I’m so thankful for an intricate, creative, and detailed God. Every conversation, every decision, every day, and every moment has led me to be able to stand here in Swaziland, Africa with 50 of some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met- who also have had everything in their lives lead them to be in the same place as I at the same time with the same mission—— pursuing the Kingdom and spreading the light and joy of God.
I am so thankful that God has chosen and trusted me to be a part of this group that I respect and cherish so dearly. These people I’m spending all my meals, time, and thoughts with are making a great impression on me and call me higher to the Kingdom. It’s community like I’ve never experienced before and so great for all of us.
So far my time in Swaziland has been really interesting. Our whole squad lives together, but during the weekdays our teams disperse to our different care points. Some teams walk a few miles, some are close to the compound (this is what we call where we live), and my team’s care point is right next to the compound.
The Compound:
The compound was recently built and isn’t even finished. There are construction workers around the compound all day everyday until it’s finished.
We don’t have any power and I don’t think we will during the whole three months we’re here. We’ve all gotten used to it and it’s actually pretty enjoyable. We just all wear headlamps when we eat dinner. The sun rises at about 5am and it’s completely dark by 6pm. We sleep in bunk beds and the whole building is cement. We are so blessed though to have SHOWERS, running water, toilets, and bunk beds. We’re all so grateful because we may not have all of the above in other countries. So PRAISE GOD.
Ministry:
My team and I have the privilege to have a little more ministry than the rest of the teams. We go to our care point, which is a pre-school along with an all ages school right next to it, and then every night we also cook dinner with two Swazi women to feed the whole squad. We have been able to minister to the teachers, our shepard (a Swazi woman named Precious, who guided us to get used to our care point the first week), the children and teenagers, and the two Swazi women named Faith and Doli.
Food:
Everyday, we eat organic oatmeal with two hard boiled eggs for breakfast, two pb&j sandwiches for lunch, and dinner is different everyday and so delicious. We also have the opportunity to take a bus to a store called Savemor (pronounced like Save More) to buy extra food if we want it. The food here is surprisingly cheap, which is really awesome. I’m choosing not to buy any snack foods that I would be able to buy in the states other than fruit. I’m only going to purchase food that I can only get in Swaziland to immerse myself in their culture more. It just feels weird to me to be munching on a bag of Doritos in Swaziland.
I’ve been playing soccer with the teenagers- they’re really good. They also really appreciate my effort even though I’m playing in an ankle-length skirt. I’ve made two really good friends who are about my age. One is named Mvovo , he is a tall and lanky Swazi guy who is kind of shy. The other is nicknamed Kikiki (I don’t know his real name), he is very kind and knows English super well. I’m hoping to be able to talk to both of them about Jesus very soon!! I saw them both at church this past Sunday and walked home with them.
Church!!
Okay, church in Swaziland is interesting to say the least. It’s always four hours long. They have about 4-9 people singing worship songs together. They have a speaker system with several microphones and a keyboard that they play background music on. IT’S SO LOUD. and surprisingly hilarious sometimes because they will be singing a beautiful gospel song and then all of a sudden the keyboard player will use one of the defaults it comes with and adds some edm bumping club music to go with it. Yes, that’s right. I mean, it’s BUMPING. And always insanely loud through the speakers. The preacher has a translator for us, so that’s helpful. My squad always has a few people lead worship for a while and then we also have someone share a testimony for the church.
The internet/wifi/contact situation:
So we have no power at the compound, and obviously no wifi. We are able to get on a bus and go to Nisela (restaurant owned by the Swazi king) on off days (Saturdays) and buy wifi there for relatively cheap. I’ve done that a couple times, but I won’t be doing that often while I’m here in Swazi. Also, my blogs and other updates probably won’t be too often, and the blogs will probably be kind of long. I type them in my notes on my phone and then copy and paste them to post when I will have WiFi. I have so many pictures I want to include in blogs, but to be completely honest, I don’t know how to put them in on my phone. But I’ll find out!!
Thank you for reading!! I’m so excited to finally post FROM AFRICA!!
-Clarissa Cappadona
