The books of 2017

Posted on January 16, 2018 by elliewick

Peace Corps service comes with a lot of free time. At the beginning of my service I read less because I was trying so hard to integrate into my community.

Now I am taking better care of my self by trying to worry less about the little work I have done in my community and read instead.

Reading has never been punishment to me, and I always strive to finish what I have started. I have a few lingering, unfinished books from 2017 that I need to work on, but otherwise, I read 45 books. My numbers surged at the end of the year as my lessons at school were canceled and I had more free time.

These were my favorites, in alphabetical order:

The 40 Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Olympis by Daniel James Brown

The Darling by Russel Banks

The Elephant Whisperer: My Life with the Herd in the African Wild by Lawrence Anthony

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Killing for Profit: Exposing the Illegal Rhino Horn Trade by Julian Rademeyer

The Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

O’Mandingo! The Only Black at a Dinner Party by Eric Miyeni

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

For my complete list, click here.

For 2018, I would love to read just as much. And I am planning to read as much written by African authors as I can.

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Wednesday photo: Okavango Delta

Posted on January 3, 2018 by elliewick

The tour I am on included a night spent in the Okavango Delta and two walking safaris. Transportation was via mokoro, which is like a canoe. They used to be made of wood from the sausage tree, but now they are made of plexiglass. 

We had two extremely peaceful rides. 

View from the mokoro.

Fellow traveler Kim and me heading into the Delta.

    
We also learned to pole, but none of us was very good. Those photos are to come. 

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Wednesday photo: Okaukuejo water hole

Posted on December 27, 2017 by elliewick

After a fantastic game drive, we arrived back to camp just at sunset. I hurried to the water hole and saw this.

That’s a black rhino in the center and two giraffe on the right.  It was a beautiful moment.

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How I spent November’s living allowance

Posted on December 25, 2017 by elliewick

November was an expensive month in the clothing department. I bought a dress made in traditional fabric in South Africa and then I had a tailor make three other pieces. And I still have so much fabric left from my trip to Lusaka, Zambia.

I managed to make ends meet with all of the reimbursements I had received over the past few months.

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The chicken diaries: Slaughter time

Posted on December 22, 2017 by elliewick

I became a parent to two chickens I named Sitfwatfwa (snow) and Thandi (love) in January 2017. This is their story.

Make told me it was time for one of my roosters to die.

It took a few days for me to slaughter a member of my flock. Unlike my Swazi family, I cannot consume a whole chicken in one day. I was not even sure I could eat a whole chicken before it went bad.

I decided to make chicken noodle soup and planned to share it with my
family. They hated it.

At least they helped me catch the rooster because there was no way I was going to. (Chickens run really fast when they now it’s time to be dinner!)

Below you will find photos of my first chicken slaughter.

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My sis stalking the rooster with the big, black tail feathers.

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A bhuti running after the rooster in flip flops may have been one of the funniest things I’ve seen.

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Caught after he entered a space with no other exits.

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Sawing away after the rooster resigned himself to death.

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He was bloody.

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Slaughter wasn’t as horrible as I expected.

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How I spent October’s living allowance

Posted on December 21, 2017 by elliewick

October was a strange month. It involved lots of travels to Mauritius and my parents’ arrival. Apparently I mostly purchased food.

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Wednesday photo: Rhino encounter

Posted on December 20, 2017 by elliewick

We spent hours looking for rhinos in Imfolozi in Kwa Zulu-Natal and finally found two a short distance from the car.

At that moment, none of us were expecting our second rhino encounter to be so spectacular. We saw so many at Hlane, and then we were told we could approach a pair on foot.

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The smaller one was quite curious.

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Mom couldn’t believe we were standing so close to two rhinos!

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Introducing my parents to Swazi song and dance

Posted on December 18, 2017 by elliewick

For as much as I wanted work experience in Africa, my time as a PCV in Swaziland has largely been spent with me wholeheartedly embracing Swazi culture.

After a few stops on our way to Swaziland from the Johannesburg airport, we started our full day in Swaziland at the Mantenga Cultural Village to tour the village and watch a performance of traditional Swazi songs.

I toured the village and watched the performance a month after arriving in Swaziland and was excited for a second visit. I was looking forward to the songs the most, because I have spent many months now learning traditional Swazi songs for many occasions.

Wedding songs, sibhaca (the male dance), ummiso and ingadla (female dances, with the second being the kicking dance), were performed, along with a song from a sangoma, or traditional healer.

All Swazi songs come with a dance, as well, and the performers were excellent.

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Married women dancing in front.

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Sibhaca dance.

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Ingadla dance.

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The sangoma dance.

My parents enjoyed the performance and tour of the village. We followed the outing with chicken dust, which is chicken grilled on the side of the road and it is served with liphalishi (maize porridge similar to mashed potatoes), and then drove to my homestead to meet my family. I had also arranged for two of my bosisi, my tutor, and her sisi to also perform traditional songs for my parents. We had a nice  little show in the front yard.

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Wednesday photo: Sibebe

Posted on December 13, 2017 by elliewick

Swaziland is home to Sibebe, the world’s second largest monolith and the largest exposed granite pluton in the world.

I finally hiked Swaziland’s highest rock and it was a success.

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The granite face is behind me.

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A traditional Swazi wedding, part three: Umtsimba

Posted on December 7, 2017 by elliewick

Umtsimba celebrations return to the groom’s family’s homestead for the final event of a Swazi traditional wedding (the first is the teka and the second is the lobola). This ceremony celebrates the completion of the lobola payment, which can occur even many years later.

The bride’s family will travel to the groom’s homestead with gifts purchased with money acquired after selling some of the lobola cows. The groom also returns the favor with gifts for the bride’s immediate family.

The bride’s family washes and prepares for the celebration and dancing at a nearby river. Eventually, they will be summoned to approach the homestead.

At the umtsimba I attended, we sang and danced our way onto the groom’s homestead and first headed to the kraal. There was a “fight” to enter the kraal where we all danced to symbolize our arrival.

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The bride dancing in the kraal.

Then for a few hours, we performed for the wedding guests. There were traditional umtsimba, ummiso (female dance), and sibhaca (male dance) dances.

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Dancing.

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The sibhaca dance. The audience loved this one because these men were not wearing anything under their fabric.

The bride was paraded around the homestead, sometimes participating in the dances and sometimes sitting with her brother who was replacing the role of her father because he is dead.

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The bride’s brother is holding the shield.

After the dancing, everyone partook in a fancy meal.

At some umtsimbas, a bed is brought into the yard and the bride and groom have to lie there during the ceremony as a symbol of oneness.

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One of the male participants.

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A close up of the bride’s outfit. The headdress is very similar to the king’s headdress for the main day of Incwala.

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All photos are courtesy of one of my bhutis.

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