Well, nine sleeps to go before I head to Swaziland for a year. The flight is booked for 6pm on Valentine's Day - a good day for an emotional goodbye at the airport...!
So, first things first, where is this Swaziland place?
Congratulations to those of you who know that it's not a fictional country to start with, and that it borders South Africa - impressive! For those of you (like me) who aren't familiar with it, here are some key facts...
It's to the east of South Africa, mostly surrounded by South Africa, with Mozambique to the east.
It's 17,364 square km, which is...(thank the lord for WIkipedia)...
- A little bit smaller than Wales (for the Triggs)
- A bit smaller than New Jersey (Con and any other Sopranos fans)
- A quarter of the size of Ireland (for the Lane-Hills)
- Under over a fifth the size of Tasmania (for the Australians) Who else realised that Tasmania was that big?!
It's still an absolute monarchy, where the King (Mswati III) has the authority to appoint the Prime Minister, cabinet and the judiciary. There aren't many left - some of the others are Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Oman and Qatar - not the most impressive list. A new constitution was put in place in 2005, but there is still no free press, and repression of opposition political activity. If you'd like to read more about politics in Swaziland, there's a great blog from a pro-democracy group, though it makes for fairly depressing reading...
http://swazilandcommentary.blogspot.com
There's also a good video on the BBC site about the king and the annual Reed Dance where 100,000 virgins (you heard me right!) dance for him, and about how many wives he has (said to be 14 at the last count):
Sadly, one of the things for which Swaziland is most infamous for is having the highest prevalence of HIV in the world, with 27% of its population living with HIV. Between 50 and 65% of new infections are in heterosexuals regarded as low-risk individuals, and over 40% of mums-to-be attending antenatal clinics are living with HIV. Hardly surprising given the king's role model behaviour on polygamy, as well as a general stigma about discussing HIV.
And finally, what about poverty and development? Well, for those of you who are familiar with the UN's Human Development Report, it rates 142nd in the world on the Human Development index. Life expectancy at birth is just 45 years, and over 80% of the population live on under $2 a day.
However, although the general picture sounds pretty grim, Swaziland is apparently a very beautiful country (wait for the photos!) and volunteers generally struggle to leave at the end of their posting. I can't wait to get to know it, and I'm looking forward to Con visiting me (often!) to share my new experiences.
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