Our Dear Friends,
We are just back from a 10-day meditation retreat where Jordan sat and John served as the kitchen manager, the only non-native Spanish speaker in a group of five (with some extra folks helping out from time to time). There were 85 folks attending, a mix of Peruvians and young people from all over the globe. The retreat was a rich experience for both of us, clearly a time of deepening our meditation practices and gaining confidence in our capacity to live and work in a different culture.
Before the retreat it felt like our time in South America was winding down. We booked tickets and will return to Tampa tomorrow, April 28. We plan to reconnect with many of our friends and family members. We’ll also head off to our favorite haunt near Asheville for backpacking in the Smokey Mountains. John has also applied to sit a10-day retreat in Dallas at the end of the month. It’s such a powerful practice that seems wise to clear the mind a bit before moving into this transition.
Today, over a year after beginning the application process, we formally accepted an invitation from the Peace Corps to serve in Swaziland. It’s a landlocked country, about the size of New Jersey in the southeastern corner of Africa. The country has the worse incidence of HIV in the world. We will both be working with AIDS education and awareness in a variety of ways that we expect to learn more about as the staging process starts, leading up to our departure in late June.
From our research so far, we have learned that Swaziland is a diverse country. There are modern cities and subsistence farmers living in small villages. The several distinct ecological niches and climates range from hot and dry to cool and wet. Here are a couple of quotes and two short videos that we pulled from the internet that may help you appreciate why we are excited about this assignment.
From the Lonely Planet guidebook: “Swaziland might be among the smallest countries on the continent and one of Africa’s remaining monarchies, but there’s more than novelty value on offer here. You can almost feel South Africa’s undercurrents of tension fade away when you cross the border into friendly, easy-going little Swaziland, making it a relaxing stopover on the trip between Mozambique and South Africa. And it’s surprising how much there is to do here – the royal ceremonies, excellent wildlife reserves and superb scenery should be more than enough reason to come.”
From the Peace Corps website: “The greatest single problem confronting the people of Swaziland is the HIV/AIDS pandemic. As of 2005, the infection rate of adults (ages 15 to 49) was 42.6 percent, giving Swaziland the highest HIV rate in the world. In addition, approximately 70,000 children have been orphaned as a result of AIDS.
“The Peace Corps assists the government of the Kingdom of Swaziland in implementing its national strategy on HIV/AIDS risk reduction and impact mitigation. This includes training teachers and community members in life skills aimed at HIV/AIDS prevention, initiating and promoting programs in HIV/AIDS awareness, identifying partnerships and resource alliances to fight the epidemic, strengthening existing HIV/AIDS intervention strategies and activities, mobilizing communities to respond to the effects of HIV/AIDS, and working with in-school and out-of-school youth.”
Here’s a rather corny tourism YouTube video about Swaziland that you may enjoy. It shows some of the landscape, wildlife, people and traditions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi7YSWP-blo
This one about community response to the country’s 70,000 orphans provides a more sobering perspective.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNIQ_nItbKg
Our response to the Peace Corps invitation was revealing. Jordan was excited to be heading out into the world with her social work training and engaging with others for such a worthwhile purpose. On the other hand, John is looking forward to exploring the exotic environment and engaging in cultural exchanges with others. He was up late last night researching the landscape and wildlife of Swaziland and figuring out which Lonely Planet guidebooks to order. We’re at different phases in our lives and it’s such a gift that this assignment will accommodate both.
We thank you for your prayers and good wishes during our time abroad. We’ve certainly felt supported many times by invisible hands.
Know that we keep you in our prayers.
With love and appreciation,
