Give me a little Dramamine (ok, more than a little), my favorite neck pillow, my trusty backpack and prayer support, and I am happy to travel. What a privilege to get to travel with Children’s Hope Chest (CHC) as the representative of the KnownToMe.net Community. Soon a team of travelers will meet in Atlanta to start our Swaziland Vision Trip. Prior to reading Red Letters: Living a Faith that Bleeds by Tom Davis a few years ago, I do not think I had ever heard much about the small, unique kingdom of Swaziland, and I was definitely unaware of the situation there. This is what Children’s Hope Chest has said about this trip: “Children’s HopeChest is leading a vision trip for pastors and community leaders to Swaziland, Africa. Our hope is to create a larger network of churches or businesses here in the US to invest into the lives of people in Swaziland. Never before has there been such a great need for the lives of children and families in Swaziland, Africa. HIV and AIDS are ravaging an entire generation leaving families devastated and children alone. Approximately 46% of Swaziland’s total population is infected with HIV.” I could share more overwhelming stats, but this is about more than numbers, it is about communities of individuals.
Trip Details:
We will fly into Johannesburg, South Africa. From Johannesburg, and drive several hours East to Mbane, Swaziland. This will be our home base as we take one and two day trips out to visit several locations. More Dramamine is in order here for bumpy road trips, I think. Our group from the US will be meeting up with a local pastor and others who live and work in Swaziland and with Children’s Hope Chest. We will see communities (also called care points) who are in need of investment, communities who are just beginning to grow and communities that are beginning to flourish. One of the communities is more of an inner city type location while the rest are more rural. One community that has yet to have much investment has a high percentage of child-led households. A child-led household in these living conditions brings pictures of fear, loneliness, hunger and desperation that is difficult to imagine if these were my children. In addition to these communities, we will also see a local farm that is established by Swazi people and outside investors to bring more hope and opportunity to the area.
Christmas is coming early to some communities in Swaziland this year! With the help of a couple working on the ground with some of the care points in Swaziland, we are going to have one or two Christmas parties for 250+ people! The group traveling on this vision trip will be carrying requested supplies in our checked luggage that are best purchased here in the US. In fact, I just received a fee waiver from Delta Airlines that allows me to bring four checked bags at 50 [lb] each to support our mission! The gifts requested by the people working on the ground in Swaziland are children’s t-shirts for ages 3-10, washcloths, soap and candy. All of these items have been ordered and are on their way to the carriers in the travel group! If you are interested in helping to provide this really big Christmas party, please let us know. Choose an email link to let us know what you would like to do:
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We purchased in bulk so even $10.00 covers a few t-sirts, plus lots of soap, washcloths and candy.
In the description of this trip by Children’s Hopechest above, the travel team is made up of pastors and community leaders. While I don’t claim to be a community leader rather a member and representative of an active community, this identifies our role in the Children’s Hopechest trip. As a representative of KTM’s community, we seek to find our connection with a community in Swaziland. CHC does not specify this for us, but exposes us to opportunities confident we will see and know where to connect by the leading of our hearts through God’s hand. KnownToMe is a community of currently 90+ members and readers. If you have logged in to this site and become a member, you are counted in this number. All of you/we/us are the members that bring KTM to life. It is exciting to see where our travels and relationships will transport us as we take action together. I look forward to finding our connect community in Swaziland, and introducing their stories and images to make them Known To Us.
