Tengetile and Sna

I think the thing that penetrated my heart the most during my trip was being reunited with Tengetile and getting to finally meet her daughter Sna- who was born on September 13, 2009. For those of you reading my blogs for the first time… Tengetile was my very dear friend that I met doing ministry at the craft market during my last trip. We created a strong friendship while I was in Swaziland, I was even able be apart of her baptism. To say the least I really missed her during the year and 10 months it took me to get back to Africa. For the first week we were over there I tried and tried to call and get ahold of her but wasn’t very successful. Finally on Saturday night a few days before leaving we arrived back at the hotel after dinner and she was sitting on the steps of the hotel WAITING FOR ME! Lets just say I got an amazing Swazi welcome. She looks exactly the same- and extremely healthy. I was able to introduce her to the group and sit and talk with her for over an hour. I learned that she is taking a break from working at the craft market and is working at a bottle shop to save money to build a home for her family ( she currently lives with her mother). She told me all about Sna, who is now 6 months old and ADORABLE! I didn’t meet her until the next morning however.

 

She shared some extremely sad news with me, that once again reminds me how much I need to be praying for the people of Swaziland and the AIDS epidemic.  A woman named Buksiwe that I knew because she had a craft shop right next to Tengetile passed away this summer. And also Auntie Gloria ( another woman at the market) is not working there anymore due to sickness. Please keep her in prayer, she is such an amazing and kind lady. I really pray she is healed.