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Stirred Souls
When I stand in front of my classroom, I seethirty-one pairs of hungry eyes looking to me.They come to class with a yearning mind and soul,wondering if they can really be made whole.Their stories are beyond my understanding of pain;yet, they don’t show sorrow; they know to play the game.Sometimes they don’t listen to what
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The Bigger Picture
It’s not about me. This phrase is much easier to say than to actually put into practice. I had a good lesson in humility this week. For some reason, I had a particularly difficult time keeping my students’ attention in the classroom. They were a little more noisy and disrespectful than usual, and yesterday I
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Just a Girl
A poem I wrote the other day about Tenele… With a hat tilted sideways,She struts the streets of Manzini,A see-through white topBarley meets the top of her jeans,Exposing her butterfly belt buckle. Men call to her;Women stare at her;The wrong people know her. She has few friends, too many “lovers.”She lies about them to cover
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You Know You’re in Swazi When…
These are a few funny things to give you a better picture of my life in Swazi… 🙂 Being called “fat” is a compliment. Your nickname becomes “Blue Eyes” because blue eyes are so rare. “Ngisha dile” (I am married) becomes a regular part of speech so guys will stop proposing. A wild cat in
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Enjabulweni School
When people ask me how school/teaching is going, I sometimes don’t know what to say…I find myself at with a lack for words, not because there’s nothing to tell but because there is so much to say. It is a challenge, but one I enjoy immensely. It has been very, very difficult to go from
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Traditional Swazi Wedding
I traveled to South Africa this past weekend to join my Swazi friends at a wedding. It was quite the wonderful experience! I learned a few good lessons though… 1) Never travel alone with a bus full of Swazis if you want to be on time. Again…I am learning patience. It was such a loooong
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Titi, Tiny, and Tenele
I am so humbled by the love my Swazi friends have shown me. They are seriously the most selfless people I have ever met. I am amazed by them, and I learn something new about love and faith from them every day. I wish you all could meet them. They would change your life, like
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Week in Review
Stuck in the ghetto: Ryan and I have made several trips to our old carepoint Mangwaneni (a carepoint is a feeding center for OVCs [orphans and vulnerable children]). Ryan made me drive to the carepoint so I could get used to the opposite side driving in Swazi. It was a little scary at first, but
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Safe, Settled (and already sweating) in Swaziland
SAFE Problems with Arrival?After my passport frenzy, I finally made it on the plane and had a 16 hour flight to Johannesburg. I slept surprisingly well on the plane, watched a few movies, and made friends with two young kids from Botswana to pass the time. Swazi is four hours from Jo-burg, so I had
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Calm Amidst a Storm
Starting with a storm… I should have already been on a plane to Johannesburg by now. But we had a slight mishap with my passport. And since I have time and access to internet, I thought I might as well fill you all in on the story… Key characters:Hannah: friend who lives in AtlantaEllen: Hannah’s
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Flying S-O-L-O
I always knew leaving the people I love would be difficult, but I never knew it would be THIS difficult. This last week of preparation before my trip has been nothing less than stressful, emotional, and chaotic. With my grandpa in the hospital and the reality that I have to say my final goodbye tonight
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Getting Set to Jet!
As much as I have been excited and waiting for this upcoming adventure, it has hit me with full force how hard it’s going to be without the immediate comfort of my family and friends that I take for granted all too often. I have two weeks left until my departure, so I’m trying to
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Slavery or Starfish?
AND YOU THOUGHT SLAVERY ENDED?Talk about an intense summer read! If you’re bold enough to take on a book that will wrench your heart, but leave you inspired and encouraged at the same time, pick up Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn. In their book, Kristof and WuDunn reveal
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“Tanele-Bell”
I met the smiling young girl at GuGu’s school, a free school consisting of 14 boys and girls in the Mangwaneni Squatter Camp. Tanele (whom I nicknamed “Tanele-Bell”) soon became one of my favorite children as I saw the dire need she had to be loved. At 12 years old, she had quite the edge
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T-Shirt Fundraiser
To help raise funds for my 9 month stay in Swaziland, I am selling T-shirts for $15. If you would like to order one, contact me at: martin.mary@students.uwlax.edu and let me know how many and what size(s). (There is an additional $2 for shipping.) T-shirt front: “Tinyatselo Tesandla” means “fingerprints” in the African language called
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MYC Bridging School
The creators of Manzini Youth Care (MYC) started this free school to serve as a bridging source for orphans or street children who have never had the ability to attend school due to poverty. The purpose is to give these disadvantaged out-of-school children a chance to receive primary school education, and ultimately give them the
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The Kingdom of Swaziland
Swazi Facts:Population: ~1.1 million peopleCapital city: MbabaneLanguage: SiSwati and EnglishGovernment: King Mswati III is current head of the kingdomLife expectancy: 28.7 years old, only 1 in 10 children will make it to 30 years oldEducation: 58% children don’t go to school because they can’t afford school feesAIDS infection: 44.2% are HIV+, 70% of children will
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