Katherine in Swaziland!

2010-06-25T05:04:00.000-07:00

hello mum

you will be pleased to know when i flew back from manzini to jo'burg yesterday the total luggage for red bag and suitcase was 19kg! a big decrease from 33kg huh!
mine was less than dads!

its warm here - 27 degrees. I was freezing cold up at Hawane when it was 20... what is wrong with me, if it was 20 at home I'd be in shorts...

bought vuvzelas today for about £3, not bad! so ste can make some noise when we come back!

we might go to zulu land, drankensburg and lesotho next week!

hope you are fine

love

Pictures from pre school...

2010-06-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

The Last Week...

2010-06-20T02:03:00.000-07:00

Sanibonani!

Ninjani?

I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone. I am leaving Swaziland on Thursday. Then off to South Africa with my dad :-)

So much has happened, and I have met so many amazing and inspirational people. It will be hard leaving. The girls at the farm threw me a leaving party last night and invited a load of people which was pretty awesome.

Bye Bye

Mountain Walk Pictures

2010-06-15T00:13:00.000-07:00

Sanibonani!

2010-06-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

Sanibonani!

Ninjani?

I am getting the phrases slowly!

Thank you for all your comments, it is really encouraging to read them especially after a difficult day :-)

Salakahle!!

Katherine xxx

3 hour mountain walk..more pictures coming

2010-06-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning, took the children on a 3 and half hour walk up the mountains and it was a killer!! Here are some of the photos..

2010-06-13T05:34:00.000-07:00

Pictures...

2010-06-13T04:34:00.001-07:00

2010-06-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

End of the week...

2010-06-11T08:01:00.000-07:00

Well this week has certainly been interesting…

Monday I was at pre school, and we all had a lot of fun using the play dough! The cost of play dough is too expensive for the pre school so they make their own and use food dye to change the colour. Quite clever really, and much more cost efficient.

Monday afternoon I was in the containers with one of the Makes, and a girl in my class called Zodwa, looking for clothes and shoes. After an hour and a half climbing over boxes and plastic bags inside a hot container we found nothing. Zodwa needed tackies as her other ones were too small, so I gave her my trainers I brought here. She needed them more than me. I was taken aback by her gratefulness, and it made me think back to when I bought them. In my mind they were just Nike trainers. They weren’t particularly expensive by UK prices, yet I still took them for granted as a necessity for the gym. Zodwa was quite happy to wear shoes that were falling apart, had no laces and were too small.

Tuesday morning I was in church for a while doing some emails, and when I went back to the farm it was time to make shortbread biscuits for cell. Everyone had to make a dish of some kind, so we had a tonne of food! I led cell tonight so I had to prepare for that, then do keep fit with the girls.

Since I’ve been here I have met numerous people with stage 4, full blown Aids. I noticed the other day how accustomed I’ve become to meeting people with HIV/Aids. Sadly, it doesn’t shock me anymore, the problem is so widespread.

Wednesday, we went to the hospital to do visits to the men’s ward and children’s ward, and to say it was horrible/awful is an understatement. I met some children who had been in horrific car accidents and had brain damage that were given 2 paracetamol. The disabled children were just put in the workers kitchen at the end of the ward. The children in wheelchairs were tied up, and left. When I prayed for the children I just cried.

Friday today,and its youth at Potters Wheel and me and Musa are doing worship...I somehow got myself put forward for singing...

Weekly Update

2010-06-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

Sawubona guys!

This week has been so busy! Monday- Wednesday was pre school, and Thursday and Friday was homeschool. Tuesdays I now help run library club, and on Weds and Thurs I do homework clubs at the houses.

Thursday afternoon I went into the community and we set up for the clinic, not too far from Hawane. The clinic went well and was packed as per usual. Afterwards we went on a home visit, to visit a 30 year old man who had been bed bound for over a month, he hadn't moved from his mat on the floor. The man had full blown Aids, stage 4, and also had Meningitis. It was suspected that he had numerous other diseases too. Jane and Jude the two nurses decided that we had to take him to hospital. It took him so long to stand up I thought we might all have to carry him. He looked awful, skeletal and so thin. I was asked to pray for him and his eyes kept rolling, they couldn't focus on me which was really sad to watch.

His homestead was one of the smallest I have seen, it had 1 tiny bedroom with his mat on the floor and 1 other bed to sleep 6/7 children, as well as the man and his mother. The other room was the entrance to the homestead and can have been no more than 2m by 2m. It was used as the store room, kitchen and living area, and was so smoky!

We took him to hospital, which looked like a prison. It was appauling and the wards were horrible.

Two other girls from the U.S arrived on Friday, and I think they were tired because they slept for a long time!

Youth was really good on friday, the kids really enjoyed themselves.

On Saturday we all got the combi into Mbabne which was an experience! It was packed out! One of the girls had to sit next to goats on the way back! Trying to get the shopping in on that was difficult!

We all went to the CLC church up the road from the farm this morning and we were the only white people in the church! We had to stand up and introduce ourselves! I loved it! Everyone sings and dances to the Siswati songs! It is a real African Gospel church, and it was really good to see people I've met in the community there and children who go to the pre school.

I am Potter's Wheel church now, the evening service starts at 5pm, so in 10mins. We got the bus then a combi down here and it was packed again.

I am off, pictures tomorrow!

Bye Bye

It is cold!!

2010-05-31T12:49:00.000-07:00

Ahhh... and it is now winter!

We have had frosts in the mornings up at Hawane for the past 2 weeks now, and even though it is warm and sunny (up to 30 degrees) in the day it is freezing in the early morning and at night! I am wrapping up in blankets at the farm as soon as it gets dark! The slippers are on and out come the bed socks!! Funny how it go from cold to hot to cold in a day! We are surrounded by mountains though...

Pre school this morning and today we learnt all about wild animals, and it took a while to convince some children that dogs were not wild animals, and neither were cows. I saw some cows just walking down the motorway this week!

Busy week this week. Update on friday :-)

Pictures...

2010-05-28T07:37:00.000-07:00

Weekly Update

2010-05-28T04:55:00.000-07:00

Sawubona!

It's Friday, and thought I had better start writing my blog update for this week.

Monday I am in pre school, and I am now used to being used as a climbing frame! But when 10 kids decide to jump on you at once, your legs start to hurt a little bit. At pre school, we always start off with singing (in Siswati!!) and prayer time. I've pretty much learnt all the songs, as we sing them a lot through out the day, and they tend to be similar to the ones we sing at house group and in the community. And all of the them are in Siswati...

When I am at pre school Mon, Tues and Weds, I tend to do the alphabet, spellings and hand writing with the children. I took a parachute to the pre school and the children absolutely love it! They had never seen one before, so it was really funny watching their faces when I took it out the bag.

Wednesday is Culture day at the pre school so after snack time, we always sing traditional songs, and do Swazi dancing, which I'm getting good at! They use huge drums, and I am quite tempted to buy one to take home..but I have no idea how that's going to work..

Tuesdays we have cell group, which is made up of a complete mix of people from the UK, Ghana, Zambia, Swaziland, and Canada, so it's always interesting! Good food though, we get a feast when we go round to Pastor Augustine's, and we aren't allowed to go until the food is all gone. I've gone home feeling a bit sick sometimes - ate waaaay too much!

Yesterday (Thursday) was my first day as a class teacher at home school! Last week on the Thurs and Fri I was just assisting in the younger class. I now teach the older class.

So Weds after pre school I spent the rest of the day outside lesson planning (I felt like my mum but my tan is better than when she does it in the garden haha!). The school doesn't have a curriculum - though this is changing.

It is hard to know what level the children were at in my class as they have been given work for 8-10 year olds, and they don't have targets. So yesterday, I gave them a maths test, English comprehension, spelling and reading assessment and we had a science lesson! We now have lesson objectives and key words, and homework!

School days start at 8 and finish at 1, as they don't have a lunch break and in summer it is incredibly hot by this time. So Thurs afternoons I get to go into the community for the rural clinics. It always amazes me how far people travel to get there. Nearly all the clinics I have been to have been in the mountains, and people walk for hours to get there. Me and a guy called Sipho who works at TCMI here try and read stories to the children and pray with people. It is really helpful that he is there because my Siswati isn't that fluent yet.. The car said it was 30 degrees today!

Today (Friday) I taught in home school, but for the past week there has only been 1 child in the class as the boy is sick, and really quite weak. We did cookery this morning with Helen's class, English, P.E and spelling which seemed to go well :-)

Tomorrow I am either going to South Africa or Lavumisa in the south of Swaziland. Plans don't seem to come together right until the last minute!

2010-05-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

2010-05-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

Pictures...

2010-05-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

Pictures...

2010-05-23T03:40:00.000-07:00

oh and the tan is coming along just nicely! :-)

2010-05-23T02:54:00.000-07:00

Sawubona!

I am going to upload pictures today! lets see how long they take.

Tuesday I started at preschool, and let me tell you now, health and safety wouldn't let the building be licensed let alone used as a pre school!!! the children who attend do not have to pay as the church pay for the employees wage. the children come from poor rural families and are aged between 2-6.all the children walk there and go home by themselves, bear in mind the road is 120 kph speed limit and similar to the a127! note the difference between the UK and Swaziland. I was shocked but not completely surprised.

Wednesday was preschool too, and the kids kept trying to touch my hair and my skin! don't think they had seen blonde hair before.

Thursday and Friday I am in home school. there are two classes, one is a younger class the other is older, yet there are only 2 children in each class. On Thursday we went on our first school trip to the Ngwenya Glass factory with the two younger boys. They absolutely loved it! we learnt all about recycling, and had a look around the factory. The boys then spent ages playing on the outdoor play equipment.

Thursday afternoon, I went into the community where Jane and Jude the two nurses on the farm had set up a clinic. We just spent time reading bible stories to the children, playing games and singing songs. some of the children that come are incredibly ill. A lot of them are no more than 2 or 3 and have rotting teeth. A lot of illness here seems to be the result of poverty.

Friday I was in home school again, this time teaching the older class. we start the day with a memory verse and a spelling test. following this, we then have maths. I taught subtraction and division today! The flash cards were too easy, and the children aren't being challenged so I decided to design different questions.

Children here aren't taught to question. they tend to accept rather than analyse and challenge. school should be interesting,and when you aren't challenged you switch off.so i made them think! the basic maths skills in Swaziland is poor though. after maths is break time,so the children got changed for p.e. the boy in the older class has HIV so you have to be careful with how much exercise he can do.so trying to put together a p.e class for 2 students was interesting!

I really am having such a great time. Another girl arrived on Friday who actually knows Ian and Lisa when they were in Teen Challenge as she went through the programme at the same time. All the volunteers are older than me by at least 10 years.

Keep Fit is going well! The girls are now willingly running relays and doing sit ups! All of them are doing squat holds, whether they do it for the full 2 mins is another thing...

love love

Mini update via mum

2010-05-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

Mum & Katherine's conversation - briefly

Internet access is really limited - half an hour on a Sunday and it's so slowww......

Snakes, monkeys, mozzies, bugs & a noisy dog called Roxy.
Busy doing pre-school, homework classes, PE lessons, clinic & home visits and Home school - plus loads of other things that come along. Even joining in some of the Swazi lessons with the children
There are a lot of sick & needy people in the community and villages but most people are very positive
There's about 50 children on the farm - starting to learn most of their names but some of the pronunciation takes a bit of practice (it's the clicks)
Went for a walk in the mountains with the children - lots of wildlife
Loads of pictures - just a case of finding the time to upload them
Thanks for the football shirts - keep them coming

Katherine will do the rest when she can. Keep blogging :))

2 weeks!

2010-05-17T14:25:00.001-07:00

well, 2 weeks has flown by!

Last week I set up regular keep fit classes that the girls on the farm all have to attend! unless they have a broken leg... and I was able to go into the community and help set up clinics. It was so different to the doctors here. People travel for miles and miles to get there. Sadly people have to be turned away, we can't stay there all day because there are home visits to do and other clinics to set up.

On thursday, after the clinic in the afternoon, we went on home visits, and when they say rural they mean rural! All the people we saw were dying from Aids, and all lived in the traditional homesteads identical to the ones in the cultural village. We were asked to enter the grandparents hut, which was identified by the animal skull on the outside. It was hard to breathe inside because of the amount of smoke!

I will upload pictures eventually!

I start teaching in schools and in pre school this week! Very excited.

Going to be difficult considering the children in pre school know no english...

More updates soon as the laptop needs charging

love you mum and dad

1 week!

2010-05-09T02:22:00.000-07:00

Sawubona!!

Unjani?

Mosquito count:3

Monkey count: too many

Snakes: 2 proper huge ones

Yesterday was my 6th day here, today obviously being the 7th... (that's a whole week just in case you were wondering)

Today is mother's day! So Happy Mother's day Make! Ngiyakutsandza

Yesterday we went to the cultural village in Mantenga. It is a village compromising of 16 huts, and its aim, as well as being a homestead for the Swazis who actually live there is to keep interest in the Swazi cultural heritage, including language, customs and practices, rituals, dance, music, folklore, arts and crafts. It was certainly different! and eyeopening! There are men there who show you around, and it was quite apparent that even though their culture has been influenced by the west, their opinions of women remain the same. The man has complete control over his wife in Swaziland, she is perceived as a child. The only person who is on par with the head of the house (the husband), is the grandmother who similarly expects respect and authority. Men in Swaziland are allowed to take as many wives as they wish as long as they can look after them. The same goes with children. Each wife must have her own house with a separate are for brewing, cooking and sleeping.

I have loads of video recordings and pictures of the traditional dancing and singing, I just need the netbook to actually recognise the usb port on my camera before I can load them!! At the moment it isn't....

Today was up at 7 to leave for church at 8. Church finished before the service even starts at home!

It was so good! And you get cakes after! The plan for the rest of the day is to have lunch, and take the kids for a walk I think.

On thursday I am going into the community with a few other people, to set up a health station. They run from10am-12pm and another one in the afternoon.The idea is to provide a clinic for people who are so remote they cannot get to a doctors or hospital.

Not sure when I'll next be in the office to use the Internet, so I'll keep you posted next time I'm on.

Sala Kahle!! :-)

P.S Dave, the other people are nice :-) but I'm not sure when I'll be going bunny hunting because they are trying to increase the population first!

2010-05-07T07:04:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!

This is the first time I have been able to use the blog myself since I arrived on monday morning! I can only use internet at the church office, and I don't get to come here very often because I'm living at the farm. Mosquito bite count so far: 3

I have been keeping a journal everyday so I can remember all the things I've been up to!
Here is a quick summary of the past 5 days because I don't have the journal on me at the moment!

Ok so Monday I arrived at Manzini in the smallest plane I think I've ever travelled in. No more than 30 people and the pilot asked for a coke to be passed down the plane...I think I slept for the whole flight to Swaziland I was that tired. I got to the farm in the afternoon, unpacked and went round to Make Thandie's for dinner. Each house on the farm is run by a Make, a mum, who looks after around 8 children. Make Thandie has 7 girls and 1 boy. The girl, sadly has no parents and was violently abused by family members as a child. One of the boys at the house was abandoned by his mother as a toddler and was living with dogs on the streets. He couldn't walk or talk, and now he can walk un aided, feed himself and understand Swati. Nearly all the children on the farm have been affected by abuse, and sadly many have lost 1 or both their parents. If you were to look at them they do not outwardly show how it has affected them. Their clothes however are dirty, falling apart. Most of the children don't wear shoes and if they do, they are falling apart. They don't moan about what they wear, and if they have anything with labels on it doesn't mean anything to them anyway. I was grilled at dinner! The boys were amazed that I had seen Steven Gerrard play "with my own eyes!"

This week at the farm is health week, so on Tuesday I was straight into helping teaching the children about health and how to look after our bodies. The kids are amazing, they are so eager to learn, they aren't disrespectful, and they understand how important it is to do well in school. For all of them, school is their only chance. Dinner was the same as Monday nights! Rice, beef sauce, coleslaw, avocado and salad. Ate round Fizile's house then off to house group at Pator Augustines next door! When I went round nearly everyone there was wearing winter coats and covered in blankets. Then I strolled in wearing t-shirt and shorts!

Wednesday was health classes again. This time it was healthy eating! All the children seem to really enjoy it. I got given my programme as well, I'm going to be helping the youth leaders at Potter's Wheel church, because they don't have enough youth leaders. I am also going to be teaching at the home school, working at the pre school, helping at safari club, doing a homework club and doing fitness classes with the girls! (the girls are really unfit!!!)

I ran sport and exercise classes all day today on the farm as part of health week! I was out from 8-4 doing sport with the children! I now have a nice tan on my face, and a awful tan line from my top on my neck! Its horrific!! Africa Nike Training Club is now fully implemented!!!! I almost killed the girls group with sport! The boys didn't complain they were just trying to show off to each other who could do the most press ups! Dinner was the same, again... but had a really good time! We ate at Make Phumlize's with her husband and 8 boys. I had my camera with me and so I didn't see it for most the evening because they were running around taking pictures!! First power cut today, so I couldn't see what I was eating..it was more taste and see sort of thing!!

Tonight is youth at Potter's Wheel. The two youth leaders, Jared and Musa are exactly like Richard and Dave! Serious, they could not be more alike so I feel like I havn't left the youth office!! We went to Pick and Pay to get sweets and drinks which was like going to Macro with Richard!!!
Though I havn't met the equivilent of Dave,Alice, Nicky and Ian yet!

I'll get more details in the next blog!

Salakahle!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Settling in...........

2010-05-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

Hi

For the last 2 days I've just been getting to know the place and the people here, especially the children. Some of the children come with very sad stories/past history but the farm is a good place for them to be.
I've been asked to go and visit the women's refuge. There are a number of girls my age there, so that will be a challenge.

Communication is really difficult. I've got a South African and a UK mobile, as well as a laptop with a dongle but there's no network. I can get onto the network when we go to church but that's only for a few minutes. So I'm relying on my dad and relayed telephone conversations.

So if I don't get to update the blog very often I'm sorry.

XXXX

Arrived

2010-05-03T12:25:00.000-07:00

hi! im fine! got here ok :-)

can you please ask mum how to unblock facebook so i can talk to people!!!

i think im going to be doing a lot of youth/childrens work and areobics and running!!!

xxxxx

The week before...

2010-04-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

7 days to go, and I still havn't been to lakeside to raid primark and boots!! I'm really hoping that when I eventually get around to going that they have everything otherwise I'm in trouble!

This could be the longest shopping list I have ever written - I happen to be quite gifted at spending money! One of my many talents ha!

Thank you to everyone who came round today for bbq/drinks :-) I am positively stuffed, but not as much as ben who just eats constantly...
Was really nice to see everyone before I go!

Ben may have to write my blog for me as I honestly have no idea how this whole things works!! But that is his job for the next 2 months!! He has a blackberry so it's all good :-)

Off to have a film marathon!

Adios!

Katherine (and ben)

xxx