The Story and Vision of Swazi, Cont.

As you are reading AIM’s history and Vision for Swazi and why Children’s HopeChest is coming along side to greatly expand this work, please pick up a copy of    it will explain the culture and work in depth…

Another victory brought about by the Beat The Drum campaign is that several myths about HIV/AIDS were exposed and the truth was spread.   Several people believed things like having sex with a virgin will cure you of AIDS or that if you have sex while holding hands you will not get AIDS.   BTD addressed every myth they could find and provided students with the truth; even in the very traditional rural areas of the country the power of these myths began to break.

In spite of these great victories and others, AIM was not satisfied to stop with just a two month program. A missionary couple stepped up to lead a follow-up effort throughout Swaziland. They moved to Swaziland during the second phase of the BTD campaign and stayed in after everyone else had returned to their home countries.   Other AIM staff (Julie Anderson; Dennis Brock; Lee-Ann McFarlane) were soon to follow them into Swaziland.  

During October of 2004, nearly 35,000 Reach 4 Life Bibles were donated by a South African business for students in Swazi high schools.   The man’s son had been a participant on the BTD campaign, and he saw a need for Bibles in the schools. Once he returned home, he asked his dad to do something about this, and the money was raised to buy the Bibles.   The AIM FYM (First Year Missionary) team partnered with UCSA in South Africa to distribute these Bibles to over 100 schools in just under a week.   This was an amazing time of miracles and several new relationships were formed.   

A major lack in the follow-up effort within the schools was an attempt to organize student leadership.   The staff designed and launched an effort known as the Academy of Leadership within each of these eight communities.   100 volunteers from five countries came to carry out the program during May of 2005.   The Academy of Leadership was a component of a larger outreach effort called Communities of Hope (COH).   The program was well received, and several student leaders were raised up to continue running Beat the Drum groups in their schools that were independent of AIM.   The consensus following the Communities of Hope outreach between AIM Georgia and AIM Swaziland was that the focus and vision of AIM needed to narrow even more.   Three communities were chosen out of the eight original communities.   The Eculgweni Community was chosen to receive the majority of our attention.   This community was home to our best Swazi pastoral relationships and AIM was receiving the favor of the local Chief.  

The plan was for Eculgweni to receive the daily attention of AIM year-round and for the other two communities to receive the attention of short-term outreach teams that came throughout the year.   The main ministry contact was Pastor Walter Malza.   Pastor Walter had lived in Eculgweni his entire life, and the Lord had given him a huge heart for the orphans in his community. Pastor Walter did an informal survey of Eculgweni and found over 500 orphans living there.

Pastor Walter went to the chief with a vision for serving the orphans and providing for their needs. The Chief asked Walter how he planned to help the children since he himself was struggling to feed his own family, and Walter told him God would provide.   This provision began shortly thereafter as the Chief blessed Walter’s vision and gave him land on which he could grow food for the orphans and build care points for serving meals.  

Over time Walter built eight care points throughout the community and was doing his best to feed the orphans.   He recruited volunteers from among the community to help him and whenever possible he was trying to spread his vision.   The relationship between Pastor Walter and AIM was formed during the Beat the Drum campaign and has continued to grow ever since.   He is a man of integrity and has a strong vision for his community. AIM felt led to support his vision as God allowed us to do so.

To be continued…