day 2 - arrival in Swaziland

We took a small plane to Swaziland and I was finally able to see Africa. It was nothing like I imagined, so lush and green, so beautiful! We landed at a small airport and had to go through customs - I was carrying 3000 balloons - 12 pounds of balloons. Was not quite sure what to say when the customs lady asked what they were for.

We were met by Patrick and our driver who took us to our resort style hotel. It was so beautiful - you will hear that word alot in the next few posts. We had pizza for lunch and we were off to our debriefing about the big party at Manzini. We expect 4,000 children at this first party. There were 10 stations, so I waited to see which one had the fewest volunteers before I stepped up - net ball (Africa's version of basketball). Yes, me and my 4'11 self was going to be reffing net ball, which is a girl's sport in Africa. We got our goals and whistles and I set off to learn the sport of netball.

After getting all of our instructions, Patrick took us to a care point, the primary reason of children's cup. I am not sure the statistics, but the majority of the children in this area are orphaned by one or both parents, primarily b/c of AIDS. Instead of placing these children in orphanages they find a family member or responsible party to take the children in. They feed them and even educate them in these care points, kind of reminded me of a YMCA. For $4 a month they can feed a child opposed to the hundreds it cost to put them into a orphanage. The schools in Swaziland are not free, so many of the children's only education come from the care points. The care points were so inviting. I met one of the teacher's and was so surprised at the resources she had to work with. She had made her own posters and the children sat in what we would consider lawn furniture. The school had no electricity. It would only cost around $150 to run electricity to the building and around $60 a month to maintain, yet the funds were not there to make it happen. I asked her what supplies she needed and she asked for crayons, dry erase markers, notebooks and a carpet for the winter months. It tore at my heart almost more than anything else on the trip. I know exactly what it is like to be in a classroom and wishing you had all of the supplies to be successful, hers were just the basics. I also learned to play rock jacks at this care point. The kids toss a "ball" (rock) into the air and then pick up the jacks (stones) one by one, then two-by-two and so forth. Creativity is an amazing thing.