Today, like a few other days, we ended our time at the care point with in home visits. Well, let me explain. It is really more like visiting a homestead. A homestead is a plot of land usually consisting of several huts–these huts are made of  either mud, stone, or wood. There  is usually a hut that is solely the kitchen, one for sleeping (adults and children have seperate huts) and some families may even have a hut for the animals. Many of the homesteads located in the region where our care point is located have a few elders and many children. We visited one homestead today where the elder mother lives with her youngest child (a 6th grade girl who walks three hours to school one-way). The mom lost her husband five years ago, four children have died and four children are still living. The other children have moved away to find work. The homestead now consists of only her and her youngest child. Can you imagine your 6th grade daughter walking to school a total of 6 hours a day? She leaves at 4:00 a.m. and returns home at 5:30 Monday through Thursday each week. They get out of school at 12:00 on Fridays. The mother leaves at 4:00 a.m. each morning to walk to the river to fetch daily water. If she hurries , then she can make it in three hours. I forgot to mention that she takes medication provided from one of the local care points since she is HIV+. We walked the walk to the river–we ventured down a rocky dirt road descending through the beautiful mountains of Swaziland. We even heard the cries of several baboons. It would be a very difficult walk especially walking with up to 60-70 lbs of water. This family has a very difficult  journey…they are filled with deep pain, yet they have such beautiful smiles and genuine laughter. We have fallen in love with these wonderful people. We can only imagine what life can be like with a well located at our care point. The journey to the river could be replaced with a few local taps—this could really help many people in the community. What could happen one day when a school is up and running at the care point?  The younger children who can not afford government schools and young children who can not walk the distance to school would have a place to learn.  There is so much need and yet so much potential….there is hope yet there is much work to do.

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