August 2, 2007
I am still in awe that I’m actually in Africa. Tonight as we made dinner over an open fire, the sun began to set in the most brilliant display of colors that I have only yet to witness in the pages of
National Geographic. While most sunsets involve the colors of the sky turning to ever-changing shades of pink and orange, it is the sun that appears to morph into these colors in Swaziland. After giving us a good show, the sun sinks down behind those classic African trees with the scraggly branches and flat tops, the ones found in every scene of the
Lion King. I truly expected to hear warthogs and meerkats talking to lion cubs and to see a heard of zebra prancing around in the distance. This actually wouldn’t be too terribly surprising since the team that stayed here before us told us that zebras regularly approached the fence. In Africa, fences are designed to keep animals out, not in.
This is the Africa I was expecting. Since arriving in June, our team has been using the acronym T.I.A (This is Africa…) when something unusual happens. For instance, when you have to tell children to line up next to the razor-wire fence because it is the safest gathering point, someone would almost certainly lament, “Oh well, T.I.A.” to remind us that this is a completely different world than what we are accustomed to. But right now, it feels as if TIA simply because of the beautiful scenery, gorgeous sunset, the band of the Milky Way dashing through the brilliant Southern stars, and our hopes of hanging out with some zebras passing by.
Today is our first day back in Swaziland, and what a day it has been. Until the end of the month, we are camping at a sugarcane farm in Nsoko (a.k.a. the bush), an area in southeastern Swazi near the South African border. When I was about four-years-old, I told everyone that I wanted to be a farmer. Throughout my early elementary school days, that dream faded, but eighteen years later here I am, living on a working farm. After being dropped off at our campsite by our contact in the early morning, we set up our tents, repeatedly shooed the many resident chickens and baby chicks away from our tents, scouted out the best place for our fire pit, and then started walking to “town” to buy some groceries for dinner. We were told it was about 5K away and felt up to the challenge. After a series of several adventures, which would be too lengthy to describe in this blog, we ended up at the largest grocery store in Swazi (which really isn’t that large at all—about the size of the Kroger in Broad Ripple, Indiana), which is about 40K from our camp. “TIA,” we said.
By the grace of God we made it back, and Mark gathered some wood and started the fire for dinner. All of our meals will be cooked over open fire, usually in a large cauldron. Lacking a cauldron on the first day, we made baked potatoes by wrapping them in foil and tossing them in the fire. They were delicious, especially after we toped them with cheese and sour cream (the rest of the team had beans on theirs… eek!) Katey and Sarah are in charge of the meals, so we will continue to be well fed.
Tomorrow, we are planning on heading to nearby care points to get a glimpse of what our ministry this month will look like. To the best of my knowledge, care points are gathering places where gogos (what grandmothers are called here) prepare some food, and orphan/vulnerable children come to eat. Some care points are more structured than others, but some just consist of gogo’s sitting under a tree with a pot of beans. Because we are lacking a car right now, we are depending on one of our contacts, Nicholas, to pick us up and drive us in the back of his pick-up. We might be renting a car, but that won’t take place until next week. It’s not very easy to find a grocery store in the bush, let alone a car rental office…
August 4, 2007 edit: We’ve seen zebras! There are 4 that have become fond of grazing right next to our fence. After crawling out of our tents in the morning, we are greeted by our 4 zebra friends only a mere 50 feet away. This is so amazing! It’s hard for me to believe that this is actually my life. God is good.
