SWAZILAND

19 JUNE – 21 JUNE 2011

SWAZILAND – Country number 16 – SWAZILAND

Travelling from Maputo, Mozambique to Swaziland I soon discover I’m on the ‘denim express’ – because a group with us are importing (?) denim jeans from Mozambique. This means that we are held up at the Swazi border while Customs count all 400 pairs of jeans so the importers pay the correct tax on them. This holds us up for an hour and a half at the border and again at another customs check in Swazi but in deference the views throughout the sunset over those lovely southern Swazi hills are magnificent. 

Arriving after dark in Manzini I get directed to a mini bus with instructions to “go there straight away”. Repeating my destination, Ezulwini using my best Swazi accent, I find the correct minivan and fortuitously get dropped directly out front of the Lidwala Backpacker Lodge. Their tented dorm accommodation is very comfy and after a week at Tofo on a sleeping mat, the bed is extra comfy! Gorgeous big garden, kitchen is great, the lounge has cable TV and I meet Donna from Adelaide and Shaun from Geelong who have joined folk from many first world countries to volunteer with All Out Africa. Their 6 weeks includes a week in Kruger and a week at Tofo so a whole month is devoted to contributing positively to communities here cause that’s what they paid huge sums of money for! But I’m enjoying their backpackers anyway with good, varied company! On my second night there we celebrate Babette’s 19^th birthday with cake, drinking games and copious shots; all good fun with lots of laughs. Ezulwini is a very pretty valley in Swazi with a nearby shopping centre that includes cinemas and a KFC -all a young volunteer needs really! lolThere are also many crafts being sold nearby at many places but they are all identical, not so attractive and I soon find beaded ‘things’ very mundane which was not good news for the souvenir sellers!

To track down the Girl Guides here, I had previously emailed Swazi Guides but no reply so on arrival here I scoured the local telephone book to find Boy Scouts but no Girl Guides, so I tried the Boy Scouts who give me a contact, who gives me a better contact who in turn promises to pass pn my number to someone else. In the meantime I emailed South Africa Guides and I also ask at the local tourist office where a staff member (who used to be a Brownie) gave me her girlfriend’s number because” her mum was a GG leader”: these women are often a best kept secret! I visit Mbabane to check out the capital of Swaziland but it has little to offer other than a couple of shopping malls. Soon enough I get a call from Ester, Swazi’s National Trainer who gives puts me in contact with Mrs Zanele Hlophe, Swazi’s Chief Commissioner and we arrange to meet the next day in Manzini after she finishes work teaching. Next morning I visit the nearby valley of Lobamba to pay my respects to the memorial of King Sobhuza II – the most revered of the Swazi kings. As their leader during the formative years he led them sagely and safely through to independence and at his jubilee his last speech included a reference to the fact that he had no enemies, Anginasitsa.

Unfortunately the current King and cabinet have not been nearly so frugal not wise and national newspapers are reporting that the cabinet bank accounts do not currently have enough money to pay their fuel bill for government vehicles. What cash they do have is being saved to fuel their ambulances, police cars and fire engines! They are currently awaiting the outcome of a loan application to the IMF (not looking good) and an application to the African Development Bank (possibly favourable).  I also visited the nearby National Museum which has recently undergone a good renovation that included videos showing the many dances, costumes and customs of Swaziland – all in good working order and condition – such a contrast to the many museums I visited of much larger countries in West Africa. When I arrive that afternoon in Manzini I can’t help but notice a new health campaign aimed at reducing the risks of contracting HIV by promoting male circumcision. 

 

Combis are plastered and billboards are all about to advertise this new campaign to ‘conquer HIV for Swaziland’. Apparently circumcision will reduce a man’s chances of contracting HIV during unprotected sex! Who knew? Pity the many wives and girlfriends of these newly circumcised men who will be the victim of their men’s promiscuity because men understand that they may be safer from contracting HIV regardless of their sexual activities.

Mrs Zanele Hlophe, Swazi’s Chief Commissioner

That afternoon I make it to Manzini and find my way to the Post Office to meet with Zanele who is friendly, charming and very knowledgeable. I give her my small tokens of Australian Guiding to pass onto her National team with my good wishes. Zanele then takes me to a store where locals buy their traditional cloth and mahiya, as she is under strict instructions from Ester to present with me with a Swazi souvenir, which I am very embarrassed to accept. She helps me find the correct combi to take to get to Durban tomorrow and we part ways. I head back to Ezulwini for my final night in Swaziland - I have really liked it here – the very peaceful valley where I’ve been staying and the laid back travel here.

WOT HAIR?

FACT: It was reported in The Times of Swaziland, a national newspaper that Swaziland’s minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation had slammed advocated for multi political parties on the grounds that there is a lot of witchcraft and no peace in countries where that are multi political parties (that would most countries in the world). Due to Swaziland’s monarchy there is a Tinhundla system of governance, meaning there is no opposition. The minister also added that “Even the bible is against multi-parties, but respect for the royalty is encouraged in the Holy Book”, citing the Book of Mark 9:33 and even Jesus Christ is also against multi-parties confirmed by the bible, Luke 2:13. He said that during a recent trip to Ethiopia he met a man who used to be a soldier in that country and related to him how much he now regretted that they ousted their King. He also added that the financial crisis that the country is facing is not the fault of Swazi’s system and reassured his audience that Tinkhundla will, without doubt, revive the country’s ailing economy I wish them the best of luck with all that!