After a few days of being here in Siteki, Swaziland, I feel like I’m slowly settling in. After a rough week in Big Bend, it’s been wonderful to be welcomed warmly into my new family and this community. I have a peace about being in this place. Shiba, my new “mom,” is one of those people who knows everyone else. This is no exaggeration. Everywhere we go, she knows someone. She’s involved in more than I could ever imagine. And, for being a grandmother, that’s pretty impressive. To summarize, she is a reverend, a church planter, a director in the East District of Swaziland, a lecturer of theological modules, biblical modules, humanities, and evangelism at the theology school, an accountant, a social worker, on the finance committee, the assistant project manager of “women in development,” a program in Swaziland, she has started 13 preschools all over the country, and the list actually goes on and on. Contrary to most Africans, haha, Shiba is someone who is always on time. She’s persistent, never stopping until something gets done, and has to have plans set in stone, making sure everything is done in an extremely punctual manner. She is one of the most selfless people I have ever met. She doesn’t make much money (not even $3 a day), and although her car needs a new engine (amounting to around $1,000), she puts all of her money directly towards sending two of her grandchildren to school, meeting needs in the church, and caring for orphans in the area. The two grandchildren she cares for also live with us. Pholani (“Po”) is 18 and goes to college about an hour away. He wakes up every morning at 4:30 to get ready and catch the bus for school. He is gentle, humble, and all-around, a great guy. He’s a computer whiz and is pretty caught up with the latest technology, meaning our conversations never hit a stand-still. His English is really up to speed, so he understands me really well, which helps in having someone to talk to, haha. Setsabile (“Treasure”) is 14 and in high school. She also wakes up pretty early to walk the 30-45 minute distance to school. She’s more of a quiet girl and doesn’t always understand what I’m trying to say, but she’s incredibly sweet, always willing to serve and help out with things when necessary.
Some of you may be curious as to what food and environment are like. I live on a mountain. It’s absolutely beautiful driving through this area and nearby communities, as well as walking along the outskirts of this city. With my obsession of mountains and African huts and trees, I could not be any more contended. Sunsets are incredible and the stars are unbelievable. But, it’s wintertime here, until about August. The days usually warm up to about 70 degrees (light jacket, maybe leggings with my skirt if it’s windy), but early mornings and nights are extremely cold. Obviously, there’s no heating inside the house, haha, and with it being so cold outside, it’s usually about 55 degrees in my room at night. It’s not too terrible. We have lots of warm blankets and I layer up well. :) I live in staff housing on the Church of the Nazarene theology school campus, I have my own room, and, for Africa, it’s a “nice” house. We have a refrigerator, freezer, oven and stove, television, and as of this week, wireless internet. These are all major blessings. So far, I haven’t gotten sick off of the food. Rice, chicken, beans, avocadoes (and attempted guacamole, haha), yogurt, porridge, oatmeal, cereal, egg salad, lots of fruit, toast, toast, and more toast, PB&J’s, pasta, and tons of other carbs, including ice cream, cookies, and candy. It’s.. awful. I’m definitely already gaining weight. Haha.
I have been welcomed into the church I’ll be attending while I’m here in Swaziland. It’s an English-speaking church and although the services are long (welcome to Africa, haha), I at least understand what’s going on/getting Truth fed to me. I keep thinking I’ll see another white person, either in church, in town, or on the school campus, but it never happens. Needless to say, I’m adjusting to an entirely different culture and environment sllooowwly. I think I expected the culture to be a bit more like Uganda, where every child that sees a white person smiles and joyously screams, “MZUNGU!” (white person). Here, I am stared down. If guys aren’t hitting on me with snippy remarks, most Swazis look at me and turn away. I have come to find out that Swazis do not have any problems with internationals, though. And, with it being a couple of weeks, things have gotten much better and since the city is quite small, workers in town shops have opened up to seeing me often and they now welcome me with smiles (especially now that they know I live with Shiba, haha).
Ministry the last couple of weeks has been a bit slow due to having to first take care of Immigration documents. In Swazi, before going to many schools, clinics, and hospitals, you have to have “official paperwork” taken care of and have the organization first registered in the country. This has been a very slow process, including a couple of trips across the country to a city, called “Mbabane,” and having to get a few more documents sent over from America. There is a lot of terrorism in Swaziland, as well as a major issue of people who claim to be part of organizations, promising to offer great things for the community in meeting their needs, especially financially, and then they fail to follow through. This has made many, many Swazis skeptical of Christian organizations and missionaries. “If you are just bringing the Gospel, it’s not enough. They won’t understand. We have plenty of churches, plenty of Christians, and many people who preach the Word of God. What makes YOU stand out? What can you offer the community that will promote change?” I will never be able to understand what these beautiful people have gone through, but I have to say- - it is the GOSPEL, at its CORE, that has TRANSFORMED my heart and my life. I have blessed with things that these people could NEVER wrap their minds around, that is SO far-fetched, and although I believe that in this nation that has been STRUCK by AIDS and poverty needs to have spiritual, physical, emotional, and financial needs met to RISE ABOVE of this darkness, death, and desperation, I BELIEVE the GOSPEL, clinging to the TRUTH of our Lord and Savior, and believing that our God is bigger than these unimaginable circumstances and reality IS INDEED ENOUGH. He will conquer. He will move mountains. He is MIGHTY TO SAVE. I have learned what it means to suffer for Christ and with Christ. It was not through living through a period of extreme poverty, undergoing years of painful diseases, nor losing both of my parents, but I believe that we all suffer through various trials and tribulations, and the Lord will bless us in responding in a way that glorifies Him, regardless of our situation. John Piper states beautifully states, “God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him in the midst of loss, not prosperity.” Are we truly being a witness to Christ as we undergo our sufferings? Again, I cannot ever imagine starving, with no food, for days at a time, but to undermine an organization or missionary because they don’t have thousands of dollars flowing from their pockets breaks my heart. This organization, Empower-A-Child, in fact, does not have a ton of money, but we trust that God will use our teams to change hearts and lives as we meet spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of the children and people of Swaziland, just as we have witnessed in Uganda and Kenya. I firmly believe that God is more than enough, but I have really had to express that EAC places a major emphasis on developing godly leaders, forming deep relationships with children, teaching character building and life skills, and education as a whole. People are beginning to trust “what we have to offer” and that we are indeed serious about setting out to make an impact for Christ alone.
The last couple of weeks, after getting through a few days of having a cold, have consisted of meeting with staff members of schools and clinics. I work side-by-side with a 21 year old girl named, “Rejoice.” At each location, we are introducing our organization, explaining goals, objectives, and programs, and asking each place if they’d be willing to partner with us. In addition, we are learning about the specific needs of the community and children at each place to try and shape the organization to be most effective in meeting these needs the best that we can. Education is of utmost importance in this country, along with many other African countries. It is a honor, a privilege, to go to school because so many struggle to meet financial requirements. What’s amazing is that the government pays for ALL children in this country to attend Grades 1 and 2, the first two years. Next year, they’ll be paying for Grade 3 also. As of this year, the government has also assisted numerous orphans (I wish it were all of them) who meet certain requirements to go to school. For some, they pay the entire amount of school fees and, for others, they pay half and any family or guardians pay the other half. I’ll never forget the first high school we went to. I spoke with the counselor named, “Mrs. Nyoni,” and she explained that a major issue across the country, and especially in this area, is either parents or children committing suicide because parents hit a standstill and can no longer afford to pay school fees for their children. Mrs. Nyoni has the unlucky responsibility of informing children who cannot pay their fees that they cannot return until they can once again afford it. Nothing breaks her heart more than having to turn away students who have gotten so far in their education. She told us that one girl, about 15, came in a few days earlier, crying, and told her, “I wish my mother was dead so that I could be orphaned.” In this case, she’d receive assistance to go to school. In a country where family is valued above all else, the counselor was speechless. These are the wishes of students’ hearts, just so they can receive education. Mrs. Nyoni ended our conversation with a statement spoken with complete despair, “You know, I need counseling myself.”
Upon visiting the schools, I have begun to grasp the widespread issues of poverty that swarm this nation. In many villages, students can’t afford to go to pre-school, meaning they’re not incredibly disciplined when they enter into Grade 1, and it’s hard to teach them when they’re acting in such a way. In many cases, there can be an estimated 75 children to 1 teacher. Not all children can afford school uniforms. Their clothes are worn, dirty, and have holes. They don’t have shoes and therefore, walk barefoot to school, which can be a painful 30 minute walk. Many of the children’s families can’t afford food, so the only meal these children receive is at school, once a day. They’re starving. They can’t concentrate at school because they’re so hungry. We also discovered that poverty is the biggest issue among the community surrounding the clinic we visited. The clinic cares for many HIV and TB patients. A current problem the clinic is facing is that when a woman has a child and discovers that she is HIV+, as well as for other reasons, she will dump her newborn baby at the clinic, totally abandoning him or her. Grandmothers, called “Gogo’s,” in the area usually end up caring for these orphaned children. I’m slowly taking in these issues and praying about how best to set up things in order to reach this brokenhearted population.
Other than these meetings, I haven’t been doing a TON. I’ll sum up the best I can. On June 26, there was a Caravan event for over 12 churches affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene. Caravan is a scouting program/kids’ club that teaches Christian principles to young children. These children were beautiful and over a hundred gave their lives to Christ during the church service. After the service, each church group gave a short presentation, reciting Bible verses, performing skits, and singing songs. It was precious. The next day, there was a family from Guatemala who attended our church. They offered to give us a ride home (Shiba’s car is currently not running) and then asked us over for tea later in the afternoon. I learned that they are missionaries in South Africa. They come to Swaziland about once a month to work with some orphans and another organization, doing some volunteer work wherever needed in the community. There was another couple, an Australian and a South African, who was staying with them, missionaries also serving in South Africa. It was a sweet time of sharing stories, praying, and encouraging one another. Later in the week, I almost set the house on fire, as I blew up an appliance that wasn’t working properly (I didn’t know about the “glitch.” Haha). I have never seen flames that big. Haha, we ALMOST didn’t get it out. It was a bit out of hand. A day I will NEVER forget. I have been hit on numerous times and proposed to twice. I have made crepes, cake, and cookies from scratch, all of which were successful except for the cookies (they were AWFUL). The World Cup has brought together all of Africa and although Ghana lost this week, the spirit of the World Cup has NOT died down; vuvuzelas (the horns) and people always gathering to watch the games. I spent the second birthday in a row in Africa. Incredible. I attended church in a refugee camp, where many from war-torn politically instable African countries come for a place of safety. I found it really interesting and had a couple of conversations with some wonderful people.
If you could be praying right now, pray that I don't become complacent. Because we’re not doing a WHOLE lot of hands-on ministry, I'm becoming slightly unmotivated because I’m not seeing the direct effects of the work I’m doing. Satan has been telling me in the last week that I’m useless here. I catch myself thinking, “I should have done the World Race or gone to Swaziland in a team setting, with organizations already set up and be able to do ministry 24/7 for the entire year.” I force these thoughts and lies out of my mind. God called me here for a specific purpose. I knew it would be slow at first, but I didn’t know how slow. It’s hard. And even harder to be the only American. But, there is nothing more I want than to see Empower-A-Child established here in Swazi. I have personally seen hearts and lives changed because of this organization in Uganda and I know the Lord is capable of moving mountains and performing the same miracles here in this country. I just don’t want to second-guess myself. I don’t want to get caught up in apathy. I am still excited to see what the Lord has in store, I just don't want to lose that spark, that joy, and the passion that He stirred in me for so long before arriving here. I want to be moved. I'm in Africa and I feel like some days, I take that for granted. What a blessing to spend a year overseas, even if it is challenging or crazy or whatever. I’m finally here and I want to praise Him for EVERYTHING. Every moment, every conversation, and I want to give all the glory to Him. It’s not me to move halfway across the world, alone, to a place I have NEVER been before, risking my safety and throwing myself into a new culture that I’d be forced to pick up on immediately as I begin life without family and friends for a year. It's not comfortable. It's hard. But He is faithful and I am more than blessed to be here, serving the country I am madly in love with. I WILL persevere and keep my eyes fixed on the cross. I want nothing more than to pursue people passionately, as if I were in America.
Evangelism is my heart. I want these people to know the Lord on a deep (or deeper) level. This week, I realized that I haven't even done any evangelism in the last month. I mean, I’ve talked about Jesus plenty, but I’m talking about sharing the Gospel, Jesus-died-on-the-cross-for-YOU conversations. Everyone I've run into up to this point are pastors or go to so and so church (it kind of makes sense considering I live on a theology school campus), and they're all "born again" Christians, meaning they're saved/secure in faith. My conversations have been meaningful to the extent of hearing their stories and backgrounds and learning a lot about Swaziland. I’ve had the opportunity to encourage them and pray for them, but I especially LOVE pursuing non-believers and pouring into kids/teenagers/college students (and adults that don't know the Lord). However, I trust that as the Lord leads me in His way, He will use me for His glory and furthering His Kingdom here in the kingdom of Swaziland. ALL praise to our Father who has protected me, guarded my heart, and given me endurance to press on, regardless of circumstances. I'm ready to witness His power in this nation. .
In Christ Alone,
Jan
“Be of good cheer; I have overcome the WORLD." – Jesus (John 16:33)
