Roses

"But he that dares not grasp the thorn, should never crave the rose" -Anne Bronte

This quote sums up my time here in Swaziland. It's my constant reminder that in order to see the rainbow we must be willing and able to endure the storm. As difficult as it is, here and now, I know that in the end it will all be worth it.

So, you might ask, what are some things that have happened the past month? I had 2 friends Early Terminate (ET) service- they went home. They left so fast there was no time for goodbyes. Although I am in the HhoHho Region, which is supposed to be in the Mid-High Veld (cooler and more rain than the rest of the country), my specific community-oddly enough- is in the lowveld (meaning very hot and little rain). Just my luck, huh? :) Most of the time I get the lovely view of lightning and thunder and rarely is it accompanied by rain. When it does rain, it conveniently happens to coincide with my swim lessons-which means no swimming and I'm stuck indoors with the kids. I am currently in a WAR with rats. In my first battle with them, I moved my entire room outside and 2 Swazi men came in with an axe chasing it around my room. It escaped out of a hole in my roof. I proceeded plugging the holes with my clothes- as I had done to the other holes. The rats continued to take out the clothing and snuggle with me in bed. I finally bought a fake cement sealer to plug the wall. Currently, I fall asleep to the sound of them eating at the cement- trying desperately to re-enter. It's a great sound. Did I also mention that the rats are the size of cats and kittens? My friend has said she had seen 2 cats chasing each other. It ended up being a cat chasing a rat. CREEPY. On a happier note, I got my furniture!!! After 2 months of cooking and eating on the floor, and sharing ALL of my belongings with my "pet" rats (including my clothing which they hid in) I finally have everything off of the floor!! Who would've thought that simple furniture would change a hut into a home? On the topic of animals, I have had a scorpion, lizards, endless amounts of spiders, and bugs I have never seen before in my hut, bats outside trying to enter, and snakes in our fields (backyard). In a windstorm, our roofs started to blow off. What's the solution? Throw more rocks on it. It's working so far :) I have also found out that my roof leaks. It's a good thing I don't get rain that often. To save water I have resorted to bathing in a river (when I visit a friend) and taking baths in the rain. It's quite fun. People look at me strange but it's worth it to be clean! I have also acknowledged the fact that I will probably be leaving Africa with schisto. If I don't get it in my 2 years, that will be shocking.

Though all of the above has SUCKED, I had a brief glimpse of that "rose" and it has restored my excitement and joy to be here. For Halloween weekend, I was supposed to go out with friends and celebrate. Due to a lack of funds largely in part to my rat fiasco, I stayed home. In doing so I was invited to attend a traditional Swazi wedding with my Make (mother). As we all know, colonization has left Africa broken. It stole all that characterized them, and left them with a westernized system that did not work with their previous way of living. Since their independence from European stakeholders, African countries have been struggling to find a compatible mixture of the Westernized traditions while still trying desperately to maintain their identity and culture of their ancestors. And so, seeing the true and authentic old cultural ways of how their ancestors used to live, is rare. I got a taste of it at this wedding. It was not a performance as they would do for a tourist. Rather, I was there as family. There were a couple hundred people in attendance and almost all were dressed in traditional Swazi wear. The wedding was entirely dancing and singing- a true celebration of marriage. At the end, and as darkness fell upon the mountains, I was invited into the private hut with the close friends and family of the bride and groom for a prayer and blessing over the couple. Throughout the prayer, they would break out in song and dance. It was touching. It was intimate and it felt as though I was outside peering in through a window, silently observing at what I though was a lost culture. I was wrong. African culture is alive! It isn't blatantly seen, but dig into the dirt a little and we might just uncover something magical. I had wanted a taste of the African culture and I got it. What a blessing!