Still Kickin

First, thanks everyone for taking interest in our work with moringa in Swaziland. Its been a blessed journey for the team with very excellent results thus far.

A third phase is beginning with a flight out of Tampa at 11:55AM May 5. Please stay updated through the current blog : elinIDS.tumblr.com.

We're switching blog service because the new one allows postings via text messages directly from the field and also integrates with our networks on Facebook.

Back... Again

Back in the US of A

My gluteus maximus thanked me after more than 26 hours of continuous
use. Feels great to be home, but am starting to miss Swaz and my friends
there. The assignment has been completed for now and its time to come home.

However, it doesn't feel like a good-bye.. cause its not.

Almost two years ago, we set a list of objectives for moringa in
Swaziland. We're on the verge of completing all of them. We've got
government clearance, moringa trial plots around the country, steady
flow of seeds, training workshops for farmers, and the only one
partially incomplete is the development of moringa market for income
generation. That final task will be finished by May, the end of the
growing season.

Its not goodbye because moringa is only part of the food security and
nutrition solution. So whats going to happen now?

The moringa component is going to push forward. We're doing workshops
for a bunch of organizations and sourcing seeds for anybody who wants to
grow it. Over the next 3 months, we anticipate roughly 10,000 seeds will
passed along to farmers and children's homes just from Thokozane's
training sessions. We will help these farmers market excess moringa
powder and generate income for school fees, food, healthcare, and
whatever else the family needs.

The next pilot project is what we're calling an Anchor Farm headed by
our super-star farmer, Thokozane Khumalo.

Swaziland imports 50% of its food from South Africa. Why? The reasons
are combinations of macro reasons (water, inputs, labor) and micro
reasons (local politics, marketing difficulties, transportation,
knowledge). No matter what the reasons are, the solutions are going to
be community specific. There is not one solution that will fit all
communities, all regions.

These privately-owned Anchor Farms can provide the example, the
assistance, and the problem-solving skills to lead communities to
greater food production. Furthermore, empirical evidence shows that such
an Anchor Farm can be self-sustainable and highly profitable, which is
conducive future replication and scaling.

Our first Anchor Farm will have four functions; 1. moringa leaf
production for market, 2. demonstration farm for new crops and
techniques, 3.produce marketing for community collective volume, and 4.
regional nursery producing seedlings for gardeners and farmers.

Alright, time to rest...

Weekend Off!

Two weekends ago, Thokozane took me and a friend to a traditional wedding.

I've never watched Survivor, but if there was a wedding on that show
between the contestants, I suspect that it would be very similar. We
hiked up and down a steep mountain on a very hot day, chased some kids
through some woods, and finally made it to a teal homestead where the
wedding was to take place.

We were the special non-African guests that everybody looked at oddly...
"How did they get here?". I used to get annoyed, but the scrutiny is
part part of the deal of working here. There's just no getting around it.

I tried to mingle with the men and man-boys over shared buckets of
homemade Swazi brew, of which there was the orange and sorghum
varieties. The orange was more re-freshing fruit, less sour milk. Both
gave me diarrhea for the entire week.

The older guys all brought their knives in anticipation of the cow
slaughter. Well, I happened to have my buck knife with me. Apparently,
it wasn't up to muster; this guy, Sam, plainly said it was good for
apples only. As the cows were being herded into the kraal pen, Sam
sharpened my knife quickly and off we went.

Five cows went in the kraal, only three came out. The kraal is where all
the cows are kept at night. Around this kraal, pushing against the
fence, was the entirety of the wedding guests. Singing siSwati choral
songs, they (and I) watched two men inside the kraal slip a spear into
two cows. The sacrificed cows stood for a few minutes before coughing up
a bit of blood, lying down gently, and taking their last breaths.

I followed Thokozane and the other men into the kraal. We took apart the
cow like legos; hide, stomach, intestines, heart, liver, kidney, ribs,
legs, and so on. The whole process was accompanied by singing and took
no longer than 15 minutes right there in the kraal at the spot where the
cow laid down. I still have cow guts dried on my knife, never washing
that off.

The other cow was skinned, but left laying on top of the hide. The
tradition is for this cow to go to the kitchen in its entirety. One
family pulled it toward the kitchen, the other pulled it away. The
result was a game where the skinned dead cow bounced up and down 4 four
feet in the air as we all tugged and yanked and laughed. It would have
been gross if it wasn't so much fun.

After the slaughter, Thokozane led the party in traditional dancing.
Everybody knew the songs, everybody knew the dances. Folks would just
jump in and out. Kids and girls did the bulk of the saying. There was a
song where the chorus is just "rabies", as in the disease. I still need
to figure out what that song was really about.

Drunk men offered me 20 cows in exchange for my female friend. When I
said I would require at least 40, they inquired about any sisters back
in the US. My friend wouldn't play along beyond that. Joking aside, this
giving of cows is not a demeaning gesture as commonly thought. Because
the wife officially moves to the husband's home and brings all her
skills and abilities to the new home, the husband must provide something
to the wife's family as thanks and compensation.

The whole celebration lasted Saturday and Sunday. The third and final
and largest ceremony would take place later, sometimes weeks, sometimes
months. In that ceremony, guests would come in not only traditional
clothes but also with shields, spears, and clubs (nopkiris).

This was way more fun than American weddings :)

First Training Workshop

Whoof... the anxiety is over.

We just did our first moringa workshop for 52 guests in the Lowveld. The
Red Cross was holding a three day gardening training and commissioned us
to teach moringa cultivation and utilization on Wednesday afternoon. It
was a great deal for us getting moringa out to the communities; they
funded Thokozane's time, printing, materials, seeds, and even gave us a
venue.

The training was out near a place called Mpaka. The group was mostly
women. Why? Because the men go earn money in town, women take care of
the homestead. The women grow food for the family and care for the
children (which now typically includes orphans from extended family).
These women are aged between 25-45, some brought their babies with them.
Some even nursed their babies in the front row.

Thokozane told them how to grow moringa, how to use it. They asked so
many questions! All of it was in siSwati. I sat in the back, looking
dumb and hoping for the best. The worst was when everybody laughed.

"What? What? Was that a good laugh?"

After Thokozane spoke for a long time, everybody cheered and clapped. I
turned and asked one of the Red Cross people; somebody asked where they
could get seeds and Thokozane said that we would be providing everyone
with 10 seeds. Cheers all around!

Yeah yeah, everybody gets excited for free stuff. They also wanted to
buy more seeds however. A few of the women pressed for the sample powder
we brought along. They literally wouldn't let us leave with it. Of
course, we didn't want to start a trend of giving away our stock. The
going price is 60R that jar-full. I told her the price thinking she
would give... this old woman in this in classic old Swazi woman dress
and a mischevious smile just whips out 60R on the spot! What could I do?

We sold it to her and we're leaving another batch with a a Peace Corp
Volunteer for another woman from the group.

In this workshop, Thokozane just taught them how to grow moringa. In 4
months, once their trees are ready for first harvest, Thokozane will
return to teach them how to harvest, prune, and process it.

Quick!

Viral attack at one of the plots. They're going to cut it all back and
hope it hasn't infected the entire tree.

Has anybody seen anything like this?

Also had a viral attack on myself; runny nose, slight sore throat,
slight fever. Ruined the weekend, slow to recover.

Week 2

Alright, this is the end of week two (delayed due to internet
availability). What has happened?

I visited most of the sites and have pretty good updates to share. Won't
go into two much of the details reception has been excellent. At every
single site where the moringa powder has been shared with the community,
reception has been excellent. What do I mean by excellent? The folks
that have used it told me about that it just brought them back to life.
They say they were sick at home, couldn't eat, diarrhea, vomiting, and
so on. Then they got some of the powder and started taking it with
meals. After a couple weeks, the sickness went away. Yeah yeah, its
pretty subjective. They want more of the powder and they want to grow
it. And we will happily oblige. Of course, Im not saying its a miracle
cure or anything, but there is definitely a significant trend.

There are some folks at SIPA (Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority)
who are interested in moringa as a large-scale commercial venture. I am
also told that three top reps from the Swaziland section of the dominant
supermarket chain in southern Africa, Spar, is interested in carrying
the moringa powder as nutritional supplement. There is a high-end
organic and health foods store in town called The Thorny Bush. They
carried a small shipment of 250g units of moringa powder from our
partners at New Life Homes. It quickly sold out for 80R (10USD) each
pack. A very interesting note about this; most of the buyers were
Zimbabweans who knew it from back home. New Life Homes currently has
just the demo site with 150 trees producing leaves, but are preparing to
put in 100,000 tree dense orchard to meet the anticipated sales. There
is fair chance of later exporting it to the wealthy cities of South Africa.

What does this mean to our target clients, the rural Swazi farmer?
First, the natural information fall-out will reach into all of
Swaziland. Impala Development Services (us) is limited to getting the
moringa trees into the hands of local aid and development groups and
providing small workshops. We can't shout that loud. But, it seems that
we have shouted at some of the right people and the high-powered circles
are talking about it now. They bring the metaphorical artillery.
Everybody will know about it. Second, with the opening up of a market of
such scale, if mobilized and organized quickly, the small rural farmers
can become a significant producer. In addition to home use and
nutritional improvement, this would also mean income generation for many
many families.

I'm trying to not expect too much and not get too excited, but the scale
of interest is really beyond what I could have hoped for.

On a less exciting note, I talked to folks at NERCHA (National Emergency
Response Council for HIV/AIDS) about any interests in moringa. They
recognize the importance of nutrition, but, unfortunately, if they act
on moringa, it will instantly become "moringa & HIV", which is entirely
the wrong message. My hope with NERCHA is that at some point in the
future when moringa is better established in local knowledge, we can
offer special workshops to their networks.

Got an email from a professor of chemistry at the University of
Swaziland. Apparently, he just started working research on moringa's
flocculating (cleaning water) abilities with a Botswanan colleague. He
said he just couldn't find any moringa growing in Swaziland. I smiled a
big smile. "Well, Dr.Thwala, I have good news for you." I'm going to
help him find some seed cake (seed after pressed for oil) for his
protein analysis. Also, we're organizing an epidemiological study on
effect of moringa supplementation on health (disease incidence,
anthropometrics). . If you are a USF student, you can participate in the
Grand Challenge grant competition with Mrs.Jenn Peregoy (from USF Public
Health) and I.

Super busy week. Will have lots more updates.

Week 1

Today is Saturday and there's no field work scheduled for today. Just writing up the week's updates to send back and putting together essentially the business plan.

This past week has been spent visiting the demonstration sites, gathering data, and discussing future plans. I traveled with our excellent colleague, Thokozane. He was a knowledgeable farmer, jack-of-all-trades, a good person, and friend of the Poglitshes. After a year and a half working with us, he is now the moringa expert of Swaziland. He is in the process of marriage now; he told me that there are three different ceremonies that must be performed. These ceremonies can be done in a week or over years. His last ceremony is planned for September; he invited me, I will try blend in and document it for you.

 On monday I went out to visit Ruth and Rudy, a very rough 40 min ride from Mbabane. Ruth has been helping us with the moringa trees for the past one and a half years and without her, we would be failing miserably. We discussed how things have been and did some planning. Thokozane will be offering moringa cultivation workshops to rural community groups all over the country. We expect the first workshops to begin in mid-September for a number of Peace Corp volunteers. We will conduct this first series of workshops together in order to refine the message and get everything right; we want to deliver a strong message that moringa is a strong nutritional supplement, not some miracle drug. There was a study from a few months back concluding that 80% of Swazis consult with traditional healers. That is not to say that traditional healers are fakes, I am just saying there's a strong sense of herbal and natural remedies that may or may not be based on scientific evidence. Anyways, Thokozane will be giving these workshops independently and, hopefully, make a fair income from these training sessions. He has thirteen nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, and children to provide for on his homestead!

 In addition to the training sessions, we're going to try to enter the informal / grey market to generate income the rural farmers. There are no jobs out in the bush and the migration of men to the cities have really stressed the traditional family and support structure. If we can set up this market in town (maybe even beyond Swaz), we'll be able to put some money in  the pockets of these farmers. Typically, these farmers are women with many nieces, nephews, and children to feed; HIV has orphaned 80,000 children in Swaziland. The money can be used to pay for school fees, buy other food, pay for healthcare, and whatever else they feel are important. We're going to try to get Kiva funding to help Thokozane establish this small business. If you don't know what Kiva is, just take a look at their website (I think its Kiva.org)

 On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we visited a few other sites. At one of the sites, local women have been adding the moringa to their regular diets and have given up positive reports. We recorded three of the interviews and I would love to post it for you guys to see, but they were conducted by Thokozane totally in siSwati. Our friend Bongi reported that the farmers understand the importance of nutrition and are keen to grow moringa for themselves. In the northern mid-veld, they have integrated moringa into their training program (funded by Garden Africa from the UK) and its been a hit. People have been buying the moringa powder from our sites faster than they can produce it and at exorbitant prices (400R[50USD] for 2 Kg). If people are willing to pay for it, then it means they value it, which means they feel it is important for their health.

Although we've gotten updates from only half of the sites, the demand seems to be there; people want to grow this for themselves.

The pictures are; Ruth talking with Thokozane, following a woman to some homesteads to do the interviews, and dinner at Vusumnotfo with Kathy Gau, Bongi (from Moya Center, one of our partners), Thokozane, and myself. The camera did something strange where I cannot extract some of the photos, but next update I should have posted pictures of the moringa plots!

 

Settling Down

Today, I met up with my friend Samkeliso. He's kindly offered a couch in his rather well furnished apartment right outside Mbabane, the capital city. This part of town is called Makholokholo, Last year, Abhi, Alex, and I passed it daily on the way back to our house in Estibeni, just a quarter mile down the road. Sam's apartment is better than my place in Tampa; he has a big flat screen tv, sound system with standing speakers, dvd player, satellite channels, matching couch and love seat, and a stylish coffee table. Makholokholo is Swazi upper middle class. I've found a place to live for a while.

 

Now, work.

 

In the morning, I had breakfast with Thokozane and a new partner, the Rehmeyers from Tambankulu. Thokozane was giving them plans for a moringa solar drier. We had a very nice breakfast and chatted about the Rehmeyers first harvest and future plans. They will be providing moringa powder for the community as well as training and assisting in growing. Thokozane told me about a friend who had been sick; vomiting, inability to keep down food, couldn't go to work, and bedridden. Thokozane brought some moringa powder to him and he drank it with morning tea. Two weeks later, he's up and going back to work. He even met with Thokozane in town and asked where he could get more! I know, I know... the context is unclear, its only one incidence, its probably exaggerated, etc. etc. But its not the only incidence, this has been happening many times throughout this previous year. Even if its exaggerated, these anecdotal results still suggest significant effectiveness.

 

After breakfast, I visited a few other Swazi friends at their offices. Some have received promotions to positions with aid / development agencies; NERCHA, World Vision, and WFP. They're going to connect me with the right people to discuss moringa. Its  such a huge change from the previous year when I made cold calls into these monolithic groups and usually got blown off. With the support of our partners and all our previous contacts, I can hit the ground running.

 

 

Was at dinner with  a few friends. One of them ordered a fajita. The server came to tell her that they were out of tortilla wraps, but it was okay, cause they would just give her a side of rice and it would be the exact same. That made me smile. Im not belittling the server, why should he know anything about mexican food anyways? It was just a revealing and funny event at the meeting of cultures.

 

Next week, Thokozane and I are headed out to visit all our partners and discuss with them the next stage of the project. They have already integrated moringa into their normal programs but have wanted to expand the outreach. Ill be taking plenty of pictures! Abhi, Alex, and I left Swaziland without any trees, just seeds and plans. Now, the fruits of the labor!

 One of the pictures is of the place where I'm staying; my bed the couch, my work desk the coffee table. Another is the view out the front door. It is a small 4 unit apartment complex with a resident rooster and hen. Finally, back on the kombis riding around town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Joburg

Just got into Joburg a few hours ago. Looks the same, feels the same.
Same smells, same sounds as a year ago. Rooibos tea, boiling water, the
unique African english accent, fuzzy TV signals, nearly antique
computers. Im even remembering some of my limited Zulu vocabulary! I can
hardly believe that Im back.

The BazBus (safe travel) doesn't go to Swaziland until Saturday, so Im
going to the Joburg bus rank tomo to catch a minibus and hope I don't
get mugged! Seriously, it shouldn't be a problem; don't worry!

Will update again when get to Swaz.

2nd Round!

Its been a year and a month since I was last in Swaziland. We left the moringa project with Thokozane and everything has gone wonderfully well; the moringa trees are growing at all the sites, more groups are interested in growing it, and folks are developing a liking to the moringa leaf powder. I could not have asked for more.

Tomorrow at 5 pm, Im departing for Swaziland again; Tampa to Atlanta to arrive in Johannesburg 5 pm local time Wednesday. The year has passed so quickly! When Im working Swaz, I miss going to class. When Im in class, I miss working in Swaz. This time, Ill be working alone; Abhi and Alex won't be joining me (go check out their new project : www.fractureme.com).

Ill be taking lots of pictures and videos and providing detailed reports of the new objectives and progress. You can sign up for email updates through the little widget on the side. Im sad to leave my classes, friends, and family. Im calm because Ive already traveled this route before and know what to expect. Im nervous from the unknowns and the anxiety of the mission. Its time again to cross my fingers and jump!

Moringa Update!

Some farmers have already began adding the moringa leaves to their
family's diets. Anecdotal evidence suggests that it is indeed
significantly improving their health, especially those that are "sick".
A woman who was so physically wasted by disease that she could not get
out of the house is now back on the farm working and the lesions on her
mouth has gone away.

The trees themselves are growing well in all the regions, even in the
higher altitude farms. There has been some problems with pests and
fungus but has been brought under control. Several of our partners are
building moringa solar driers, one of them based on our design. Leaf
production is about ready.

Here are some awesome photos of the moringa trees and some farmers
working with it.

Our next stage is in the works!

Ron Rivera was a Good Guy

Just earlier today while doing some research, I visited the Potters for
Peace website. They help people in the developing world make low-cost
ceramic water filters. The guy that ran the whole thing, Ron Rivera,
traveled around the world helping set up these filter workshops was kind
of a friend of mine. We had corresponded via email sporadically about
water filtration appropriate tech and we had brunch at Denny's inFt
Lauderdale earlier this year before I headed out to Swaziland. We were
going to meet up in Maputo, Moçambique but the timing was off.

Anyways, I visited the Potters for Peace website today and discovered
that Ron had passed away in September. While setting up a workshop in
Nigeria, he got hit by malaria and it caused a heart attack. Its such a
shame. I didnt know Ron that well but he was a great guy; it was obvious
within the first 5 minutes of chatting with him. He was very helpful,
encouraging, and had a positive attitude. I have a feeling he followed
his heart and lived a full life. He also has probably saved many many
lives all around the world. I think theres not much more one could ask for.

Ron Rivera left the world a better place for sure. Peace to you, Ron!

Check out his work : http://www.pottersforpeace.org/

Returnation

The whole team is back to the US now from Swaziland.

While I am very happy to be back home, I have definitely grown attached
to Swaziland. Its hard to pin down exactly what it is but it has to do
with the imperfections in the Swaz. Advertisements and consumer products
are not crafted to exacting standards.Rules and policies are more like
guidelines; "This is the rule, try to stick to it." It was an aura of
human flaw. Society was not perfect and orderly and people didn't try to be.

There is neat movie called "The Island". In this near-future movie, the
main characters live in a perfectly clean and ordered "island". There
every needs are met; machines clean up after them so that there are no
blemishes anywhere, meals are prefectly healthy, colors on uniforms and
walls are all perfetly neutral off-white, and soothing music and videos
are played everywhere.

Coming from Swaziland, this was exactly what America felt like.

While I was waiting in line in immigration, there was even a cliched
video showing Americans smiling and saying "Welcome". It looked
absolutely insincere like one of those prescription drug commercials.

Anyways, though we have returned, this does not mean the work is over.
We have a Swazi colleague, Thokozane (Thoko), that is driving the
project forward as I write this.

Because we were not able to plant seeds due to the cold, we are now
waiting for the September heat (remember the seasons are reversed) for
the first planting. Thoko will travel around the country to all our
partners' sites and carry out this first planting.

While we definitely wanted to get the seeds in the ground ourselves
during our stay, we would rather get it right. Thoko will have that
pleasure in proxy!

Once the seeds get in the ground, it should take about six months for
the moringa to reach 5 feet. We plan on returning right before the
growing season ends (April) to conduct a series of training workshops
and further propagation.

This summer has been an absolutely awesome opportunity and I am very
glad that we were able achieve the results we have. Many development
experts in Swaziland said it couldn't be done with our timeframe, but
thanks to the support and encouragement from our friends and colleagues,
we managed through it, didn't we? :)

We have some other mischief up our sleeves and we'll let you know once
those plans are ready!

Break!

Finally, a vacation.

Last weekend, we took a short trip to the Moçambique capital city,
Maputo. Moç is a former Portuguese "colony" so the people have distinct
way about them. They are more informal and social. And the Portuguese
music was really fantastic, beautiful language.

Maputo is right by the ocean so its famous for its seafood, especially
Moz prawn. We went to the crafts market on Saturday and walked along the
water. Found a small cheap local seafood place right on the boardwalk
and had an awesome dinner. I had braaied zebra ribs, Alex had grouper,
and Abhi had a cheeseburger. Yeah, I know. The zebra ribs had a very
very distinct sweet flavor to it. It was a cool to try zebra, but to be
honest, I didn't like the taste of it much.

To sum it all up, I would say it is like an African Miami.

Just yesterday we had the final informational conference of this summer.
Present were representatives from several government divisions. We have
discovered that there is a lot of interest in moringa as animal fodder.
Animal fodder, we are told has shot up more 200% in just 3-4 months.
This is directly linked to the global food prices crisis. Some of our
partners that grow chickens and cows will be investigating using moringa
for their animals. We expect to see some good results in the next year
or two.

In Southern Africa, and especially the very traditional Swaziland,
cattle is a big deal. It has been the traditional sign of wealth and
status. While things are somewhat different in the cities, in marriage,
there is still the payment of cows to the bride's family. Generally, a
woman is worth about 12 cows ;) just kidding. But that is about the
usual settlement.

Before this info conference, we have been running all around the the
country doing site surveys for our partners. We helped them select a
good sites to grow moringa for their specific needs (high density plots
for leaf production or spread out for tall trees for seed production).
We have pictures of each of the sites but we won't be able to put them
all here.

Abhi and I also took a day to head down to Matata to meet with a women's
sewing group that was organized by one of friends in the PeaceCorps.
They make beautiful handbags to generate some money for themselves. This
source of income helps them take care of their family when sometimes the
husband can be very irresponsible. Traditionally, the women don't earn
an income so there is a dependency of the husband. By helping women earn
cash, it helps promote better gender equality. Abhi is going to see if
we are able to help them connect to US markets.

One of the kombi owners let Alex sit in the driver seat and mess around
a little Manzini bus rank.

almost there

Whew, there's a lot to share.

On June 21st, we hosted a moringa conference in Mbabane. Representatives
from our partner organizations all came for a full day of discussion
about the future of moringa in Swaziland. We introduced our
organization, moringa technical information, market, and discussed
expectations and responsibilities from all parties. Attached are some
pictures. It was held on a Saturday and one of the reps (I won't say
who) complained about having to work on a weekend. If I didn't know the
organization well, I would have been hesitant to continue that investment.

These same reps didn't like the lunch we served. We hired one of the
local braai (bbq) guys from our neighborhood to serve grilled chicken,
salad, and mealie (corn meal). This guy is named Rim and we've been
trying to encourage him to start a braai catering service.

Other than that, the conference went smoothly. Everybody was well
interested and looking forward to beginning.

Here's the big news... we've got the permit for importing moringa! What
does that mean? That means we have the government's permission to import
and promote the non-indigenous moringa in Swaziland. After all the
negotiations and maneuverings since April, we've got it. Many of our
colleagues are surprised that we have been able to get it in such a
short time. Most of them told us that it would take no less than a year;
we would never be able to get the permits this summer.

We've officially opened the door for moringa utilization in Swaziland.

That was Monday. We just got back from up north doing site surveys and
building a demonstration leaf drying structure. This is a solar drying
structure that should be able to dry (moringa) leaves in a shorter time;
we're testing it out right now. The dark dry room takes about 7 days;
we're testing it now and shooting for 3-4 days. Attached are a few
pictures from construction and end product. There's a video we recorded
explaining how it works but its way too large to upload at this internet
speed. Such a drying structure would be able to really help folks
producing large amounts of powder. This is especially the case for an
organization like Cabrini Mission. They provide food supplements and
wants to include moringa powder into that supplement package.

We were hoping to go to Maputo this weekend, but we are just all
exhausted from working pretty much 12 hour days the last week. Between
traveling and working, we haven't had much of a break at all. We just
got back to our house in Mbabane to get our first baths in a week of sweat.

On a more personal note, I have been disappointed in that I haven't been
able to spend more time learning about the healthcare system. Thats
really my special interest; healthcare delivery, not nutrition.
Nutrition is important to be sure, but direct healthcare is really what
I want to work in professionally. Fortunately, next week I am headed out
for a field trip with a Baylor doctor doing some ARV/TB outreach program.

picture time

some pictures :)