It is strange to me that whenever I am asked about Swaziland, I speak of its beauty. For those who don’t know, Swaziland is a third world country, one of the poorest in the world. The Swazi king, however, is one of the richest men in the world. The majority of the nation lives in poverty. AIDS is expected to wipe out at least half (and that is a conservative estimate) of their population in the next ten years, leaving only the elderly and children. Average life expectancy for anyone there is 40 years. And yet with all of this knowledge, one cannot deny that this nation is blessed with such natural beauty, and its people with such love and kindness.
We went with the AIM (Adventures in Missions) team that is staying at Alabanza for The Awakening, and stayed at the AIM house with them. There were 60 of us in this house, so needless to say, it was a “lively” experience. The first night, Dawn, Anne, and I slept on the balcony, but managed to find floor space inside on the nights after that. I took the opportunity of the close quarters to get to know many of the FYM’s (First Year Missionaries) that I hadn’t gotten close to yet. We would stay up late on the front porch talking and laughing. The FYM’s come from all over the States and Canada. We are an interesting bunch when we are all together—my favorite part being all the accents. My twang comes out when I talk to certain people, but for the most part I try to keep it to myself since it is hard enough for Africans to understand us anyways.
We spent our days visiting Dawn’s friends that she made in her time in Swaziland. She led teams with AIM, and they lived on a homestead with a Swazi family. They ministered all over Manzini, one of the two cities in Swaziland. On our first full day in Swazi, we went to church where Dawn and her team attended. The music was my favorite part and I am convinced that there is not one bad voice in all of Africa! The other notable portion of the service was the tithing. I was terrified of this when Dawn and Anne first described it to me, but I have to tell you—it works for them.
The church is divided into two teams: BMW and Mercedes. They compete each week to have the highest total in gifts. If a team loses for two weeks in a row, they become Chevrolet, and then if they lose again, they become Tazz (I didn’t know what I was until I got here, but trust me—you don’t want this to be the fate of your team). There is this fun and excited spirit of competition between the two teams, and as their team name is yelled, they respond, “Hallelujah!” You sing and dance down the aisle to drop your gift in the front, and the service continues in dancing and singing until the amounts are totaled. I am told that the preacher cannot begin to preach until the results are tallied. The winning team is called and everyone jumps and cheers. There is truly JOY in their giving and they give with hearts of generosity and obedience.
We planned to spend the afternoon at Dawn’s homestead, but when we arrived we found out that they were hosting a wedding. We made plans to return the following evening when the kids would be out of school, and then headed back to the AIM house, since everything else in Swazi was closed. I spent the afternoon with the FYM’s and had so much fun getting to know more of them.
The next day we went to the squatter camp school where Dawn focused much of her time and love while in Swazi. As we approached the expanse of make-shift homes, children came running to us and grabbed our hands and jumped into our arms. We carried them with us as we walked to the schoolhouse. Garbage and sewage covered the ground. Some homes were permanent, but most were made of wood, tin, cardboard—it looked like they would use anything they could get their hands on. There were small children everywhere. Then we reached the schoolhouse and I met the infamous Gugu.
Gugu was leading a Bible lesson in the squatter camps when she became aware of how many of the students were engaging in sexual activities. Public school is not free and they were unable to attend. This left them home in the daytime with adults who were out of work. She asked them then how many of them would attend a school if one was made available and how many of them would promise to refrain from sexual activities if allowed to attend this school. When Dawn and her team showed up, this school was just getting off the ground and they were asked to help with everything from building to curriculum. The school has been blessed with an additional school room, and they were given curriculum for free to teach all levels of students.
We spoke with Gugu for almost an hour. She has an incredible heart and such energy! Gugu then had the students gather together and sing and dance for me, since I was new to Swaziland.
From there we headed to a Care Point to meet up with Julie (on staff with AIM) and the women who make the Swazi purses that we sell in the gift shop. A Care Point is a place where children can come and receive a free meal once a day. They are all over the place, and different ministries adopt them and provide meals and sometimes ministries at the locations. Julie’s ministry is very special—she employs Swazi women to make these purses, teaches them to make them, disciples them, and then requires them to also serve at a Care Point and give back to the community.
We also visited that day with Juliet, her daughter Misha, and Misha’s newborn Nosipho. Juliet and Misha cleaned and did laundry for Dawn’s team last year and the team built a relationship with them. They even threw Misha a baby shower before they left in the spring. Juliet works at Julie’s Care Point and makes the Swazi purses as well. Juliet shared with us a story about a gift she received at the baby shower Dawn’s team threw. She said that the Gogo (“Grandma”) stick that she was given (something many older women in Swazi walk with, which was personalized for her by a team member) saved her life. She said that she felt God tell her to sleep in Misha’s room for three nights in a row, and the following day when she went into her room she saw that her Gogo stick had fallen over and crushed a snake. But this wasn’t just any snake—this was a very poisonous black mamba. She said that her stick was like Moses’s stick, and she smiled from ear to ear.
That evening we went to Dawn’s homestead and I got to meet her family. One of the young girls gave me my Swazi name: Nomphilo (“Nome- peelo”), which means “full of life.” Her family was so delighted to see her and she was able to catch up with many of them. You could see in their eyes that they missed her very much and that she obviously had a huge impact on them in the time that she lived there. She brought them a huge stack of photos, which we also learned in Turkey is a great ministry. They rarely have cameras, so family photos are few. We all make an effort here to print photos of us and the friends we make to give to them. Her family laughed and laughed at the photos, shouting the names of their American friends in each photo.
From there we went to a Girl’s Night with three Swazi girls our own age who work for AIM in various capacities in Swazi, and all of whom Dawn grew close to in her time in Swazi. Anne joined us, as well as Jackie, who is also on staff with AIM in Swazi. We ate dinner together and laughed so loudly that the entire restaurant was staring! These girls are hilarious! They have such joy, and Girl’s Night was a definite success.
On our final full day in Swazi, we went to two Swazi markets to shop (I LOVE African shopping!), and then went to a small game park to hike. Shopping here is somewhat like the shopping in Turkey, except that the Turks were agressive and pushy, where the Africans play on your sensitivity. They ask you to help them and they plead with you to buy something. Anne and I plowed through, not really making anyone happy, until we finally found the few things we were hunting down and those vendors decided we would be great friends. One of the owmen even gave me her address and made me promise to send pictures. (I love this place!)
Game parks are where they hide all the animals in Africa. The game park we drove to that day is known as a "lame-game" park because it doesn't have any of the big attraction animals. I was still impressed :) We drove around the park and saw impala, warthogs, eland on the drive in, and on our hike we walked by some more strange horned animals I cannot find in my wildlife guide, warthogs, and then encountered wildebeests at the top on the mountain. The peak is called Executioner's Rock because up until about 40 years ago, they would hike criminals to the top and push them off. The wildebeests freaked me out a bit. I mean, I know they're vegetarians, but they killed Mufasa, so they could definitely take me out. We survived, thankfully, and the views from the top made all the huffing and puffing and clinging to rocks entirely worthwhile. On the way out of the park we looked over at the lake, only to discover giant crocodiles sunning on the shores and hippos playing in the water. Even though we were in a hurry, we threw the car in reverse and got out to gawk. That night, I spent another relaxing evening on the front porch with the FYM's. I made some good friends on that front porch and those friendships have continued to grow and develop since the team's return to Alabanza.
I was enchanted by Swaziland, though much of what I saw still makes my heart ache to think about. The people I met, especially the believers there, they were so beautiful and so hospitable. Landscapes were insane and driving around was such a pleasure. And then to think of the poverty, the squatter camps, the illness-- it's enough to send you into a deep depression of the mind. Pray for this nation and for its leaders. Pray for the people we met and for the minstry going on there.
"My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud;
My voice rises to God, and He will hear me."
My voice rises to God, and He will hear me."
-Psalm 77:1
the girls who gave me my swazi name
playtime in swazi
a typical swazi house-- on dawn's homestead
anne, me, and dawn on the mountain top
