Making a difference in Swaziland, through donations, supplies and sponsorship

COUNTRY: Southern Africa (Swaziland, Mozambique & South Africa)
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Lucy Coles

The last two weeks have come and gone quickly in Swaziland, with the Antipodeans keeping ourselves busy as we finished our project work here in Swaziland. We have all enjoyed our project work immensely and will miss the kids when it’s time to move on to South Africa on Tuesday.

Despite frustrating transport problems, Laura, Sarah and Alex have been working at Mlindazwe NCP, where they’ve done a fantastic job of teaching the kids even though they’ve been a bit cheeky at times (for example, locking their teachers in the classroom...). They have learned a lot of siSwati phrases and Laura says that they are becoming more and more patient every day as the kids come up with new tricks.

At Mahlanya, Jacinta and Jaimee have been working with their twenty kids, many of whom are ready to go to school next year. Jacinta teaches the older kids while Jaimee takes the younger ones, and the teacher at the NCP, Patience, goes between their classrooms to help them out. Not only have they been able to donate a huge amount of supplies such as toothbrushes, soap, toilet paper, sports equipment and resources to the NCP, but they’ve also secured sponsorship for many of their students to go to primary school next year.

Miri has been working with another Alex, an Australian volunteer, at Ezulwini NCP. They’ve been preparing great activities for their fifty kids and have made donations of food and materials to the NCP.

At Lobamba NCP, Katie, Lara and Dylan have made a huge difference in providing medical care for kids who have needed it, painting classrooms, making donations of food and cleaning supplies and taking all of their children to the cinema.

Taylah has been working at Bethany NCP with two Dutch volunteers, who are also on the Kruger to Cape trip. They’ve really fallen in love with all of the children and had a great day with them last week, taking them to the cinema at the Gables to see Brave. At the moment, they’re trying to track down supplies to donate to their school, such as pencils, workbooks and other supplies.

Finally, Georgie, Lauren and I have been at Ekuzukekeni, “the NCP under the tree”. We have kept ourselves busy with decorating the newly built classroom. Georgie and Lauren’s fundraising has allowed them to donate materials for a kitchen shelter, a blackboard, carpets, a chair for the teacher and tables and benches for the children. On Friday, we took all fifty kids on a day trip first to the local clinic for medical care, and then to the cinema to cheer them up. It was sad to see that some of the kids had missed out on routine childhood vaccinations and many were upset at the thought of having injections but they were all in high spirits at the end of the day.

Aside from working at the NCPs, we’ve all enjoyed relaxing in our free time and getting to know the local area, from Mbabane (the capital city) to Sheba’s Brest (a mountain behind the lodge). We've now had two staff v volunteers soccer matches, both of which we may or may not have won; the results are always hard to determine. The new volunteers, with whom we all got on really well, left this morning for Mozambique and we are looking forward to new adventures commencing on Tuesday as we slowly make our way to Cape Town, but will definitely be sad to leave behind Swaziland and all the children we've become so close to.