Staff Blog
I Will Miss
As I’ve been thinking about my departure I’m aware of the things that I’m leaving behind, and I want to share what I’m going to miss.
Part of the Family
Three weeks ago I had my first moment of feeling sad about leaving. For awhile I’ve wanted to make a video on my digital camera of my homestead. It’s a bit more real than pictures, and I thought it would be nice to be able to show to people at home. Three weeks ago on Sunday I finally did it. I had been feeling sick all weekend and still wasn’t a hundred percent so I wasn’t sure if it was the time, but it was a beautiful afternoon and my family was home, so I pulled myself together. Before I started I told my host mom what I was doing and that I wanted her to say hello to the camera for my family and friends. She laughed and said ok. I started filming, showing some of the homestead, and then I came over to her. “This is my beautiful mother,” I said. “And this is my baby girl,” she said. “She’s stayed with me for two months and now she is leaving and there is pain in my heart.” She said how much she’ll miss me and how much she appreciates all I do around the house to help her. Then she said, “She came to be with my family,” but corrected herself, “She is part of my family now.”
Doesn’t Matter if You’re Black or White?
We had the most amazing day the Saturday before last. Three times a year there is traditional event called the Umlangha reed dance. The most well known is performed by virgin girls at the end of August. Girls from all over the country gather to dance for the King. They are topless and not wearing much on the bottom, and traditionally the King would choose a new wife each year from out of the young women (he currently has thirteen wives). But apparently he’s finally given that up as it doesn’t set a good example for the country (I don’t know exactly the reason that he was persuaded to stop, but I do know that HIV spreads quickly through networks of multiple concurrent partners, so perhaps this has something to do with it). Anyhow, we’ve been disappointed that we were going to miss that event (it will take place on August 31 this year), although I think we’re all a bit wary of what it represents. However, it turns out there are two other similar events: men dance in January and married women dance in July. On Saturday we attended the married women’s dance.
In the field with SWAPOL - Swaziland
I went out with the mobile clinic the other day. SWAPOL has two mobile clinics, each consisting of a nurse, a suitcase and a cardboard box of medications, a vehicle, and a driver. Together they serve thirty-five rural communities in Swaziland. These mobile clinics provide a service that is incredibly important because it can be so difficult to access healthcare here. Seventy percent of Swaziland’s population lives in rural areas and the the cost of transportaton to a clinic or hospital can often be prohibitive. If you can make it to a clinic, they are often so overwhelmed that you could wait all day and still not be seen. There is a severe shortage of doctors in this country, and you have to be a doctor to prescribe ARVs (although nurses can prescribe other medications), so often doctors only have the time to see patients with regards to their ARVs and are unable to address concerns of oppurtunistic infections. Because of the shortage of doctors, nurses pick up a lot of the slack. But the healthcare system in general is overwhelmed and there is still a lot of stigma within the system when it comes to treating people who are infected.
Mentoring in Swaziland
These days I’m grappling with culture. Not the shock of it, I’m over the worst of that, but it’s pervasiveness and strength. I’m aware here of how culture is present and relevant in everything we do. It’s guides us through our lives, telling us how to navigate social interactions and understand what’s happening around us. When we are in our own culture it helps us to make sense of everything. But we bring our own culture with us when we enter another. We use it to try and interpret things in our new environment the way we do at home. Let me tell you, this doesn’t always work too well.
My Arrival in Swaziland
I arrived in Swaziland last Wednesday afternoon, after a gruelling thirty-six hours in transit that took me through Paris and Johannesburg and finally landed me in Manzini. I love it here. From the moment I left the airport I felt at ease. It feels very different than Kenya or Uganda or Tanzania, in a way that I can only describe as “softer”. I don’t know why that is, but I wonder if, at least in part, it is due to the small size of the country. Manzini is one of the two largest “cities” in the country, with a population of 70,000, and driving down the main street I can hardly believe that this is probably the busiest spot in Swaziland (apparently Manzini is the busier of the two cities, even though I think Mbabane has more people). The whole country only has a population of 1.1 million. It could also be due to the fact that the people of Swaziland are almost all of one tribe (a rarity in Africa that one tri! be is bounded together within a single border) so there aren’t tribal tensions to contend with. I’m sure there are many other contributing factors, but regardless, I feel safe and comfortable here.
New Intercordia Staff Joins Students in Swaziland This Summer
I’ve been asked by Intercordia staff to introduce myself. My name is Lauren Nagler and I’ve just joined the Intercordia team and am incredibly excited to be a
part of this work. Currently, I am a campus rep for St. Thomas University in Fredericton and this summer I’ll be in Swaziland as a mentor to the four Intercordia students that will be there.
Another Playing For Change Video
The Playing For Change Foundation is dedicated to connecting the world through music by providing resources to musicians and their communities around the world. This video features Bob Marley’s, One Love.
Miniature World
Part of Intercordia’s vision is to educate ourselves in order to better understand the roots of injustice and to become ever more aware of the growing gap between the rich and poor in our world. I lifted this youtube link from Jennifer’s blog because it does just that:
Xenophilia: An Interview With Ethan Zuckerman on CBC Radio
According to Ethan Zuckerman, a a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, “Xenophilia is about connecting with people, not with cultural artifacts or other things. Liking Japanese food or Senegalese hiphop doesn’t make you a xenophile - xenophilia is about making connections across language and cultural barriers… Xenophilia is broader than the love for a specific culture or an aspect of that culture - it’s a broader fascination with the complexity and diversity of the world. Xenophilia changes your behavior, especially your behavior in seeking for information, leading you to pay attention not just to the parts of the world that have caught your attention, but to others that you know little about.”
Playing For Change
The Playing For Change Foundation is dedicated to connecting the world through music by providing resources to musicians and their communities around the world. See their latest “Stand By Me” video.
Joe From Swaziland: Part II
Intercordia Canada Executive Director, Joe Vorstermans sends his second blog while visiting SWAPOL (Swaziland for Positive Living)...
Joe Writes From Swaziland
Intercordia Canada’s Executive Director, Joe Vorstermans, is currently in Swaziland visiting with SWAPOL (Swaziland For Positive Living) an NGO supporting rural people living with HIV/AIDS. Read about his arrival in the last remaining absolute monarchy in Africa. SWAPOL is funded by the Stephen Lewis Foundation. You can find out more about SWAPOL at http://www.swapol.net.
Joining the Team!
My experience in the Intercordia Canada program has been one that has touched my heart in a variety of ways. Upon initially hearing of the Intercordia program being launched at St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto, I was unsure whether I was ready to embark upon a journey of its kind. Little did I know then, Intercordia would soon become a significant part of my life.
My First Trip to Ghana
In a small rural village called Sega, the local school, founded by the Headmaster, Mister Godwin, provides classes for about 300 children from kindergarten to grade 7. I was asked to teach a grade 5 class while I was there so that I would experience the work that our students from Canada would be participating in.
Palestine 2006
I was visiting with a Palestinian family in a small village called Artas, which is a short distance south of Bethlehem. The father of the family, who drove a taxi for a living, generously took time to inform me of the reality of the situation they were living as we drove back and forth from Artas to Bethlehem or drank cups of strong coffee in his home. He spoke about the anger and frustration among the people of this area against the Israeli military occupation and the building of “The Wall,” which is not only separating the Palestinians from the Israelis but fragmenting the Palestinian land and population. He spoke about the injustice inflicted by the Israeli Government’s policies, how difficult life is, and how hopeless the future appears. He also spoke about the beauty of the Palestinian culture, the wisdom and practice of Islam, and the strength of the Palestinian family. The tone of his voice swayed between desperation and pride, and often his descriptions ended with the statement “This is our life!” spoken with despondency. He sometimes wondered out loud why the western world doesn’t speak out against the occupation.
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