Kingdom of Roses and Thorns

I think today I'll give a plug for this book:  The Kingdom of Roses and Thorns by Debra Liebenow Daly.  My wife, who traveled to Swaziland in 2005, said it was a very good book and helped her understand more fully the things she saw and experienced on her trip.

I am reading it now, so I will have more to say later.  But I did like this poem from the inside leaf:

You will travel to Africa somehow

believing that you will change it,

But Africa will change you.  

It will capture your heart and keep a piece of your soul.

You will always be drawn back to the

beauty and mystique that is Africa.

How to donate

If you would like to donate to Swaziland Relief, you can go do so electronically at the website linked below.

Make an online donation

If you wish for your donation to go to my trip fund in particular, you need to put my name in the box following the amount.  See the picture below (click it to view a larger image).  I would also suggest that you put your address in the notes box, that will make it easier for you to receive a receipt for your donation.

What were you doing back in 1983?

I remember the 1980's fondly.  For me, 1983 was my freshman year of high school.  It was the year that our Marching Band won states. 

Here is a link to some other events from 1983, just to jog your memory.

Ok, are you back?

In 1983 in the Kingdom of Swaziland, Pastor Nelson Vilakati began his ministry, and he and his congregants began to pray for God to "show us our brothers and sisters, not only in Africa but overseas." 

In 2007, when our first team arrived, he told us that they were glad that finally this had happened.  You can watch the video of Pastor Nelson saying this, I'll be here when you're finished.  (I encourage you to watch the whole video, but if you don't want to just now, you can scroll to 4:21 on the first of the two videos on the page.)

Ok, back again?

Now let me take out a napkin and write a neat math problem for you.  From 1983 to 2007 is 24 years!  Twenty-four!  Two dozen.  Just shy of a decade in a half.  8766 days.  210,384 hours.  Ok, you get it.  It's a long time.

That is how long Pastor Nelson and his congregation prayed for partners from overseas to join them.  I was standing in the room when that video was filmed.  It sent a chill up my back to think of what a momentus occasion it was. 

Learning the Language

The official language of business and government in Swaziland is English.  This makes our work easier in many ways.  For example, any native Swazi who has attended school through high school can converse in both English and siSwati, so we have numerous translators available.  Also, it is possible to have a conversation with most Swazis in English, with little to no knowledge of siSwati.

But I really wanted to learn the language, so armed with my small spiral notebook and a pen (thank you Rick Buddemeier for the training) I got off the bus in Madudula for the first time near the grocery store pictured below, and set out to introduce myself and learn. 

I should mention that when we saw the sign for the grocery, a lot of us saw the "PHILA" and thought of home in the Philadelphia metropolitan region.  That's pronounced "PEEL-ah" but I didn't know that when I first arrived back in 2007.

The first person I met was named Nhlanhla Ngwenya.  All consonants are pronounced.  Yeah, that was a challenge.  For what it's worth, the second person I met was named Archie.  Of course he pronounced it with a British English accent so it sounded like "AH-chee" but I figured it out when I asked him to spell it.  Nhlanhla was much tougher.

I should mention that many African languages were non-literate prior to contact with Europeans.  Please note I said non-literate, not illiterate.  Illiteracy suggests that the language is written but that a person does not know how to read and write.  Non-literate means that the language simply has no codified system for writing it.  SiSwati and many other languages were reduced to writing in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, mainly through the work of missionaries.  After all, you can't give a person a Bible if you can't write it down in their language.

Anyway, the upshot of a language that has only been written in a standard form for a hundred or so years is that the linguists who reduced it to writing avoided many of the irregularities that make English such a mess to learn.  In siSwati (as far as I have been able to determine), all consonants and vowels are pronounced.  Once one learns how to pronounce them, one can read the language (understanding it takes considerably more work).

One pitfall was the fact that siSwati uses sounds that are not used in English.  One is a click made with the tongue on the palate which is represented by the letter "C."  Another is a kind of hiss sound made by aspirating with the tongue pressed up against the palate.  To pronounce it, press your tongue against your palate like you are going to say the letter "L" and then breath like you are saying an "H."  Cool sound right?  Well, that is written (sensibly enough) "HL" in siSwati.

Back to the guy I met, his name was Nhlanhla.  All consonants pronounced.  I had to listen to it three times before I dared try to pronounce it.  And when I did, it sounded like "Shaa-shaa."  It sounded right to me.  Not to him!  He told me to call him "Lucky" because that is what Nhlanhla means.  But I was determined not to give up (as I mentioned, this was the first person I met).  Finally I got closer, pronouncing the "N's" and saying something like "Nshaan-shaan."

I think I eventually got better, maybe not.  But I am determined to keep trying.  There is very little material available in the States on learning siSwati, but I've had very good tutors while I've been in Swaziland.  Most of all, being someone whose (very easy to pronounce) name is often butchered, I want to learn to say the names of all the wonderful people I have come to know in the Kingdom of Swaziland.

More on language later.  I have to leave for a team potluck and meeting ...

Thanks to the many supporters!

I have been blessed by an overwhelming display of encouragement and financial support from my co-workers.  I just want to say thanks again and I sincerely hope many of you will keep checking back here as I continue to post background information, updates, and eventually NEW PICTURES from this year's trip.

Now, since it is my anniversary, I am taking my wife out for Mexican food.

Comfort is my name

My siSwati name is Mduduzi.  This means "comfort."  Read on and you will learn how I came to receive this name.

The first time I went to Swaziland, back in 2007, our team did most of our work in a very small village called Madudula.  The Swazi pastor who had invited us to come had told our pastor to "bring a tent."  By this he meant a large circus tent that would fulfill the role of church, health clinic, meeting room for the kids' program, distribution center for the clothing donations that the team brought, and at night, storage facility for the team's supplies.  

Our first task when we arrived was rolling out the tent and setting it up.  No one really knew how to, but we had several people who sort of knew how, but what we lacked in knowledge we made up for in enthusiasm.  As we worked, a crowd gathered, and many of them joined in to help us.  (Click the picture for a larger image.  I am wearing a red shirt and a tan hat, third from the left, in the back)

At night, several members of our host church would sleep in the tent to make sure that all of our supplies were secure.  I became friends with two of them in particular, Sifiso (left, in the suit, interpreting a sermon for Pastor Van Moore) and Ntsikelelo.  I asked permission to stay for a night at the tent with my new friends.

Two days later, I arrived in Madudula ready -- so I thought -- to spend the night.  It was an exciting day, knowing that when the rest of the team left, I would be there all night getting to know my friends and learning about their culture.  I especially had in mind an opportunity to learn more of the language, siSwati.  

Around 9:30 pm, the Americans and South Africans boarded the bus to return to the camp retreat center where our team was staying.  Some of my teammates were envious when they realized I was staying, although they were happy for me at the same time.  As the bus rolled out, I was struck by how far from home I was.  I was in AFRICA, and not only that, I was (soon to be, as the bus headed away) the only American for kilometers!

The first thing we did was go to sleep.  That isn't what I was expecting, but it makes sense.  Once we turned off the generator, there was no light.  I talked briefly with my friend Ntsikelelo (left, interpreting at one of the meetings inside the tent), and then we went to sleep.

At least, I tried to sleep.  But I found I was not at all prepared for the cold.  I had two blankets and my coat.  Sleeping on the wooden platform inside the tent, I got cold very quickly.  Swaziland is a high-altitude country, so the atmosphere is thin.  Once the sun goes down, the heat radiates out very quickly.  By midnight I was shivering with cold.  I would not have been able to sleep at all had Ntsikelelo not noticed and offered to share his straw mat with me.  The insulation provided by the mat and having Ntsikelelo's back to mine helped me make it through the night.  But I was very glad for morning to arrive.  

The next morning we had a fire, and boiled water in an iron kettle to heat it up for a wash, and the sun came out, and I had a great opportunity to get to know my friends.  Later that day, Sifiso stopped me as we were working and said "you must have a siSwati name.  Your name is Mduduzi.  It means comfort."

I was honored to be given a siSwati name, but I wondered why he chose that name.  It was ironic to me to be named "comfort" after spending the most uncomfortable night of my life in Madudula.  But Sifiso told me "it is because you came and stayed with us and comforted us at the tent."  

So that is my siSwati name:  Mduduzi.  And that, of course, is why my blog is titled "Comfort for Swaziland."  Many Americans on the team were given a siSwati name that year and in the years that followed, but I was honored to be the first.

Welcome to my Swaziland Blog

Welcome and thanks for checking out my blog.  For the past four years I have been part of a team of Americans who has partnered with South Africans and Swazis to try to bring love, hope, and comfort to people -- especially children -- who have been hard-hit by poverty and the crisis of AIDS in the Kingdom of Swaziland.

As you can tell, this blog is very new.  Now that the school year is finished, I will be taking time over the next week to post some of the background about my involvement with Swaziland.  I hope you will visit regularly, maybe subscribe, and hopefully share your comments as I chronicle my experiences.