Hiking in Malalotja

Last Sunday, Doug and I went hiking in Malalotja Nature Reserve with our friend, Shaun. Shaun is a writer and he’s on a Fulbright Scholarship in Swaziland for 10 months. He’s writing a novel and working with a non-profit organization called, Young Heroes (which Doug also works closely with to support HIV positive teens). Shaun is one of the world’s ‘good people’ and also seriously funny which made him an excellent hiking companion. It was a perfect day for a hike as it was sunny and cool. We left Mbabane pretty early in the morning because the days are very short and we weren’t exactly sure how far Little Lemmy could progress down the ‘service road’ once inside the park and therefore, how long our actual hike would be. After registering as day visitors in the park, we navigated our way toward an old mine where we left our car and picked-up the trail. All of this took a little longer than expected, so we decided from the onset of our hike that we’d only hike 3 hours out before turning back as to avoid hiking/driving once the sun went down. Since our original goal was to climb a mountain and the revised timing might not permit this, we opted to climb a different, closer mountain. This provided the 360 degree view we were seeking, but also guaranteed that we wouldn’t flirt with darkness in pursuit of a summit.

The 'service road' probably hadn't been used in a while and was a tad bit overgrown

Lemmy's parking spot

Big dork, 'er I mean Shaun, getting ready for the hike

We decided to do a loop and to walk 'out' in the valley and 'back' on the ridge

Valley (and cloud shadows)

Ridge

Malalotja is a large reserve and I always feel like I am discovering new territory when hiking there because it is possible to go without seeing another soul (even on a 5 hour hike). There are layers and layers of mountains that are truly stunning

We passed a waterfall

It was at this point that we decided to summit a different mountain. So, we made a sharp, right turn and went up, up, up, up, up (through really long grass)

When we got to the saddle of the mountain, Doug decided that he wanted to also climb the peak to the left so that he could see what was on the other side (one of his favorite things). I had had my fill of up, up, up and since we still had a stretch to go before completing the climb of our intended mountain, I took a nap in the long grass while Doug and Shaun ran up the neighboring mountain. They are the two little people in the middle of the photo

And finally, we were all at the top. Shaun celebrated. Doug checked his map (another one of his favorite things)

View from the top

It's difficult to capture the vastness of Malalotja, but I always insist on trying...We literally never saw a single person!

A little exercise, a lot of fresh air, some good company, and candy at the end of it all. It was a good day.

Homestead Hideaway

Living as an expatriate in Swaziland is very different from how the majority of the population lives. I recently co-wrote a report on Early Childhood Care and Development in Swaziland and through my research read numerous reports, case studies, and surveys; therefore, I have a few facts to back-up my opening statement. For example, while we enjoy every western amenity, according to the United Nations Human Development Report (2010), 81% of the population in Swaziland lives on less than $2/day. And in terms of the basics like food/water/shelter: 64% of the population has access to drinking water from a potable source, 57% have access to non-shared sanitation facilities and 29.7% have household electricity. With 75% of the population living rurally, the everyday experience of the average Swazi is one of struggle. In order to better understand how traditionally Swazis live, we accepted an invitation to stay with our friends, Jay and Hilary, on their homestead. Jay and Hilary have been previously introduced in our blog, but as a reminder, they are currently finishing their 2 years as Peace Corps Volunteers (PCV). As PCVs, they live with a Swazi family on a rural homestead. The ‘man of the homestead’ has since passed, but his wives still reside there, as do their helpers. Polygyny is still common on the continent and 18% men in Swaziland have more than one wife. However, it is rare that the wives remain on the same homestead after the death of their husband, so Jay and Hilary’s Swazi family are progressive in this way. Because Jay and Hilary live near Hlathikulu, we spent the night with them on the same day that the Hlathikulu Teen Club opened. It was a really nice weekend…

Jay and Hilary’s homestead (rather, the Simelane’s homestead) is a little over an hour down a dirt road. A bumpy dirt road

Here are a few pictures of the view from the car – this is what the vast majority of Swaziland looks like: rolling plains, beautiful mountains and a few homesteads sprinkled here and there

The Simelane children are very successful and support their mothers generously; therefore, the homestead has cement buildings as opposed to ‘mud and stick’ buildings like many others.'Homesteads' are a collection of buildings where extended families live together. While the children have grown and moved to a more urban area, they still have a house on their homestead – hence all of the buildings

There is also a private water tap and rainwater collection tank

Jay and Hilary live in one of the buildings on the homestead and have endearingly named it, ‘The Hut.’ This is their kitchen

The shelf

The shower

Hilary giving me a tutorial on how to go about washing my face

And of course, the ‘Silver Bullet’ (their aptly named pit latrine). See what I mean about being spoiled? We have not one, but TWO flushing toilets in our place. I’m not sure that I’ve got it in me to use a pit latrine for 2 years…

I also took a couple of pictures inside the kitchen of one of the mother’s homes to give you an idea of the ‘old school’ nature of rural Swaziland. And, to have a stove is a luxury – most cook over an open fire in a cast iron, three legged pot.

On Sunday morning we woke up and went for a hike up the mountain behind their place.

And played with Mphamahle, who could have passed for one of Santa’s little helpers…

And last, but not least, the chickens. I’ll take this opportunity to dispel any myths about roosters crowing at the break of dawn. That’s a lie. A big, fat lie. The chickens and roosters began crowing just after midnight and DID NOT STOP until dawn. During the day = silent. Middle of the night = party. I promise. I am guessing it is like living in a big city – eventually, you get used to the noise. Let me tell you, these birds were noisy.

After thanking our gracious hosts, we returned down the dirt road and made our way back to Mbabane. Where I took a hot shower and was thankful for it…

Hlathikulu Teen Club

As I’m sure most of you know who regularly follow our blog, Doug’s primary ‘project’ outside of his clinical responsibilities at Baylor is developing Teen Club. Doug has jumped in feet first with this project and following the lead of Baylor’s Teen Club in Botswana worked to secure funding and human resources in order to expand support to HIV positive teens in Swaziland. As an amateur grant writer, Doug has had a lot of success (who can say no to helping HIV positive teens?!) and has received grants to hire two, third year Peace Corps volunteers to work as Teen Club Program Coordinators. The development of these roles was necessary because Doug had recently also received funding to expand Teen Club to every region of the country and needed additional manpower to do so. Previously, there was only one Teen Club in Mbabane for all of the positive teens in Swaziland. This meant that teens traveled from every corner of the country one Saturday a month in order to participate. Now, I am happy to report that there are THREE Teen Clubs and a fourth coming soon in September (Doug’s long term goal is to have 8 in operation by 2012). Which brings me to the purpose of this blog post (besides cheering on my husband); the opening of the Hlathikulu Teen Club!!!

On Saturday, June 26 Doug and the Teen Club Team opened a third Teen Club in the southeastern region of Swaziland. There is a satellite Baylor Clinic in Hlathi and the doctor there had been actively inviting teens to attend the new Teen Club when they came in for their regular appointments. Additionally, Michelle was also inviting teens from her outreach site in a neighboring community. The hope was to recruit 50 teens by word of mouth to attend and to establish the foundation for the new Teen Club. I am happy to report that 99 teens registered on opening day! Ninety-nine! Fortunately, Jacqui, Kim and the Swazi volunteers had a beautifully organized program for the day and were able to accommodate the unexpected additions with ease. Doubly fortunately, I had visited the ATM that morning because the opening day budget was short E1400 when all was said and done including lunch and transport! Because public transportation is so expensive in Swaziland, the teens are reimbursed for the full cost of their transport upon their departure.

As usual, this story is best told in pictures…

Doug, Jacqui and Kim (Peace Corps Alumni/Teen Club Program Coordinators) standing next to the ‘Welcome’ sign one of the Swazi volunteers designed

The satellite Baylor Clinic is on the Hlathikulu hospital grounds (Little Lemmy joined in on the fun, too)

Baylor Clinic – Hlathikulu

Set-up

One important goal in operating Teen Clubs is to have Swazi volunteers actively involved. The objective is for Doug and the coordinators to take care of behind the scenes tasks and to have Swazis as the spokespeople. This is for a couple of reasons, but most importantly so that the Teen Clubs can continue to thrive when Doug and the coordinators return to the States. The point person for Hlathi is Mduduzi and he is a Swazi social worker who is working for Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF)(or ‘Doctors without Borders’). There are also a number of Swazi nurses, expert clients and other people interested in supporting the teens who participate each month.

Swazi Volunteers

Teens making their name tags

While the team was running the ‘front of the house’ operations, I was in the kitchenette trying to sort out lunch. Since we had only expected 50 teens and only purchased enough bread/fillings to make 70 sandwiches, we had to make an emergency run to the local market. While I made the first 50 bologna or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, I had to bring in reinforcements for round two. Noxolo and Tenele were (thankfully) very eager to be of assistance. By the time lunch rolled around, the three of us had made and wrapped 120 sandwiches with two cookies and an apple per person.

Michelle and Stephanie are Baylor doctors who work at the satellite clinic or neighboring outreach clinic and made the trek south to welcome their patients to the new Teen Club.

Playing games

Working in small groups to determine the rules for the new Teen Club

Through the hard work of many, there is now a Teen Club in operation 3 Saturdays a month in 3 different regions of the country. Positive teens are coming together in a stigma free environment to learn and most importantly to have fun; because at the end of the day they’re just kids trying to cope with a grown-up disease.