It's a Wrap
Obviously, we are back! The Iowa Eleven arrived on U.S. soil Tuesday afternoon and are all busy readjusting to American culture. You'll probably be hearing reflections from the others soon. For now, I'll just do a quick wrap-up of our final few days in Swaziland.
On Saturday morning at the cathedral in Mbabane, we attended the ordination of six new priests, two of whom were the first women to be ordained to the priesthood in Swaziland. Barbara Schlachter preached a rousing sermon on the roles of women in the church and in society, with some history of the struggle for women's ordination in the United States. She shared tales of the attitudes and obstacles she and other women faced, and exhorted men to support these new women priests as they face similar challenges in Swaziland. As she stressed that women and men are equally valuable, female voices rang out across the church in "amens" and other shouts and murmurs of affirmation, praise, and thanksgiving. It was apparent that the women present felt empowered by both the event and by Barbara's words. It was an historic day in Swaziland, and both women and men were still commenting on it in the days that followed.
On Sunday, our group split up and went our separate ways to visit various churches across the diocese. I was fortunate to be able to visit the chaplaincy at the University of Swaziland and had an enlightening conversation with one of the professors afterward about the political situation in the country. As you may know, Swaziland's government is the last absolute monarchy in Africa, and a rule-of-law crisis has been ongoing there for quite a while. A new constitution has been drafted, and professors at the university reviewed it and wrote papers in hope of holding a conference to debate the document. Of course, the government axed that idea and, from what I hear, any other attempts at group debate on the new constitution. Whatever complaints we may have here in the United States about academic freedom, and about freedoms of speech and assocation, things are far worse in Swaziland.
Sunday evening brought a farewell dinner at the Thakoza Center, the Anglican retreat center where we were staying. Thanksgivings, reflections, and good-byes were said, gifts and addresses exchanged, but we still had another day of learning ahead of us. On Monday, we met with Revd. Bheki Magongo and Glenda Mbambo, who run the Anglican Church's AIDS education program. Their presention was quite impressive, so much so that a description of their work deserves its own post. Tomorrow I will write more details here on what we learned.
A large group saw us off at the Manzini airport on Monday afternoon, and even though the airport security guard threw us out of the lobby because of our singing (the first Swazi to say a cross word to us!), we still managed to share heartfelt good-byes with all. After parting and waiting near our gate for at least half an hour, we were touched to notice upon boarding the plane that our Swazi friends were still watching for our take-off. In my heart I am still waving good-bye.
Our trip may be over, but this blog will continue on. Stay tuned for more thoughts and reflections, and for our ideas for moving forward to strengthen the companionship between Iowa and Swaziland. Your ideas are welcome, too. Just click the "comments" button below, or email us at our new email address: iowacompanions@yahoo.com.
Peace,
Karen
On Saturday morning at the cathedral in Mbabane, we attended the ordination of six new priests, two of whom were the first women to be ordained to the priesthood in Swaziland. Barbara Schlachter preached a rousing sermon on the roles of women in the church and in society, with some history of the struggle for women's ordination in the United States. She shared tales of the attitudes and obstacles she and other women faced, and exhorted men to support these new women priests as they face similar challenges in Swaziland. As she stressed that women and men are equally valuable, female voices rang out across the church in "amens" and other shouts and murmurs of affirmation, praise, and thanksgiving. It was apparent that the women present felt empowered by both the event and by Barbara's words. It was an historic day in Swaziland, and both women and men were still commenting on it in the days that followed.
On Sunday, our group split up and went our separate ways to visit various churches across the diocese. I was fortunate to be able to visit the chaplaincy at the University of Swaziland and had an enlightening conversation with one of the professors afterward about the political situation in the country. As you may know, Swaziland's government is the last absolute monarchy in Africa, and a rule-of-law crisis has been ongoing there for quite a while. A new constitution has been drafted, and professors at the university reviewed it and wrote papers in hope of holding a conference to debate the document. Of course, the government axed that idea and, from what I hear, any other attempts at group debate on the new constitution. Whatever complaints we may have here in the United States about academic freedom, and about freedoms of speech and assocation, things are far worse in Swaziland.
Sunday evening brought a farewell dinner at the Thakoza Center, the Anglican retreat center where we were staying. Thanksgivings, reflections, and good-byes were said, gifts and addresses exchanged, but we still had another day of learning ahead of us. On Monday, we met with Revd. Bheki Magongo and Glenda Mbambo, who run the Anglican Church's AIDS education program. Their presention was quite impressive, so much so that a description of their work deserves its own post. Tomorrow I will write more details here on what we learned.
A large group saw us off at the Manzini airport on Monday afternoon, and even though the airport security guard threw us out of the lobby because of our singing (the first Swazi to say a cross word to us!), we still managed to share heartfelt good-byes with all. After parting and waiting near our gate for at least half an hour, we were touched to notice upon boarding the plane that our Swazi friends were still watching for our take-off. In my heart I am still waving good-bye.
Our trip may be over, but this blog will continue on. Stay tuned for more thoughts and reflections, and for our ideas for moving forward to strengthen the companionship between Iowa and Swaziland. Your ideas are welcome, too. Just click the "comments" button below, or email us at our new email address: iowacompanions@yahoo.com.
Peace,
Karen
posted by Mission Team ~ Iowa at
9:22 PM
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