Close to the End

I’m sorry for the delay in writing. I’ve been very busy. Also, my computer was broken for 3 months. Mostly though, I am bad at excuses and forgot to blog. I’m not sure that one blog post can sum up months of my life, but I’m going to attempt it.

My sister and I on Safari

Since my last post I have done a lot of things. I studied for the GMAT. I went on an amazing vacation with my sister. A new group of volunteer came to Swaziland. I really did go without a computer for 3 months. We had lots of trainings for our GLOW program. I organized a workshop to train 29 new librarians for schools receiving books form our Books for Swaziland program. I got really home sick. I started using home to mean my community here. We had 2 successful GLOW camps for over 100 Swazi girls. Our BFA books came and were distributed. I’m now done working on any committees outside of my community. We had a workshop in my community about gardening and nutrition. At that workshop we gave out seeds to 94 OVCs, and it felt amazing. I got over being homesick and started being nostalgic for Swaziland. My best friend from college visited and we had an amazing time. I took a trip to Durban and got robbed, twice. Group 11 had our Close of Service (COS) conference. I found out I am leaving Swaziland August 13. While I would like to say I would go back and write individual blogs about all of those events, I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep.

Group 11 Close of Service Conference

I have 38   days left in Swaziland and am a constant ball of emotions. Some days I think about America, seeing friends and family, hot showers, and 24 hour everything and August does not feel close enough. Other days I watch a sunrise, go to work, or my family brings me a plate of food because I ran out of gas to cook with (yesterday) and cannot imagine leaving this place. When you travel for too long you end up with two homes. The great part is you have double the love, support, and memories. The downside is you are always away from at least one of your homes. I have tried not to think too much about leaving, but as everything wraps up, and volunteers from my group start leaving in a week, It has become unavoidable.

I could sum up my Peace Corps experience thus far with a lot of clichés you have all heard before, but instead I’ll say this.

Has it given me the best days of my life? Yes

Has it given me some of the worst days too? Yes

Was it a challenge? Absolutely

If I could go back would I still do it? Every. Single. Time.

Advertisement