We spent all of last week in Durban with a fellow-PCV couple. It was great. we found a good deal on a little "Kondo" (yes, with a K because it's not really a condo but a motel room with a kitchen) right on the beach and spent quality time in the ocean, staring at the ocean from the balcony, jogging alongside the ocean, sitting in the sand beside the ocean... you get the idea. My friend Jay and I got to surf every day, and Jamie-girl got to jog every morning along the promenade.
We ate seafood in restaurants. We went to a movie (Burn After Reading). we drove a car. it was all quite luxurious and reminiscent of times past. And it also allowed us to step back from our daily lives in rural Swaziland and appreciate its simple beauty.
Anyway we're back and we're busy, especially in the schools. More on that later.
Also, we just got an email from a Port Townsend woman who's working/living here in Swaziland-- how cool is that? She found us through this blog. I love it when that kind of thing happens.
Friday, February 13, 2009
wind blows our latrine down... again
We had a big wind/rain storm a few weeks ago, and it tore the roof off our outhouse and damaged its walls. again. I took a little video of the aftermath, and thought this would be a good opportunity to try compressing the video file and uploading it to the blog... let's see if it works. our internet cafe's bandwidth in Nhlangano isn't exactly huge, but it might just be enough.
The whining noise you'll hear on the video is the dog (not me-- sorry to disappoint). I call him Killer, due to a disturbing incident with a neighboring homestead's kitten... but when the storms come he doesn't exactly live up to the vicious bravado his name implies. And I like him for that-- big scary dog, total wuss. Anyway, if this video thing works okay, we'll do more of them for the blog. And we'll even put ourselves in them from time to time.
hey-- i think it worked! let me know if you can view it on your side of the world.
The whining noise you'll hear on the video is the dog (not me-- sorry to disappoint). I call him Killer, due to a disturbing incident with a neighboring homestead's kitten... but when the storms come he doesn't exactly live up to the vicious bravado his name implies. And I like him for that-- big scary dog, total wuss. Anyway, if this video thing works okay, we'll do more of them for the blog. And we'll even put ourselves in them from time to time.
hey-- i think it worked! let me know if you can view it on your side of the world.
Help Zombodze: Way #2
This one is a water project aimed at renovating our community garden’s water-delivery system, which currently fails to provide year-round water. You can be part of this project primarily by helping to fund it: I’ll be posting the project on the Peace Corps’ online, public-funding vehicle called Peace Corps Partnerships (see below entry). You’ll be able to click on the project and donate directly to it—100% of the donation will go directly to the project, and all of the project funds will go through me personally (PC deposits the funds into my Swazi bank account). But before I post the project to the website, I need to get a feel for the level of interest (ie, how much funding can I reasonably expect to raise) and factor that into the project’s proposed scope.
This project will restore a reliable water source to the Zombodze Community Garden—called the bomake garden (pronounced bo-mah-gay, which is plural for mother). The garden is a big rectangular patch of fenced land that once contained many dozens of food-producing plots for our community’s homesteads… but when the water source failed. So did many of the plots. Here’s the abbreviated version…
The bomake garden is where we have our plots, along with about 20 other locals, mostly mothers, grandmothers and kids. During the rainy season—Nov-Apr—this number doubles. But during the dry season—May-Oct—only the strong and determined can manage to haul water up the hill in buckets to their plots, so the number shrinks. But if water was delivered to the garden’s pipes year-round, we project the number of active, food-producing plots would triple, providing food to perhaps 50 different homesteads. Our community census showed an average of 8 people living on Zombodze’s homesteads—4 adults and four children (2 of those kids being OVCs). So using the 50-homestead figure, improving the community garden’s food-producing capacity in this manner would provide a year-round source fresh veggies to around 400 people, 200 of whom would be kids—and about 100 of those kids being OVCs.
There once was a good water-delivery system for the garden, carrying water through underground pipes to the garden’s spigots from a small dam-created reservoir located along a year-round stream 1km away. But about ten years ago the concrete dam was vandalized and never properly repaired, eventually leading to a full breach of an adjoining earthen berm. So today the water-delivery system is far less reliable—and totally seasonal. Water now reaches the garden’s spigots via a 1km-long, open-cut trench, and only when the stream is full enough. The trench is susceptible to pigs and livestock and spongy soils, so it’s a very inefficient water-carrier. In fact, most of the water it carries never ends up on anyone’s garden plot.
Why use the community garden instead of simply having a “kitchen” garden on one’s own homestead? Well, here are the three main reasons. First is fencing: the community garden’s fence is intact and offers reliable protection from free-ranging cows, goats, pigs, chickens, etc. Most homesteads do not have such fencing—it must be taller then an average cow’s head and sturdy to be effective—and they don’t have the resources to install anything like that around their garden plots. So the homestead plots are usually pretty small, yielding much less veggies than a plot in the community garden could offer. Secondly, when one gardens among many others there is beneficial exchange of seed, fertilizers, knowledge, and ideas. The seed-swapping alone is invaluable, and the garden has a ready supply of sweet potato starts, spinach seeds, etc. Gardening alongside others makes for a healthier variety of veggies in one’s kitchen. The third reason would apply if the community garden had reliable water: most homesteads here (like 76% of them) don’t have easy access to water, especially during the dry season. If they had a place to grow food during the dry season, it would dramatically change their quality of life.
There are a few different ways of renovating the bomake garden’s water delivery system, and the community will ultimately decide which one to pursue. I’ll help. One way would be to drill a borehole onsite and either reconfigure the existing underground piping to connect to the new source. Another way would be to make some structural repairs the earthen berm and reservoir up on the stream and reconnect the existing piping to new feeder lines. Both have their benefits and complications, but the borehole option is significantly more complicated and community leaders seem to be leaning toward making repairs to the old reservoir. We shall see…
Anyway I’ll be happy to provide lots more information (and pics) if you’re really interested in getting involved on this project—send me an email: cooktimothy@hotmail.com.
This project will restore a reliable water source to the Zombodze Community Garden—called the bomake garden (pronounced bo-mah-gay, which is plural for mother). The garden is a big rectangular patch of fenced land that once contained many dozens of food-producing plots for our community’s homesteads… but when the water source failed. So did many of the plots. Here’s the abbreviated version…
The bomake garden is where we have our plots, along with about 20 other locals, mostly mothers, grandmothers and kids. During the rainy season—Nov-Apr—this number doubles. But during the dry season—May-Oct—only the strong and determined can manage to haul water up the hill in buckets to their plots, so the number shrinks. But if water was delivered to the garden’s pipes year-round, we project the number of active, food-producing plots would triple, providing food to perhaps 50 different homesteads. Our community census showed an average of 8 people living on Zombodze’s homesteads—4 adults and four children (2 of those kids being OVCs). So using the 50-homestead figure, improving the community garden’s food-producing capacity in this manner would provide a year-round source fresh veggies to around 400 people, 200 of whom would be kids—and about 100 of those kids being OVCs.
There once was a good water-delivery system for the garden, carrying water through underground pipes to the garden’s spigots from a small dam-created reservoir located along a year-round stream 1km away. But about ten years ago the concrete dam was vandalized and never properly repaired, eventually leading to a full breach of an adjoining earthen berm. So today the water-delivery system is far less reliable—and totally seasonal. Water now reaches the garden’s spigots via a 1km-long, open-cut trench, and only when the stream is full enough. The trench is susceptible to pigs and livestock and spongy soils, so it’s a very inefficient water-carrier. In fact, most of the water it carries never ends up on anyone’s garden plot.
Why use the community garden instead of simply having a “kitchen” garden on one’s own homestead? Well, here are the three main reasons. First is fencing: the community garden’s fence is intact and offers reliable protection from free-ranging cows, goats, pigs, chickens, etc. Most homesteads do not have such fencing—it must be taller then an average cow’s head and sturdy to be effective—and they don’t have the resources to install anything like that around their garden plots. So the homestead plots are usually pretty small, yielding much less veggies than a plot in the community garden could offer. Secondly, when one gardens among many others there is beneficial exchange of seed, fertilizers, knowledge, and ideas. The seed-swapping alone is invaluable, and the garden has a ready supply of sweet potato starts, spinach seeds, etc. Gardening alongside others makes for a healthier variety of veggies in one’s kitchen. The third reason would apply if the community garden had reliable water: most homesteads here (like 76% of them) don’t have easy access to water, especially during the dry season. If they had a place to grow food during the dry season, it would dramatically change their quality of life.
There are a few different ways of renovating the bomake garden’s water delivery system, and the community will ultimately decide which one to pursue. I’ll help. One way would be to drill a borehole onsite and either reconfigure the existing underground piping to connect to the new source. Another way would be to make some structural repairs the earthen berm and reservoir up on the stream and reconnect the existing piping to new feeder lines. Both have their benefits and complications, but the borehole option is significantly more complicated and community leaders seem to be leaning toward making repairs to the old reservoir. We shall see…
Anyway I’ll be happy to provide lots more information (and pics) if you’re really interested in getting involved on this project—send me an email: cooktimothy@hotmail.com.
Peace Corps Partnerships
Hi everyone…
Before I post any more project ideas, I’d like to explain what the Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP) is—if you ever decide to help us fund something, you’ll probably do it through PCPP’s website. It’s tax-deductible that way.
The PCPP website is how people back home can donate money directly to a PCV’s projects. We post a specific project to the site, and then anyone can click on it and donate directly to it—100% of the donation goes to the selected project; no “admin” or “overhead” costs apply. And the funds we raise through PCPP are managed by us personally: once the funding target is reached the Peace Corps deposits the full amount into our Swazi bank account for immediate project implementation. We then write a bunch of reports and document the project costs and outcomes for the Peace Corps and all the partnering donors.
Projects posted to the PCPP website have to meet some basic requirements first. One of them states that the community benefiting from the project must provide at least 25% of the overall project expenses (which could include in-kind labor costs, materials, or money). So if we post a project to the PCPP website, it means we’ve received community buy-in and we’re ready to implement the project asap. If the project doesn’t raise the funding target within a specified timeframe then it’ll be pulled from the list—allowing room for others.
Anyone can donate to any project posted to the PCPP site (any PCV in the world can post projects), but by far the most common way they get funded is through the donations of people connected to the PCV administering the project. Friends and family! So before we post anything, we’ll put our project idea on this blog to gauge interest and potential funding partners. So as we post the different projects we’re working on, we’ll be sure to mention when it’s a potential PCPP-funded one—and if you see something that strikes your philanthropic fancy, just shoot me an email to begin the partnership.
Before I post any more project ideas, I’d like to explain what the Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP) is—if you ever decide to help us fund something, you’ll probably do it through PCPP’s website. It’s tax-deductible that way.
The PCPP website is how people back home can donate money directly to a PCV’s projects. We post a specific project to the site, and then anyone can click on it and donate directly to it—100% of the donation goes to the selected project; no “admin” or “overhead” costs apply. And the funds we raise through PCPP are managed by us personally: once the funding target is reached the Peace Corps deposits the full amount into our Swazi bank account for immediate project implementation. We then write a bunch of reports and document the project costs and outcomes for the Peace Corps and all the partnering donors.
Projects posted to the PCPP website have to meet some basic requirements first. One of them states that the community benefiting from the project must provide at least 25% of the overall project expenses (which could include in-kind labor costs, materials, or money). So if we post a project to the PCPP website, it means we’ve received community buy-in and we’re ready to implement the project asap. If the project doesn’t raise the funding target within a specified timeframe then it’ll be pulled from the list—allowing room for others.
Anyone can donate to any project posted to the PCPP site (any PCV in the world can post projects), but by far the most common way they get funded is through the donations of people connected to the PCV administering the project. Friends and family! So before we post anything, we’ll put our project idea on this blog to gauge interest and potential funding partners. So as we post the different projects we’re working on, we’ll be sure to mention when it’s a potential PCPP-funded one—and if you see something that strikes your philanthropic fancy, just shoot me an email to begin the partnership.
Friday, January 23, 2009
YOU can help Zombodze: Way #1
Many of you have asked about how to get involved in/contribute to any of the projects we’re doing here in Swaziland. Thanks for asking— we’ll be posting some info about our projects currently needing funding or materials. To start things off, below is a very small-scale project we’ll be doing in Zombodze; you can be directly involved by helping us gather supplies and sending them to us for use and distribution.
There’ll be plenty more opportunities for partnering with us in the coming months (including tax-deductible Peace Corps Partnership charity opportunities), so please don’t feel any pressure whatsoever about this particular one—it’s just what’s on our plate this week.
If you’re interested or have an idea to help us provide these supplies, or if you have ideas about other supplies, email me directly: cooktimothy@hotmail.com. We can make this happen—and we’ll even take some pics for you…
Neighborhood Care Points: Activities for Orphans and Vulnerable Children
Target population: Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs)
Activity Needs: 350-400 (or more!) of the following items: toothbrushes, toothpaste (small tubes), toothbrush covers, sample-sized bars of soap, small plastic baggies (for the soap).
This is a small-scale project aimed at providing OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children) aged 4-11 with some basic instruction regarding personal hygiene. The activities would be organized and presented by us at all the local Neighborhood Care Points (NCPs), which is where volunteer women cook meals each day for OVCs who aren’t getting enough food wherever they’re living.
Many of these kids are under 10 years old and do not yet know about the importance of hand-washing (they eat NCP meals with their fingers) or brushing their teeth. So our idea is simply to incorporate little informational activities into our regular visits to Zombodze’s NCPs—not every time, just every once in a while. We’re already working with these NCPs, so implementing this is simple.
In the tooth-brushing activity, OVCs (and volunteer mothers) would be taught how (and when) to brush their teeth, and would then receive a toothbrush and small tube of toothpaste of their own. Some toothbrush covers would be really nice to give them, but are not essential to the activity. In the hand-washing activity they’d learn to wash their hands—especially before eating with their fingers—and would then receive soap in little plastic storage bags to keep as their own. The NCPs would also be provided with soap and hand-washing basins, and the volunteers would be encouraged to make hand-washing a regular part of the OVC’s mealtime routine. These are not exciting handouts, I know, but believe me the kids would be thrilled—and more importantly, it would help to reduce the incredibly high rates of preventable sickness among these kids.
We’re working on the NCP’s food needs with WFP, and Unicef does education-based activities (vowels and number lessons)… but sanitation/hygiene informationals are nonexistent.
There are 7 NCPs in our chiefdom, each feeding an average of 50 kids per day… that means 350-400 kids.
There’ll be plenty more opportunities for partnering with us in the coming months (including tax-deductible Peace Corps Partnership charity opportunities), so please don’t feel any pressure whatsoever about this particular one—it’s just what’s on our plate this week.
If you’re interested or have an idea to help us provide these supplies, or if you have ideas about other supplies, email me directly: cooktimothy@hotmail.com. We can make this happen—and we’ll even take some pics for you…
Neighborhood Care Points: Activities for Orphans and Vulnerable Children
Target population: Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs)
Activity Needs: 350-400 (or more!) of the following items: toothbrushes, toothpaste (small tubes), toothbrush covers, sample-sized bars of soap, small plastic baggies (for the soap).
This is a small-scale project aimed at providing OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children) aged 4-11 with some basic instruction regarding personal hygiene. The activities would be organized and presented by us at all the local Neighborhood Care Points (NCPs), which is where volunteer women cook meals each day for OVCs who aren’t getting enough food wherever they’re living.
Many of these kids are under 10 years old and do not yet know about the importance of hand-washing (they eat NCP meals with their fingers) or brushing their teeth. So our idea is simply to incorporate little informational activities into our regular visits to Zombodze’s NCPs—not every time, just every once in a while. We’re already working with these NCPs, so implementing this is simple.
In the tooth-brushing activity, OVCs (and volunteer mothers) would be taught how (and when) to brush their teeth, and would then receive a toothbrush and small tube of toothpaste of their own. Some toothbrush covers would be really nice to give them, but are not essential to the activity. In the hand-washing activity they’d learn to wash their hands—especially before eating with their fingers—and would then receive soap in little plastic storage bags to keep as their own. The NCPs would also be provided with soap and hand-washing basins, and the volunteers would be encouraged to make hand-washing a regular part of the OVC’s mealtime routine. These are not exciting handouts, I know, but believe me the kids would be thrilled—and more importantly, it would help to reduce the incredibly high rates of preventable sickness among these kids.
We’re working on the NCP’s food needs with WFP, and Unicef does education-based activities (vowels and number lessons)… but sanitation/hygiene informationals are nonexistent.
There are 7 NCPs in our chiefdom, each feeding an average of 50 kids per day… that means 350-400 kids.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
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