Mpaka, a Meeting and the glass factory

Sanibonani,

This is a midmorning update from the Water Group, taking advantage of an unexpected opportunity to jump on the web.

This morning, most of the team climbed into the vans and head to Fr Batha's homestead for a half day of brickmaking. We are willing shoveller's, cement mixers and form packers, but we don't have the talent of our Swazi lead man. Many of the blocks we make fall apart when the forms are lifted. No problem, just try again! Andy thinks we'll have it down soon, maybe next Tuesday, our last day.

Many members of the group have made friends with Swazis at Fr Batha's homestead. Fr Batha established St Augustine and the women at his homestead prepare the meals for the children at the school. The feeding program at St Augustine's has been reduced to three days and they have been serving only meali meal due to ever more limited resources. So the children were not at school yesterday, but will be there today. We hope to help with the feeding program even while we are here, if this is possible.

The water situation is also not good. With very limited rain water remaining in the barrel, they have to use water from a nearby pond for washing and preparing food. On Monday our group demonstrated the chlorinator. They are using it now at Fr Batha's homestead. This was an amazing experience that will require an entire post. I will collect pictures tongiht to illustrate the text. I'll post the whole story tomorrow.

The vans are driven each day by Ron and Father Charles, priest at St Lukes parish of 5 churches. Fr Charles is a most remarkable man, as those of you who have met him know. Soft-spoken, quick-witted and possessing excellent English, he gets one of us going in circles each day. Small price for his help negotiating the plan for the day, and our many bright ideas, i.e. changes in those plans. One of our group thanked him for his patience. His response, "I am African. In Africa you must be patient. Otherwise you would be frustrated most of the time." Yes. But how do you actually do that?

Our stay here has been anything but frustrating, because of our gracious hosts. Father Advent has been called to University two weeks earlier than he had planned, so Father Charles is in the driver's seat, literally. The accomodations at Thokosa Centre are good and the meals are wonderful. We have been asked if there is anything we would like to see and do in addition to what has been planned. There is so much in the plan, we haven't requested any additions. Each afternoon on the way back from Mpaka, we have a side trip to a market or other attraction. Today the group that went to Mpaka will come back early for a trip to a glass factory and rug factory north of Mbabane. Our hosts provide these ideas and we ride along enjoying the scenery and then the places we are taken. The air is SO CLEAN and REFRESHING and the sunsets so SPECTACULAR, they cannot be described.

OK, so what am I doing here in Mbabane when most of the team is making bricks in Mpaka? Bishop Mabuza arranged for us to meet with representatives of two Ministries - "Geology and Mining" and "Environment and Tourism". Today we met with the assistant director of the Division of Geology and Mining. I was able to ask him about the survey operations they perform, about their use of GIS, and whether they use college interns to do the work of digitizing existing data. Hayley, Carla and Meghan were there and Thdebekile, the director of the HIV/AIDS program, was our Swazi guide. (I apologize for what I am sure is not the correct spelling of her name.) We were graciously received and got much information we could not have learned elsewhere. We also purchased a set of very fine maps. One thing we learned is that this division drills boreholes upon application and could perform that service at St Augustine's. There is a very long list of applicants and only two field teams. However access to ground water at St Augustine's, at some point, will not be a problem.

I must run now -- down the road, across the river and up the facing hill -- to lunch at Thokosa Centre.

Thank you to all the prayer partners, relatives, friends . . . who are supporting us. You are mentioned often at the table at the end of the day. We are, each and all, being nourished by the experience of this mission. This thought has been expressed by each member of the team. For me, the image is of working hard each day, but finding at the end, cool refreshing water drawn from a very deep well.

I stand in awe of our Anglican companions.

Paula