top 10 highlights

Top 10 highlights, in no particular order, of our last three weeks or so here in Zombodze (not including the College Fair-- see previous post for that)...

1. Today while doing the laundry, Jamie-girl estimated that we only have to hand-wash all our clothes about 40 more times.  Her estimate is based upon doing it once per week… I suggested that if we only did it once every 2 weeks we’d get that number down to 20.  Sensing my lazy ulterior motives, she shook her head disapprovingly.  So 40 more times it is.  Summers are much easier for clothes-washing: less overall bulk, and virtually no pants or socks. But still, 40 seems like a big number to me. 

 2. With today’s afternoon weather akin to standing in front of a hair dryer, our clothes dried really, really quickly hanging on the line.  Maybe not a legitimate “highlight,” but exciting nonetheless.

 3. Down in the community garden, water now regularly gushes from the spigots.  Many men, women and children now use lengths of hose (connecting them to the spigots) to water their garden plots—compared to carrying the water one bucket at a time from a muddy seep 100 meters away.  It’s a miraculous difference.  I saw Grandfather Simelane using a sprinkler head the other day.  There is still work to do on the renovation project (repairing a few leaks, installing valves, replacing old/broken parts, improving upper reservoir, building concrete retention tanks in the garden), but the transformation is already apparent.  People are expanding their plots, new areas are being cleared, unwanted trees are being removed from within the fenceline… a new energy of optimism is palpable among the gardeners.  I like being there.

 4. Also in the garden, We planted a bunch of beans and in a few weeks we’ll plant more (staggered sowing will stretch out our harvest).  We’ve also planted more beets, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes… and our cabbage, corn and squash are off to good starts.

 5. Scooter, our favorite of the 5 homestead dogs, has injured his paw.  One of the pads is flayed open like a prawn, as though he stepped on a big piece of glass or something, and I cannot imagine he’ll heal up very easily.  But he’s always licking it and keeping it clean, and the wound actually seems to be improving.  We’ve seen him heal from nasty flesh wounds before, so maybe he’ll be back to his old self soon enough.  But these days he hobbles around on just three legs, which hinders his favorite pastime: harassing wayward cattle. 

 6. While hiking around on one of our favorite boulder-strewn mountaintops here in Zombodze, we had a little run-in with a snake.  I was standing on top of a rock under which it was hanging out.  It popped its head up and looked at me, and here’s the thing: it was the thin, hooded head of a cobra.  In an instant I hopped away to a different rock, and we watched from a distance as it slithered through the grass and vanished behind some other boulders.  Seeing a snake is not that rare, even big ones (this was well over 1 meter long and thick as my wrist), but this particular sighting merits special mention because, after consulting our trusty wildlife ID book, we’re about 80% sure it was a Mozambique spitting cobra, one of the so-called Big Seven (the 7 deadly snake species living in Swaziland).  Isn’t that a great, ferocious name?  It’s common and widespread here, though apparently less so in our specific climate region, and as its name promises, it has incredible ability to… I’ll quote from the book: “spit venom up to three meters at any threatening movement.”  3 meters, for the metrically challenged, is almost 10 feet-- and they aim for the eyes.  Apparently I didn’t constitute enough of a threat to the snake, standing on a rock 1 or 2 feet away from its head with a walking stick in my hand… and though I’m thankful of that, I’m also personally offended.  Not threatening enough??  I’ll have you know, I’m plenty threatening.  Let it be known: the Mozambique spitting cobra is both dangerous AND insulting.  Jamie-girl, having heard a “snake-like sound,” had avoided that rock altogether.  Smart girl.  Have I thanked you all for your thoughts and prayers lately?  Thank you.  Have I asked you to keep them up?  Please do.  I truly love having stories like this… but only because they end well. 

 7. As a result of the above experience, we had a rather careful and tense hike back down the boulders of what WAS our favorite local camping and hiking spot.  Not sure we’ll be pitching the tent up there again… bummer.

 8. H1N1, the swine flu, is making the rounds in Swaziland.  At last count, 13 PCVs had it.  They’re all gonna be fine, and we’re fine too, but the PC Office has placed overnight travel restrictions on us until things calm down.  The attention garnered by the swine flu in Swaziland has been a source of much frustration for us PCVs: we often struggle to raise awareness about the far more lethal threat of HIV/AIDS, all while this flu strain gets front-page coverage.

 9. The wives of all 4 married couples in our Group 6 recently got together and finalized the dates of our beach camping trip to Mozambique.  It’s 3 weeks away.  I’m counting the hours.  I now daydream about the warm Indian Ocean waters.

 10. Some friends of ours recently passed us a bunch of great African music, and we’re enjoying it.  Artists from all over the continent—Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, all over West Africa… it’s great stuff.  Ali Farka Toure, Baaba Maal, Dub Colossus, Ernest Ranglin, Habib Koite, Mandoza, Femi Kuti, Manu Dibango (African soul), and lots of stuff from West African jazz legend Fela Kuti.