Hello,
This is going to be quite an adventure. Just to get here and start typing we had to walk 35 minutes, try two different internet locations before we ended up at the Siteki Hotel where I am using their computer in an office space. The landscape here is most beautiful, incredible rolling hills and mountains and the soil is so red! The air is fresh with a good breeze most of the day.
Our only transport so far has been walking. The locals giggle to see us white boys walking along the roadside sweating. Everyone is incredibly friendly and greets us constantly. The children are so beautiful and sweet and there are lots of them, many in their school uniforms.
The food situation is most challenging. We did some shopping yesterday and became overwhelmed with the lack of familiar food that we basically left with some potato chips, bread and cheese. There were lots of chicken feet available but I guess we were not in the mood.
Finding housing a going to be quite a chore as well. We have a couple of leads but nothing certain. Most often people say come back later or tomorrow. There are not many places available to rent but it will work out.
The electricity keeps going off so I am going to sign out before I loose what I have written already. We are both well and very wide eyed and up for the experience. Please keep in touch.
Here is my cell phone number 675-5234, the country code is 268 so I think from the states you would dial 011-268-675-5234 although you may need another zero before the 675 but I am not sure. The other volunteers here say Skype works quite well or try nobelcom.com to get a phone card of sorts.
Peace,
Scott
This is going to be quite an adventure. Just to get here and start typing we had to walk 35 minutes, try two different internet locations before we ended up at the Siteki Hotel where I am using their computer in an office space. The landscape here is most beautiful, incredible rolling hills and mountains and the soil is so red! The air is fresh with a good breeze most of the day.
Our only transport so far has been walking. The locals giggle to see us white boys walking along the roadside sweating. Everyone is incredibly friendly and greets us constantly. The children are so beautiful and sweet and there are lots of them, many in their school uniforms.
The food situation is most challenging. We did some shopping yesterday and became overwhelmed with the lack of familiar food that we basically left with some potato chips, bread and cheese. There were lots of chicken feet available but I guess we were not in the mood.
Finding housing a going to be quite a chore as well. We have a couple of leads but nothing certain. Most often people say come back later or tomorrow. There are not many places available to rent but it will work out.
The electricity keeps going off so I am going to sign out before I loose what I have written already. We are both well and very wide eyed and up for the experience. Please keep in touch.
Here is my cell phone number 675-5234, the country code is 268 so I think from the states you would dial 011-268-675-5234 although you may need another zero before the 675 but I am not sure. The other volunteers here say Skype works quite well or try nobelcom.com to get a phone card of sorts.
Peace,
Scott
13 comments:
It was great to talk to the both of you on your new cell phone!! Sounds like you're doing well and trying to get as much done as you can in a VERY different time zone. The B&B and countryside sounds beautiful and idyllic. I still laugh at the image of you, David, flapping away at mosquitoes inside your netting!! Enjoy yourselves at the festival, maybe you'll get to meet the king and his wives!! FYI, chicken feet makes the most delectable broth....Karen
Dear Scott & David,
Happy belated Thanksgiving! Scott you were missed in Team meeting on Tuesday---and we were saying that it was your first day in Africa---so thoughts and prayers for you and David were part of our Reflection. I am chuckling picturing you two sweating, trudging down red-red dirt roads---I've been there! Apartment hunting sounds kind of like doing it in Manhattan. Yikes. You will find a place! Stay cool. African food is quite the weight-loss strategy.
Love,
-Patti.
Hi Scott,
My first time visiting your blogsite, it's good to now how to be in touch. I think of you and David daily, will keep in touch. Love you,
Anne
Hey Sweets,
So glad to now be connected with ya via your blog. Missing you & thinking MUCH of you both !! love & hugs, jim :)
Anne and Amy are in Amy's office thinking of you guys. So good to hear that you arrived safely. I have been praying for you daily. Wow...my sympathies with the food situation. Don't follow my path of french fries and cereal...the results were poor. Anne agrees that the chicken feet can make some good soup. Shall we send you some seeds to start your garden :-) Love to both of you...Amy and Anne
hello over there... You are both missed NY is 2 people short. Chicken feet in a little water and salt is delicious. What happened to the rest of the bird??? You are in our thoughts and looking forward to hearing reading of your adjustments to a strange new(ancient) land. NY is blue skied and cool today with all the noise that accompany this place. Hilary C. is part of OBAMA team.. All very exciting and scary. Similar to your experience but different? HMMM Love from SB and GS... Safe travels. Boil those feet.
dear scott and david,
chicken feet. our neighbor in charlottesville, a spirited woman who has a bumper sticker --i go from zero to bitch in 2.5 seconds --was amazed and very bothered when she learned judy and i eviscerated chickens for a brand new farmer and ignorantly left the feet, not to mention the gizzards, behind in the trash. they are both, she insisted orgasmically, a delicacy. . the next go round of chicken processing, aspiring to be respectful neighbors and wary of the 0 to 2.5 bitch possibilities, we dropped the feet and gizzard harvest off and came back for a party she created around these foods which were part of a special tradition. it was really beatiful even though judy almost gagged, with a smile on her face so only i noticed. scott i miss you every day at work and also when i'm not at work when i remember that you are not on the phone i still have programmed as scott. i loved the story Al shared with the team about pulling out the obama paraphenalia! love, judy and liz
dear scott,
last night i sang with the NYC gay men's chorus in carnegie hall & as we sang "Ke Nale Monna" i lifted up both you & david in praise for the amazing work you are doing!! it's a beautiful song that we sang in the Sotho language & the title translates "I have a Man"...how appropriate is that !! The song was performed with big, bold drums & the sound resonated throughout that great hall. Traditionally the song is sung at weddings, celebrations, & events honoring a person...it was my way of honoring you & david.
the lyrics are pretty simple:
Ke nale Monna (I have a man)
Helele (Helele: Cry of Joy)
monna yena (this man of mine)
Lebitso la hae (the name of this man)
Ke aButi "Buti" (is brother "scott/david")
Iyo nana! (Iyo nana!: Cry of Joy)
love to you both...sending you many thoughts & prayers.
jim :)
dear scott and david-----i keep wondering how to picture you in swaziland and now i have some images of the town, the hospitals,you doing home visits and you dancing. i am sending you wishes of health and water. thanks for sharing and making me remember to appreciate all we have here. its always been so strange to me how the world's resources and wealth and food and water and peace are so unfairly distributed. i am holding you in the light and anxiously await the new post. scott i am still missing you all of the time. i still have the phone you used to be on the other end of listed as scott. luckily alice has a different souding voice so i don't call her scott. sending you hugs and kisses, and much love
Hi Scott,
I look forward to reading your blog each week. You write so well, I feel as though I am part of your experience. I signed up with noblecom and hope to talk to you soon. Love you.
Anne
Happy Holidays, Scott & David! It snowed here today - those big, fat flakes. Have you heard that Dr. Avery has resigned from hospice and is taking a new position in DC? We all feel very sad & will miss him very much. I wish you many delights and blessings for 2009. Peace & love, Debra O.
This just in...Shelley Raffle has just notified us of a Winter Storm Warning. We knew you wouldn't want to miss this. Miss you, friend...Love, Amy
Scott, I have just caught up on all your blogs since you arrived. The strength that you and David possess to do this work is amazing. I wonder at the contrast in our lives and the lives of the people you are meeting. Please take care of yourselves and each other. Wash you hands, wear your masks and stay safe. I hope the Christmas season brings you joy and that there is peace for all of us in 2009. Love, Harriette
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