Male Circumcision in Swaziland

Harry Vanderwal from The Luke Commission with Sipho (a translator) at one of their clinics.

           

This last week I (Amy) had the privledge of attending a training for counselors on Male Circumcision.  My first training Swazi style, including tea at 10:30, lunch at 1:00, tea again at four, and instead of mints to suck on during the training they give you cough drops. I went with the staff of The Luke Commission.  The Luke Commission is a ministry/organization started by Harry and Echo Vanderwal (he is a Doctor and she is a PA). Together with their Swazi staff and four boys they have day long clinics in rural areas.  What they do is truly amazing.  They see every person that comes to the clinic, no matter how late they come and all for free. Soon The Luke Commission will be having male circumcision procedures done at their clinics.

            Recent studies have shown that when a man is circumcised he reduces his risk of transmission of HIV/AIDS by 60%. This was found when researchers tried to figure why the percentage of AIDS is so high in eastern and southern Africa. As many of you know Swaziland is home to 70% of people infected with HIV/AIDS throughout the world.

            At one point Swaziland was performing circumcision, but the king banished the practice due to the recovery length taking to long.  Which in return affected his army.  This is the first year that newborns are now being circumcised.  Circumcision is starting to be offered to men for free by certain clinics.

            This is where the training of counselors comes into play.  Coaching a man into circumcision is not always an easy thing. Each patient goes through a group session and individual session with a counselor. In the training I attended we spend two days discussing fears, myths, and benefits patients might have. Training also included a full break down on the anatomy and we watched a circumcision being done (on video). Needless to say, I learned a lot! The cultural differences amazed me. As a counselor trained in America they felt the need to call on me to answer many of the questions. It was a time I will never forget.

Life is Swaziland...

A few photos of where we live...

The view from our flat

Our living area

Our kitchen

Our flat with our car parked in front.  We live on the top right. Notice the children below that start playing as early as 6:30 a.m. and stop playing around 8 p.m.  The complex is full of children. We play soccer with them, and they always win!

The Market in town.

The car having the oil changed and brakes worked on...they work in the ground!

Just a few things we are learning:

You buy milk warm and refrigerate after opening.

The avocados are the size of a small child’s head.

The day starts early, we had a knock on our door at 6:30…he was from the census.

We pay for parking at the grocery store.

People love sour milk!

The electricity will randomly go out, so we have candles and matches handy in every room.

We prepay for electricity and cell phone minutes.

Cabbage is the size of a baseball.

Figuring out conversions - cooking at 190 as opposed to 375 and driving at 120 feels a little funny.

Women bring blankets to church.

Women and men sit on opposite sides during church.

Swaziland Photos!

We just posted some Swaziland Photos. Check them out at:

www.flickr.com/photos/andrewtcurry

HIV/AIDS Task Force

In a home with the HIV/AIDS Task Force

In Kruger...there are hippo's and croc's behind us! We saw two lions too!!

Helping with Operation Christmas Child...

Some children at a local soup kitchen for orphaned and vulnerable children (Gi Gi's).

While in Swaziland we will be working closely with the HIV/AIDS Task Force. The task force is an organization that provides home health care for their individuals who are homebound due to their medical condition.

            Around eight years ago Cariot Shongwe had a vision for the people of his church. Due to the hospitals being full and people not being able to travel to the hospitals, he dreamed that individuals could take care of the sick in their communities. Two very special women Evelyn Shongwe (Cariot’s wife) and Mary Magaula (a retired nurse) responded.

            At first Mary and Evelyn would go out into the towns just the two of them. Many times they would sit in their car and cry because of what they had seen. They had no idea of the enormous needs surrounding them. Today the task force employs around 100 care supporters (They are paid R200 a month which is equivilant to $30). The care supports have patients that they check in with three times a week.

            This past week we went to give food and clothing to clients that were in the poorest conditions from our visit two weeks ago. We were able to provide food to five families and six boxes full of clothing to be distributed. The patients are so grateful and we are humbled as we pray over each client.

Now that we have a little more time to write, we want to share a little more detail what we have been doing.  Our first two weeks were spent with the two teams: Southern Nazarene University and Eastern Nazarene University.  Each were here to accomplish different tasks, but the same purpose of being the hands and feet of Christ to Swaziland. Each team had students who can change the world with their amazing gifts!

The ENC team were all students in a course (History of Medical Missions) led by Bill McCoy. They spent many hours organizing documents at the hospital.  They came across document rich with history. One paper they found had to do with Andy's sister Aly, from when they lived here, regarding her falling through a window and the amount each child owed that was involved! The SNU team was involved in painting a church and the nursing college. They also had many opportunities to share the love of God with children... and play a lot soccer! Both teams led youth services, helped run a youth sports day, sing in front of eager Swazi listeners, and many other things. Both teams truly grasped the meaning of their trip, and will be forever changed.

The last week we spent up north with a team of 30 from Lenexa Central Church.  The team was divided in many areas: construction, education, and women's ministy.  The construction team worked on laying brick for a nurse's house. The education team brought seven students from Mid America Nazarene University. Each student had the opportunity to teach at Endzingeni Primary School for a week.  Lastly, the women on the team met daily with the ladies from the town.  Each day there were crafts and relationships blossomed.  The time spent between the ladies encompassed a rich time where we all learned from one another. 

It is amazing the bonds you can create in three weeks.  Each team member touched our lives in different ways.  Especially  the current on-site coordinators Brent and Michaele Lavigne (the other couple in our picture). We have been following them around for three weeks, in awe of how good they are at what they have been doing! We are soaking up all the wisdom they are sharing with us. We have one week left with them.  It has been fun to be with them and we are sad to see them go. Please pray for them as they start a new chapter back in the states. Thanks Brent and Michaele...you mean so much to us!

FINALLY A TIME TO POST!!

There is a new phrase we have learned in our three weeks in Africa... "we were delayed."  Many things have caused us to be delayed in writing our first blog; from having no time, not being at our home and having poor connection.  We are grateful to have stumbled upon an internet cafe!
It is hard to believe that we left three weeks ago today.  The second we landed in Swaziland we dropped our bags off at our new flat and headed south to start painting a church. From that moment we have been working with three different teams.  A team from Southern Nazarene University, Eastern Nazarene University, and team from Lenexa Kansas.  We have visited ten schools, painted a church and college, spent days at clinics, helped build a nurses home, dug trenches for water wells, and started numerous new friendships...needless to say we have been busy! We are loving it! We head back to Manzini tomorrow (our new home).  There we will plan to write more and post pictures!