Last weekend I spent a day visiting a Swazi homestead, learning how some of our patients really live and spend their time. I accompanied a medical student who was working with us for the month but had been a Peace Corps volunteer in Swaziland several years ago. We headed back to his family homestead, about 2 hours away in the low, dry part of the country. It was a refreshing visit and entirely different from the city of Mbabane, which though is clearly an African city, can often confuse you with its fancy cars, grocery stores and nice homes.
After 2 hours of comfortable driving we turned off the paved road and drove for about 15 minutes into the dry land until we arrived at the homestead. We were greeted by Jon’s Swazi father, as well as multiple extended family members living on the same plot of land. We saw cows, goats and chickens running around the grounds, and watched as the children played on the ground. We learned how to make porridge (pap) in big black iron pots, and we saw the goat freshly slaughtered as a celebration for the children who had done well in school. We walked down to the burr hole where the family water is obtained. And then we ate their feast, which consisted of meat (goat plus some beef we had brought) and porridge, along with some cold sodas, a real treat as they recently got electricity and do have a working fridge. We left before it got dark. I can only imagine the beautiful sky this family goes to sleep with and wakes up with each morning. I can also only imagine waking up to no water, spending the day cooking porridge in pots, sitting around a bit and also having to spend a large amount of money to get to any sort of store and then even more money once there. And this is a “wealthy family”.
Our day reminded how much we are asking when we tell our patients to take their medicine on time and appropriately. We often forget about the simple things like fetching water, cooking food and expanding one’s mind; things that we take for granted every day but that can be an all day ordeal for our patients.
After 2 hours of comfortable driving we turned off the paved road and drove for about 15 minutes into the dry land until we arrived at the homestead. We were greeted by Jon’s Swazi father, as well as multiple extended family members living on the same plot of land. We saw cows, goats and chickens running around the grounds, and watched as the children played on the ground. We learned how to make porridge (pap) in big black iron pots, and we saw the goat freshly slaughtered as a celebration for the children who had done well in school. We walked down to the burr hole where the family water is obtained. And then we ate their feast, which consisted of meat (goat plus some beef we had brought) and porridge, along with some cold sodas, a real treat as they recently got electricity and do have a working fridge. We left before it got dark. I can only imagine the beautiful sky this family goes to sleep with and wakes up with each morning. I can also only imagine waking up to no water, spending the day cooking porridge in pots, sitting around a bit and also having to spend a large amount of money to get to any sort of store and then even more money once there. And this is a “wealthy family”.
Our day reminded how much we are asking when we tell our patients to take their medicine on time and appropriately. We often forget about the simple things like fetching water, cooking food and expanding one’s mind; things that we take for granted every day but that can be an all day ordeal for our patients.
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing your experience. It must be strange to have fancy cars in the city and two hours away, it is a luxury to have electricity. I was never able to wrap my mind around the large disparity in Mexico either. The gap sometimes seems to be getting bigger in the US, but it is nothing compared to other countries.
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