After an amazing month in Mozambique, we headed to South Africa for a short debrief to discuss how we were doing on the race thus far. South Africa provided many comforts that reminded me of home. These included a bed, hot water, and even a nearby mall. South Africa is gorgeous and very quickly attached itself to my heart, but I didn’t sign up for the World Race to be comfortable.
We left for Swaziland, which for those that may not know, is a very small country located within South Africa. It is the last country with a true monarchy. I hadn’t heard much about Swaziland before my arrival. I knew the king ran the country, and his word was law. I knew that talking negatively about the king was forbidden despite the country’s horrible economic state. Lastly, I knew that the HIV/AIDS rate was the highest in the world. I tried my best to avoid having expectations about the country, but none the less, I was shocked when we crossed the border and saw a wonderfully constructed city, and gorgeous landscape. The streets were paved and the hills were endless and green. However, that wasn’t even the biggest surprise. I had lunch at KFC!
However, this is not the area that my team would be doing ministry. I was informed that the country as a whole is in fact economically poor, but we entered the country in an affluent area. The area I would be going to was an area called Nsoko, and was one that very few people ever went to. During my later trips to the clinic in the city, I informed them that I was living in Nsoko. They replied “Ew…Why?” The people have given up on the Nsoko region.
As we approached Nsoko that night, the landscape gradually changed. The hills became less frequent, then less green, and then disappeared altogether. The land was barren, and void of anything resembling a town. We were officially in the wilderness. So much so that by the end of my first week I had killed multiple scorpions, camel spiders, and even one spitting cobra with a stick and a brick. Not going to lie, the last part was pretty awesome…and a horribly stupid idea. In my defense we were protecting the pastor and his family, so I like to think God was ok with it.
Living conditions in Swaziland were interesting. I slept in my tent within a large tented room. We showered outdoors using buckets of water. Half of the month we used port-o-ponies, and the other half of the month we used an indoor bathroom. We cooked for ourselves and ate very well. We even made Quesadillas and Macaroni occasionally.
The month was truly amazing. Swaziland broke my heart and healed it at the same time. But all that is for the next blog.
If you feel called to donate, I am still $4000 from being fully funded. You can go to kevincrow.theworldrace.org Thank you to all those who have donated. You have personal emails coming once I get wifi for more than ten minutes! Love you all!
