October 20 - Lydia Kelsey

Monday October 20, 2008
Lydia Kelsey

Lydia B. and I spent the first half of the day walking to The Mall (as it is called) through the city center searching for an Internet Café. As you all have seen, we found one! The walk through the city was so enlightening. Just crossing the street was a bit of a challenge since I always looked the wrong direction! Glenda from the HIV/AIDS office had a good laugh later when I told her I thought the people in the yellow vests on the street corners were traffic helpers – they really were just vendors for cell phone airtime! I wondered why they weren’t letting us know when to go!

After returning back at Thokoza Centre, we met up with Terry Shively, who had been meeting with the Swazi government about his dental credentials and Melody Rockwell who waited at Thokoza for us all to return. Glenda gave us a ride to meet up with the rest of the group, who was just finishing with their first CPU demonstration.

It was so great to get some time with Glenda just to talk. We noticed the overwhelming numbers of children and adults walking along the busy highway, so close to the oncoming traffic. Some would put up a thumb for a ride, but Glenda explained that you have to actually get a license or some type of insurance to take them, otherwise if you get in an accident you are held liable. The children, she said are especially a risk, since they act silly and jump around in the back seat, and if they were to be hurt in your car you would be in a lot of trouble with the law.

Melody asked about the large groups of children living in homes and Glenda said they were most likely orphans who were sent to live with other relatives. One of the biggest problems they experience is that when they are old enough to go back and claim their home in their village the chief has most likely given it away to someone else, even though it is rightfully theirs since it belonged to their parents. Melody mentioned she read a newspaper article about it and wondered if a law was being put into place to prevent this from happening, but Glenda said they always talk, but never act. The law most likely will not happen any time soon.

After the second CPU demonstration, children were returning home from school and were glad to see our group. We gave away stickers, bouncy balls, friendship bracelets from St. Paul’s Cathedral, and some candy and their eyes lit up.