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Published: August 19th 2008
Leaving Lidwala lodge for a few days. I’m at the end of my pre-booked time here, but I am likely to be back on weekends. Was going to head for Ngwempisi gorge to do some hiking but had to delay as I’m feeling rotten - upset stomach troubles. Thought I’d be ok so went to the inter-ncp sports day organised by john, the sports centre volunteer, to chop veg for the kids’ lunch. Left early to get to Mbabane to extend my visa but felt rotten by the time I got to the lodge so decided to delay everything. Can go to Mbabane tomorrow and the gorge next week.
Last Thursday was my last day building at mlandazwe. We had a fun morning squeezing mud between our toes and throwing it at the walls of the temporary hut that’s being finished off ready for the rainy season. Made my last brick in the afternoon, and Friday was spent at the Lobamba ncp working on their playground and veg garden.
Someone dropped out of the group going on a cultural tour over the w/e so I joined them. We were picked up by Myxo (he’s mentioned in the rough guide) and driven to Manzini in his beaten up truck for a swazi breakfast of fermented sorghum wheat (same as the beer - I managed a few spoonfuls to be polite) while he taught us some siswati. He then drove us up into the mountains where he has a homestead of mud huts, and beehive huts and a school. An open-sided shelter serves as the dining room/sitting room. From the door-less toilet you looked out across the low veldt to the lobombo mountains. We had stewed beans, grilled chicken and pap (for which we helped pound the maize) for dinner, cooked on an open fire. We were right at the top of a peak so it was bitterly cold and none of us had brought enough clothes, but the views were stunning even though it was cloudy throughout the whole weekend. During the afternoon we had an in-depth discussion about swazi culture - hiv, sex, women’s rights and polygamy dominated the conversation. Myxo is a bright guy; he gives a good account of swazi life and is keen to find out from his guests what their beliefs are, how they view swazi culture and to correct any misconceptions tourists may have. Sleeping in a beehive hut was a great experience, well recommended. They are fantastic inside, even allowing for the slight smell of cow dung (used for the flooring). On the Sunday we attended a church of zion ceremony and we were made to feel very welcome. It wasn’t at all how I imagined - a small one-room building, concrete walls bare apart from some scorch marks, and a bare concrete floor with only reed mats to sit on. No lecturn, no instruments save a drum, no pictures on the walls, no chairs or benches. All the men had left by the time we got to the church so we didn’t get to see very much of the circular dancing that the church is known for. It’s an odd mixture of Christianity and traditional African beliefs. Each member of the congregation got up and spoke, interspersed with singing. The most surreal moment of the weekend came at the end of the service when the girls were asked to sing something and performed a verse of an abba song, ‘thankyou for the music’. On the way back after church we stopped off at myxo’s adopted parents’ homestead to meet his family. We returned to the ezulwini that night feeling like we would have liked to have stayed longer.
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hey you hope your all ok miss you heaps but your blog keeps sounding more and more amazing x hope you've got lots of pics to show me x