Laughing is the best medicine

September 20, 2012

It is hard to believe that I have been in Swaziland for almost three months.  I’m wondering if I’ll ever stop having moments where I think to myself, “Holy crap, I’m really in Africa right now!”  These seem to come with great frequency.  Maybe it’s because from 6:30 am this morning until 3:30 this afternoon I have been washing my clothes in a bucket (my knuckles are now severely blistered), or maybe it’s because when it rains I have to fight off the goats that try to seek shelter in the latrine if I want any privacy at all.  Sometimes when I take a step back and really think about what I’m experiencing, I just have to laugh at how radically different my life is now.  Here are several anecdotes to give you a sense of what I mean:

• ·      A couple days ago, I was accompanying my counterpart to work at the KaGogo center.  The KaGogo center, located in the royal kraal (umphakatsi), was set up in 2007 with hopes that it would become a hub for launching programs and campaigns to fight HIV/AIDS in rural areas.  Anyways, there is an old man whom I recently discovered stays in a vacant room at the KaGogo center.  He seems to be an adopted grandfather for the community members who hang out at the royal kraal.  This particular morning, he asked me for 4 emalangeni (about 50 cents) to buy bread.  I was feeling generous that morning and agreed to help the old man out.  About an hour later, he comes back with a small plastic container filled with a dirt-like powder.  He takes his fingers to his nose, makes a sniffing motion, and then rubs his head in ecstasy.  Yes, I had just given grandpa money to buy drugs…so for all you people out there who think I am “saving the world,” I hate to burst your bubble, but this is really what I’m doing in Swaziland.
• ·       This same day, my counterpart and I were returning from work.  As we were walking home, my counterpart saw a huge snake crossing the path in front of us.  She jumped up and started running, yelling “Nosipho (that’s my name), I feel crazy! It make urinate!!”  I was a bit confused trying to figure out why the snake needed to urinate, but she was, in fact, referring to herself.  I look over to find my counterpart pulling down her tights and taking a piss in the middle of the bush.  The snake literally scared the pee out of her!  After laughing for a good twenty minutes, she concludes, “Nosipho, today is a funny day!”
• ·      Earlier this week, I went out to lunch with one of the staff members at the clinic where I volunteer every Wednesday.  We got to talking about the moringa tree, a tree that is gaining popularity throughout Africa due to its leaves which provide mega-nutritional benefits.  I am considering starting a project to grow these trees with the members of my community, so I asked her if I could buy one of the seedlings that she had been harvesting.  I accompanied her to her house, where she introduced me to her twelve-year-old son, who had recently been circumcised (there is a male circumcision campaign going on in Swaziland in an effort to reduce the risk of HIV transmission).  The kid was recovering on the couch with his lower half wrapped in a towel.  All of a sudden, his mother pulled down the towel and insisted that I take a peek at her son’s freshly circumcised penis.  Just another day at work…
• ·      Last week, after several weeks of the neighborhood girls laughing at me as I attempted to wash my clothes in a bucket, I approached Make for assistance.  Make patiently imparted all of her quality washing wisdom to me.  As she watched me struggle to scrub my clothes clean (which is pretty difficult, especially considering how messy I am…), she would gently reach over and take my clothes and scrub for me, demonstrating the proper technique.  Slowly I began to get the hang of it…after two years I will be a professional Make.  However, laundry knowledge was not the only wisdom I gained from Make this morning.  Somehow we began to the topic of guinea fowl made its way into the conversation.  Make informed me that “Those birds are too clever.”  Just in case I ever wanted to go chasing after one of these oh-so-clever birds, Make informed me that the best way to catch them is to sneak some booze into their water dish and liquor them up.  Apparently, they are much easier to catch when in a drunken stupor.  Again, quality knowledge I am gaining here in Swaziland. 

Life is radically different here and while there are times when I long for a shower and the ability to throw my clothes into a washing machine, the slower pace of life seems to allow for more humor.  Obviously there is great hardship here in Swaziland, especially in the face of the AIDS epidemic, but the Swazi people also like to have a good time, or as they call it in English, “funny time.”  I’m so thankful just to be able to share a good laugh with the new friends and family.