My permanent home in Swaziland

Posted on October 25, 2016 by elliewick

My permanent home in Swaziland is located in the Manzini Region, with easy access to transportation, food, and Swaziland’s capitol and biggest cities. I live near the main tourist areas of Swaziland, as well, which just happens to be an area called Ezulwini, meaning in heaven. It is located among the many mountains with lush green grasses, fields, and mountainsides. I am glad this area is my home.

When I was visited by the Peace Corps for my first site visit last week, I was immediately told I live at a Posh Corps homestead. I said that maybe my homestead looked posh, especially with water available at home and a garden full of fruit trees, but aside from outside looks it is not that posh.

I do not have running water, a shower, or a toilet like some volunteers. I do not have a tiled floor, a fireplace, or beautiful lighting.

But I do have a beautiful family allowing me to live on their homestead and be a part of their family for two years.

I have had requests to see photos of my home for weeks. Finally, here they are.

dscf3444

My bed and nightstand

dscf3443

My closet and storage area

dscf3442

More storage and my toilet

dscf3440

Part of my kitchen, water filter, and more storage

dscf3439

My stoven sits at one end of my counter. I use the small kettle for tea and the large kettle to boil water for drinking.

 

 

My kitchen counter and shelves

 

dscf3447

My desk and calendar

My homestead from the street, and my laundry as an added bonus! My home is the square building behind my laundry.

 

Posted in Africa, Life, Peace Corps, Swaziland | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A moment in my life: Words of wisdom from Make on cats

Posted on October 23, 2016 by elliewick

So many entertaining things happen in my life in Swaziland. These are the moments I will want to remember because they make me laugh, and they show insight into my daily routine. These moments are often hard to photograph and usually last only a minute or two. I will start sharing them with you in this occasional series. 

Never be mean to a cat. Don’t kick it or throw stones at it. If you are mean to a cat, the cat will bring you a live snake present. So if you have a cat, you must love it. Because cats are smart. 

*We do not have any cats or dogs. 

Posted in A moment in my life, Africa, Peace Corps, Swaziland | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A moment in my life: Trash bags and rainstorms

Posted on October 20, 2016 by elliewick

So many entertaining things happen in my life in Swaziland. These are the moments I will want to remember because they make me laugh, and they show insight into my daily routine. These moments are often hard to photograph and usually last only a minute or two. I will start sharing them with you in this occasional series. 



When it starts raining and you do not have an umbrella or hood, the small black bags found everywhere on this continent are used as hair protection. 

Another wonderfully improvised use I have seen for the bags is as gloves for applying hair products. 

Posted in A moment in my life, Africa, Life, Peace Corps, Swaziland | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wednesday photo: My first Swazi home 

Posted on October 19, 2016 by elliewick

My first home was tiny but cosy. There wasn’t room to unpack, so I continued to live out of my suitcase for another nine weeks. I may have lacked space, but I did have two units with shelves, allowing me to get my food off the ground.

I only took photos of the inside of my hut on the night before moving out, so most of my belongings are packed in these photos.

 

My sleeping and storage area

 

My bathroom and kitchen

 

The cooking area, handwashing station, and shelves

My hut was wonderfully situated. I could sit on my porch and wash dishes and laundry. I could see anyone who was walking down the long driveway. I could watch everyone going about their daily activities and they could watch me. I could watch the sun set behind the mountains just a few kilometers away. And I could sneakily throw spoiled food into the field behind my house and the chickens would remove all evidence.

We did not have many animals, which was also nice. Just a few chickens and a rooster who didn’t have too many outlandish behaviors or noises.

Part of the family in front of the hut

Part of the family in front of the hut

There were so many nice moments there that truly outweigh the all the complicated parts.

Posted in Africa, Peace Corps, Swaziland, Wednesday photo | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What’s cooking: Butternut biscuits

Posted on October 15, 2016 by elliewick

As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Swaziland, I have a limited food budget. But I also love food–both eating and making it. During PST, I cooked without an oven, refrigeration, and a non-stick skillet. Now at my permanent site, I have all three, though at a cost. This occasional series will highlight my cooking and baking and the recipes I use.


I am in love with butternut–butternut squash that is. Yes mom, you heard me right. Maybe it helps that this multipurpose vegetable that really is a fruit is orange.

Either way, butternut has become a substitute for all recipes calling for pumpkin, yams, or sweet potato because they are not available here or not available in orange. And it may be spring here, but all the cold, rainy, and gloomy days make it feel like fall, which means it is time for pumpkin, well butternut, desserts!

  
These butternut biscuits were an instant hit the first time my friend Lori made them for me. Growing up in Maryland, Lori has lots of excellent recipes and loves to cook. And I love to eat her food.

This recipe calls for sweet potato, and the taste and texture turn out nearly the same with butternut.

This is a family recipe and is likely a couple hundred years old. I hope I did the ancestors justice!

Total time: 2 hours if starting with a whole butternut

Makes: 20 biscuits

What do you need:

  • Cookie sheet or cake pan
  • Stoven
  • Measuring cups
  • Large spoon
  • Mixing bowl
  • Pot if starting with a whole butternut
  • Knife

Butternut biscuit ingredients:

  • 2 C flour
  • 1/2 C Crisco/lard/softened butter/softened margarine
  • 1/2 C sugar (I always use a little less.)
  • 1 T baking powder
  • 1 t salt
  • At least 2 cups of cooled and mashed sweet potato or butternut (1 small butternut is about 2 cups)
  • Water if you are starting with a whole butternut

Butternut biscuit recipe:

  1. Preheat stove to 200*.
  2. Peel and chop the butternut.
  3. Add butternut pieces and water to a pot. Cook until the butternut softens and can be mashed.
  4. While cooling, measure dry ingredients. Add flour, margarine, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together.
  5. Mix in butternut. Do not over mix.
  6. Pour batter into cake pan or spread out batter like cookie dough and cut out circles of batter. Place rounds on cookie sheet or inside cake pan.
  7. Cook a cake pan for 25 to 35 minutes or rounds for 10 minutes. Adjust time as necessary for a larger or smaller cake pan.
Posted in Peace Corps, Swaziland, What's cooking | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A moment in my life: Water use and reuse

Posted on October 13, 2016 by elliewick

So many entertaining things happen in my life in Swaziland. These are the moments I will want to remember because they make me laugh, and they show insight into my daily routine. These moments are often hard to photograph and usually last only a minute or two. I will start sharing them with you in this occasional series. 

I always reuse the water in which I hard boiled eggs. When I hard boil eggs in the morning, I use my tiny tea kettle. For many weeks, it was either that or a Dutch oven-sized pot, but I finally bought a set of non-stick, small pots that have been an excellent addition to my life. I think the tea kettle holds one liter of water. I proudly used the water for four different things a few days ago. 

  1. Hard boiled eggs
  2. Filled my mug for tea
  3. Added water to my quick oats for breakfast
  4. Took a bath

Did you know you can take a bath with half a liter of water? I didn’t either until I tried what is now my express version of a bucket bath. 

First I pour the water into a mixing bowl, let it cool, and set the bowl on a chair. If I am washing my hair, that gets washed first. Then I get my body wet with a loofa. Then I soap up my loofa and scrub away. Then I use a washcloth to rinse off the soap. And then I am clean! All of this happens standing up too, usually on a towel to catch the drips. 

Posted in A moment in my life, Africa, Peace Corps, Swaziland | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wednesday photo: A newborn calf

Posted on October 12, 2016 by elliewick

It’s a boy! My family has a new member with the addition of a calf. 

  
He has a very loud moo, so I am glad I do not hear him at night. He has already tried to run into my room when my door was open, but once he realized there was a human nearby, he got scared and stopped. 

He also likes to try to run away to play with the cows across the street, but the barbed wire fence stops him. 

Posted in Peace Corps, Swaziland, Wednesday photo | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Rhinos at Hlane Royal National Park

Posted on October 11, 2016 by elliewick

We were setting up our tent when we heard there were rhinos at the watering hole. We packed up as fast as possible to see the rhino. I had seen one rhino before at Nakuru National Park in Kenya. It was so far away that I do not know if it was white or black. Within a few minutes I had much improved viewings at Hlane Royal National Park.

Hlane only has white rhinos. The black rhinos, which are more endangered, can be found at Mkhaya National Park in Swaziland.

The rhinos were so exciting to see. A few mothers had young children with them.

I learned that rhinos do not have good vision, as well as they return to the same place to defecate. There were many large piles of rhino poop, which can then differentiate the rhino poop from the elephant poop.

Check out the photos below of the rhinos I saw. If you missed the lion or elephant posts, you can see them here and here.

dsc_0993

dsc_0987

dsc_0163

dsc_0162

dsc_0146

dsc_0149

A pile of this rhino’s poop.

dsc_0159

If you go:

Transportation from Manzini to Lomahasha or Simunye: E30-E35 (The khumbi will drop you at the gate and it is a short walk to the toll booth and then another short walk to the camp.)

Park entrance fee: E30 per walk in

Campsite per person: E105 (Huts start at about E450 per person sharing.)

Dinner: E100 (We took breakfast and lunch. Braai grates are available.)

Sunrise/sunset game drive: E335

Rhino drive: E240

Bird watching walking tour: E200

Posted in Africa, Peace Corps, Photos, Swaziland | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Elephants at Hlane Royal National Park

Posted on October 9, 2016 by elliewick

I could not decide if I wanted to see elephants, white rhinos, or lions the most during my visit to Hlane Royal National Park. We ended up seeing them all with excellent viewing opportunities. I have a new appreciation for lions and rhinos now, but I still love the elephants the most. You can check out my photos of the lions here.

There were no infant elephants in the group we saw during our sunrise game drive, but the males we saw were curious and kept approaching closer and closer to the vehicle as they browsed for food. Eventually, the eldest bull charged us and we reversed real fast.

Yes, an elephant could flip the safari jeep, and yes, our driver said it had happened to him. Now that would be quite the story.

dsc_0113

dsc_0098

dsc_0081

dsc_0090

dsc_0073

dsc_0071

dsc_0121

The big bull is stressed from something, which is why he has fluid running down his face.

dsc_0127

Apparently we were stressing him. He charged us a few minutes later. We reversed real fast.

If you go:

Transportation from Manzini to Lomahasha or Simunye: E30-E35 (The khumbi will drop you at the gate and it is a short walk to the toll booth and then another short walk to the camp.)

Park entrance fee: E30 per walk in

Campsite per person: E105 (Huts start at about E450 per person sharing.)

Dinner: E100 (We took breakfast and lunch. Braai grates are available.)

Sunrise/sunset game drive: E335

Rhino drive: E240

Bird watching walking tour: E200

Stay tuned for rhino photos in the next few days!

Posted in Africa, Peace Corps, Travel Narrative | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Lions at Hlane Royal National Park

Posted on October 7, 2016 by elliewick

There were so many animals I looked forward to seeing at Hlane, like the lions and elephants, but also some of the smaller animals like the honey badger and colorful birds. As it turned out, we saw only large animals and two bird species, which is nothing to complain about.

When you visit Hlane, you are almost guaranteed to see the lions, white rhinos, and elephants. The park is not exceedingly large and it is fenced into three sections to provide better protection to the large animals, which means you search for a certain kind of animal in a certain area.

I went on the sunrise game drive and the weather was perfect. The drive started just as the sun came up, but cloud coverage made the day extremely overcast and kept the temperatures down.

The first area we visited was the lion area. As soon as we found the lions, we realized that the terrifying growling noises we had heard the previous day were coming from the lions. We found a family of five lions with year-old males and older females. The males’ manes were just starting to grow.

I had seen two lions in the Maasai Mara in Kenya, but they were sleeping and not very exciting. These five lions though were on the prowl, watching for antelope. Surprisingly, they behaved just like domestic cats, lying down to take a nap and lick their paws, and rub heads with their friends.

One thing I learned about lions is that they have black patches of fur behind their ears so that lions following behind can more easily see the lion in the front.

Check out the photos below of the lions I saw on my visit to Hlane.

dsc_0010

Looking for game.

dsc_0015

You can see the beginnings of this lion’s mane.

dsc_0020

This one checked us out for a few minutes but never moved or showed real interest.

dsc_0024

A good view of the black patch behind the lion’s ears.

dsc_0027

The lionesses watching for game on the other side of their enclosure. They were more active than the males.

dsc_0031

How many lions can you find? They blend in so well with the dead grass and trees.

dsc_0034

ROAR!

dsc_0057

The five together with another good ear view. They were talking via growls to a lion friend in quarantine on the other side of the fence.

dsc_0062

Yawn.

dsc_0063

The only moment one of the lions looked like the terrifying beasts they can be.

If you go:

Transportation from Manzini to Lomahasha or Simunye: E30-E35 (The khumbi will drop you at the gate and it is a short walk to the toll booth and then another short walk to the camp.)

Park entrance fee: E30 per walk in

Campsite per person: E105 (Huts start at about E450 per person sharing.)

Dinner: E100 (We took breakfast and lunch. Braai grates are available.)

Sunrise/sunset game drive: E335

Rhino drive: E240

Bird watching walking tour: E200

Stay tuned for elephant and rhino photos in the next few days!

Posted in Africa, Peace Corps, Photos, Swaziland, Travel Narrative | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments