Today I fly back out to Swaziland after being away in my home country of England for nearly 3 months. I am entering a new season and would like to share my journey weekly for a year. My own children have left, some married, some finding independence in different countries. I return to my husband, we've been married for nearly 30 years, In Bulembu he runs the school, it has been a really busy time for him, the NGO we work for are bringing in children from all over Swaziland and it is his job to fit them into the education system we have in place. It is 'accelerated christian education' (ACE) and the children that come in are from many different educational backgrounds so this kind of education suits them very well. However, the biggest job is to teach them English as they are unable to be part of ACE unless they know the English language well.
I have a different role in Bulembu. I have been involved in the clinic, trying to liaise with the nursing staff who are working there, working along side the doctor who comes in once a month to treat the children with HIV, we check them out and give them monthly ARV's, check they are taking their medicines correctly, draw blood for CD4 counts and other hiv related blood tests.
I am in Bulembu to make a difference, I want to make a difference and pray that as I support my husband and work amongst those adults and children who suffer from HIV and Aids I will make a difference. I want more people to know about Bulembu the place where the swazi community are part of, living and working there, In Swaziland the tradition is for the man to have as many wives and partners as he wants - he can sleep with young girls, old women, anyone and no one will say a word about it because that's the tradition. this is spreading HIV quickly. Many people, especially between the ages of 18 and 36 are dying and many children are affected as well because their mothers don't take enough care of themselves during pregnancy and pass it on to their babies during labour. Children are also getting HIV by being sexually abused. These are the facts and this is where my husband and I work. We want to make a difference to this nation.
Anyway that's my introduction just to give you an idea of what we are doing. Let's see what the week will bring, internet connection is not always brilliant in Bulembu because of the position in the mountains and the weather conditions, so doing a weekly blog will be more realistic than a daily one.
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