Experiences of a Novice Development Worker in Swaziland

November 16, 2007. The airplane is fully packed with passengers, leaving not a single seat open. On one side of me is seated a young, African woman of Ugandan origin but has lived in Swaziland, South Africa, and Botswana. Her mother, it turns out, worked in the humanitarian and development sector in Swaziland and had done the bookkeeping for CANGO, a national consortium of NGOs. Already running through my head is ‘new business development,’ ‘networking,’ and ‘recruitment!’ My, how easily we’re conditioned!!! To my other side is a middle-aged, white, South African couple having a tiff in what I imagine is Afrikaan- a tongue that is so foreign to my ears. I’m quite mesmerized as I take in the differing features of a people and language that I have rarely been exposed to. We have been sitting in the sweltering heat of our airplane for the last 1 1/2 hours, delayed at first by a security issue when one of the passengers had to de-board the plane for interrogations, and then second by a sudden decision to refuel (For an 11 hour flight, I would have thought that the tank had already been filled up!)! The captain’s voice pours through the intercom as he announces that we will take off in another 10 minutes. 20 minutes later, we’re told that 2 of the terminal’s 3 runways have been closed, delaying our take off by another 10 minutes. Nearly 2 hours later, greeted by a loud round of applause from the passengers, we finally take off from—no, not an airport in Africa, but from London Heathrow airport, as we head down to Joburg, where I will then rush to make my connecting flight to Manzini, Swaziland. WE’RE GOING TO AFRICA!!!

Matsapa International Airport near the commercial city of Manzini is comprised of a mere, single runaway that serves as both the take off and landing strip. One passenger jet commutes from MTS to Joburg’s ORT roughly 5 times a day, shuttling passengers back and forth, either to their final destination or to a connecting flight. Luggage is nearly always left behind in one destination or other just as in my case, so upon landing, able to find 0 of the 3 pieces I had checked in at Washington Dulles, I was dismayed by the fact that 1, I would have to return to the airport later that day to pick up the pieces, and 2, that it would be considered lucky if all 3 pieces even managed to make their way to Swaziland unscathed, if not stolen. Elliot, one of the new engineers hired for our OFDA/US Embassy-funded Borehole Rehabilitation program, picked me up from the airport. After 2 full nights spent flying over the Atlantic and then down through Africa, I was disappointed to see Elliot’s list of lodging options that we would have to drive door to door to, to find temporary accommodations. Veki’s Lodge was the first stop- no vacancy, as was the outcome of the Mountainview Inn. As we near the highway, on a small sign protruding over a tiny hill reads, "All sex that leads to hell is unsafe. Your safety is in Jesus.” This is not the first time to see a message of this sort en route from the airport. Throughout the gorgeous, lush, green mountains and hills, reminiscent of the hill country of Sri Lanka’s Nuwaraeliya minus the tea plantations, World Vision and other NGOs had erected signs casting the message of safe sex and promotion of condom usage as a precaution against contracting HIV. The rate of HIV/AIDS among the Swazi population is a horrific 40%! Part of IRD’s program that I will assist managing will also include hygiene promotion and HIV/AIDS awareness.

After our third stop, I asked Elliot to drive me to the most convenient hotel in the city center of Swaziland’s capital, Mbabane, where I could try my luck to find accommodations- at least for the new few nights until more suitable, long-term housing could be identified. I was beginning to feel the frustration and fatigue of a long journey and relatively difficult circumstances upon arrival. The City Inn is probably a 2 star by American standards, but one of the better in Mbabane. There is one room available for 5 nights only, so I grab it without even seeing the room. It’s a simple, basic room, but satisfactory at this point. After using the toilet for the first time since the airplane from London to Joburg, I make my way to the bank to exchange some dollars into the local currency- Emalangeni (1 is lilangeni)- before returning to the airport in hopes of finding my luggage there. Lo and behold, one hour later after a bit of bureaucratic nonsense, Elliot and I make our way back to the City Inn with all 3 pieces! Things are already starting to look up. After a quick Peri Peri chicken meal at the local restaurant, Pablo’s, I decided to have a short bath before hitting the sack. Inconveniently, the large bathroom window happens to be by the curtainless bathtub, so I hang towels as makeshift opaque curtains. So as not to flood the bathroom with the water flowing from the handheld shower head, I squat in the bathtub, India bathroom style, and finish my bath in the dark to avoid creating a silhouette against my “curtains.” It’s Friday, November 16th, and I look forward to my first night’s rest in a bed since Tuesday. Despite a slightly rough and at times intimidating first day, I am immensely grateful and looking forward to taking full advantage of this opportunity to engage in development work in Swaziland. I’m intellectually and vocationally famished and eager to learn, in substance, what sustainable development is and how IRD will execute this in the context of Swaziland’s environment and needs.

Over the next three months, I will assist in establishing IRD’s new presence in Swaziland and starting up our second program, funded by USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA)- Drought Mitigation through Community Management of Water Harvesting Systems and Conservation Farming in Shiselweni and Lubombo Districts. The program will use a community-based approach to help mitigate the devastating effects of cyclical drought patterns and subsequent reduction in resilience and need for food aid for 6, 880 beneficiaries by: a) increasing water availability for human consumption coupled with hygiene promotion activities, and b) increasing farm yields through runoff farming water harvesting and conservation tillage techniques.