Our time in Swaziland started with a six-hour drive in rural South Africa, from dawn to noon. During the trip, we stopped for bunny chow, Indian food and mini pizzas. The hostel that we came to was a nice, simple place with many bathrooms and many huge wooden giraffe statues. The dinner that night was amazing, not only was the food of curry chicken and cooked vegetables delicious, but the conversation we had over dinner was excellent. That night was the first time we actually had the chance to digest and reflect on our last day in Soweto when we visited Kliptown and the Soweto Kliptown Youth group (SKY), we had been so busy previously. Our experience on that last day was rather raw and emotional - seeing how the poorest of Africans live in metal shacks made from leftover metal plates, without proper plumbing. Recollecting our memories of that intense day was hard, but successful beyond any of our expectations. We talked about why Kliptown was the way it was, why poverty existed, what we felt and what we should do with that feeling. With the guidance of our leaders, and free communication of our individual experiences, we turned a sad and potentially depressing experience into one that would fuel future actions to help solve poverty and the various problems we saw that day in Kliptown.
Early the next morning, we left at six AM again to climb Swaziland’s Shibas Breast, a mountain near our hostel. It was an enjoyable 1 ½ hours up, and an even more enjoyable time once we got to the top. We took silly pictures, shared our packed lunch, and read an excerpt from the book The Impossible Will Take a Little While. A lot of us overcame our fear of windy steep mountains on that morning. After making our way back down, we stopped at the local crafts shop where many of us bought African crafts at a very low price and practiced our bargaining skills. For dinner we had a cooking challenge to make four traditional Swazi dishes. With luck and the help of friendly natives, we succeeded in enjoying a great dinner of porridge, chicken, veggies and chocolate pudding.
The next day we relaxed and saw the wildlife of Africa on a game drive. We excitedly took hundreds of pictures of the animals we saw. We even got a treat and saw two lions mate within a two feet distance :)
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