Update from Swaziland - March 16, 2008 - Stories from Our Gogos

We have just completed our first week of a month-long expedition in Swaziland in partnership with CWB Sweden. We are working with the Lutheran Development Service, a community-based relief organization, in a village in the drought stricken southeastern part of the country where over 45% of the population is HIV positive. As there is no other psychosocial support work happening in Swaziland, we have been received with great enthusiasm and excitement by the community and LDS staff. We will be visiting Ndzevane many times this year as the project is the first part of a year-round program focused on developing the local capacity of caregivers to be play facilitators with children and their guardians - a new and exciting step for CWB South Africa.

The work itself has been challenging due to the very hot temperatures. We barely can peel ourselves out of our costumes that are caked in mud from our sweat and the dirt after performances and getting clean is a Herculean task. Our constant theme is amanza wekho (there is no water) with no running water at our home - a guesthouse at what used to be a refugee complex for people fleeing the conflict in Mozambique in the 80s. And it seems like there is never enough time to get through everything each day!

But every minute is absolutely worth it! Performing with Sibongile, Mattias, and Michael before hundreds of school children is an absolute joy for all involved. In the afternoon, we teach and play with 30 orphans who have been identified by the Ndzevane Primary School as particularly vulnerable. The children leave each workshop with big smiles on their faces, singing the songs we teach them and teaching others the games that we play. Every afternoon, I drive Tesibusiso, Thobile, Sibusio, and Ndumiso home blaring Brenda Fassie or Mapaputsi and dancing the whole way. Banele and other children who live by visit our guesthouse to learn how to ride the unicycle from Mattias Michael, and SIbongile. Though it isn't the main focus of our work, these few moments of relaxed play are just as meaningful for the children, especially when many live in child-led households without any parents or role models to look up to.

In the caregiver workshops, we are fortunate to have 18 dedicated women who volunteer in LDS's Neighborhood Care Points - centers of support for orphans and vulnerable. When we are not performing, our mornings are spent playing simple children's games with them, doing trust and sensation exercises, and telling stories to awaken a sense of play and connection with chidren. Thebile, our LDS partner, says that the practical aspect of our workshop is much more useful than other more theoretical training. "They can take what you teach them back to their NCPs and use it straight away," she exclaimed once after a morning workshop. To give you a taste of what goes on in these workshops, here's a story that one of our caregivers told us when exploring stories that our grandparents told us when we were children. Hope you enjoy!