SCHOOLS OPEN-SORT OF
Schools were due to open for the third term on Tuesday, September 13. The thing is, the government
promised to pay for the orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs), and government still owes E80
million (about $11.5 million) to the schools. It is rumored that some schools have not received any
OVC money for two years. So the principal's association decided not to open schools until the money is
paid. Bottom line-we are still not teaching all the form 1, 2, and 4 students. We are teaching the form 3
and 5 students, because they take their big and important tests beginning in about 1 month. It's Monday
morning when I'm writing this, and we'll see what the plan is in about an hour when the students
assemble.
Opinions on the matter vary. Some say that the students are losing out (of course that's true, though I
saw few long faces on the form ones when they were told last week to come back Monday); others say
schools simply cannot run without money (a teacher colleague has a friend who is a principal in a
school around Manzini; the principal showed my friend a bank balance for the school, which stood at a
whopping E2000. Who among you could run a high school indefinitely on less than $300?). One can
hope the government will learn not to make promises it cannot keep.
UPDATE: "Sidziniwe kunatsa incwancwa ekhaya"
This means "We are tired of eating thin porridge at home". A form 1 student uttered that just minutes
ago after assembly was dismissed. The Deputy had announced that nothing has changed and that only
the form 3 and 5 students will receive instruction while the Form 1, 2 and 4 students will again go
home. They received a letter to take to their parents before they left, explaining that the schools are still
waiting for the government to pay and that everyone should listen to the radio for further information.
School is indefinitely closed. Interesting times.
E2400 A MONTH
I met a student (Bongani Shongwe) on the road last Wednesday and had a good chat. He owns a digital
camera and used to take photos of students, charging E6 a photo. He would take the shot, travel to town
and print the picture, then come back to the school to give the photo and collect the money. Students
know we have a digital camera and sometimes come to us and ask for a photo. We steadfastly refuse
and send them instead to Bongani, hoping that we can encourage private enterprise. I asked him if he
was taking any photos these days at the school. He said he had given up on the students, as Bongani
would often take the photo and return with print in hand, only to have the students never pay (future
government officials?). But, he continued, he can make E600 (just under $100) on a Saturday taking
photos of folks in town. He simply stands around on various streets and runs the same operation he
does at school, though folks in town pay. Ingeniously, one of his locations is a small tree nursery where
his sister works. The customer may arrange a backdrop consisting of vegetation of his or her choice; it's
a sidewalk photo studio! With siblings to watch over at his homestead he can't go to town every
weekend, but he sure has found a money maker.
INGUBO AYINAMALI
Last week Make Silolo (widow of Abner Dlamini) came for a visit. She explained that she wants to
build a second garden, and sought some help with supplies and labor. We sent her off with a promise
that Rudy would come over on Friday with pesticides (to kill bugs in the garden she's already planted),
fencing nails, and a hammer. When he did get over there about 7:30AM, Make had already moved 20
wheelbarrow loads of cow manure from the corral onto her fields for fertilizer. "Ingubo ayinamali", she
said, meaning "There's no money in the blanket", meaning "Get out of bed and get to work if you want
to eat or buy anything". Good for her.

RANDOM ACT OF KINDNESS
On Thursday last week Kit and I went collecting cow manure on the soccer field. I truly enjoy this job,
as it makes the soccer field nicer for the players and provides good nutrients for our plants.
We found two boys and a girl at the field, just out having a good time. After a few minutes one of the
boys walked over to us with a half-dozen dry cow pies skewered on a dried tree branch. He pushed and
shook the manure off the stick, just like you'd remove the meat and veggies from a shish-ka-bob. Later
the girl helped out too, picking up manure with her bare hands and depositing it in the barrow. I did not
expect this. I'm not sure the word "heartwarming" goes with cow pies, but it was touching.
SPONSORED RIDES AND NEW WHEELS
I mentioned in a previous newsletter that some folks spotted me the entry fee for a mountain bike race
in the lowveld on Saturday, 10 September. Friends in town let me spend Friday night in town so a guy
who works for Inyatsi Construction company could pick me up at 5:45AM to get us to the starting line
on time. The ride there and back with Vitor Oliverra was great (Vitor even brought me all the way to
our house), and the race was a blast. Vitor and I dueled for a while on the course, but he eventually left
me in the dust. It seemed I could catch up and pull ahead of him going up hills, but he recovered and
went ahead on the flats and downhills. I passed another guy twice-twice!-on uphills, and we were
wheel-to-wheel for about 6km on some flats (with me in front). But I knew I didn't have the energy to
keep up that pace, and after a while he went ahead of me and I never saw him again. I suspect this has
to do with bike race strategy (something like let your opponent lead for a while then pass him), which I
know nothing about.
So I spent the last few kilometers by myself-until about 2km remained. I saw behind me two guys I had
passed quite a time before, and I did NOT want them to catch me so close to the end. I am making an
effort not to be very competitive about this biking thing (partly because I'll never win anything
anyway), but really-that would have been too much, to have left these guys behind so long ago just to
lose to them at the end. So I really pushed hard the last km or so, at the risk of leg cramps. I didn't look
back (I know that much is important in a sprint) and indeed crossed the finish line ahead of my wouldbe
overtakers. A small success! I was position 26 out of 28-yikes, I thought I'd done better than that! No
matter-it really was fun.
The race passed through 3 game reserves; one guy said he saw a giraffe. I did notice that the manure
along the trails was neither cow or dog (call it hillbilly awareness), and I did see some bleached-out
animal bones. It did cross my mind a couple times, What if there's a lion in one of these reserves? They
are predators, I'm distracted (creaking bike, hot and sweaty, I'm trying to see the trail markers), and I'd
be an easy take. I talked to someone afterwards about that who had the same vague, disturbing thought.
Fortunately, no one suffered such an incident.
That race was on Saturday. On following Monday (the day before school was supposed to open), I put
Jabu on my back and went for a ride. By the time we returned to the house, the back sprocket wouldn't
turn the wheel when I pedaled; my transmission was shot. I thought "Hmmm, don't know how much
this will cost; the shocks are failing; and the rear gear shifter is also going out. And there's an E1400
($200) second-hand bike at the bike shop for sale, which I've pedaled around the parking lot and liked."
My dad was in sales all his life; I approached Ruth, hoping I had inherited a some of his skills. "Ruth,
my back sprocket doesn't work..." etc. I could see she knew where I was headed. "Is the bike still at the
shop?", she asked. I quickly called and confirmed that it was. "Hold on to it for 10 minutes, guys, I'm
negotiating with Ruth!" They chuckled on the other end and said they would. We looked at the finances
and determined that I would go into debt a little bit, while Ruth most generously offered to give me
some of her discretionary money. The deal was set. I called back the folks at the shop and told them I'd
pick up the bike Saturday. Ah, what a great wife I have!
As we did not teach that week of school, I picked up the bike on Wednesday instead. I also caught a lift
with Mamba to town on Thursday and deposited the old bike there; they'll fix it up and resell it. Eddie
(employee at the shop) said I should get about E1000 out of it. That will cover Ruth's generosity and
most of the debt I incurred. Hot diggity!
When I picked up the new bike, the shop owner asked "Do you want to ride in the Siteki race on
October 1st? Some folks have volunteered to pay your entry fee." I was happily shocked. "Why do they
do this?" I asked. "I sent out an e-mail and folks volunteered", is what the owner said. I was thinking it
would be nice if the rest of the family could come, so I asked if there would be kiddie things (jumping
castle, food, etc.) at the finish line. I got a lukewarm answer on that, and decided I would have to put
this one to Ruth gently and not expect too much, and not get bummed if she said no. She said that it's
actually easier if I just go by myself, as it's a bit of a logistics puzzle getting everyone moved around.
So, she let me go. What a great wife again. I hope I help her even a fraction of the amount she helps
me. Accommodation in town the night before is arranged, and Vitor will again pick me up on the way
(he'd already planned to do this race). As this is a road race and I'll be riding the "Silver Queen" (that's
the name Ruth gave it; she had dibs on naming it, as it would not be here without her generosity) with
fat dirt tires and low gearing, I'll be dreadfully slow; anyone who wants to pass me with their thin-tired,
high-geared, sleek-frame road bikes will leave me far behind. But the experience will, I suspect, be fun
again.
Ruth heard many years ago that one trick for living overseas for a long time is to have hobbies you can
only do overseas. I know there's lots of biking in America, but I don't think I'd get as many "free rides"
there as I do here. Neither do I think I'd be able to collect cow manure with my girls as much as I do.
NSUKUMHILLBILLY
Your 4 year old daughter, while helping you collect cow manure on the soccer field, has this to say
about the quality and quantity of bovine-generated fertilizer: "This is the bomb!"
Hillbilly pre-teen
Kit with a load of hand-picked free fertilizer
Have a nice day,
Rudy for the gang