annie in swaziland

Ty & Annie alone day1:

Today we were on the way to – what I hoped to be – a very important first day of a major project across Swaziland and Ty turns me to and says, “We have at least 9 different cleaners/soaps at home when you think about it… dish soap, laundry detergent, liquid hand soap, shower gel, Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, scrubbing bubbles, Murphy’s soap, bath bar soap… It’s sad that these kids are dying because they don’t even have one.”  We were informed many months ago of the rampant Rotavirus across Swaziland.  It can be prevented with some simple hygiene practices including washing your hands after using the restroom and washing your hands before eating or touching your mouth.  But for most rural kids in Swaziland, it’s not simple.  It’s actually impossible.  No one has soap.  Not a bar, not shower gel, not hand sanitizer, not baby wipes – nada.  So, in the war against disease, disease wins every time.  Our dear Mr. Maseko’s 3 month old baby girl died this year of the virus and it was at that time we decided to take a stand. 

I started contacting soap donation organizations in the US such as Clean the World among others.  The organizations that responded stated that they charged a shipping and handling fee.  Who knows what the “handling” fees were but I know that shipping to Swaziland is outrageous.  The old organization I worked for used to ship containers (of junk) to Swaziland and paid over $40,000 to do so.  For that, I could just buy brand new soap in Swaziland or even start a soap making factory!  But – of course, that is far beyond my favorite price of…free.  So, I had to change gears.  I contacted my dear friend Swazi Beished and, as a public health professional himself, he loved the idea!  He graciously contacted every hotel in Swaziland on our behalf to see if they would donate their partially used hotel soaps.  At this time we have two partners: The Royal Swazi Spa and Sibane Hotel who have promised us 4 buckets monthly.  We went to collect the first round of donations tonight and will collect the second in the morning.  Ty and I are thrilled to actually get this project started!  Each day it is delayed is another chance for our children to become infected with something they may not be able to recover from. 

I thanked Beished profusely… without him I would still be in America wondering how the heck I was going to transport the US hotel soaps to Swaziland for free… so he basically saved me from some future episode of “Locked Up Abroad” after I got arrested from soap smuggling across the globe.  But of course, in the traditional Swazi way, he deflected every piece of gratitude graciously and then replied, “What would I be if I just held hands with you and thanked you for helping the children of my country?  No, that is not right, it is important to get we get our hands dirty and help, even if we are unable to complete the entire project on our own.”  Beish has been using his own airtime (phones here are expensive!!) and his own transport to make this program happen.  We have incredible VOLUNTEERS here who are crucial to Give Hope, Fight Poverty programming and we are so grateful for their invaluable efforts.   

We are looking for donations to grow the “Sanitation Across Swaziland” program.  We will need funding for the cleansing and repackaging of the soaps (some of the soaps are tiny slivers that we will mold together to make more functional bars) as well as transporting them around the country.  We’re hoping to grow the project large enough to also request data from teachers pertaining to the number of absences in the schools.  Assuming that most absences are due to illnesses, we hope this project will keep more children healthy and thus learning to lift themselves out of poverty.  And they will be able to do this with your help!: www.ifightpoverty.org/donate.html