Well Stef and I officially made it to Swaziland. We left Tenwek on Thursday after a 2 hour delay and had to say our good byes to everyone. We really had so much fun there and developed such incredible relationships. I will never forget it. Little shout out to Caroline and Cindy! Truly some awesome Kenyans!
Thursday night, Christina, Stef and I stayed at a hotel in Nairobi so that we could leave for an early flight. Let's just say we made me awesome memories our last night in Kenya. We wrote our own lyrics to the Lion King's Circle of Life and choreographed a music video. It's pretty talented haha.
We arrived in Swaziland in early afternoon on Friday. We were able to go to the airport to pick up another classmate, Lauren, who would be joining us for the next month. It was nice to see a familiar face.
I have to say that Swaziland is waaaaaay different than Kenya or even Zambia where I have visited in the past. I know that part of the difference is that we are in a larger city, compared to a rural setting, but where we are, Swaziland is very westernized. We are about a 5 minute walk from a mall that looks like it could be right down the street in the USA. We went grocery shopping at the Pick n Pay which looked just like a Kroger Marketplace. It is definitely a way different experience than Kenya.
On Saturday, Zakhele (our new best friend who works in statistics at the hospital) showed us around. He took us out to an area called Swazi Candles that had a bunch of shopping a literally amazing candles. It was way different than I expected and hard to explain, but super awesome. We took a Kombi which is like a big van taxi that you just wave down and jump in with a bunch of people to get you places. Public transportation is the way to get around Swaziland.
Today was literally incredible. Zakhele took us to a church within walking distance. The church was super beautiful and so nice. Every was dressed to their best. Literally it was like a fashion show. I felt very underdressed in my long missionary skirt and my hair in a braid. The service was like a gospel concert. The singers were incredible and everyone was dancing like it was prom night. We had an awesome time worshipping God and seeing a totally different class of Africa.
After the church service, we grabbed another Kombi and Zakhele took us to a hotel where the manager let us lay out and swim even though we werent staying there. It was so nice to relax and get some sun. Overall it was an incredible day.
So Swaziland is going to be a completely different experience so keep checking in. The hospital we are staying at (literally sleeping on the second floor of the hospital) was originally a Nazarene mission hospital, but has essentially but given back to the governement to run. There are no missionaries here and we are basically the only white people other than 2 Finnish nursing students who are awesome! They share a kitchen with us and it's awesome getting to know them and their culture. We will be basically working with only Swazi's so it will be awesome to really get to know the culture. Swaziland also has one of the highest rates of HIV in all of Africa. In the hospital, over half of the patients are HIV positive so I will get a lot of experience working with my favorite population!
Stay tuned for more!
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