I realize that the majority of my
infrequent updates have involved some mention of the slow pace of progress here
in Swaziland. So, what exactly does slow really mean, you may wonder? Swaziland, as with many developing nations,
takes the term slow to a whole new
level. In order to illustrate the pace
of progress here, I thought it best to provide a basic timeline for one of the
projects I am currently working on.
As I’ve
mentioned in previous posts, my community is located adjacent to Swaziland’s
most luxurious game reserve. This
results in an influx of foreigners (typically white) coming through the
area. They park their cars next to a
local shop located right off the main road.
From here, they load into safari vehicles and head into the bush in search
of rhinos, giraffes, elephants, lions, and whatever other creatures exist in
the mysterious abyss of game reserve located so close to my home. Historically, this pickup point near the shop
has become a hotspot for begging, which has only been reinforced by tourists
who arrive bearing foreign candy and large bills of money that they
nonchalantly distribute to fortunate passer-bys. This, combined with a history of
handout-based aid programs, has fostered an attitude of dependence and an
expectation that foreigners will provide for the needs of the community,
without any contribution or effort on the part of the local residents. Not only does this make my life miserable, as
many of my most beautiful interactions with locals have been tainted by the
inevitable request for money, food, school fees, etc., but it also halts the
development of the community as people rely on NGO and foreign aid, rather than
taking ownership of their own development.
In an
effort to combat the detrimental impact of candy and cash-bearing tourists, I
have been working to establish a market at the pickup point for the game
reserve. Here, community members could
sell handicrafts to tourists entering the game reserve or passing by on the
main road leading to South Africa.
Ideally, this would give tourists an outlet for their spare cash and
would reinforce an entrepreneurial spirit and work ethic. I had been pondering this idea for quite some
time, yet my lack of creativity and handicraft expertise had held me back from
acting on it. Earlier this year, I
consulted with another volunteer who has been working with a group of women
with a well-established handicraft business.
Gail, the volunteer, often brought their beautiful jewelry, made of
recycled magazines, to large Peace Corps gatherings to sell to other
volunteers. Gail suggested that rather
than go through the lengthy process of creating a quality product, I should
gather a group of women to sell the products that her boMake (women) were producing.
Her boMake lacked a stable
market and my boMake would be able to
make a quick profit. So, finally around
mid-June, Gail and I decided to put this plan into action. Here’s an overview of how the project has
unfolded thus far:
- June 22: Discuss logistics with Gail and gather a sampling of necklaces, earrings, and handbags to show to my boMake to get them excited.
- June 23: Return to community and discuss ideas with Make WaSlindile (my neighbor/BFF). I assign her the responsibility of identifying a total of 6 women (herself included) to take part in our business. We decided that members must be reliable and also have a legitimate need for the additional income to cover their medical costs and food for themselves and their families.
- June 24: Begin the two-week process of identifying who owns the land on which we are hoping to build our market. This involves multiple inquiries to the local shop owner for the contact information for the manager of the game park. When this fails, I resort to daily visits to the pickup point in hopes of asking one of the guides as they come to gather their guests. Two weeks later, I finally have an email address.
- June 26: Spend the afternoon sitting on water jugs (aka chairs) under an acacia tree with three of the women who we will be working with. As I explain to them a bit more about how the purpose of the business is to provide them with money for transport to the local clinic and for food to take with their ARVS, their eyes begin to fill with hope. They spend the rest of the afternoon in a dreamlike trance as they discuss how wonderful it will be when they can afford to eat fruit everyday. This is the most enthusiasm I have witnessed from Swazis in my community, with the exception of when they are discussing meat or soccer. I want so badly to get excited at this point, but am wary of doing so, knowing that the probability of this project failing due to unanticipated setbacks is about 50/50.
- July 3: Receive an email response from the director of tourism for the game park informing me that the land does not belong to the game reserve, but rather to the community elders, from whom we will need to ask permission to use the land. Thus begins the fun of dealing with the inner council…
- July 6: Contact the bucopho (director of development for the community) to request a meeting with the inner council. Protocol requires us to first contact bucopho, who will serve as our liason to the inner council, who control all affairs of the community. Bucopho tells us to come the following Thursday.
- July 11: After clearing my schedule for Thursday, I wake up in the morning to rain. Yes, it is dry season and it hasn’t rained since May. Meeting cancelled. Try again Saturday.
- July 13: Get a call that morning telling me that the inner council can’t fit us in because another community group will be occupying the entire meeting time. Try again next Thursday.
- July 18: Finally, the day has come for us to face the inner council. There are few things I dislike more than attending these meetings. This day only reaffirmed my reasoning for this aversion. The morning began with lots of hype from boMake, who insisted we leave promptly at 8:30 am. In typical Swazi fashion, we left for the royal kraal around 8:45, walking at a snail’s pace to put us at the royal kraal, the community meeting point, around 9:30 am. Inner council meetings always begin with a secretive meeting amongst the counselors, after which they begin to call in individuals, and finally conclude the occasion with a general community meeting, open to everyone. The exclusive meeting of the counselors begins at 9 (more like 10…), so why we needed to arrive to early is beyond me. Then comes the waiting. This waiting exceeds the pain of any DMV experience you’ve ever had. At least at the DMV you get to sit in chairs and understand the language. As the inner council meets inside the community meeting structure, the commoners (us) are forced to wait on the ground outside. Royal kraal rules require women to sit with their legs directly in front of them, which is no small feat for a Freeman who lacks any semblance of flexibility. Let me tell you that tight hamstrings are not conducive for a pleasant royal kraal waiting experience. The women are gathered under one tree, sitting uncomfortably on their sarongs laid on the ground, which is littered with thorns from the acacia trees. Meanwhile, the men are free to sit on logs and spread their legs, sit cross-legged, or do whatever they damn well please. So, I sit there amongst a group of women babbling in siSwati, hamstrings aching and thorns poking my butt through my sarong. And then we wait…for 4 hours. I pass the time making lists…lists of projects I want to do, lists of sounds unique to Swaziland, lists of all the foods I miss from America. When I have exhausted my list-making capacity, I start to lose it. Finally, around 1 pm we are called into the meeting with the rest of the community. Bucopho stands to introduce us and our cause to the inner council, requesting permission for us to use the land for our market. BoMake who accompanied me to translate stare at me blankly, failing to explain any of the conversation that has occurred entirely in siSwati. Thankfully, I understand enough to know that bucopho has covered all the main points that we had hoped to discuss. However, everyone stares at me expecting me to speak. I had prepared a speech in siSwati beforehand, yet bucopho had already touched upon the points I had planned to make. Confused, I stand and recite my speech anyways, which, as usual, incites laughter from the crowd. Nothing like a white person speaking siSwati to get a chuckle out of Swazis. What followed next, I’m not quite sure due to a sub-par performance of my translators, yet when the meeting finally lets out around 2, I am informed that we have been granted permission to use the land(!) However, a simple granting of permission would have been far too easy. In order to complete the process, we must meet several of the counselors on the actual land the following Wednesday…
- July 24: When I woke up to a phone call informing me that boMake were already on their way to meet the counselors, 30 minutes early, I knew that today would be uncharacteristic of my experience thus far. Swazis, early? The world was being turned upside down. We gathered at the local shop, waiting at the land where we hoped to build our market. The inner counsel members arrived within 30 minutes of our designated meeting time. We sat separately from the men, while bucopho ran back and forth, relaying messages to us from the inner council. Yet again, my translators failed to explain what was occurring. After 15 minutes of undecipherable negation, the members of the inner council invited us over to them as they began to map out the land that would soon be ours. I’m still unclear of what all transpired that morning, yet I knew as I watched huge smiles transform the faces of boMake that something good had happened. As the inner council members gathered into their truck to leave, boMake shook my hands vigorously, “Nosipho may God bless you!” So, nearly a month later, we are official landowners!
Hopefully this provides a glimpse of what slow really
means. This entire process was simply to
gain ownership of the land and while this was a huge accomplishment, we still
have a long road ahead. At the end of
August we will host a workshop to teach boMake
basic business principles and saving techniques. Hopefully, by mid-September we will be up and
running, but I expect that unforeseen obstacles will likely set us back. I’m learning to tap into a whole new well of
patience. This new pace of life and work
has certainly been a difficult adjustment from my life in college, balancing
schoolwork, volleyball, jobs, and social life.
While I am working on redefining productivity
in terms of my life here, I still am unable to suppress my need to accomplish
something on my own time. I’ve been
completing a marathon training plan in order to satisfy this need for
productivity, which has helped me to take a more relaxed approach to my work. However frustrating it may be to adjust to
the pace of progress here, it is incredibly rewarding when things finally fall
into place. Over the past month, many of
my projects have begun to come together, making the misery of the setbacks seem
somewhat worth it. Here’s to hoping the
second half of my service continues to reveal the fruits of my patience…
