The People and Places of Swaziland

“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.”- Matthew 5:14-15 

As I think over this last month, I realize how many different ministries we were able to be involved in while in Swaziland. We would start out our mornings by walking to the local clinic where we would have a 30 minute devotional for the staff. The clinic is rundown and has very few patients because they have problems keeping the electricity on, but they have a pretty consistent number of workers who come in every morning. We would usually have about 10-15 people there and we would sing songs and then someone on our team would stand and give a word from the Bible. It was obvious they loved having someone new there to share with them. It was a blessing to see a smile on their faces. We also attended the local high school every Friday morning for about an hour to do a drama, sing and give a devotional. It was a great opportunity since the high school seemed a little less open to us being there. It was such an encouragement because by our last Friday the faculty was thanking us for coming and telling us we were welcome to come back anytime because they would miss us greatly. Praise the Lord!

When we first got to Emkhuzweni we spent our first day doing some manual labor on our homestead. A lot of the team weeded the garden and helped plow and dig holes for the crops. I ended up helping a lady who was working with a special type of green leaf that is used to build the immune system specifically for AIDS patients. She was very skinny and her skin had been aged. I thought she was about 40 years old but she turned out to be only 26 and is the mother of one daughter. She has been working on the homestead for a few months. She picks the leaves, presses them down into little pieces and then sifts through them to get the powder. I tried to help her, but let’s just say that African women have a lot more upper body strength than most Americans. I don’t think I helped as much as she made me feel like I did, but I realized as I sat there talking to her in broken English that I was not there as much to help her with the leaves but rather to just minister to her as a friend. We talked for a while until I had to go. The next Saturday she came and we sat together for a couple hours while she learned how to make a bracelet. I just enjoyed being around her. I would see her in passing almost every day and she would always call me by name and ask how I was doing. She was always there to help us when we needed her and she never asked for anything in return. The day we left we brought some clothes for her and the other ladies that worked on the homestead. She was very grateful and excited. I found out later that day after we had left the homestead for the last time that she is dying of AIDS and the leaves that she works with every day are keeping her alive. I took this pretty hard. As I look back I can see the signs of the disease on her body but you would have never known it by talking to her. My heart is broken for this woman. Even though it wasn’t much, I’m thankful for the time I got to spend with her and I trust the Lord to love on her since I can’t.

The local primary school was our main ministry while we were in Emkhuzweni. I was excited about the opportunity to teach. Every one either had their own class to teach or helped out in the office. I taught a 3^rd grade math and science class for the Dean of Students. The first day I observed her for half of the morning and then she decided I needed to go ahead and start teaching. I have never really taught a class before, let alone kids who barely speak English. It was definitely out of my comfort zone, but the Lord gave me strength and by the last day I was pretty confident standing up in front of 60 kids. I thought I was just going to be assisting her, but by the 2^nd day into the week she looked me straight in the face, handed me the math book and told me to review it with them the next day. Yes, almost the entire book. She was no where to be found the rest of the week as I reviewed the math, science and religion book. I still look back and laugh because I had no idea what I was doing, but God gave me grace to get through it. One of the highlights was when the kids came up to me to have me check their science papers and I didn’t know the answers because many of the answers were not things we have in America and I didn’t know what they were. I had to laugh to myself as I didn’t know the answers to 3^rd grade science! It was hard at times but an overall great experience and hopefully we were able to give the teachers a little break and allow the kids to have some fun at the same time. It was neat to walk through the community and have kids know our names because we were teaching their classes. I could see how God was taking even the little things and using them to leave a lasting impact.

One of the things that we enjoyed the most was the time we spent at the Abandoned Children’s Home in Mbabane. We only were able to go there twice, but it left a permanent impact on every person on my team. The owner of the homestead where we stayed for the month also runs the Children’s Home. Mr. Pratt and his wife love these children as their own. There are over 30 kids here most of which are from the ages of 1-8 years old. These kids have all been abandoned by their parents. Most have been put in dumpsters or vacant areas and left to die. They were thrown out like yesterday’s trash. Many because their parents brought them into the world with AIDS and they knew they couldn’t take care of them or they wouldn’t be alive to raise them. These kids would be dead if the Pratt’s wouldn’t have found them and taken them in. You would never know it by looking at these children. They are absolutely, stunningly beautiful. They are so full of life and there is no way you can not have a permanent smile on your face when you are around them. Even though we didn’t know many of their stories, it was really hard for my team and I to comprehend and accept what had happened to these kids. How could someone just throw them away? We just couldn’t accept that. As our time ended for the day there was not one person on my team that was ready to leave. I literally had to pull them away and it killed me because I didn’t want to leave either. I just wanted to be there with them and love them endlessly. I later found out a few of their stories. One of our favorite little kids we called the “Bubble Blower” because he would confiscate everyone’s bubbles and go in a corner and literally blow bubbles for hours. His mom left him in a trash can to die outside of a supermarket in the city. Another girl who is only a few years old and loves playing with stickers had been raped by her father who had AIDS on a daily basis when she was just 18 months old. She was raped to the point that she still bleeds now from the lasting damage that he did to her. She also now has AIDS. It is taught by the witchdoctors in Swaziland that if you have AIDS and you rape a virgin that you will be healed. She was another victim of this horrible lie that has become a cultural truth. Sadly, the stories like this are endless and it isn’t just the kids at this home; it is kids in the primary and high school where we taught and the community where we did home visits. It is all over and it is tragic. These kids need people who will love and fight for them and show them the love that only Christ can give to fill the hurt. On our second visit to the home a little girl that played with me on the first trip came up and fell asleep in my arms. There was just such a contentment and trust on her face even though she barely knew me. She trusted me and was content to just let me love on her. Every time I had a child in my arms in Swazi the Lord just spoke over me contentment and gave me a glimpse of His heart.  For me this last month was about loving those who have no one to love them. Loving those who don’t know how to love and showing them that they are worthy to be loved. I’m thankful for every opportunity the Lord gave me to show His love to those who don’t have a mother to tell them that they are loved or have been told that they are not worth loving. God can cover it all with His perfect love and I have seen that firsthand.

Another of my favorite ministries was visiting the local care point in our area. We didn’t even know it was there until we started walking through a neighborhood close to our homestead and found a lot of kids playing and waiting to eat. This care point feeds about 80 kids in the area on a daily basis. I loved going there. The go-gos (grandmother figures that run the care point) were so kind and full of life and feed these kids out of the kindness of their hearts. We decided to go one day and clean up their yard and make the care point nicer. We prayed over the area and just spent time loving on the kids and spending time with the people there. I had a little girl who was attached to me the whole day, but I also felt really led to spend time with one of the go-gos that lived there. She knew enough English for us to have a conversation and she was such a joy to be around. I enjoyed sitting with her and showing her that she was appreciated and loved. We traded addresses so hopefully we can stay in touch, and I can send her some of the pictures that I took at the care point since they don’t have any. There was also a girl who was 14 years old and most likely didn’t have enough money to go to school because she was always there during school hours. She would follow me around a lot and was just content to sit by me even though she didn’t speak any English. That was enough for her and I grew to love someone I couldn’t even talk to. It is amazing how love can cross any boundary. It was great to be able to build these relationships because any time we would walk through the neighborhood the care point kids would find us, follow us and hold our hands the entire time we were there. We were able to leave some supplies and food with them for the kids. Hopefully the kids will have fun with the gifts and the food can be used to feed all who come there to get their meal for the day.