MALINDZA DAY! I have been so excited for this day to
come. It was promising to be filled with
action and hard work…two of my favorite things.
We arrived in Malindza early to meet with the Chief and village
elders. The GHFP girls were
nervous. How should I sit? Should I look them in their eyes? What if I get the “handshake” wrong? I told them not to worry, everything would be
fine. As we sat on the ground under the
tree below the men (culture) and tried to maintain composure regardless of the
(venomous?!) spiders crawling all over us, the men thanked us for building them
a school and were thrilled that we were continuing to support their
ever-growing orphaned community. The
Chief’s right hand man is too old and crippled to actually make any of the
meetings. Maseko explained to us that
extensive notes are taken at each meeting and relayed to this man at a later
time. But soon the eldest Swazi man I
have ever seen is slowly making his way toward us. Barely audible and only with the aid of a
bottom row of teeth, this man said that our arrival to his homestead was too
important for him to remain in bed. He
wanted to thank us in person for all of our support and said that when he soon reached
God, he would plead for him to bless us abundantly. When the meeting was over, we drove deep into
the bush to one of their only water sources (Malindza is a desert) to buy vegetables
to support the rural gardeners. We bought
hundreds of dollars of green beans, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, beet root, and onion
for our eLangeni Primary School (Thank you Mitali, FOODOM). As we were “shopping” in the enormous farm,
Andee was sinking into the mud… today was not the day to wear flip flops but
she had already donated all of her other shoes to orphaned kiddos! Whoops.
Then it was time to check on the progress of our Give Hope,
Fight Poverty primary school. I get butterflies
and giddy on our long journey down a dirt path.
Finally I see our fence, and behind it - all of the community gogos
(grandmothers) and elderly men who volunteer every day to clear the bush and to
help lay the bricks. They are dancing, singing
and rushing to greet us. I glance past
our pit latrines (the only standing structure last week) to see the grade one
foundation almost built! Between that and the excitement from the gogos – tears
rushed to my eyes. I spun in a circle in
my traditional Swazi wrap (skirt) and imagined amazing little orphaned children
running around smiling in their school uniforms finally able to receive a
formal education for the very first time.
All because of the generosity of our donors in the States (Thank you
Aunt Boss and Sube). Powerful! I was eager to get inside of the classroom
and pictured the tiny desks, Nomfundo (our grade 1 teacher), and eager 6 year
old pupils holding new pencils and an exercise book chanting “A, B, C, D…” in
their adorable Swazi accents. I simply
cannot express my gratitude enough. It
seems unfair that I dream things and somehow they happen. I only wish I could dream AIDS to vanish and
orphans to have their parents back.
We are now late to pick up our sponsored child-headed
household orphans from their school. I
pull up to school and I see our gorgeous Sharon. She tells me she will be right back and runs
inside the school. Soon she returns with
her teacher. The teacher greets me and
says that Sharon has been talking all day about how her “new mom” was going to
pick her up today and how she wanted her to meet me. My heart broke. This HIV positive 16 year old should be
talking about her real mom. Her birth
mom. I am only able to help because of
the generosity of YOU all. Please don’t praise
the messenger. I tear up and tell her
that I too am a teacher and it is beautiful how much teachers worldwide love
their students.
We drop Nomalungelo off at her homestead. When we reach Nomalungelo’s we learn that her
GHFP sponsored sister Nothando had her baby last Friday…a little girl named
Luyanda. The father is apparently
present but not working. And now the
mother – our Nothando – is a second-time high school dropout. With the parents not working and having no
access to any resources how will this baby thrive? I say my prayers and promise Nomalungelo that
we will see her in November. She says it’s
too far away and resists letting go of my hand.
Every time I peel a child’s hand from mine and promise some distant
future reunion a piece of my heart breaks.
Then it’s Sharon’s turn.
We drive her to her homestead where her gogo (grandmother c
aregiver) is
waiting for us with a smile on her face and a dance in her step. I LOVE Sharon’s Gogo so much. We learn today that she is only 55 years old
but looks almost double that. She said
that hard work and stress has aged her and she will soon die. The stress of all of her 7 children dying of
AIDS and leaving her with 4 grandchildren (2 of which have AIDS) may have
caused wrinkles in her face but not her amazing heart. I tell her she has at least another 55 years to
go and besides…Sharon needs her. But I
think about what she says. Hard work and
Swaziland ages you. Children are forced
to be adults. Adults are worked to the
bone and sent to an early grave. Even
the animals are struggling. If I had to
see ONE more starving dog today, I was sure I was going to pack them all in my
suitcase and take them home. On our
drive home with a heavy heart I see a truck slam into a hungry puppy racing
into the highway. I couldn’t help but
wonder if the homeless hungry puppy ran into the oncoming traffic on
purpose. A life without food, shelter,
and love is no life at all. The GHFP girls
are now all in the backseat crying. They
are wondering how I am holding it together.
Honestly I do not know, I think I am just numb…but I tell them that I
try to turn my sadness into motivation. As
we barrel on down the MR3 we see countless children in school uniforms playing
with trash along the highway. As they
see our kombi, smiles erupt and they are soon waving at our passing car. The GHFP girls cannot even muster a fake
smile through their tears and I am forced to shout “Sawubonas” and “un jani’s”
out the car window for us all… God bless the Swazi children and then bless them
some more.
Grade One classroom foundation almost complete!! I cannot believe my eyes...
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