Jacaranda Tree

Date: 4 October 2013

Common names: Jacaranda

SiSwati name: None

Scientific name: Jacaranda cuspidifolia

 
Family: Bignoniaceae

Distribution: Central America, Southern Brazil to Northern Argentina, Southeast Asia, West Indies

Flowering season: Spring (September to November)

Flowers: Showy blue or violet flowers

Leaves: Oppositely paired, compound leaves

Swazi medicinal uses: None

Swazi cultural significance: This is an expensive and beautiful tree, so homesteads that have it may appear wealthier. Appearance is a big thing here, so appearing wealthy is very important.

Photo information: I took these photos at a homestead close to mine in my village, which is on the border of Swaziland and Mozambique, near Siteki.

Source:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/298661/jacaranda#ref263021

http://www.rareflora.com/jacarandacus.html

Banana

Date: 13 September 2013
Common names: Banana
SiSwati name: Bhanana
Scientific name: Musa acuminata
Family: Musaceae
Distribution: Canary Islands, Malaysia, inland Indochina, East Africa, and South Africa
Habitat: This is a pioneer species, so any habitat that was recently disturbed (especially by wildfires) in wet, tropical climates
Flowering season: Summer (October - February)
Flowers: Large, showy purple flowers. The flowers appear when the fruit is green and not ripe. When the fruit has ripened, the flowers will fall off
Pollinators: Wind, insects, and bats
Fruit: Bananas (just like the ones at the grocery store)
Leaves: Evergreen leaves grow up to 3m long  
Stem: This is an herbaceous plant that is considered to have a pseudostem. Leaf sheaths overlap at the base to form the pseudostem.
Defense: The pseudostem is strong, which contributes to wind and frost resistance
Swazi medicinal uses: Bananas play a big role in the Swazi diet. Swazis insist on eating at least one type of meat at every meal, which they balance with a maize-based porridge. Seriously, I have been fed chicken and beef for breakfast; and chicken, beef, and goat for lunch; and beef, goat, and impala for dinner. As a consequence, malnutrition is common, and is seen most commonly in the forms of obesity and kwashiorkor. Bananas are a fruit that Swazis grow easily and eat frequently if encouraged, and as such play a critical role in nutrition.
Swazi cultural significance: Swazis burn fields right before plowing season starts, which creates a perfect growth setting for banana. Other than that, there is not a big cultural significance.
Photo information: I took these photos at a homestead close to mine in my village, which is on the border of Swaziland and Mozambique, near Siteki.
Source:

www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/banana.html

http://www.edenproject.com/visit-us/whats-here/plant-a-z/wild-banana

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/plant-finder/plant-details/kc/a529/musa-acuminata.aspx

The Common Coral Tree

Date: 06 September 2013
Common names: Common coral tree, lucky bean tree
SiSwati name: Umsinsi
Scientific name: Erythrina lysistemon
Family: Fabaceae (bean family)
Distribution: Swaziland, southern Mozambique, Kwazulu Nataal, southern Botswana, and eastern Zimbabwe
Habitat: Grasslands, savanna-bushveld, savanna-lowveld and savanna-woodlands
Flowering season: June - October (winter)
Flowers: Showy, red flowers in horizontal spikes; unscented; 
Fruit: Long, narrow, sickle-shaped pea pod
Leaves: Trifoliate compound, heart-shaped, dark green
Bark: Mostly smooth and grey
Defense: Prickles on the leaf stalks and main veins, poisonous seeds (though the seeds usually pass through the digestive tract too quickly for the poison to be absorbed)
Swazi medicinal uses: None, but the Zulu people of South Africa will use the pea pods to treat toothache, earache, inflammation, rheumatism, and arthritis
Swazi cultural significance: None, but the Zulu people of South Africa believe the tree to be sacred, and will commonly plant it on graves. The seeds may also be used as beads in jewelry meant to bring good luck.
Photo information: I took this photo on 7 July 2013 on my training homestead in a mountain village near Matsapha.
Source: http://witkoppenwildflower.co.za/erythrina-lysistemon/

Life After Butler

Hello friends, colleagues, and professors:

My name is Kelsey Coy, and I am a recent graduate of Butler. I graduated on May 11, 2013, and I moved to Swaziland, Africa on June 26, 2013. I am a Peace Corps Volunteer working in community health in a rural village on the border between Swaziland and Mozambique. If you look at a map, I'm somewhere between Siteki, Swaziland and Maputo, Mozambique.

The Peace Corps has 6 program areas in which Volunteers can serve: education, youth and community development, health, business and information and communications technology, agriculture, and environment. Peace Corps Swaziland currently has volunteers serving in youth development and community health.

When considering service, applicants can discuss which field they are interested in or are qualified for with a recruiter. They will interview with a recruiter about two weeks after submitting the application. Once the recruiter has had some time to consider the applicant, he or she will nominate the applicant to serve in a particular area. The applicant's file then goes from the regional recruiting office to the national headquarters in Washington, DC. After some extensive medical and legal evaluations, the office decides who they would like to invite to serve in which countries. Only 40% of applicants get invited to serve. This whole process takes about a year.

Peace Corps is different in every country all over the world. Peace Corps Swaziland is one of the most challenging assignments, which brings both struggles and triumphs. Swaziland has the lowest life expectancy in the world (48 years), the highest rate of HIV in the world (31%), the highest rate of TB in the world (12%), and the highest rate of comorbid HIV/TB in the world (80% of HIV patients have TB). There is a high death rate, which does take an emotional toll on volunteers. There are advantages to serving here, however. The country is about the size of New Jersey, so getting around to all the other Volunteers is easy. There are 33 that arrived in June 2013, and about 30 that arrived in June 2012.

Community health is very open-ended as a field. For the first three months following training, Volunteers conduct community assessments to determine the needs of each specific community. In my community, winter food security, winter water security, high numbers of child-headed households, high numbers of orphans and vulnerable children, poor hygiene, poor nutrition, and a lack of income-generating activities seem to be the most prevalent challenges at first glance. I have only just arrived, so I still have 3 months of analysis and surveying ahead of me.

The third goal of the Peace Corps is to represent the countries in which we are serving to Americans. I am starting this blog to introduce some of the amazing plant life here in Swaziland. While I was at Butler, I enjoyed plant biology, and the plants here are amazing. If you have any questions about any of the plants I post about weekly, Peace Corps, or anything else, email me at kelseyccoy@gmail.com.

Enjoy!