...thinks about tea time.

Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.

-Camille Pissarro

There was a tea party outside the SOS village today. Do you remember tea parties as a young girl? Maybe you collected all of your animals around a table or bench. Maybe you had a tea set. Maybe you had crackers or water for pretending. Maybe you had a father who would take the time out of his today to extend his pinky finger and tell you "I've had the most wonderful time my dear". 

The tea party today lacked the maybes. In the thorny, red dust covered bush 7 young girls sat on a makeshift picnic blanket, made from old plastic bags, bottles, and cardboard. Wearing torn and tattered clothes these girls sat in a circle exchanging pleasantries and pretend life stories, laughing and carrying on for hours. No pretend crackers, no real water, absolutely no tea set or father.

I am a believer in God. I would call myself a Christian each day and a good one every once in a while. I recently listened to an Andy Stanley sermon in which he stated "if you live in America you are blessed. You are ahead already". Most every day here I believe that, but today I struggled with the blessing part. Being blessed, undeserving of such. I've become much more a believer in pure dumb luck since I've been here. My ability to have a voice and power as a woman, access to proper education, free speech, and even access to know "what is a Google". Mimi, Nomdumiso, Nophumelelo, Luyanda, and Samu. All intelligent, beautiful, selfless girls who deserve the same but lack all. They deserve such blessings, why is their luck so bad? 

I was told once by a very wise man that feeling guilty about your blessings will destroy your soul. "Never curse your blessing" I was advised. So today I cry for a tea party that deserves so much more glam and glory. Tomorrow, I guess I will try and do the best with my blessed self that I can. 

There seems to be a great deal of strife and negativity in America, we have tried to keep up. But for today, bask in your blessedness and say a quick thanks for your pure dumb luck. 

...has found the doldrums.

"Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is." - Thomas Szasz

Well it's time to tackle perhaps the foremost aspect of Peace Corps service here in Swaziland. Something that catches up with every PCV sooner or later, and that is…BOREDOM. Grace and I wrapped up the library, chicken farming, and permagardening projects with a fantastic getaway to Italy with friends and family, and returned to a hectic couple of weeks of playground build trainings, but since then we have definitely hit a lull. We have several playground builds coming up in mid-September, but not a whole lot of very meaningful work in between now and then. So…we face a few weeks of unprecedented boredom.

Boredom is defined in one way as being “the state of being weary and restless through lack of interest.” In siSwati the word for boredom is situnge, but the root of that word ore accurately translates to loneliness. Grace and I are blessed that we don't have to deal with situnge like so many of our peers, but I'm quite convinced that boredom strikes everyone at some point. For us it results in endless games of cards, new workout routines and videos, TV shows both educational and fictional, books from all genres (there's a good reason the PC Kindle library boasts some 20,000 titles), and occasionally, when we’re at wits end, a nap. However, true to definition we eventually lose interest in these boredom remedies. Not because they don't do a sound job of killing time with various added benefits, but precisely because we know that's all they're doing…wasting time. We came to Swaziland to work towards the goals of our program and community, not to waste time. But alas, it is inevitable and it is everywhere. We get bored at all times of day while we wait for our planned events to come up, morning, afternoon, and night. We face boredom in the bus ranks when we wait for an hour for the khumbi and another hour to even start moving (we’re quite fortunate here as many volunteers can wait up to 3hrs total). We lose interest in our remedies and resort to delirious banter or contemplative silence. 

Swaziland has affected our personalities in more ways than we can count, and I think we both agree that for the most part it's been for the better. So, here’s to hoping in the next few weeks that we can shift from boredom to serenity.

P.S. - The very not boring photos for this post are from Emlembe, the highest peak in Swaziland and a part of the Drakensberg Mountain Range.

...builds to play!

"It is a happy talent to know how to play.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Playgrounds for Africa is the name. Building a playground in 2 days is the game. Oh, 23 playgrounds all across Swaziland actually. After we arrived back from our amazing trip to Italy we had 2 days before we ventured out to a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer site to build a playground. Sean, the only volunteer with any construction experience, was the trainer for the week long construction process. Anyone want to volunteer to teach 22 inexperienced Americans to build a wooden playground in rural Swaziland? I didn't think so, but Sean bravely was up to the task.

It took all 5 days to construct this playground in which Sean and 2 other volunteers designed. The project was developed by 3 volunteers tired of watching young children sit idle and lack imagination. Knowing how beneficial playgrounds were for these volunteers in their youth, they graciously invited others to join in the initiative. A $20,000 project, these three ladies have organized, financed and planned the building of 23 playgrounds in 23 Peace Corps communities nation wide. 

Back to the build - with a few design changes, tool exchanges, and extensive teaching we finished the first playground in 5 days. Now, the plan is to build each remaining playground in 2 full days. Also, without the assistance of Sean, our favorite builder, because he can't attend all builds. The test came this week, on Wednesday and Thursday, at our second training/playground site. 

Assignment: Build a playground in two days, without the assistance of Sean Collins - pretend phone calls allowed only.

I wish I could tell you in person how much WE CRUSHED IT! In person there would be exaggerated hand motions and inflection in my voice. Mixing cement, reading plans, cutting rafters, finding square, "racking" it, and making it "plum" became second nature to many volunteers. We didn't have to "scab" one thing! We actually finished at 1:30 on the second day, truthfully showing that we only need 1 1/2 days to build a playground. 

Understandably and incredibly humbled by the skills learned, everyone was very well aware that the reason we were overly arrogant is solely due to Sean. The week prior he aimed to teach volunteers that everyone could do it. He over explained, patiently re-explained, and took the time with every question, every action, and every idea. As he sat and labeled tools at build number two, I hope he was aware how much he wasn't needed. Sustainability. Empowerment. Success. Everything he was sent here to do. Its not just reserved for the Swazis. 

...just books.

"Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are." - Mason Cooley

We’re done! 1 Teacher’s desk, 3 murals, 3 student-designed tables, 12 textbook benches, 15 categories, 1,866 books plus a few. A few hundred that it is. That's the short version of what has been put into St. Paul's Primary School’s library in the last several months. The project of revitalizing an old library at the school started last year in the blistering heat of November with an application to Books For Africa, and ended on a cold June day today. The Library Club at the school has been working tirelessly each available Wednesday since February, eager to see and aid in the library's evolvement. Admittedly though, rather than help us clean or organize the last couple of meetings, most students prefer to flip through some of the children's books we received from Darien’s Book Aid or stand and gawk at the Tom and Jerry mural on the wall (it turns out Curious George only recently made it to Swaziland, in our shipment of books), but that's the real reason we brought the books and painted the mural in the first place. In this case, less help and a little chaos has actually been welcome in the process! 

For the last month, it seems we’ve been racing against the clock to get the murals touched up, tables and benches built, old books reorganized, and new books catalogued before leaving for vacation. Yesterday was a milestone as we labeled the 1,866th book we received from Books For Africa, but I'm not sure I can truly describe the amount of effort and cooperation that went in to making the library what it is today. I know there are several people to thank including the organizations that sent us books but I’d like to take a little time to thank the three people who have been an unimaginable help in finishing this project. 

First, our head teacher, Ms. Mayisa, has been a tremendous leader and collaborator in the project. Early on, she saw the potential of a revitalized library space and helped us find a counterpart, put forth and fulfill the obligations of our application, and she has given us tremendous not only leeway but also encouragement to adapt the space as we have seen fit. 

Second, our volunteer librarian, Phindile Nhlengetwa has been a phenomenal counterpart. She immediately volunteered to be the librarian after Ms. Mayisa explained what we were trying to do. She hasn't faltered in her support or role in the project since then, even when a librarian training was initially scheduled for Easter weekend, she was committed. She engaged students to join the library club and then became an active member of the club, something that doesn't always happen here. When the books arrived at the school, she helped Grace unbox them and sort them for three hours on a Friday afternoon in her free time. Even when we wound up receiving a couple of boxes of textbooks she wasn't upset or angry she simply stated, “Don't they know how to recycle?” She encourages students to pick up and read the books that interest them but she also doesn't turn a blind eye to a teaching moment when a student mishandles a book. She will be an incredible librarian.

Third, my co-worker and wife, Grace. We’ve joked with many people throughout this project that Grace is the creative one and I am the creator, but she has been infinitely more helpful than being the inspired designer of our benches, tables, and murals. First let me say that in the eyes of Peace Corps this is my project not ours. It more closely associated with my youth development framework than Grace’s community health, and so I am the “lead” volunteer on the project. Such a thing couldn't be further from the truth. In the past week alone Grace has put more hours into the library than many people put into their own work making 10 times what PCV’s make. She has catalogued and organized over 2,500 books all the while assisting me in the construction of benches and tables and the painting of murals. She's endured headaches, monumental amounts of dust, 7 day work weeks, near 12 hour days, and a grumpy co-worker on many occasions to make our project the inviting and open library it is today. There were moments I'd look up from painting and wonder how a single person could transform a wall of chaos (remember the “plus a few”, I was referring to a wall of textbooks teetering on the thousands) into one of order. Not to mention an order easily and clearly understand by non-native English speakers. Everyone of the jobs I did, Grace was there to make it easier. From stacking and organizing textbooks to be drilled to organizing books to be labeled alphabetically ahead of time. She even packed my lunch a few days. 

So in the end, thank you. Thank you to Books For Africa, thank you to  all of you who donated to Peace Corps BFA, thank you to BFA Swaziland, thank you to Darien’s Book Aid,  thank you to the staff of St. Paul's, and thank you to the Dlamini family.

Sure I played my part painting, building, applying labels, but as I stepped back today and looked at months of hard work from so many people believing in a common good, I couldn't help but be humbled in a way I haven't been in a long time. St. Paul's library is filled with books for kids of all ages now but more importantly, it's filled with the pride and joy that comes from seeing a project like this finish and radiates to all those who enter. 

Siyabonga kakhulu.