Before the trip began, I would always think to myself, “i wonder if my heart will break for a particular country like past racers”. As each month would come and go I would enjoy the country but never really loved any of the locations. Nicaragua was pretty close but I think I the bugs ruined it for me.
My heart has finally broken.
Swaziland has been my favorite place thus far, the ministry we did, the people we met, the location, everything. Unfortunately we were only able to stay there for two weeks.
When we first arrived in Swazi, I was completely surprised by the climate, it was beautiful. For some reason I was expecting it to look like a desert but it is full of lush and beautiful rolling hills.
The ministry we did was called Care Points. The care points provide lunch for the pre-schoolers everyday. The lunch is typically the only meal they are able to eat that day and it consists of rice or ugali (carbs). thats it.
While we were at the care points we would sing songs (the banana song was the most popular), play games, tell a bible story, have question and answer time, and then prayer before lunch. One day we asked the children what they are thankful for. One of the little boys who was probably around 8 years old raised his hand and said, “to be alive”. That just about broke my heart. In case you didn’t know, 50% of swaziland is HIV positive. The life expectancy of the country is about 30 years. The country is expected to be completely wiped out by 2050. Anyway, to hear this little boy say he was thankful to be alive made me think, “do i ever thank God for the mere fact that He has given me another day to live?” Either way, I don’t think I thank Him enough.
It was so hard to see how little these children have. When we burn our trash we have to watch the entire thing burn, otherwise the children will go through it to find food and things to play with since they don’t have any toys. Someone on my team had seen a little boy playing with a used tampon applicator in his mouth. Even though they didn’t have much to play with, it did make me realize how spoiled even the poorest children in America are. These kids literally have nothing. Most of the time they play with the rocks and throw them at each other. Sometimes the children will suck the dirt off of the rocks because they are so hungry. One day I saw a child swallow an entire rock. it was so sad.
There were five boys we fed every night, I don’t know how to pronounce their names let alone spell them. They’re stories are so sad. They’re all orphans and are staying at the AIM Foster House. The last night in swaziland we decided to take them out to dinner at a restaurant. They were so excited when i told them we were going to a restaurant, they had never eaten at one before. Those boys were so sweet and it was so sweet to see them taking care of each other. In fact, something incredible i noticed was all the children look after one another. The love they show each other is a love that we definitely don’t grow up with in America for one another.
One of my favorite days was when we were waiting to leave for our care point. Kel, kelly, matt and I were watching Bear and Nugget (we named them because we didn’t know their names) entertain us by running by and sliding in front of us. They were very young, probably about 3 or 4 years old. Whatever Bear did, Nugget would do the same. We would clap as they ran by, Bear was always very serious and Nugget who was a bit smaller would run by as well but would always look at us with his huge grin.
I also made a little friend, her name is Colile (but you have to click your tongue at the beginning). She was the first child to run up to me when we arrived at the house, she clung to me the entire time we were there. We couldn’t really communicate all that well, but every day she would come home from school with a note for me. The first one was a “happy christmas card and new years”. it was so sweet. I wish I could have gotten to know her story a little better but despite the language barrier I love that little girl so much.
I will definitely be making my way back to Swaziland. I can’t wait.
