annie in swaziland

Day 4: Cooking/Pre-school

This morning we painted all of the pre-schoolers faces…which is hysterical because the only artist (Kait) was busy doing something else so the children looked…interesting…when they were finished.  But they loved it! Even Nelly, our preschool teacher, wanted her face painted. 

Then we went to deliver food to the primary school and to cook for the 634 children.  As I was fetching water a little girl standing nearby said something in SiSwati and I asked another little girl to translate.  The grade 4 sweetheart apparently said she was starving.  I know we toss that word around, but I am quite certain this tiny precious gem meant it.  And the struggle on Friday is the understanding that the children will likely not eat again until school lunch on Monday morning.  Knowing this, our cook makes excess and gives the children a very large portion on Fridays.

 

We then went to some of our sponsored children’s homesteads to deliver food (Thank you Mitali/FOODOM).  It is often better to give them little notice that we are coming or else we are bombarded with pleas we cannot fulfill as we were at Nkhosingiphile’s house today.  The mother was there (we still include Nkhosingiphile as an orphan because she has to take care of her mother since she is mentally challenged and deaf).  The mother in broken and very hard to understand English since she is mostly mute asked us to sponsor her neighbor’s three children also – whom she had lined up and waiting for us at her house.  She said that the mother is dead and the father is a drunk.  These stories are quite common; however, we try to sponsor those living in child headed homes as to make our selection process a bit easier.  With 120,000 single or double orphans in this country (single is missing one parent and double is missing two), the need is far greater than our small organization can handle.    We will begin opening our Orphan Education sponsorship fund and would love your support of a child.  Even a portion of a child’s education (in $25 denominations) is very helpful!  If you cannot sponsor one, please consider spreading the word: http://www.ifightpoverty.org/orphan-education-sponsorship.html

As we were walking away from the final homestead toward our car I was marveling at how beautiful the sunset was over the Swazi mountains.  The sun was a brilliant pink, the wind was a cool breeze, and the red clay soil was adding to the warm colors.  Then we hear some shouting and I thought we were being summoned back.  As I turn around, I realize that the ailing go-go (grandmother), on a grass mat now blanketed in our food donation, was shouting a prayer to God and if I knew siSwati, I would have joined her…