This report summarizes several activities that were planned with and facilitated by Microsteps to perform a service trip related to education in Swaziland. 

Background

As a bit of background, I was motivated to make these efforts because I was looking for an activity that captures that spirit of service to humanity that I believe is important to have in our lives.  Also, my daughter Sarah is part of the inspiration for this effort. For the past several years she and her friends have unselfishly sacrificed their time and resources to travel for a few weeks to South Africa and Kenya, establishing Camp Sonshine programs to work with at-risk children and youth.  In my case, I wanted to do something that would allow me to use my professional training as an engineer in a service or development effort in a rural area of Africa or Asia. However, I am an aerospace engineer working for NASA, and that training is not readily applied to rural development efforts. Also the best development efforts are those that which engage the local community and meet their critical needs – something difficult to know and to do from afar. In addition, my ability to commit my time to an effort was limited. I did a lot of internet searching and looked at organizations like “Engineers without Borders”, but nothing seemed to be a good fit. So I turned to Steven and Makhosazana Fletcher of Microsteps for assistance to define an international service activity that met these criteria.  Without their sponsorship, their sage advice, their painstaking efforts in making arrangements, and their encouragement I do not think this trip would have been possible.

The Plan

The Fletchers made maximal use of my background and expertise in tailoring the activities for this service trip.

Being a structures engineer with an expertise in structural design, they suggested an effort to design, fabricate and install playground equipment at several poor, rural preschools in Swaziland which they had previously helped by providing school supplies and whose need for play equipment they knew firsthand.  That suggestion particularly appealed to me because I had developed play equipment for my children when they were young, it could be accomplished in a short time, and such a donation would have lasting impact on children who learn so much from their play. The Fletchers also made arrangements for me to work with Swazi Wire, a company in Matsapha, for the actual fabrication of the equipment, and that association created the ideal balance of planning and design with practical aspects of fabrication and assembly.

A second set of activities was organized taking advantage of my work with NASA. Because NASA has a focus on space exploration which is exciting and inspiring to young people, arrangements were made for me to give educational/inspirational talks at high schools and a college in Swaziland to share that excitement and motivate academic achievement in the sciences. A few additional talks with similar themes were made to service organizations such as the Rotary Club in Malkerns Valley and the Natural History Society in Mbabane, and at a private home in Mbabane.

In addition arrangements for the actual service efforts during this trip, Microsteps facilitated many practical aspects of the trip.  They made arrangements for living accommodations at a very nice guest house for reasonable rates.  They introduced me to several individuals living in the areas I would visit who were helpful on my arrival and throughout the trip.  And they loaned me a computer and phone to help in the presentations and to facilitate communication both locally in Swaziland and back in the USA.  These practical assistances greatly reduced the stress that could have overwhelmed me in trying to cope with so many new things at once.

Swingsets for Motshane

To simplify the design, fabrication, and installation of the playground equipment, a single type of play equipment – a two-swing swingset – became the focus of the effort.  Microsteps identified two preschools in the Motshane area north of Mbabane as needy recipients for the swings – the Baha’i Preschool of Motshane and the Little Pearl Preschool.  Arrangements were made with the teachers at the preschools and it was agreed that two swingsets would be provided to each of the preschools.

The original design as shown below was developed in February 2009 and it did not properly consider the available construction materials or the skills of workers at Swazi Wire.  

Swingset original design – 2-inch diameter schedule 40 steel pipe frame and Kee Klamp pipe fittings.

The final design developed through incremental improvements of a prototype at Swazi Wire resulting from consultation with the Director of Swazi Wire, Mr. Wayne Allen, and with modifications suggested from stress analyses I performed to ensure the design would be robust.  This design consisted of a very robust welded 3-inch diameter steel tube frame, stout chains and seats, and a customized bearing to reduce wear and the friction at the attachment of the swing to crossbar.  Four swingsets were fabricated using this design and painted “Swazi Wire Blue”.  Two swing frames can be seen in the photo below.

Mr. Wayne Allen, Director Swazi Wire, and Anson, Fabrication Lead, with completed swing frames.

Swingset Delivery

All the swingsets were ready for delivery to the preschools by 27 April, and Swazi Wire provided a truck and a driver for their delivery along with the delivery of the cement, stone, and sand that were procured for their installation into concrete-filled holes.  I rode in the truck with the Swazi Wire driver, Jimi (a nice young man in his early 20’s), so that I could find the preschools myself the following day when we would actually install the swings. It was about an hour’s drive from Swazi Wire. Motshane and the surrounding areas are very rural and very quickly the paved roads (locals call them “tar roads”) become dirt roads, which become dirt roads with deep ruts, which become steep dirt roads with deep ruts … you get the idea. Jimi’s truck had no problem on any of these roads and he was expert at maneuvering it through tight spots. The Motshane Baha’i Preschool and the Little Pearl Preschool were our destinations. The whole area is very arid with few trees. However, the Baha’i Preschool was situated high on a hill under the shade of a small grove of trees. Little Pearl was the more remote of the two, had no shade and it got hot very quickly. We met the teachers at each school to drop off the swingsets along with bags of cement, sand and stone for setting them up the following day. On the way back, we visited the small Motshane homestead where Jimi’s wife lived. Jimi lives in Matsapha to be close to work so he does not see his wife often. The homestead consisted of a few huts that had stick and clay walls (BTW,closer to the capital Mbabane, the simplest dwellings usually had cinder block walls), a corn crib, and a chicken coop, all next to the corn fields.

Motshane Baha'i Preschool - delivering the swing frames and cement, sand, and stone on the day before the swingset installation.  Preschool teacher Ms. Ginindza in doorway.

Swingset Installation – Motshone Baha’i Preschool

The following day I returned to the preschools in my rented Toyota Yaris (not the best car for these roads!) with Sizwe Shongwe. Sizwe is the ~ 30-year-old son of the owners of the guest house where I stayed, and he was a great help during the trip - guiding me to our various destinations, communicating in Siswati with those who did not know English that well, and keeping me from getting into accidents when I neglected to drive on the left side of the road (an often occurrence during the first week, but I got better the second week). In installing the swings, he helped in the digging, and mixing/pouring the cement. We arrived at the Baha’i Preschool at 9 am, and Ms. Ginindza, the teacher, located a neighbor who with her son helped with the work. Because the ground was very rocky, it took a fairly long time to dig the holes (~24 in. deep and 14 in. wide) for two swingsets. But it appears that they had a lot of experience digging in this ground because besides shovels they had some long and sharp steel bars that they used to penetrate the ground and pry out the rocks. They also were adept at mixing the concrete on a bare spot of ground and could judge by eye the right mixture of cement, sand and stone. I think I worked only about a third as hard as anyone else and I was exhausted! Luckily, I had brought a tape measure and a level with me from the US and they were essential in the final adjustment. Without the swings attached, the frames stayed in position fairly well, so we didn’t worry about bracing them while the concrete set. After we were done with the installation, we took some pictures of the group in front of the swings, and also of the school room. I also presented Ms, Ginindza some teacher materials from the NASA education office and some pictures that astronauts Leland Melvin and Don Pettit (along with his space station expedition crew) dedicated to the preschools.

Swingset installation day.  Digging holes at Motshane Baha'i Preschool.

Young boy was really cute watching the work going on.  Unfortunately the swings could not be used for a few days until the cement dried.

Swings in place, but seats would be removed until concrete dries.  A nice shady area where the children can play adjacent to the Motshane Baha'i Preschool.

Swingset Installation – Little Pearl Preschool

Sizwe and I skipped lunch and went straight to the Little Pearl Preschool, arriving there at 1 pm. The play area for the swings was out in the heat with no shade, but luckily the soil here was all clay and soft below the hard, dry layer on top. The principal Ms. Dube had also had her son dig the holes for the swingsets before we arrived, and we needed only some small adjustments to make them level. So most of the work was assembling the chains and seats, and mixing/pouring the concrete. As we were working, a large group of women of all ages and young children arrived and entered the preschool. Since that week all schools were on a break, I was curious until I heard the group start singing – it was an afternoon prayer meeting. The people of Swaziland that I had met during my stay without exception were genuinely religious and spiritual, and the singing at this prayer meeting – all in Siswati and very gospel-like with a lead singer and a chorus - continued for at least an hour and a half at the peak heat of the day while we worked. We actually had to interrupt the meeting to talk to Ms. Dube and she was most appreciative of the swingset donation. Like the other preschool, we had some educational materials and signed astronaut pictures to present to Ms. Dube and we took some group pictures.

One swingset cemented in (Yaris rental car in background).

Installation crew with principal, Ms. Dube and her friend.

Talks to Mbabane Area Schools

Talks on human space exploration and its engineering challenges to inspire academic achievement were given to three Mbabane-area high schools and the Swaziland College of Technology the week of April 20, 2009.  This was the last week before most of the schools were dismissed for a two week break.  The initial reception by the school administration was similar at all the schools.  Though there was an awareness of arrangements that Microsteps had made for the presentations, the administration initially greeted me with a combination of surprise that I had actually arrived as promised, and a bit of suspicion regarding the content of or motives for giving the talk.  Presentation arrangements were usually finalized at the time of my arrival. And the teachers and administrators very quickly warmed up as they heard the presentation and saw the students’ enthusiastic reactions.  All the presentations went well with a good bit of questions and answers after the formal talks.

Some of the NASA-related items left at schools. Signed photos or posters from astronauts Charlie Camarda, Leland Melvin, and Don Pettit. and education CD's and packets for schools. NASA stickers, pencils, and mission patches for quiz prizes.

St. Mark’s High School.

The presentation at St. Mark’s was given to upper-level students who had a science inclination, so the group was small (about 25).  The presentation, which was the same for all the schools, was given in the computer lab at St. Marks.  The first part of the presentation was a surprise “quiz” on the history of space exploration with questions like “Who was the first human to orbit the earth”?   The group was a bit tentative initially in volunteering for answers until they found out that I had “prizes” for participation such as NASA pencils and stickers, and for getting correct answers for hard questions, the prize was an embroidered cloth mission patch from Shuttle missions.  The particular mission patches I had were those of some astronaut friends – Leland Melvin, Charlie Camarda, and Don Pettit – who immediately responded with sending me these souvenirs as well as providing me with special mementoes - autographed photos or posters that were dedicated to the schools I visited in Swaziland.   The St. Mark’s science department chairman and physics teacher also attended the talk and as it progressed and the students became more enthusiastic and participated, their demeanors became very relaxed and their broad smiles showed they were pleased with the talk and their student’s responses.    The benefits of exploration and how NASA is planning its future exploration of the moon and Mars followed, and some general principles of good engineering practice were illustrated.  This final part of the talk emphasized the need for skills beyond science and Math, and the interpersonal skills of working and communicating as a team.

First part of the talk - a short quiz on the history of human space exploration. If you gave an answer, you got a prize. A NASA pencil, sticker, or mission crew patch if you got a hard one right. Kids (and teachers) really warmed up to this part. 

At St. Mark’s HS with an upper level student (holding his “prize” from the space exploration quiz), the Physics teacher, and the Science Department Head.

The group at SCOT was larger, approaching 200 students, and was given in a large lecture hall.  Because exams were to be given the following week, there was a bit of coming and going of students during the talk.  As at St. Mark’s, it was initially difficult getting interaction going with the students during the “quiz” part of the talk, but that improved as the talk progressed.  After the talk, the science department head who had arranged the details of the presentation reinforced a number of the talk’s points with the students.  He especially made the point that the principles of good engineering apply to any effort.  Afterwards, we privately discussed the difficulties that SCOT had in placing students into positions that are appropriate to their training because there were so few jobs available.  He had an idea that upper level students and even graduates of their programs could gain valuable experience by providing volunteer service in communities throughout Swaziland during their breaks and he indicated that he’d be appreciative if Microsteps could facilitate this.  I promised to follow up with Microsteps after returning to the USA. 

At SCOT.   Beginning of the talk.

At SCOT.  With the Science Department head.

The talk to the Setsembiso Sebunye Baha’i High School was to another small group, about 40 attendees.  These talks to smaller groups went much better than those to the larger ones.  This talk was the most interactive of all those given at the Mbabane area schools.  Because the talk could only be scheduled when the school was on their mid-semester break, those who attended sacrificed social or family activities, so they showed a high level of interest and asked many questions.  One of the students approached me after the talk to have his picture taken with me, and he promised that in a few years he would be coming to work with me at NASA.  I mentioned this remark to the Assistant Principal, and she expressed confidence that with his dedication, he would be able to achieve that goal!  The autographed pictures and posters of NASA astronauts were a welcome surprise to the faculty and students at this and indeed to all the schools visited.  The students and faculty were touched that astronauts would take the time to send pictures with a personal dedication to their school.

At Setsembiso Sebunye Baha’i High School.  Presenting the assistant principal with a poster that astronaut Charlie Camarda signed for them.

Outside Setsembiso Sebunye Baha’i High School.  Photo of students who attended talk.

Outside Setsembiso Sebunye Baha’i High School.  With the student who said he'd be working with me at NASA in a few years.

The final school talk was presented to the entire Sifundzani High School student body at the closing assembly before their mid-semester break.  Because the school was to dismiss mid-morning and the physical arrangements for the talk were not complete, there was a bit of rushing to set up the projector and sound system in the large auditorium before the talk.  The Vice Principal was very helpful - he facilitated the setup and ran the assembly of about 250 children in a very orderly manner.  Both the children and the teachers participated in the space exploration quiz with enthusiasm.  One teacher even asked – as a joke – whether astronauts got paid for their “mileage” when in orbit.  The answer was “no” of course, but she happily received a NASA pencil as her “prize” for asking the question!  The talk went well and several of the faculty took the time to express their appreciation and to ask more detailed questions.  They also appreciated receiving the signed pictures from astronauts dedicated to the school, and they returned the favor by giving me a magazine and a CD produced by the high school.  A number of students also asked about educational opportunities in the USA after the talk, and one had even sent me an email with some questions that was waiting upon my return to the USA.

At Sifundzani HS.  Start of the talk.

At Sifundzani HS.  Discussing school with faculty after the talk.

Summary Statistics - Swaziland 2009 Q3 Service Project