Of all the countries on my route, I hated Swaziland the most. I had decided that before I even left for the race. I knew without a doubt it was going to be terrible……sleeping in tents, cold bucket showers, no electricity, and disgusting food. Not to mention being stuck out in the bush in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do. I KNEW it was going to suck. Only…………it didn't. As a matter of fact, what I had imagined in my head couldn't have been further from the truth. Not only did we have nice, warm beds to sleep in, and an actual chef preparing our food, but on top of all that we had HOT showers AND someone to do our laundry for us. Needless to say, that by the end of the month we were all a bit spoiled. The fact that we were on top of a mountain and had an AWESOME view of the sunset every night was just icing on the cake. Never have I seen God more at work than this month in Swaziland. It was like all he wanted to do was just blow away our expectations. Blessing after blessing after blessing. It was truly an amazing month. Let me tell you about it:
We arrived in Swaziland at El Shaddai ministries extremely tired and hungry. The travel there had been rather hectic and we weren't looking forward to putting up our tents and eating crappy food. But as you all know by now, that wasn't the case. We were greeted by Charmain, one of the kindest, most loving people I have ever met, and also the founder of El Shaddai. She must have known exactly how we were feeling because right after we arrived she took us to our rooms (what a surprise that was), and brought us the feast she had prepared for us (an even bigger surprise….and it came with rice crispy treats!!!). Knowing how tired and hungry we all were she left us alone for the rest of the night. The next morning after we awoke she explained to us what El Shaddai ministries was all about.
El Shaddai ministries is an orphanage that houses approximately 60 orphans from around Swaziland. They grow a lot of their own food and the kids attend a public school on the property that is also run by El Shaddai ministries which happens to be the only free public school in all of Swaziland. El Shaddai is completely supported by donors. All the money and supplies come from donors, which is a miracle in and of itself seeing as that Charmain doesn't advertise and the only way to find out about it is by word of mouth. Charmain likes it that way because as she told me, "I only want people here that God chooses to be here. If people want to give money or come here and help out I want it to come from God, not me."
While we were there , all of us guys (it was only the guys because it was manistry) were blessed to help out in a lot of ways. We spent a couple of days repairing Charmain's leaky roof, and another few days doing some construction inside her home. We also got to harvest an entire field of maize which took another few days. The remaining time was spent herding cattle and building Charmain a new, nicer gate at the entrance to the property. The Swazi people love their tea and so every day at 10am sharp we had tea time with Charmain and her family. And, of course, because her and her daughter cooked, every meal was fantastic. Every night we would spend time with the children and tell them stories from the Bible. We told them about Jonah, David, Solomon, and the importance of forgiveness and telling the truth.
I also got to have quite a few adventures while in Swaziland. I was able to climb 3 mountains (with much difficulty) during my stay, explore one of the largest cave systems in all of Africa, and I even got the chance to go on a safari in Kruger National Park (which was on my bucket list. also Kruger is the largest game reserve in all of Africa).
So as you can see I had quite a wonderful time in Swaziland. WIth so many adventures and blessings. It's funny how things change. Not only did I enjoy my time here in Swaziland, but it has turned out to be one of the best places I have ever been.
