The Last Two Clinics

Our third clinic was at a school named Vusweni. It was truly an incredible drive into the mountainous part of Swaziland, with incredible scenery everywhere. When we got to the clinic, we got to see the school kids sing a few songs for us. It's amazing how entire schools of kids in Swaziland can sing together in unison. Then it was off to giving medical care to the school kids. After seeing all of the kids and the adults, we got to give out two special things. First, throughout the day we got to give out some wonderful homemade baby blankets. We brought a duffle bag of blankets provided from a group of hospital volunteers in Nebraska, which fit perfectly in the more mountainous and cold part of the country. The other thing we got to give out is Bibles. One of the goals of the Luke Commission is to provide a Bible to every homestead in Swaziland. They grouped together the people into homesteads and whether they have a SiSwati (the Swazi language) or English Bible, and provide whatever they need. It was a blessing to provide the Word of God to the Swazi people.

The last clinic we did was at a school in Esulutane. This was back in the eastern part of Swaziland which is flat and more barren. It was a bit more developed than some of the other care points – it actually had a merry-go-round, something you seldom see in Swaziland. Our kids got to give the kids rides, usually with our kids in the middle pushing and about 25-30 students riding on the outside. We also got to give out pencils and jolly ranchers which we brought along with us. One of the most incredible things and two of the saddest things happened at this carepoint. The parents and the kids have the option of getting an HIV test before the doctors see them. One of the kids was tested who was 15 months old and was positive for HIV. That was just crushing – someone so young now essentially condemned to likely die before she became teenager. Second, we went to another home visit. This was at the home of a man who lived alone. His lungs didn't work very well because he had tuberculosis. One of the complications of his severe lung disease is that his liver had stopped working. In the US, he could potentially get all of this treated. In Swaziland, all we could do is give him some medicines to make him feel better for a while, but wouldn't ultimately get him well. Fortunately, the night ended with one of the biggest blessings in the trip. We had finished giving out Bibles to the people waiting when we heard a noise in one of the buildings. Some of the Swazis had started a spontaneous worship service on one of the buildings after getting God's Word. You could just feel God was in the room with them. It was such a beautiful moment.