Marula Festival!

Behold, the Marula Season is upon us! Every year Swaziland sets aside a month of celebration to enjoy the fruits of the earth. One fruit specifically, the marula fruit that ripens and becomes alcohol. Women from around the country gather for the weekend and bring their marula for both themselves and as a gift for the king. For a country that is normally highly against alcohol and against anyone that consumes it, it seems they are easy to set aside all beliefs and drink their heart's desire for the month. It's a contradiction I do not understand but also a very fun tradition that I'm happy I got to experience. This past weekend was the official start of the Marula Season and my first encounter with this unique holiday.

The Marula Festival (which is the official kick off for the Marula Season) is held annually in my region, and takes place within the King's Kraal. I went down on Friday to check out the scene. It was identical to tailgate parties in the U.S. Truck after truck entered the area carrying loads of Bo-Make (mothers) and Bo-Gogo (grandmothers). There were grills set up, a Coca-Cola booth, people selling goods, and everyone just hanging out, talking and sitting beneath trees. I found out that the dancing and festivities were to begin the following day.

On Saturday I went down and met some friends. As we sat under a tree and talked, two men interrupted us and started with the normal marriage proposals and propositions of love. We eventually turned the conversation towards HIV, which is our goal as HIV health educators. What started out as a normal conversation on health, HIV, and AIDS took a turn for worse when a police officer joined the conversation and blamed us personally and America, for bringing HIV to Swaziland. As soon as a figure of authority said this, it immediately became a statement- and being a woman in a male dominated society anything we said would be a lie. The 2 men we were talking to immediately started blaming us. It was the most frustrating, difficult, and unpleasant conversation I have EVER had. Not only were their facts all wrong, gender specific issues were addressed (women could not/should not say and do things- even at the most basic level), they brought in the Bible which they had NO idea what they were talking about but because we were women they would not listen to a word we said, and anything that a male figure head would say would automatically become the truth no matter how inaccurate and laughable that statement would seem. This conversation nearly ruined the day for me, but luckily more friends arrived and the drunk Bo-Gogo stumbling around and singing diverted my attention. We went into the main area where I bought some Swazi jewelry to compliment my traditional Swazi wear I was sporting. As we sat inside waiting for the dancing to start,another man approached us. This time the conversation was a pleasant one. We talked about traveling and the States. He had traveled all around the world and his wealth was made apparent not just in the places he's been but in his attire. He was very pleasant but as we talked, I could not help but wonder what do the 70% of Swazi's that live in Rural Communities and live on less than 2 dollars a day think and feel when they see a someone like him? Do they just accept it as a way of life, or do they question the possibility of corruption and injustice? The rich and the poor are on opposite ends of the spectrum and it's heartbreaking to see it and not be able to do anything to change it. The dancing started shortly after. It was amazing. Endless groups of women entered the kraal dancing and singing. The King and the Queen Mother entered with armed guards a little while later. We left shortly after in order to make it back to site, missing the dance by both the King and Queen Mother. Maybe next year I will catch their dance. In the meantime, here's to another beautiful day in Swaziland!

Projects, Crocodiles, and Jesus was Circumcised

A lot of people back home have been asking me what I'm doing, what projects I have been and will be apart of. That's an excellent question; one that I've been unable to answer until recently. Being a Peace Corps health extension volunteer focusing on HIV and AIDS prevention and impact mitigation in Swaziland is challenging. While it is wonderful having the freedom to choose what we want to do in our community, it is equally as frustrating figuring out what we can contribute to society which will be sustainable and where we will not be just another "Santa Claus": a white man handing out free gifts. Over the past few months, taking into account both the successful and failed projects of volunteers in the past, I've come to realize that my talents will best be used through schools and dealing directly with the children and young adults. I want to be involved directly with the youth- knowing that if change is going to happen in this country it will have to start from them. Behavior change is what we're aiming for, so we should get them when their young. (Plus they are the only ones that speak English- so I have to take what I can get).

I am currently teaching computer classes and physical education/swimming classes in the schools. The swimming classes are in a community a couple hours away from site but I make the trip once a week because I am desperate to get into water. Though I have been going to the school for months, last week was the first time I have actually taught a swimming class. The lightning storms are intense here (Swaziland has the highest number of lightning strikes in the world). I've never been afraid of storms until now, when lightning struck my hut a few months ago. Either it struck my hut directly, or struck a tree and the tree fell on my roof but there was an incredibly loud bang on my roof, followed by sparks flying out of my electric socket, then a full body convulsion/shock. I'm officially terrified of lighting storms. Anyways, last term every single swim lesson coincided with the lightning storms meaning we spent the days inside a gym with children playing duck duck goose, dodge ball, and running laps. Yes, I am that uncreative. This past weekend was the first time I got in the water with the kids and it felt absolutely wonderful! When I told a few of my community members about the swimming classes, they were jealous that I was teaching another community how to swim. I proceeded to offer them lessons in the dam with which they always responded with, "AIESH! no. We cannot. The dam... no. Aiesh!" No further explanation was ever offered. Many community members have hinted that "something" may live in there. But then others would laugh and say, "it is fine, nothing lives in there". Thus began my ever curiosity of figuring out if in fact there were crocodiles and/or hippos in the community dam.

As the rainy season continued, that dam which is in between me and my nearest PCV, overflowed and has become a river. When it rains too heavily, her transportation stops and nothing comes in or out of the community, and when transport stops, the only way out of the community is by foot. Either crossing the river (sometimes getting waist deep), or taking a shortcut to my community and passing through marshlands where the dam has overflowed. Over the past few months when I grew bored, I would take the trek out to her and cross the river. Then, in late January news came out that a 14 year old boy was eaten by a crocodile in my community. My community is very large and the river in which the boy was playing in is far away from where I reside. As I was talking to my Make (mother) about it, my bhuti (brother) said he and his friends saw a crocodile in our "river" which is so incredibly small that in the dry season it's a small pond at most. This river connects to the dam, meaning that the crocodile lives in there. As I pressed further into the issue, I found out from a friend that in 2008 a child was eaten by a crocodile in that dam. Everyone knew about this, and yet they pretend nothing lives in there? Aiesh! I now stay away from all shortcuts (marshlands).

Besides teaching computer and swim lessons, I had hoped to teach a life skills class and a health class this term but it has been pushed back until next term as other projects have taken precedence. One of my biggest projects that I am thrilled to be apart of is with our Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Youth Club. OVCs are children who have lost one or both of their parents who may live with relatives that often don't have the means to support themselves let alone their children and the children of their deceased relatives. Some OVCs don't get fed daily, some are beaten, and some are kept from school to work and to "earn their keep". My counterpart is an OVC herself and explained how important it is to know that you are not alone and that with hard work things don't have to stay the same (you don't have to rely on others your whole life). My counterpart started this youth group with another PCV in the community over and I fell in love with the idea, jumped on board, and started helping them expand in my community. We are teaching them how to sell sweets (the value of earning money, saving, and basic business skills) and how to sew. We are currently in the process of obtaining a piece of land to teach the children how to garden and grow vegetables in order to eat healthier and avoid malnutrition and to sell vegetables to earn a profit. This past Christmas we held a Christmas party for the OVCs and we used the money that they had earned to buy them things they needed: i.e. underwear, soap, candles, matches. It was incredibly touching as you can imagine. But, the biggest project that I am devoting all of my time and energy to is building a dam. Peace Corps as a whole, usually abstains from getting involved with large infrastructure projects due to many factors and I now understand why. This project was handed down to me, and while I am more than happy to help them complete it, I cannot wait until this headache is done and over with. That is why for the next 6 months I am devoting ALL of my time and energy into finishing this...

More entertainingly, in January I was also invited to be apart of the Male Circumcision nation wide campaign that will be starting up in Swaziland very soon. Futures group (from the US) has partnered up with the Ministry of Health in Swaziland with a goal to have 240,000 men ages 15-49 circumcised. I was part of a group of people selected to do marketing research within the rural communities. We were to ask 10 people what they thought about various logos and phrases. It was highly entertaining as my community STRONGLY opposes male circumcision. After each interview I spent a good 30 minutes to an hour debating with each person, and explaining why it is healthier for men to be circumcised. *Mind you- I am a woman in a very traditional community talking to men about sensitive issues*

Here are some entertaining excuses and reasoning on their part:
- If Jesus wanted me to be without the skin He would have created me without it
- what will you do with the skin afterward? You just want to put magic on me (voodoo of some sorts)
- Jesus does not want me to
- Circumcision is against the Bible
- Will you do the procedure? I will do it if you circumcise me (talking about me personally snipping)
- man: "No woman will want to be with me if I am circumcised. Would you want to be with me?" Me: "Circumcised is the only way I would go. Almost all men in America are circumcised." man: "you are lying!" me: "why would I lie to you about that? No American woman would have you if not" (Ok, maybe I did lie a little I'm sure there are American woman who support it- BUT the tune changed for the rest of the conversation, and he started listening to what I had to say)
- man: "I am married, I do not need." Me: "and this is a polygamist country, are you faithful to your wife? DO you have girlfriends?" man: "yes, but we are all faithful to each other. We do not need condoms and I do not need to be circumcised." (And this is how HIV is spread SO fast throughout the entire country- The interconnected web)
- The foreskin is like a shoe. You wear a shoe to protect your sensitive feet. If you do not have a shoe to protect your feet how do you protect it? (The man is also walking around barefoot)"
-BEST ANSWER: I will go into the shower and WASH away HIV after having sex. (A political figure within the country is quoted saying this in the national news. This misconception has spread into the rural communities further damaging the fight against HIV).

I have found through these conversations, that bringing the Bible directly into the conversation is more effective than solely using scientific data. Almost all of the men used the excuse that it is against the Bible. And so our response is, Jesus was circumcised (Luke 2:21- If you're going to use the Bible at least get your facts right). A fellow PCV found some Bible verses to help support our argument. This response is at least getting the men to think about it, and not to reject circumcision immediately. All in all I'm highly looking forward to being apart of this campaign. It's fun, entertaining, and I'm apart of something on a grander scale. I'm getting a taste of what Public Health is about and I'm liking it!