Swaziland Team Update #2

Hey Everyone,

It’s Monday evening, May 31. We spent a very atypical Memorial Day! After breakfast we loaded up in our 3 vans and headed to Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital here in Manzini. It is part of the 25 acre mission compound which includes Sharpe Memorial Church, the nursing college, School of Education, a high school and missionary housing. For those long-time Nazarene’s, it is a place we’ve all read and heard about all our lives. The director of the hospital, Leonard, took half the group and Brent, the Mission Corp volunteer took the other and we spent probably 2 hours touring the facility. It was almost surreal to be there and meet the staff and see the patients. It’s the largest hospital in the country. Many different organizations have contributed to the growth of it including your US tax dollars! It was a very busy place. They have a separate entrance for the HIV/AIDS patients to use to help remove some of the stigma of having the disease.

When we left there, we went to the regional offices to pick up the leaders of the AIDS task force to go with us on the home visits. Our van had Mary Magagula who is the retired nurse who began the force along with Evelyn Shongwe and a man who is working with them. Each van had 10 large buckets filled with food and other necessities and a list of clients to visit. Our group was able to go into most of the ‘homes’ and look all around their homesteads. The first lady we visited was 65 or 70 and all alone. Her children had all left to work far away and could not be there to help take care of her. Her only visitor is the volunteer who comes to see her a couple times a week. She was beyond thrilled with everything but especially the 5lb bag of mealie meal which is a major staple in their diet. Mary said there had been a drought and no one had been able to harvest any so they were all thrilled. We sang ‘Amazing Grace’ and prayed with each person. Most of them were Christians and were thanking Jesus for this blessing. Mary was very compassionate with them and checked all their medical papers to tell if they were improving or needed hospital care or whatever. Our group also had small mirrors in rubber cases and we gave them to the patients and also to some of their families. They LOVED seeing themselves! We also passed out Tootsie Rolls and stuffed animals to the kids. We added a couple new clients today because one was visiting one of the clients we were visiting and she also had the disease and another as we drove by and Mary just wanted to stop and check on the people. That man had been sick for a few months and they used Becky Ellis’s stethoscope to listen to his chest and determined that he probably had TB and needed medicine. Mary told him to go to the hospital tomorrow and be checked. She said there is a very good cure rate for TB with the medicine.

The other two vans had even more exciting stories! (I forgot to tell you that our van went to Stegi and the others went other places.) Anyway, both other teams led people to Christ! One group was at a home where two brothers, ages 19 and 22, both had HIV/AIDS. Eric Kesselring was praying with them and asked if they knew Jesus and they said no. So, he prayed with them and they both accepted Christ!!! Isn’t that awesome!! He said you could really tell the difference in them immediately! Their mom was already a Christian but they were not. It was just an amazing experience for all of us. These homes were in very rural areas and many where exactly what you picture when you think of Africa…round huts with thatched roofs.

We all need to get to sleep early tonight because we still haven’t made up for sleep loss from the trip and tomorrow is a very early day, especially for the education team. They have to leave here at 6am to be in Endzengeni by 8am for a special school assembly planned just for them. It will be their first day of teaching. Please pray for them. They are a great group of girls and we have really enjoyed having them on the team. The rest of us will leave here at 7am and begin construction on the nurses house and do our women’s ministry. We will spend 5 days working and then go to church with the people next Sunday.

Please pray for all of us. We keep very busy and are all very tired, but thoroughly enjoying all aspects of the trip. It’s chilly in the morning and evening and warmed up nicely today. Wish we could tell you so many more details but that will have to wait till we get home.

Blessings to all of you.

JoAnne Rexroth