Sanibonani!
Me and Beatrice have now arrived in Mbabane in Swaziland! We were meant to have arrived here last week but due to certain circumstances we couldn’t leave Soweto (a township outside Johannesburg) and Johannesburg until this week. But because of the delayed departure we were fortunate to be able to spend about five days at a project in Soweto called Diakonia Aids Ministry (DAM). But during our first few days in Johannesburg we had great lecturers and interactions with the general secretary of ELCSA (Evangelican Lutheran Church of Southern Africa) and Bishop Rakuba from the Eastern Diocese. We also got to go into Soweto and walk the street where both Nelson Mandela and Desmund Tutu lived. We even got to go into Mandela’s house where he had lived before we was sent to prison, very interesting!
But to continue the story about DAM. They mostly work with orphans and vulnerable children but also with people in the community who suffers from HIV and AIDS. The young children come to DAM Tuesdays-Thursdays after school, and get helped with their homework and the staff have different activities with them depending on age. At the end of the session they also get food produced and cooked in the gardens and kitchen at DAM. We unfortunately only arrived on a Thursday afternoon and left on a Monday, and could therefore only see the work with the children for one afternoon. But we could gather that the work DAM does is very important for the local community and very important in trying to raise awareness on what HIV is and how to prevent it and how to take care of the people suffering from it. They also do a lot of work trying to reduce the stigma of having HIV. But because we came during the weekend, we got to see a lot of other things apart from DAM. Some of the staff members at DAM took great care of us and took us to a lot of different church functions and gatherings, including a fundraising gala. We of course also got to go to a church service on Sunday in Soweto and the pastor asked us to please come forward and asked if we didn’t mind singing a song in Swedish, which we did, and we told him we also know one in Sotho, which we then started singing. Everyone in the congregation got pleasantly surprised and stood up and sang with us, what a fantastic feeling that was! The church service itself was also fantastic, so muck music and energy, and even though we didn’t understand everything during the service, we still got the great feeling of worship and fellowship together with our Christian brothers and sister from all over the world! Very great feeling.
And now me and Beatrice have arrived in Swaziland and we have gotten to know the lovely staff at the Centre of the Eastern Diocese and we live in a little rondavel (cottage) just next to the Centre. We have been briefed on lot of information about an HIV project that ELCSA are running in three different communities around Mbabane. We have not been out in ”the field” yet but we are sure to be part of that experience very soon, we can’t wait! So next time I write Im sure I will have plenty of interesting things to tell you about this project.
Until then, have a blessed weekend and take care of each other
Love Ingrid
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