Pretending to be productive.....

- We are getting abnormally good at rationalizing productivity here in Swaziland. This is a good thing for our sanity and the subject of most of our humor. Hopefully it will all translate into something a little more quantitative somewhere down the road. When it comes down to it, Peace Corps is our job and our job requires us to first 'integrate' before any real 'work' is done. Thus, productivity now comes in the form of milking cows with our neighbors, going on long walks around our community where we run into random people and find out random yet pertinent facts about them or the happenings here. Attending wedding ceremonies or soccer games counts as serious 'work' points. Basically, we feel like it has been a good day when we've had the chance for at least one good encounter with someone outside of our homestead that teaches us something about our community. Our entire mindset is forced to change.

Community development is hard! It's hard because it takes an exorbitant amount of patience. It's hard because, if done well, it requires that you throw all your preconceived notions about how you could help someone and what they need out and focus on the almost impossible task of figuring out how to convince them to help themselves. It is one of the most difficult balancing acts between building their capacity without creating dependency. Swaziland's attitude on development was accurately quoted the other day by another PCV, through their actions, it seems like they are thinking "tell me what you have to offer and I'll tell you what I need". They will take anything they can get, even if it's not what they need. The answer to development doesn't lie in how much aid we can give out, it lies in fostering something in people that gives them drive, creativity, ownership, a willingness to invest in their own communities and countries. How are we supposed to teach people to care about those things? We have no idea. But maybe in two years we will be closer to figuring it out. I hope so. In the meantime we will continue sharing meals with them, milking their cows, baking bread for them (to convince them to be our friends :), learning their language, grieving their loss and celebrating their victories. Maybe that will all amount to something in the end.

- In other news.....the before mentioned baking of bread has been a good hobby and delicious.

- I have recently purchased some swazi swag. This skirt is what most of the married women wear except in the form of a dress. The dress version was a little too much for me :) The deep pockets are my favorite. Everyone thinks it's hilarious when I wear it around our community. Just trying to fit in!
Love from the Swaz,

Rubes and Lew