Swaziland has surprised most of us-in good ways. We spent months eight and nine in East Africa; one in the bush in Maasai Mara, Kenya, with flat expanses dotted by bushes, and the colorful and fun Maasai people, and we spent another outside the capital city of Kampala, Uganda, working for an organization that seeks to end child sacrifice.
Our shoes and feet were covered in red dirt, we heard people speaking Swahili and Luganda, experienced the “African massage” every time we entered a vehicle and rode over the bumpy roads, and had hot days and cool, comfortable nights.
Enter Southern Africa. We flew into Johannesburg, South Africa, and as we made our way through the airport, I was hit with reverse culture shock. So. Many. White people. We had to spend the night in the airport, and the only place we could find to sleep was about fifty feet from the front doors of the airport. Josh and I blew up our sleeping pads, but for some reason didn’t get our sleeping bag out (it’s a pain to get in and out of the compression sack), huddled together under my “accidentally borrowed for long-term” airplane blanket (come on…you’ve probably done it, too), and attempted to sleep for a few hours.
It wasn’t too bad except for the fact that I was freezing and Josh and I couldn’t seem to nicely share the tiny airplane blanket. We’ve slept in plenty of airports, vans, shady hostels, and other random places that it definitely wasn’t our worst night’s sleep, but it was an adjustment to suddenly get thrown into fall/winter in the Southern hemisphere.
The next morning, we loaded up on our bus. Usually, we fill up two charter buses with our 57 people and 57 people’s luggage, but this time it was cheaper to hire one bus, and one large box truck for the bags. I snagged a seat next to Josh and Brant, but the seats were super skinny, so I eventually moved to the floor, snuggling under my blanket in the aisle. It was actually one of the most comfortable bus rides I’ve had on the Race. The floor was warm, and had a cushy plastic carpet, and the smooth (smooth?!? This was new for us, haha) bumps were soothing.
I fell asleep for hours, and was awoken when we stopped for a bathroom break and to grab some snacks. As I pulled myself up off the floor of the bus, I looked around at the landscape of South Africa for the first time.
I couldn’t believe what I saw. We could have been in the Midwest. Fog reached as far as I could see, and the soft, green, rolling hills were enclosed by stretches of wooden fence. We were parked in front of a rest stop that could have been on the side of the highway in Anytown, USA.
As I walked into the convenience store, I was greeted by magazines, rows of sodas and energy drinks, Doritos, Skittles, and so many other Western brands. I was a little overwhelmed to say the least. For a few minutes, I just kind of walked around aimlessly, not sure what to do. As I examined the Doritos, I noticed a new brand. Sweet chili lime or something like that.
“Is this a new thing?” I asked someone. “I mean, is it a thing now? Since we were in the States?” We’ve missed out on so many of those things, so I feel like I will have to catch up on a lot of things when we get back.
I decided on some kind of juice, balsamic vinegar and onion Lays, and Skittles. I savored every one of them. When we got back on the bus, I took a seat at the front that had been vacated by the backup bus driver, and since the driver is on the right side of the bus here, I was on the left, and it almost felt like I was driving. It also helped that the roads in South Africa, and then Swaziland, are paved and lined just like in the States. It was so exciting to feel like I was flying down the highway.
We eventually arrived at our meeting point, and we were picked up by a smaller bus. We never really have much information going into our new ministry sites, so we were a little confused by the marijuana sticker on the back of the bus, and super inapropro music playing. Turns out this bus was just hired to take us to our ministry, and it was not actually connected with the ministry.
We drove for awhile into the mountains, and eventually turned off the main road onto a steep dirt road. We drove up and around the mountains, for what seemed like forever, and finally drove past the gate and sign, reading El Shaddai Ministries.
We were blown away by the place, and I’m not sure if any of us expected to be blessed as much as we have been.
More on ministry in Swazi coming soon…
