...has fall break visitors!

Sawubona sisi.

Unjani? 

Ngyaphila. 

Yebo. 

Grace and Sean fluidly roll some version of this sequence to their friends, family, or familiar passerby's. Translated, I think it means:

Hey sister, 

How's it going? (Wait for greeting...)

I'm doing fine.

Yup (followed by smiles).

From a distance, around 4500 nautical miles, I have admired my sister and brother-in-law for whatever it was they were doing over there in Africa... Swaziland... But, admiration is only smoke without understanding, and the short week Dad, John, and I spent allowed for a small, but actual awareness of what our Swazi family members were up to.

​

By the way, it only takes a day, so they aren't really that far away - with the proper transportation. We arrived in the King's airport on Saturday morning, after a series of flights... I sat and slept in the middle of Dad and John the entire trip - most dream of such fortune.  We walked through Passport control and were immediately greeted by Sean and Grace. We hugged out hellos, and headed to Hlane National Park.

Day 1 - Saturday

Saturday started in the late morning, as we had just arrived. Dad took control of the driving with Sean navigating. As the road rules are inverted with left being right and right being left, the key to success is to stay left, find a road partner to follow, and listen to Sean, who holds an intimate knowledge of Swaziland's roadways.  Waiting on us in Hlane, was a setting of relaxation. Wooden chairs outlooking a small lake held the potential for a wild encounter. Although we did not see the hippos that chose that day to break routine, we did encounter a lone Crocodile, noisy birds, and Swaziland's prize lager - Sibebe. Success.

After, Hlane, we headed to Grace and Sean's home, where we met Babe and Make. Their welcome was warm, heartfelt, and full of a patient kindness. We got settled, changed clothes, and headed to the S.O.S. Youth Center for basketball. 

Basketball was exciting for all involved. No doubt Sean, or Sipho as he is known in Swazi circles, provides these children a highlight with his basketball program. The kids knew the rules, called their own fouls, and managed the ten-foot goal with success; useful techniques such as the lob, baby hook, and even the granny shot made appearances.

Highlights from Day 2 and 3 - Sunday and Monday

Some highlights from these two days included Sunday Church. We walked to 11:00 AM church Sunday morning after banana pancakes for breakfast. Jack Johnson melodies. Breakfast, by the way, was quite phenomenal every morning in the Collins' home. Anyways, church was excellent. The pastor spoke of maturation with Christ and used memorable comparisons.  During the service, John and I were presented with gifts from the church, and were asked to say a few words... We pretty much nailed it, not really, but everyone was very nice to us regardless...

After church Babe hosted a brie, and we enjoyed several fine dishes. Apart from the chicken, the cabbage dish was my favorite, and I never thought I would say that about cabbage dishes. So props Make.

Monday morning was preceded by a sampling of Exploding Kittens (a card game), Acoustic Jams (brought to us by John and yours truly), and Sibebe and friends. On Monday, we had fried eggs and potatoes for breakfast... boom. Then we headed to visit Grace and Sean's playground site. At the site we were greeted by willing helpers, as Sean and Grace worked on the wall that greeted children to the playground site. Grace had fashioned some sensory games and Sean worked on the artwork and wording for the playground. During this time, Dad, John, and I entertained some small children with playground antics and rudimentary soccer (futbol) skills. This one child would not stop fake crying, so Grace put him in timeout.

Day 4 - Tuesday

Grace made banana bread for breakfast! During which the crew shook off the night before, and Sean determined that public transport was the right move for John and I. As Grace and Dad packed the car, Sean took us to the road to hail a Kombi. We watched a few of these taxis pass, while Sean was signing direction to vehicles as to our direction. Not really sure of what was going on, the McCord brothers tried to look natural...

Sean succeeded and stopping a Kombi headed to Manzini; however, the driver was off-duty, and we got our own private transport, according to Sean this was rare, and although we made great time, we all agreed that this did not count as a true public transport experience - John and I did not mind so much. After exploring the city, we headed to Lidwala where we found a kind of oasis for volunteers and other backpackers. Full of zeal at our success with sort of/kind of public transport we headed out to hike Sheba's Breast, a mountain. The hike was straight up and although it started off painful, the toil was worth the view.

On the way down, we were encouraged by a band of baboons who became very interested in the interlopers who had briefly borrowed their mountain. Grace informed us that they may try and feign a charge and we were to stand our ground... this was after she informed us that they could easily rip our arms off... Dad went first, while Sean hooted at them from our position on the low ground. Once back in Lidwala, we had some needed showers and met up with Nolan, Hannah, and Shar - three volunteers of the highest quality. We all packed into the car and headed to the Milan for pizza. The trip consisted of some wonderful pies, excellent stories, and Dad busting through a police blockade; we owned the night!

Day 5 and 6 - Wednesday - Thursday

The next morning we awoke and went for breakfast in Mbabane and met Simiso, one of Grace and Sean's Sisi from their first homestead. Afterwards, we headed back to pack up and relocate to Malandelas.  At Malendelas we checked into our room and walked around the House on Fire. Like Lidwala, the accommodations were top notch, and for the rest of the night we sat on the porch locked in conversation. Oh, and we ate another delicious meal.

We went to bed full, and in the morning we headed to the park. A Swazi park is pretty much the same as just being dropped off in the wild.  In the wild, we were surrounded by zebras, impala, "wild beast", crocodiles, and some sneaky hippos. We nervously navigated the hippo trail where we heard the not-to-far-away grunts of the hippo family that were supposed to be in the water... they were not. It was not until we were back into the car that we actually saw the hippos leave the area we had just vacated and splash into the water.

After the park, the crew headed to the market and got lunch at the Mug and Bean. Afterwards, John, Sean, and I went to the cinema.  As Grace and Dad had headed back to Malandelas, we took a Kombi back. This time, we received a more authentic experience, as we picked up school children and made multiple stops - I sat in the middle.  We ended the night with another wonderful meal, which was a consistent theme throughout the trip.

Looking back on the week, I am confident that I could not do what Sean and Grace and the other volunteers are doing in Swaziland - I would miss home too much, I'm lame - but I was overwhelmed by the welcome we received from Babe, Make, and the community in which they live. Some other things I was thankful for on this trip... quality breakfast, loving pastors, the high ground on hippo trail, early sunsets, spare ribs, emergency breaks, and new family halfway across the world.

...is still building but playing a little too.

We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.” -Charles Schaefer

Well…we’re still building. In fact, we’re building even more! In the past three weeks we have built 4 playgrounds around the Lubombo region, and started a fifth one just today. That's a quite a few long hot days and nights sleeping on concrete floors, but it has definitely been worth all the effort, including the day it tipped 101° in Ntandweni. I'm a little biased, but I would say our playground at the neighborhood care point in Maphatsindvuku has been the best so far! That's completely outside of our doing though, we had a lot of great people come and give their time, energy, and spare materials during our two day build. 

We built a smaller version of the playground than what was initially designed because most of the kids are between the ages of 3 and 5, but they play harder than most kids their senior. Now, instead of playing with shoe cars and imaginary tea sets, they have swings, a tire swing, two mini towers, and soon some fun and games on a learning wall! It's been a long time since we facilitated and participated in the playground training in July but it's all come together now and it's a wonderful thing. I really don't know how to explain what it's like seeing kids playing on something built specifically for them for the first time, some of you parents out there will undoubtedly remember, but it's a fascinating thing to see a group of happy kids start defining themselves through play. Some are adventurous, fearless, and bold while others are timid, cautious, and careful. Some become great pushers while others become great swingers. Eventually they all level out, the bold helping the timid figure out the ladder, the swingers reciprocating the efforts of the pushers on the tire swing. (The tire swing is apparently much less intimidating, I seem to remember most injuries of my childhood on the tire swing however…) The whole playground becomes a beautiful chaos of tiny children with huge smiles. A cacophony of laughter and screams and short siSwati phrases that seem to me to say “Let's do that again!”. It's amazing to watch, exhausting to get in the middle of, and wonderful to reflect on at the end of the day. We can only really say thank you to all those people who came out to help us, brought us something to make the job easier, or let us play with them for a couple days while we worked around them. (We’ve learned beep beep is the best child speak for excuse me)

Speaking of thank you’s though we had another great time this week as we passed out 500 bookmarks at the primary school! It was the final cap to a very rewarding library project, and the bookmarks were distributed just in time because we got a call earlier this week saying the librarian is ready to commence the check out process! (Keep our librarian in your prayers because supervising that process for 500 students and teachers with no experience is a Herculean task, one which she is so excited to take on!) We handed out the bookmarks grade by grade at assembly with the help of a few teachers and it was a great sight seeing proud children with bookmarks overhead ready to read! So thank you very very much to Make Collins and all of the family and friends who helped craft and put a little love in 500 bookmarks! Siyabonga kakhulu kakhulu!!! 

...builds together.

Remember that moment two blog posts ago when we were so bored we didn't even know what to do with ourselves? Well that time is most certainly over. Over the past few weeks we have been working on renovations at the church we attend in KaLanga. We have been approved by the umphakatsi (only a 3 hour wait time for Sipho this time) to build our community playground at the NCP that I love. We will build 4 playgrounds over the next two weeks in fellow volunteer communities and we will be visited by friends from America for a few days starting tomorrow! It feels sane to be busy again. 

Before September comes and goes I want to take a moment to speak about the church project we are currently in the midst of at Christian Revival Church. I could talk extensively about how grateful and blessed we were to find this church home last November, but it would take too long and my focus here is to explain the ongoing project. We had been contemplating helping our church finish the renovations needed on the building we attend church in every Sunday. We know with all our hearts they are so deserving of the assistance and we selfishly want to leave Peace Corps knowing we had a lasting impact, and this was something that could give us that gift. With some help from generous people back home we set out to buy materials for the latrines, plaster and paint the building, flooring, and electricity. The work would have to come from the congregation. Our first day of work occurred last Friday. Over 30 people showed up to help. We figured that we could rally some people for the Saturday as well and then maybe plan for a few weekends ahead to have another work day. Plans change, as we keep assuring you nothing ever goes to plan here in this small country. People came in droves on Saturday, boMake, bobhuti, and bosisi working all day in the hot sun. Everyone fed, in Swazi custom, a full meal at the end of the working day. Sunday, day of rest, we came to church with an almost finished latrine house. Sean spoke his word of thanks to all those who came and spoke about how we are all apart of the Body of Christ, loving one another, able to do immeasurable things through God. 

Either we way underestimated our expectations or Sean's testimony of thanks rallied people into action, because we worked Monday, Tuesday, took Wednesday off (umphakatsi day), purchased electrical supplies Thursday, and are back at work today laying a concrete floor. We are told that the plan is to finish the floor and all the plaster by Tuesday. I wish you could be here to witness the joy and the work. I wish you could see the smiles on our faces from our inability to keep up with the pace of material needs. Our pastor "does not want to disappoint those who believe in the church". I am proud to say that being disappointed is not in the cards for those who have supported this project. 

"For just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individual members of one another."

- Romans 12: 4-5

...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.