Staff Blog

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. 

I was met at the airport by a SWAPOL staff member and, after reporting my lost suitcase (only one of my two bags made the whole journey with me) he took me to the SWAPOL office.  There I was introduced to a some of the staff and then wrote some emails while I waited for my ride to my host family.

Swaziland challenge number one: The names. I hadn’t anticipated this at all, but people’s names here are like nothing I’ve ever heard and so are near impossible for me to pronounce, let alone remember.  All I can do is ask people to have patience with me (I have trouble remembering new people’s names in Canada, and they are names I know!) and slowly I am getting them.

After a few minutes I was told my ride had arrived. We were introduced and we got on our way.  However, it wasn’t until we arrived at his house that I realized that my ride was in fact my host father, and I would be staying with his family for the next three and half months. Upon arrival I was shown my room and introduced to my host mother, brother,  and a bunch of children who I was told were just staying at the house to help with the maize harvest. I was also immediately given my Swazi name, Figili (which means “to have come”), and have since almost forgotten my name is Lauren.

The homestead is lovely. The main house has a living room and two bedrooms (mine and my host parents), a kitchen off one side and a small front porch. Next to it is a small round building that serves as a church for the family and some neighbours. Next to that is a building that has three bedrooms. Across from this is another round building that is a second kitchen and behind this is a small open structure that houses a fire for outdoor cooking.  Behind the house is the shower room, pit latrine, maize drying rack, and goat and chicken pens. The homestead has electricity but the buildings have no running water, however there is a water tap outside (which is treated and safe to drink).

The highlight of Thursday was accompanying one of SWAPOL’s two nurses to treat some orphan children at one of SWAPOL’s outreach programs in the north of the country.  After an hour and a half of baking in the sun and trying to dodge the gear shift as I was squished in the “middle” seat of a two seater truck, we finally stopped in the middle of nowhere where about twenty children and four women were waiting under a tree.  We had arrived.  The nurse introduced me and then the children lined up and she started seeing each child one by one.  When I later asked the nurse the most common problems she was seeing she said that now it is the dry season so there are a lot of skin problems related to not washing enough or washing with dirty water. In the rainy season the most common problem is cholera. 

Swaziland challenge number two: I don’t speak SiSwati. The official languages in Swaziland are English and SiSwati. Of course, from what I have gathered mostly everyone speaks SiSwati most of the time and those who are educated know English and speak it as needed.  I’d heard people speaking SiSwati since I’d arrived and hadn’t thought a whole lot of it, since most of the people I’d met spoke English too.  However, when I arrived at the program everyone was speaking only SiSwati.  I couldn’t understand what was going on, I couldn’t engage with people using language, and I felt essentially useless. Still, it was good to get out of the office and into the field to start to better understand what SWAPOL does.  On the once again incredibly hot and uncomfortable way back I decided that I should at least make an effort to learn the local language.

On Friday (Labour Day, a hoilday) and Saturday I helped to harvest the maize.  The men and boys cut the stalks and gather them together into lean-to type bunches. The women and girls take the maize out of the husks on the stalks and throw them in piles on the ground. Later in the day the women and girls go back out to the field, put the maize in grain sacks and carry the sacks to the drying structure behind the house.  I enjoyed helping out.  It felt good to be outside and working together as a team with my new family and friends. 

On Sunday I cooked lunch and then we had church. I must say that I love cooking, but can find it incredibly stressful, especially when trying a new recipe or cooking for a new person, even in the well-stocked and relatively well organized kitchen of the New House.  Here I was fumbling around to find what I needed in a kitchen that looks like a tornado struck it, with rice, a chicken, two tomatoes, some onions, two cloves of garlic, two small green peppers, one carrot, a handful of green beans, and no spices except for chicken stock, chicken soup mix and salt. I was cooking for ten people. Needless to say I was in a bit of a tizzy during the whole fiasco but I managed to throw something together.  And of course, I was incredibly relieved after everyone had eaten and I received the seal of approval from the family. Phew!

I also spent much of the weekend working on my SiSwati, which I think is going to be much harder than I anticipated to learn. It doesn’t seem to matter how many times I’m told a certain word or phrase, it just doesn’t seem to stick.  At least I finally have the greeting down, which is the most important. I won’t give up, but I admit I am discouraged and am very grateful that at least I have the option of speaking English to most of the people here.  Many Intercordia students are completely immersed in a new language and don’t have a choice but to keep at it.  I also feel great compassion and admiration for international L’Arche assistants who are learning English on the job. You’re incredilby brave and strong!

Back at the office today. Three more days until the students arrive. They’ll be spent getting ready for them and checking out more of SWAPOL’s programs as well as continuing to get my feet on the ground here.  I can’t belive I’ve been here just six days.  Sometimes it feels like forever, and others I’m acutely aware that I’ve got “foreigner” written all over me.  I also have to stop every once and awhile and remind myself that I’m in a small country called Swaziland in Southern Africa.  I feel surprised almost every time, and then my surprise is followed by incredible gratitude that I have the oppurtunity to know such a beautiful place.