November trip to Swaziland---December 2008 Messenger

 Each time I travel to Swaziland I wonder if I will be able to do enough good for the people to warrant my being there.  I am on the longest non stop Airbus flight in the world as I head out from Washington D.C. over the ocean on the 16+ hour flight to Johannesburg.  To transfer to anywhere in southern Africa you must connect through Johannesburg, and this time is no different.  I will overnight in Johannesburg at the City Lodge where I usually stay and get a good shower and sleep before going back to the airport to continue on to Swaziland where John Weatherson will be there to fetch me, as the people there say. 

 As the plane motors purr along and I get up for a walkabout every hour or so, I begin to tune into making a plan on paper so my time and budget will work.  With the cost of fuel we must do several tasks on a one day trip up the mountains where most of my work will be this trip.  There is much time to think about and plan my time on the ground, leaving some open days in the schedule so we can accommodate other events that pop up.  I also want to pay a social visit to Chief Ngebsceni Dlamini and see the school in operation in Ngculwini where we have done so much work in the past.  It is difficult for me to sleep on planes, but I put on the eyeshades and try to rest.  I have 2 seats so can stretch out my legs as I try to doze.  Flying east makes for a short night and when it is light out we don't know it as all the window shades are still down!  Occasionally I hear the little kids and one baby nearby when they are hungry.   I doze some more as we cross over western Africa, then back over ocean before the next many hours over land to finally arrive in Johannesburg during the rush hour. 

Two days after leaving Thief River I am on a small SAA Airlink plane to Swaziland.  There is time for a carton of juice and biscuits before we arrive.  Looking below I can see the green terraced fields and most are not plowed.  The British taught terracing to the farmers many years ago when Swaziland was a British Protectorate, before gaining their independence in 1968.  Finally we are getting low and I can see familiar places.  We come in low over the mountains through a pass and are almost immediately on the ground.  John is there to meet me and he brings me up to date as we drive home, my other home! After a long sleep I am ready to go as there is much to do.  John was to be in Ethiopia by now on a short assignment with FAO for the UN but the Rome office has not gotten the details worked out so I am blessed to have my friend and mentor for a few days. 

John and I drove out to the area I will be working in and he introduced me to some of the people I will be working with.  They are farmers who live in the mountain valleys and have large homesteads with many to feed including neighbor orphan children such as the 36 people at the Zulu homestead in Velezizweni.  Caiphus Zulu is 96 years old, physically weak, but quick of mind as is his wife, Minah.  They never complain but go about providing sustaining food, and the love all these children need.  They even send some of the children to school.  I have no idea how they are able to raise funds for school fees for they do not receive assistance from any Aid organizations. 

 With John's departure for Ethiopia on a day to day basis, we spend the time needed to take care of business for our non profit, Action Four Africa.  This includes a visit to our attorney, John Littler at his office in Mbabane.  After that while I visit Nick Mdula of the Nkwalini Orphan Care Point, John makes a deal for 2 tires for the vehicle donated by Jeanne Volschenk, Managing Director of Farm Chemicals Ltd. of Malkerns.  We have been very blessed by Jeanne's generosity for this vehicle and other gifts of goods he has provided in the past.  I have stated before, only John and I handle your donations we receive for our non profit.  We opened 2 new bank accounts, one in Emalengeni and one in US Dollars.  Trading in Swaziland is done with the Swazi Emalengeni, but I will transfer funds to the USD account, as we seek to make wise choices in taking advantage of the exchange rates which fluctuate daily. 

 John and I met with the new Prime Minister, Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini in his office in Mbabane.  The Prime Minister and John have known each other for some years in their businesses, and the Prime Minister was interested in John's upcoming short term assignment in Ethiopia.  He heard of our activities relating to orphans in Swaziland and wished to meet us to inquire further of our goals.  His questions were to the point and our answers gave him a better understanding of our work.  He was pleased with a large framed picture that we presented to him, taken of the children in front of the Ngculwini School.  The Prime Minister assured us of his continued interest and support for the activities we have planned for Action Four Africa. 

Part 2 November trip to Swaziland 2008

 John Weatherson continued with his work and preparations for his assignment to Ethiopia, leaving a few days later to fly there, while I continue the projects I was in Swazi to do.  This is an all new area of work for me this trip as I go to Mankayane in the mountains then in different directions from there.  Joao Mahlalella accompanied me on my daily rounds as he knew the areas and many of the people I’ll be working with.  You may remember Joao as the man from Mozambique who has worked with John over 20 years, and is the gardener who teaches gardening to as many people as he is able to reach.  I checked on the Zulu family again and we made arrangements to get their 9 small fields plowed, a 5 hour job.  We accomplished that the following day.  The Zulu family was out planting maize before the plowing was complete!  They will plant a large vegetable garden later on so there will be sufficient food for the many orphans and their own grandchildren, a total of 36! This family is fortunate in having a water supply established some years ago when Caiphus Zulu was younger.  It is a system for several homesteads, of pipes from the source moved by gravity to an on/off spigot near the garden.

 On further down from Zulus about 40K is the turn off on the main road to Mahlangatsha, where I drove in through a beautiful mountain valley to a homestead where there are orphan kids who live alone—brothers, sisters and cousins—and they need plowing and maize seed to plant to assure food for the winter.  These children were orphaned when they were between the ages of 4 and 12.  They have supported each other and learned how to live as a family sharing chores.  When they work in their garden they all work together and they were proud to show me the last of the vegetable garden they had been eating from through the winter.  The children have been able to go to school, taking turns to do so.  They were in tears when I gave them a Bible for they had never owned one.  This Young People’s Bible was given to me here in Thief River to give to “someone” in Swazi who had none.  God always finds the right place for me to give a Bible!

 These orphans had an extra big job to do as they must put a fence around their 3 fields, or there will be nothing left after the cattle and goats get their fill.  John gave them fence from FAO in July, and they will do the work, but they need fence posts. They told me they have a neighbor who will cut 100 posts and haul them from the mountain area to the fields.  I wondered what that would cost---the donations I've brought with me must be doled out so that as many people as can be, will receive help in order to help themselves.  John has given me a rundown on what costs should be to hire a tractor with a 2 or 3 bottom plow, for an hour, or a drill when we need to do the seeding.  The tractor owners got the message loud and clear after one of my first encounters.  That is, this 'old lady from America', as I am called by those who don't know me, won't be fooled.  I asked the exact final price to plow and this man quoted E300 per hour where it should have been E150.  I thanked him and turned away saying I could not pay his price, for it would eliminate helping someone else.

 I received word after my return from the trip, that the fence posts had been delivered as promised and the owner of the land and the two men each received their pay.  The children have put the fence in place and are very proud of their fields of maize that at last report, were a meter high.  They have also planted some of their vegetable garden with seeds provided by Americans.  Water is a challenge for them, but they have been blessed with good rain so far. 

Some years ago John Weatherson began the Junior Farmer program in a few areas of Swaziland.  The children attend school part time and the remainder of their time is spent preparing the soil, planting and caring for their garden.  Each child has his or her own garden and the produce goes to them to take to their families.  Action Four Africa will to continue to support these orphan and vulnerable children.  Joel Dlamini is a retired agriculturist living in the Velezizwini area and he oversees the Junior Garden program in his area along with a young man, the school teacher, to assist.  I visited and had tea with Joel in his home, as we discussed the challenges in agriculture and the teaching he does as a volunteer.  He now raises chickens for the market and stated he would like to introduce this to some of the children who are interested and able to participate. 

As we go about our daily rounds concerned with food and water, seeds and plowing, I spend as much time as I can with the orphaned kids.  Most often they have no one to teach them life skills, and there’s no one to talk with, ask questions and pray with.  As an older person, the kids seek me out, sometimes calling me “Bonsile”, who in their language means an older and wiser person.  Their questions range from “what was life like when you were a little girl” to “what do I have to learn so I can get a job?”  I always speak to them very candidly, as a nurse and parent would, regarding HIV/AIDS.  They know that is why they are orphaned, and some of them have gotten the message on how to prevent the spread of this dread disease.  Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the world, followed by the Republic of South Africa and India. The life expectancy is 34.6 years, so you can imagine the hopeless feeling many of these young citizens have when they think to the future.  Two generations have already been decimated by this disease, with a high rate of HIV/AIDS in the living citizens of today.  The government of the Kingdom of Swaziland is working diligently to inform and assist the public on how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and will continue as it will take generations to alleviate this killer disease.  Each of us, you and me, must continue this work.  We do not give handouts and none are expected.  We are a “people helping people to help themselves” organization.

 I could go on and on about the people I met and helped in some way, thanks to the generosity of the people in the US and Australia who regularly give donations for our projects.  This report should let you know so many are blessed by your donations and prayers.  I pass many others as I go from place to place who are equally in need of help in order to help themselves.  Please check online at our website action4africa.com and view the video made during this trip, and read The Action Four Africa Vision for 2009 John Weatherson has prepared and which we are moving forward to implement.

 Thank you for your donations and prayers to support this mission for orphaned children in Swaziland.  Action Four Africa is God’s Mission for His children to help His other children.

 Bonnie Van Schaick, Co-Director