When I gathered up the tangible memories from my happiest travels in South Africa, they matched each other like puzzle pieces. They all fit in a glass jar that once housed homemade honey – if I started by loading up on the biggest things first, just like the old proverb teaches.

My new paper weight — a treasure trove of artifacts from Tembe Elephant Park, Kosi Bay, Northern Cape, Swaziland, and the Smangaliso wetlands — crowned my efforts at a Peace Corps home makeover. The bare concrete walls had been crying out for something to delight the eye, and for the first time I had a deadline to motivate me: September 13th, the day my first friend from home would touch down on South African soil.

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