Fruits

One of the neat thing about living and traveling in new places is the amazing variety of fruits and vegetables that are available. I have enjoyed the avocado season immensely, as well as mango and papaya that had become an almost daily part of my diet until recently. But the newest fruit to tell you about is the guava. I had never eaten a guava before. We have seen kids selling them at the side of the road, and there is a guava tree behind our clinic. If you are in the right exam room, you can watch the kids climb the tree to get the guavas, while I am reading xrays and counseling families.

Siphosethu, our housekeepers nephew, climbed a tree near his home last weekend and brought us a whole bag of guavas. While they look a bit like a lemon from the outside, you actually eat the entire rind, biting into it like you would a peach. The fruit is flavorful though seedy, and very juicy. I'm posting a photo of Siphosethu, who is wearing his new school gym uniform in this photo while he waits outside our clinic. School in Swaziland is not free (although this might be changing soon), and so for children to get to go to school is a luxury. Some families even alternate which year they send which child to school! Anyways, Erin and I have taken on the task of getting this child to school; this includes his school fees, school uniforms and books. His mother died about 2 years ago and so his aunt has adopted him into her family. Most families in Swaziland are taking care of children who are not their own. That is what happens in countries with the highest HIV rate in the world.

I'll close with a picture of the countryside. We passed this homestead on our way to a trailhead last weekend. It is fairly typical of the kinds of places we pass by often in rural Swaziland.