Bulembu, Swaziland

The famous Bulembu milkshake. Their pizza is pretty good too!

Old mine worker's houses converted to AIDS orphans' homes.

Swazi Border Control: nice people, but so opposite each other!

Mountains near Barbarton, South Africa

The biker... He was German, no surprise!

More Mountains.

Yes, the soccer ball just went over the edge.

Orphan girls--these are the lucky ones.

In the baby home.

A fantastic sunset on the way home. I think God was showing off.

One of the fifty kids' houses in Bulembu.

Stopping at an outlook in the mountains for lunch and photos.

Toddlers at the boys' home having tea time.

Mountains on the drive there. The views are incredible.

Hello Everyone!

I have internet on my laptop again! You have no idea how exciting that is, after over three weeks of being unable to go online or check my email without walking all the way up to the church student center, and then only between the hours of 8 and 4!

We had a great weekend trip to Swaziland, but the town we visited, Bulembu, needs a
bit of explaining. Bulembu is a town that was formerly the base for a very successful asbestos mining until 2001, when asbestos were banned worldwide and the market consequently crashed. The company moved out lock, stock, and barrel; destroying Bulembu's economy and infrastructure. By the time that the town of Bulembu was sold to a not-for-profit, Bulembu Ministries Swaziland, and restoration began in 2005 to make the town a home for some of Swaziland's 200,000 AIDS orphans, the place had gone from a thriving, pretty modern village, to a ghost town. The old cinema, hospital, the club house, the bank, the supermarket, etc., everything was left to decay until there was almost nothing
left.

Today, after six years of very hard work by resident volunteers, mission teams, investors, and hundreds of others, Bulembu houses 300 orphans and is a story of hope. The old buildings are being restored for use as children's homes, schools, businesses, and churches. They are building up the clinic, and will soon have an x-ray machine, and are in negotiations with a South African bank to install an ATM, at least. It is one of the few towns in AIDS-stricken Swaziland that built experienced financial growth last year, despite an HIV infection rate of 80% in its 1000 adults and 25% in its orphans. (It's an amazing story--Learn more at http://www.bulembu.org/). Swaziland has the world's highest HIV infection rate, at 26%, and the average life expectancy is 32. Thirty-two!! Can you imagine growing up in a society where the much of the population does not survive their late twenties, and your parents are frequently dead before you turn ten years old? Swaziland is known as the fatherless country. This is insanity, and is a threat to the existence of the entire nation.

Twelve young adults from Hatfield Christian Church, plus myself, left Friday morning for Swaziland. We drove for about five hours, powering up through the mountains, and passed an intense biker with a tent on the back of his bike. He actually made it to the border post while we were there, and it turns out that he was on day 9 of a trip from Johannesburg. We made it through the border without any problems, and just across the Swazi border line saw Bulembu. We had some cold quiche for dinner (couldn't find any working switches), and didn't shower, because the town water pumps were down. Saturday morning we got a very extensive tour of the town, played with some kids in the boys and girls toddlers' home (I was feeling under the weather, so I didn't play with the kids too much. Hence, no cute pictures of small children and me.) In the afternoon, we went up and played with some of the older kids in their houses, and in the evening met with some of the volunteers, which was great, and had gigantic milkshakes at the Bulembu lodge (22 South African Rand or Swazi Emalangeni for a large--that's about $2.70!). Sunday morning we went to church, helped out with Sunday School, had more milkshakes, and headed back through the border at about 1 p.m.. We arrived at Hatfield at 6:30 p.m., and went straight up to the evening service, because we're gluttons for punishment! The trip wasn't long enough for us to physically contribute much, obviously, but everyone who went was really moved by what they saw and inspired to be involved soon in the future. It was also neat to talk with and pray for the leaders and volunteers working in Bulembu--they pour out so much of themselves ministering in the hardest of circumstances that sometimes it's hard to remember that they need to be ministered to as well.

Anyway, it was a blessing to see how, against the odds, Bulembu is rising as an example of what can be done in Swaziland. Their ideas for raising orphans in groups of about six per house with a residential "Auntie" as a mother and authority figure are quite revolutionary, but it seems to be working very well. The education in Bulembu's schools is now some of the best in the nation. The children have a great joy, and the aunties' singing in the church on Sunday was incredible. Sixty children chose to be baptized in September. As the kids sang for us when we helped out in their Sunday School class, "He's got the children of Bulembu, in His hands, he's got the children of Bulembu, in His hands..."