After nearly three years in country, there’s little that happens here that catches me off guard. There’s one problem, though, that always catches me off guard: Swazi women who don’t close the bathroom stall door.

You would think that if you had the option of doing your business behind a closed door, you would, and if it had a lock, you would lock the door shut. For some reason, the women of this country do not agree.

I have been walking in on women sitting on the toilet since I arrived in country. The doors here go all the way to the ground, so there’s no way to peek for feet. And when I use a stall without a lock, I hold it closed with a hand or foot while using the toilet. They don’t do that either!

This is such a big problem with this at work that I have started avoiding any stall in the bathroom that looks remotely closed (pushed closed and not locked, for instance) and go for one that is at least 50 percent open.

This just failed me too, as I walked in on a woman pulling up her undies!

Now that I have been scarred for life, and have scarred all of you (ncesi xem, a Swazi apology), I am hoping that someone has an answer to this or has experienced it somewhere else.