First Week in Eswatini

Hey family & friends! It has been about a week since I arrived in Swaziland. Time is odd here and sometimes it’s difficult to tell how much time has actually passed. We call it “Africa time.” In comparison to the U.S., the pace of life here is slow. I’m learning to walk slow and talk slow. The locals value flexibility and relationship over efficiency. We went to a grocery store here the other day to buy beans and rice. Complete strangers interacted as though they had long standing friendships. They Swazi people are a beautiful people. Their smiles are radiant. Wildlife is everywhere and the sun sets over the horizon every day at 5pm. Apparently, the tin roof at our ministry base is the local birdy hang-out. The birds frequent the tin roof and make very strange noises at all hours of the night. I swear there is an ostrich nearby. Here, I am referred to as a “cheese girl”, which means that I am soft (like cheese) and high maintenance. The rest of my team also gets referred to as this. The Swazi people can go for days without food…They eat when food is available to them but that isn’t frequent or expected. The majority of our ministry here will involve serving at various care points. Care points are locations where Swazi children come to receive daycare, meals and medical attention. Due to HIV/AIDs, there are many children without parents. If the parents are alive and able, they typically work in the surrounding sugar cane fields. Anything beyond an elementary school education is a luxury here. However, most of the locals understand and can communicate in basic English, alongside their native language.

My team & I are in charge of hand washing our laundry outdoors, grocery shopping and preparing all of our meals here at our ministry base. Our most popular meal is PB&J sandwiches, apples and doritos, which we’ve  slowly incorporated into our Swazi friends’ diets. Over the course of the last couple of days, my team and I have played with countless children, constructed a race-track from ashes & cheered on the sidelines while three Swazi schools competed in track & field. You would be amazed to see how fast these kids can run barefoot over rocks and thistles. This is another reason we are referred to as “cheese boys” & “cheese girls.” The Swazi children flock to us. They see us from the distance and come running. I find myself attempting to hold two or three at a time. I don’t know how it is possible to leave this place without several children… I held a little girl for 6 hours the other day. Her name was Sharon. She followed me whenever I got up to do something and clung tightly to my skirt. I’ve never quite felt chosen this way before. It reminded me of how Christ chose us. There was nothing we did to earn His affection. We didn’t choose Him yet He chose us & there is so much beauty to that. Okay, that’s it for now!!

Thank you so much for praying for continued health and safe travels. One of my teammates and I both had baggage delays to the Johannesburg, South Africa airport. Yesterday, our bags miraculously arrived with all of our clothes/everything we had originally packed. Since arriving here, my weekly headaches have been ABSENT!! Yes, this is a huge praise. Please pray that my co-lead, Coryn, & I continue to love and serve our team well as we walk alongside them these next two months. We met a man yesterday requesting a wheelchair from us. Please pray that the Lord would provide & that we would find a wheelchair somewhere and be able to make this a possibility for him.

Much love,
Steph