A New Year
Almost to capacity shop this week!
For starters…
I’m still not sure where the time has gone! It’s been almost two months now that I have been in Eswatini, and yet it seems like just yesterday I was saying goodbye to my loving parents, siblings, and friends in Canada.
Yes, it has been a very hectic first month and a half with getting the house set up and unpacked, all happening over the Christmas season. However it has also been very quiet. I wonder how it could be both opposing circumstances, and yet it was. I spent many hours unpacking boxes and setting up furniture, as well as getting my kitchen organized, but at the same time there was not that crazy, panicked rush that usually accompanies the last few weeks of December.
As I thought about that question over the last few weeks, I realized that in North America there is a frenzied atmosphere everywhere you go. Whether at the grocery or other retail stores, or in the bank and other service-related businesses, everyone is in such a rush that they simply don’t have time nor the energy to even acknowledge those around them.
I guess it’s quite possible that in North America, where it is so easy to buy anything and everything (even if cash is not on hand, most often credit is still an option) that our desire to “make this the best Christmas yet” can trump just being “present” and appreciating what matters most.
In contrast, extra money and available credit is just not an option here, leaving room instead for just savouring the season. No pun intended, but Ross and I were simply present without the presents, and there was something so simply sweet about it.
Shop News
Ross continues to be very busy with the new Lusito shop now open. The majority of the light duty work is now being done there, leaving the original shop open for more heavy duty vehicles and equipment. He has also begun mapping out what the start of the new school year will look like, as well as organizing and writing up lesson plans.
We have started a “last Friday of the month” luncheon with the men who are working at and around Lusito, in an effort to show our appreciation for their work and to build connections with them. It’s hard to understand the people you work with if you don’t take the time to get to know them, and in this way we are hoping to build more personal relationships that will allow us to speak into their lives in times of need.
Other News
We are in the midst of hosting our first team of Mercy Tech volunteers, who are here for three weeks. Dave and Cheri Peters, along with Frank and Leslie Peters, are here to help wherever needed. The ladies are working with the children, reinforcing their reading and math skills after regular school hours are over, as well as spending time with the pre-school kids as they learn about numbers, colours, shapes, etc.
Dave is helping out around the grounds, operating and training others on the dozer as they complete various landscape levelling projects. His brother Frank, an avid bicycle enthusiast, is helping to maintain the children’s bikes and setting up new ones recently sent.
Frank is also in the process of creating a Project Canaan site map of the roads that connect the campus, as he and Dave work towards a road maintenance plan. As well, he is in the conceptual stages of planning a BMX bike park and a mountain bike course for our children to use. Huge undertakings to say the least!
Final Thoughts
I have now been here long enough that my visa has already been extended once, and the process has been started for Permanent Residency. This is usually a six month process, so I’m anticipating that by summer I should have my papers completed for that.
As I sit on my veranda writing this letter, I hear the unmistakable sound of hundreds of children laughing and playing. That’s hundreds of precious lives that most likely would not even be alive today if this place did not exist, and my heart feels full when I realize that we are privileged be a part of this work. There is just something about the laughter of children that makes everyone smile.
Thank you for taking time to read this. We appreciate your prayers and support.
Blessings,
Laurie MacPherson
