Settling In

 

We have arrived in Swaziland and we are settling into our new home in Nsoko! We have actually been in country since April 21, but spent the better part of a week in the city of Manzini shopping and purchasing furnishings and household items. It wouldn’t have taken that long, except the few days prior to Easter are considered holiday in Swaziland and many of the shops were closed. Most of the Swazi churches have three or four day Easter revivals, often camping out together the entire time. Swazis call it “the Easters”.  Kind of awesome when you think about it. What better time to be together as believers then to remember the death of our Savior and celebrate His resurrection in such a significant way?

Anyway, we are in our house and are so grateful for such a comfortable place to live located in a truly idyllic setting! Will try to post some pictures soon, but uploading photos takes such a long time and I really wanted to get this blog posted today! We are set very remotely in a group of three other houses. Our house is on the middle of a large lot and has an amazing yard. Honestly, I sit outside on the porch and I imagine it must be similar to the Garden of Eden! Countless varieties of birds, butterflies, frogs, lizards and several other creepy crawlies! Earlier, my heart skipped a beat when out beyond the bushes I saw a distinct movement of something large and light brown! A lion? Why not, we are living in the bush, right? WRONG! Just the neighbor’s dog. Well, I guess we are not that far into the bush, after all!  Hundreds of trees, flowering shrubs, grasses and plants surround us. We have mango, guava, and avocado growing in the yard, and that is only what we’ve been able to identify! I’ve been told there are lemon and lime trees, as well. We just missed summer, so we have next spring to look forward to watching the beauty of this place really come to life! Honestly, though, I can’t imagine it being much more stunning then it already is! This will be a true sanctuary for us to return to at the end of each day. A place to refresh and recharge in order to do the work God has called us here to do. Thank you, Lord!

 

Setting up a home from scratch in Swaziland is no easy task! We needed everything from teaspoons to mattresses!  Thankfully, I had the assistance of a couple of women who had to do the same thing just a few months ago. They knew right where to go to find the various items we needed.  There are a few things we didn’t anticipate. For instance, when we arrived to the house last Thursday afternoon there was no refrigerator. When Eric had been here last month, he had been told by the previous renter that he would be leaving a refrigerator with the house. After asking around to various people, it became clear that we would have to purchase one. We went to the small shopping center called Matata which is located about 30 minutes up the road. There is a small appliance store there. Of course, none of the brands were familiar to us. Typically before making such a large purchase, Eric would have done research and comparison online. However, this isn’t your typical situation. We noticed a few pictures and advertisements in the shop window, offering “great buys” on a few models. The price seemed good. We inquired. “Those are not available” the sales clerk told us, “those posters are just for decoration.” Ahhh, of course. The refrigerator that seemed to be the best value was only available in the display model. We tried to get a percentage taken off the price for purchasing the display model. After much haggling, we realized clerk was not going to budge on the price probably because he realized that we had to buy a refrigerator! He assured me: “Madam, we will put it right back into the box, good as new!” After “sealing the deal” (as he put it) two men helped hoist the appliance up into the small trailer we had borrowed. The “good as new” box was simply the original cardboard box it had come in from the manufacturer, placed back over the refrigerator! A seemingly too thin rope appeared to secure it upright for the bumpy drive home. Each pot hole, bump and speed hump seemed gigantic as we slowly but surely made our way back to the house going about 30 miles per hour! Thankfully, it survived the drive and is currently keeping our food fresh and cold!

Another bit of excitement surrounded a very old looking washing machine that was left on an outdoor porch. Eric decided that he would try to get it working before we purchased a new one. Imagine his surprise when he lifted off the top of the machine and found a shed snake skin coiled up inside! At first, of course, he thought the snake was still attached! Judging from the size and appearance of the shriveled, discarded skin we think it was an approximately 6 or 7 foot python that had been hiding out in there! As our Swazi friends say: “EISH!” Needless to say, Eric thoroughly examined and re-examined the machine before proceeding to work on it. Thankfully, there were no more surprises inside and after an extreme cleaning up makeover and a couple of new hoses and attachments, the washing machine is working great! As you can imagine, I am thrilled not to have to hand wash our laundry! As for drying the laundry…good old sunshine and African breezes seem to do the trick!