For the past 2 months, I have been in the wonderful land of Swaziland, and no, it’s not a mystical land like Never, Never Land! Swaziland truly exists. You can find it on any map of Africa!
Anyways, moving on! My first month was spent…oh I don’t remember. It wasn’t that grand. Nothing much really happened. If I can recall correctly, we had debrief and we had to train the new WRer’s. Yeah, that was basically it. I must say, though, that it was really relaxing and chill. So that was good.
Then July started and I decided to tag up with the 61 girls to go do ministry together. My team, YETI, was all do individual things, so I said goodbye to them for the month and travelled with one awesome rag tag team of girls, TEAM 61!!!!
Our ministry for the month was working for this amazing program called Teen Challenge; it is an international program. So we were working out at one of the program’s sites called Hwane Farms. This farm was remarkable. It seriously has to be one of the best programs I have ever been apart of. They take in abandoned kids and give them a place to live and to start anew. They take care of them physically, spiritually, and emotionally. They also teach them life skills like cooking and farming. They do all these things and more while still having the kids embrace in their Swazi culture.
Hwane Farms
So the girls and I spent our time there doing lots and lots of really cool things. In fact, during one of my first days being out there, a wild fire broke out and was starting to engulf several acres very near to the farm. So the girls and I grabbed some bushy branches and headed out with the farms workers to go help extinguish the blazing fire. It was insane! Grant it, it was very devastating, but also thrill rush ;)!
Other than fighting fires, during the day while the kids were at school, we would either sort clothes or do a painting project for the farm. Then when the kids would get home, we would play with them or tutor them in their studies, which were almost always math, which I utterly love! So that was really good! Then at nights, the girls and I would cook up some food, and then have a little dance party afterwards while cleaning. You can’t top having random dance parties in the kitchen.
Also, I should mention, that where we were was ridiculously cold! It really was. It definitely would get below freezing at nights, and that poor orange jacket of mine was pretty much paper thin. So that definitely wasn’t keeping me too warm. Luckily, though, the farm had lots of warm give away clothes. So the team and I stocked up and kept warm.
Anyways, one of the really great things about being out at this place was the fact that I could communicate with the kids. They all knew English. So I could actually get to hear their stories and to really be able to build a relationship with them. It was very refreshing. Hearing these kid’s stories was mind blowing. Most of them have gone through more life difficulties and challenges than most people could ever imagine. Most of their stories were very haunting and mind blowing. You hear stories of these kids getting burned and buried alive. You hear of an absurd amount of physical and sexual abuse. Many of them also have AIDS. Yet, you hear all these things, but if you met any of these kids today, you would have never been able to guess so. You look at each one of them and they are so joyful and healthy. Oh and they are so fun too!
All I know is that those kids at Hwane are champions and extraordinary in every way! I will always treasure my time with them.
Thanks Hwane, Kevin, all of Teen Challenge including Bulumbu, and Team 61 for giving me the best month on the race!
