My Top 5 Peace Corps Memories

It was suggested to me that I do a reflective post on my service thus far. I don’t really spend enough time on this, and this post was a pleasure to write. Looking back to seek out and re-experience the best moments of my service was a wonderful exercise. So, without further ado, here are my top 5 memories of my Peace Corps service to date.

5. Cooking Dinner for Nombuso

Nombuso, my best friend, has had me over to her homestead countless times. She always serves me a “snack” (read: heaping plate of food that would feed 2 Americans for a large meal) of rice, beets, chicken stew, and cabbage. She is an excellent cook, and somehow I always manage to clear my plate. Proof positive that I’m integrating! One evening, I cooked for her.

I visited another PCV (Pam) for a World AIDS Day fair in Siteki, which was conveniently where all the fair volunteers (including Nombuso) were staying. Pam and I spent the evening preparing chicken breaded with French’s fried onions, Kraft macaroni and cheese, and steamed broccoli. For dessert, we made chocolate no bakes. I think she liked the American food itself, but she loved that we cooked for her. She might have reassured us that she liked it about 75 too many times to be entirely convincing, but she gamely ate every bite. Food is a gesture of love universally, and I think it is always well-received.

4. Watching G12 Swear In

When I, a member of the 11^th group of Volunteers to arrive in Swaziland (G11), took my oath, I felt like I was a part of something special. I had just come off of 9 weeks of intensive and challenging and busy training. I was used to seeing Americans every day, I was comfortable with siSwati, I felt like I had a good handle on my projects, and I was ready for the downtime that everyone promised would come during integration, the 3-month period of observation when we move to our permanent sites. I felt like I had seen and done and experienced so much, and now I was officially achieving a dream: being sworn in as a member of the United States Peace Corps.

What followed was, by far, the most challenging year of my life. I have never been so sick, bored, lonely, cold, hot, challenged, or incompetent. I was terrified and stressed. However, it was also one of the best years of my life. I made a Swazi best friend, I learned how resilient I can be, I did projects that were meaningful and fulfilling, I found my place in a wonderful new community and host family, and I learned how to be happy.

When I swore in, I thought I understood what that oath meant. After completing a year of service, listening to the same oath had a totally different meaning. The words were powerful, and knowing what the members of G12 were about to undergo made them feel even more so. Looking back and how far I had come and what I had learned with the members of my group made the oath very, very special.

The oath is as follows:

“I, AB, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”

3. Peeling Beets

On World AIDS Day, Nombuso invited me to a fair that she had helped to plan in Siteki. That was all she told me, and that was all I knew.

Turns out, we were on cooking duty, which had to prepare meals for 3,000 people. We started working at maybe 3pm the night before and worked until midnight. We started to feel loopy and giggly as we worked and the night progressed. Our hands were stained bright red from peeling beets, which you do after they have been boiled. Some of them had been boiled minutes before, and we learned really quickly (and the hard way) not to touch those.

The men, as men are wont to do, were sitting and talking while we scrambled to get the work done. One young guy was urging us to work faster and flirting. We told him that if he wants to talk to us, then he too must peel beets, because this is the beet peeling table.

I have never seen a man grab a beet so fast. It was so funny. It ended up being a lot of fun and pleasant conversation. We started cooking at 4am the next morning, and all 4 of us still had red hands.

2. Seeing Photos of My Library

I wrote a post quite some time ago about how freaking hard starting a library is. When I was moved to a new community, I left my library in disarray. Only half the books were numbered and had labels on the spines and checkout cards glued in. they were still in boxes. I handed the printed register to the librarian and that was the last I heard of it.

This is my library the last time I saw it. When I get new photos from Nombuso, I'll post them.

Nombuso and I meet up frequently, and one day she showed me photos of the library she had taken on her phone. I almost cried.

They finished it. They unpacked those boxes, put a spine label on every book, glued a checkout card in every book, numbered every book, and entered it into the register by hand. They did it. The library is open, students are reading, and I have photographic evidence that I created a sustainable project.

There are many moments here where we each question whether we are making a difference, or if anything we do will live past our departure. I am lucky enough to know the answers to those questions before the end of my service, and I will forever admire the work of my old library team.

1. Nombuso’s Graduation and Big Announcement

Nombuso earned a certificate in psychosocial support through the University of Swaziland through distance learning, which is where you commute for the weekends for class. For 2 years, she went 3 hours each way to take her classes. I helped edit her papers, which were thoughtfully written and rewritten by hand, quite painstakingly. She took her learning and did trainings all over the community, unpaid, because she wanted to see the children properly cared for. Nombuso is amazing. She also has a 5 year old son and a husband who works out of the community, so he’s never able to be around.

She invited me to attend her graduation. I met her parents, her husband (who is absolutely hilarious and utterly smitten with her), and her wild little son (he’s 5). I watched her walk and greet the King. She was so proud, and her parents were so proud of her. Her husband asked me if I would give him a present. I asked him why I would do that. He said that he was the real winner here today, because he convinced the most beautiful and smart woman in Swaziland to marry him. He then kissed her on the cheek while she squirmed away and looked embarrassed. It was sweet and funny.

Nombuso and her husband

She then told me that she was enrolling in a program for a Bachelor’s degree in social work. She said that, through the sales of jam, honey, and atchar, which we learned to make in one of our projects, she has raised and saved enough money to cover the tuition. She held my hand, thanked me profusely, and hugged me. She told me that now, all her dreams are coming true.

Nombuso has been a defining character in my Peace Corps service, and a true friend. Most of my top memories include her, and I suspect will continue to include her for my final 6 months here. Whitney M. Young, Jr. once said, “The truth is that there is nothing noble in being superior to somebody else. The only real nobility is in being superior to your former self.” Nombuso, the Swazi people, and many Peace Corps experiences have given me every bit of my newfound nobility. 

Nombuso's parents, Nombuso, me, and her son, Snethemba