If you don’t know where Swaziland is, it is a landlocked country that borders Mozambique and South Africa. It is also the last true monarchy in the world. Swaziland also has a few staggering estimates about it’s population. It is estimated that 1 out of 3 people in the country have AIDS/HIV, and that the average life expectance is 32 years, also it is expected that at the current rate everyone in Swaziland will have died by the year 2050. A huge problem that Swaziland is facing is that the people of Swaziland refuse to believe that they have a epidemic, or at least no one is acting on it. The people are offered free HIV tests but rarely take them for fear of rejection if someone finds out that they do indeed have HIV. Because of this no one is being treated for the virus because most of the time people don’t know they have it.
While in Swaziland I heard many stories of kids who have been tested positive being left on the side of the road, beaten severally and left outside to die, and thrown into a fire, as well as many others like this. All of these things are lead on by the fear that the devil has installed into the people of the country. People have such a fear of being judged that they will not get tested and if they are tested the will not go to a hospital to receive free treatment. So instead of this country making it a priority to stop this epidemic from spreading they are instead pushing it out of their head.
Not all in this country is lost though. Some of our team members have been working at a location called HOPE House, it is housing complex that is for those with HIV, TB, and other terminal illnesses to go and either try to attempt to recover or to be comfortable until their time on this earth pass away. While there we would try to bring joy to the people that are living there. Either the ones who are sick or the ones taking care of them, which is usually a family member.
So if there was ever a country in constant need of prayer it is Swaziland. The country is in very dire straights and is so riddled with fear and rejection that it is unwilling to deal with the problems that face it. But not all hope is lost. This country can turn things around and all it takes is your prayers. Pray that God will do mighty and amazing things in this country. That he will redeem this country and all it to rise from the ashes that it is in.
