Thursday

Final days with our Liberty team!

Final days, Liberty U:
Sorry for the void in blogs... my 14 year old pug dog had to be put to sleep a couple of nights ago and on top of the emtional stress here in Swaziland, things were difficult.  But I am happy to report the last few days were action packed and productive!  The group went on safari and saw all sorts of animals including lions, elephants, impala, warthogs, etc. 
In a couple of weeks, we have a team from IUPUI coming to build a 4-stall pit latrine toilet using recycled plastic bottles rather than typical cement blocks to reduce the environmental pollution from burning the bottles and reduce the financial cost of building the cement block toilets (thereby allowing us to build more stalls).  We underestimated the labor involved in filling the soda bottles with dirt/river sand required to maintain the integrity in the building process.  We have been working all week - and even had tiny preK helpers - filling bottles and are only halfway done!  We even recruited our amazing and sweet university student Lungelo to help dig the hole for the toilets.  Kait has been picking dirt out of her ears...and the girls have talked about how maybe they should have worked out before this trip, but we are all stronger from the process ;) If you could see the quality of shovels/pick axes we're using, you'd be amused...the group coming next week will be packing some hand shovels in their bags to expedite the process.
My friend Tiffiny sells Usborne books and did a fundraiser/book drive for us recently.  Her group raised $1,000 worth of brand new books for Swaziland!! We had a request from Phonjwane Primary (a highly impoverished primary school) for a library, so it was a huge blessing.  Today we had the bookshelves, bench seating, carpet, pillows, and chairs delivered.  We also went through the "picture books" they previously had.  They had a decent selection of "how to pass California state standardized test" workbooks from the 1980s....with no pictures... and some other American textbooks that were outdated from 1960-1980.  So, as you can imagine, Mrs. Shongwe was absolutely THRILLED to replace those obsolete books with some brand new engaging picture books for all ages.  We can't wait for the next lot of books to be delivered next week and for Kait's team to host a reading group in their new space!
This morning we had a meeting with the giggly, energetic and sweet Mr Sambo at the international George Hotel.  He has been donating used hotel soaps to us for years and recently expressed his desire to help even more.  We mentioned that more used soaps will expand the reach of our program, so he offered to contact even more hotels across the country.  If you aren't familiar with our program, we take used hotel soaps and rid them of any debris, sanitize them in a bleach solution and reform them into usable sized soaps.  This is life-saving for our children in the rural communities where a simple bar of soap is inaccessible and communicable diseases are rampant.  We always prefer for the distribution of goods to be done by the locals without any recognition our way.  Kait and I are "behind the scenes" kind of gals.  But today, we were asked to hand the soaps out to the children at Phonjwane directly.  I worried that the children would be embarassed to receive the soaps from us, but it was entirely the opposite.  The kids immediately put the soaps to their faces and the teachers started yelling in alarm not to eat them - but they were only sniffing. Some of the teenaged boys started exclaiming, after sniffing, about how great they were going to smell and started pretending to slow dance with each other. 
During our nightly reflection with our Liberty group, all of them echoed how this trip has made them more appreciative of their situation and lifestyle back home.  They've never yearned for a used bar of soap...or even a new one, because it's always been there.  They don't have to worry about open defecation because toilets are everywhere.  They don't have to worry where their next meal is coming from because they have a fridge full of food.  These seem like simple things, but imagine the hope and dignity that comes from having it all...  That's what Kait and I desire most.  That the kids don't have to worry about soap, toilets, and basic food.  Without having to worry about those things (and other basic needs like it), they can put their efforts toward achieving an education that will break the cycle of poverty.  Young boys can feel empowered based on their hard work and success and therefore not feel the need to abuse the women in their lives to feel powerful.   The girls can become educated and get jobs enabling them to be independent and not rely on a man who may contract HIV and infect them and their future children.  You may think that a simple toilet, bar of soap, food, shelter, educational scholarship and love cannot do all of that.... but I promise you, it can change the whole world. 
www.ifightpoverty.org/donate.html

1 comment:

  1. I have enjoyed reading the blogs! I am very sorry to hear about your dog. Thank you for all you have done as a leader for the Liberty team.

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