My holiday festivities started as soon as I woke up. And by festivities, I mean it was “one of those mornings” when everything that could go wrong, does. This string of bad luck followed me into the office, where absolutely nothing was working properly and nobody around me was doing anything about it. But hold on, the story gets worse before it gets better. Seeing how nothing was functioning, I decided to wash away my problems by taking a quick shower (…I have no running water at my house, remember?). Well obviously that was too much to ask, because my “quick” shower turned into an hour-long nightmare of waiting for the cold water (yes, I mean cold) to start dripping (yes, I mean dripping) from the tap. As I was pondering the existential questions about why this was happening to me on my favorite day of the year, it dawned on me what Thanksgiving is truly all about. I then realized just how blessed and fortunate I am. Thanking God for each and every little thing that happens in our lives is a very rewarding activity.

As I started to thank my all-compassionate Heavenly Father for the bounties bestowed on me, the shower began roaring with excitement. I am so not lying. Immediately after I changed my attitude and made things right with God, the water started spurting out at full blast! It was crazy. I think it might have been the closest thing to a miracle or divine intervention that I have ever experienced in my life. I felt like the Apostle Paul. Okay…so the last two statements may be an exaggeration, but the miracle did actually happen. And as soon as I stepped out of the shower, I was a new man, refreshed and ready to spread the turkey-cheer to those all around me.

For dinner that night, the other volunteers and I joined an older American couple at their house. It was a spectacular meal. We all enjoyed ourselves and shared stories about our time thus far in Swaziland. I know my mother will be happy to hear that I didn’t spend Thanksgiving alone. She will also be happy to hear that her cooking on this special day still ranks up there with the best of them. So all in all, it turned out to be a splendid day.

As for now, I just have to focus on these upcoming weeks of work because they are critical to the survival of Cheshire Homes. It will actually be just like at university, where everything is cram-time once you return from Thanksgiving break. Thankfully, on December 6, I leave for Zambia with the other volunteers to attend a regional MCC retreat. We’re also spending a few days at Victoria Falls, which lies on the border of Zimbabwe. It’s going to be pretty flippin’ sweet. Unless I catch malaria, that is.

When you are asked to attend a planning meeting, I doubt you expect to be killing live chickens during the icebreaker game. Well apparently that’s not the case in Swaziland. This most interesting (and frustrating) of meetings was for a youth camp at which I will be volunteering in December. And technically, the murder rampage was not an icebreaker, but actually the main reason for the meeting. The upcoming camp needs to provide food to hundreds of kids for a whole week, so what better way to do this than to call a meeting of the volunteers in order to slaughter a hundred chickens? Well I can think of a few alternatives, but never mind that. Some of you may be happy to hear that I didn’t participate in this activity. I’ve never killed an animal before (with the exception of insects and fish), and after viewing the gruesome process this past week, I’m seriously considering the possibility of becoming a vegetarian. Furthermore, I’ve become quite the animal-rights activist around here, mostly because the treatment of cats and dogs is quite “different” than in America. In all fairness, though, I think cows are treated better in the developing world.

In other news…Thanksgiving is on the horizon. This holiday has traditionally been my favorite, considering the triple-goodness of family, food, and football. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is always overlooked by the two more consumer-friendly holidays which precede and follow it. I have always enjoyed the Fall season, with the changing of the autumn leaves, and the brisk but not too cold winds in the air. From twenty-two years of experience, my body has been accustomed to cold weather during these months. But it’s summer weather now in Swaziland, as it will be through the Christmas holiday also. I guess there’s always a time to try something new.

I want to leave you with a link to a WashingtonPost editorial written by Sam Brownback. If you read it, I hope you come to understand why he would have been the best Republican nominee for President. Also, here is a link to a speech given by Obama last year on faith and politics. Like I said before, if it ends up being Hillary vs. Guiliani, there’s no telling what kind of mess America will further become.

In many of my previous posts, I’ve talked about how I live on top of a mountain. Well…technically that’s a bit of an exaggeration. I only live half-way up the mountain. But my house is the last stop on the dirt road as well as the end of the electrical line. The reason that I am clarifying this for you is because I actually hiked to the top of the mountain this past Saturday. And it was unbelievable. Definitely one of the most exhilarating and challenging expeditions I’ve done in my life.

Four other dudes from my village joined me. My trusty bodyguard, Mancoba, served as our guide. He and I have become very good friends, and he reminds me a lot of my child-hood buddy, Wesley, with whom I used to explore the local neighborhood while growing up. It’s quite refreshing to go on occasional adventures every once in a while and act like a care-free child, especially after a long week at the office. So that’s exactly what I did. The weather was terrific and the scenery was spectacular. My pictures won’t do it justice, but I’ll include some below to give you an idea of what it was like.

As I am writing this on Sunday, I am recuperating from a crazy week. Not necessarily good or bad…just crazy. It started off last Monday with the arrival of a new Australian volunteer, Michelle. She is an experienced Occupational Therapist and will be working at Cheshire Homes for the duration of time that I am here. I am fairly confident that she will bring a great deal of energy and expertise to the Center. Truth be told, she could probably do everyone’s job more efficiently, including mine. So naturally, she has already become the de facto boss for the staff, especially considering there is no longer an administrator running the show. Actually, I have become responsible for much of the administration work, and Michelle has already assigned a number of projects to me.

Michelle with one of our frequent visitors

I have been interviewing some of the patients so as to include their stories in an upcoming dinner fundraiser. This has been another enjoyable diversion for me. Some of their stories are truly amazing, while others are quite saddening. Either way, it has been good for me to get to know some of them better.

Michelle has also requested my help with a few of the disabled children, which I gladly accepted. Considering my past volunteer and work experience with the mentally-disabled, this should be a welcome break from my typical office work. A majority of the children that come to Cheshire have mental as well as physical disabilities, usually in the form of Cerebral Palsy. Some pictures of the children are at the end of this post.

During the same week that all this was happening at work, the MCC country director from South Africa came to visit Team Swaziland. His name is Wayne, and he’s a really great guy. I just wish he lived closer, because he seems to be the type of person from whom I could learn a lot. We had dinner twice as a group, and they might have been the two nicest restaurants I have ever been to. To put things in perspective, I come from one of the wealthiest regions in America (and therefore, the world), and I have been to a few swanky restaurants in my time. That being said, these places we ate at in Swaziland have to rank up there with some of the best in the WORLD (easily five-star quality). What is even more amazing is that the prices ranged between ten-and-twenty US dollars for meals that would easily cost 100+ in America. I was absolutely flabbergasted. One thing I have noticed is that food and clothing is extremely cheap in Swaziland, whereas internet and cell-phone charges are extremely expensive.

The final crazy event of the week occurred at my house. Remember how I used to have a really cool host-sister who suddenly moved out one day and left me to fend for myself on top of a mountain? Well…she moved back in, and just as unexpectedly as when she left. And no, she hasn’t explained why this time either. But I’m okay with that. It’s just nice to have her back, even though I’ve resigned to remain clueless of just about everything that goes on with my host-family.

I interviewed this little girl's mother

This was my buddy for the day. He's my new favorite.

I think it’s time for an update about books, films, and music. If you’ve been following this blog, you certainly might have guessed that I have become a new fan of Jim Wallis, political activist and founder of Sojourners. His bestselling book, God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It, is exactly what it claims to be: an exciting new vision for faith and politics in America. Unfortunately, it’s not as groundbreaking as I had hoped it would be. This is because the latter half is a mild let-down. Let me explain.

Wallis begins by discussing broad topics such as the following:
- America’s separation of church and state does not require banishing moral and religious values from the public square
- Taking back the faith (co-opted by the Right, dismissed by the Left)
- Is there a politics of God? (God is personal, but never private)
- Protest is good; alternatives are better (what we are for, not merely what we are against)

He then does a thorough and excellent analysis of the way spiritual values relate to international relations and economic justice. He raises controversial questions such as, “When did Jesus become pro-war and pro-rich.” Obviously, the war on terrorism (specifically Iraq) and domestic poverty take up a vast majority of these chapters. What is most disappointing, though, is how much less space is dedicated to social issues (specifically abortion) and global poverty. He does indeed address them, but not to the extent I think they rightly deserve. My conclusion, therefore, is that it is best to read both Sojourners and Christianity Today in order to get the entire scope of what evangelical Christians should be informed.

Now moving on to films. I recently watched a poor-quality version of Transformers. I thought it had incredible special effects, so obviously this is a movie that needs to be seen in the theater. That being said, it pales in comparison to a legendary popcorn-flick like Independence Day. One thing going for Transformers, though, is the theme song which was perfectly covered by one of my favorite bands, “Mute Math.”

Another recent film I saw was The Astronaut Farmer. It has Billy Bob Thornton in it, so it’s bound to be a little odd, but I enjoyed it quite a lot. I don’t know much about Texas, but this movie portrays it in a really appealing way to me, similar to the music from a Texas band called “Explosions in the Sky.” I also watched the Reno 911 movie, based on the Comedy Central show. It’s pretty funny stuff.

Speaking of funny stuff, I bought a Leonardo DiCaprio DVD set. He’s a cool guy. The Aviator and Romeo+Juliet are both great movies. The Beach was included as well, which intrigued me, especially since it portrays some of the excesses of the tourist industry, not to mention the adventures one has when traveling alone. And finally, I watched Titanic for the first time ever. It’s absolutely terrible. There’s no way else to describe it.

Wow, this post is getting too long. Let me just leave you with some of the awesome music I’ve been listening to:

The Editors, Matthew Good, Cartel, Billy Corgan, Jurassic 5 (especially Chali 2na), Regina Spektor, The Album Leaf, Andrew Bird, LA Symphony (especially Pigeon John), Garrison Starr, Automato, Black Lab