THE FOUR OBJECTIVES OF A PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER
20 years ago, our Peace Corps group was introduced to the 3 objectives of the Peace Corps. They are 1) To provide technical assistance to the host country; 2) To learn about the culture of the host country; 3) To help citizens of the host country to learn about American culture. The fourth, unofficial, and much more frequently achieved objective of a PCV is to provide amusement to members of the host country. Our innumerable behavioral and linguistic gaffes throughout the day (most of which we are unaware of) provide our Swazi friends, acquaintences, and complete strangers ample opportunities for laughs and smiles. Occasionally, however, we are blessed with the knowledge that we have succeeded in meeting objective four.

A week ago I was walking across town and passed an income tax building. A man standing outside the building said "Masilela" was inside. I didn't know who he meant, but the guy outside seemed nice enough, and I didn't want to offend "Masilela" so I stuck my head inside. It was Vusi Masilela, a former (1990s) student who now owns Shining Star bus. Shining Star services our area, though we don't ride it as much as we used to because many people take the kombis and Shining doesn't get enough passengers to make it worth coming past the school as often. Though the intervening two decades have been good to us, it's funny to notice that we both have lost a lot of hair.

Vusi and I discussed the fact that Ruth and I now have four daughters. He explained that I should get some concoction to drink, that would cause our next child to be a son. I replied that someone told me that I should wear ematjobo before spending some "quality time" with Ruth. Vusi and the employee behind the counter began laughing. This conversation was conducted mostly in SiSwati, a dynamic which increased the fun of the whole exchange. It sure is nice to reach a concrete accomplishment (like humoring the locals) every once in a while.

BYE BYE BRITTANY
Speaking of PCVs, Brittany Bickford (hope the spelling is right, Brittany!) is completing her 2-year Peace Corps stint at the end of May. She's stayed down the road near Mdzimba High School, and it's been nice to have her around. We most recently saw her when she spent the night in order to attend the early-morning funeral of a community leader which took place close to the school. Brittany plans to study public health with an international emphasis at Tulane beginning later this year. Maybe we'll see her again in a couple years, after she finishes her degree. Have a good life, Brittany. Visit poglitshphotos.blogspot.com for a photo of Brittany and out family.

ROCKSTAR
Outside the school gate, we do kinda stick out in Swaziland. Sometimes this is fun, other times it gets a little annoying, and sometimes it is intimidating for the girls. We were walking back from church last Sunday and had to traverse a small valley. As we were going down the valley, a half dozen Swazi girls were coming down the other side toward us. They were running and shouting, and we seemed to be the cause of the excitement. Sure enough, they crossed the stream at the bottom of this valley and came straight for the girls. Over my shoulder I told Ruth "here comes Grace's adoring throng" and began singing "I wanna be a rockstar, but I ain't got what it takes", the first line of a song by the band Third Day. The girls react in different manners to these onslaughts of attention, from tolerance to amusement to fear and crying. This day Gracie, who was 20 feet ahead of us, turned tail and ran back at top speed to hide behind her parents. The other girls just stood still and waited to see what would happen. In fact, we had a very nice interaction, and our girls were happy to be picked up by the visitors and carried (even 8 year old Grace; she's getting heavy!) up the other side of the valley to the main road. As we approached the road we could hear a kombi approaching. It was quite a sight to see a small hoard of Swazi children surging up the hill with our children in arms to flag down a kombi, while Ruth, Jabu and Rudy huffed and puffed up to the road. This was thoughtful of our newfound Swazi friends, because we managed to catch a kombi heading towards the school. If it hadn't been for these well-wishers, we would have been waiting much longer to get home. So this day, being minor celebrities wasn't so bad.

BALANCED DIET
In chemistry class this week we discussed what catalytic converters on automobiles do, and how they do it (in case you're not familiar, they convert harmful exhaust products like carbon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen into less harmful substances before they leave the tailpipe). We put two example reactions on the board, and went about balancing them. Those of you who took chemistry in high school surely remember the pleasures of making sure you have the same number of each kind of atom on each side of the arrow.

We did the balancing together as a class, and at one stage a student said "You must put two", indicating that the number two must be placed in front of one of the chemicals. I replied "Hhayi, phutfu". "Hhayi" is a gentle way to say "no", and "phutfu" is a variety of cooked cornmeal which is drier and crumblier than normal cornmeal porridge. The word is pronounced "POOT-foo". A few moments passed before gentle chuckles rolled across the room as the students recognized the similar sounds of "put two" and "phutfu". I'd like to think it was a moment when these young people saw that we've been here long enough to have picked up, if only so slightly, on some of the less obvious aspects of Swazi culture (like the different varieties of corn porridge). It was also, of course, an opportunity to fulfill objective 4.

Have a nice day,
Rudy for the Poglitsh's