Letters from Swaziland

Tuesday June 14th 11:50am
Today is a big day because we are moving out of the dorms at the Ngawane Teachers College and into our host families' houses in nearby towns. All of us are nervous about how it will all work out because they're been giving us endless lectures about social manners, siswati phrases, security and disease. We will be armed with a propane tank and double burner, water filter, pots and pans, food, mosquito net and a million other things
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I'm being sent to a little town called Makhonza with is about a 20min kumbi drive from the college where we are now and where we will come three times a week for classes during the next two months of training.
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Wednesday June 15th 8:30am
Wow. The first night "in the field" was an experience I will never forget. I've been placed for eight weeks during training with a family called Makusuku. It is a huge, fat mother and her seven children and a father who looks like he comes and goes. The children range from 14 years to one year old - the oldest is a girl who knows a little bit of English, but the others don't go to school - probably because they can't afford school fees and uniforms. Their clothes are so tattered, they look like they are wearing hand-me-downs for years at a time. The bottom line is that the poverty is overwhelming.
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The families are not paid to host us, except for the food, and must provide us with a locked room. Mine is a little room next to the garage and it is very clean and minimal - has a bed, a table and two chairs.
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You may have ascertained - and you would be right - that this experience so far has not been easy. And I think it's harder than I think I had anticipated. [Though] I think I'm faring pretty well.