By Jenna Brown:
Sawubona! It has been officially one week since Mitch and I arrived in Swaziland. After two days of travel, we arrived in the country last Friday, where we were met at the airport by Dalton and Bandile, two members of the Olympafrica Centre in Lobamba. They greeted us warmly, and showed us the Centre and the Swaziland Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (SOCGA) office where we would be working, and then took us through town to get SIM cards and a few groceries.
I spent the first weekend trying to sleep off the jet lag, and Skyped with my family to let them know I arrived safely (hi mom!). There are only two other people at the hostel with us, two girls from Finland who are also here for three months on an internship. They were nice enough to show us how to take the combi into town for some food, and showed us where the bus rank is.
Our first week at the SOCGA was spent reading up on documents and familiarizing ourselves with the organization and its programmes and practices. We established that I would be staying to work on projects at the SOCGA office in Mbabane, while Mitch would be working at the Olympafrica Centre on administrative tasks in Lobamba. I’m very excited to see where this opportunity leads, and to get started on all the exciting events and projects with SOCGA!