Well friends and family, it has been quite some time since I set foot on a new continent and a new adventure. As I’m writing this, it’s been 6 days since we landed and 5 days since we got to Swaziland. And let me tell you, Swaziland is like no other place I’ve been.
I figured that it would be fun to lay out my first impressions and experiences, since these are all firsts I won’t get to experience again for the first time. And I know for me, they were the things I was searching for the most when I was preparing for this trip.
Firstly, I would like to apologize for the lack of consistent blogs. Unsurprisingly, the wifi in the Swazi bush is not like urban Edmonton. This past weekend, we went to the best place to get wifi (a safari place that was 11-13 km away, I walked there, another story for another time) and man oh man. But in all of that, it has been a crazy/frustrating/beautiful experience to be forced into disconnecting because I don’t think we get that in North America. But still, all I want is to share all my pics I’ve got of cute kids and my even cuter team mates.
I can’t speak for all of Africa, but in terms of South Africa and Swaziland, Africa is just as beautiful as everyone says. Swazi is reeeeally small country full of mountains and valleys. Like it took us about two hours to cross the country and we can see a South African mountain out of our window at the base. And you know those cool trees that you see in Africa pictures? They’re all here. Sometimes I really can’t believe that I’m here. Then I see 4 spiders in my shower and chickens running around outside and I’m like yep, definitely am in Africa.
Currently in Swazi, it’s actually winter, which means “colder weather”, aka a cold day is like 20 degrees Celsius. So it’s enough that you might not break a sweat but you definitely can still wear your skirt and T-shirt comfortably. But that sun is hot folks. On the walk I mentioned earlier, I managed to get a wicked tan on my arms. So even in Swazi, I’m still working on that tan while keeping it modest.
There are no crazy animals wandering around here. But lots of chickens and goats, the occasional dog, and signs warning you about wild boar. I saw a zebra at the safari place so that was pretty neat, but they don’t have a ton of big animals there.
So let’s talk Nsoko. Currently there is a one month team here in Swazi with us, but they are in one of the bigger cities called Manzini, while we are out in Nsoko, which is a really small community. And lemme tell you, life is out here in Nsoko is slow and relaxed, and it’s really jarring but beautiful. The first morning here, I got up early and went and did my laundry outside and it was so still and quiet. Doing laundry is now my favourite. Life isn’t go go go, and it’s really refreshing. It’s teaching me a lot about slowing down while still being productive.
Finally, the people. Oh my goodness. I’m very introverted but I love interacting with the people here. They are teaching me so much about joy and freedom. And the kids here are everything I dreamt about when I had it in my head to serve in Africa one day. I’m convinced that heaven will sound like the giggles from these kids.
Swaziland is truly beautiful and despite feeling very far away from everything else, but i can’t wait to see what God does in the next couple weeks.
