Sorry for the long absence, but things have been pretty busy! I’m even exhausted now because yesterday I was running (literally and figuratively) around town trying to get my immigration papers straightened out (which I did, thank God). Then last night we had Ruhi study circles at my house and afterward people hung around drinking tea and enjoying our tiny little space heater until about 9:45, and then I got up early this morning for school. School is going well! The teacher I was substituting for is better and came back so now I have six different classes. There is one class that makes me crazy sometimes because they talk so much, but out of six classes I think I’m pretty lucky to have only one that is difficult. I’m teaching English as a second language now - basically a remedial English class. Since most Swazis speak English as a second or even third language, some syntax, etc. gives them trouble. We do vocabulary, study sentence structure, reading techniques, idioms, and we’re about to start on noun-verb agreement. I enjoy the classes and the kids (grades 8 and 9).
The youth in my community are planning a youth conference to encourage the youth to take a more active role in the community- especially in teaching the Faith. This culture in general teaches children to ‘be seen and not heard,’ which presents a problem when they become youth and are shy to speak out in the presence of adults - for example, during consultation at Feast, or in Sunday devotions, or even when teaching friends about the Faith. I’m really excited about the conference!
Some more good news - I trained some youth from around the country in Book 5 and three of the guys from my community have started their own junior youth group! They invited the neighborhood kids and 28 came to the first meeting! We’ve had three meetings now and it seems as though we’ve settled on 10 members, which is a perfect number. The junior youth are really excited to come, and they have some great ideas for community service projects. Interestingly, when asked what they hope for their community, they almost all replied that they want enough food and water for the whole community! It kind of gives you an idea of the state of things when some of the kids don’t even have proper shoes or clothes without holes in them, but they still want to help their communities to have enough to eat. I wish I could find a way to help them get shoes, clothes, school fees and supplies, food and water, but I’m only one person. I’m wondering if there’s a charity that I can help out from back in the states. Or maybe I can just send some books and shoes and clothes to them periodically. As it is, I plan to at least leave behind the majority of the clothing I brought from home when I return. They’re not new, but at least they’re something. I have a whole closet full of clothes at home; I can definitely spare a few articles for these kids. I just hope that I can do more for them in the future.
One of the volunteers, Margit, went back to Canada on June 1st. We were sad to see her go because she has such a kind and loving spirit, but she emailed us from Canada and it seems like she’s really happy to be home again with her grown daughter and friends. I’m next to go (August 6th) and I’ll also be happy to see my family and friends but I’m going to miss this place sorely. The people are kind and friendly (sometimes the guys are a little too friendly! I’ve had to turn down many, many marriage proposals) and I feel like I now have a huge family here- I have so many ‘sisi’s (sisters), ‘bhutti’s (brothers), ‘make’s (mothers), and ‘babe’s (fathers)! I love the way that people use family terms like that instead of ‘mrs.’, ‘miss,’ ‘mr.,’ or if they don’t know your name. It feels good when people say ‘Hello, Sisi!’ I feel like I really am a part of the family! And of course, my roommate has become my honorary sister. Thobile and I like to tell people that we were separated from birth because of a mistake in the hospital. We joke about it, but I really feel that close to her. Definitely, though, the person I’ll miss the most is Emmanuel, the third volunteer. My consolation is that the sooner I go back to the States, the sooner I can finish University and come back to Africa as a real teacher.
When I think about going home, I wonder if home will be the same for me. I’ve been greatly changed by my experience in Swaziland, seeing so much poverty and disease and the strength with which the communities most badly affected band together and carry on with their lives. I’ve met too many families headed by girls or boys under the age of 18 because they were orphaned by AIDS or some other disease or accident; I’ve seen too many cows wandering the street just skin and bones; I’ve seen too many children selling candy or fruit on the side of the road instead of going to school because they can’t afford the fees; I’ve seen too many children eating a small amount of corn porridge because there’s nothing else available; I’ve seen too many one room, stick-and-mud houses with luxurious mansions enclosed in barbed wire fences just down the street. I’ve seen too much to go home unaffected. I wonder if anything will seem right to me when I go back to ‘the land of plenty,’ but also the land of individualism, of materialism. I just wish there was more that I could do to help my Swazi family.
"O Brethren! Be forbearing one with another and set not your affections on things below. Pride not yourselves in your glory, and be not ashamed of abasement. By My Beauty! I have created all things from dust, and to dust will I return them again."
"O Children of Dust! Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, left heedlessness may lead them into the path of destruction, and deprive them of the Tree of Wealth. To give and to be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues."
"O Son of My Handmaid! Be not troubled in poverty now confident in riches, for poverty is followed by riches, and riches are followed by poverty. Yet to be poor in all save God is a wondrous gift, belittle not the value thereof, for in the end it will make thee rich in God, and thus thou shalt know the meaning of the utterance, ‘In truth ye are the poor,’ and the holy words: ‘God is the all-possessing,’ shall even as the true morn break forth gloriously resplendent upon the horizon of the lover’s heart, and abide secure on the throne of wealth."
-The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah (48, 49, 51 from the Persian)
