Swaziland

About a four hours' drive from Johannesburg is the country (Kingdom) of Swaziland.  A road trip to visit has been on 'the bucket list' since we arrived in Africa.  We had heard many stories about it from "Uncle Bill" and "Aunt Marsha", since they had served there prior to Papua New Guinea.  Never thinking that we would ever have a chance to go there, when we came to South Africa we knew it would be a trip we would have to make.

Swaziland is a very small country, landlocked on three sides by South Africa and another by Mozambique.  It may be best known for its 'kingdomship' and unfortunately for its high rate of HIV infection, boasting the world's highest rate at 26.1%.  For Nazarenes, it is best known for its missions history in the church.  The work there is now over 100 years old.

When we arrived in Manzini to the mission compound, we immediately felt at home.  The compound is made up a Nazarene Hospital, Nursing College, primary school (and some other schools) and lots of mission housing.  With its many similarities to the mission compound in Papua New Guinea, it had a familiar feel to it and we seemed to feel 'at home' there.  The boys also seemed to feel comfortable there as they played in the open areas around our guest house and played with some of the local kids.   

Besides just seeing places and things that we had heard and read about, we also were going to meet friends who were going to be visiting.  Dr. Gresham is the president of Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma (where daddy attended) and was going to be visiting a team of students who were there working.  We enjoyed spending time with him.  We also enjoyed being with "Uncle Bill" McCoy, Jr. who was there with a group of his students from Eastern Nazarene College in Boston. We had never met him, but felt like we knew him and his family.  Having a second "Uncle Bill" was a bit confusing, so the original "Uncle Bill" became "Grandpa Bill" and/or the second "Uncle Bill" became "Liam's Daddy."  It was great to finally meet and share stories.  I am not sure it was as much fun for the college students, but they did seem to enjoy entertaining the boys.  Before we left, the boys had seemed to make friends with one of the security guards that was patrolling the area.  His name was Michael.  At one point, Aden left his conversation outside with Michael to come inside and announce excitedly to us, "He's a Christian!"  By the time we were ready to leave, we discovered that Aden had got Michael's phone number and told him that we would call him some time. It took us awhile to explain why we probably wouldn't do that.

One of the things that we really wanted to be able to do was take a tour of the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital.  We had heard so much about it over the years, and were looking forward to something that would remind us of our PNG home.  The hospital itself has a very rich history, not only with the Nazarene church, but also with the country.  It is very well known, and is even the birthplace of the current reigning king.  The tour did not disappoint, and if anything made us a bit homesick, especially as we walked through the maternity ward and were reminded of similar visits Mommy and the boys would make at the hospital in PNG to see the babies.  We enjoyed some of the other (church) historical sites around the compound, as well as meeting some of the amazing Swazi people.

One of the maybe more memorable experiences we had actually took place at a small game park.  We went there to meet up with the two visiting college groups after a Sunday service at a nearby Nazarene Church.  We had planned to go on a hike with some of the people in the group.  This park does have animals, but none of the "scary" types (as the boys would say).  They offer a walking safari in that while you are walking trails, you may encounter zebra, kudu or other types of non-ferocious animals.  It was said to be an easy hike.  Within the first five minutes of the hike, Aden had remembered that there were snakes in Swaziland.  Despite us trying to convince him that we were not likely to see any, he had decided that he did not want to take any chances.  Daddy volunteered to take him back to the car and wait for the group.  An hour went by, two hours were approaching and so was darkness.  On the verge of panic, Daddy and Aden went looking around for the group that Mommy and the two boys left with.  Many of them were back, and it was soon realized that she and the boys were on the trail with only one other person from the group.  With darkness looming, Daddy and Aden went looking for them along the road in the car.  Fortunately, they didn't have to drive far before finding them.  It was pitch black darkness within fifteen minutes of that.  The story was that the people in the front of the group were walking too fast and had left them without realizing that Daddy and Aden were not back there with them.  They walked and walked.  As it got later and later, and they weren't sure if they were on the right trail, they eventually stopped and prayed.  Upon finishing, they heard a vehicle close by and were able to find their way to the road that the vehicle had been on.  From there, they were able to follow the road back.  The walk was easily three miles or more on dirt trails (sometimes partly obscured by grass taller than Noah) and log bridges, up and down.  Amazingly, Wiley walked the whole way and Noah walked at least half of it.  Wiley seemed to really enjoy it, and could only say at the end of it all, "Daddy, we saw a kudu!"  They had seen the kudu early on, nearly close enough to touch; later as it was darker they had seen other animals, like wildebeest and zebra, a bit further away.  Oh, the memories.  I am sure that one day soon we will be able to laugh about it.  Noah wasn't ready for the experience to end - every time we were in the car after that, even on the highway, he would ask if we could watch for animals.  Mommy always assured him he could, even if he was only likely to see cows or goats.  And for Noah, looking for those and sometimes seeing them along the road or in the road, seemed to be enough to satisfy. 

It turned out to be a great weekend, though it seemed way too short.