Books Out + Condoms On = Big Progress!

    The High School library opened last week. The kids are flocking into the library. It is really gratifying! The kids thank us, and we are thanking many of you for making this happen. We wish you could be here to enjoy it. (We've mentioned that anonymity is the unfortunate default of the on-line Books For Africa donation site, so we do not know many of our individual donors and have not been able to thank you individually – but we want you to know that we are very grateful, and so are many students at our high school!)

For several weeks after the books arrived in May the English Teacher who is in charge of the library for the High School ordered her classes to come to the library to label and list the books, instead of holding class. Although not holding class is lamentable, but astonishingly common, a side effect of having the students do this work was to greatly pique their interest, so many came in to ask to borrow books; we started kind of sneaking some good books out with the ones who'd worked particularly hard, they talked about them and passed them around a little, and a buzz grew, especially about certain books (a group of senior girls passed around 2 books they found in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series) – Don Draper's Mad Men agency could not have rolled this out much better. A big celebratory opening was planned, but then the teacher in charge got distracted by a traditional dance competition where she is also in charge of one of the teams and just made a terse announcement one morning at assembly that the library was now open. Running great risk that she would be left in charge, Katherine stepped into the gap and drafted rules and procedures for checking out and returning books and tried to be available to help the students choose books they'd like and check them out and in. We've had lots of interest, particularly with certain series such as The Chronicles of Narnia,and The Sisterhood, and with some graphic novels with which I was unfamiliar. The students are totally unfamiliar with any of the books and even with the types of books, and they have trouble reading the clues of what books would be of interest to them, so at morning assembly we've spoken of how you can tell a book by its cover – the picture, blurbs on the back and the flap of the dust jacket, on the few that have one. Lots of interest in books about love and relationships – same as with this age back in The Real World.

Actually, its the magazines the students come in and read the most. One of the teachers left a lot of back issues of Drum, which seems to be a South African People magazine knockoff, and for some reason that gets a lot more play than the months-old Economists I leave. Although actually the Economist covers are sufficiently intriguing that the kids pick it up, especially the one about Argentina's woes with Lionel Messi missing the (soccer) ball on the cover, but they then put it back pretty quickly, usually. But not always.

We mentioned in our last blog our efforts to negotiate condom demonstrations at the High School. Two science teachers strongly urged the principal to allow us to do demonstrations in their classes as part of their regular curriculum, and he agreed on the basis that referring to condoms is already part of the curriculum, so Friday we taught 4 classes – two 9^th grade, an 8^th and an 11^th grade class, each with 40 to 50 students, and we taught a 10^th grade class today. (We teach the primary school students about HIV but we do not do condom demos at the Primary Schools, although some of the men in 5^th grade are 21.) We walked the students through the steps in proper installation of male and female condoms, demonstrating on life-sized genitalia models the PC provides (part of George W. Bushes PEPFAR funding – credit where credit is due); the penis was dark, the labia/vagina model less so. When we talked about the female condom I'd drop my voice and say “Ladies, this is your chance to take some control. And you need to, because you are far more vulnerable to HIV than men.” They'd always get very quiet and focused. A little more than half the women between 20 and 50 in this country are HIV+; just less than 1/3^rd of the men. Then we gave each of the students a chance to install a condom on one of our 3 penis models we'd been able to round up and each of the girls could also install the female condom on one of the 2 female models. As suggested by one of the science teachers, we did not in so many words offer the students the chance to opt out because that would have suggested that the students who did the practice were “engaged”, as the teacher said, but some students hung back and we're pretty sure some did not practice with either kind of condom, and we did not push them. The churches disapprove teaching condom use, saying it promotes promiscuity.

Of course there were some gasps (starting when we held up the models) and lots of giggling and averted eyes, and some joking (the boys kept wanting to insert the model penis into the female model). But you know, each of the 5 classes so far went more smoothly than I think the same class would have gone at East High School in Denver. Hard to tell – never tried it at East.

I'm pretty sure the 2 girls in the middle in the picture below are from the nearby Refugee Camp, from the shape of their face; we know a lot of those girls, but not these. The one on the right was first in line to open and put on a male condom and really didn't want to do it, but then she bit her lip, focused and got it done – typical refugee child behavior: making do, moving on, and getting the most out of what's on offer. I love those kids.

The older the students, the more questions. How long can the woman wear it? (ah, all day, I think, but its not all that comfortable.) Can she pee? (Yup. Doesn't cover that hole.) What happens if the male condom comes off inside? (Easy enough to reach in and pull it out, but then its likely to spill possibly infected semen into her vagina, which is why we teach them to hold it on withdrawal and withdraw before he goes soft – that always provokes a nervous giggle, as you can imagine.) Should they wear 2 condoms for more protection? (No – increases chance of tearing.)

As we've walked around school since starting these condom practice classes, we'd catch the eye of some students who may, or may not, have been in one of these classes. As with the freshman college students for whom our daughter Martha was a Peer Health Educator, we sometimes thought we detected a slight smile. Smirk? Thanks? Embarrassment? Or just our imagination?

Negotiating condom demonstrations at the High School

     Last school year 8 girls, mostly in the 8^th and 9^th grades, dropped out of the local High School because they became pregnant, and so far this year, ½ way through the school year, 5 have dropped out. (A girl must drop out when she becomes pregnant; another issue, one we are not going to tackle. Notice also, the numbers only count pregnancies, not spread of disease.) Most Swazi churches and, we think, most rural Swazis, which would certainly include our community, believe teaching condom use encourages promiscuity, and preach only abstinence.

     We approached the High School Principal and asked if we could give demonstrations of condom use to the High School students. He enthusiastically agreed, saying the Ministry of Education had specifically mandated that instruction. We worked out a schedule to do the demonstrations, one class of 30 or so at a time, and brought 500 male condoms and 200 female to our hut (the nearby Refugee Camp clinic had been our only local source of female condoms, but the ones they stocked had January '14 expiration date, so we'd stopped using that supply, but expiration doesn't matter for a demo, so we took all of those; we'll still carefully explain that checking the expiration date is one of the important first steps in using a condom.)

Talking to some of the classroom teachers, with whom we would be working on this, I sensed a little uneasiness from some of the older ones, so when we heard a faculty meeting had been scheduled, we asked for a chance to explain to all the teachers together what we would do, to save time going over their part individually with each, and also to be sure they understand that this was directed from above. The meeting was to start at 11, and the principal asked us to wait outside until he came to this topic – 30 minutes, he told us as he entered the meeting.

     Boy, did we miscalculate!

     2 ¾ hours later, after having chance to visit with lots of the students whom we know and like (we could visit with them because they were not in class – all the teachers were in the meeting), we were called into the meeting. We started to describe what we would do, stressing that we would emphasize that abstinence is safest, and asking the 9 classroom teachers for help in scheduling the sessions, but the teachers started to ask about objections from the parents. The Principal was silent. Some of the teachers pointed out that students are already told about condom use in their science classes. Finally the Principal said he would have to take to the School Committee the question of whether condom use should be demonstrated; the School Committee is composed, as far as I can tell, of the more influential people in the community – all far more “traditional” than any of the High School Teachers.

     Swaziland is a very “top down” hierarchical society, so I was astonished to see the extent to which the teachers felt free to push back. But we've also been told that consensus and discussion are greatly valued here, and people feel free to express different views, up to a point, and a group will not make a decision, I think, while a significant dissident voice is dissatisfied. I think.

     After the meeting we huddled with the science teachers, who showed us the pages in their text books illustrating condoms, and their lesson plans talking about use. Some of the objections may have been a little territorial; the science teachers may have wanted credit for already doing this instruction, and may resent the “whites in shining armor” coming in to show how this should be done, when the locals are doing it pretty well already, thank you very much.

     The next day we delivered to the Principal, as he had requested, our demo kit of a male and female model and condoms. He asked us to wait, and next thing we knew he'd pulled 8 or so teachers into his office, and had us go through the steps of using them. I wisely let Katherine take the lead on this. There were many questions. Is the female condom comfortable? (Not really) Does it work well? (No – kind of noisy, but it is safe if used correctly; the man needs to aim carefully on entry.) They were interested in the size of the model penis – Katherine laughed and said she was “not going there.” huh

We showed the group the pages from the text book illustrating some condoms. The group agreed that if these demonstrations were done as part of the established, mandated science curriculum, there could be no objection.

     So I think that's where it stands. We plan to start scheduling with the science classes. Katherine will be at a Books For Africa meeting in Mbabane the day this week when the next School Committee meeting is scheduled, so if the principal still thinks this needs to go to them, I get to appear there. Just me. All alone.

     We left then for a boys and girls volley-ball tournament 20 miles away. The kids kept playing and playing, and they'd brought sandwiches for the girls team, which has been a big success, but the boys were famished; we bought the boys bananas

That's our friend John Koffi closest on the right, Head Boy, refugee from Congo, whom were desperately trying to get some postgraduate opportunities, here, SA, or even in the US, so far without much success - he will not get a scholarship to a Swazi college because he is not a citizen.

     Here are the girls, in the championship, which they won, with the setting sun. (The boys lost in the semis, famished from having only a banana, then won 3^rd place in the consolation.) The Fashion and Design Department of the High School designed the uniforms, of which the Department and the girls are terribly proud. They are quick to say the colors are from the American flag.

        We did not return until after 7 pm, the bus literally rocking with the girls dancing and singing to the tunes on the music system – I think I recognized Alana, that's all; we've been away a long time. So how do these girls on rural homesteads, many without electricity, know these songs? Our radio connection is so bad I can only get BBC's South African feed about twice a day, and Voice of America hardly ever.

     We walked home exhausted, lit by the full moon. My shower outdoors was chilly – in the 40s – but the full moon was splendid. KUF passed.

Training and “pass the apple”

    The PC is big on training. We are too, because we need it, the PC does a pretty good job, there are hot showers and meals provided for us at the training center, and we get to catch up with the others in our PCV SZ group, and swap movies and music with them. This was back in May.

   There was a 3-day session on “Grass Root Soccer” which is not at all what it sounds like. It is a series of eleven 1-hour sessions for kids 12 to 20 using activities with a small relationship to soccer as a hook, all to get the kids to act out and confront some of the tough facts about HIV transmission. The thought is that acting out the right decision, and visualizing the consequences of bad decisions, help make it more likely the right decision will be made.

    One exercise is to dribble a soccer ball around some obstacles symbolizing HIV infection. It's easy to avoid infection with 1 partner (1 ball). Doing it with 2 balls/partners is hard/impossible.

   Outside, Katherine and the Swazi teacher she'd invited to attend the training with her presented “hide the ball”, in which a line of students (here PCVs and their Swazi counterparts from their sites) passed a ball behind their backs and others facing the line tried to guess who had it. Moral – you can't tell by looking who has the ball, or the virus.

    2 of our volunteers are at schools for the deaf and have learned sign language, as well as siSwati. Here one PCV, the blond with her back to us, is signing for a deaf teacher at the school, the tall man in the white shirt on the right, conveying his instructions, with help on the signing from 2 other teachers from the school who had hearing.

I've never seen such a bundle of enthusiasm, determination and charm as among these hearing instructors and their deaf colleague.

   The week ended with 2 days on classroom management and positive discipline. We need help with classroom management at one primary school. This helped. I hope. The other part of the message was to try to persuade the Swazis not to beat the students. That is their key to the quiet classrooms I so envy; our students figured out quickly that we won't beat them. The point of the lessons was to develop ways to reward good behavior, not spend time punishing bad behavior. We'll see.

   Back at site we swung by the High School. Some of our favorites jumped up from where they were sitting and skipped over to us to give Katherine a hug. They love her. It's a little like having an indeterminate number of daughters, and some sons, here.

   We've now tried one of the Grass Root Soccer activities at one of our schools. These 6th graders are doing the “pass the ball” (in our case, an apple – the winner can keep it!) activity.

A Funeral at Dawn

    We went to our first funeral in Swaziland on Sunday, May 25. We've heard many of the funeral vigils through the night, but we'd not had occasion to be at one. This time, however, we attended the end of the overnight vigil and the burial of the brother of the mother (the siSwati name for mother is “make,” pronounced with a hard g sound for the “k” and a long a at the end; its a term of respect – you've born a child.) in our homestead. He'd suffered a stroke before we arrived at site in September and could not speak. He'd sit with the 2 older women (Make and Gogo - “grandmother” - even more respectful; widow of the older brother of the father ("Babe" soft "a", the final "e" is a long "a") in our homestead) on their porch on hot summer afternoons. We could not communicate much with him, but he seemed very gentle and kind, and we sensed he understood us pretty well; not everyone does.

     Swazis hold an all-night vigil the night before a funeral, with much singing and preaching. We touched base with family members who could communicate with us in English and determined it was OK to skip that and go over around 5 a.m. for the burial. The women knocked on our door at 4:30, ready to go! Swazi time in reverse. We walked in the dark to the adjacent homestead, where around 150 people were gathered. Katherine recognized many, I a few. The waning sliver moon and Venus shown bright in the East, the milky way a glowing swath above – the stars in the milky way seen from the southern hemisphere are actually brighter than in the northern hemisphere.

      An enclosure had been erected from poles and tarps at the deceased's homestead, and about 80 people, mostly men but some women, were gathered inside around the casket, on a table, covered with a blanket and plastic flowers. The singing had become fainter and more disjointed in the course of the night.

    Our Babe, who is a preacher and played a lead role, and other men kept peering out of the tent, and when they saw the East just starting to brighten with the precursor of dawn an obituary was read, final prayers said, and some hymns sung. There was some laughter, probably at some anecdote, and some tears. Kind of like what happens in the U.S.

    The body was then carried to the back of a pickup and driven slowly to the nearby family grave-site, and the body was lowered into a grave, carefully lined with grass mats, as the sun peaked over the horizon. Prayers, hymns.

    I had to leave to get up to Mbabane to try to get on one of the 3 computers at PC headquarters available to PC volunteers to put out the monthly PC newsletter; I took these picture as I left.

It was chilly – low 50s (F).

    Walking in the early dawn the 1 1/4 miles to the bus rank, I was moved and thoughtful at the beautiful burial at dawn. I am put off by many religious practices in this country: the length and, with electronic magnification, the volume of religious services in a language I barely understand even when the acoustics are ideal; the preaching has an angry tone, although the few times I've been able to understand the words the actual meaning is more determined than wrathful. But this service was beautiful and moving, and just right for me. When my time comes, were my services timed the same, I'm sure attendance would be significantly reduced, but those who came, if the dawn were as perfect as this one, might be gratified.

Bushfire Music Festival

    Bushfire is a music festival in the hilly, wealthier part of this country that claims it is the biggest and best music festival in southern Africa and among the best in all of Africa. They've been holding festival since 2003 and claim 25,000 attendees this year. Certainly people we met there this past weekend who had come in from Mozambique or South Africa kept saying they thought ½ of J'Burg, Pretoria, or Maputo (capital and commercial center of Mozambique) were there. Of the 70-odd Peace Corp volunteers in Swaziland probably 40 were there, and many PCVs from SA, Moz and Lesotho. At least 2 SZ PCVs were accompanied by friends visiting from the US, who had planned their visit around Bushfire. For those of a certain age and entertainment orientation, it was a major event.

      Most of the PCVs from SZ camped in an area just on the edge of the festival grounds. They reported that, even after the main stage performances wound down at around 3 or 4 Saturday morning, they could hear a “drum circle” going at it until dawn, and did not get much sleep. We stayed in the village of “bee-hive” huts at a game park only 4 or 5 miles away.

    It was great fun to connect with our PCV friends and to be part of a festival scene. The group ahead of us is preparing for departures starting in July, and we had some thoughtful discussions with some of them. There were lots of the delicious beers of southern Africa and some good food although both nights we hit the pizza hard. The weather here as winter comes on was fine – sunny and 70s or low 80s during the day, but getting into the 50s at night.

     It was also fun to sample the music but I'll just come right out and say that Katherine and I found ourselves kind of bored with a lot of it. We should try to be more open to new influences, I know, but cut me some slack on, say, a group called Akale Wube, which describes itself as “a Parisian band devoted totally to the grooves of 60s and 70s Ethiopian music.” Huh. Now we did really like a fabulous Spanish singer Fuel Fandango who says she performs “organic dance music” and I was surprised that I really liked much of the music of a big deal South African guitar player and singer Dan Patlansky despite his description as “renegade psychedelic angst and raw emotion.” Jimi Hendrix channeling Springstein with a dollop of Led Zeppelin; good fun, especially with our friends and with some pineapple beer (uh huh. Pineapple – quite tasty), and with the sliver of the waning moon and Saturn quickly following a gorgeous sunset. Some Moz traveling companions helped us enjoy Nigerian jazz by a band from Moz, and a Colombian also staying in the game park introduced us to a band from his country.

     The US embassy was a sponsor of a rapper (Nomadic Wax Collection) whom I found utterly incomprehensible and others we've encountered since then were similarly unmoved.

    We made it till 10:30 Friday night and only 8:30 Saturday. It was fun, but we aren't the target demographic. The air was full of evidence of inhalants that might have heightened our appreciation of the music. Or not. (Dagga, a strong marijuana, is a major export crop here.) But we limited ourselves to a little beer and wine.

The advantage of staying at the nearby game park was that on Saturday morning we wandered around and caught a basking crocodile

a white-throated bee-eater

and lots of wildebeest, impala, zebra and a few nyala.

   Each of our children called Saturday afternoon, which is obviously a high point. Katherine has that kind of secret smile for hours after she talks to them.

     Starting with Easter break 6 weeks ago we've had lots of travel and events. That changes and, except for a few celebrations (“Christmas in June” to “ring out” the PCV group that's leaving; July 4^th at the Country Director's house) we are at site and teaching pretty steadily for the next 2 ½ months, till a 2 week trip to Victoria Falls and Botswana at the end of August. Plus we are helping get the High School library going (which is going fabulously – I'll report on that shortly with pix – but, in 2 words – unbelievably gratifying) and male and female condom demonstrations at the High School – we've lugged 450 male condoms and 200 female to site and we're storing them in our tiny hut, and every student is going to install a male one on one of our plastic penis models, and all the girls will install a female one on female models. We got permission from the High School principal and he's completely behind it.