Two Weeks in Swaziland – A One Year Journey

I am Jim Jang and I am one of the 9 members of Men's Swaziland Mission 2010. For me this journey coincidentally began almost exactly one year ago. It was at the 2009 Willow Creek Leadership Summit held in August of last year. Many speakers at the conference of talked about how they provide various types of aid to people around the world who need assistance. Some talked about aid directly to the affected people such as well known performer Bono's “DATA” and “One Campaign” to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Others presented assistance to people indirectly through such mechanisms as small loans to entrepreneurs to help start a business (KIVA.org) and companies such as “Good African Coffee” which brings quality African coffee to the global market with a percentage of the profits going to the African coffee growers. These two views created such a controversy that there was a pause in the program to reconcile these two conflicting approaches. Bill Hybels, founder and Senior Pastor of Willow Creek Community Church and host of this conference, concluded that there is a time to contribute directly to helping people and there is a time to teach them to be self sufficient. In other words, there is a time to give people fish and there is an appropriate time to teach them to fish. The first part – “giving people fish” – is appropriate when people's lives are threatened. They generally are going to die, unless direct aid is provided. In general, they are lacking the basic necessities of food and/or shelter and/or health. The other approach – “teaching them to fish” – is appropriate when their basic needs of food, shelter, and health are taken care of, but the need is to become self-sufficient.

I look back now and now see what that those thoughts meant. God must have planted those thoughts and now I have seen what it really means. Pastor Solomon's school is providing an education and some life skills. The kids do their own laundry using buckets and either the concrete wall or the barbwire fence as a close line. For some of the kids, the clothes and uniform are quite worn, torn and/or mended. At least they have running water and lights even though the amount of available electricity is quite limited. The dorm rooms do not have any electrical outlets. The only electricity is used for lighting in the rooms and outside near the walkways. Such conditions in our world would be most likely called unacceptable, but for these kids, it is much better place than most people have in the area. The children in general are quite happy. They greeted us with open arms, warm smiles, and appreciative hearts. The teachers and staff were appreciative also. They all made us feel like honored guests. I feel that this honor was not earned by the 9 of us, but is due to the generous support by the entire CBC congregation. A big thank you for everything that you, the congregation, have done and will do in the future.

We also completed a number of home visits of members of Pastor Chomba's church. These people have desperate needs. The homes we visited are made of tree sticks and rock covered in mud. When it rains, the mud gets washed away and they must re-mud their walls. Water is hand carried in buckets from a water pipe hundreds of yards or more away from home. Food is sometimes corn meal which is harvested, kernels removed by hand and then ground into corn meal. For many, this was their basic food. On these visits, we gave these families such basic food items such as beans, rice, flour, and cooking oil. Pastor Chomba said that such staples are a bare necessity to survive.

We were also able to attend Pastor Chomba's Saturday “Soup Kitchen” for the neighborhood kids who live near his church. On most Saturdays, he feeds up to 300 children with a nutritious hot lunch. Pastor Chomba said that many will walk miles to attend and that this meal may be the most nutritious meal they will receive during the week. After the lunch, we gave the children the dental kits which included a tooth brush, tooth paste, and dental floss. Jack gave instructions on using the dental floss.

Some of the stories came more accidentally. One of these was about Sifisa. His name means “wish” and he was the chef at the Emafini Christian Conference Centre – a Christian based hotel that we stayed for 4 nights. He did not know his father and has only a 5 th grade education. He accepted Jesus in 1993. His mother passed away in 2003. He was married but his wife and unborn child both died before giving birth. He started working at Emafini 10 years ago and was offered the chef's job after working various maintenance jobs for about 2 years. The owner taught him almost everything about the kitchen. He would always greet us in the morning with a smile, a happy disposition and have breakfast set up for us and the other guests. You could also hear him singing along with the Christian songs played over the speakers in the dining area. Despite all the sad events in his life, he has stayed loyal and faithful to God. He has a lot more faith than I do.

For me, even though the mission trip has ended, I feel that this journey will continue. I don't know where it will take me, but I will just trust that God knows and will let me know the time is right.