What are you doing anyway?

Over the last few years many of you have heard me talk about Swaziland.  You have heard stories of my previous trips and statistics about this country. 

This post is for those of you who have not heard those stories and statistics.  I want to quickly share with you all a little bit about my home for the next four months and why I love this place so much!  I also want to give you an idea of what I will be doing while I am here. Enjoy.

So, Swaziland is a small land locked country surrounded by South Africa and Mozambique.  This is an absolutely beautiful nation.  This trip I am here during the summer and I have really enjoyed the lush green that covers the landscape, it looks much different than my first trip which was during their winter.  Swaziland is the last full monarchy in all of Africa.  The king, King Mswatti the III, rules this country alongside is 13 wives.  Today I learned that Swaziland has an enormous security budget because the budget includes protection for the gigantic royal family. 

Swaziland’s biggest challenge is the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  It has been estimated that 1 in 4 adults living in this country have the deadly virus.  Because of the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS the country is dying off at an alarming rate.  In fact, Orphans and vulnerable children account for an estimated 15% of Swaziland’s total population. 

Another challenge that I have seen on this trip is school fees.  The school year starts in January which is also when school fees are due.  For a nation that lives off an average of $2.00 a day it can be very difficult to collect enough money to put all of your children through school.  It has been proven that without education the cycle of extreme poverty will continue.   Thankfully Adventures in Mission (the organization that I am working alongside) has started a sponsorship program for school fees.  If you are interested in supporting this program financially check out this website. http://www.adventures.org/swaziland/projects.asp

During my trip here in 2009 I quickly saw that amidst the poverty and illness in this country there is a strong presence of joy, faith, and love.  I was amazed at how drastically different this was from our hectic yet lavished lifestyle in the States.  I loved every moment of my 2 month trip to a rural community called Nsoko.  I learned so much from my team mates and more importantly from the people that we were interacting with.  We spent our days at care points loving the children, we danced alongside our translators, played soccer with the children at the primary school, helped the Gogos prepare meals and wash laundry, prayed with families at their homesteads, and most importantly we experienced Christ every single day.  The moment that I left Swaziland I knew that I wanted to return.

Our home until May.  The bottom uploaded a little goofy.

So here I am, 2.5 years later, back in Swaziland.  This time around I am living in a small apartment with one other student from BSU (Bailey) in Manzini, Swaziland.  Manzini is a much bigger and more developed city when compared to Nsoko.  I am here finishing up my last semester of my undergrad.  For the next four months I will be working with Timbali Crafts (http://www.timbalicrafts.org/index.html...buy something) .  Timbali crafts is an income generating project for women.  Many of the women involved spend their days volunteering at one of the many care points around Manzini and Nsoko.  At the care points the Gogos provide a meal and a basic education for the hundreds of kids that flock to the care points daily.   These women, or Gogos, were not getting paid for their work at the care points.  Timbali empowers the women through basic crafts.  Through these craft projects the women are given an income so that they can support their family.  Timbali also helps the women save money for school fees and other expenses such as Antiretroviral which helps to control HIV/AIDS.  Timbali also provides a match program when the women save their money.  Finally, and most importantly, Timbali crafts does yearly retreats and weekly Bible studies with the women.  This aspect of Timbali builds a community of support around the women that is vital in this place with so many hardships. 

While here, we will be helping out with many aspects of Timbali crafts.  Weekly we will do home visits with our translator Titi.  The purpose of these visits will be to build relationships with the Gogos and update information on them and their family.  We will help out with some of the logistics such as buying and transporting fabric, helping out with different crafts, selling crafts to teams, and hopefully a special craft project with some of the older girls at the care points.  Bailey and I also hope to take some trips while we are here, such as days at the Indian Ocean and a trip to Krueger national park.

This first week or two will be mostly orientation to the community and the culture.  I will do my best to update you all as we really start everything here.  For now Bailey and I are going to keep practicing driving on the left side of the road.  

Oh, She’s traveling…

For those of you who know me well you know that I love sharing and hearing puke stories.  This is one of those stories!

I left for Swaziland Sunday afternoon.   Just thinking about the journey that was ahead of me brought on lots of different emotions.  I was mostly excited to know that in thirty hours I would finally be returning to Swaziland.  I was also a little sad to know that I would be leaving other homes that love dearly. 

Flight one was from Minneapolis to Washington DC.  This flight went by really fast.  I sat next to a sweet old lady (we never introduced ourselves so I do not know her name) but we spent the entire flight chatting.  She has traveled the world as a Peace Corps volunteer, with her husband who is originally from Yemen, and visiting her adult children.  I really enjoyed hearing her stories and appreciated having someone to talk to as I started my own journey.

Flight two was from DC to New York.  This was a quick flight on a little plane…and we got to board the plane celebrity style on the air strip!  I spent the short flight reading.

Flight three was from New York to Johannesburg!  Unfortunately, I first had to survive an 11 hour layover first.  Upon arriving in New York I had to switch terminals.  The train was just across the street from the airport so at one in the morning I got to ride the train from terminal 7 to terminal  4 with a handful of other people.  I guy with a sweet pair of TOMS sat next to me and I mentioned how much I liked them.  We began talking and I found out that he also had a long layover.  It was comforting to have his company.  We set up camp on a cold marble floor near the entrance of the airport.  We talked for a little while sharing stories or our travels and plans for our post grad futures.  After maybe 20 minutes we both fell asleep on the uncomfortable floor clutching our back packs.  I slept on and off until about 4 in the morning.  I finally decided to get up to find some food and noticed that my new friend had left.  I was disappointed that I didn’t get to wish him luck on his future adventures and thank him for his company.  My last 7 hours in the airport were pretty miserable.  I felt sick to my stomach and I couldn’t stop shivering.  I spent those seven hours reading, journaling, and sleeping in different places around the airport.   There was a comfortable looking chair that I had my eye on the entire time and finally near the end of my lay over it was finally vacated.  My half hour nap in the chair was incredible! 

With two hours left in my layover I was finally able to make my way through security and head towards my gate.  I was still feeling really sick but my excitement for my coming adventures was beginning to return!  There were lots of people my age waiting at the gate.  I really wanted to talk to everyone after my long lonely layover but I fell asleep before I worked up any courage to talk to anyone (eventually I talked to one girl and found out that she goes to school with Lindsay Ryan…Small world).  Finally it was time to board the plane. 

Thankfully there was no one sitting in the seat next to me so I spent the 14 hour flight sleeping and reading.  Actually, now that I think of it, I actually slept through take off!  I felt significantly better after eating something and continued to feel great until the last hour of the flight. 

This is the part of the story that you have all been waiting for!  Finally the plane landed in South Africa...I was too worried about keeping down my most recent meal to have any excitement.  As soon as the seat belt light turned off I jumped to my feet, determined to get out of the plane and in to a bathroom as quick as possible.  If I was really thinking I would have grabbed a little puke bag just in case…but unfortunately I didn’t.  I made it off the plane and in to the little walk way between the plane and the airport (what is that called?) when I realized that I wasn’t going to make it.  After a similar illness over Christmas break my entire family learned that I am still a projectile vomiter…this little fact made me very worried for the slow walking people in front of me.  I made it past a few people when I started spewing.  I forced my hand over my mouth to save them from them from my returning breakfast.  After swallowing a re-puking several times I finally made it to a garbage can.  After throwing up in front of all of my fellow travelers I ran to the nearest bathroom, partially out of fear of what was to come, but mostly from embarrassment. 

After cleaning up as best as I could I realized that I still have one more flight.  I made my way through the airport security and to my final gate with ease.  I felt much better and excitement returned to me as I realized that in less than two hours I would be back in Swaziland.  Eventually our flight was called.  I followed a few other passengers on a bus which dropped us of at our plane and my final leg of the journey.

Flight four was from Johannesburg South Africa to Manzini, Swaziland.  Thankfully, the flight was the quickest one yet.  We arrived in Manzini at a very VERY small airport.  My luggage was not in Swaziland so I gave them my phone number and hoped for the best.  I think I was too exhausted to care…and I was just happy to have finally arrived in my new home and be reunited with Bailey. 

Food, sleep, and a shower soon followed.  My luggage arrived several hours later!  The first 24 hours in Manzini have been very relaxing.  We have had some orientation but most of our time has been filled with sleeping.  I am thankful to have some rest.  Soon our days will be filled with work and learning.

I am happy to be back and I cannot wait to share more stories with you all soon.

The end.