Swazi 1000

Soccer games in a thunderstorm … vice-grip hugs from small children … walking through the clouds on Emlembe … praying at 03:00am … there are so many Divine moments that make up an experience like Swazi 1000.

Our two precious weeks in Bulembu flew past in a whirlwind of activity, and the Swazi 1000 team look back on fourteen days of God-given grace.

“In retrospect, we’ve done more than anticipated,” said Swazi 1000 projects manager, Gerhard Viljoen. “We were less volunteers than last year, and our daily working hours were shorter, but the amount of work that has been done is phenomenal,” he added.

The following is a summary of what was completed in the natural, but this is just the tip of the iceberg compared to what the Lord did behind the scenes in the hearts of the Bulembu people and Swazi 1000 volunteers:

Dvudvusi Orphan homes: 20 orphans homes were partially renovated, and are now ready for finishing. This included breaking down internal walls and windows, taking down old asbestos roofs to be replaced with tin roofs, scraping walls and cleaning out years of debris and rubble, as well as plastering and painting. Extensive bush clearing was done around the houses as well.

Bush clearing: Extensive cleaning and clearing was done in the village. This included cutting down alien trees and weeds, clearing bushes, removing illegal rubbish dumps, as well as cleaning trenches and roads.

Creativity centre: The entire school prepared and decorated their own glasses for sandblasting, which they could keep as Christmas gifts. A new canteen was set up, and murals were painted across town for all of the Bulembu enterprises. Creativity workshops were also held with the ladies of the community, and the Swazi 1000 volunteers helped to complete the costumes for the Bulembu Christian School annual Christmas play, which we watched on Thursday 10 December in the old Bulembu cinema.

Grass Planting: The new dairy field has been “furnished” with new Kikuyu grass.

Museum: The packaging and export area at the entrance of the cableway is now clear, clean and painted. Tons of wood and mangled steel was removed, and the area was cleaned with a high-pressure washer. It’s now ready to be transformed into a museum area.
Clinic: The building was scraped and repainted. The outside was done from the floor up to the roof, including railings, gates and windows, and the corridors and ceilings were painted on the inside.

These physical projects were supplemented by daily ministry projects, including time spent with the children at the Community Care Centre every afternoon, and ministry that focused on supporting and treating the housemothers who look after the Bulembu orphans. There was also a group of volunteers who dedicated their time to serve the housemothers and vulnerable girls in the Jacaranda Home.

“The housemothers could not stop talking about Swazi 1000 and how it amazing it was,” said Heather Davies from Bulembu Ministries. “The women said that, from watching the Swazi 1000 team, they learned a lot about love, and about showing love to one another, and they learned that showing a joyful attitude with the children goes a long way,” she added.

“They could not believe the servant hearts. That love is something they want to show the children. They were all unanimously so grateful. You cannot believe the impact you have had here,” said Davies.

“As a team we are extremely blessed for what the Lord has done through each one of us,” said Adriaan Adams, Director of Focus Team Leadership Training. “Many lives have been touched, and therefore the decision was made to return once again to Bulembu in 2010.”

Swazi 1000 2009 came and went, but the love of God that we shared with one another will remain a banner over Bulembu forever. We are looking forward to see how the journey continues.

The more than 20 caregivers who look after the children in Bulembu’s orphan care program dedicate their lives to these vulnerable little ones. Each of these ladies takes on the role of mother for between 6 – 8 children, who live with her in a beautifully renovated three-bedroom house. The focus of the Swazi 1000 women’s ministry is to help carry the load of these ladies for two weeks.

In the mornings they had pampering sessions where the Swazi 1000 volunteers painted the ladies’ nails, made flapjacks for them, and held arts and crafts days where the ladies could make jewellery for themselves.

There were also give-aways of sponsored luxury beauty products, including Esteé Lauder body lotion, DKNY perfume and 80 bottles of Cutex.

In the afternoons the Swazi 1000 volunteers went to the orphanages to do all the chores that the caregivers would have done. They washed the children’s clothes, cleaned the houses, and helped out with general household tasks.

“It’s amazing to use the skills of my career as a make-up artist to serve ladies who really appreciate it,” said Natalie Roos, who headed up the women’s ministry project. “Some of these ladies don’t own any make-up, and their whole lives are dedicated to serve children that aren’t even theirs. It’s great to be able to do something to make them feel special.”

“We also prayed for them to realise the worth of their work, and that the Lord would show them their beauty as women,” she added.

Evidence of Bulembu’s unique history is being uncovered as teams clear out layers of rubble from the entrance of the old Havelock mine cable way.

The Swazi 1000 teams have literally removed tons of mangled steel and rotten wood from the area, and have blasted away years of grime with a high-pressure washer. The area used to be the powerhouse of the Havelock mine.

“It’s so strange to stand here and think that a few decades ago, this used to be the centre of activity in Bulembu,” said Riaan Nel, a Swazi 1000 volunteer. Now, the area is deserted, and until two weeks ago laid under heaps of mine rubble. The cable cars that used to transport asbestos from the mine to Barberton in South Africa, 20km away over mountainous terrain via the world’s longest cableway (outside Europe), are still swinging from a network of steel tracks, providing a glimpse of an era that has passed.

The space is being transformed into a museum where visitors to Bulembu will be able to learn more about the history of the ex-mining town. The seats and old-school movie projector from the old Bulembu cinema will also be moved to the museum. Other “treasures” include unique equipment that was discovered under the rubble in the old science labs, and original letters written during labour uprisings etc.

“This museum is really important for the people of Bulembu,” said Debbie Kruger, a Swazi 1000 volunteer from Rustenburg. “It’s a validation of their town’s history and existence, and will give such a testimony to what has been accomplished here over the past few years.”

At 1 863m above sea level, Emlembe is the highest peak in the Kingdom of Swaziland. On a misty Sunday morning at 05:00, over 200 Swazi 1000 volunteers retraced the steps of last years Guinness Book of World Record attempt to hike up the slopes of the highest peak in a country.

Once again, the mist lay thick on the mountains surrounding Bulembu, only occasionally pulling away like a stage curtain, revealing glimpses of the slopes and peaks that we were scaling.

Throughout the whole climb we were shielded from the scorching sun by a cool mist cloud. Once we reached the summit, the clouds lay below us, and it felt like we were literally on top of the world.

“It feels like you can see the whole world from up there,” said Swazi 100 volunteer, Sophia Wessels. “The awe-inspiring view makes you forget about your burning muscles and lungs!”.

We spent a few hours on the roof of Swaziland, reflecting on the week of work that lay behind us, and the remainder of our time in this breathtaking country.

“It was such a privilege to be so high up to be able to see the clouds from that angle, all thanks to God,” said Daniel Goosen, a Swazi 1000 volunteer from Potchefstroom.

Nathalie Barnard, a Swazi 1000 volunteer from Pretoria said that the experience of climbing the highest peak in Swaziland was for her symbolic of the whole outreach. “It’s sort of what we came here to do,” she said. “Scaling the high places and experiencing the victory of doing something profound.”

We added rocks and prayers to the altar that was built the year before, which still stands as a testimony of the prayers and prophesies that have been sent North, over Africa.

From scraping a wall of the soon-to-be-museum with a iron brush for four hours, to removing decomposing household refuse with your hands, to giving a small barefooted child a loving hug … The Swazi 1000 experience is made up of moments where small, positive changes are adding to a major shift in the re-weaving of the fabric of the Bulembu community.

Most of the changes are not visible on a grand scale at first.

As one walks down the hill from the tent camp there is a view of the village. From this perspective, there doesn’t seem to be much happening in the town slumbering in the blazing sun. As one comes closer you start to see dirty volunteers happily doing what is needed in whichever capacity they are functioning on the particular day. Scrubbing showers, playing soccer with the children, removing alien vegetation, breaking down walls after waking up to pray at 3am, sewing costumes for a school play, smearing peanut butter on 500 slices of bread … Just a bunch of God’s friends anonymously loving people that they haven’t met before in their lives.

We are almost at the phase of the Swazi 1000 process where the beautiful Biblical concept of perseverance is set before us as a choice, and the unseen actions that don’t seem to make a major impact initially are becoming the tests that challenge our motives.

There is however, such a sense of encouragement when one starts to notice the visible changes sprouting up. The information signs painted on the buildings, the Dvdvuzi building site that is slowly but surely transforming into a refuge for orphans, the dirt patches in the grazing fields of the dairy that are starting to turn green, a small girl feeling safe enough to make herself at home in your lap …

Transformation comes as we, through these seemingly insignificant actions, challenge our own selfish nature and a resulting culture of apathy. The unseen tasks snowball into moved mountains, and a generation is radically renewed by love.

“Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the perseverance of Christ.”
2 Thes. 3:5 (NIV)

Since a fat cow is a happy cow, and happy cows give creamy milk* the old Bulembu Golf Course has undergone a shift in purpose.

Last year the Swazi 1000 team helped with putting up the fence around the golf-course-turned-pasture, and this year the teams are making sure that the cows will be eating gourmet grass.

The process of grass planting pretty much entails planting grass. Grass is removed from around the soccer field at the bottom of the village, and then transported to the diary a few kilometres uphill. Teams dig holes, and replant the grass in-between other grass. Repeat process …

“We are actually planting a root, and not just something that will disappear,” said Lauren Morgan, Swazi 1000 volunteer from Stellenbosch. ”We work in partners so we get to really bond, getting exceptionally dirty from digging and planting in the mud. We made so many jokes, and it was so much fun. Probably my best day of work so far,” she added.

“We actually prayed for the grass,” said Domy Lin, Swazi 1000 volunteer from Johannesburg, studying at the University of Pretoria. “We prayed that that the cows would produce a lot of milk to feed all the orphans!”

The Bulembu dairy currently has about 30 cows that produce 250 litres of milk daily. The plan is to eventually have 200 cows, creating quite a significant dairy industry for the little border town.

*this is not a factual statement ☺

Bush clearing and rubbish removal around the houses and on the slopes of the village is probably one of the most challenging activities of the Swazi 1000 experience.

The goal is to clear the alien plants and illegal rubbish dumps so that a proper refuse removal infrastructure can be extended into the greater community.

The task entails sporting orange industrial-type gloves, taking up any form of shovel / pick-axe / panga – looking utensil, and then wreaking havoc on the overgrowth and alien plants that have taken over the slopes and yards of the houses in the village.

“This is one of the projects where what we do is visible to the community. They are watching us as we work,” said Anneke Barkhuizen, a student volunteer from the University of Pretoria. “Hopefully, what we are doing is an inspiration to them as well, and a visible expression of God’s love.”

The Swazi 1000 teams are working alongside the Bulembu Ministry teams, climbing into the alien overgrowth with chain saws and weed-eaters to uncover the layers of rubbish underneath that has heaped up over the years.

Enter litter elimination squad.

The “treasures” found in the backyards and between the houses includes everything from rotting shoes and decomposing household garbage to more unmentionable debris. Picking these gross remains up with your hands is possibly one of the best tests of the love we profess for this community.

As with most of the physical work done as part of the Swazi 1000 outreach, the significance seems to be more spiritual than visible.

“One could see that the area that we did the bush clearing in was utterly abandoned,” said Swazi 1000 volunteer Drickus Blom. “It felt like, as we were removing the trees that have even started to grow in the houses and the overgrowth around the structures, we were removing the sense of abandonment as well.”

Bulembu Christian Academy’s annual Christmas play is coming up, and the Swazi 1000 teams working alongside the ladies at the Creativity Centre have been sewing up a storm.

Ducks, giraffes, elephants, zebra, sheep, raindrops … all of these characters will be on stage for a special dress rehearsal performance next week for the Swazi 1000 volunteers in the old Bulembu cinema, that is being transformed into Noah’s ark.

Swazi 1000 volunteer Nicole Da Rocha said that this is the first time that she has used a sewing machine. “It’s actually quite ironic that one comes on an outreach like this, thinking that you are going to be able to teach the community something, but in the end we are actually learning new skills as we are helping them with making the costumes,” she said.

“If you think about it, the children that we are doing this for don’t have moms that can spend thousands of Rands on making them the best costumes for the play, and we can do something like this that can make the feel special” said Sophia Wessels, a Swazi 1000 volunteer from the Western Cape. “Apart from that, we have made amazing friends and spent quality time with the Bulembu ladies as we are working alongside them.”

Tarien Visagie, a Swazi 1000 volunteer from Potchefstroom said that the best part of the project was to be able to invest a talent into a community that really appreciates it. “One of the ladies from Bulembu actually started crying when she said how thankful they are for what we are doing for them,” said Visagie. “We are doing something so small, but it is amazing to see how much it actually means.”

Swinging pick-axes, shovelling dirt, debris and years of overgrowth with spades, unloading heavy wheelbarrows, in the blazing sun, with a view of the rolling green mountains and the village below … this is all part of a days work when you are tasked with bush clearing around the soon-to-be Dvudvusi children’ homes.

The teams have been busy on the houses for three days, and already all the bushes around the houses have been cleared, and most of the internal demolition has been completed. Some of the building and plastering has also started.

There are already twelve beautifully restored houses where orphans are currently living with their care givers, and the vision is to eventually have 60 renovated homes.

“We are actually ahead of schedule,” said Stan Rudman, project leader for the Dvudvusi project. The plan is to complete seven houses by the time Swazi 1000 leaves Bulembu. “We are clearing the overgrowth around the houses, breaking down internal walls and building new ones, taking off the old roofs and putting up new ones, putting in doors and windows, as well as plastering, painting and tiling,” said Rudman.

The therapeutic aspect of this backbreaking work is to see how quickly a house transforms from a dilapidated structure into something that will be able to provide a home for eight orphans and their housemothers when all the renovations have been completed.

“What’s cool about this project is that you can see the changes on a daily basis,” said Valerie Hoph, one of the Swazi 1000 volunteers. “It was so humbling to work alongside the Swazi’s who joined us in clearing the debris and rubbish around the houses,” she added.

When a piece of overgrowth comes loose, with root and all, there is a deep sense of satisfaction. As with our the issues of our hearts, the trick is to get the roots out.