Located in the bottom of Africa, is a tiny, underdog of a country: Swaziland. The kingdom of Swaziland has an unemployment rate between 40-60% and it also has the highest HIV rate in the world. As you move towards southern Swaziland, you will find the most intense drought and poverty conditions in the country – and if you look hard enough, you will find the small town of Nsoko.
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Nsoko, Swaziland is situated in the bottom of a basin, a valley surrounded by mountains with literally nowhere to go but up.
I went for a run the other day down the long dirt road that parallels the building where we live and as I ran down the road all I saw in front of me was more of the straight, dirt path seemingly leading into the mountains that enclose the land.
We are literally in the middle of nowhere.
I looked up at the fields all around me, feeling so free and then I looked up at the mountains and felt suddenly trapped. As though I was stuck in a vast expanse and all I could see was the endless cycle of poverty and dust.
I ran down towards the train tracks that mark the furthest point we can run and I turned around to repeat the same loop again. Coming from the opposite direction was a boy walking down the road with a wheelbarrow, followed closely behind by his two sisters holding jugs filled to the brim with the water they collected for the day.
My teammates and I stopped to help the girls with their heavy load, attempting to put it on our heads as they did and realizing quickly that these ten year old girls were much stronger than we were. Water splashed and the kids laughed as we struggled with a chore they do every day.
As we helped the kids carry their jugs, I realized that we are not in the middle of nowhere.
We are in the middle of someone’s important and precious life. We are in the only world they know and hold so dear. And just because their world doesn’t look anything close to mine, doesn’t make it less valued, and it doesn’t make it wrong.
We are in the middle of someplace special.
A place with secrets deeper than the mountains that overshadow it on every side.
A place that is used in important and unique ways for God’s kingdom.
And I’m blessed to be here.
