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.

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.”

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.”

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.

In a country where the very fabric of society has been torn by a disease the beacons of hope appear few and far between. The disease has made a clear and brutal mark on this beautiful small country yet the hope is palpable here in Bulembu. The place has a feel, an expectancy about it..

After a long day of travel, setting up tents and just getting to know the place we have found a town, a people and ourselves in a position to do God’s will here and now. All of us are in a position to make a difference and we are now in a place where we can serve others.

“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting convenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in what you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom glory be forever and ever. Amen” – Hebrews 13:20-21

The feel of the group is, as with the town, one of expectancy and excitement. Swazi 1000 is about making a change and we are on our knees as we give these two weeks to this community. We are on our knees before God, hoping that the changes we make may reverberate into the lives of the people. We are on our knees before God knowing the challenges we face can only be dealt with through His power. We are on our knees as there is no other way in which we could make any difference without Him.