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