A Warm Welcome in Cool Northern Highlands by Melody Rockwell

Swaziland Safe Water Project -- sponsored by substantial grants from the Episcopal Church United Thank Offering Gift and Trust Fund and the Episcopal Waters of Hope with generous gifts from the Iowa Safe Water International Ministries and the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa, parishes and individuals...

The Swaziland Safe Water Ministry team drank in splendid sun-drenched views of mountains and deep, deep valleys as we sped north from Mababane on the first day of October, 2009. We sped, that is, until we reached the turnoff to Ekufikeni where the road narrowed and twisted up, down and around... and experienced mighty slow and careful maneuvering with the van jouncing even under Thando Mnisi's skillful handling of potholes, rocks, washes and other road hazards. (Yes! Thando was home from the university he attends in South Africa and volunteered to drive three days last week. What a joy it was for us to reunite with him for a a few days before he headed back to school and exams.)



We arrived around 10:30 a.m. at a simple homestead where a woman was sweeping the yard in preparation for our coming with a long, thin freshly-cut tree limb with green-leaved branches on the sweeping end, and then finishing the tidying with a swatch of thatching grass. Two women man-handled a large iron kettle of soaking beans, draining it, then lugging it to an open air 'cook shack' to place alongside an iron kettle of rice on a blazing campfire. They were cooking a meal for the Neighborhood Care Point (NCP) children [orphans and other vulnerable children], who would be eating there in the afternoon.


Huge cabbages had been harvested from a fenced-in garden and were piled on dirt floor of the room in the small house located closest to the kitchen. A group of men were in a nearby field cutting roof thatching grass with machetes. We were warmly welcomed by the two women and a man whom Father Joel Dlamini introduced. No one seemed in a hurry to assemble for the chlorinator demonstration, so as we waited, the team did an assessment of the water sources and availability in the area.


Across the valley, I could see women in twos and threes bedecked in colorful dresses, shawls and scarves appearing to float toward the hilltop homestead as they walked through tall grass to where we waited. One woman came with a babe swaddled on her back and trailed by two children carrying large woven baskets made for roosting chickens. The baskets were almost as large as the children! Men began to leave the field and a few arrived in pickups. Each person called out a friendly Siswati greeting or an English phrase of welcome as they neared us. Many shook our hands in the respectful Swazi way. The prince of the region arrived, walking with long-legged strides into the compound, his traditional Swazi dress flowing, his fur loin cloth and the red feather in his hair marking his high rank. Immediately after the prince was seated, the people gathered in a circle -- most of the men in chairs or on log benches on one side and the women and children on shawls or woven mats on the ground completing the circle.

Over 40 people gathered for the demonstration; nearly one-third of them were men. Trainees Dumsane and Mthunsi had been wary about how the demonstration would go, because there were so many men. "African men push against new things," Mthunsi said. A chlorinator previously given to this community had been fetched from a nearby homestead. It had been kept in good condition and looked as though it had never been used.

When asked about their water sources, the people told the team members that they had spring water from the mountain, but it flowed into the open and was exposed to contamination by grazing animals. [A sample of this community's water tested positive for coliform, a bacteria that can cause diarrhea and other ailments.] The women related that the children in this clan have terrible problems with diarrhea, and that they were were aware of use of bleach to make water safe to drink, but it was not affordable.

The demonstration was very successful with the people especially impressed that the team used the community's water; that we didn't bring our own water. They recognized that ordinary table salt had been used, but asked that they use their 'own salt' for the next demonstration. Two men leaped to their feet to be the first from their community to try making chlorine and showed that it was just as effective a process using their own water and! their own salt. Next two women tried it using their own previously unused chlorinator with their own water and salt. Excellent results! Huge smiles! The prince expressed appreciation for the demonstration being conducted in this manner. The people expressed a desire to make chlorine so that they could have treated water 'like people in town.' As a group, they decided that they would like to have the chlorine made at the care point and then distributed to each household to chlorinate their own water.

Gracious speeches of thanks were given from both sides. Then the women, who had been preparing food for the children, brought big metal bowls filled with steaming rice and beans and flavored with two large onions pulled that morning from the garden and placed one in the hands of each of the visiting team members, our driver, Thando and Father Joel. It was a difficult, honoring, yet humbling moment to be given so much food when there were so many, including children, right there in the circle around us who were hungry. What a huge gift we were given! I ate a couple of spoonfuls and then noticed a little boy standing near his seated mother. He was looking at us with dismay; his face telegraphing hurt at these strangers being given food. For him as well as for me, it did not compute! I motioned to him to come over. He smiled and dodged behind his mother, then peeked out at me. We played the motioning and peeking and smiling game for a couple of moments, and then I walked over and knelt down beside him to give him the bowl of food. His mother received it with thanks and I was treated to radiant smiles from both mother and son, and the women who had prepared the food. Take a picture of the food we prepare for our children, they asked. Other members of our team began to share their food as well... a time of grace and joy.