A kombi is a small van that somehow fits 20 people inside and is the main form of public transport in Swaziland.
To get an idea of how this affects Swaziland, imagine all of the cabbies in New York going on strike. While there are more of them, it's probably equal relative to the smaller population of Swaziland. Except that more people use public transportation here than in New York. In NY, there are taxis everywhere, but they're mostly empty. In Swaziland, they're still everywhere, but they're all full. So when all the drivers go to one spot, don't work, and burn tires to block roads, there's a major problem. One child was killed when police fired tear gas towards the protesters, and a number of protesters were injured by the tear gas, live and rubber bullets, and whips used by the police. So that wasn't good. But the protests mostly died down and the kombis were back at work today.
I was hoping to get to the village today to take some pictures and such, but because it's cold and rainy today, we had our meeting with the farmers here. It was a good time for us to go over the most recent cycle and discuss it with them. There are a few areas where it feels like we're pulling teeth, and I talked to Tinashe about it afterwards, impressed with how calmly he handled them. He just explained that they're family, and I immediately had to repent of my impatient feelings. Which of us wouldn't explain a concept over and over and over again to a family member (for that matter, which of us hasn't!)? You just keep explaining until they understand.
Slowly, so slowly, God is teaching me how to love others as he loves them. And someday, when people are complaining about the fees they're paying on the income that I've just worked extremely hard to help them earn, I hope that I'll be as calm as Tinashe in explaining that we charge fees because it's not free for us to finance them, set up inputs, train them, etc. Today, however, I was simply reminded I've got a long way to go.
-Ben
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