Becoming a PCV

On August 24^th, it was time to say goodbye to the Dlamini family and my training village, and temporarily move to the Peace Corps training facility for a few days before the official swearing in ceremony. While I was really excited to be done with training and moving on to my permanent site, I had grown so close to my host family in the two short months I was there, and leaving was really sad.

The night before my last day, I was able (through somewhat of a logistics miracle) give Thabiso and Makosonkhe jerseys for their favorite South African soccer teams. They lit up. I was hoping they would be excited, even though boys generally don’t like getting clothes for gifts back at home, and I was relieved to see them walking down the street showing off their new jerseys to all the older boys. They were so excited. It was truly one of the coolest things I’ve gotten to do since I’ve been here.

 The morning of move-out day my Make burst into tears. She told me that I had been filling a void in the family since both of her daughters live in South Africa, and that the boys have loved having me around. She said she didn’t feel so bad leaving for work and to take care of people while I was around, because she knew the boys were being watched after by me. So of course, I lost it and started crying too. I expected this day to be hard, but this was too much. After I got it together, the truck arrived and we loaded my stuff on top of another volunteer’s. When it was time to go, I gave Make and Babe a letter I wrote, thanking them for everything, and said my goodbyes. I called for Thabiso, he had been hiding from me all morning. After a few minutes Make pointed him out to me. He was behind my house, hunched over near the truck-canopy-turned-chicken-coop, and he was sobbing. My heart broke. I went to give him a hug, told him goodbye, and promised him that I will visit as often as I can. I was crying again as I left the homestead, on my way to wait for a ride to the training facility. Goodbyes suck.

After unloading at the training facility, I spent a few days in final sessions with all the other soon-to-be volunteers. Then Thursday arrived! It was a day many of us had been waiting for for at least a year. We got all dressed up, many in traditional Swazi emahiya, and travelled to the Royal Swazi Spa and Hotel for our official Peace Corps Volunteer Swearing In Ceremony. Aside from Peace Corps staff and current volunteers, the US Ambassador to Swaziland and Swaziland’s Prime Minister were in attendance. They both gave speeches before we took our official oath. It was a surreal afternoon! The celebration concluded with the best meal we’ve been served so far in country, complete with a dessert bar.

That’s me in my emahiya at the ceremony!

That night, many of us new volunteers and some of those from the group before us went out dancing, and the next morning we loaded up trucks to move to our permanent sites! I anticipated having a minor freak-out as the Peace Corps van drove away, leaving me and everything I own on a homestead in the middle of nowhere, with a family I barely know. To my surprise that moment never happened!

I have spent the past week unpacking and getting settled into my new home. I now live in a traditional rondavel (round hut) with a thatch roof, which is actually excellent at helping to regulate the temperature inside. I’ve got two big windows that let in a lot of light, and a fellow volunteer came over and helped me paint the inside a cheery light green. I went to town on my second day here and purchased a bed and mini fridge. The fridge will be essential for food preservation in the summertime, as well as for cool drinks and being able to eat foods like cheese :) I’m holding off on posting interior pictures of my hut until I can give you all a before-and-after! My latrine here was built by Peace Corps just for me. They don’t do this at every site, so I consider myself lucky! It is brand new, wayyyy too small (like wtf-were-they-thinking-when-they-made-it-this-small, small)l, but completely private-even padlocked on the outside. I’ll have to post a photo tour of my homestead sometime soon!

I’ll go into detail about my permanent host family in a future post, but for now I’ll just share that they are absolutely wonderful! I have a Make and Babe who are actually a Gogo (grandmother) and Mkhulu (grandfather) to more children that it would be possible to count. My Babe has two wives. The other wife lives on the neighboring homestead, and I don’t see her much. But because of this polygamous tradition, there are children and grandchildren everywhere, and it is pretty much impossible to keep track of how everyone is related. Also living full-time on the homestead are my adult Bhuti and his wife, Londiwe. They have a 9 month old baby named Wakhile who is like, the love of my life. Most of you probably know that I’m not a fan of children…but this baby is inhuman!! I’ve been living here for over a week now and I have heard him fuss/cry only once! Ever! He spends his days tied on his mother’s back or being passed around between family members as he giggles and laughs and tries to talk. He is absolutely precious!

My site is located in the Northwest of Swaziland, in the Hhohho region. My nearest large town that you might be able to see on a map is Piggs Peak, and I’m north from there. The nice thing about Swaziland is that it really is tiny, so even being this far out near the border is not really too far from the centrally located cities. So far, life here is good!

On my homestead the following can be found growing: papaya, mango, peaches, avocados, bananas, chili peppers, and marula fruit. Then, in addition, my family owns a HUGE community garden on “that side” where they grow carrots, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, spinach, green peppers, pumpkin, squash, and I’m probably forgetting some things. I’m in fruit and veggie heaven! Pictures to come soon.

While I haven’t really been here long enough to have established a routine yet, I can give you an idea of a typical day so far. Keep in mind that I am currently in the phase Peace Corps calls “integration”, meaning that I am not really supposed to be doing any PC-related work. From now until Thanksgiving, my job is to be getting really familiar with my community, meeting people of influence and potential work partners, and surveying community wants and needs. So anyway, last Sunday I woke up and went to the water tap with my two 25 liter jerry cans in a wheelbarrow. We use a public tap here that is about half a kilometer from home. I filled my cans and hauled them back to the homestead so I could do my laundry. Then Make sent me and a visiting Sisi (sister/young girl) to the garden to bring back spinach. Later, I spent time carrying Wakhile around on my back and just hanging out with the family. I also discovered that we have two pigs on the homestead, and I helped feed them! This place is full of surprises! I am currently working on sewing new curtains for my hut, so I finished one panel for those, too. I went to help haul water again and I witnessed my first chicken slaughter/preparation from start to finish. It was a full and exciting day, to say the least! Homestead life!

The most eventful thing that has happened thus far at my permanent site is definitely the traditional wedding ceremony I attended last weekend. Traditional Swazi weddings consist of several stages, each with its own unique ceremony/celebration. It can take a couple several years, or even a lifetime, to complete them all. I attended the final stage of the wedding between one of my Babe’s brothers and his wife of 45+ years. Family from all over Swaziland and South Africa started arriving midweek. On the day of the wedding, the men all started drinking early in the morning and the ceremony didn’t end up starting until 4pm. There had to be at least 200 people gathered around the homestead to watch or participate. All of those who were in the wedding party were dressed in traditional wear, and the ceremony consisted of a lot of singing and dancing. The was so much energy and excitement, and it was really cool to see so many people coming out to celebrate the marriage of this couple who began their life together so long ago. The ceremony actually started so late that it had to be continued on Sunday, because it got too dark. There were drums and food and the giving of gifts to the couple on Sunday. It was such an interesting event to witness, and I’m hoping to be able to attend some other stages of the Swazi wedding during my time here.

Baby Wakhile in his baby emajobo (traditional animal skin that men wear)

 

The wedding party all lined up before the ceremony

The groom (in orange) and his bride!

A little update on communication: I have pretty limited access to wifi, and I will for the duration of my time in Swaziland, but I am available through WhatsApp and I can use the MagicJack app to make calls that are fairly cheap for me and free for the recipient. I check my email regularly (talorhopkins@gmail.com) and Facebook is always a good option! The address I provided in an earlier post will be my mailing address for the entire time I’m here!

I made a status on Facebook, but I’ll plug it again here, Peace Corps has a program called World Wise Schools where they match educators with PCVs in order to spread cultural understands and the spirit of service with students in the US. I am already registered in the program, and would love to be matched with a few classrooms back home! If you or someone you know is an interested teacher, visit www.peacecorps.gov/wws and fill out the information required after clicking the “Write to a Volunteer” link on the right side. You just need to know my name, my country of service, and my project (Talor Hopkins, Swaziland, Youth in Development). I’m super excited about this opportunity!