June 25, 2005: Headlines: COS - Swaziland: Blogs - Swaziland: Personal Web Site: Peace Corps Volunteer Anna McCrerey writes about her service in Swaziland

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Swaziland: Peace Corps Swaziland: The Peace Corps in Swaziland: June 25, 2005: Headlines: COS - Swaziland: Blogs - Swaziland: Personal Web Site: Peace Corps Volunteer Anna McCrerey writes about her service in Swaziland

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-245-37.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.245.37) on Friday, July 01, 2005 - 11:13 am: Edit Post

Peace Corps Volunteer Anna McCrerey writes about her service in Swaziland

Peace Corps Volunteer Anna McCrerey writes about her service in Swaziland

"I've more or less plateaued at a state of a mild contentment. I still have strong homesickness pains every now and again, but more and more this feels comfortable and natural. I've carved out my own little home in the community and everything just sort of fits together."

Peace Corps Volunteer Anna McCrerey writes about her service in Swaziland

Saturday, June 25, 2005
UPDATE #24: Contentment

I've more or less plateaued at a state of a mild contentment. I still have strong homesickness pains every now and again, but more and more this feels comfortable and natural. I've carved out my own little home in the community and everything just sort of fits together. Of course, I still have ups and downs, but they aren't as dramatic as the first six months of my experience in Swaziland. I think most of it has to do with how well my projects are going and how fullfilled I feel with work. Finding a constant source of activity to keep me busy makes the time fly.

Currently, I am working on health outreach at the NCPs. Bembe (my fav nurse) and I are working to link the health services from the clinic to children at the NCPs -- the most vulnerable. I visited two of the NCPs (and will do the other two in the following weeks) to do vitamin distribution and check the children's health cards. All children have a small white health card on which their weight and immunizations are recorded up to five years old. While distributing vitamin A, I also checked to see which children were missing their immunizations. When I saw missing vaccines, I sent notes home to the guardian (written in SiSwati) telling them to bring the child to the clinic to receive his or her immunizations. Vaccines are free in Swaziland, the only obstacle is finding the children (usually the orphaned and most vulnerable) who need them. With winter approaching and chilly nights, I organized a largescale blanket distribution through donations from UNICEF. And finally, I have set my sites on a vegetable garden. This may take awhile, but I am hoping to work through a fencing donation from an NGO called FAO. Hopefully, they will help us over the next few months. My fingers are crossed.





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Story Source: Personal Web Site

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Swaziland; Blogs - Swaziland

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