It’s been a long time since I updated all the things that are going on with our charity Partners For Others and our sister charity Community Connections in Swaziland. Gleaners gave us 150 barrels of soup mix (12,000 1 kg or 2.2 lb bags) the largest shipment ever. The women in Swaziland are able to feed more than 180 kids out of 1 bag (about ¾ of a cup per child)

Some really great stuff is happening in Swaziland too, Mfana was working with some of the boys a month ago and a Member of Parliament drove in to talk to him about the project. He said he has been hearing about Community Connections and seeing Soup mix all around the country and thought he should stop by and see for himself what is going on.

Mfana told him everything we are trying to do and he was so impressed that he asked Mfana to come up and speak to all the members of Parliament and tell them about Community Connections and it goals. One of the things that impressed him the most was that Community Connections is a Swazi registered charity and run by Swazi people and not by a foreign group and that they get help from Canada but not controlled by Canada. Mfana went up and spoke to the MPs and they were so impressed that one of the MPs who operates a government organization called NERCHA (National Emergency response council on HIV/Aids) asked if they could work with us?

http://www.nercha.org.sz/

I spoke with Mfana and he explained to me what NERCHA is about, he said that they want to build 80 new homes for children headed households, were the children have no parents or relatives and the shacks they are living in are in a state of disrepair or have already fallen down. They also want to start a sewing program and a food processing program, like Jam making. They have identified 85 people around the country who are looking after more than 9 dependents without an income. They want to bring these individuals to a central place where they can learn the skills that will help them be more self sufficient and where they can earn some money at the same time. After 3 months of skill training the Government will also provide these people with a certificate which will help them get a job too.

Well after talking to Mfana we agreed that this is what we are already doing and it would be great to work with NERCHA and help them accomplish their like minded goals, so we told them ok, let’s do it.

Well less than a week later the Government trucks showed up with Cement, sand, rolls of fabric and 85 women, men and young people, ages from 18 to 65. Today they are making cement blocks, welding window frames together, cutting glass for the windows, making cement roofing tiles and they even sent down a government draftsman and the kids are learning to draw and design their own homes. They also have 60 women and girls sewing school uniforms and selling them and they started a Jam making project too, they are making close to 100 quarts of jam a day and they are sold out every day:)

It is so cool to see all of this happening, I am so happy to see that all they needed was a little encouragement and the tools to make it happen!

We still have a few more things to finish around the site in order to be fully functional and to make the Health officials happy. We need $10,000 to be able to put on the part of the roof that blew off and to install toilets, running water and electricity. They are temporarily using a generator I sent over for electricity.

The best thing Mfana told me was every Saturday they load up the trucks with clothes, soup mix, shoes and other items and all the people go out to a rural village and distribute to the needy, he said it’s the thing that is making them all the happiest, it’s healing their souls. It’s so amazing to see people that the government has identified as the poorest of the poor, the ones who are the most in need, going out and helping others and saying that this is the happiest thing they have ever done :) I think I know a little bit how they feel, because this is the happiest thing I have ever done too :)

We now have 3 containers loaded and ready to ship and 2 more in the warehouse ready to load. Mfana said they are going to be all out of the stuff soon, so I feel a real urgency to get this stuff shipped as soon as possible, we just need to find the money. The good news is, the price has dropped considerably from last year, it was costing about $8,000 per container and now it’s about $6,000 a container.

As I think of more I will continue to post.

Ray