C-H's travel stories: Swaziland, June 12, 2009

Decided to add this one after the fact--food we brought for the Gogo

Dear Friends and Family, June 12, 2009

This has been such a week of contrasts. Sunday, June 7, we participated in the World Hunger Day, a 5K walk. A beautiful, cool day filled with the sounds of the Swazi’s singing and chanting for a world without hunger. We were given orange tee shirts and it was a sea of orange as we walked up and down the streets of Manzini. It was a day filled with hope and challenges to the governments to stamp out hunger around the world. There were school children, marching bands, the Boy Scouts of Swaziland and hundreds of young and old people alike walking. We felt very much a part of the group, even if we were a small group of whites amongst the 2000 or more blacks. After the walk, a friend from the church who is the Deputy Mayor of Manzini was able to get us into the VIP tent to listen to the speeches. We sat right behind the several princes that were representing the King of Swaziland and we all thought that was pretty cool. We were told later that we were on the local TV that night!

In contrast, on Thursday, we went out to the homestead of a deaf and almost blind Gogo (grandmother) who lives with some of her family far out in the country. She lives in a round, mud hut with a thatched roof and dirt floor. They had built a fire inside of a tire wheel (without the tire) and the room was incredibly smoky. The only piece of furniture in this home was her cot—they had brought some rickety chairs and benches in for us to sit on. We were a small group, two local Manyano (Methodist outreach) women, Chris, Gary and I. Chris had said the Gogo was in her late nineties, but the Gogo told us “I am thousands and thousands of years old”. We brought her a warm blanket and some food, including oranges, maize, beans, tea and candles. She had been sick all week but she said because we had come so far to see her she wanted to meet us. We all felt we were in the presence of incredible woman, a woman of spirit and deep understanding. There was much laughter and talking among the Manyanos and this Gogo. Some of it was translated to us. She paraphrased a verse from the Bible to us—I was hungry and you fed me, I was cold, and you brought me a blanket, I was thirsty and you brought me oranges to quench my thirst, I was sick and you came to visit me-- we were extremely touched. As we left she shook each of our hands and said in a loud voice:”Many Thanks!” We only stayed a little bit and we are not sure we will ever see her again but she moved each of us and the conversation in the car on the way home was all about the meaning of being in mission—it is to go out and feed the hungry, clothe the unclothed, and visit the lonely and sick.

Another contrast this week was a visit on Monday to start the annual assessment visit to the 34 Methodist Schools in Swaziland. We were only able to visit two that day but what a contrast they were. At the first one we visited we were greeted warmly with a big hug by the Head Teacher (principal) whose name was Loveness! This was a school with children laughing, gardens and many plans for improving the school. We were taken into a classroom filled with 72, 7th graders who were perfectly behaved and we were astounded—in the US this probably would not be so. The second school we visited had a much more somber feel and the children didn’t seem nearly as free. This Head Teacher was quiet and suspicious—which I think this demeanor probably spread out to the children. She had more at her school—bigger gardens, more children, but she also had a computer lab that was unused and buildings that weren’t properly being used. She also seemed to question the reason for everything that Chris asked her. We have 30 more schools to visit before August when the reports are due. The reason for the assessment visits is to assess needs, find out how many OVC’s (orphaned and vulnerable children) there are and what medical needs there might be.

One really cute thing happened the other day when we were up at Lomngeletjane School working on cleaning out some of the storerooms. Jeri went into the preschool class to see how the teacher liked the cabinet—remember last week’s pictures? Well, the children (all under the age of 5) about 20 of them, were sitting quietly at their tables not making a sound. The teacher was nowhere to be seen. Jeri walked in, greeted them and with hand motions, asked where their teacher was (she used her hands to show a tall person and patted herself on the head). Well, this started off the funniest moment—they began singing in English and SiSwati the parts of the body; the head, eyes, nose, tongue all the way down to the feet. All of them participating and all of them with the correct hand movements. Jeri was laughing and tried to keep up with them but they had to go all the way to their feet. There was no stopping them!
The Nashville work team comes tomorrow. We will work all next week and then off to Kruger again, and maybe Jo’burg, so there probably won’t be another blog for a while. Please be in touch when you can and let us know how you are all doing. We LOVE hearing from you.
Blessings,
Gary & Jeri