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As an important note: At the end of July, I will be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Late July in an effort to raise funds for Open Arms Home for Children. Please look at my fundraising website at:
http://www.crowdrise.com/KilimanjaroSummitforOpenArms I hope to raise $1 for every foot I climb: 19,341 feet = $19,341. Please consider sponsoring a part of my climb up the mountain!! As I write this I am currently 10%!o(MISSING)f the way there! Lets get to 100%!<(MISSING)br>
Our days at Open Arms are more filled now than ever with preparing the kids for school at 6:30am and teaching from 8:30-2 pm. In the late afternoon while there is no set schedule; there is always something else to do whether it is to pick up milk at the dairy farm, help kids with homework, paint, or just regular maintenance. Dinner is at 5 pm, snack for the kids soon after, and some personal time for us; unless it’s the weekend wherein we have activities for the kids after dinner before bed. With our responsibilities coinciding with the children’s school schedules, the most logical time to explore Southern Africa is during the kids' school
break. Thus, Anne and I got dropped off at the airport at 9 am on the Friday morning of what is the kids' fall break at school to pick up a rental car.
The car's odometer read 12,315 kilometres as we set out North towards Swaziland in our tiny 4-cylinder $25-day Nissan. While I realized that I was the only one who could capably drive stick shift, I did not realize
how much driving I would actually be doing as South Africa is huge. And when I say capably drive manual - what I am getting at is that if Anne drove on the highway we probably would not have made it back to Open Arms alive by the end of our trip haha (but seriously). Also, as I've mentioned in previous blogs, driving on the highways in South Africa can be quite hectic as you always have to watch for cars swerving into your lane in front of you and behind you at all times. Thankfully I had only one minor car accident on the trip but I'll get to that later.
After 10 hours of driving only stopping for petrol (gas) we made it to the
Swazi Youth
In Swazi culture, a man is someone who is married. So even if a male is 50 years old unless he is married he is considered a boy and is not allowed to speak on family matters.
Looks like I still have some growing to do before I'm a Swazi Manhalfway point in our journey to Swaziland and began to look for accommodation in Durban. After several failed attempts we ended up in Umhlanga Rocks. For those that do not know, Umhlanga Rocks is the epicenter for all that is unique about South Africa. It is filled with glitzy hotels, restaurants, bars and people driving Mercedes, BMWs and Audis. I felt out of place in my dinky little car surrounded by luxury sedans. However, Umhlanga Rocks is surrounded by "locations" or predominantly black, informal living communities which are rife with poverty, disease, hunger and crime. South Africa is a dichotomy of rich and poor and while that divide is present everywhere (especially in the United States), in South Africa the divide is extreme and predominantly cultural with a majority of blacks living in informal settlements and most whites living in suburbia. While the country is democratic and much progress has been made in the last 20 years, the prevalence of shack dwellings has increased and most of these are located around the sources of jobs which are often the cities, helping to explain the close proximity of glamour and poverty.
After searching for shelter (our first three attempts were
strikeouts) we decided to go safe before it got too late and stay at a Marriott Hotel. However, it was a mere matter of minutes before we were out the door to grab some dinner as we had not really eaten anything all day except snacks from gas stations. And for those that know me, I am not always the most pleasant person in the world when I am extremely hungry. As soon as we sat down, Anne heard American accents at the table next door and before I knew it she was already in the middle of conversation with two men from Seattle. While we are an American organization in South Africa, I have met very few Americans in the country so this was a pleasant surprise, so I was a little shocked when the man asked us if we were Notre Dame Graduates as I wore a Notre Dame shirt. I responded yes and then the man began to lift up his sleeves and revealed a sizeable Notre Dame Leprechaun tattoo on his arm. Needless to say, our dinners and drinks were taken care of that night.
Consider the fact that my body is now eternally timed
to awaken at 6:15 am every morning (weekend or not), we left Umhlanga Rocks quite early in the morning and made our way into Swaziland. Once we made it to the border crossing at about 2 pm then had to drive across the whole country of Swaziland (which took about 2 hours as it is roughly the size of New Jersey).
Swaziland is the last true monarchy of Africa with King Mswati II reigning over the land. This is quite evident as his face is not only on the currency, but also on every article of clothing everywhere. The traditional Swazi dress incorporates wrapping a large fabric around your body that more often than not contained a repeated pattern of the beloved leader. The country is also one of the poorest in the world as 60% of its citizens live on less than $1.25 per day and has the highest HIV rate in the world with over 25% of the general population and over 50% of adults in their 20's being positive.
The country is very mountainous and sometimes I got a little nervous our little Nissan would not make it up the steep slopes. Additionally, the terrain
was very dry and arid with little visible water available for people and livestock. Once we made it to Mbabane, we met with the Swazi family we were to stay with for a couple days at one of the local grocery stores. In stark contrast to the rest of the country, Mbabane was filled with construction and budding infrastructure as it appeared that the capital city was to attempting to become a modern metropolis amidst a totally undeveloped country.
It was there that we met Ruth, who we made contact with through Uncle Dudley, and her daughter. Ruth is about 4 feet tall and is an incredible person. Abandoned at a young age by her mother, she was adopted by a German family living in Mbabane who raised her to become a strong independent woman despite her handicapped legs in unison with her similarly handicapped sister.
Swazi people are very proud of their heritage and of their king. They assimilate their culture into everyday life. In Mbabane, tradition is even linked with the rapid acceleration of Western lifestyles as it is possible to see a man wearing a traditional Swazi outfit carrying a shield/spear in one hand and
a suitcase in the other.
Ruth's house was the oldest on the block and had a Western build to it as it originally housed her German parents. Later that night while we were all sitting in Ruth's living room, her sister Precious arrived with her daughter. Precious is the only female Swazi foreign official and currently serves Swaziland as a diplomat to Mozambique. We spent the night discussing life in Swaziland and where the future may take the country under the leadership of the current King.
The next day Anne and I explored Swazi arts & crafts shops and I had to buy a mask and a banana leave portrait of elephants with the idea that they would furnish my apartment in Chicago next year. We drove all over Mbabane, got lost then eventually found ourselves back at Ruth's where we all went to the cultural village to see a traditional Swazi homestead and dance. The cultural village still exists as a homestead to a family that lives there and lives traditionally (or somewhat traditionally) but also supplements their income by giving tours of their home and of how traditional life is.
The Swazi culture is a
Beer Hut
Best place to be polygamous one meaning that males will take on multiple wives
if he can pay lobola for them which is a dowry of approximately 17 cows for a virgin as cattle are often used as a currency in not only Swaziland but also all over Africa. Each wife has 3 beehive huts thatched with dry grass all surrounded by reed fencing. One is for general living, another for cooking food, and the last for brewing the traditional beer.
This is my pure speculation now but one of the reasons that I think alcoholism is so prevalent in South Africa is that traditionally, the family would drink copious amounts of the traditional beer. However, the traditional beer was so low in alcohol content (~1-2 %!)(MISSING) that you could not become belligerent unless you
really tried to. Therefore, beer drinking is a part of tradition. With modern beers having a much high content in addition to liquors, when one drinks as tradition with your family or friends, you end up become incapacitated whereas in the past the beer would do little.
The
Headmother also plays an important role to the homestead as she is the female leader and the only one
Headman's Beehive Hut
You can see where the headman bangs his club when he wants attention who can keep the
headman (alpha-male) in check. For example, our guide discussed with us that if the headman acts particularly harsh towards one of his children or wives, that if they run into the headmother’s beehive hut, the headman cannot do anything.
As expected, the largest beehive hut is home to the headman wherein one-side is of the hut is designated for males and the other for females and children. However, if the headman wants some female company on his side during the night, all he has to do is take a large stick and smash it against the central pole to the hut. His wife on the other side of the hut then will join the headman on the other side of the hut.
Central to the homestead is the cattle byre which is a circular enclosure built of large wooden logs to house the cattle at night; the larger the byre enclosure, the greater the wealth of the homestead. Additionally, buried underneath are the grain stores. Under the circumstances that the homestead is under duress by outsiders, there will still be food to eat in the future so the family can rebuild.
Each homestead
also has a Sangoma or a traditional “witchdoctor” or “healer.” The witchdoctor performs a plethora of supernatural duties which include forecasting the future with bone throwing, the creating of elixirs and herbs for various reasons, as well as healing of the sick. If I ever end up back in Swaziland, Ruth invited us to stay at her family’s traditional homestead for a few days!
Another key part of Swazi society is the traditional dance. Instead of explaining the dances, I have attached videos and pictures of the dances. One aspect I did not capture was when Anne and I were called on stage to learn and perform some of the Swazi dances. However, what I did not see was the Incwala ceremony and the Umhlanga Reed Dance. The Incwala Ceremony is held during the summer months and marks the beginning of the crop harvest. Men are required to wear their traditional garb and travel to the King’s palace to dance and celebrate asking the King for permission to harvest the crops.
The Umhlanga Reed Dance involves all virgin women who cut reeds then present them to the Queen Mother (the headmother of the whole country) in an elaborate
Waterfall
Nearby the homestead, was a waterfall that we decided would be fun to check out dance. The ceremony also has a secondary purpose of having the King choose new wives. The last King had over 60 wives and countless children while the current Kind has about 7 wives. The purpose of the King having multiple wives is to unify the different factions of Swaziland but choosing women from all over the country.
On my next blog I will write about our visit to Mpumalanga, Kruger and Mozambique.
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