Sengitonivalelisa

Whew. It’s been a long and crazy second to last week in my community. Long, crazy, exhausting and emotional. And I still have a week to go.

I spent Monday in town, buying roofing materials for our library. Yes, roofing! We’re that far already. The school contributed the money for the blocks and cement and built the walls, so we’re using the money from the Kirby Simon Trust to put a roof on. I am thrilled that we were able to buy everything before I left, so I don’t have to dump it on the next volunteer!

Unfortunately, they weren’t able to deliver the materials until Wednesday, and even with that, they only delivered half of the supplies. But we’re pressing on anyway, and the timber went up on the roof today, ready for the corrugated iron on top.

I thought I would get home early on Wednesday, give my sisi time to braid my hair so I could have a sweet hair do for my retirement party on Friday. Little did I know what was actually in store for me Wednesday afternoon…

I was hanging out, playing Spider solitare (and losing), waiting for my ride home, when the Secretary came and said “Asambe, sisi! (Let’s go!) To the Home Economics building.” So I followed, with really nothing else to do, and I walked in the door to find two GIGANTIC cow heads in the sink. And that was just the first thing I noticed. There were hearts and livers and lungs spread out all over the floor, and what I later found out was a large garbage can FULL of intestines and stomachs (as you know, cows have 4). It was another one of those moments where, even after 2 years, I think “yup, I’m not in Kansas anymore…” I then proceeded to make it very clear to anyone who would listen that I DO NOT eat the insides. (My days of “all in the name of integration” are over.) We hung out while teachers came in and out, cutting up the hearts and livers and I figured I could handle this, I did want to be a doctor back in the day, and this isn’t so bad. Then some women came and they opened the big trashcan full of intestines and started to clean them, because, after all, they were full of shit. Literally.

The Secretary then said “Asambe, sisi” and I wearily followed again, not knowing what we were going to walk into next. “We are going to chop meat,” to which I thought, that I could handle. Well apparently “meat” means anything inside the cow because the next thing I know, I’m cutting intestines still full of shit and all 4 stomachs of the cow, into bite sized pieces. Awesome. You’d think after 2 years I’d learn to ask before I willingly follow someone into situations like this, but no. So I’m chopping, and I’m chopping, and I’m trying not to vomit. And finally we finish cutting all 8 buckets of guts to find, to everyone else’s delight, someone has provided us with a snack! … of cooked intestines. It’s now going on 4:30 and I’m dog tired, having planned on being home hours ago. But I put on a good face, say “no thanks!” and try to keep my eyes open and from shivering too much, as the sun has now gone down.

Unfortunately, we STILL couldn’t go home, because we were waiting for the men who had taken the REAL meat to be braai’d a half hour away to come back so they could eat too. A half hour or so later, they came back, with “red meat” for us to eat. Thank God, I thought, and I allowed myself to be dished the real Swazi braai of a huge serving of liphalishi and braai’d meat. And as I finally allow myself to eat the real meat, I can’t shake the smell of the shit filled intestines and it’s making my stomach curl. Well I finally realized it’s because I was holding the intestines in my right hand, helping the Secretary to cut the meat, then I rinsed my hand under water before I ate the braai with my right hand, as is Swazi custom. Obviously the smell (and most of the germs I bet) hadn’t gotten off of my hand and I was having all I could do to control my dry heaves, while trying to finish this huge portion I was served. So I was not paying attention when I ate, what I thought was just a fatty piece of meat. I finally realized this was NOT meat, and then noticed the curled shape of the intestines. Someone had tricked me! But I thought, at least I could say I tried it again, even if it was accidental, and I reaffirmed the fact that intestines were not for me.

Finally, we were able to go home, and I wandered into my homestead after 6pm, well after dark, much to the surprise of my family. I felt like I was coming home past curfew. Incase you didn’t know about my life here, I have NEVER come home after 6pm. Ever.


The next day (yesterday), as I left for school again, my sisis made sure to remind me they wanted to watch a movie so I shouldn’t come back so late. I said I would try. I spent most of the morning, typing programs for the party the next day (Surprise! You’ll be speaking!) and tests for the upcoming exams… if the teacher’s don’t continue their strikes. I thought I was going crazy because I couldn’t shake the smell of dog food all day, and Lord knows, no one buys dog food out here. Then as lunchtime rolled around, the Secretary comes in with a plate for me… liphalishi and cow stomach. I seriously had to repress the urge to vomit. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a cow stomach, but it looks like a sea urchin; one part looks like a net, another is hairy. All are gross. I politely declined, knowing there was no way I could even pretend to eat it. So she left it in the office with me, for her dinner later. Thanks for that smell all day. So I was eager to get out and help chopping vegetables. But when I got there, the only thing they needed help with was cooking the left over intestines on the fire outside. Fortunately we were outside so after I put the lid on the pot over the fire, I couldn’t smell it. We then proceeded to chop and peel butternuts (SUPER HARD!!) well into the evening again. I think I held my own with it, but I was nowhere near as fast as the other women. They kept switching my knives, thinking each was too dull, I finally told them I thought it was user error and that got quite a few laughs.

I once again got home way past dark, though this time I couldn’t just crash and spent most of the night trying to write a Thank You Speech that wouldn’t reduce me to tears. Considering I was crying writing it, I knew that was hopeless.

Today, I woke up early and practiced the siSwati phrases I had in my back pocket, ready to pull out and wow the crowd. I headed to the school, and met up with my boss, the Country Director, and the Deputy Ambassador who were also invited. We toured our library, and then hung out waiting for the party that started at 9:30… by 11 we were finally underway. It was a great party, full of dancing and singing (thankfully not by me) and lots of praises to the two retiring Mrs. Dlaminis and me. When the first person turned to me in their speech and thanked me for what I had done for the community and my eyes watered, I knew it was going to be a long day. By the fifth, I knew it was hopeless for me to think I would make it through my speech. And when Mrs. Nxumalo had the kids stand and say “GOODBYE SETHABILE!!” I was done for. After the gifts were given, it was time for my speech. I wish I could say I nailed it, but I barely made it two sentences before my voice cracked and two paragraphs before I couldn’t continue and my sisi came out of the crowd to cry with me. But I pushed on and, though it was in a voice I didn’t recognize as my own, I did nail my siSwati.

It was another long afternoon of cleaning up, but I ended it with opening my gifts with my sisis in the kitchen a few minutes ago. I got a beautiful hand woven bag and wooden hand carved tray as well as a wooden replica of my hut. I also got a towel set and a hairdryer. I gladly passed these things on to my two sisis who you would have thought had won the lottery. One has been trying to start her own little salon business and was ecstatic to have the hair dryer and the other got 6 towels! : )


All in all, it was a great week, one of those crazy, emotional ones I won’t forget. I’m eager to see what next week, my last week, has in store. But next weekend will be the real tear jerker, as I leave Monday morning. Goodbyes are so hard…



Here’s my speech from today:

Sanibonani, boNkhosi. (Hello, everyone)
Ninjani? (How are you?)
Mine Sethabile Shabalala (I am Sethabile Shabalala)
or Megan Key.
As you know, I have been here in Magubheleni for 2 years.
Sengitonivalelisa, (I have come to say goodbye)
as my time here is now over.
Ngiyabonga kakhulu kungiphatsa kahle kwenu boNkhosi. (Thank you for treating me so well.)

I have enjoyed my two years here with you, in the community and at the schools.

You have treated me well as if I were your own. It is very nice to be treated so well when you are so far from home.

You have taught me your culture, your language, and your ways of living. I think every lesson I learned, ended with “Now you will be a good ‘makoti’.” I hope someday I will and I will remember my time here.

There are so many people to thank for a great two years:

Thank you to umphakatsi, Babe Indvuna and Bucopho for letting me stay here and for your support. And thank you to my cownterparts: Khosi and Phumzile. Together with them, we were able to hold health workshops last year and start a garden at the ‘lidladla’ at Silaheni.

Thank you to everyone at the schools: Mrs. Gwebu, Mr. Ndlagamandla and all the teachers and staff. Thank you for making me feel like a part of your school community. Thank you for your interest in bettering your children’s education through reading books. Because of that we were able to receive 1000 books at the High School and begin building a library here at the Primary School. And thank you to the children for always yelling: “Sethabile! How are you?!” when I walked into the gates, making me feel welcome and loved.

Lastly, thank you to ALL the people of Magubheleni. I have enjoyed meeting you, and getting to know you. Thank you for being so warm and welcoming to me. Because of you, I will always have a home in Magubheleni, Swaziland.

Ngiyabonga kakhulu, bangani bami. (Thank you, my friends)
Inkhosi inibusise. (God bless you)
Ngiyonikhumbula njalo. (You will be with me always)
Salani kahle. (Stay well)



- 9 days –

Fighting fires

Fighting the brush fires at Kerry's... Save the tomatoes!!

Let's Read Some Books! (Soon)

Here are some pictures of the library we are building at the Primary School! Thank you to the Kirby Simon Trust and the US Embassy!

When the teacher's strike calms down, I'll get pictures of our Books for Africa Library at the High School that you all so graciously donated to! Thank you Thank you!

The Notion of Home

Hello Everyone!

Yes, I’m still here. Sorry for the lack of updates in May. With two weeks in Mozambique, a week running around trying to get library updates at the schools and garden updates at the NCP, then Bushfire and COS conference, I’ve now been home for this weekend, studying for the GRE, before I leave tomorrow for Joburg to take my test and then spend three days in town for my close of service physical. You aren’t the only ones wondering if I’m still around, my community is wondering too! Busy, busy, busy.

Anyway, I thought an update would be a perfect way to take a break from studying. Let’s see how much I can say before my guilt of avoiding studying gets the better of me.

Mozambique was wonderful as always. I’ll try to post some picturesr within the week during my medical. We traveled all the way up to Vilanculos this time, a new place for us. It was beautiful. Known for the Archipelago and as the best diving spots in the area, I didn’t get to see/do either, but I could imagine. I did make the decision to get my diving certification during our travels though. I haven’t wanted to spend 4 days of my vacation getting certified but when I have the time after COS, I figured, why not? Should be fun… right Mom? We came back from Vilanculos in a day, which was crazy. We were on public transport from 1am to 7pm, all the way from Vilanculos, Mozambique to Mankayane, Swaziland. I was impressed with myself.

I spent the next week trying to talk to all the school about library projects. The books were FINALLY filled and shipped from America so they’ll (hopefully) be here at the end of the month. We also received awesome news that our library at the Primary School was funded through the Kirby Simon Trust and the US Embassy! We hope to start building by the end of this week! (yeah right) I don’t technically have a role in this project, its between the school and the Embassy, so it shouldn’t delay me in my attempt to get out of here in the end of July, but I keep telling everyone it HAS to be done before I leave. We’ll see how far we get.

Then as soon as I got unpacked from Mozambique, it was time to head off to Bushfire/COS Conference. Bushfire is a large music/arts festival held at really the only large music venue in the country, House on Fire. There were lots of local artists, South African artists, African artists, and even a few American ones! If you’re interested in any, we thoroughly enjoyed Jeremy Loops and Mi Casa. Look ‘em up! It was nice to spend time with all the volunteers, especially since these times are numbered!!

My group then headed to our Close of Service Conference. It was an interesting day and a half. Talking about returning home, the logistics as well as the emotional side of it. You expect it to be hard and different when you come to a foreign place. “Swaziland? Yeah that’ll be weird.” But America is home and I guess we just think it’ll be like, well going home. And it’s not. In reality, home is the foreign place now. They say it can be as hard to leave the Peace Corps, as it is to be in it. And as one volunteer said, “My problem is I’m 23 years old and I’ve already had the experience of a life time.” How do you just go back to doing the same thing you did before after something like this? You can’t. Things have changed. I’ve changed.

It’s a weird concept for me to get a grasp of these days, that my Peace Corps service is over. For so long, it seemed never ending. Two years? God, that’ll take FOREVER! Well forever has come and gone and here I am with 8 weeks left. What am I supposed to do with my life now?

Travel. That’s my only answer, I guess. Delay the inevitable for a bit longer. Stay in my little bubble of a world that I’ve lived in for two years, where I can get up (or not get up) whenever I want, work (or not) whenever I want, and travel whenever I want with no real responsibilities, no real expenses. Hang onto my time in Africa for a few months longer; see as much as I can see. Victoria Falls, Lake Malawi, Mt Kilimanjaro, and Zanzibar. Delay leaving the simplicity of life here; adding to it even, by living out of a backpack for 4 months. Move on to see this “Europe” I’ve learned so much about in my 23 years.

But eventually the inevitable will come and I’ll return home. On November 19 to be exact. I am excited, I really am. I miss my mom and dad and brother and sister. And all my friends and family. I miss good pizza, good coffee, the ability to choose from 50 different boxes of cereal, the ice rink, having a car. But I am extremely hesitant to leave this lifestyle. It was all so hard to get used to: the slow walk, the “we’ll do it eventually,” the showing up to a meeting whenever you can get there, if at all, attitude. But I adjusted. To the fact that I could just say I would be gone this day and that, and that was that. No real vacation days, no one saying, “well, no actually you can’t. you have to work.” And I’ll adjust again, eventually. It’ll just take time.

I remember when I was at school, getting confused which “home” was which: my apartment or my parents’ house? Now that confusion is a million times more. For two straight years, this community, this hut, this family: this is home. It’s where I’m known and respected. It’s where I feel safe and accepted. I have my routines and I understand theirs. Where I come to relax; where I walk in and think “Whew! I’m home!” America is where they speak my language, where we wear pants, where I was born and raised. Obviously that’s my home too. Minnetonka is where my family is, and my bed. But home, who really knows anymore?

Where I spent the last two weeks.

Paradise is Vilanculos.

The seedlings are growing, the seedlings are growing!!

The NCP garden is looking greener and greener everyday!

G10 Invitees

I didn't talk with any volunteers before I came. I didn't want to get too many expectations before I got there. But I did search blogs. People always tell Invitees, mostly on the PC Swaziland Facebook group, "let me know if you have any questions!!" We are always so happy to answer questions. The problem is, if you're like me, you don't have any questions. You don't know what to ask. So you search blogs for the answers to questions you didn't know you had yet. At least that's what I did.

With that in mind, I decided on the khumbi today to write out all the things I wish I'd known before I left. Hopefully in someone's frantic Googling, this helps. Maybe you're coming to Swaziland or maybe you're going somewhere else and randomly stumbled upon it. But here is a quickly thought up list of things I wish I'd known two years ago...

Most important things:

1. Take everything other volunteers say with a grain of salt. (even me!)
a. Everyone’s service is different. You live in different areas, different housing, different situations. No one, even in a country the size of Swaziland, has the same situation.
b. When volunteers get together, we like to vent. So you might not get an accurate description.
c. We also get really excited around other Americans and just talk all the time. Forgive us.

2. It’s important to make the effort. Wear the skirts, attempt the language, try the weird food. It goes an insanely long way. More than you can ever know.

3. This will be hard. You will be homesick, you will miss important events, you will be sad. But what got me through is to know that these days will happen. If you know they will come, you can get through them. Two years is a long time, but you will be surprised how fast it goes.

4. It gets cold in Africa in the winter (April to September). Bring layers and slippers.

5. Be prepared for the HIV and Gender Inequality.

6. Don’t ship with anything other than a USPS box. It will take 3 weeks for USPS flat rate boxes and FOREVER with other random boxes.

Not As Important but Still Good to Know:

7. Don’t judge Peace Corps by training. Whether you love it or hate it, it’s only a blip on your Peace Corps service. Give the rest a chance before you judge it.

8. Don’t be a site rat. There’s an idea that you’re not a good volunteer unless you’re miserable. Having been there a few times I can tell you, you are a horrible volunteer if you don’t want to be there. Do your community a favor, get out if you need to. Go to KFC, ride in an elevator, talk to an American, watch TV. You’ll come back to site a better volunteer. Trust me.

9. You will be asked to marry someone more times than you can count. Men and Women. Young and Old. It will get annoying, it will get frustrating. But it’s important to remember they don’t mean harm. They think it’s funny. If you take this sort of aggravation to heart and get upset, it will be a long two years…

10. Get your electronics insured. You probably won’t need it, but things get stolen and it saved many people in Group 9.

Things To And Not To Bring:

11. Bring your computer. No question.

12. A good idea is to bring an iPhone or Blackberry (or whatever else there is) and get it unlocked in America, ready to just put in a SIM card when you get here. Then buy a cheap phone here to use around your community, but your other phone can be for internet and What’s App. If you don’t have What’s App, download it. You can text America and fellow volunteers for free. Blackberry’s have to have a monthly data fee here, so I’d recommend an iPhone, which many volunteers have. If you don’t want to do that, you can get internet phones here as well which is what I did. Works fine, you’ll just be jealous.

13. Don’t bring anything white. Most especially socks.

14. Bring a sleeping bag, and a tent if you have it. You get discounted rates at the backpackers (hostels) if you camp.

15. Bring a large hard drive with recent movies and tv shows on it as well as your most favorite movies. We have lots of stuff except the new things. We will hound you for new things when you get here and you can gete other movies and tv shows from us. Media exchange is huge when volunteers get together.

16. Bring some good knives or have them sent.

17. Bring lots of hand sanitizer.

Things About Swaziland:

18. We have good grocery stores. As well as decent clothing stores, electronics stores, and coffee shops. Not many, not great, but they are here.

19. We are a small country so you can get around relatively easily. You can see your friends, see the game parks. You won’t be alone for two years. Unless you want to, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

20. We have some Chinese and American restaurants and a few Indian. If you like other types of food, eat lots of it while you still can. As well as good pizza.

21. The beer’s not great but its okay, and you have to search and pay handsomely for a cocktail. Enjoy both while you can.

22. You won’t be able to Skype much. This isn’t Europe, our Internet café’s don’t have it and the Internet has its own set of issues anyway. Just FYI.

23. I think you are lucky to be posted in Swaziland.
a. You can see your friends if you want, as opposed to other places where if you’re on opposite sides of the country you won’t see them for 6 months.
b. We have good things in the towns, but the rural areas are what you think you will get in the Peace Corps, and you can get between each relatively easily.
c. We are bordered by South Africa and Mozambique, some of the best places for vacationing in Africa: the beaches of Moz and the cities of South Africa.

24. Be prepared for an awesome good time and an amazing experience.


If this triggered anything else you want to know, shoot me a comment or find me on Facebook!

If you aren't a new volunteer, I'm sorry this post wasn't interesting to you at all. I'll post a more relevant one soon!


Megan Key