Hey y’all!!
I’m writing from The Kingdom of eSwtini, also known as swaziland. The king changed the name about two years ago. We arrived on the 26th of February and we will be leaving this AIM base we are staying/partnering with on March 26th, then on to Lesotho.
Impact Africa was incredible. We had the amazing privilege to partner with the interns and staff and not only host another week long mission trip from a church in Colorado but also were able to help lead what we call a JK. JK stands for Jabulian Kids which is ‘happy kids’ in Zulu. Zulu is one of the 11 official languages here in South Africa. It is common for a local to give you a Zulu name, the kids and translators that we were working with gave me the Zulu name Thandeka (tan-day-ka) it means Lovable.
Every Friday we would split into two groups and go to four different villages. We play music and have bubbles, stickers a soccer ball and frizbe, stuff like that to play with and as we set up the game and story. Once kids start coming we get to dance with the kids to fun worship songs after that we share a story with them, we act out a story from the Bible and explain to the kids what’s happening. After the story we play a game, girls vs boys!! The games very, but always fun then we give out sweeties which they call candy. Each week we have an average of 100 kids show up. It’s truly amazing to be a part of! All ages come and parents too. It’s very similar to a VBS in the states.
It was hard to say goodbye to the new friends and family we had gotten to meet and bond with. It was such a blessing to serve with people that made it so hard to say goodbye.
We then spent a day traveling to the boarder of Swaziland, where we stayed at a hostile for 4 days to debrief. Our coaches and mentor came from the states as well. The few days we had were to process the past month of all the different things that had happened spiritually, mentally and physically for some. It was also the first time that just our team were together. At Impact we had 12 interns so we were never just our team. Then we crossed the boarder from South Africa to the Kongdom of eSwatini.
Here we have been doing Market ministry, which is just spending the day in the market which is a few blocks and very crowded, and just talking with people learning their trade. I learned how to weave a basket and really connect with the woman teaching me. It’s been really special and I can’t wait to see what the rest of this month holds!!!
Not much wifi over the next two months so I will do my best to keep y’all updated!!
Blessings,
Olivia 🙂
