Yes, another country another blog about the logistics of what I am doing on the World Race. It’s been a while writing blogs and firstly, I would like to apologize for that…..AGAIN. The Race is a time when I get so wrapped with work during the week all I want to do on the weekends is relax, sleep, have fun, sleep, eat, and sleep some more! Also….WELCOME TO AFRICA, where everything goes on African time, including the Wifi access (aka slow and surely).
Therefore, I am writing about Eswatini while being in South Africa (2 months later). Oops. Better late than never I suppose. So we are rewinding and going back to Eswatini (aka Swaziland)- over the next couple days I’ll also be sending out “When In Lesotho” and “When In South Africa” to try and catch everyone up before I go HOME! Holy CRAP!
Country Overview:
Location – Mazini, Eswatini
Language – Swati/ English
Currency –Swazi Lilangeni ($1 USD = around 15 Lilangeni)
Ministry Name – Adventures in Mission Base/ Children’s Hope Chest International
Team Name –Team Spice Girls- for the fifth country!)
(Teammates: Codi Moore, Missy Leuthold, Katrina Chaney, Emalea Macinnes, Alyssa
Boss, and Vanessa Donnamaria)
Our Home: During our time in Eswatini I split my time between living in hostel close to Mantenga Nature Reserve with my parents for a week and a homestead on the outskirts of Manzini. I will mainly talk about Manzini and our time at the homestead. On the homestead our squad was split between two houses with a couple people also sleeping in their tents. We stayed with a family that finds a lot of joy in supporting missionaries and so they specifically built two houses for missionary families and groups can live in when serving in the Manzini area. They were such a blessing to me and our squad. A couple of times we had feasts with them where we would prepare something American and they would prepare traditional African meals. This was so much fun to be a part of and always led to very meaningful conversations. At the homestead we had great accomodations – a pool, hot water showers, a kitchen, and real beds. I slept on the top bunk and roomed with some of my closest friends on the race which was really sweet. You could often find me waking up around 5:30 am watching the sunrise and journaling in our hammocks or at our dining room table.
Our Mission: This month we are working at the Adventures in Missions (AIM) base in Eswatini. They also are partners with Children’s HopeChest International. AIM is the organization in which I am traveling with and Children’s HopeChest is based out of Colorado and works to sponsor children to prevent poverty. Since the whole squad was serving with these organizations this month, we were split into different ministries for the weekdays! The ministries included administration work at the AIM base, agriculture work in the surrounding areas, maintanence with CarePoints, and children’s ministry at one of the 40 CarePoints in Eswatini. I was able to serve at the CarePoints when my parents were with me for a week! During this week, we simply played with the children. We gave lots of love, lots of hugs, and played lots of a games. “If you want to play, make a BIG circle,” was the mantra that often got stuck in my head after leaving ministry. It was so awesome to be able to watch my mom and dad interact with the kids and make friendships that will impact them and their walk with God forever. Here we would also help the GoGo’s with the cooking and preparing of meals that the children would receive every day. Once Parent Vision Trip ended, I was placed in the agricultural group. This was one of my favorite ministries because it reminded me of being a kid and ‘helping’ my mom in the garden in the summers. When I was younger, I hated this work but now I’ve grown fond of working in the dirt. During the week, we would do various tasks in the community gardens surrounding Manzini. We would help the volunteers plant, water, weed, and harvest a multitude of produce such as – beetroot, cabbage, spinach, onion, and lettuce. Our group also worked in a larger farm where we helped take down a barbed wire fence to be replaced with an electric fence, cleared trees, and burned out the ditches to produce new and healthy fields. I found a lot of joy working with my hands and having sweat run down my back this month. On Saturdays we would perform a “Fun Day” at one of the CarePoints. The first weekend I was able to return to the CarePoint my parents and I were at the week prior! During these Fun Days, we would provide games, songs, and bouncy houses for the children to play on. The children also received “Chicken Dust” which is a meal that includes: ¼ of a Chicken, Pap, and Collard Greens. It was mentioned that this could one meal might be the only taste of meat the children get this year. What a thought. As you can see, my time in Eswatini was always filled to the brim with ministry- ministry that I loved to do.
How am I?
In the past “When In…” blogs, I have exposed you to different check-in activities that we do at the end of the day with our team. I’ve shown High Low Buffalo, Rose Bud Thorn, as well as ESP with you. Because we have gone through all the major check-ins, I will continue with this theme and simply choose the one that best suits the country I am in. This month I will be doing RBT. The activity Rose, Bud, Thorn, stands for: Your favorite thing happening (Rose), What you are most looking forward to (Bud), and What’s been hard for you (Thorn).
–Rose — To me my favorite part about Eswatini has been doing ministry alongside my parents. I would have never imagined my mom, my dad, and I being reunited as one family unit working hand in hand in Africa. It has always been a dream since my first trip to the Dominican Republic in high school with my dad to do it again but with my dad AND my mom. This was a dream that I figured would never actually happen but I’m so glad it did. It was amazing to see both of them really invest in the children and also in what I’ve been walking through this year. I’m so proud to call Dawn Sage and Chris Sage my parents. I wouldn’t trade them for anyone else. I can’t wait to continue doing life with them upon my return to the States and see how much they have also grown on this year journey I’ve gone on.
–Bud– I am looking forward to living in the mountains next month! This month showed that some of Africa can be warmer after being freezing in Botswana, buuutttt now I’m ready to go back to the coldness and live in the mountains. From what I’ve heard about Lesotho, they have the best sights of the stars because there is little lights at night that dim God’s amazing creation of the stars! I can’t wait to see this for myself… Also we are working with the elderly and they are my favorite people group so YAY!
–Thorn– Oh boy, this is an easy one for me. During most of Eswatini, I was sick with a stomach bug and/or toxic food poisoning. I started to feel badly one day and threw up all night but it just got worse and worse the following days. Fever, vomiting, diarrhea, and a headache don’t go well together. The day that I finally went into the clinic I thought I was suffering from appendicitis because my stomach and intestines were spasming so badly. At the hospital, I was well taken care of and received a butt shot that ultimately made me feel so much better. After 7 or 8 hours there, I was ready to go home and sleep for 2 days straight. There were two other girls that suffered through this with me. I thank God every day for Brianna since she took care of me through ALL of it – even me pooping my own pants at the age of 23 years old. ß sorry if that was too much information!
I hope this helps give you an image of some of the things that my team and I are doing here in Eswatini. As always, feel free to reach out to me via email ([email protected] or [email protected]) if you have any questions or just want to chat. Enjoy Eswatini photos below 🙂
-e
