As some of you are aware, I have successfully surprised most of my family. I tradeded in the warm weather of Swaziland and flew 36 hours to get back to the US. Once here, I surprised my mother and then my grandparents. They were quite surprised.

I do need to apologize to my readers for misleading everyone, and for the well-intentioned falsehoods I told. I am blessed to have so many people concerned about me over the holiday. So thank you.

I'll be in Wisconsin for 2 more weeks, and I'm hoping to spend some quality time with my family before heading back to Swaziland until August. Maybe I'll even catch some football.

Merry Christmas and God bless. I hope you enjoy the holidays as much as I do.

-Ben

On time

This one will be right on time.

It's holiday time and everything is well in Swaziland. Even though the country is pretty troubled, it seems like most people are happy. That may have something to do with the fact that many businesses had their Christmas parties today and will be off during the holidays.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to zip down the mountain and investigate the Mantenga Cultural Village. It's basically a tourist attraction, supposed to be a picture of traditional life. Of course, instead of farming, the people dance. So it's not too traditional, but I hope to have some pictures Monday.

The other interns and I are having a bit of trouble thinking of this as Christmas. Swaziland had a balmy 80 degree day today, so thoughts of snow are far away. But I hope your Christmas season is going well.

-Ben

P.S. I'm warning you now that my posting may be irregular and infrequent during the holidays. There's not a lot going on and the office will likely shut down for a good portion of the holidays.

The Things I Do...

Sometimes I amaze myself. After forgetting to post twice last week, and being certain I would post on time this week, I forgot again yesterday. But that is not the extent of my incompetence. I was actually on a Partners conference call and we were talking about blogging. A half hour later, I left work without posting. But I'll do what I can.

Things are certainly slowing down here. Tinashe's gone this week, Pastor Daniel (our field guy) is in South Africa at a big church service there. And it looks like I won't get to start at the abattoir until after the holiday break. But yesterday a group of farmers was in town to set up bank accounts. That way, when we get the money from the abattoir, we can deposit it directly into their bank accounts.

One really cool thing about modern technology is that they'll automatically get text messages when their money becomes available. So they know when to come into town and pick up the money they need. Even though they live in the boondocks. Technology like that is really tying the world together.

-Ben

P.S. It appears storms have my network connectivity on the fritz. I will post this soon.

Catch-up

It's been a complete week since I last posted and I must apologize for my absence from the blogosphere. I actually forgot to post Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I'm sorry if anyone thought I was in trouble. I'm actually fine, although I'm concerned about my memory. So I'll try to catch up a bit here.

The newspapers noted today that Swaziland is ranked 95 out of 183 countries today in terms of corruption. We've got a 3.1 out of 10, with 10 being a society without corruption. There's also no money for December salaries for civil servants. They managed to resist pay cuts though, so at least they're not getting paid a larger amount than they would be if the government had listened to the IMF.

There's some really cool stuff going on here at AfricaWorks. The abattoir that we work with, Temashing, and AfricaWorks have partnered. So we invested money in the abattoir, which allowed them to begin some needed upgrades, and we also formed a marketing company with them. So now that AfricaWorks has some ownership in the abattoir, part of my job is going to be to evaluate it. We want to make sure it's running smoothly and efficiently. About a month ago, I noticed some discrepancies in the results we were receiving from them, so the first thing I'll be doing is to see if I can figure that out.

I'll keep you posted on that as it happens, so expect more information to follow.

On a more serious note, I was notified that Zac is having some pretty serious medical problems. This came as quite a blow to me, because only a couple weeks ago he was my favorite face to see. I would request your prayers for Zac and his family, and for the doctors.

Tomorrow is a holiday here, but I'll try to do a better job blogging the rest of this week. I should be either here or at the abattoir the rest of the week, but I'm not sure about next week because businesses here basically shut down around Christmas.

-Ben

Busy Today

I've been a bit busy today with meetings and such, so I don't have much time to put together a normal post. Instead, I'll just say congratulations to the Wisconsin Badgers for beating Michigan State to win the Big 10 and advance to the Rose Bowl. Also, congratulations to the Green Bay Packers for their continuing undefeated season.

My thoughts and prayers go out to especially to college students who are finishing up their semester in the next couple weeks. Good luck.

World AIDS day

Some of you may be aware that yesterday, December 1, was World AIDS Day. I was considering a special post, but a storm knocked out the power and made that decision for me. But today, I think it's fitting to note it.

Swaziland is certainly a country torn by AIDS. It's sometimes hard to figure out which problems are the result of AIDS and which are just the problems of a developing country, but I think many problems in Swaziland do boil down to an AIDS problem.

In 2004, 56% of pregnant women aged 25-29 were HIV+. Even though HIV is not automatically transmitted to a fetus (and techniques have been developed to combat transmission to infants), this is a serious problem. In the past 10 years, Swaziland's life expectancy has fallen from 61 years to 32 years, almost exclusively as a result of AIDS. About 60% of the children who live in the communities that we're working in have lost one or both parents (this is lower higher than the national average).

The UN and the WHO (World Health Organization) are gravely concerned about the situation and fear for the continued existence of the country, simply because the population will die off at such a rate that only children are left.

A large part of this is sadly due to Swazi culture. Reproduction is seen as a major duty of everyone, and not limited to monogamous, marriage relationships. Polygamy (or simple male promiscuity) is another major factor, with 23% of men involved with multiple partners. Combined with sexual violence (1/3 of girls are subjects of sexual violence before reaching 18), this has resulted in 50% more women than men being infected.

If reading about this situation has made you depressed, I know what you're feeling. In fact, I get sick when I learn too much (today I read a news story about a couple who sold their daughter for E350, about $40). But as easy as it would be, I don't think I could live with myself if I stopped caring. I don't know how to fix things here, but I don't think we can stop trying.

I'm going to suggest two possible actions.
1) Prayer. Although we are all facing our own challenges and our own lives, I think this matter needs to be prayed about. Pray for a change in the culture and the situation. Many pastors and elders claim HIV is a demon or an ancestral curse and the medications are either against God or poison. Pray for real truth and wisdom for this nation.
2) Foreign aid/assistance. I'm not saying we should airlift condoms, pamphlets, and ARVs. That's the wrong answer. But the Swazi government is in turmoil, can't pay its workers, and its law enforcement is atrocious. I think it would be amazing if a Western government provided training and funding for a law enforcement group targeted at prosecuting perpetrators of sexual violence. And actually made it happen (the anti-corruption commission has existed since I've been here, but isn't actually doing anything yet; these are things Swaziland needs NOW).

There are no easy or simple solutions to this problem, and I recognize that. But I thought I should expound on the situation and maybe someone else will have some wisdom that I don't have.

-Ben

Another Wednesday, another post

So you know, some of you will not find the first part of this particularly humorous, but it's my blog and I got a major kick out of it. So... sorry.

Newspapers here in Mbabane post full-page headlines up at intersections as advertising for the day's news. I find this very convenient and I usually try to read a few of them as I'm walking to work in the morning. So yesterday I was still a big foggy from my cold, and I wasn't reading as carefully as normal. But a few seconds after I read it, I had to stop and go back to re-read it.

I learned there are two types of surprising headlines. One kind would be the unexpected ("Detroit Lions win the Super Bowl"). The other are headlines that simply make no sense. "Christopher Columbus discovers cure for cancer" and "Joseph Stalin knighted by Charlemagne" are some examples. So you can understand my utter confusion when I read:

"POLYCARP FOUND GUILTY OF E12 MILLION FRAUD"

"Huh? What? Those decongestants must be more powerful than I thought."

Actually, it turns out that someone made the rare decision to name their son Polycarp but had failed to instill in him the values possessed by the early church father and martyr. I'd never encountered someone named Polycarp, and now the only one I know of is serving jail time. I guess it wasn't his name that made the original Polycarp such a noteworthy guy.

Now, for the rest of you. A bit more about Mozambique.

The Farm is where Andrew lives, but it also holds a variety of other buildings. The abattoir, the offices, the feedmill, and Wilfred's house. There are also some chicken houses, but you've seen those before and you'll see more shortly.

These are a couple pictures of Andrew's house/yard. You can see the trampoline in the second one. The fence is mainly to keep in the dogs. Very nice place, and you can see the mountains in the background. I have better pictures of the surrounding area, but they're probably less interesting.

This is a snake Andrew killed with a machete. We were having a nice breakfast and then there's a snake crawling up the window behind me. It was smaller than a garter snake, so I didn't really react, but everyone else did. We're unsure of what kind of snake it was, but it may have been a very poisonous one. So Andrew took care of it.

This is the gate to the farm. It's closing time and we're just getting back as all the workers are leaving. There's actually a second shift at the feed mill, but this is a lot of workers piled onto the back of the truck.

This is Wilfred's house, right next to Andrew's. He and his wife will move in there in December with their kids. They were working on the yard while we were there.

Well, I may have escaped Malaria, but I have succumbed to a common head cold. Truth be told, I would rather suffer from a wide variety of ailments than a cold. I love to think and my life revolves around it, and when it's painful to do so, I'm just eager to get back to sleep. But I should be getting over it in the next day, so I'm looking forward to that.

Regardless of my ailments, I'm sure a few of you are still curious about my trip to Mozambique. So, as promised, here are pictures of some of the major characters from my trip.

The guy here in the black shirt is Andrew Cunningham. He runs New Horizons Mozambique and is really an impressive guy. He grew up in Zimbabwe, but followed God's call to Mozambique and has built a massive operation there. It's really doing neat things for the country and I think it's on the cutting edge of development there.

Talking with him in the striped shirt is Randy. He's the CFO of CenterFresh Eggs in the United States and came to Mozambique to represent the company as an investor in Mozambique Fresh Eggs. Mozambique Fresh Eggs is a joint venture by CenterFresh, Andrew, and Scott (owner of Eggs for Africa).

 The guy on the left is Kim Dooyema. Many of you know him from Brookfield CRC. He's probably the impetus behind Mozambique Fresh Eggs. He met Andrew a few years ago now and immediately began converting others (me included) to his vision. Eventually, he converted some of his co-owners in CenterFresh and they invested in the project in Mozambique. Members of that group have been visiting Andrew and the operation since, and I don't think anyone has left unconvinced of how neat of an operation this is.

The little boy there is Andrew's son Zacc. He is a joy of a young boy, and is also mentally inhibited. He kept me (and some of the others) jumping on the trampoline, reading stories, or playing catch often. In this picture, he's bringing me a bean bag for bean-bag toss (I nailed it, left-handed).

The guy here is Eric Dooyema. He's Kim's brother, and actually runs some of the CenterFresh operation in the US. In Mozambique, he spent a lot of time working at Mozambique Fresh with the chickens, water systems, and houses.

The lady here is Claire, Andrew's wife. She was exceedingly gracious in feeding us (me in particular, as I stayed with them all week) and taking care of us. I was certainly impressed by the operation and Andrew, but I think she gets most of my respect. In addition to supporting the mission, she takes care of Zacc and teaches part-time at the Rapali International School.

This picture shows Victor in the foreground. His lower half is wet because he just got out of the ocean, but it's the only real picture I have of him. He is the Mozambique Fresh on-site manager. His background is in construction, but he's quickly learning to take care of chickens (and he built some great chicken houses). He's originally from Portugal and married a Brazilian woman in Mozambique. He's a very nice guy and made sure we were well-fed (by that, I mean so stuffed that we had trouble walking).

Standing behind him is Daryl. Daryl is another CenterFresh owner and an investor in Mozambique Fresh. In Iowa, he runs a chicken trucking business, and when all else breaks down, I'm going to go work for him. A real nice guy, he worked with Eric and Victor on site much of the week.

Here is a bigger group picture. On the right are two guys I haven't introduced yet. The far right guy is Scott, a pastor who lives in Zimbabwe who started Eggs for Africa two years ago and has developed it significantly. He's part of Mozambique Fresh because he's doing much the same thing, and also because he has the marketing operation basically set up.

Next to him, in the light shirt, is Peter Cunningham. He's Andrew's brother (or Andrew is his brother). He also lives in Zimbabwe and runs some major agribusiness there. Both he and Andrew are very witty and it's fun listening to them banter until you become the target of the quips.

Not shown: Working for these guys are a fantastic crew of folks. Andrew relies heavily on Wilfred (Dutch) and Alcedir (Brazilian) to keep his operation running smoothly. Scott relies on John Wayne and Doc. I was hugely impressed by these guys and if I were to start up a poultry business in Mozambique, I would pay them whatever I needed to in order to steal them away.

I hope that all makes sense. There are certainly more folks on the ground there, but I think I hit many of the people who are central to the operation we were looking at. Until Wednesday,

-Ben

Black Friday!

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. It was certainly different being away from my family and friends. Instead, I had a nice dinner with a large group of Americans (mostly missionaries) here. It was a nice social time and the food was good, but I was sad to miss the day with my family and church community back home. At least the Packers beat the Lions.

I know many people are anxious to hear about my trip to Mozambique. Some of you will get the stories from Kim at church, but I'll certainly lay it all out here. However, the trip was a week long and I took over 1600 pictures (admittedly, most of them were junk), so it's going to take a while to share everything. I'll be posting some pictures and explaining them over the next few blog posts. Because I paid attention in 7th grade english class, I'm starting with the setting. You can always enlarge the pictures by clicking on them.

We landed in Nampula, Mozambique on Monday, November 14. Nampula is the capital of the province of the same name, and is one of the major cities (if not the major city) in northern Mozambique. It is growing rapidly and has the vibrant feel of a living city. The pictures below were actually taken on the trip back through Nampula on the way out when we were leaving Mozambique. I was standing in the back of the pickup, which allows for some great picture taking. So if you see the top of the cab, know that I was comfortable and safe up there.

On the way into town, the road is lined with "shops" selling basically anything. It's a regular outdoor market and certainly fun to observe.

I managed to pick two pictures without many people in them, but the market was actually quite crowded. The blue things on the left side of this picture are mosquito nets. Malaria is a big problem in Mozambique, but as far as I know, our group didn't have any problems with it. A blessing.

Now we're getting into the real city. This is a pretty standard street in Nampula, with traffic flowing pretty freely. I think I accurately described traffic in Mozambique as a game of rock, paper, scissors. Big truck beats small truck, small truck beats car, car beats motorcycle, motorcycle beats bicycle. Bicycles just get out of everyone's way.

At first, I was hesitant about taking pictures of these guys. But when they saw me with a camera, they started waving and giving me the thumbs-up. Very friendly people.

This guy was in back of me, and when he saw me taking pictures of the other guys, he indicated that I should take some of him as well. The car behind him is starting to go around him because he's just sitting there as I take his picture.

The Hotel Milenio. I believe this is where my dad stayed when he visited, but I stayed on the farm. We did come here for dinner Wednesday night and had some delicious chicken Marsala. Posh.

The apartment buildings reminded me of all the generic pictures of the developing world, so I figured I had to take this shot.

On the right there is Shoprite, the grocery store.

Here's a large traffic circle with a park being constructed in the middle. It'll look very nice when the tin fencing is taken down.

Nampula is very nice, but trash piles are something that can be found in most big cities and I didn't want to sugarcoat Nampula.

The education system in Mozambique is in trouble. This is a school, and not a bad one at that. But they will run four sets of students here throughout the day. One set from 8-10, one from 10:30-12:30, etc. They recognize that education is important, but the facilities and resources are just not there to make the education adequate.

What African city would be complete without an overloaded Kombi churning out black exhaust?

A group of women meeting in the shade. Plenty of goods for sale in Nampula.

One of the shops selling tires and rims. I didn't see many cars that had been decked-out, but it's clearly available for those willing to pay.

Again, I don't want to sugarcoat Nampula. It's a developing city and there are still areas that are poor and struggling. The trench running through the middle there is a set of train tracks.

Here's the Nampula airport. A nice little place, but I wouldn't want to stay there for the 45 hours I spent in the Johannesburg airport.

Up next week: The Characters (and some of them are real characters)

Stuck

Well folks, I'm still stuck in Johannesburg. The shuttle didn't work out yesterday, but I'm hoping it works out today. Not that it hasn't been fun to spend 42 hours (and counting) in the airport. Now I can tell you which bench is best for sleeping and attest to the power of the hand dryers in the bathrooms. So this journey has become even more of an adventure. But it will be relaxing to get back to my own flat and take a bath.

It really hasn't been too bad. I've finished The History of Money and I'm refining some business plans I wrote up last week. However, the internet connection here doesn't allow me to upload anything, so I can't send anything until I get back. I'll try to post a few pictures of my trip on Friday, but it'll certainly take longer than that to get into everything that we did in Mozambique.

Two very minor problems here. While in Mozambique, my body readjusted to get up at first light again. While this woke me up in time to see the sun rise over the Indian Ocean, I think I'm going to fix that so I don't wake up at 4:30am every morning.

I also have to figure out the music here. I often feel close to home when I hear Phil Collins, Shania Twain, or Lynyrd Skynyrd over the loudspeaker, but it seems strange that "Sweet Home Alabama" is a hit here. Come to think of it, it's probably strange that a boy from Wisconsin enjoys it, but at least I know where Alabama is. Here, they probably know less about Alabama than you know about Gauteng (especially when I tell you that's the province in which Johannesburg is located).

Well, blessings. Have a happy Thanksgiving, eat some apple pie for me, and cheer for the Packers!

-Ben

I am back

Hello all. I made it back to South Africa safely. I will be staying in the airport tonight, so stop by if you're in the neighborhood. I am currently writing on my Kindle on the 3G network, which is cool, but not easy. I won't get back to Swaziland until tomorrow evening: about the same time the rest of the team gets to the US. The trip was a fantastic experience and a great way to recharge my batteries. You can count on many posts detailing stories of bumpy roads, major businesses, a trampoline and an ocean.

Anyway, now you know I am safe and about home. I hope everything is going well there, but I'm wary after being teased by Africans all week. When folks from Zimbabwe are laughing at your government, something has gone horribly wrong.

May God bless his children all over the world, and may he use them to bless everyone else as well.

-Ben

Announcement

First, the update, then the announcement:

Things have been pretty standard here. Trying to scrape together a bit of money to help the processing plant process our chickens (we delivered 4,000 this week).

Wednesday, my friendly Jehovah's Witness came in to have another chat with me. So we discussed theology for the better part of an hour. There's nothing like a debate with someone who believes something completely different than you do. Mainly, it reminds you how little you know about the Bible. So we basically went back and forth flipping through his Bible. My general approach to Biblical interpretation is to attempt to understand a text in the light of (a) the author's message to the original audience, and (b) the larger picture we get of God, Christ, and redemption. But because of major differences in religious outlook and/or culture, I was stuck using proof texts.

Areas of disagreement we went over:
1) The deity of Christ. I claim he is fully God; creator, not creation. This is the position of all major Christian churches (mainline protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox) and is firmly established in the Nicene Creed: "begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father." He claimed Christ was the first creation (using references to him as the "firstborn") and asked me to explain what it meant for Christ to empty himself.

2) Timeline of history. He wanted me to believe that America is the earthly kingdom that will pass away in order for God's kingdom to be established. I kept questioning his timeline, which he's going to bring next time. But he was utilizing the latter half of Daniel, which I cannot claim to interpret well. I mainly claimed that if Christ didn't know the date of his return, it seems arrogant of us to presume that we can know it.

Anyway, it was a good exercise and something I haven't done in a while.

And my announcement. I'm going to be away from Swaziland for the next week. I'll be leaving on Sunday and getting back late next Tuesday (the 22nd). I'll be travelling to northern Mozambique with a group from the US (including Kim Dooyema from my church), and I'll be checking out the massive operations they've got going on there. I'm sure I'll have a lot to write about when I get back, but it is unlikely that I'll post anything while I'm there.

-Ben

Social Norms

According to my forecast, Milwaukee's high for tomorrow is a balmy 37°F. Interestingly, it's currently 37°C outside, which is significantly warmer. So it's hot and sweaty over here, but there's a decent breeze outside and it'll cool down a fair bit when the sun goes down. Some of you would probably love this kind of weather, but I'm a bigger fan of 75°F.

Anyway, enough about the weather.

Many of you know my sister Krystal. She's very sweet and I love her dearly. But one of the areas in which we differ greatly is social skills. Krystal simply never learned who she wasn't supposed to talk to. I don't recall ever receiving lessons, but I've always known that there are some people with whom I'm not expected to be friends. Some people are older than I am, or interested in other things, or from a different social status. Sometimes it's just because we're in a public place and there are rules of etiquette about sitting down in someone's restaurant booth and striking up conversation.

Krystal somehow managed not to learn most of these rules. Within a few minutes of our arrival somewhere, she has met everyone and made friends with many of them. When her brothers come home from college, we depend on Krystal to tell us who the new person is in the next pew. She just doesn't seem to understand the social barriers that I've grown so comfortable with.

Jesting aside, I think Krystal is exponentially closer to Christ's position on this issue. I have gotten compliments about how friendly she is and I am regularly impressed by the bridges she builds. It's something that I've been working hard to attain, and I have no illusions about solving it soon. But one thing that I've been trying to do here is treat everyone well.

This isn't easy. For one thing, I get anxious when I'm sucked into a conversation that I haven't anticipated, especially when their English isn't very good and I have trouble making out what they're saying. And sometimes, I'm not the only one who's imagining a barrier in the relationship. It only gets worse when they ask for money and I know giving it to them isn't a good idea (for a number of reasons).

But I'm trying. I try to smile and say hello to everyone I pass who will look at me. Whether they're in a suit or they're barefoot and surreptitiously looking for food in the garbage can. One beggar took a shine to me quite early on. Whenever he saw me, he would start laughing and catch up to me and hold out his hand for change. He's taller than me, but he's skinny and his pants end far above his bare feet. Most of his teeth are gone and his words come out with a spray of saliva (not that he speaks English anyway). There's likely a history of drug and alcohol abuse there.

Needless to say, I was terrified the first few times I encountered him. I sped up and ignored him when I could. But finally, I managed to work up the courage to shake his hand. I think he was pretty surprised, as was the person I was walking with. As was pointed out to me, his hand was anything but sanitary and I could smell him for a while.

But since then, I've been trying to greet him whenever I see him, even if I see him first. It's still uncomfortable, but I'm doing as well as I can. Someday, maybe I'll be as good as my little sister.

-Ben

P.S. Some of you may be concerned about my safety. That is probably wise, but I have had no problems with safety at all. Especially in daylight, there are always other people around. One advantage of being a 21-year-old man is that I'm not overly vulnerable. The only negatives I've experienced are when people see a white guy and expect he'll hand out money, whether they need it or not. But I am in God's hand, and I trust that will be enough.

As promised, pictures from the farms on Friday. If you want more detail you can click on the picture for the full-size image.

Pastor David and Bonisile surveying some of the farmers in Myoloza.

While they were surveying, I visited the chickens. These are about ready for processing.

Some of us found the survey more entertaining than others.

 The road to Myoloza. Cows just hanging out.

This is the chicken house that Pastor Daniel and his wife manage. These chickens are actually a bit older than they should be because the abattoir had a problem with the freezer and couldn't take them on time. They're all gone now.

These are some of the chicks in Lamgabi. Still young enough to be cute.

Not everyone participated in the survey. Some had better things to do.

These two young women help many of the rest with reading and filled out the survey themselves.

Pastor David and Bonisile surveying farmers in Lamgabi.

Like father like son. Pastor Daniel and his son Sibusiso helped us out as well.

Weekend Recap

[Apologies for the late post. Our electricity was out much of yesterday (Monday), and so I wrote my post offline and I'm posting it this morning. As a further apology, there will be two posts today, one of words and one of pictures.]

Shaggy hair really isn't the style here. Part of the problem is that most of the locals have nice hair that looks good either cropped close or grown out into a short afro. I was born with a different hair style, and when I don't cut my hair for a while, it falls into a shaggy mop. So yesterday at church, a few of the guys tried to make it look good. It's part of their "Make Ben cool" campaign that also includes encouraging me to untuck my shirts and put gel in my hair (similar campaigns have failed for years; I'm a nerd). They figure I'll need to look good to attract a Swazi wife (I don't know why they think this is my goal). It all involves a lot of laughing and good-natured fun.

My point in writing this isn't to convey my hopeless lack of fashion sense (although that would be a truth). My point is that people around the world don't view Americans as unconditionally fantastic. They're well aware that we don't burp rainbows and we put our pants on one leg at a time. There are definitely exceptions, but they're few and far between. So next time you wear a fanny pack on a mission trip, know that a few people are probably chuckling at you (I'm not saying that you should dress based on what others will think).

So I'm always a bit puzzled when Americans act like they're shepherding Africans. One guy I know bought a car and was told it was actually a few years newer than it really was. When he found out, he went back to the dealer and told him he was disappointed in him.

Now, the right thing to do probably wouldn't have been to chew the guy out. But it seems awfully patronizing to tell someone you're "disappointed" when something like that happens. I mean, the guy didn't cheat him because he wasn't sure what the right thing to do was. Had that been the case, it might have been appropriate to be disappointed that the man had chosen incorrectly.

So I encourage everyone, next time they think about Africans or developing nations in general, compare your reaction to how you would react if they were Americans. We probably need to improve our reactions on both fronts, but I think it's important to remember that one isn't superior to the other.

-Ben

"The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls: in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another."

-George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

Is that your final answer?

I may have mentioned that I was putting together a training needs analysis for our farmers. Basically, it's a survey that asks farmers about their understanding in a variety of areas. I surveyed three areas: production (the actual chicken-raising), business (budget, expenses, etc.), and association (work in their associations). Anyway, today was the day. I went with Bonisile, Pastor David, and Pastor Daniel up to the communities. They were very cooperative and helpful, and we got a lot of good information. The others actually administered the survey; because I am far from fluent in SiSwati, I took pictures. Got a lot of good pictures and some video too.

The surveys were supposed to clarify the needs of the communities. This will help us write our grant and also help us as we work on training them. Unfortunately, the new clarity revealed a complicated situation. Myoloza is doing fine with production, but their association is very poor. Trust in the association is low and there is a very low degree of ownership within the project. Lamgabi is just starting to do production, so there were some low degrees of knowledge there, but I am confident those will change to aptitudes as they work with their chickens and Pastor Daniel helps them. They also requested a lot of business training. So I'm already thinking about how we can do that.

All in all, the day was very productive and I'm happy about the work that we did. Now I've got to work on my formal report for Tinashe, which I'm also looking forward to. Pictures will be available Monday.

Being busy is good.

-Ben

P.S. Two news articles of interest. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has settled with the US government for $3,000,000,000. Its crime was marketing drugs for unapproved uses. This is the kind of thing that I worked on when I was in the DOJ: Consumer Protection Branch, and it's a safe bet that some of my former coworkers were involved in this. Note: The Civil Division of the DOJ has a budget of about $283 million, meaning this settlement would cover their budget for the next decade. But don't let their noble and lucrative work fool you, they too are in danger of having their budget further slashed. It has already been cut this year. Sorry for getting political there, I just have trouble controlling myself when common sense and passion align.

The other article ran in the Swazi Times about the lawyers protesting. They got shut out of the courthouse, so instead they tried to march. The police stopped them marching, so they got in their cars and ran the lines (I'm probably making it more dramatic than it was). Anyway, they ended up at the restaurant in our building. Didn't majorly affect my life, but our building got mentioned in the paper. (For reference, our building hosts 5-6 businesses including the restaurant.) You can read the article here.

Umbrellas

On Monday I wrote about how similar small children are here and in the US. I did not mean to give the impression that other parts of society are significantly or irreconcilably different, and I fear I would be remiss if I did not correct that impression quickly.

Yesterday it was misting and cold (of course, the further you get into winter, the sillier it's going to sound when I call 60s cold). But I went grocery shopping for some minor groceries: milk, oatmeal, apples, etc. On the way home, an older woman scolded me, "Where is your umbrella?" I smiled and apologized, but this struck me as humorous for a variety of reasons. First, not using an umbrella is the kind of thing I would be scolded for by my own grandmother or someone from my church. Second, my umbrella was in my backpack, ready for use if I needed it. Third, it was only misting and had I used an umbrella in such weather at home, I likely would have been ridiculed by hardy midwesterners.

I think in order to fully understand the situation, you have to realize that Swaziland is a country with many umbrellas. When it is sunny, umbrellas serve to keep the sun off. When it's rainy, they keep the rain off. When it's in between, they serve some other function that I am seeking to discover. So no matter what the weather, you will certainly see umbrellas as you walk down the street.

One fantastic thing about this is that the umbrellas are very... eccentric. If you walk through Washington, DC when it's raining, you'll see many black umbrellas. You might also see my pink one (it was good luck because I found it on the bus the night the Packers won the Super Bowl). But in Swaziland, umbrellas are black, green, plaid, yellow with smiley faces, brown with puppy dog faces (including ears that stick up), and many other patterns. But the connection between a person and his/her umbrella seems random at best. When you see a face pattern on an umbrella, there is simply no telling whether it will be sheltering a 12-year-old girl or a businessman in a suit. It's a wonderful adventure every time you walk down the sidewalk.

-Ben

P.S. I've become somewhat familiar with local sports. Soccer (football) is more interesting when they play in sand, but still not my favorite. Rugby seems to be a game for large anarchists, and definitely not for wimps. I think cricket is something of a cross between dodgeball and kick the can, but I can't say I've got it figured out yet. Although American football is still my sport of choice, I have to tip my hat to rugby players for their exceptional mettle and audacity. I was told that soccer would appeal to me more as I began to understand other cultures, but I don't know why anyone would watch soccer when rugby is on. Of course, soccer is more social and in many cases it's the only sport available to kids who can't afford more than a simple ball. In this case, it is entirely acceptable.

P.P.S. Because I don't have a TV, all of my knowledge of televised sports comes from standing in line at the bank. They have TVs hanging from the ceilings and the lines are long.

Happy Halloween

Actually, I haven't seen anything about Halloween here. My guess is that it's not a real holiday here, but I'll keep you posted if I see costumed kids running around this evening. It's cold and rainy outside, so I would be surprised.

Rough weekend, with another stunning Badgers loss. My brother is also beating me in fantasy football, threatening my lead over the league. So much for fraternal loyalty. If I don't score a few more points, my grandmother may depose me and relegate me to second place.

I heard the apple pie sale was successful, even overcoming some challenges. So congratulations to everyone who participated in that effort. A lot of work going to a good cause.

I've realized again that children around the world are basically the same. The other day I was walking up the street and four small children were sitting on the railing. They gave me a sing-song "hel-lo" in unison and I simply couldn't help responding in kind. Then at church yesterday, a small girl (3) spent much of the service investigating me. I was sitting in the back, on some steps and she climbed up with me, chatted with me, etc. It was pretty adorable.

I think that no matter where I go, I would run into the same phenomenon. Kids are valued by cultures everywhere, and many of them haven't developed the inhibitions that are pressed into us as adults. It's good to remember those things that tie us together as a human race, and I think it's also good to remember that others aren't much different than us.

Have a good week,
-Ben

Swazi News

We've had some internet trouble this week, and I'm not convinced that it was all storm-related. You've probably heard this from me a lot in the past month, but in reality our internet works well most of the time. Every so often the power cuts out for a while, or our internet connection limits us to certain sites, but it's more an exercise than a real problem. So from now on, you can assume that when I'm posting, I'm just making sure I get it up when I can.

I learned yesterday that Swaziland is part of the Commonwealth of Nations (not that I know much about the Commonwealth besides the fact that Queen Elizabeth II is its head). I'm sure that's not particularly interesting to those of us who were never British subjects, but it means our Prime Minister is in Australia at the Commonwealth meeting. Apparently, some of the unions in the Commonwealth aren't happy with Swaziland and are trying to have it suspended because of violations of democratic rights, the banning of political parties, and the judicial crisis. It seems like human rights and reform are a major focus of this meeting, but we'll see if any concrete action is taken.

Tinashe is back in the country, but he hasn't come in to work yet. He flew in yesterday afternoon from Washington State. If I'm right, noon here is the middle of the night on the Pacific, so I'm guessing he's trying to flip his sleep schedule. It'll be good to have him back, especially because he can give me some new things to work on.

One thing I did today was put together a write-up about Pastor Daniel, one of our team members. He's a really good guy and it might give you an idea of who I see every day.

Have a good weekend,

-Ben

P.S. For those of you who are participating in the apple pie excitement today, my thoughts are with you. I hope everything goes well and it's a community-building experience. Have fun!

When it rains...

The heat finally broke last night and today we're getting another fair storm. I'm trying to get this out before the power goes out. I'm beginning to see the pattern of 3-4 days of hot summer weather followed by a storm or two. It's not a bad way to go, although I don't think I've ever experienced this many storms. The midwest doesn't attract this many, nor does DC. I guess that's part of travelling, experiencing new things. It's also a bit different here because the altitude means we can be inside the clouds.

God Bless,
-Ben

Summer

Well, summer is here. And it's hot. It was 105 yesterday and is getting hot again today. It'll probably stay closer to 90 today, but we'll see. One difficulty is that there are no screens on windows here. The reason for this is two-fold. 1) Windows here are made from solid metal rather than wood, with bars on them. They're more secure, but don't have an easy way to put screens on them. 2) Screens are expensive. Bugs here aren't a big problem (fewer than in Milwaukee, but still present), so they aren't required. But I remain wary about leaving my windows open overnight, because there are bugs and lizards that I try to keep outside.

Church yesterday was a bit strange. I got there to find it crawling with white people. It turns out that about 25 missionaries were here from the United States. I wasn't quite sure what to do with all of them, but it seemed like they were getting on fine, so I didn't interfere too much. One of them preached. He's the chaplain at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, the largest maximum-security prison in the world. There, he ministers to people like Derrick Todd Lee, and has trained over 200 ministry workers among the inmates. His message was about how the love of God reaches from the highest mountain to the lowest hell, and it reaches us wherever we are, no matter what. I thought it was really quite good, and I love the way old Southern ministers preach.

I'm still working on applications for education after Africa, so I would appreciate continued prayers along those lines. I am also very concerned about my friend in Nairobi, especially after a bombing there last night. She's fine (and less concerned than I am), but I am concerned by nature and the situation there doesn't help.

Have a good week,
-Ben

Africa

[I had much of this typed up yesterday, but a big storm hit in the afternoon. It was mostly wind, but it took down our internet in the afternoon. At night it took out the power too. I now know what avocados sound like as they rain down on a tin roof. This morning I discovered that the building next to me lost a 90-100 ft. tree that fell down across the road and is blocking traffic. But I am safe and I walk to work, so all is well. This is something I am thankful for.]


So far in this blog, I've focused mainly on Swaziland and my life here. Due to some of the things going on across the continent, however, I thought today might be a good day to use a slightly broader scope.

-Kenya: As many of you know from following the news, Kenya has recently sent troops into Somalia in an attempt to stop the kidnapping of Westerners from inside Kenya (one of my friends is serving with Partners Worldwide in Kenya, so I fully support stopping the kidnappings). They are going after al-Shabab insurgents who have been fighting with the Somali government over the past decade. The Somali government is denying that Kenyan troops are in the country (Kenya claims they are), although al-Shabab is in control in that area of Somalia and the government likely has no way of knowing one way or the other. This is coming as the Somali government is slowly getting to its feet after a miserable decade where they sometimes only controlled main streets in the capital and African Union peacekeepers fought better-armed insurgent groups.

-Uganda: United States soldiers have begun to arrive as part of a 100-strong group that will be assisting the Uganda People's Defense Force with defeating the Lord's Resistance Army. This rebel army claims divine command and protection, but they use mainly child soldiers, and almost the entire leadership is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity. They receive some support from Sudan and have been terrorizing Uganda for over twenty years. This is a group that has been unanimously condemned by the US Congress. At the same time, Uganda has arrested an opposition leader and 15 protesters and plans to charge them with treason in an effort to stop domestic protests. The current president Museveni has been in power 24 years and was just elected for another 5.

-Children in much of the developing world: Thrilling results have recently come out declaring a substantial reduction in malaria in the past few years. That said, over half a million people die each year from this parasite (that's equivalent to Denver), and over 200 million cases occur annually. Thanks to some very dedicated people, those numbers are declining, but ending the battle will take billions of dollars and decades of work.


A few words from Henri Nouwen, an author whom I've been reading recently:

Recognizing Christ in Suffering Communities
Communities as well as individuals suffer. All over the world there are large groups of people who are persecuted, mistreated, abused, and made victims of horrendous crimes. There are suffering families, suffering circles of friends, suffering religious communities, suffering ethnic groups, and suffering nations. In these suffering bodies of people we must be able to recognise the suffering Christ. They too are chosen, blessed, broken and given to the world.

As we call one another to respond to the cries of these people and work together for justice and peace, we are caring for Christ, who suffered and died for the salvation of our world.

Preaching in Swaziland

In January, Healing Place - Swaziland is getting a new pastor. He's been picked out by Healing Place - America. I'm still sorting out how I feel about Americans sending a pastor they picked out to lead a Swazi church. I'm really not sure.

Anyway, he was here yesterday and preached. He preached on worry. Now worry is something that I've heard a number of sermons on, and they've been good ones. This one was no different. Worry needs to give way to trust in God.

Worry is something that has been a significant factor in my life. For a long time, I've worried about a number of different things ranging from how was I going to pay for college to what was I going to do about a job after college. Moving to Swaziland taught me a lot about worry as I was repeatedly reminded how little control of things I had. I believe God also used the wonderful Christian community back home to remind me that he can handle anything I've got going on. The actions of that community have replaced much of my worry with thanksgiving.

Lately though, I have done a bit more worrying. Although it seems ridiculous with 10 months left to go, I have been worrying about what is going to happen after Africa. I've been working on applications for law school and graduate schools, and I'll probably be applying for jobs in the future. So putting together application essays, considering letters of recommendation, and researching opportunities has become another thing for me to worry about.

But while that sermon was probably an important thing for me to be reminded of, I can't say I would be comfortable giving that sermon here. Swaziland is in a major crisis. The country's lawyers have been on strike for three months, since the Judiciary Service Commission (led by the Chief Justice) fired a judge whom many believed to be the best judge in Swaziland and the next Chief Justice. Today the Kombi drivers are rioting again, which is a major problem for many people. Finally, the government is broke. This means many government services are going unfunded.

So "don't worry" means one thing to me, but I think it probably means something different to Swazi teachers who haven't been paid in months. And when your salary is $40-50 per month, you don't have much of a cushion to fall back on. I think the message is just as true here as in the United States: God is in control of the future. But that means one thing when you can see God providing for your needs, and another thing entirely when it seems like God is just standing by watching.

[Warning: Theological reflections to follow. Not necessarily doctrinally sound or kosher. They do not represent the views or opinions of anyone else, and are constantly being revised in my own mind.]

I have been blessed beyond measure, and I cannot begin to express how grateful I am to be so well taken care of. But I think it's going to take some time for me to learn how to worship God fully in a situation like this. In Isaiah, God says, "I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things." In the past, I have often viewed this passage as a comfort. I was comfortable with a God who is in control, even if I did not understand his actions or how they could be good. At least, I was more comfortable with that than with a God who was not in control.

I think that's probably still a good way to look at it. But I was always looking at it in the abstract. I was looking at the passage from the "bring prosperity" side. It's different when I see things that don't fit with my idea of God. It's difficult to believe that a good God is in control when I see children who are malnourished and will have few opportunities in life. It's difficult to believe that a good God is in control when you watch HIV+ orphans running around playing.

So that's an ongoing struggle for me. I believe that it's something that God will teach me, and hopefully I'll be wiser when I get home than I was when I came here.

-Ben

The Things I've Seen...

It's been a beautiful week here. 80s and 90s, with hot sun that makes me sweat on my walks. Some of you may enjoy this weather, some may be more appreciative of the 50s and 60s of autumn. I would've put myself in the second group, but I think I am adjusting well to the climate here, and I really don't mind the heat.

But it is warm. So I was a bit taken aback when I saw a large Santa Claus in the grocery store. My first thought was that Christmas decorations are up appallingly early. But I guess with no Halloween or Thanksgiving, they probably keep them up for quite a while.

Then came my second thought, "Why is he dressed in his traditional red suit?" Santa Claus braving arctic temperatures is standard for those of us in the northern hemisphere, but here, Christmas comes in the middle of the summer. The second half of December, everything shuts down as people take Christmas vacations (the beach, national parks, etc.). So it seemed ridiculous to me that they would picture Santa Claus in his standard cold-weather outfit.

Apparently, someone else had the same idea. Because at the back of the store was another Santa figurine (again about 4 feet tall). Except this one was a bit more reasonable. His hat was off, his jacket was wide open, and all he had beneath his jacket were his suspenders. You can all be grateful that I did not have my camera. I can assure all of you that Mrs. Claus has gotten Santa to eat plenty this year.

Because interesting diets are often a part of cross-cultural experiences, I was prepared to try a lot of different foods. But it turns out most of the cuisine is pretty much what I'm used to. I have largely flipped my meals around though, because the structure of the day is a bit different. I eat a large breakfast and a smaller lunch and dinner because there's not so much activity after work.

Breakfast is usually two eggs and three pieces of bacon with a bowl of cereal to wash it down. Then at work I eat an apple or two and a few hard-boiled eggs, and supper is usually a salad and a bowl of oatmeal or a sandwich. It's not really exotic (although eggs are a pretty big staple here), but it keeps me going.

______________________________________________________________

I also want to take a minute here to thank everyone for their prayers and support. It's been a full two months here and everything is going really well. I'm comfortable with things, I'm happy, and it feels a lot like home. I'm positive that your prayers have contributed to my easy transition and my lack of serious problems. So thank you very much.

-Ben

Switching Places

So Tinashe is in Grand Rapids this week for a Partners Worldwide conference. It struck me as a little bit funny that he's in GR, where I lived for 3 years, and I'm in Swaziland, where he's lived for a couple years.

While he's in Grand Rapids, Bonisile and I are handling things around the office (mainly Bonisile). He put most things in order, so it's not a problem. We are having one problem that no one could have avoided. The processing plant has been holding off on paying us, which is a bit of a situation. Because they're about a month late, we're out of money for new inputs. So the input supplier, who was supposed to place (we're on a schedule) hasn't placed because they haven't been paid. And we can't pay them because we don't have the money we're supposed to have gotten. We now have a postdated check from the processing plant which we can deposit on Saturday and will likely be cleared late next week. It's a solution, but not a great one for anyone.

If anyone knows a company looking to make a tax-deductible contribution, let me know. Otherwise, we'll just try to keep as many balls in the air as we can.

-Ben

P.S. Congratulations to the Detroit Lions, who have had their first 5-0 season in 50 years. For my brother's sake, I hope they remain undefeated until Thanksgiving, but I suspect he feels about them the way I feel about the Brewers: thrilled that they've done this well, but unwilling to get my hopes up. At least Sam has the Lions to console him as he sees his brother beating him in fantasy football.

Quickly, Quickly

Hello!

First, I need to let you know that SPTC (Swaziland Post and Telecommunications) is having some major issues. I mentioned last week that only Google, Facebook and Skype were working. I learned at church that this was an SPTC-wide problem. However, this week, Google and Facebook have been down as well. So most of yesterday was internetless and the newspapers promise that today will be more of the same. So my updates and communication could be erratic until this gets sorted out.

If I type quickly though, I'm hoping I can get some things through. So here is my Saturday in pictures.

Saturday morning was laundry day. It was nice outside, and I had a few minutes free. I do laundry a bit differently here, but I still separate my whites from my colors.

Ok, a lot differently. It actually works pretty well. Stomping on the laundry forces the water in and out of it, and then I turn it over and stomp it some more. It comes out cleaner than it went in, and it smells nice, so that's good. I do a cycle with soap, then two rinse cycles. Then I do that over again with my colors.

It was a beautiful day outside, so I was able to put things on the clothesline. My whites are in the sun, my colors are on the porch. They were both dry by the time I got home (late). Because I don't have fabric softener (and maybe other reasons too, I don't know), everything comes off the clothesline a little bit stiff. That goes away when I put it on.

Here's the left side of the stage at church. I was there early because Paul and I were adjusting lights (hence the ladder) and fixing cables. We got everything set up and things went smoothly.

This was my domain for the evening. Between the sound board and the light board, I had a lot of fun.

This is a view of the sanctuary from on top of the video room (the sound board is located up here as well). The praise band is lounging around now, but they were on their feet the rest of the night, so it balanced out. We started with 4 rows of chairs so that people would sit toward the front. By the end of the night, however, we had about 300 people in here. There was a lot of energy and we had a good time praising God.

-Ben

Well, no excuses

Although the power went out earlier this afternoon, it's on for now, so I'm going to post!

I have to admit a lack of intelligence on my part this past week. I'm hoping it'll help you get a little better sense of things here too.

On Wednesday, I went to the grocery store and purchased a number of groceries. Grocery stores are pretty similar to the ones in the US, maybe a bit more crowded. Also, while in Wisconsin I could shop at Pick n' Save, here the best grocery store is Pick n' Pay. Subtle, but it got me.

So I got to the checkout and I did something dumb. I'm actually pretty sure that when I was working at RadioShack, I snickered at someone for. I didn't take out my wallet. The checker rang up all my items and then told me the total and I went, "Oh! Yeah." Yes, I was caught off-guard by the fact that she was expecting me to pay for my groceries.

Anyway, I was so flustered, I forgot to cut my bread. I don't know how common this is around the world, but here we buy loaves of bread whole and we can cut them ourselves at a strange machine outside the store. It's good fresh bread, but I'm not sure if it lasts as long as bread with some sort of preservative in it. I'm not much of a bread connoisseur. So now I have a loaf at home that I have to saw through to get a piece of bread for a sandwich. It's not much of a problem, just funny.

Last night and most of the day tomorrow I'll be spending at church. I'm helping with worship night there tomorrow evening. I'm helping another guy do lights and sound. It brings me back to church worship team and theater. He's a real good guy though, so it's been fun working with him. He's a 22-year-old Zambian and does the tech support for Children's Cup (the care organization linked to the church). So he volunteers his time to help out with tech stuff for the church too. His family is very involved in the church, so he actually had 4 siblings at practice.

Well, I should get home. I'll let you know how everything went on Monday.

-Ben

Some things don't change, some do

Greetings,

This post is about another couple things that are similar and another few that are different in Swaziland. It shouldn't be long, just a couple thoughts in my head (that's more a commitment for me to stay on track than information for you).

Anyway, a Jehovah's Witness just visited the office while Tinashe was in the other room and Bonisille had already left. Apparently they are just as polite as they are in the US. I also didn't want to offend him (still treading carefully in Swazi culture), so I was equally polite and we had an interesting discussion about fish and Alaska. He said he'll come back some Wednesday and we can talk more, but we'll see. Last time Jehovah's Witnesses told me that, I never saw them again (although I had spent an hour troubling them over Paul's letters).

The internet is also on the fritz. Tinashe and I can only connect to certain websites (luckily google is among them and my blog is on google. This seems to point to a problem with the router (already tried different browsers), but Bonisille has no problem. My bet is that it's tied to an outage we had earlier this week when Bonisille talked to the company on the phone and, I'm guessing, changed a setting somewhere. But I haven't figured it out yet, so for now my internet access is limited. It makes me feel a bit like a bad computer technician.

As for different things, they're cows. Now I'm from Wisconsin, so cows are not in any way new for me. I'm used to them and their smell (reminds me of driving through Wisconsin). But cows aren't really used the same way here. They're not milked or butchered or bred. Basically, they wander around all day and come home at night (this is what I've been told; I haven't witnessed cows going home at night, and it seems a bit like snipe hunting). They're a symbol of wealth, and it seems they're highly valued. But it seems like with the amount of cows they have, the cows would contribute to a better life. But it doesn't seem like that's what happens.

I'm not sure how simple that is to change, or if it's even appropriate to try to change it (how sacrosanct are cultural practices?). It just seems like there's a fair amount of wealth present while the people have unmet needs (education and adequate nutrition at least). So that's something I'm trying to figure out at this point, but I'm not sure that I've got enough information or that there's a good answer.

Yesterday three members of the AfricaWorks team from Mozambique came and we showed them around. It was good to talk to them and show off our stuff. Their operation is probably a hundred times the size of ours, but we have some cool stuff.

-Ben