Swaziland, My Second Home.

As I arrived in Swaziland I felt as if I had never left, despite the fact that is has been over a year since I was last here. I got met at the airport to get my hire car, I was welcomed like a  long lost friend at Mlilwane and was constantly asked where I had been and why it had taken me so long to come back. Everyone is so friendly here and they have an amazing memory for faces. The man at the petrol station even seemed to know me, although this is highly unlikely as it was a new garage, but that is the nature of Swaziland.

I have arrived a week before an expedition of 19 motivated girls from a school in Oxfordshire. Although I have organised most things, there are always things to finalise, check up on and change, so I was really ensuring that all is ready for the girls arrival, which is tomorrow.

The first thing was to check out the project. I met up with La'Salette, my contact for the project, down in the lowveld of Swaziland, in a community called Mayenjane. This is near the Siteki turn off, set away from the main road. La'Salette works with communities identifying areas that need help with AIDS orphans and vulnerable children and she assists with feeding needy children, educating them and also identifying other development projects that are required.

I met La'Salette at the Mayenjane NCP - not a car park as I initially thought when I first came to Swaziland but a National Care Point where children are fed during the week. She had funded this building and there were about 100 children lined up for lunch. They were all very shy yet smiley with it.

La'Salette has big plans. She has been given a substantial amount of land by the community and wants to develop it for orphan homes, mini retirement homes and also a skills centre for women. And that is where this expedition comes in.

The girls have raised enough money to fund the skills centre and we are going to build it in 9 days, from foundations to roof. Despite the fact that we have not started, there are already people lined up for the opening ceremony including Bongani Dlamini from the Swaziland Tourism Authority. Bongani has given the project some press coverage as I heard the project mentioned on the radio last week, so we have a lot to live up to!

I am back to the project site this afternoon, to chat further with Sandile, our local builder, and to meet local community elders. What we are doing is new to this community, they have never had foreigners come and physically build alongside them, especially a group of teenage girls! It's pioneering stuff.

I am so looking forward to showing Swaziland to the girls, wishing them all a safe flight today and cannot wait to see them tomorrow.

Salinekahle - stay well.