I have been so excited for AFRICA for the past couple of months that I bought The Lion King soundtrack in I-Tunes to prepare myself. (NAAASOOOWANYA!!) When we left Israel and finally made it, I was SO happy!! We spent a couple days in Cairo, Egypt before we made the trek to southern Africa. (Flying out of Israel is quite expensive, so this was the more financially-appropriate answer.) We were excited for the time in Cairo! We spent the day in Giza, touring the pyramids by camel!!
Let me paint you a picture of Swazi:
We are living at a “care point” in Nsoko with team S’more. Where we are staying has a school, a medical center, a playground, a soccer field, and a cooking station for the local “Go-go’s.” A Go-go is a grandmother who works at the care-point cooking meals for the local children. Our care-point has a newly started foster care program. In the program is one “true orphan,” and three brothers who have lost their father to AIDS, and their mother is too ill to care for her children any longer. Her outlook is not good.
Our contact is a Swazi-born pastor, named Pastor Gift. He is amazing and 33 years old. The life expectancy is so low here that Pastor Gift is literally considered a senior citizen.
Over half of the population in Swaziland is living with HIV/AIDS.
By 2050, it has been predicted that Swaziland’s population will have died out as a result of HIV and AIDS.
The kids are brilliant, hilarious and beautiful. They wear the same outfit every day, and they get one meal per day (if they are lucky). They play with rocks, flat soccer balls, and wheel-less bicycles, and they couldn’t be more grateful.
I found a toddler one morning teething on a used tampon applicator. Sorry to be gross, but it’s real life.
One day, we were doing a simple Bible Study with ten of the local children. Before we prayed, we asked the children what they would like to thank God for. One little boy, about eight years old, raised his hand and said “I am thankful that I am alive.” I am sure I have said this before (and I am, indeed, very thankful for my life), but I don’t think I have ever meant it quite in the way that he did.
