"Time keeps no measure when true friends are parted, No record day by day; the sands move not for those who, loyal-hearted, friendship's firm laws obey."

Thursday 14 January 2010

Swaziland - Saturday.

I am finally updating you on the rest of my time in Swaziland!

On Saturday, Sian went hiking up the tallest mountain in Swaziland (which happens to be right next to Bulembu). I stayed behind and attended a meeting with a bunch of the teenagers about a potential new recreation centre. Now, this is pretty exciting stuff. When I was last in the Bu, there wasn't really anything provided for the older teenagers...even just somewhere to hang out and be teenagers together! But a new family in town (Jason, Cara and their son Nick) have really got the ball rolling, and we all met over at an abandoned building that we were going to do up. Things didn't work out quite as planned though, because we found out that the building used to be a masonic lodge and that sacrifices and weird stuff had gone on there. Some adults didn't even want their young people involved in the building at all. So we all stood together and prayed. It was really cool. A South African couple, called Steve and Liselle, came along too. And I spent about an hour after all the teenagers had gone listening to these adults all talking about the need for youth work in the town, and also about the need for a passionate church. It was exciting to hear and I was really encouraged. It seemed to fit in with what I have been reading and thinking about lately. And as the first few days in Bulembu had been quite hard, this was a really uplifting conversation to be hearing!

Anyway, the rest of the day I hung out with some of the ABC kids. We played music together and hung out in the garden. In the early eveninings, I went over to ABC to help with all the babies - as this is the change over time for the Aunties who work there. It gets very busy! They have so many babies too. Lots of tiny ones, including one week old baby. All so tiny. And then with all the toddlers running around too. Becky Starnes would've loved it!

In the evening, we went down to the chapel in the community for a service to welcome in the new year. It was so awesome! I wish I'd brought my camera and secretly filmed! They had a Swazi group leading the music and the sound was just unbelievable. I can only explain it as really African, lots of harmonies, amazing voices. It was cool. A great evening together.

For those of you that don't know who I've been staying with in Bulembu, look at the photos below! Jon and Jude Skinner used to live in Ilfracombe, North Devon. He has been the Principle of the School here in Bulembu for the past 3 years and Jude has been nursing here. The other children here at this time are Sian (one of the twins) and Phila, their adopted daughter from right here in Swaziland. Right as I type this, they are in Pretoria trying to sort out the English visa for Phila, as they will be leaving Swaziland soon. All very complicated! But it has been lovely seeing them all!



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