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!