Swaziland – Switzerland of Africa

Looking at the view from our hotel room window it is easy to see why Swaziland has this name.  A small land-locked nation is nestled in between SA and Mozambique, Swaziland has been completely independent and ruled by a King since 1968.  Crossing in and out of the country was the only time I’ve had to walk across a border.  No pix of course.  The last place I want incur any angst is at a border crossing.

Swaziland is a generally poor and rural country with many orphaned children.  

Even in the capital city of Mbabane it is easy to see this country of haves and have-nots.  Our “learning and discovery” trips brought us to a glass blowing factory and a candle making shop each accompanied by the requisite ‘hand crafts.  I’m happy to report that we did our part in supporting the local economy.’

Grand Circle Travel Foundation has a policy of supporting local organizations and I have visited 2 in both China and New Zealand but neither of these experience prepared us for this experience.  Fonteyn PreSchool is so much more.  Set in a rural area just on the outskirts of the capitol, this facility is more of a community center filling in for absent families.  Many of the children may have lost one or both parents or have parents very ill…AIDS… and unable to care for them.  Never the less, the children remain in their home, frequently looked after by older siblings or extended families.  Care is haphazard and many of the children are starved for affection as well of food. 

The school grounds that usually house 30-40 preschooler was teeming with over 200 kids from babies in the arms of older siblings to the preteens… they kept coming.  The children were overwhelming friendly, grabbing hands and some wanting to be picked up.  It took a full 15 minutes to disembark as the crowd just didn’t move.   The children .however, were very well behaved and responded quickly when instructions were given.  Touring the facility took no time at all because there was little more than a single 14x14 room, painted by a previous GCT tour that housed many second-hand books and a TV.  No TV signal but plenty of educational DVDs. 

In the schoolyard, the children sand several songs, including the Swazi national anthem and danced to drumming by one of the older boys. We returned the favor by singing the Star Spangled Bannerand did surprisingly well.  Many of us pondered whether the next generation of Americans will be able to do this.

After the singing GCT travelers went off to the kitchen to cut fruit, which we had stopped at a local street market to buy along with other staples like potatoes and onions.  These children do not get fruit often and may live on rice and pop (corn).  I even saw one child peeling bananas for others at they had no idea what they were and were trying to eat it out of the peel.  The GCT visitors were very generous filling their larder with fruit to last them several days.

As we prepared for dishing out food the children ‘queued’ for hand washing, plate and spoon distribution and then into the food line…a spoonful of rice and a thickish brown mixture of beans, corn and onions.  No one complained and everyone finished their bowl before they lined up for fruit… ½ banana, ½ orange and ½ pear.  And yes seconds were available for those that requested them.

We left the school saddened by what we saw but also happy that we were able to bring some treat to these children.  GCT has only been supporting this organization for 18 months b8t we were told that tremendous improvement has been made in that short time.  There are now chairs in the classroom, picnic tables for eating and an enclosed, under roof kitchen with hot water for cooking and cleaning.  We were told that the general health of the children has also improved though some were still very small and underweight.  Their clothing for the most part was a cacophony of color from cartoon character t-shirts to seersucker jackets.  Some of the children had just received clothes this week from a local charity. The children did not look the least bit phased to be wearing sweaters with holes, sweat pants and PJ bottoms held up with pins ar shoes that were sizes too large if they even matched.