Visiting our "permanent" site

The PC works us into this in careful stages. Tuesday we met KUF's "site support agent," from our permanent community, at the training site and took a van ("khumbi", derived from a South African word) and then a bus about 1 1/2 hours East.  We dropped rather suddenly into a flat, much drier and warmer (and this is winter!) plane with only an occasional acacia tree - kind if like Aurora. 

  We got off where a grocery, hardware store, some fruit stands, a post office and some food booths formed a wide spot in the road. Our  host father met us there and drove us to his homestead about a mile away and then to Mark's Primary  School, then to KUF's refugee camp a mile from the homestead to try to meet a few of the people in charge. 

  The next morning I was introduced to the children at their morning assembly - 1/2 hour of hymns ("This Little Light of Mine", with hand gestures and a little butt wiggle), prayers and a sermon (why punishment shows that our parents, teachers, and God love us), all standing in orderly rows. My predessor had made a very good impression, and I was warmly welcomed. 

  Below is the building with the library, roughly in the middle, which the previous PCV set up and which I will continue, and where I will have my "office."  Nope, no Internet here. 

  The careful PC plans for KUF with a "Site Support Agent" didn't work out, and KUF ended up going to the refugee camp with the young woman ( with good English) who helps the family, but it worked out well, because the Swazi and international brass dealing with the camp were meeting there and she was warmly welcomed. 

  Here's our house, behind me.  We're going to need to do some serious buying and furnishing to get settled in. 

  The area has a kind of minimalist beauty, especially at dawn and dusk; think of the eastern plains of Colorado in February.  

  Thurs:  caught a dawn khumbi into Manzini, the commercial center, looked for some furnishings and a newspaper from nearly anywhere but South Africa - Tribune, anything. no luck. Swazi papers mention one sentance on Obama maybe once a week. Even the SA papers report no markets outside SA. 

  Now back for 3 remaining weeks of training, followed by swearing in August 30, then on with what we came here for. If we are to have any dealings with people our age out in this more rural area our siSwati needs to get a lot better. Quickly.