God’s Magnolias have settled safely in Swaziland! Our teams are spending Month 2 in Manzini, Swaziland. As you know, we spent last month partnered with Team Deep Wells. This month we are partnering with Team Daughters of Grace and Team Firebrand. The 20 of us are staying in a four bedroom house … remember the community I was talking about? Yep – welcome to community! It’s actually pretty great. We are no longer in the African Bush; we are living in a rural area with rolling hills that seem to go on forever. It is breathtakingly beautiful here. We often catch ourselves saying, “Just look at that.” I don’t know how two countries can be so close yet so different, but I can honestly say so far Swaziland is nothing like I expected.
I wanted to share some facts with you all about the country of Swaziland:
- The population of Swaziland is 1.3 million
- The average life expectancy is 51 years of age
- 63% of the population lives off of less than a dollar a day
- 2015 was the driest season for the country in a century (we’ve been told we bring blessings because ever since we’ve arrived to Africa, it has been raining more than it has in months)
- 1 in 3 people are food insecure because of the drought
R-Teams will be working with the two organizations that make up the Swaziland Ministry Partnership: Adventures in Missions (based out of Gainesville, GA) and Children’s Hope Chest (based out of Colorado). The vision of this ministry is to transform communities through discipleship and asset based community development, using a holistic approach towards addressing the complex issues of poverty.
To be honest, I am so pumped to work with this organization this month! In many cases, short-term (and even some long-term) ministries can end up having a negative impact on the community after they leave. I am passionate about making sure the organizations I partner with have a positive impact after they pull out of the community. When sitting through orientation, the book “When Helping Hurts” was mentioned multiple times as (1) something the organization is very passionate about and (2) a book we should read if we haven’t already done so (spoiler alert: I have read this and I strongly recommend any missionary read it as well). This book explores how some people approach mission work with the idea that they are helping communities, with a mindset rooted in their own culture. However, oftentimes their own ideas of what these communities need creates a dependence on these organizations and will cause more harm in the long run. The Swaziland Ministry Partnership believes that it is important for the community to use what skills individuals have to continually build the community up. Preach! This concept is so beautiful and revolutionary for the success of ministry organizations, both local and abroad!
Here’s a brief overview of the Swaziland Ministry Partnership in 2016: they had over 33 Carepoint parties, completed 765 home visits, and delivered 450 school packages, 720 care packages, 1,807 shoes, 606 t-shirts, 300 blankets, and 350 uniforms! WOW! Here in Swaziland this organization functions with 58 local Swazis, 12 missionaries, and 22 Leadership Academy Apprentices. I am grateful to be a part of this ministry Month 2 of my Race – by supporting my Race you too are a part of this ministry and outreach!
As a ministry, Swaziland Ministry Partnership has three main objectives that are displayed throughout the AIM base: Survive, Thrive, Succeed.
Survive:
- To support the survival of Swazi children and orphans as demonstrated by increased physical wellbeing. They will not do anything without the buy in from the community, a real drive for change, and a letter of agreement in place.
Thrive:
- To establish thriving Swazi children exhibiting strong growth in their spiritual, cognitive, and socio emotional life.
Succeed:
- Build on community based programming to increase the likelihood of either the ability, opportunity, or skill to make a living wage and to spitball leadership to plow back into the community.
Did you know? The Swaziland Ministry Partnership…
- Has 38 carepoints and feeds 7,200 children PER DAY!
- Hosted 502 short term missionaries in 2016
- Is in it’s 5th year of the Leadership Academy with 55 students
- Has paid the school fees for 203 children in 2016
- Has had 255 preschool graduates in 2016
Their primary focus is children’s ministry. Through children’s ministry sub-ministries were born: Music Ministry, Sports Ministry (dealing with the issues of fatherlessness), Timbali Crafts (an outreach for women who cook at the carepoints), and Sustainable Agriculture (for example – Community Gardens) At their core they value child focused love, servanthood, stewardship, and diligent discipline.
I wrote a previous blog titled “Ministry Looks Different on the Race.” Well, God wasn’t done with this in Week 1. He has intentionally made “Ministry Looks Different on the Race” a theme throughout Month 1 for myself and many of my squad mates, and has also decided to continue the theme in Month 2. One of the biggest takeaways I had from orientation this week was that “in their eyes ministry has been misinterpreted. Washing a toilet can be Ministry. Coloring can be Ministry. You see, coloring will be a memory for the child and that will be Ministry. Ministry can be big or small as long as it add value to the kingdom of God!” Preach
Please be in prayer for R-teams as we begin our month of ministry as a new unit. Please pray that the Holy Spirit leads us where we need to go and that as we go, our hearts and the hearts of the Swazi community are open to letting God move. I will keep you updated as it all unfolds but wanted to give you a sneak peak into the heart behind the ministry we will be doing this month.
Love,
K
