Goat races in Swaziland: Gappers begin their volutneer work

Two weeks have passed in a flash. We have all settled into the Swazi life style like a breeze. The atmosphere here is very laid back and easy going. These past two weeks were spent at our Neighbourhood Care Points (NCPs) best explained as schools for orphaned and vulnerable children between the ages of 3-5. In the morning we catch a Kombie (Swaziland version of public transport) to our NCPs and again at lunch back to the lodge, without fail marriage proposals and men asking to paint our portraits.

We were split into groups and placed at different NCPs. These care points are all run and funded by volunteers such as ourselves, most of the NCPs were well developed with buildings as classrooms making it easy for us to teach. Katie and Joni on the other hand weren’t so lucky and were placed at Elangeni NCP where they had to take their class under an Avocado tree. Wherever we were positioned it is fair to say we loved our children and we were never seen without a child in our arms, most of the time these children were simply after a hug. Nonetheless some were after a bit of fun and found it humorous to constantly pull down Maddy’s pants.

Just before we started our placement, World Vision the provided of food for our NCPs, pulled out of their contract to supply due to East Africa’s food crisis leaving us scrambling to get money together for these children to be able to eat. Luckily we are able to provide food for these children in the short term, we are still working on a long term solution. Our afternoons here in Swaziland were spent either doing home visits or visiting children in the hospital. At both visits we always brought balloons and some toys in hand for the children to play with. During one home visit we met a 25yr old man Mandla, who is disabled and suffers from epilepsy, Mandla has never walked and as a result doesn’t leave the house since he can’t afford a wheelchair either. As a group we decided to pay for his rehabilitation and to his family’s and our disbelief he may be able to walk again after a lifetime house ridden.

During our stay here in Swaziland we visited a cultural village where we were an audience to cultural Swazi dancing and singing. A group of us even had a shot at the local dance. Later that day we visited the water fall where some braved the cold water and went for a dip. One highlight to our cultural events this week involves getting dressed up for the races… goat races! Our goat named Go Piggy Piggy Piggy was in the lead for a while but came second last, nevertheless we did come home with Best Named Goat Award.

All in all we have been having a wonderful time here in the beautiful Kingdom of Swaziland. Our next adventure is a week in Mozambique spent kayaking, snorkeling with whale sharks and tanning on the serene Mozambique coastline. Till then, Sala Kahle.

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