July 1 - Madudula, the old stomping grounds

[For those confused by the dates, see my post on time-shifted blogging.]

On July 1st our team traveled to Madudula.  For those who don't recall (or don't remember the Swazi place names), Madudula was the original site of "the tent" from our first mission in 2007.  The community is vastly different seven years later.

Setting up the tent in June of 2007.

Where there was once only an open field, there is now an enclosed compound free of cow traffic (and cow pie), where a large common building houses a classroom and three additional classrooms are in operation.  Three more classrooms are nearing completion.

One of the unfinished classrooms.  This classroom was having a concrete floor installed when we were there

In Madudula, we held a clinic and visited the classrooms.  Some of our team held a hygiene session emphasizing hand-washing.  For this purpose, they had kids look into a microscope to view the germs that were on someone's hands.  Others did a puppet show presentation of the story of Zacchaeus.  We also played with the children in the field and visited with people in Madudula, some of whom we have known since 2007.  It is always nice to return to Madudula to visit the "family" there.

This day was the first one in which I had to make some "field director" decisions.  I had to secure locations for our hygiene and puppetry sessions, plus a room for a prayer chapel for our pastors.  I also had to make sure everyone who needed an interpreter had one.  Also, I knew that my friend Eric desperately wanted to visit a woman named Bhelina with whom he and his wife had developed a relationship with over several years.  Eric's wife, a physical therapist, had helped Bhelina regain some of the mobility that she had lost to age and arthritis.  So upon arrival I spoke to one of the church leaders in Madudula, Joseph, and asked him to arrange a visit to her home.  Eric and his on left soon after and had a wonderful visit and reunion.  

One additional "executive decision" I made concerned our time of leaving Madudula.  Usually we try to leave while there is still some daylight.  This is not only for our safety but for the safety of the people in Madudula.  Walking home in the dark can be dangerous.  However, the sunset in Madudula is breathtaking, and for those members of the team who had never seen it, I decided we should stay until the sun had gone down.  We left immediately after sunset, so that we (and the people of Madudula) could travel home in the evening twilight.

As you can see from the picture below, the view was worth it.

-Mdu

Correspondence, 21st Century Style

I am currently reading Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin: An American Life.  I am struck by how much of what we know about Franklin's life comes from letters either written by him, to him, or about him.  Correspondence is history!

Since returning from Swaziland I have renewed my commitment to stay in touch with people I met over there.  I have also become desirous of strengthening my connections with people here in the States.  So I have been thinking a lot about different ways to keep in touch, and today, I have decided to devote this blog to correspondence, 21st century style.

Letters and Cards
This is "old school" correspondence.  Sometimes we call it "snail mail" because its slower.  I hardly ever use this medium.  I write support letters each year for the mission trip, and I pay the grasscutting bill each month to my landscaper.  Occasionally I send a card to someone through the mail.  Other than that, I really don't use the mail for correspondence.

Telephone
This is my favorite form of communication.  I am a "talker" more than a "writer."  Given the option, I'd always prefer a phone call.  I can also call while driving thanks to the blue tooth hands-free option in my Jeep.  How I love that!  However, one problem with phone calls is that they are by nature always urgent.  They have to be answered immediately and both parties must be available simultaneously.

SMS/Texting
It's convenient, it can be close to real time, but I find texting tedious.  It is difficult to write a long message via even with T9 predictive text.  The iPhone has made it better but I am keep deleting, especially when I type the letter "m."  Also, iPhone autocorrect mistakes are legendary (no link for these, too many are naughty.  You know what I'm talking about.)

Email
This is my preferred form of written communication.  I  have (much to the consternation of my friends and family) tried many different accounts at various times.  I started using Gmail when it was "by invitation only" -- sometime between 2004 and 2007 -- and I still use it today.  Email allows both short and long messages, allows me to draft messages and send them later, allows me to store and keep messages and threads, and allows me to send and share photos.  It's everything I want.  But lots of people I know don't use it.

Facebook
I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook.  I see its value in many ways, but I also find myself wasting a lot of time on FB.  For example, do I really need to know what Marvel Super Villain I would be (answer: The Green Goblin) or which classic 80's action movie I am (answer: Die Hard, of course)?
I have found FB to be invaluable in promoting Swaziland Relief and in connecting with past and present team members, so I usually am most active on FB between May and August, just before and just after the annual trip.

Twitter
I actually tried using Twitter this past year to send updates and reminders to my students.  But I won't be continuing it this year.  I just became "one more thing" to do, with questionable efficacy.
[addendum:  I spoke to a colleague who uses Twitter regularly.  I am going to ask her to promote my blog through her Twitter feed.  I might be convinced of its worth.]

Linked-In
Like you, I have been invited to join Linked-In over a thousand times.  This year when I got home from Swaziland, I finally joined (as many of you know, and as some of you regret.  My apologies for the invitation "blast").
Linked-In seemed at first like a Facebook for grownups, with a goal of actually connecting people professionally.  Then I joined, and it seemed like a fiendish plot to spam everyone I know with invitation emails.  I got the latter under control, and the jury is still out as to the worth of the former.

WhatsApp
Last year I started using WhatsApp because one of my good friends in Swaziland said it was the best way to contact him.  At first I was skeptical, but then I checked into it and learned that WhatsApp was the fastest growing social media app and was much bigger than Facebook or Twitter in Europe and Africa.

Staying connected in the 21st Century

To keep up with his correspondence, Ben Franklin had to: 1) read letters and 2) write letters.

To keep up with my own correspondence, I have to:  1) read my email, 2) respond to my email, 3) read my text messages, 4) respond to my text messages, 5) log onto Facebook, 6) read my news feed and like or comment on stuff, 7) update my own status, 8) read messages, 9) reply to messages, 10) check Twitter (not planning to keep that up), 10) read my WhatsApp messages, 11) reply to WhatsApp messages, and of course 12) answer my phone or, if I don't 13) listen to my voicemail and 14) call people back.

Of course I probably missed something.

What we have saved in time with our technological methods of communication, we have lost by having so many different media to check.  It is a lot of work; I have decided that people are worth the effort.

Oh, and I haven't even mentioned video chat apps like Skype or Google+ Hangouts!

-Mdu

June 30 - Container or not, here we come!

The container had not arrived.  And so the week had to be rescheduled.

We started the day by going to the main CMC church in Matsapha, with the intention of picking up some translators and then going to the orphan care point in Manzini.  We actually learned that there would be no children at the care point until 2pm so we stayed at CMC Matsapha until around 12:30.  We stacked the chairs in the church and swept and mopped the floor.  Also did a little planning and prep for the day and some of us took a trip over the hill into the neighborhood across the street.  

We spent most of the afternoon at the orphan care point, where saw the improvements that have been made since our last trip:  an addition on the building, significant work in the garden, and brand new toilets (not the flush kind, the pit kind, but new!)

I had fun singing songs with the kids.  I sang songs that I had learned in Swaziland, and they seem surprised (and somewhat impressed) that I knew  "I am the winner" and "Le Ligama le Inkhosi" (translation: "The Name of the King").

Enjoy the pictures!

-Mdu

Collette, who runs the orphan care point, stands with several of the children who have come for lunch.  

Collette shows the new addition to several team members.

Two of our team members, Michelle and Carrie, served the children as they came through the line.  The simple meal consisted of corn "mealy pap" and bean stew.

Time-shifted Blogging (i.e. why the dates don't match)

My wife and I never watch television together in real time.  We have shows we like to watch together, but we don't sit together and watch them when they air.  Instead we catch them a few days later via the internet, or sometimes a few weeks later, and frequently years later thanks to Netflix.  It's called time-shifting and it's on the rise.

And you who read this blog are experiencing a time-shift as well.

I kept a diary of notes and names while I was in Swaziland this year (from June 29 until July 8), but I didn't have time to write everything out and was also not certain of the availability of internet access, so I am now posting my daily log on a semi-daily basis.  That's why the dates I am writing in the post titles don't match the days the posts appear.

It's not because the internet in Swaziland is really slow.

[Thank you Mike and Erik for pointing out the need for this post.]

-Mdu

June 29 - Church in the Swazi Mountains

On Sunday June 29th our team split up into several smaller teams and visited five different church sites in the CMC network.  So after breakfast I drove five of our team and three CMC members to Mankayane for church. 

The drive to Mankayane is one of the most scenic that we make.  

I drove the rental van; now the practice paid off.  I stalled it a couple of times and scared the Swazis with the speed with which I took the roundabout (I hate roundabouts) but otherwise the drive itself was uneventful.  I like driving but I also it is a little tiring.  I have to pay attention much more to what I am doing.

Our team consisted of Ken and JoAnn Stracuzzi, Carrie Wilson, Kate Pennay, and me.  JoAnn, Carrie and Kate taught the children's Sunday school class, Ken taught the adult Sunday school, and I preached in the service on Luke 19:1-10 (Zacchaeus).  The service was lightly attended, maybe 25 adults at most, and about as many children.  No cars in sight but ours, so I assume everyone walked.  It was a lovely service with beautiful singing.  Many of the younger people were instrumental in the service.  It was nice to see young people eager to hear the Word and to serve God.

After the service we lingered for a while while Bonsile (pastor Sabelo's wife) spoke with some of the church members.  Then we drove back to the convent.  

We had lunch (PB and J) and I went to take a nap.  But not long after I laid down, I got a call from my good friend Lelo, and he was in the foyer.  Seeing my friend was way more important than getting a nap so I came down to meet him.  His wife had come with him and so I sat with them for about half an hour sipping tea and catching up.  Their daughter is very sick and they are not sure why; please pray for little Ncebo.  She is receiving a CAT scan soon and hopefully the physicians will be able to diagnose and treat her.  But the Great Physician already knows what's the matter, so please keep her before Him.

After Lelo and his wife left, I finally got my nap.  I slept halfway through supper but my roomie came up to wake me.  Then in the evening we had a team meeting and I went to bed early.  I was expecting to unload the container Monday [but that didn't end up happening, more on that later.]

-Mdu

June 28 - I am an unlicensed Khombi driver!

My first full day in Swaziland began with breakfast, and then a period of waiting for Joseph, one of our dearest Swazi friends, to come meet us at St. Juliana's.  (There is a lot of waiting on mission trips in general and on this trip in particular - I'll have to make a post on waiting)

Joseph is "the guy who can get it done" in Swaziland.  He has been likened to Chuck Norris (to whom all kinds of potency and ability are often attributed) and the Swazi MacGyver (who is able to craft incredibly useful artifacts out of whatever is lying around).

This day, Joseph's task was simple.  He drove four of us to the airport to pick up rental cars.  I was listed as 2nd driver on my pastor's car, which was supposed to be an SUV but temporarily upgraded to a van.  Standard transmission, I knew it would be interesting to drive.  The last time I had driven a stick shift was, for the record 2008, also in Swaziland.  Angelo drove back to the convent, but I decided to try out the van a little when we got home, and a good thing.  The steering wheel was locked in place and the key could not be turned until the wheel was moved, also the reverse gear required a special lever be lifted on the stick - I would not have figured it out myself.  Joseph (did I mention he can do anything) showed me and I was able to back the van up and put it back in place.  "OK," thought I, "I am ready to drive the van if need be."

Later Angelo informed me that I would in fact be driving some of the team members over to the church, but to my surprise the rental van was empty.  Instead, I was to drive a different van, one that I hadn't had a chance to check out.  It was, rather, one of the Khombi vans (that's the Swazi term for them) that somehow had arrived for us to use but for which there was no hired driver.  

I had to chuckle at myself, thinking I was so clever for preparing with the other van.  I felt God smile on me as I ended up doing the very thing I dreaded: climbed into an unfamiliar vehicle full of people (it was a 9 passenger van) and have to figure out how to drive it with an audience.  Still, the reverse had the same trick and stick shift is stick shift so it was all good.  I drove to the CMC church in Matsapha.  The team members in the van actually applauded when we arrived unscathed.  I was most worried about the steep, narrow entrance to CMC but to my delight they had graded and paved it with concrete sometime in the past year.

The church service was pretty standard.  It was sparsely attended probably because this service is an outgrowth of the Strong Tower radio program but last night the program was not on the air (something about the contract with the station, I think). Nevertheless the service was good.  Angelo preached out of Psalm 130, gave an invitation, encouraged the church, and then it was time to invite people to come forward for prayer.

During the prayer time we had many who came forward asking for healing of various kinds.  One young woman came to ask for deliverance from a "Sangoma spirit" which means she was either possessed or being tormented by a demon.  We laid hands on her and began to pray and at the name of Jesus the demon seized her and she began to convulse.  Eventually she went to the floor but in Jesus mighty name we commanded it to release her.  For many on the team it was the first time they had seen someone released from a demonic oppression first-hand.  

After the service we hung out in the courtyard while babishobi (siSwati for "the bishops" - meaning Nelson, Angelo, and Van) met in Nelson's office to discuss plans for tomorrow.  Eventually we were released to return to St. Juliana's and I drove the team back.  Afterward I took one of the team members, Mary, to purchase some crayons for tomorrow's Sunday school.  When we got back the driver of the other van was anxious to leave and to take the driverless van that I was using.  How we got 2 vans and 1 driver I don't know, and how he returned 2 vans I didn't see, but as far as I am concerned, I am now a road-tested Khombi driver in Swaziland! 

-Mdu

Arrival - June 27, 2014

It was around 4:00 that we finally made it through the Ngwenya Border Post in western Swaziland and had officially arrived in the country.

Just across the border I stopped to pick up a SIM card for my phone.  A few years ago I did the math and computed that it was less costly to call home from a Swazi MTN (their AT&T) phone than to have international roaming and pay for calls on my own phone, so I bought a cheap Nokia that I take with me when I travel.  I have to get a new SIM card each time because an unused prepaid account expires after 3 months of inactivity.  So I always tuck 100 emalengeni (that's the Swazi currency, worth about 1/10 of a dollar) in my passport to use when I reach the border.

Once I got the new SIM and also some airtime, I called my wife to tell her we had arrived safely, and then connected with two of my friends in Swaziland (their numbers haven't changed).  [TIP: if you are going to travel with a phone and change the SIM card each trip, save your phone numbers to your phone's memory, not to the SIM card.]

It was quiet on the bus ride down from the border; the team was weary from the long day of travel.  My anticipation grew with each kilometer, though.  Traveling to Swaziland feels like coming home, in a way.  Familiar places, familiar faces, familiar routines.

When we finally reached Manzini and St. Juliana's conference center, there were perhaps a dozen of our Swazi brothers and sisters who had come to greet us.  As I stepped off the bus and into the warm embrace of my African family, one sister said softly "feel at home."

And I really did.

-Mdu

Oh the places we've gone

Here is a like to a Google map showing the places that the Swaziland Relief summer team visited in 2014, including two new locations.

Swaziland Relief Summer Team 2014 Map

-Mdu

Getting there is half the fun

Ok, really it's not.  In fact, I can state categorically that well over half of the fun of going to Swaziland is being there, not getting there.  Nevertheless, getting there is the first hurdle in the race.

It is a high hurdle.

Up at 4:00 am on June 26, I dressed in the clothes that I would wear for the next 36 hours.  Then I woke my dear wife, who had the unenviable task of driving me to our rendezvous point: New Life Church in Glenside.  I loaded my suitcases in the car and we left the house around 4:30.

On the way we purchased coffee, both the liquid kind to drink and the grounds for making coffee during the trip.  After a short drive we arrived at New Life shortly before 5:00 am.  There were already several team members milling about the parking lot, but no bus yet.  I unloaded my stuff, kissed my wife goodbye, and she headed back home to return to bed.  

The bus (and the last few team members) arrived around 5:30, and we loaded up the bus and headed to New York City's JFK airport.  

To describe the trip, let me encapsulate:

2 hour bus ride to NYC.

1 hour checking in and passing security

2 hours waiting for our flight

14 hours flying from NYC to Johannesburg

1 hour collecting baggage and clearing immigration and customs

4 hours on a bus to the South Africa-Swaziland border

1 hour (actually more, I think) at the border

1 hour from the border to Manzini

There were some fun points on the way: I got to know a team member that I had only met a few weeks before (14 hours on a flight sitting next to someone, and you get to know them), I got to eat at Nando's (more on that later), I got a Nosh bar (like a Snickers but with hazelnut, and not available in the USA). 

Nevertheless, by the time I finally arrived in Manzini, Swaziland to the greeting of a dozen of our Swazi brothers and sisters, I had experienced only a fraction of the fun that I was to have on this year's trip.

-Mdu

Home!

It's nice to be here!  Our plane landed at about 6:30 am this morning and I am currently composing this on a bus ride from NYC to Philly.  I did not maintain this blog while I was away due to limited internet access and a need to keep our team's facebook page updated, but I did keep a journal of the trip and over the next week I will post 1 or  2 days worth of entries each day for the subscribers to this blog.  Thanks for your love and support!

-Mdu