The Very Newest Post

Yesterday, which was the 19th, was our first full day off. Nothing to do, nowhere to be. Everyone slept in until about the same time, which was about 11 a.m. Dr. Campbell told us the night before that it was optional, so we all (except for Joanna) decided to take advantage. After waking up, we pretty much just kicked around for the day, mostly spending time at the hotel playing card games and eating some sugar cane by the pool. We also found Manzini’s mall, to my surprise. Manzini, while not a small town, is not at all well off, but I suppose every town this size must have a mall. The makeup of Manzini is the other reason we mostly stayed around the hotel; this is not a tourist town. I need no convincing that the Tum’s George Hotel lives up to it’s motto: “The Nicest Place to Stay in Manzini.” If you don’t live or work here, you essentially have no business in Manzini.

Today, we had, as it turned out, only a half day of work. We went to two high schools: Duze, and Siphofanen, just in case you wanted to know their names. The reason we had a short day is because schools here all close after 1:30 at the latest. Half of us went to one and half to the other. These schools, like most, are very poor. My team and I (which today consisted of Gretchen, Anna, Chrissyl, and Dr. Campbell) went to Siphofanen. We learned from the headmaster that about 200 of the students were orphan head-of-household children. Again, this is an extremely common phenomenon, as 20% of the population succumbs to AIDS/HIV, so although it is tragic, the shock is starting to wear off. Many of them cannot afford to pay for school, so the government tries to help out. The government, however, cannot afford to pay for everything, and the school does it’s part by allowing many students to attend free of charge. Education in Swaziland is highly prized. Indeed, I have been repeatedly impressed and astounded by the obvious achievement and intelligence of the students I have met. They ask very solid, interesting questions, and seem to take to the information we present quickly. This young generation of Swazis are taking to the idea of psychology very quickly, too. Many do not hesitate to take advantage of our offer for free (albeit exceptionally brief) individual counseling. We can’t do much with the time we give them, but it’s better than nothing, and it’s what we’re here to do. Most of what I ended up presenting on today was substance abuse and depression, and switched with Gretchen’s classroom towards the end of our time to present most of that to her class, while she spoke to mine about assertiveness and communication skills. Dr. Campbell had his classroom next to mine, and he had them rollicking with laughter, as tends to be the case; hopefully we’ll all be as good a presenter as he is one day…

We ended up our day going to the Manzini Market, which is an open-air market that mostly deals in needs, foregoing superfluous niceties. Dr. Campbell, however, has been here before, and was therefore able to take us straight to the trinkets and art area. I got some pretty decent artwork, etc., for not a whole lot of loot. In fact, we all agreed that we would break the bank buying this kind of stuff in the U.S. Good for us, good for the Swazis, no?

That pretty much wraps up this post. Again, I can’t post pictures, as the computer that I am forced to use freezes up when I attempt to upload them. I promise to throw on a greatest hits when I get back though, and many of you will get to see lots of the 600 pictures I have already taken (yes, really that many), and the many more I am sure to take. Next post, two days. Salakalahe (goodbye in Swazi, I still can’t pronounce it)!