Seventy Two

Fresh water well for Mgambeni

One of the main things that we have yet to do in Mgambeni is to provide a fresh water well.  This is very important for several reasons.  First, because HIV/AIDS attacks the immune system, it is difficult to survive without clean water.  As you will see in the video, their water is taken directly from a local stream...the same stream where the animals of the area have recently walked about and relieved themselves.  In fact, in this very stream, we noticed that there was a large pile of cow dung just a little way upstream.



From the perspective of Americans living in the United States, it is difficult to imagine a world without indoor plumbing.  It seems so strange that there are still people who gather their water this way.  Watching them gather the water that day, it seemed as if they were showing us something that they used to do hundreds of years ago.  But in truth, this is their present, daily experience and there are many, many people around the world who do this.  The levels of poverty in many countries prevent the people from being able to do anything else, and this is a problem that we are intending to help fix in this area of Swaziland.

Drilling a well in this area is an absolute requirement, not only to provide clean water for the people of the area (which is no small thing) but to also provide a sustainable water source for the poultry farm.  Healthy chickens require a lot of water.  The farm has a large tank that will hold water, so the tank will hold many gallons of water in reserve for the chickens which will be filled from the well.

We have created a separate fund to raise money for the Mgambeni well.  If you're interested in giving a donation to provide a well for the people in this area, you can donate online using a credit card using our Swaziland donation page.  100% of the donations money given through that page will go directly to the well until it is fully funded and your donation is tax deductible.

Posted by Ryan Hale on July 9, 2008; 7:38:17 AM.  

Trip to the Hlane game park

While we were torn because it meant a trip away from our work on the project, I think it was unanimous that it would be a shame to go all of the way to Africa and not spend some time seeing the local wildlife!  We saw all kinds of great large game animals including lions, rhinoceros, hippos, elephants, impalas, and even a baby wildebeest amongst many other type of animals.  It was a great experience that everyone has to do at least once...check it out!



Be sure to check out the entire series of posts recapping the June 2008 trip to Swaziland!




Posted by Ryan Hale on July 9, 2008; 6:54:33 AM.  

Thursday - Time with with the children of the area

The Thursday of our trip was one of the most amazing days in Swaziland.  Unfortunately, because of our flight cancellations when we were traveling to Swaziland, we weren't able to make it in until Sunday night thus missing the entire day on Sunday when we were going to spend time with the people in the church worshiping with them as well as the orphaned children in the area.  When we arrived on Monday, we talked about whether or not there would be an opportunity to spend time with the children.  Although this was going to be difficult because of the childrens' school schedules, it was decided that we would try to do this on Thursday afternoon.



We prepared quite a bit on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.  Each day, we would take peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as well as fresh oranges and juice to provide lunch as we were working.  On Thursday, we thought we had really over-bought at the grocery store because we had prepared and taken food for about 100 people, thinking that between the people in the church and the children that would show up, along with any additional adults, surely that would be enough.  Well, when we arrived, we were told that they were expecting between 200 and 300 children to arrive during the day!

Well, this turned out to be a good problem and a bad problem to have.  On the one hand, we were glad to be able to be with so many of these orphaned kids.  On the other hand, we only had food for about 100 people and the supermarket was about an hour and a half away, back in the town where we were staying.  As it turned out, there was a small grocery store only a little distance away, and thankfully they had enough bread, peanut butter, jelly, lollipops, juice, and water to feed everyone while also providing us with enough toothbrushes, toothpaste, and soap to supplement the items that we had bought and packed in small bags on Wednesday night to give to everyone.  It was an incredible blessing to be able to have the store so close and the owner, a Muslim man, provided us a nice discount because of the bulk purchase and because we were taking it to give to the orphaned children in the area.

By the time everyone showed up, there were nearly 350 kids that had come that day.  Not all of them were fully orphaned children.  About 50 of them had no parents and primarily lived by themselves.  Nearly 200 of the kids had one parent that had passed away, and the remainder were children whose parents were still alive.  The leaders had a count of every kid and their situation and knew exactly who belonged to which group.

Kacie, Sarah, and Sheryl from our group fixed sandwiches for most of the afternoon.  We had a HUGE pile of PB&J!!!  We also had folks working with the people of the church to separate out the gifts that we had brought for the children, including the hygiene kits, clothing, hand-made quilts and blankets, Bibles, soccer balls, and many other items.  We spent some fun time playing soccer and then singing with the kids.  We were also asked to speak to the group about God, which we did, and a large number of adults and children came to faith in Christ that day.  Finally, we fed them all, handed out the gifts, gave them drinks, prayed with them, and generally had a great time. 

Everyone was pretty exhausted at the end of the day on Thursday, but there was no doubt that we had been blessed by an incredible group of people that came from a long distance to spend time with us, receive food and clothing, and hear the Word.  Very exciting, and it was a group effort, both from the team who went to Swaziland, those that helped send us and the gifts that went along with us, and the people of Mgambeni, all together for the day to unite together and be a blessing to the orphaned children of the area.

Be sure to check out the entire series of posts recapping the June 2008 trip to Swaziland!


Posted by Ryan Hale on July 9, 2008; 6:51:55 AM.  

The people of Mgambeni, Swaziland

This is the second in a series of posts about our June 2008 trip to Mgambeni, Swaziland to help the people as they work to help the children in the area who have been orphaned by the AIDS epidemic.  In my previous post, I gave you some indication of the amazing spirit of the people of Mgambeni.  I will say that I generally found the people of Swaziland to be incredibly friendly.  You could simply wave hello and you would receive a huge smile of white teeth and a very enthusiastic wave in return.  The kids would go running alongside the van as we traveled to wave even longer.  Given that they lead the world in AIDS infection and all sorts of problems, you would think that they would seem very depressed and destitute and their plight.  But in fact, it was just the opposite. 

We saw the same thing with the people in the church.  We worked along with them, prayed with them, ate with them, and spent a pretty significant amount of time together even in the relatively short time that we were in the area.  We noticed a genuine openness and willingness to share with us while at the same time they admitted that their country has many challenges that they are facing and are relying on God's help for healing and restoration.



One of the things that we enjoyed the most about our time with the people in the church was their singing.  Most of the footage in this video is from our second day with them where we spent time singing together, praying together, and working.  Hope you enjoy!

Be sure to check out the entire series of posts recapping the June 2008 trip to Swaziland!


Posted by Ryan Hale on July 9, 2008; 6:50:54 AM.