Swaziland - by Charlene

Our family took a little Christmas holiday by going to the Kingdom of Swaziland for night this week. Yes, it really is a kingdom that is ruled by a king that the Swazi folks seem to be very proud of. The HIV/AIDs rate is the highest of anywhere in the world and hovers somewhere around 50%. There is much publicity around HIV prevention, abstinence and faithfulness in marriage but the king claims he is doing his part by remaining faithful to all 13 of his wives! The legalized polygamy can’t be helping the HIV rate.

We got to meet some fellow MCCers, Thembelihle Mavimbela (known in Canada as Julie Stauffer) and Hlobi Nxumalo (I can’t begin to describe how this name is pronounced except to say the “x” is a clicking sound). Hlobi and Julie are doing HIV/AIDS prevention work in school and the community at large. We enjoyed talking to them and we also had a chance to visit their homesteads. It was interesting to see how extended families all live together on the same property with lots of clusters of little buildings complete with a wood-fired stove and no running water.

We had a nice time seeing what we could of the beautiful green mountains – it was foggy and overcast and most of the mountaintops were in the clouds but it was beautiful just the same. We did some shopping as Swaziland is known for its beautifully crafted local products. Okay, maybe the shopping was a big drawing card for me and I was happy to use some Christmas money to buy a batik wall-hanging for our living room wall. We did some market shopping and Erin realized that if everyone is offered a “special price for you”, maybe the real prices aren’t so real to begin with – that’s my girl!

I’m sure we’ll be back again in the future with some of our visiting guests as the Swazi border is only about 2 hours away.

Happy New Year everyone!