FOG (Feet On Ground)

I arrived safely in Swaziland on Sunday, January 6th. Dale Allen, the son of the Knights of Baha'u'llah who opened Swaziland (meaning the first Baha'is to pioneer to this country) picked me up from the airport, and he and his wife, Irma, had me over for dinner before taking me to my new home at the school.

My bag arrived safely, albeit 2 days late, with nothing missing or broken (except one headband broke) so I am very happy. I have made friends with the other volunteers; Emmanuel is a young Ugandan who stays in the Hospitality House next door, and Thobile is a 26-year-old Swazi girl who lives in the Caretaker's House with me and the last volunteer, Margaret, who is an older Hungarian woman. Margaret is very motherly and always makes sure I am eating enough. Thobile and the other Swazi Baha'is are helpful with my study of Siswati and Margaret loaned me her Siswati dictionary. I'm learning Siswati slowly, but surely. I can say "I am an American": "Ngiya li Melika."

Although most people are very friendly and everyone is kind, some of the young Swazis keep their distance, out of shyness maybe. That makes me feel lonely, but I when I am with the friends I have made I feel very joyful because they are always laughing and talking.

The two hardest things to get used to are language barriers and the lack of cleanliness. Language barriers, because while everyone speaks enough English, they often choose to speak in Siswati, even if I am involved in the conversation. I have to remind them that I don't understand, and then they translate for me, but they still switch to Siswati often. At those times I feel left out and lonely. Cleanliness is also an issue, because I'm very afraid of getting sick, so I like everything to be super-clean. They bathe daily, but do not wash their hands regularly. They don't mind bugs in the house, or using dirty towels to dry clean dishes. The biggest problem for me is that illness is common here, but nobody bothers to take precautions against it. The Caretaker's House where I live is a center of activity for the community, so people are always around and many eat with us. Because so many people visit, I am very cautious to clean dishes and my things and my hands very carefully because I don't know who is ill that has been at my house.

Ironically, it is the middle of summer here, and the last three days have been rainy and cold. It feels like winter! Apparently this is unusual weather, but it is hard because the house has no heater and I get cold during the day, though at night I can cover myself with wool blankets. It seems like the weather is getting warmer (the fog is lifting some) but I hope that it will be hot again soon!

On January 29th I will start working at the Baha'i Primary School, but for now I am helping to tutor a Ruhi Institute course called "Releasing the Powers of Junior Youth." I am also going to help start children's classes and junior youth groups in the neighborhood because currently there is only one children's class on Sundays. Other than these Baha'i activities, my only other adventure has been to take the combi (a small bus) to town to shop. The town is very small, but "The Mall" is nice and as big as the Oaks Mall near my university in the USA. The only thing that would make it better would be a Taco Bell, but I think I can sacrifice cheap tacos in order to do service for God and for humanity. ;)

The Internet service is spotty and goes out during storms (which happen often), and I can't access this blog or other social sites (like facebook) from the school where I live because they are blocked. When I can, I will go to the Internet Cafe in town to add entries, but not as often as I would like. Regardless, I hope to get responses from all of you to hear how you are doing. You can leave me comments here, or write me emails at this address: maiamily@ufl.edu.

I'll leave you with the short prayer I have been dwelling on the most in the past few days:

"O Lord! Make me a hollow reed from which the pith of self hath been blown, that I may become a clear channel through which Thy love may flow unto others."