Mission to Swaziland

First Church Round Rock has enjoyed a special connection to Africa through a variety of mission programs. Chris McLain, First Church member, works in Swaziland as a missionary representative of our church. Chris will live in Swaziland for three years as she participates in the worldwide mission of the United Methodist Church.

While living in Swaziland, Africa, Chris is sharing her journey with each of us through an online blog. She will be frequently updating the blog with stories and photos along this walk of faith — the joys, celebrations, special moments and people, along with the trials, tribulations, and tears, all of those things that make a mission like this so meaningful. Chris will also be filling us in on other ways we can stay involved with special projects and other areas of support that will be needed along the way. You can follow her journey through her blog at chrisinswaziland.blogspot.com and email her at chrisinswaziland@gmail.com.

Please click here for a financial support pledge form for One Heart at a Time, One Child at a Time.

 "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Mark 10:14

Listening for God’s Call
For Chris McLain, the journey to South Africa in 2004 with the First Church team was a life changing mission. There to construct a house of worship while touching the lives of the people in the community as much as possible with Christ’s love, the hope and faithfulness of those who knew and trusted in Him and His unconditional love was inspiring. And yet, in sharp contrast, the devasting effects HIV-AIDS, hunger, and extreme poverty has on the families and children of South Africa were brought into sharp focus.

Care where care is needed
Chris will be going to work directly with the schools and carepoints in Swaziland, Africa. She will support these centers in a number of ways, all in an effort to provide better care and teach the children. By sharing the unconditional love of a mother, One Heart at a Time, One Child at a Time, Chris' ultimate goal will be to help bring greater understanding of God's unconditional love for each of the children. She will also bring the light of Christ's love in the form of hope, support and encouragement to the caregivers who selflessly work or volunteer in the schools and carepoints.

Carepoints and Schools
Carepoints are a fairly new concept established to deal with the orphans of the HIV-AIDS epidemic in African countries and are run on donations only. The preschool age children come each day to the shelter for lunch, some basic living skills education, and to hear a message of hope. In the rural areas, the centers are operated by local volunteers. Carepoint facilities differ greatly, some are actual buildings, some are barely huts, while others have no facilities at all and meet under a tree. Meals are prepared in cauldrins over open fires, for many of the children, this will be their only meal of the day. Food may come from a variety of sources for the meal, the World Health Organization provides food once every two months, not enough to stretch between deliveries. Carepoints often have 50 children attend each day with
numbers swelling to over 200 at lunchtime. Schools provide education for the children 6 years and older and are supported through the government and churches, with the local communities doing their best to make up for shortfalls in funding. In overcrowded classrooms, with minimum supplies and no technology, students are taught subjects similiar to those taught in any other school classroom. Both boys and girls are taught to cook and sew, since many of them are orphaned and care for siblings and other young family members on their own. Each school serves lunch each day for 600-800 children out of large cauldrin pots often cooking over open firepits. In their desire to better their opportunities with the gift of an education, orphaned children and those who have to travel from far away homes often begin to sleep overnight on the floors of the schools. Many schools have become boarding schools out of necessity, although few have the supplies and facilities to accommodate children living on site. Local volunteers and some charities began providing evening meals for the children.

The HIV-AIDS pandemic in Africa has no mercy; children are left orphaned as parents and family members die from AIDS. Some are fortunate enough to have extended family to help care for them, but many, far too many, are left alone, afraid, and hungry. How could these children begin to understand love, when no one was left to even care for their basic needs?

God’s call to share His love and care with these children led to a return trip for Chris and a small mission group during the summer of 2006. Teaching “Vacation Bible School” as means to share Christ with these children,while also helping to care for them, Chris was able to share a mother’s unconditional love.

In Mission
Chris left South Africa knowing God was not finished with her mission there. She had found a key to unlock the treasure of Christ’s unconditional love for these children. By loving the children and caring for them like a mother would love and care for her own children, they could better understand Christ’s love for each of them, bringing hope and possibility to lives with so little. Chris knew where her heart and service could be put to the best use to serve God’s call. And so, in August, Chris will return on assignment with United Methodist Volunteers in Mission for 2-3 years to serve in Swaziland, Africa to continue to share Christ’s love with those in great need.

Sponsor Chris One Day at a time! $55.00 a day will provide:

• Air and land transportation
• Room, board, & other expenses in order for Chris to serve as a
  United Methodist Individual Volunteer in Mission
  for 2 – 3 years in Swaziland.

Your support through prayer, friendship and financial donations will enable her to be Christ’s hands and feet in Swaziland.

The needs are great:

• Thousands of children have been orphaned by of the AIDsPandemic.
• Children stay during the week at the schools because the walk is so long to get there, however, there are no boarding or shower facilities at the schools.
• Children are raising younger children.
• All children need basic life skills such as cooking and sewing to survive.
• There are very few teaching or school supplies.
• Carepoints have been established to provide one meal a day for the homeless orphans.

Please click here for a financial support pledge form for One Heart at a Time, One Child at a Time.

Here are some facts about Swaziland:

History and Background: Autonomy for the Swazis of southern Africa was guaranteed by the British in the late 19th century; independence was granted in 1968. Student and labor unrest during the 1990s pressured King Mswati III, the world's last absolute monarch, to grudgingly allow political reform and greater democracy, although he has backslid on these promises in recent years. Swaziland recently surpassed Botswana as the country with the world's highest known rates of HIV/AIDS infection. (Botswana was the country with the highest known rate of HIV/AIDS). Largely as a result of having the world's highest rate of HIV infection, Swaziland has the lowest life expectancy on the planet: just 32.62 years. This is expected to drop to just 29 years by the year 2010.

Hunger:  There are 30,000 children dying every day in sub-Saharan Africa of hunger and/or malnutrition. That means 2.9 million children each and every year are dying of hunger. There are 15 million children who have been orphaned by AIDS. In 2005, the prediction of the World Health Organization was that there would be 43 million orphans by the year 2010. That number has now been downgraded because the children are dying of Hunger. Twenty-five million of them will be dead before that (Taken from “It’s Not Okay With Me” written by Janine Maxwell.)

Geographical Area: Total: 17,363 sq km, Land: 17,203 sq km, Water: 160 sq km. Swaziland is slightly smaller than New Jersey. 

Population: 1,136,334

Age structure:
0-14 years: 40.7% (male 233,169/female 229,103)
15-64 years: 55.8% (male 303,260/female 330,460)
65 years and over: 3.6% (male 16,071/female 24,271) (2006 est.)

Median age:  18.5 years 

Population growth rate: -0.23% (2006 est.)

Birth rate: 27.41 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Death rate:  29.74 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate:  71.85 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth: 32.62 years

Total fertility rate: 3.53 children born/woman (2006 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:  38.8% (2003 est.)