV’s and I always say when we talk about the ‘uniqueness’ of this special place.

1.       Only in Swaziland will you be called fat and need to lose weight, then skinny and need to eat something by the same person in the same day.

2.       Only in Swaziland will people tell me that they love my hair, and that I need to cut it off and get new hair, that looks exactly like my hair.

3.       Only in Swaziland will it be over 100 degrees, hot, dry, then rainy, windy, and less than 50 degrees within a 24 hour period.

4.       Only in Swaziland will you find Gogo (grandmother) carrying over 75lbs of firewood on her head across a highway.

5.       Only in Swaziland will you find cows that really have no regard for anything. I saw a cow walk straight through a barb-wire fence… for no reason.

6.       Only in Swaziland will you see women dressed like they came out of a magazine wearing 4 inch heels walking down a dirt road the rural areas.

7.       Only in Swaziland will you see someone dressed head to toe in traditional attire while driving a BMW and talking on his iphone.

8.       Only in Swaziland will you have a conservative family stop everything at 8pm, to watch the racy soap opera “Generations”.

9.       Only in Swaziland will you have the government scorning women for wearing short skirts, yet their traditional wear consists of young girls wearing littler skirts and going topless.

10.   Only in Swaziland will you find a beauty pageant for EVERYTHING.

11.   Only in Swaziland will “water people” come to your house in the month of December, and make you pay a fine for wearing nail polish.

12.   Only in Swaziland will you experience your highest highs and your lowest lows and still find reasons to love this place.

13.   Only in Swaziland will the police stop you and have you get off the bus, then get back on the bus…. Just because.

14.   Only in Swaziland will you be told that you can’t use a cell phone or chew gum in court, and then you see two officials talking on facebook and eating, all in front of the judge.

15.   Only in Swaziland will a facebook status be deemed news worthy and make headlines in the national newspaper days in a row.

16.   Only in Swaziland will you see the best sky- the moon, the stars, the sunsets… gorgeous.

17.   Only in Swaziland can you by a banana for $.10

18.   Only in Swaziland can you live in one of the last absolute monarchies in the world…. Enough said.

Likhaya Lami

I have been in Swaziland for nearly a year and I still have not put of pictures of my house.  The pictures I am about to post may shock you. You may have thought that I lived in a grass hut and eat bugs while monkeys run wild. Well, the monkey part may be true [mainly because I live right next to a game reserve and monkeys won’t let a fence stop them from getting mangoes],  but the living in a hut part- not even close. 

The exterior of my house- complete with banana trees, mango trees, and orange trees… and if I want avocados I just need to ask my neighbor.

 

 My back yard inside the wall. I have my sink and bathroom outside as well as my clothe line. 

 

My kitchen with the water filter, mini fridge, and gas stove. On all the walls I have Swazi artwork and charts with Siswati to help my language skills.

My couch/ guest bed.

Other side of my living room.

View of my two rooms from the living room. On the left is my bedroom; on the right is my walk in closet.

My homemade shelf.

                               

                
                                                                  

Bedroom Intruder

So my extra-curricular activities over the past couple weekends have been nothing short of eventful. It all started when I went to a show at the country club Friday night. True to fashion, ya girl got wild. Spent all night dancing with my friends and listening to house music. It wasn’t until the wee hours of the morning that I returned home. Naturally as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was knocked out. I had two of my friends staying over that night, so they crashed on the floor in my living room. At around 6am, only an hour after I was asleep, my guest heard the door click. She thought it was me going to the bathroom but when she didn’t hear me come back inside she woke up to use the restroom herself. When she came back in, she realized that her purse was moved and her stuff had been scattered on the floor. Freaked out, she went into my room to wake me up and then I quickly realized that several of my things had in fact been stolen as well as multiple things of both my guests. I won’t say what or how much was stolen for security purposes, but I will say that the guy who broke in made bank.

To sum up the questions that my mother and her friends asked over and over…. Yes I was in the house when the guy broke in. He hopped over the wall and broke the lock on my gate. No my burglar bars were not locked. No, none of us were hurt, and no- none of us woke up. Yes we immediately went to the police and filed a report. No I don’t know who the person is. I can guarantee you it was someone with us from that night, but no they were not my friend and no they never came into my house. Yes the police have found something and suspect the perp and are investigating, but no there has been no arrest.

This entire thing has woken me up. I thought I was 100% safe in my community, never would I expect this to have happened. People still think I am crazy that I live alone—it’s a very uncommon thing in SD for a female to live alone. This has never bothered me though. Following the crime, I did go to Mbabane and stay with one of our directors for the night. Her house is so nice and just what I needed; I didn’t feel like I was in SD anymore. After my one night retreat I returned home, but not without saying hello to my best friend. We treated ourselves to some Chinese food. 

I took the rest of the week off; mentally I was drained and needed some space. I didn’t want to regret saying something. I would like to praise my community members, friends, and family in SD for all their support and encouragement. If it wasn’t for their kind words and compassion, I probably would still be stuck in my house hiding under my covers.  Unplanned, I started to feel better by Friday and I attended my last dance session for the week.

THE COMEBACK KID. So after a terrible week to say the least, I did in fact have a complete turnaround by the night. This night at the club was karaoke and I was in it to win it. Joined by a lot of my local friends, despite the competing event at BUSHFIRE that weekend, we had a blast.  The night wasn’t a crazy party like the prior weekend, but it was filled with good amount of newcomers.  When I went to talk to our DJ about selecting a song to sing, someone had already signed my name up. I was torn between two songs, TLC’s- Scrubs which is a song all of us females sing unintentionally here in SD, or Kelly Clarkson’s- Since You Been Gone. I chose the white girl anthem and sang my heart out… at least in my head I thought I did. Results came a little while after around. With my fan club intact, they had the corner of the bar going crazy. With their loud voices applauding and my two beloved bartenders in the back hootin and hollerin, I won!