Musings from Graceland

OUR MONDAY IN SWAZILAND, Part II

[After eating lunch at the Hampsons], we went to a carepointthat is in a very, very poor, desolate are right by the mountain ridge that divides Swaziland from South Africa and Mozambique to the east.

At Pastor Themba's carepoint, we talked with the children and makes (mothers) plus a couple of gogos (grandmothers)...

...passed out crayons & paper [even the mothers and grandmothers enjoyed coloring]......helped serve a nutritionally enriched drink to the children......watched them get food and eat [even helped feed a baby or two]...
...saw a church being built [that will be used to care for the children here]...

...and watched boys playing soccer. [The bushes in the foreground were a type of thorn/sticker plant very common here.]Just being able to hold and love on the little ones was a highlight of the day. Christi Bowman is holding a very sick little girl in this photo.

B spent a lot of time with these two little babies.

This is the kitchen where the volunteers (usually grandmothers/gogos) cook for the children daily. The children are helping out with the washing of their own dishes.

Here are the two volunteer cooks and the inside of their kitchen. Notice the big, heavy pots they cook in over a fire...yes...even in this excruciating heat.

Below, Jumbo (AIM missionary) and Dany (Children's HopeChest staffer from CO) talk to Pastor Themba about the carepoint and it's needs.

This little girl tries to carry a water bottle on her head --- the common way for girls and women to tote things around in Swaziland. Notice the rugged terrain behind her. The children often walk MILES through such terrain to come for food and if they are very blessed, to get to their school which is up on the mountain behind the carepoint.

The AIM staff had brought a blow up moon jump for the kids. This is a very rare opportunity for these children that they only get a couple of times a year and they definitely take advantage of the chance to just goof off and have fun! One little boy was blind and so they stood him by it and just let him feel it with his hands.

The AIM staff wants to provide for the physical needs of the children but they also want to provide for them spiritually and to pour out love on them whenever possible.

We then went back to the hotel. I slept for a few minutes before rushing off for supper at the RUSTIC TAVERN PIZZERIA. It was good food but it probably took 1 1/2 hours for our food to arrive.

A & B then wanted icecream from the nearby petrol station. Then back to hotel for "debriefing" . Afterwards, some of us chatted for a while. Jim had sent me an email via Mair. It was very sweet.

Tomorrow, more carepoints.