Walk Across the Nation

Okay so IST is officially over. I’m going to miss hot showers a lil bit. But I have some great ideas and I’m really excited to get back to my community and start working. The Peace Corps Volunteers have rallied together and we’re organizing a “Walk The Nation” event, to raise HIV/AIDS awareness. It’s a twelve day walk across Swaziland. We’re going to have a lot of work to do as far as lodging, logistics, safety, fundraising (which we’re not allowed to directly do,) and marketing. I’m psyched though. That’s a lot of freakin walking, around 16 K per day. We’re all going to have really killer legs after this, Swaziland is a mountainous country. Unfortunately the route doesn’t go near my community. Fortunately that gets me out of a lot of bitch work. If anybody knows a celebrity or something that wants to join an HIV awareness campaign, let me know. Also, if you’d like to contribute to the Walk, NERCHA is fundraising (since we as Peace Corps volunteers are not allowed to fundraise.) So, just let me know if you want to help out. The other volunteers in the Shisolweni region and I are also planning to organize an HIV support group for kids with HIV. We all agree it would be great for kids with HIV to play with other kids facing similar challenges.

My host family is my foundation. Everyday I’m gone they call me. Actually, they all call me. Make says they miss me. Babe wants to know when I’m coming home. Innocent asks when I’m coming to church. Leslie reminds me about the engagement party. Desmond wants to remind me to bring the camera. Felicity just buzzes all the time anyway. It’s like I found the Waltons in Swaziland. I’m gonna start saying “goodnight Johnboy” every night through my window.

Bad news, a lot of my crap mildewed during IST. Also, my house is full of flies because the door swelled up during the rain and I wasn’t able to close it, and I live by the cattle crawl. In the main house there’re even more flies, yum. But beyond that everything’s great.

The local preschool I’ve been volunteering at had their graduation of December 1st. The new building is a result of Peace Corp Partnership fund. My friend, another volunteer, and my boss and her husband all came to the graduation. The preschool teacher is just wonderful and she’s become a great friend. The kids were so cute, they got up and recited bible verses, songs and poems. They all introduced themselves in English. The member of parliament was there and he donated some chairs.

My bhuti Leslie is officially engaged and I attended his engagement ceremony. His fiancée sang . She is really lovely. So before I go back to the US the family will have had three weddings, and atleast one baby born. There’s this who’s been working in my clinic. She’s in her twenties and from America. She’s working through Doctors Without Borders (MSF in Europe.) She served in the Peace Corps in Gambia five years ago. Another volunteer and I spent the night at her and another MSF person’s house the other day. We all went out to a country club and had an awesome time. They’re going to establish an HIV support group here in Mashobeni, and I’m gonna try to help out. I’m just very busy and working on several projects right now, which I’m sure I’ll talk more about. However, Walk Across the Nation is gonna be on a huuuuge scale for this country, we're getting coverage int he newspapers and the radio and so on. So, let me know if you'd like to get involved and I'll keep you posted. XOXO