This is a long Swaziland update,, but I think worth it... hopefully you can stick with me till the end!
My last week in country was extremely busy. We had our launch event last Friday with the Prime Minister and that went very well, albeit.. 3 hours long! Over the weekend I visited our first solar well project and sat in on a church service in town.
On Monday I did a tour of the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital (RFM) as well as making home visits with the HIV/AIDS task force... and let me tell you, it was a very long, and very hard day. RFM is the main hospital in Swaziland, though there is an official government hospital not much farther away. Even the tour was overwhelming... while costs are low (costs to be seen: $4, surgery cost $17) the hospital is understaffed, underfunded, and underprepared to deal with the influx of patients. We saw people being transported to the hospital in the backs of truck beds wrapped in blankets as there are only 2 ambulances that serve the hospital. We saw roughly 80 people waiting for antiretroviral drugs, and a packed maternity ward with standing room only (mothers and babies are discharged shortly after giving birth, and it is not uncommon for hospital staff to find babies left around the hospital). We saw an entire ward for malnourished children and 2 separate wards for TB patients. We passed a woman in the courtyard surrounded by others waiting for treatment who laid in a ball moaning while waiting for her turn to be seen. It was extremely overwhelming, and the whole thing has seriously made me consider medical school or at least a degree in public health.
While Monday morning was difficult, Monday afternoon was much harder. We went with members of the HIV/AIDS Home Care Task Force and drove out to remote areas to "homes" where people are sick and dying. it was extremely difficult. Seeing mothers with HIV and TB who can barely talk and their young untested, likely infected children running around.. it was a hard thing to see. But if you can imagine, the joy on their faces when they saw people had come to see them... it was pretty unbelievable. They all wanted us to sing, and they often tried to sing with us. We brought along care buckets of food and supplies which were received with such gratitude it was almost embarassing... but the experience gave me even more respect for the women who run the task force. Evelyn and Mary are 2 women who felt like the church should be doing something about all the people that are dying in their homes alone with no help... so they started up a "task force" and started driving out to communities and visiting people...all alone, 2 women in a truck, exposing themselves to all sorts of illness and danger, giving baths, delivering medicine, offering smiles..etc They started gathering support and developed teams of women and now they have over 100 ""care supporters" all female, who drive out to visit their specific people 3, sometimes 4 times a week. I tell you, never have I met such strong, brave, loving, and joyful women in my entire life. To me, they are Jesus, and to the people they visit, they are hope.
The rest of the week alternated between meetings, a day at New Hope Center: a home for orphaned and abandoned children, a visit to Gigi's Kitchen, a "soup kitchen" of sorts that serves dinner to children of the area.... etc etc
All of these groups have been truly inspiring to work with and learn from. Hopefully one day I will blog about each one of them and what they do in detail, because honestly I think people should know of the work that is being done... Of the hope that is here in the midst of so much despair.
On Monday I did a tour of the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital (RFM) as well as making home visits with the HIV/AIDS task force... and let me tell you, it was a very long, and very hard day. RFM is the main hospital in Swaziland, though there is an official government hospital not much farther away. Even the tour was overwhelming... while costs are low (costs to be seen: $4, surgery cost $17) the hospital is understaffed, underfunded, and underprepared to deal with the influx of patients. We saw people being transported to the hospital in the backs of truck beds wrapped in blankets as there are only 2 ambulances that serve the hospital. We saw roughly 80 people waiting for antiretroviral drugs, and a packed maternity ward with standing room only (mothers and babies are discharged shortly after giving birth, and it is not uncommon for hospital staff to find babies left around the hospital). We saw an entire ward for malnourished children and 2 separate wards for TB patients. We passed a woman in the courtyard surrounded by others waiting for treatment who laid in a ball moaning while waiting for her turn to be seen. It was extremely overwhelming, and the whole thing has seriously made me consider medical school or at least a degree in public health.
While Monday morning was difficult, Monday afternoon was much harder. We went with members of the HIV/AIDS Home Care Task Force and drove out to remote areas to "homes" where people are sick and dying. it was extremely difficult. Seeing mothers with HIV and TB who can barely talk and their young untested, likely infected children running around.. it was a hard thing to see. But if you can imagine, the joy on their faces when they saw people had come to see them... it was pretty unbelievable. They all wanted us to sing, and they often tried to sing with us. We brought along care buckets of food and supplies which were received with such gratitude it was almost embarassing... but the experience gave me even more respect for the women who run the task force. Evelyn and Mary are 2 women who felt like the church should be doing something about all the people that are dying in their homes alone with no help... so they started up a "task force" and started driving out to communities and visiting people...all alone, 2 women in a truck, exposing themselves to all sorts of illness and danger, giving baths, delivering medicine, offering smiles..etc They started gathering support and developed teams of women and now they have over 100 ""care supporters" all female, who drive out to visit their specific people 3, sometimes 4 times a week. I tell you, never have I met such strong, brave, loving, and joyful women in my entire life. To me, they are Jesus, and to the people they visit, they are hope.
The rest of the week alternated between meetings, a day at New Hope Center: a home for orphaned and abandoned children, a visit to Gigi's Kitchen, a "soup kitchen" of sorts that serves dinner to children of the area.... etc etc
All of these groups have been truly inspiring to work with and learn from. Hopefully one day I will blog about each one of them and what they do in detail, because honestly I think people should know of the work that is being done... Of the hope that is here in the midst of so much despair.
In a land with the highest HIV/AIDS infection rate in the world, where it is estimated that 42% of the population is infected, where one out of five children is an orphan, where a 15-year-old has only a 20% chance of reaching 35, where most Swazis earn 45 cents a day, and where 15,000 households are headed by orphaned children.... I continue to see the goodness of the Lord through the faithful work of his people.
Perhaps some final thoughts later... for now it is good to be home for a bit.
See pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079206&id=34100481&l=21c492cf82
and here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079632&id=34100481&l=0b7abf555a
~Danica
See pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079206&id=34100481&l=21c492cf82
and here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2079632&id=34100481&l=0b7abf555a
~Danica