2 months out

It has been two months since my return to Canadian soil and everyday I find more evidence of how much I have changed in the last year. Now that I am starting to settle back into life here, I feel that it is a fitting time to reflect on how I have been affected by my experience in Swaziland and Southern Africa. I feel I am more balanced in my understanding and approach to myself and my life, but my view of the wider world and development in particular has become more bitter and skeptical than ever before.

My notes from a “debriefing and re-entry session” (as if I am coming back from outer space) that I recently attended for individuals returning from government sponsored overseas internships might provide some perspective:

we were asked to make a list of behaviours and traits we took on which we would like to keep and transfer to the Canadian context and those we need to let go of. Some valuable skills and characteristics I feel I’ve gained are an appreciation for the value of personal relationships and support; the ability to sleep more without guilt; adaptability, flexibility and curiosity; and the capacity to truly enjoy simple day to day activities. On the other hand I’ve taken to walking too slow, being late for meetings and not showing up to meet with friends without for warning them, none of which flies in Canada. Overall I am much more comfortable with myself and my path in life. I feel greater confidence in my decisions and instinct and less pressure to produce and perform immediately. These changes probably result from having met so many diverse people, trying to integrate myself into a society with totally different values and priorities and being largely on my own for eight months.

Although I am more balanced and at peace in my life, my external view is more pessimistic than ever before. I have seen so much corruption, inequality, bureaucracy, abuse and disregard for human life that it is at times overwhelming. This is not to say that I have lost hope in development - far from it. I am just more cautious and skeptical and feel that I have more to learn about the world than I ever imagined. Unfortunately (or fortunately) most of this learning is not concrete and cannot be gained in a way that is personally meaningful through any amount of reading or studying. It requires context specific experiences, discovery through living and cautious, thorough reflection. The challenge of truly defining ones understanding of the world system, how it works and how it can be adapted and applied to work to the advantage of the marginalized is immense, but not impossible and I finally feel ready to take it on.

"Helping" out

I am stripping maize kernels off cobs at my friend aunt’s house. This maize is their family harvest for the year. After it is dried, women rub the cobs against a stone to loosen the kernels so that they fall off. The cleaned cobs are left for the goats and chickens to pick away at, while the maize is milled to maize meal for cooking.

Alternatively the kernels can be removed (more quickly, but requiring more energy) by filling a sack with a bunch of cobs of maize and beating it with a stick.



Over the weekend I took part in a fundraising hike for the Rotary Club of Mbabane. We walked and some ran to the top of Sibebe rock (below), which is apparently the largest granite outcrop in the world. I was amazed by the number of people that took part - about 800!

At the Museum and the University

The Statue at the Memorial Park for King Sobhuza II the past king of Swaziland. Sobhuza is the only king that has major recognition. There is a park, museum and national holiday dedicated to him. Sobhuza’s fame comes from having peacefully negotiated Swaziland’s independence and having been actively engaged in politics and national affairs (unlike the current king who’s blowing the budget with trips and cars but has little knowledge of what the government he heads is actually doing). He is also well known for having had 63ish wives, suspending the constitution in 1973 and making political parties illegal. The park itself is really strange. The statue (complete with bird droppings) is in the center. To its left is a photo museum of Sobhuza’s life, to its right a building where the current king sits when he comes to the park. It has a couple of sitting rooms and a dining area that could be seen through the windows but of course is locked. Behind is a small glass building, which you cannot approach closer than 5metres. It is guarded by a soldier and has a sort of stone tomb in side. This is where Sobhuza was laid before he was taken to be buried. Note that he was not buried here but just laid here before his actual burial!

A picture from the National Museum showing an old toppled over train engine with the caption “the first steam engine in Swaziland”.

A giant cactus on the university campus. These “cactus trees” are everywhere. Their trunks are so thick and rough that they look like tree bark.

Stalls outside the campus gate. It is early in the morning so the vendors are not here, but during the day students and locals come here to get fruits, candies, shoe and watch repairs or phone calls. Also in this picture is a kombi/minibus, which is the main form of public transit in Swaziland and much of Southern Africa connecting cities, towns and villages for only a few cents or dollars. These vans have 4 back seat benches and are designed to hold 15people (at home they would probably hold 11) but often pack in more than 20.

Special people

1.Nora, a friend from school, and I with the kings first daughter, Swaziland's first Princess. We ran into her at a community fair.

2. Siboni, my room mate from school at her uncle's bar. She works here doing the accounts over the school holiday and I go there to play pool at lunch.

3. Nsizwa, one of my best friends here, with his grandmother in their rural home area. Nsizwa lives a fine balance between modern urban and rural conservative, like many educated young Swazis. Although closely tied to his family and rural home, where there has only been electricity available for the last few years, he is studying computer science, runs a filming business and is going to be the director of the University AIDS and Peer Counselling group next year.

4.Nora, at the end of our the fundraising hike we took part in last weekend. Nora is Ugandan by nationality, born in Zambia and has lived in Lesotho and Swaziland. Her father is a university lecturer so her family has moved with his job. As foreigners in the country, she and I have had a lot of interesting discussions about culture, africa etc. She has finished her LLB this year and is going to the Netherlands in the fall to do a masters in International Law. Ultimately she wants to return to Uganda and help in the conflict ridden north of the country, her home area.

Internship Progress Report

I wrote the entry that follows a week ago, but never got the chance to post it because I was attending a strategic planning session for SC-Swaziland from Tues to Friday (although I was in bed with food poisoning on Friday). The strategic planning was fascinating! I got to be apart of the organizations self-evaluation of the last four years and planning for focus priorities and activities over the next four! Anyway, here is what I had written last week.

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I am halfway through my internship now and figure its time for a progress report. The problem is there is not much progress to report on. I have been hitting barrier after barrier in my proposed work plan, so although it has been 8 weeks I have only done three weeks worth of work – that is three weeks of independent reading and prep. I have been pretty discouraged and feeling quite useless but I understand that it is beyond my or SC’s control.

I am supposed to be conducting a survey in schools and with important actors in the education system looking at problems with school infrastructure and management of a grant from government meant to pay school fees for orphaned and vulnerable children. The study was meant as the first step in a campaign by SC-Swaziland with funding from Save the Children UK (SC-UK) to improve school conditions and access to education in the country.

Unfortunately the funds that seemed assured from SC-UK did not come through due to constraints on their end. That left my supervisor and I trying to evaluate what could be done with our available funds. A smaller qualitative study would be all that was possible. This type of study would be okay for SC-Swaziland’s purposes; however, upon consulting with friends in the Central Statistics Office of the Government we were told that in order to use the results as a basis of advocacy and have them recognized by government as legitimate the sample size had to be large enough to be statistically valid. In other words we would have to survey 10-15% of schools in the country. Focusing on primary schools only this would be about 60 schools - enough to be a lot and require significant resources, but small enough to be feasible and very enticing.

My supervisor suggested that we might be able to mobilize funds from UNICEF so I prepared a proposal and we submitted it along with a budget of $13 000USD. This is a generous estimate of the cost of a rapid one-week survey by enumerators of teachers, students, parents and head teachers at 60 schools randomly selected across the country including analysis and presentation of results.

While awaiting a reply I decided to go ahead with interviews of the four Regional Education Officers (REOs) and other people not based in schools. I had one successful and interesting interview with an inspector that had been delegated by an REO because the REO was too busy for me, but seemed to have time to talk for ages about how I could not compare schools in Swaziland and Canada since their situations are different. Feeling proud after my first real field interview (apart from Ministry of Education head office and UNICEF officials), I headed the next day to another region where the SC field officers had organized an interview for me with an actual REO. I found him awaiting me in his office, but our meeting did not last long as he told me that he could not speak to me until SC got a letter of approval from the Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Education (the Minister’s right hand man). The ministry it seems was tired of having information come back to it through local and international media that it was not aware of and so had established this procedure. Why didn’t this matter in the other region? And why hadn’t he told us the day before or even that morning before I traveled 2hrs to see him?

It seemed pointless to contact the Principal Secretary until we knew if we had support from UNICEF and what scale the survey would be, so in the meantime I arranged meetings with the heads of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) - the teacher’s union and the Swaziland Head Teachers Association (SHTA). After chasing down SNAT’s president on the phone for a while I went to the school where he works first thing last (two weeks ago) Monday, as he requested. He did not actually turn up until 11:30. Since there was a line of other people waiting to see him, I was not going to be able to occupy him for the next hour, so we decided to meet again later (at a time I have not yet been able to get out of him). The man from SHTA was easier to access; however, when we met at his school it turned out that he has not been the organizations chair for the past two years. I did the interview anyway, although it was not really needed and I would still have to contact the present chair.

Last Thursday my supervisor and I finally met with UNICEF’s education specialist (who I had consulted previously for advice) about the proposal. She was interesting in funding about half the cost but before committing wanted us to meet together with the man in charge of the Statistics and planning division at the Ministry of Education (who I had also consulted previously after weeks of unanswered calls and contact with unhelpful secretaries). We arranged a meeting at SC between the UNICEF Education specialist, the man from the Ministry of Education and a few relevant staff here this afternoon (last Monday afternoon). Unfortunately the ministry official never came, even though we had called him Friday and today and sent over preparatory documents. Apparently he was busy preparing a report for parliament. The woman from UNICEF is going to try to see him later in the week and arrange a meeting for next week, while the SC staff and I are going to a strategic planning session until Friday so will be unavailable (Update: no further word yet from UNICEF of the Ministry).

It is hard to blame anyone specific for this lack of progress, especially not SC-Swaziland. They had fully expected funding from SC-UK and my internship was sprung on them at short notice as I only received notification of acceptance three weeks before it began. If there is anything I have learned about work with NGOs and in Africa, it is that nothing is ever predictable – people, funds, timing etc. and one cannot put all their eggs in one basket, rush progress or expect to accomplish more than one thing per day.

SC Swaziland's Legal work gets UN News Coverage

This is from the UN news Agency. It talks about a major initiative that Save the Children Swaziland is heading up. Unfortunately SC's lead role in this doesn't entirely come out in the article but still! Oh and if you're wondering whether most of the people mentioned are related since their surnames all seem to be Dlamini. They're not. Dlamini is the most common surname hear. A good 1/4 to 1/3 of people are Dlaminis.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
SWAZILAND: Children in for a better deal
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=54128

MBABANE, 23 Jun 2006 (IRIN) - Swaziland has finally got around to drawing up legislation focusing on the protection of children's rights.

More than a decade has lapsed since Swaziland ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, but preparing legislation has been complicated by the influence of powerful traditional authorities and a conservative populace that in some instances needs to be convinced children require protection and have needs that must be met.

"This is an inclusive process. MPs have given their input, and we are meeting with traditional structures next. This week, government and child welfare partners are making their suggestions for the legislation," said Pelucy Ntambirweki, acting country representative for the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef).

All the input from the various sectors will be submitted to the attorney general's office for the formal drafting of the legislation, which has yet to be named.

Child rights NGO, Save the Children, based in the capital, Mbabane, is acting as the secretariat for the process, which is financed by Unicef.

The fact that traditional customs still hold sway in the kingdom was illustrated last week, when school principals protested a ban on corporal punishment contained in the proposed legislation.

Nomsa Lukhele-Dlamini, a senior guidance counselor for the Ministry of Education, told IRIN, "We emphasised to the teachers that corporal punishment is no longer the way. It opens a gap between the child and a teacher, parent or elder. We want to close the gap. A child won't open up to anyone who beats them".

Save the Children's Nomzamo Dlamini challenged the basic tenet that corporal punishment is a Swazi custom. She explained that corporal punishment was "introduced for the first time at the missionary schools. Swazis copied it, and now the traditionalists say we have always done it. But Swazis have always thrived through dialogue, and that is what we must return to, including dialogue with our children".

Armstrong Dlamini, a research consultant hired to assess the impact of Swazi customs on children, highlighted the effect of the traditional practice of polygamy on families and suggested social reform.

An increasing number of children come from fragmented homes headed by women, in many instances as a result of a polygamous relationship, which had become an excuse for infidelity, he explained. According to Dlamini, 30 percent of rural and 25 percent of urban households are headed by women.

"Instead of having a social or economic function any more, polygamy is being used by men as an excuse to cheat on their wives, have girlfriends, and walk away from the resulting children. To address the welfare of children, we have to examine belief systems with an eye on reform," he said.

Some Swazi customs, on the other hand, need to be revived and strengthened in an age of limited government resources.

"The extended Swazi family always absorbed its parentless children, and saw to their needs... We can use the Swazi way of looking out for one another to address the great challenge of orphans and vulnerable children," former cabinet minister Stella Lukhele told IRIN.

But with life expectancy for the average Swazi now down to pre-independence level of 39 years due mainly to widespread AIDS fatalities, more orphans can be expected, and the time is now to enact child welfare legislation, said activists.

The new Swaziland constitution defines a child as any person aged under 18, which makes traditional marriages to underage children a violation of a girl child's constitutional rights.

The constitution also forbids child labour, and calls for universal education for Swazi children. Presently, 23 percent of Swazi children do not attend school. The legislation is expected to be tabled before parliament by year end for debate and a vote in 2007.

Children's Rights Workshop

This week I attended a workshop for Save the Children (SC) Staff on Child Rights Programming. This workshop comes as part of a long-term move by SC worldwide to orient its activities towards a rights rather than needs based approach. Here are some of my reactions from the first…and I felt most interesting day.

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I am enjoying discussing theoretical issues of development with people here who all have expansive field experience working on child’s issues but many of whom have done little university education. The environment and perspectives have a different flavour to those I experience in the classroom although the same approaches and theories are being discussed. These people are the primary actors on the ground so what is important for them is how an idea or concept affects and integrates into their dealing with communities and children.

Much of our discussion focuses on shifting from a needs to a rights based approach to children’s issues which essentially involves changing language and phrasing used to describe projects but holds important implications for actual programs and the overall focus of the organization.

A needs based approach to development whether children or not looks at basic needs of shelter, food, water and also emotional, social and cognitive needs for a full and quality life. These things will be given to recipients, who are viewed as passive beneficiaries of the goodwill of the providers. A rights based approach in contrast addresses the same components for life, but frames them as entitlements that are inalienable and duty bearers are obliged to fulfill to rights holders. Powerful language.

Needs based action on children’s issues is spontaneous, reactive, founded on charity and goodwill with children seen as the object of care. Such actions tend to form short-term solutions to specific problems with remedies for symptoms not causes. Rights based action meanwhile looks at addressing violations of clear rights and ensuring that children have their rights fulfilled. It emphasizes root causes, responsibility and accountability, building capacity and creating legal support to generate long-term, preventative solutions.

What interests me about all this is that the same issue can be addressed through either way; however, the legal and power implications are different. Look for example at food security. A needs based solution would be to give food handouts to needy children by a donor organization who is viewed as a saviour of sorts. A rights based solution meanwhile would be work with/ advocate to the actors responsible for fulfilling the children’s right to food to establish a system to ensure this right is always filled.

Approaches to child abuse provide another example. A needs based approach would focus on following up on specific cases to help affected children meet their needs and removing them from the abusive situation. A rights approach meanwhile would address the right to protection from abuse. It would focus on teaching children about what constitutes abuse and the resources available to them and working to establish and strengthen legal and enforcement systems for all children. While I use general examples here. They are very real and reflect the actions that SC and other NGOs take in communities.

Shifting to a rights based approach is however very challenging, particularly somewhere like Swaziland where children are seen and not heard, corporal punishment is the norm and the younger you are the more you work. This approach points out the duties and responsibilities of parents, the state and society that they are often unwilling to admit. It further removes the self-righteousness and sense of charitability that currently comes with work done for children and teaches children to speak out and assert themselves, which may come as a threat to authority figures. The SC staff do feel that improvements are being made with each new generation, although enormous perseverance and optimism remains the key.

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The workshop was opened with a discussion of children’s rights abuses experienced by participants during childhood, some of which really shocked me – especially given how outspoken, morally driven and intelligent these people have grown up to be.

Many talked of their parents communicating to them through a stick. Whenever their parents spoke it came with a beating. They would wake up to “why are you still asleep” – wack wack”. At mealtime it was “come eat dinner – wack wack”, “then go do your chores – wack wack”. Beating was not a form of discipline but came even before they had the chance to do anything wrong.

The norm for most was to wake up at 4am to work in the fields before school. Then as soon as they came home from school hey would go back to the field for more work. Of course if they were late for school after their morning work teachers beat them and if they were late coming home after school they were also beaten.

One women described being forced to eat out of a communal bowl on the floor with all the children in her family from her father, stepmother etc. (Swazi families are very big). One day when they were called to come eat the dogs came before the children and ate part of the food. When the kids arrived they refused to eat the food but were forced to eat what was left from the dogs.

One man as a child had lived with his mother who abandoned him at a young age to go work. He was left completely alone in their rural homestead, which was falling apart and could not be lived in. Through his school years he lived under a bush forging for food from garbage bins and working odd jobs for neighbours to pay school fees. Amazingly he completed school.

Another boy that stayed with his grandparents because his parents had left him had to miss one out of three school days for years to take care of the grandparents’ cattle. He would also have to take the cattle to the dipping tank for disinfecting from disease. This entailed walking for kilometers and spending the night outside waiting in line, on his own even though he was less than 10years old.

While these people are all adults now they also talked about stories of abuse in today’s society. Children are being made to dance to attract tourists by stone carvers along a tourist route. They dance all day, everyday, year after year and do not get to attend school.

A teen who’s parents had died of AIDS had her 9year-old sister taken away by family members. She was told the girl was going to South Africa to visit other relatives but she never returned and those that took the girl elude the topic, refusing to tell her what had happened to her sister. Since she lives in a remote area and has no money there is little she can do to follow the case.

These are just a sample of abuses I have heard in person there are others though, numerous, which are reported in the newspaper and people have told me. They make me feel sick and reinforce to me the value of the work Save the Children does to address protection and prevention from all angles involving children, parents, communities, schools and government.

The good and the bad of development work

Events Friday in Hlatikhulu for Day of the African Child. Activities were organized in each region of the country through a joint effort of Save the Children, Unicef, the child protection unit of the police, schools and other groups. Kids were highly involved in the event performing dramas, dances and songs, making speeches and acting as the MCs. Although the day could be seen as sentimental and tokenary, the opportunity for child involvement that it presented is important. There are few outlets here for young people to build their confidence and skills like extra-curricular activities and youth representation in community activities. Children receive little respect and are degraded by society, which I feel contributes to a lack of innovation and initiative when they are older and leads them to hold less value on life, thus making choices which compromise their own health like drinking excessively and engaging in risky sexual behaviour.

Not something you really want to see – giant World Food Program tents for emergency food security relief. The lowveld of Swaziland has been experiencing drought for the last 5years or so. What began as a temporary operation to give monthly food rations of maize, oil, sugar and beans to those most affected has now become an established operation.

Water tanks beside a food storage tents at the Save the Children Siphofaneni offices. This water is given out along with the food rations. Save the Children is involved in helping WFP with food distribution to some extent especially at neighbourhood care points that host out of school children during the day for a meal and some informal learning.

Pictures from the Lobola ceremony that almost was

A friend of mine eating sugar cane at the Lobola ceremony last weekend. Sugar is one of Swaziland's main products both for domestic consumption and export. In the background are some of the crowds of men that spent the weekend sitting around and drinking traditional brew.
Because of the number of guests staple foods like rice and pap were cooked in giant three-legged cast iron pots on the open fire. Other dishes like pumpkin and chicken were prepared on hotplates in the kitchen.

The corn harvest at my friend’s place where the Lobola ceremony was held. This is milled to make maize meal for Pap, thin porridge, emahewu (a maize meal and water based drink) etc. for domestic consumption.

The traditional brew, bubbling and fizzing away in an old plastic barrel in the shed. The brew is a horrid smelling concoction of fermenting maize and mystery ingredients that is thick and cloudy like mud. No one that knows how it’s made will actually drink it!

Dishing out of the prepared pap, the thick maize meal porridge I talked about, which is a staple here and in most of Africa although under a variety of names.

Just a final note: I have been informed that this weekend the ceremony did actually take place with cattle and all! Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend because I was busy crossing the border to South Africa, as I have to do every 30 days to avoid becoming illegal in Swaziland (again).

Lowdown on Lobola

I had a very interesting, very Swazi weekend this week, worth discussing on here. I was invited by a friend from the University to her “rural home” for the weekend. Many Swazis that work in the urban area have a flat or house in town, but their true home is in the rural area where they were brought up. They return home on weekends or for time off and some family members – usually mothers and young children – stay at the family home all year round.

The reason for my visit this weekend was a lobola ceremony for her sister’s marriage. lobola is a form of bride price of cattle paid by the family of the groom to the family of the bride before their marriage occurs. There are many rules and procedures surrounding the ceremony, well known by elders and traditional leaders to which young people refer for advice. For example, the number of cattle to be paid varies depending on the age of the woman/girl being married, her birth order relative to sisters, if she is a first, second, third wife or if she has children yet. Usually it ranges from 11-20; however, money is used in place of some of the cattle (never all). Also if a girl falls pregnant before she is to be married the father of her baby has to pay a sort of penalty of a few cattle, while the man she marries pays less for the actual lobola.

This practice is widespread and celebrated throughout Swaziland. Even those with little ties to traditional life participate. Girls I talked to at university looked forward to their turn, saying they definitely wanted to have lobola paid for them. Many guys at school were already saving up and had cattle kept somewhere that they would use when the time came. In fact, some people felt that I was selling myself short in my refusal to ever have lobola paid for me.

I arrived Saturday morning in Malindza, where the event was to be held. Although an hour from Mbabane by car the environment here is totally different. Rather than the forests and rocky mountains that characterize the highveld (high lands), the lowveld is dry and dusty with cactuses and spiny bushes covering rolling hills. The shops and apartments of town are replaced by stick fences and mud huts.

At the Simelani’s household where the event was being held tents, chairs, tables and a fridge had been rented in preparation for the weekend to accommodate and feed 50-75 people. From the time I arrived to the time I left Sunday afternoon I spent the entire time cooking. While the older people and all the men and boys sat around chatting, playing cards or drinking traditional brew the young women prepared meals for them all. We served tea biscuits and tea to everyone as they arrived. Then, the sun blazing down on us the whole time, prepared lunch of rice, pap (a thick cornmeal porridge that is a staple here), chicken in a salty stew, pumpkin (like squash) and salad swimming in mayonnaise, with boiled sugar beans (like peanuts) and emahewu (a thin cornmeal porridge for drinking) as appetizers.

As soon as we dished out and brought food to everyone - person by person as they could not be expected to get up - it was time to collect plates, and wash dishes. I thought we were finally finished, but no. We began the whole process over for dinner; this time pap and rice, chicken stew and boiled, salty spinach. Sunday lunch was the same drill with beef stew this time.

Late Saturday afternoon I had begun wondering if and when something ceremonial was going to happen. Eventually, after drawing together bits and pieces of information from the brief answers I got from the people I asked, it came out that the cattle wouldn’t be arriving. The groom and his father had come to deliver the message that there had been problems with the legal documentation needed to transport them from one area to another. This meant that the official ceremony could not take place, as the bride’s family needed to see that cattle and one had to be killed in the family corral, cooked and eaten by relatives of the couple with certain parts being eaten by certain individuals. For the present weekend guests could not be sent away of course, so the bride’s family would continue with their responsibility of hosting them and the whole event would take place again on a coming weekend. A huge investment of time and energy!

What amazed me most about all this is how hard the young women and girls worked and how idle everyone else was. The culture around work here is very different from Canada, with extreme differences in workload between individuals completely acceptable. The person with the least status, whether by age, gender or social class, does the most work and the one with highest status does the least. It is normal for a swazi man to sit in a chair under a tree all afternoon and call over his wife or daughter who is busy in the kitchen or cleaning to tell her he is thirsty. She will then graciously put off what she is doing and bring him a drink, which I cannot do. When men here tell me they want something to eat or drink I give them a response to the effect of “well then go get yourself something to eat”. From time to time I catch myself giving in to their demands, but I quickly pull back. Their behaviour does not anger me as I understand that it is routed in social upbringing and value structures that are very hierarchical; however, at the same time I must also respect my own principals and values of equal division of work and power. Of course, during the weekend I tried my best to be one of the girls – cooking, service and cleaning for everyone.

Mbabane: African or Western?

I would like to take a little time to examine the environment I am living in these days. Mbabane, the capital, is a small hilly city of about 100 000 located in a mountain valley in the Northwest of Swaziland. It is also the wealthiest and most westernized part of the country. Earlier this week I was getting down on myself for being here. I was thinking “why am I in Africa when I’m living in a place that could just as well be in North America? This is too normal and familiar. I am working at Save the Children and yet so out of touch with the communities in which they are active. Mbabane has big grocery stores, a mall, ATMs, three gas stations in a row, office towers, fancy cars, fast food joints, a highway etc. These aren’t conditions of a developing country.” Then over the next few days as I carried out my daily routine I looked closer and more reflectively. Yes I certainly am in a developing country. Perhaps I am getting used to the environment after 5 ½ months but there is no denying it.

I wake up in the morning to instant coffee (most people use chicory coffee blend but I’ve gone all out and gotten the real thing) and cornflakes (a staple here) with powder milk. Leaving the university campus, where I am staying alone in the dorms, I pass a group of security guards at the gate needed to keep out thieves and vandals at night. The campus is for the health sciences faculty of the University of Swaziland where nurses, midwives and environmental health inspectors train (not doctors, they go to South Africa). It is more the size of a highschool than university with only a couple 100 students during the academic year. There is a half finished building across the parking lot from my room. The university is waiting for the allocation from next years ministry of education budget to pay the construction company and continue building it.

Next to campus is the government hospital, the largest in the country. It is a mish mash of rusting corrugated iron roofs, broken fences lined with people’s washing, and once white now grayish brown cracking concrete buildings their corners covered in vines and moss. The whole thing looks old, tired and overused reminding me of the old Stelco buildings in the industrial part of Hamilton. It is here that AIDS patients go to die, burned and abused spouses seek treatment and police dump the victims of the country’s numerous traffic accidents. Service at the hospital is terrible – although I must say I have never actually been there with a medical problem. I read in the paper yesterday that it has all but run out of vaccines and meds. A friend at work took her sister there with a persistent neck problem that was keeping her housebound. After ages of waiting the nurses responded to her condition with “well, at least she’s walking”. They said they had no medication anyway and she should go get some spinach from the market and go home. My friend then took her to a private clinic for help, which is what everyone with any money does. Those without money go to an inyanya (traditional healer).

On the road outside the hospital and in many places along the streets of town are women with little tables set up selling fruits and veggies. They are there from sun-up to sundown seven days a week with apples, oranges, bananas and sometimes avocados, peanuts carrots, tomatoes and unidentified green leaves. Those set up near schools or offices have buns and candies as well. It is convenient for someone like me looking to grab a quick snack or veggies for dinner on the way home, but I don’t see how they make a living. Prices are dirt-cheap and there is always 5 to 10 little booths set up along each street. I mean people can only eat so many bananas! But I guess for these women the little they make selling the fruits is better than making nothing at home.

When walking to work I go down the hill from where the hospital and campus are located on a garbage-lined path (complete with a woman selling fruit) to the main road into town. Where trucks with their backs filled with workmen, aged overstuffed kombi (minibuses) and pedestrians in old jackets, torn work suits and wrapped material for warmth in the morning cold contrast with the BMWs and VW driven by government officials and businessmen.

In fact, contrasts like this are everywhere in the city. Throughout town one finds fancy offices for banks, car sales, embassies etc. giving the impression of a wealthy population but then walking in front of these buildings will be children in tattered clothes looking for bottles on the ground (I think they sell them for change), a shoeless, smelling drunk man wobbling around talking to anyone who passes, or a young woman with a child tied onto her back with a cloth and a sack of maize on her head.

The Swazi Plaza, The Mall and The New Mall, where shoppers enjoy boutiques and western-style shops and restaurants including several travel agencies, a natural food store, Italian pizza café and dry cleaner, are located right next to the taxi rank where minibuses for cheap local transport congregate and street vendors sell newspapers, juice in reused water bottles, fruits, cigarettes and boiled maize. While many people, including me, do most of their food and other shopping at The Plaza or The Mall, there is also a market in a big open dirt field in the middle of town where people meet to sift through used clothes and buy bulk maize, sugar, rice, onions and squash.

One simple memory that eclipses these contrasts occurred last weekend. I was looking out from the university across the highway to the opposite hillside from my residence thinking about how modern and nice the houses looked from a far, how their over crowdedness and the poor conditions of the potholed roads was hidden from this distance, when a boy herding cattle crossed a soccer field at the bottom of the hill. This of course is a totally normal occurrence in rural Swaziland, but in town? In fact this boy was herding the cattle towards the center of town. I am still wondering why.

So it seems that as much as I may feel I am living a western life and not experiencing conditions much different from home because of the level of development around me. This feeling only reflects one side, one layer of Mbabane. African “characteristics” and signs of poverty and underdevelopment (I hate that word but can’t think of a better one) are equally present. Mbabane like may many cities in developing countries is a place of contrast and inequality, which one may ignore from time to time, but eventually resurfaces to slap you in the face.

Myths and Misconceptions

Since coming here people have asked me a lot of strange questions and told me a lot of strange things about what they think of life in North America. They have also asked me if I believed many wild things about Africa before coming here, which many foreigners have. These conversations highlight for me the number of myths and misconceptions that persist regarding our societies in spite of the high level of communication and interconnectedness between regions of the world. As such, it has become a sort of “duty” of mine to dispel these myths while here and once I get home. Here are a few such beliefs from both sides:

Myth: People in developed countries get a car on their 16th birthday.
Truth: Hell no! Well at least not the majority of us…although people in Hollywood movies all seem to have cars even though they are in high school giving the average African youth the impression that this is the experience of the average North American youth.

Myth: You won’t be able to find basic hygiene products or toiletries in Africa
Truth: You can…at the supermarket, pharmacy or variety store etc., just like at home, although some of the brands are different and the prices of “luxury products” like shampoo and toothpaste makes them inaccessible to many.

Myth: It is always cold in Canada
Truth: This is a classic. No it is not always cold. In fact during the summer it can rise above 30degrees!

Myth: Africans live in the trees like apes.
Truth: They live in houses.

Myth: North Americans (actually it was said…people from “civilized” places) don’t eat corn like Africans and we only have yellow corn which is fed to cattle
Truth: North Americans eat corn but much less than Africans. Corn in Swaziland is starchy and pale. It is used as a staple grain either on the cob or in a porridge made from maize flour, while in Canada corn is bright yellow, sweeter and juicier. We do also feed corn to cattle but this is not the same as the kind either people eat.

Myth: Swazis are oppressed under the absolute power and dictatorship of the monarchy
Truth: The Swazi king, Mswati III, is above the law and a good Swazi won’t question his authority but the government and members of parliament do not hold this power. Government officials are constantly criticized in the paper and there is a fair amount of public debate. Plus I think the king knows that he can’t do anything too wild or undemocratic because the rest of the world wouldn’t accept it.

Myth: Americans brought AIDS to Africa to kill Africans and make it easier to exploit their continent
Truth: recent research confirms that AIDS 1st arose in humans somewhere in Cameroon (Africa) where it was transferred from apes to humans. This was not from humans living with apes in trees or eating them but just being in close contact…like Canadians and squirrels.

Myth: Africans are dying rapidly and widely of AIDS, especially in Swaziland
Truth: Swaziland is losing huge human capacity to AIDS, but on the streets, in towns, offices, shops etc. the pandemic is not evident. Looking around one has no idea that Swaziland has the world’s highest HIV rate. This is largely because people that are HIV positive often do not demonstrate AIDS symptoms and those that are ill tend to go to their family homes, usually in the rural areas, to die.

Myth: In the West you are given a job upon graduation from school
Truth: Not exactly! True there are more job opportunities available than in Africa but one still must have skills, look for a job and prove their ability.

Myth: It’s always sunny and hot in Africa
Truth: Not always. Lately its been down to 4 or 5 celsius at night and I hear in Port Elizabeth, South Africa they had snow!

Myth: There is no poverty or homelessness in Canada (or other developed countries)
Truth: There is poverty…quite a lot, however we have a social support system designed to mitigate these problems, which helps significantly

Beautiful South Africa!

These are some pictures from the many lookout points along Blythe River Canyon in Mpulanga province South Africa. It is beautiful! I visited the area with a couple of American Peace Corp volunteers and a friend from Nelspruit about a month ago and have been waiting to get the photos up ever since.

Pics from South Africa

A view out over Ka-nyamaazan, the township near the city of Nelspruit. When Nelspruit was founded about a hundred years ago during white rule in South Africa, blacks were moved out from the area and put in small houses in an area 20min away. Since then the township has expanded to be the largest in the province, comparable to Soweto outside of Jo’burg. Although Nelspruit is now a multi racial city the township is still entirely black. It is actually larger than the city itself even though looking on a map of the country Nelspruit will be identified but not Ka-nyamaazan. It is really weird the contrast between the two places. Nelspruit has big houses with fancy gardens, new shopping complexes and superstores like any North American city while the township has mud roads, densely packed cement and mud houses with outhouses and roadside shops and stalls. It is amazing the contrast!

Between the two, literally in the middle of farm fields lies a government housing project. Apparently, Ka-nyamaazan was expanding too quickly so within the last decade the government built these houses and gave them to families earning less than a certain amount per year to ease the population pressure. I’m not sure how the families were chosen however I think an application procedure was used. The layout of the settlement is terrible. Houses are only 2rooms plus a bathroom corner and most have 6-8people squeezed into them. Also, there are no shops around except a small tuck shop and nothing to do for entertainment.

A couple of funny signs…the second is from a waterfalls site along the canyon. The first is for a primary school in Ka-nyamaazan. Coke signs are common on shops, car washes, restaurants and schools! My guess is that if you allow the coke advertising you get your sign for free. This would never fly at schools in Ontario!

"News"papers

It has been ages since I last posted anything on here. The server here has been down and since it came back I've been trying to get up some pictures without success although I did get a few up in a post below. Until more will work let me give you a flavour of the newspapers here.

There are two national papers that come out daily; the Swazi Observor, which is government run and the Times of Swazilan,d which is private but of course highly supervised. This is the one that I buy. The press here is very much like a tabloid. Both papers donate over half their space to sports (almost exclusively soccer) and entertainment including both local events and celebrity gossip. There is generally one page of international "news", 2-3 pages of obituaries (largely victims of AIDS but of course this is not reported), one for business and farming and one for community events as well as much national news.

The theme among journalists seems to be to stretch out a story to fill as much space as possible. Most news items have a main heading one or two sub-headings halfway down and then sub sub-headings throughout the text. They tend to include a lot of repetition of facts and information but never really explain the full story as to why the event happened or what the response has been.

The newspapers are known to lie a lot! For example, when we held the march about Gender violence it said in the paper that students would be marching to parliament on the issue! This was never the intent! we had considered sending a petition to parliament but never marching there!

To give you a taste of the headlines here are some highlights from the past days.

The World News on May 4th included the following stories:
-"Armenian Jet Crashes into Black Sea, 113 Killed"
-"Woman Warns of Ghostly Return in Suicide Note" -Bangkok
-"Malaysian 'Healing' Sex Scams Prompt Warnings" - Kuala Lampur
-"Somali Teen Executes Father's Killer under Islamic Law"
-"Pakistan Woman Beheads Husband who Wanted 4th Wife"
-"Egypt Reports New Case of Bird Flue"

Usually there is also some coverage of politics in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Sudan but not this day.

In terms of National News some key stories in the last week were:
-"Teacher Seeks to Get Car Back from Ex-Boyfriend", "....But he Denies She gave him E28 000 for Car" (subheading).
-"17 Swazi Wedding Guests Arrested in SA"
-"Prince's Wife Hangs Herself", "Fikile Dlamini nee Mamba, Inkhoshati (royal wife) to the late Prince Gombizembe, was found hanging from the rafters of her 2 room house three weeks ago"
-"Gogo (grandmother) (82) Burnt to Death"
-"Fog, speed caused SA Horror Accident", "...Sibanyoni might never Walk again" (subheading 1), "...It was Driver's 2nd Trip in 2 Days" (subheading 2).
-"Councils (city councils) in bid to Remove the Mentally Disturbed"
-"Happy Bday Your Majesty", "10page report on King's Bday inside!"

Included in that ten page report were the following headlines.
-"Minister's Moving Poetic Gift to the King" (Cows)
-"Emkhosikati (Queens) had Tongues Wagging" (on their outfits)
-"Vendors sell Meat for E5"
-"King Proves that he can Dance"
-"People Start Lining up for Food Early", "...and Some Engage in Fights" (subheading).
-"liquor Outlets defy Maswazi" (by staying open on the day when they were to be closed)
-"Hats that ruled the Day at King's Celebration"

Of course, everyday for the week after the King's birthday more pictures and stories about it were sprinkled through the paper.

I love reading the news here. Not so much for its informational value as to get a sense of culture, the crazy things people can be made to believe and for a good laugh!

Mozy Pics

Here is a series of Pics from Maputo, the capital of Mozambique which I visited during Easter. I have been trying for ages to get these up and I have some others to add but they will have to wait til another unbusy morning at the comp centre



Left: Some kids having a braii (BBQ) on the beach in Moz.



Below:A view of the city and some international ships from the fairy going back to Maputo from Catemba across the bay.
















Below left: A street sign in Maputo. All the streets in the city are named after famous communist leaders or important dates in communist/Mozambican history. Even though communism ended in the country in the early 90s names haven’t been changed.



Above right: The fruit section of Market Jauna in Maputo near where we were staying. There is an abundance of cheap fruit in southern Africa. In Maputo bananas are soo cheap that you can’t buy them individually. You have to buy by the kg. I think about $0.50 per kg

Summer...I mean Winter Plans

It has been quite a while since I have actually written anything on here so it is time I did. Let me update you on my plans over the next months. School has pretty much finished, but I will not be coming home right away as planned. Instead I will be staying in Swaziland until the end of August. I have gotten a grant (well its 95% secured) through a new initiative called Canada Corps that is funded by CIDA and administered by the AUCC (Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada).

The grant is pretty cool. It funds individual students or group of students to do a self-organized three-month internship in a developing county focused in the broad theme of ‘governance’. Each post-secondary institution is allocated at least one spot each year. This is only the second year the program has been run and it doesn’t seem to be very well known yet. If you are interested check the website http://www.aucc.ca/programs/intprograms/canadacorps_e.html

For my internship I will be working with Save the Children Swaziland (SCS) to conduct an assessment of practices and policies of the Ministry of Education of Swaziland in order to identify gaps in policy and implementation surrounding basic education. The information and results will be used by SCS for their advocacy work in this area.

Now just to add a little context about the education sector. Currently, students in primary and secondary schools have to pay each year for tuition, stationary, and uniforms. The cost of tuition ranges from $40 per year upward. The government has committed to the Millenium Development goal of providing universal free primary education by 2015 however little progress has been made thus far. Also, government ministers, the royal family and anyone else with big money continue to send their children to private schools in South Africa or overseas for education.

For the analysis I am going to focus in two areas; grants for OVCs and school infrastructure. Bursaries for OVCs (Orphaned and Vulnerable Children) were started about two years ago. The government said it would cover primary school fees or tuition orphans and children at risk of becoming orphans (largely due to AIDS), a program that is highly needed given that 20% of kids fit into this category. Unfortunately, it is also rift with problems.

• Fees are not paid on time: many schools only receive their money 2/3rds of the way through the school year and some never see it. This money is important because it forms the day-to-day operating budget of schools.
• While OVCs were guaranteed a place in school and payment of school fees by government, schools did not see increases in funding to cover the teaching staff, facilities etc. that would be needed to take on more students, thus compounding existing capacity problems.
• It is not yet clear how OVCs are identified and receive coverage through the program. The ministry has tried to do identification through a decentralized, community led selection process, but it is unclear whether those that should have been supported were. Many orphans and child-headed households are located in remote areas and may not have been aware or in contact with those administering the bursary, while others might not be take part in education even if it were free because of responsibilities to work to support their siblings. Further, depending on how administration works some non-OVCs may have been selected from families wanting to escape paying school fees.

In terms of the second area, facilities in primary schools, problems include both basic infrastructure and teaching capacity. The current teacher: student ratio according to government statistics is 1:30-35 in public schools, but SCS and UNICEF findings are more like 1: 50 and in some schools 1:70. Further, classrooms are degraded and unkept with few desks or benches, most of which have been broken and piled or strewn all over. The walls and floors are unpainted or cleaned and there are literally potholes in the floors. A school with 500-1000 students will have no copying facility, textbooks etc. Essentially they are cement boxes full of kids, a couple adults and NO learning resources. I hope to have some pictures of the schools to post in a couple weeks.

It is hoped that by really getting deep into what exactly the problems are, what has created them and what needs to be done to address them a strong, clear information base will be developed for advocating to government to live up to its responsibility.

Just a final note to those concerned that all this sounds too political and risky in a county like Swaziland; Please do not worry. It is acceptable to criticize government here, including ministries and parliament. Only the King’s authority and judgement and the traditions surrounding his position cannot be publicly criticized. If one does they will be charged with treason, although foreigners are given a lot more leeway in terms of this than Swazi citizens. The king is above the law and is never challenged; however, the government, which is comprised largely of his appointees, relatives and business friends, is complained about daily in media.

In the news and online

Here are a couple interesting Articles I had forwarded through a news list I belong to. If they interest you and you want the bi-weekly low-down send an email to SAK-Swazinewsletter-subscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk

Also check out this website for a comparison of stats on Canada and Swaziland http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/CIDAWEB/webcountry.nsf/vLUDocEn/EE9DD0709B7B35DE85256B65001EFCC0?OpenDocument

1. Good rain fills northern dams but southern crops might still fail, 30 March 2006 (IRIN).

Drenching rains have filled Swaziland's dams to capacity, but the heavy downpours may have come too late to save the maize harvest in the drought-hit south of the country.

The Ministry of Agriculture has warned that clear skies from January through early March, especially in the south, ensured that only a fraction of the crops planted during the spring would survive to harvest, which begins next month.

The government's National Disaster Relief Task Force and the World Food Programme are to continue food aid distributions to 240,000 vulnerable Swazis - around a quarter of the population.

Uneven distribution of rain has thrown into focus the divide between the well-watered middleveld and highveld areas of the central and western Manzini Region, as well as the northern Hhohho Region, and the drought-prone eastern Lubombo and southern Shiselweni Regions.

"We have a choice of declaring the lower third of the country's geographical area unfit for agriculture, which is unpractical because of the tens of thousands of small-landholder subsistence farming families there, or else government can step up its plans to bring northern water southward for irrigation purposes," said a source with the Ministry of Agriculture.

"Heavy rains have raised most of Swaziland's northern and central dams to full capacity. Summer is over, and there is sufficient water in place for irrigation use throughout the winter for crops," said Charles Nkambule of the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The Maguga Dam, Swaziland's largest, is full for the first time since it was built in 2003, forcing the Komati River Basin Water Authority, the South Africa-Swaziland co-venture that built and maintains the dam, to open the sluice gates - a novel procedure.

Maguga was built with the intention of irrigating the fields of small agricultural cooperatives in the eastern Lubombo and southern Shiselweni Regions - which, because of low water levels, it has never been able to do.

By treaty, 60 percent of the dam's water was guaranteed to South Africa, which put up 60 percent of the dam's US $183 million construction cost. The 870 metre-long dam rises 115 metres, creating a storage capacity of 332 million square metres of water, a volume never realised before this week.

The usually low water level in Maguga has also hindered plans to produce hydroelectric power. Swaziland imports 90 percent of its electrical power from South Africa, but the dam has the ability to meet 50 percent of the kingdom's electricity needs once a hydroelectric generating facility goes on line. No date has been set for the start-up.


2. Royal notes. Princess demands new cars for King Mswati III's guests. AND (Johannesburg), 21 March 2006.

Senator Princess Ngebeti has urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to purchase expensive cars for King Mswati III's visitors.

The Princess said the vehicles currently allocated by government to chauffer dignitaries are of low standard. The princess slammed government for allocating a Mercedes Benz to drive the Basotho Queen Mamohato last year.

King Mswati III's sister, Senator Princess Ngebeti said this during the debate on the ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade budget. Ngebeti said it does not reflect well on the King and government to chauffer the country's guests in vehicles lower than their status.

The newly appointed Foreign Minister, Mathendele Dlamini acknowledged the Senator's submission.

King Mswati III recently bought himself a luxurious Maybuch worth over 3.4 million Emalangeni (566-667 USD) and a top of the range Mercedes Benz S600 Pullman.The king also bought his thirteen wives brand news BMW X5s and BMW 7 Series models for his late father King Sobhuza II's many surviving wives.

Photo photo

I decided to finally post some pictures! Here is a selection from different places and events.

Pics from a march against abuse of women and children, that a friend Nsizwa and I organized for University Students. We went down to the shopping plaza about 15min away and made lots of noise. The theme was “Inandzaleyo” which is a final, intense cry for help.

Emaphoto!

These are from culture day at the university. Students and outside groups performed alllll afternoon. It is kind of funny seeing friends that I am used to seeing in jeans and t-shirts wearing their cultural garb and doing traditional dances! The guy in the brown…umm diaper I guess you could say… is a good friend of mine and the group of guys in the last picture are from the track team.

Picture time!

A papaya tree…I hate papayas but I decide to give this plant a photo shoot anyway.

This is a site where we went hiking in Lesotho. The ridge is called Thabo Bissu. There were anchient battles here and Kings are barried on top.

This is Ringo… a really popular South African afro-jazz artist that I saw live last weekend.

Basketball in Lesotho. Check out the view!

A street near my friend’s house in Swaziland.

One dollar for the Poor Gogo and Two for the Politician’s Pocket

Corruption and financial mismanagement are popular topics in the Swazi media. Problems which all Swazis know exist in their government and complain about with an almost joking attitude as if it is a funny story. That kind of attitude is common here for things that are beyond ones control. The issue of corruption does come up everyday here; however, it seems to be a topic of discussion for editorial journalists and men sitting around chatting more than a priority of government action. Yet the problem is pervasive.

I go back to the pension issue mentioned in an earlier entry. First let me correct myself and say that Gogos (grandmothers) and Mkhulus (grandfathers) receive 80 Emalengini, the local currency ($16CDN) a month rather than the E50 ($10CDN) I indicated earlier…either way a pitifully small amount of money. Now consider this: when the government instated the pension, the intent was that everyone over 60 (I think) would receive E240 per month, however, in reality seniors only receive E80, for which they have to line up for hours at the post office. Further, many people find after waiting all day that for some reason their name is not on the registry. They have signed up, come with the proper documents and then are turned away. No one seems to know why people are missing from the list or where the money has gone too. The correct amount should have been allocated to the department but when it comes to pay outs it just is not there.

A similar situation has developed in the school system. About 20% of the children in Swaziland are considered Orphaned or Vulnerable Children (OVC), meaning that they have lost their parents (probably to AIDS) and are living in a child headed household or are at risk of falling into this situation. It has been found that many of these OVCs were not attending school because they could not afford the yearly school fees or cost of uniforms and needed to be working to support themselves and their families. In response to this and to the international push for universal primary education the Swazi government announced that it would pay school fees for OVC children beginning last year. Consequently, when schools opened there was a huge increase in enrolment as OVCs who were previously unable to attend signed up for classes under this government program. However, when it came to paying school fees, most schools were not compensated for by the government until 7months later and many never received payment. In addition new teachers were not hired to accommodate the increased enrolment. Most classrooms in Swaziland are running at a 50:1 student to teacher ratio with some up to 75:1!!! Again where the money announced for this program actually went is a mystery.

Lets add another layer, a week or so ago newspapers announced the death of the Auditor General of Swaziland – a man who had been very outspoken about corruption in government. What is concerning is that his death came while he was in hospital after a suicide attempt a week earlier. Why did wanted to kill himself is not known, but one wonders what kind of pressure he was under and from whom that may have contributed to his decision.

Okay, now turning to the statistics. Swaziland’s 2006/2007 budget was released about a month ago. One of my professors, who is actually from the states but on a work term here for one year, ranked expenditure areas in terms of percentage change in funding from the last years budget to this one. Number one for increased budget allocation was Parliament at a 38.5% increase! This is largely money for increases in ministers’ salaries (while the government says it has no money for increases in civil servant salaries which have been frozen for some time). Other areas that received big budget hikes included the Ministry of Defence and Police force, both of whom are under fire for unexplained and excessive expenditures. Now at the other end the areas that took the highest cuts are…get this….the Anti Corruption Commission (-50%!!!) and the Audit office (-25%). These figures tell a lot about the governments priorities. While it talks big before the public about cracking down on corruption, in reality it continues to pour money into the very departments that are the worst corruption culprits and take it away from those fighting the issue.

Really puts the sponsorship scandal into perspective doesn’t it!

Ode to homesickness

Last night I was feeling a little (a lot) lonely and thought of all the things I miss at home. Don't worry I am okay today, feeling just fine, but I thought since the internet is fast this morning I might as well write another post and share these things with you.

I miss Mom
I miss Dad
I miss my friends
I miss Guelph profs
I miss the library
I miss the cornerstone
I miss my laptop
I miss Johnston Green
I miss fast internet
I miss Fair trade Coffee
I miss the Chinese store downtown
I miss the Attic
I miss the Farmers' Market
I miss recycling
I miss late night buses
I miss Guest lectures
I miss Stirfry
I miss Sushi
I miss the CBC
I miss mind expanding discussions and literature
I miss the hippies at Guelph
I miss politics
I miss cheap phone calls
I miss home

Okay good that is out of my system...funny the things that become important to you when you are away from them.

Adventures in Swazi Visas

Let me tell you about adventures in Swazi visas…a saga which started months ago in Canada, continues today and led me to become a criminal!

Last year I went to the Foreign Affairs Travel site to check about travel documents for Swaziland. It indicated that Canadians don’t need anything besides a passport. I passed this info on to our Study Abroad Coordinator at Guelph who suggested I should double check with the Embassy/ High Commission to be sure. Online I came across two possible contacts; one for the embassy in Washington on the Foreign Affairs website and one for the site of the Swazi High Commission in Canada in Ottawa. As a Canadian I called the latter first….but no answer. After exploring their site further I found that it hadn’t been updated since 2002 so gave up. I tried the other number, got through to the main desk and explained my situation, “ I am a Canadian student who will be on exchange at the University of Swaziland from January to May next year. I am wondering whether I need a student visa or anything.” “Hmmmm…well I’m not sure” was the gist of the reply. I re-explained and he said “well no, I don’t think so but let me put you through to someone who will know”. So I go on hold, wait and then someone picks up after a few minutes. I re-re-explain my situation and find out eventually that she also doesn’t think I need anything but isn’t totally sure so will put me through again. I go on hold. Wait…this time for 5-10 minutes (remember this is a long distance call at midday) and then the phone goes dead and I give up.

Next I emailed the girl that went on this exchange last year to see what documents she needed. Her response was that she didn’t have anything besides a passport and found out after arriving that she was supposed to have brought a police check from Canada and then go with the Dean of Student Affairs (DSA) of the University to get a study permit. She didn’t have a police check and never got the study permit but had no trouble crossing borders. So I thought good, I’ll get a police check if I have the chance otherwise no worries. In the end I never got it.

I arrived via South Africa an entered the country no problem. When I got to the University the DSA secretary asked me whether I had a study permit or police check. I said no to both and she said “oh well don’t worry. They could take me to get one anyway but its not too important”.

So I went on with life here for the next month and a half then last week as we were crossing the border from Swaziland to South Africa (I and several hundred other Uniswa students were on our way to the Intervarsity Games in Lesotho, a week of sports and partying with the University of Botswana and National University of Lesotho) the border officials stopped me because I had overstayed the 30days Canadians are allowed to be in Swaziland. Since when? Why doesn’t it say we only have 30 days on the foreign affairs site? Why didn’t the High Commission tell me?

I was taken in to see an immigration officer in the back who’s 8 year-old son was practicing English on her office computer. She added that not only was I violating my permitted stay but I was also culpable for not having a study permit and would be fined 500Rand ($100). I did not have that much on me to pay them because I needed it for our trip to Lesotho. I asked if I could go get someone to help me since I wasn’t aware that I had overstayed my allowed time. She held my passport while I found a member of the Students council who then called the Assistant DSA who was on his way in another vehicle and informed him. The ADSA said that the school would pay the fine and I went with a police officer to take finger prints (a full role of each finger Left and Right then the flats of all fingers at ones and additional thumb prints.) I had to fill out a form describing myself...where I live, physical description, and behavioural characteristics…a “profile of the accused” or something of that nature, as well as forms explaining what I was accused of and admitting guilt. The DSA had by this time arrived and gave me the money for the fine. I went around with the police officer to the customs line on the side for people entering the country. After waiting a bit (in full view of all my fellow students) I paid my fine and got a receipt….I wonder what the jail term would have been? I was finally able to pass through to the South African side where I had no other troubles.

Now on the way back into Swaz on Friday I had problems again. The border officer said my passport had been deactivated in their system and wanted to know why. I didn’t know what that meant and was kind of worried (not again!). He asked me if I had had any problems with my passport recently. I explained briefly what happened earlier and he wanted me to produce the receipt, which I couldn’t because it was packed away somewhere in my bag under our bus. After a little more hassling and making me wait on edge he finally decided that it was okay, stamped my passport and let me through.

I am going to have to get a permit now to avoid a second time round. It is funny that I had to be accused of violation to finally have clarified what the regulations were. But I still don’t understand why I was in trouble in the first place. As a Canadian I was supposed to be able to stay in the country for 6months without a visa, yet now that I am here the rules seem to have changed.

Statistics

Sorry it has been so long since I posted anything. I have been very busy unlucky with finding a computer that is connected to the internet. I want to start with some country statistics. They seem pretty shocking and lead one to wonder how the country continues to function and exist. Which I do but at the same time life goes on here, for some more easy than others, but nonetheless it goes on. Indeed in the central area of the country between the cities of Manzini and Mbabane on the surface Swaziland does not seem like a poor country. There are good roads, modern stores, shopping malls and hotels. But venture a little off the main routes and one starts to see mud and grass huts, children carrying water for kilometres, elderly women walking to town without shoes because they can't afford the 50cent bus ride etc. Swaziland is really a country of inequalities. There are some crazy rich people here, wealthier than most Canadians, and then others who dont even get one mean a day. It is difficult to accept that this can go on, that the wealthy (who are largely in government and the monarchy) don't feel guilt and an obligation to do something, but they seem to just turn a blind eye and enjoy their dinners, fancy cars and multiple giant houses. Okay now for the stats

• 70% of the population lives below the poverty line of $1 per day (the cost of a street meal is $2)
• 1/2 the population is 18 or younger
• HIV/AIDS rate is 42.6% (the world's highest) and for women aged 25-29 it is now over 52% (mind you these rates are for HIV+ people not those dying of full blown AIDS)
• 2 women are raped everyday, at least one of which is a minor (these are only the reported cases. I am sure there are dozens more that go unreported...given the conservatism of the people and ineffectiveness of the police)
• Swaziland has the 3rd highest per capita alcohol consumption in the world
• Unemployment rate is 40%
• The lowveld (poorest area) has been affected by devastating drought for 5years wth 70 000-100 000 people living on food aid
• 10% of households are headed by children some as young as 6.
• Swaziland is considered a middle income countries by international donors, the World Bank etc! (probably based on per capita income...which is not very reflective)

That is all the time I have for now. Hopefully I can post some more soon. I have been working with Save the Children Swaziland...a great organization with some motivated outspoken staff. It has given me lots of ideas to ponder over which I would like to convey to you soon.

Issues of trade and sexuality

It's the weekend. Three weeks of classes over and the newness of everything is wearing off. I joined the track team here as a way to meet people. plus at the end of February all the teams (including chess, ballroom dancing and choral) go to Lesotho for the annual Intervarsity games competition against the Universities of Botswana and Lesotho. It must be a pretty exciting event because people here have been talking about it since I arrived. Even those that are not competing often go to watch/party. The competition rotates venues each year between Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. Last year it was supposed to be in Lesotho too but was cancelled because of water shortage. That is pretty ironic considering Lesotho suppies hydro electricity and water to South Africa.

Another interesting trade related issue I learned about in class is that since 2000 South Africa has been negotiating a Free Trade Agreement between the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) members (South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Namibia) and the US. So what? well if the agreement is reached as the US wants it to be there would be provisions; 1. allowing highly subsidized US agro products to be dumped in southern africa competing with staple locally produce especially sugar and maize; 2. restricting governments' abilities to control the amount of profits foreign investors can export back to the US; and (the clincher) 3. protecting Intellectual property rights for American pharmacutical companies by blocking access for generic medications crucial to treatment of AIDS. While I do see trade as necessary for Swazilands existance, an agreement like this could be devastating for small producers. Luckily thus far it hasn't gone through.

Now to another issue that becomes increasingly important the more I travel - gender and sexual roles. I am a little leary about approaching this because I do not want to sound ethnocentric or critical but the issue is so complex that it is worth looking at anyway. First let me say that everytime I go out someone asks me to marry them - often in Siswati so I don't understand. It happens in buses, stores, on the street. And the thing is, they are not joking, as I nievely thought at first.

Marriage here is a complex process. It has many layers since both Swazi traditional culture and the church are very prevalent and strong. Both western and traditional weddings are often carried out for a couple. The latter involves a pride price of cattle paid by the husband to his fiance's family. If a woman is an only child the price is high and it also varied depending on if she is the first, second, last daughter. Although the husband is likely young and lacking resources to buy cattle, it is rare for his family to help and indeed the wife wouldn't want that anyway because if the family pays the bride price she is seen to be marrying the family not only the husband. This would give his mother and other relatives free range to tell her what to do.
The complication results from differing rules for divorce and resposibilities of the couple under traditional and modern marriage structures. Someone married via a modern wedding can divorce while the traditional cannot...as for those married under both I am not sure.

Putting all this aside, I learned today that marriage is not really all that important here because many many people have children out of wedlock and with differen partners. For example, a friend of mine is one of 18 children from the same man, but from 7 different women only one or two of whom are actual wives! Further I am often told, and have noticed on a number of occasions, that female students often become pregnant one or more times during their university career, yet few marry until afterwards. Pregnancy before marriage is frowned on because a women is supposed to be a virgin until marriage but it happens so frequently that it is largely accepted.

What gets me is that all these pregnancies indicate a lack of safe sex protection yet condoms are available everywhere - in public washrooms, the enterence to student dorms etc. - and abstinance is promoted on T-shirts, billboards, the side of mini buses etc. The issue cannot be lack of knowledge or unavailability of protection. Maybe it is a cultural value or belief that I am not aware of which prevents condom use, but at any rate the frequency of unwanted pregnancies is the more visible result of the activity which is spreading HIV/AIDS throughout the country.

Perhaps another factor in the amount of sex that seems to go on here is that there is little else to do in terms of affordable, accessible entertainment. Buses stop running at nightfall (7-7:30pm), there is no movie theatre in the country and there are few concerts, sports events etc. Also the cost of living is quite high especially for luxury items. One could not really go out for a nice dinner for much less than in Canada. One thing that is cheap though is alcohol (even for local standards) and bars stay open all night. Swazi's have the 3rd highest per capita alcohol consumption in the world! I am sure that this is not a positive factor in promoting safe sex and abstinance.

On top of all this sex is a taboo topic for public conversation. It is approached in a round about way with lots of giggles, nervous looks and indirect terms. Juxtapose their shyness in addressing the issue publically with its prevalence and influence on all aspects of society and interpersonal relationships. It is difficult to fully comprehend!

At School!

Sorry this post is coming so late. This entry comes in two parts that were written on different days neither of which was today. I can't get on here from the school computers so I had to wait until I got to an internet cafe. I think it will be like this most of the time

Thursday January 12 2006

I am sitting in the dean’s office waiting. I have spent my whole first week choosing courses and chasing down professors to see if I can be let into their classes. The time table here is very erratic. It does not follow any sort of pattern in the time or location of classes. Also many classrooms don’t have enough chairs so or desks so students are constantly carrying them from room to room. Profs frequently don’t show up for class. I have had 4/9 classes so far! Of course these are negative highlights. The students and staff are all very friendly and welcoming. I guess this is just for shock value.

I have made a friend who is a member of the opposition party. It is interesting because he has to make sure he doesn’t draw too much attention or become labelled as a threat to avoid being picked out by the police and charged with treason. Most Swazis just stay out of politics all together. They choose to run their businesses and have their families, sticking to themselves and avoiding speaking out. They seem to feel both fear and apathy, believing nothing will change the government structure and they will only be hurt. (For those that don’t know Swaziland is ruled by a King who has a monopoly on power and opposition parties are banned). There is widespread opinion that change is needed and people are not happy with the current system but few feel confident or safe enough to act.

An interesting fact I learned today about the Swazi economy is that the government offers 5yr tax holidays to international businesses that set up in the country. As a result companies from South Africa and elsewhere come in for 5yrs then close down or change their name and official owner and continue to operate. This means that little revenue ever gets back to the Swazi people. Further, Swazi businesses pay taxes as soon as they open making it difficult to compete with these large, foreign owned, untaxed operations. In its efforts to attract economic activity the Swazi gov has simply blocked sustained local growth.

Saturday January 14 2006

Here is something that highlights the enormous wealth inequalities in Swaziland. Old age pension here is 50Rand ($10) per month pretty minimal and impossible to live on especially considering the cost of living here is about 2/3 of ours. Most elderly people work until their death in agriculture or roadside businesses and cleaning the house by hand. This is compounded by responsibility for their many orphaned grandchildren whose parents have died of AIDS. They must cloth, feed, and shelter them and pay their school fees. With what resources? With what time? With what energy? All this is happening in a country where the King has $600 000 cars and flies his kids to London to shop.

I have not yet gotten involved with any organizations working on AIDS or social services but I really want to. The University is quite isolated in its fenced area outside of town (Manzini and Matsapha). Life on campus seems totally disconnected from the challenges and desperation facing so many Swazis. Students get a living allowance necessary to cover costs and make education affordable for most but often their allowance is spent on clothes, sound systems, DVD players etc. There is a huge emphasis on fashion and style among students, many of whom have come from extremely poor backgrounds, which I have failed to reconcile to myself thus far.

I am here!

Well I am now in Swaziland, staying at a backpacker's and waiting until tomorrow to go to campus and check in. Let me start with a bit on S. Africa that I wrote on the way here.

Nelspruit and Jo'burg, the cities I visited, do not seem like the Africa I expected to see. There is so much wealth and development that it makes me think more of the southern US or Australia than Burkina and Ghana. As I got further away from the city though not only is the landscape more beautiful but poverty much more evident. To me South Africa is a country with the wealth and capacity to provide health care, schooling, water etc. to all of its citizens...but it doesn't. That is not to say that the government necessarily has the means, just that the money exists in the country. It is a matter of distribution, respect and, as in North America, a moderation of material desires. Of course I do not pretend to be an expert or know the solutions to the development challenges of our world. This and everything else I write in this blog are simply the results of my thoughts and experiences

Just to describe the scenary we are papping. I am in low mountains with coniferous and deciduous trees, large grassy areas and rocks. It is fairly dry here...altough we are into the rainy season which keeps things green. There are aloe and cacti on the mountain sides as well as farms, villages and wondering cows. There are a number of areas where logging has taken place and trees are being replanted - ineffectively in rows like an orchard.

In Swaziland I am also amazed how developed things are. The grocery store has almost everything ours' do and there are a lot of fancy restaurants and shops. Of course it is not everyone - I would venture to say less than the majority - that shop at these places. There are also street vendors and smaller more run down stores with cheaper prices.

People in Swazi are wonderful. So nice and friendly. Wednesday while walking from place to place. I got three lifts! I wasn't trying to hitch-hike at all, but they just stopped and offered. Apparently this is common practice here, although it is not advised to be out walking around alone (or take lifts from strangers ) at night.

In terms of the environment Swaziland is much like the part of South Africa around Nelspruit (Kruger Park) with low mountains, forests and grasslands. Quite Beautiful! But I have seen little of the country thus far and still have a lot to explore!

That's all for now. I will try to update again in a couple weeks.

Photo test

I leave tomorrow!!! I am packing my stuff today. As little as I can. Then tomorrow morning at 6am I am outta here!

This is my photo. I wanted to test to see if I could post images before I go. This picture was taken two years ago in Uttaranchal, India on the outskirts of the Nanda Devi Biosphere. I doubt I'll see anything like this in Swaziland, but I may be surprised.

Less than a month!

So I am supposed to be studying for exams but I think that preparing a blog for next semester is much more "important". This is going to be such an adventure! I am excited, nervous, scared, curious etc... Only 25 days to go!

The plan is to post travel up dates and photos on here whenever I get the chance during my time in Southern Africa from January 1st to May 12th 2006 to avoid sending out tons of emails with lots of attachments and encourage me to communicate with everyone, which is something I'm not very good at doing. I look forward to filling this page up and getting your comments as well.

To start here are a few links about Swaziland
http://www.gov.sz/home.asp?pid=2
http://www.uniswa.sz/
http://allafrica.com/swaziland/
http://www.africaguide.com/country/swazi/
http://wikitravel.org/en/Swaziland

Now back to work!