Swazi Cultural Village - Matsamo 
A Quick Trip to the Border of
Swaziland
Ah, back in 1978, when I was in the
10th grade at the Internationale Schule Hamburg, I was selected, along with 4
others from my school, to represent Swaziland at the Model United Nations in The
Hague. The selection process was an easy one. The schools chose
countries to represent in the order in which they had placed the prior
year. We must have done pretty well the year before, don't you
think? Would any former school mates wish to comment? Want to know
more about the Model UN? Click
here.
Every year in the MUN there is a
crisis, which all the participating nations need to find a way to solve.
Wouldn't you know it, in 1978 the Russian-supported Mozambique army invaded
South Africa, rolling their tanks right over Swaziland, which was wiped off the
map!!! We placed so well in the competition in 1978 that in 1979 we got to
represent Guyana. (That's right, we were assigned Guyana
in September and couldn't find out a thing about the place. By November
Jim Jones had served is followers cyanide-laced cool aid, and there was no
chance that anyone would take us seriously this year either!)
At any rate, as a former ambassador
from Swaziland, I was eager to have a visit! We only got as far as the
cultural village right on the northern South African border.
Our guide told us all about the
village. This village has a chief, who has two wives. Wife One has
16 children and Wife Two has 10 children. Our guide was the 8th daughter
of the first wife, I believe! Swaziland is ruled by a king. He has
decreed that girls may not marry until they are 25 and boys must wait until they
are 30. All unmarried girls share one house, and all unmarried boys share
another house. Each wife has her own house, as does "grandma" -
the chief's mother - who seems to be the real boss of the village.
Here Oma admires
"grandma's" house.
The day after our cultural visit, we
were headed for our first safari! Want to see?
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