Bus Yard Adventures

Yes that is my huge chin, BUT here is a tiny glimpse of public :) Now just multiply it x10 and you have an idea

I will start out by saying that this first week in Swazi has been very challenging for us.  I wanted to share some of my raw thoughts and be transparent about the week with you.

Of course we came with lots of expectations, which should have only been a hint to us that they would almost all be broken.  Why does it seem like we have to learn the same lessons over and over again?  I guess because we don’t actually LEARN them J  Coming to Africa as a group of 3 girls has been slightly overwhelming.  We are constantly reminded that life would be a lot easier had a guy been with us, but we do have Swazi friends who help as much as they can.  Daily outings have proved to be incredibly stressful.  When we want to go somewhere we have 2 options: 1) walk or 2) take public.  We walk A LOT, but when we want to go to town or somewhere that will take hours to walk to, then we take public.  I don’t think I’m going to even try to explain public.  I will say that taking public (transportation in a ‘van’) to town is much easier than taking it back from Manzini to Timbutini.  You can spend hours waiting for a gumbi (pronounced koom-bee).  Thursday we spent 3 hours waiting for one, and finally called a friend who sent his brother to pick us up.  Once on the gumbi, you are sitting amongst 15-16 other people who have bags and whatever else in their laps, so personal space does not exist.  This part is not as bad as last year, when the weather was hotter than Texas summers’ and your body is sitting right up against another’s.  Thankfully the winter here has made that part more bearable.  So, it’s about 25-30 minutes from Timbutini to Manzini, depending on how long it takes to make it up all the steep hills.  Then the stressful part begins when we get to the bus yard.  The best way I can describe this is saying it is a mud pit with probably 100 buses/vans driving around with no regard for people walking in front of them, men SCREAMING the destinations of the different gumbis and every eye being on us as we walk through this massive bus yard.  Men love to grab our arms, yell at us, bring their friends to come and stare at us, etc.  You can see how this raises my blood pressure slightly.  Then you experience all of those things and more, when you come back to the bus yard to get a gumbi back to Timbutini when you are finished in town.  We absolutely dread taking public.  Last year when we would take public, we thought it was kind of fun, you know an African experience, but now we feel differently.  So although this may seem minor as you read it, it has been a huge stress this week for us.  Anytime we want to go do ministry, we almost always take public unless we go to the care point at the church by our homestead.  We have probably spent more time on a gumbi/bus than anything else this week.  So it has been a little frustrating feeling like we haven’t been able to spend as much time as we wanted to at certain places, because you have to consider the possibility of having to wait a long time for a gumbi to come that is going to your destination that is not already full of people.  Also, the sun begins to set at around 5:30 so that cuts out a huge part of our day as well because we don’t go anywhere once its dark, for safety reasons.

Monday we went to Hope House, a care facility for the terminally ill.  We spent time with a care-giver named Loveness.  A few girls on our team last year spent time with her on a weekly basis and we wanted to see her on their behalf as well.  She has one of the most beautiful hearts.  She is s single mom of 4, her husband died 12 years ago.  Her 2 older daughters are South Africa and Zambia (her home country) and her 2 younger daughters (17 & 14 years old) live by themselves in a town about 1 hour away from Manzini.  She shared with us how hard it is for her, how much she doubts whether she is a good mother because she is working and her daughters are living alone.  But she said “There is no other way.”  She is the sole provider for her daughters and the job she has at Hope House is the only job she can find right now.  I was in tears as she poured out her heart and talked about how much she missed her daughters.  She only gets to see them once a month.  We spent some time speaking into her life and praying over her.  I wanted her to know that she is a wonderful mother and that the Lord SEES her and wants to bless her for the sacrifices she has made.  That she is a strong woman, full of courage, to do something as hard as this.  We plan on giving her some money before we leave to help pay for her daughters bus tickets to come and see her. 

Wednesday we visited S.O.S. Children’s Village in a town outside of Mbabane (the capital city of Swaziland).  We talked with the director and he explained to us the purpose and vision of these villages.  If you look back at my blog of when I went to Bulembu last year, this place is very similar.  Swaziland can so many times seem hopeless, so it was very encouraging for us to go to a place and see the good things that are happening in Swaziland.  I have to dream that the Lord has something big for Swaziland and I can’t wait to see what it is.  Here is a link to S.O.S. if you are interested in sponsoring a child.  One aspect I really loved about this program, is that even though individual children are sponsored, the money goes into a ‘pot’ for all the children in the house.  There are 10 children in a house with 1 make (mother) so this way, all the children benefit equally from the funds.  You don’t have to give a certain amount per month, it is up to you how much you can give at that time.  Anyways, check it out if you want.

Sorry for the abrupt ending, but that’s all I have for this one!