OVER THE RIVER, THRU THE WOODS, TO MBABANE

(Sorry, the pictures got entered in reverse order. Go from bottom to top.)

So we’re back home after In Service Training and Thanksgiving in Mbabane, and because a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll let a few pictures describe our trip. But first, a few updated facts about the Kingdom—the reason we’re here. Revenues are down 60%; the unemployment rate is 40%; 70% are living on <$1.00/day. (In contrast, Mo just calculated we are living on roughly $20/day.) 18% of the Swaziland GDP is from civil service (the highest in Africa), and 40% of that is security related. So of 35,000 civil servants, the IMF is recommending cuts up to 10,000. The incidence of HIV is unchanged at 26% (in the general population), but in the “productive” years, that translates to about 49%, so almost every other person we encounter between the ages of 15 to 49 is HIV +. With those stats, Thanksgiving had significant new meanings this year.

Most days we were so tired after classes we didn’t even go out but watched a movie in the conference room. One day was an exception when Mo went to the CD’s house (which is near the embassy) and shared some pre-Thanksgiving baking with a few other PCVs, while I found brunch with PCVs downtown. We even had classes Thursday morning, so it was a real treat to board a chartered bus to go to the Ambassador’s house. The last picture shows me standing on American soil. Typical Mbabane weather was cool and threatening in the morning (it felt like Thanksgiving), but it cleared when we got to the embassy.

The sixth picture is the back yard of the embassy. Notice a few did get in the pool, but the weather was cool and the water was cold.

Picture 5: Ambassador Irving consults with his chief aide-de-camp. Notice nobody else is around, suggesting a very high security conference.

Pic 4: We enjoyed hors devours and drinks before dinner. (Drinks provided by PCV contributions. PCV and drinks: a natural combination.) Around 130 of the American community in Mbabane (about 70 PCV, the remainder from the embassy) were present and we shared nine turkeys and all the typical dishes that go with Thanksgiving. AMERICAN FOOD! It was great!

Pic 3: There were three groaning boards for the main course, but this is a picture of the dessert table. Our usual dessert at home, when we have it, is out of a package of cookies.


Pic 2: Our last classes were Friday morning. After a shopping trip to pick up some things we can’t get in Siteki, Mo had arranged a night at Gloria’s B&B in observation of my birthday. (We last visited Gloria for Mo’s birthday.) We were so tired, each of us was leaving three tracks, so we collapsed upon our arrival.

Pic 1: Happy Birthday to Me from Gloria. (Coincidence: We learned that her daughter-in-law works for the Gates Foundation.) (Following tradition, after returning home, we watched “The Music Man” on our laptop.)

I’m writing this off-line (Sunday afternoon) while another storm passes through. It was very hot and humid today, so we’re hoping the storm will bring us a cooler night. The lightning and thunder here are MOST impressive. We always eat dinner by candle-light. Romantic? Well, actually we expect the power to go out at any moment. …and I just tried to connect to the internet and failed, so I don’t know when you’ll read this.