My seventh month on the race was in Swaziland. SWAZILAND. I did not have reliable internet all month, which is why I am posting this now. It was an interesting month full of new experiences and being stretched. At first I was a little anxious to be there because I shared a small homestead with 16 other girls and one room with 8 girls. It was a rough month with cold bucket showers and outhouses but it turned out to be a great month of learning to be comfortable in my own skin. I was on an all girl team for the first time and it was great! I had a fun time getting to know them and learning to open up.
I volunteered to work agriculture all month with three other girls. Most of the other girls worked at Care Points in the area, which are preschools for at risk children. Working agriculture was a lot of hard work but we had so much fun together. We worked with two Swazi men named Nhlanhla and Mthunzie. We had a hard time pronouncing their names so we called them Lucky and Shady. During the month we hoed a field so we could plant thousands of seedlings. We planted cucumbers, beets, and cabbages. Then we weeded a screen house, covered the ground in plastic and planted strawberry seedling in an intricate potted irrigation system, which gave us many days of trouble. All of the fruits and vegetables go to the children at the Care Points, who greatly need the nutrients. I think it would have been easy for me to get overwhelmed with the living arrangements but God took care of me and gave me the girls on my agriculture team. We worked different hours then everybody else and had great fun being silly and supported each other throughout the month.
Swaziland is a small country but it is beautiful. Swazi people are very proud of their nation and their king. I took a great interest learning about their culture. One element of their culture which I found fascinating was the idea of the bride price. I talked to many locals about this concept. In order to marry in Swaziland a man must pay cows to his soon to be father in law. Cows are very expensive $400-600 USD. Most Swazis do not make more than a couple hundred a month and the average woman is worth 16 cows. It is a very traditional system that most people agree does not make a whole lot of sense these days. AIDS is prevalent in Swaziland. I heard the statistic that as many as 7 in 10 adults have the virus and 3 in 10 children are born with it. The fear is that with the rate of it spreading the people will die out and the country will no longer exist in 30 years. The Swazis I talked to this about were very hopeful that God will preserve their people. Please pray for this nation that there will be a change in their culture and a turning to God.
It was yet another great month on the race but now I am in Northern Ireland!
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Picture blog to follow!!!
