Looking at Swaziland through new “old” eyes

The high schools I have been working in are an hour and a half drive from my house and of course I have been down that road hundreds of times but today I went down that road with a new pair of “old” eyes.  Shirley, who lives next door to me, is looking for more children’s home for her organization so she met with Make (mah-gay “Mrs” or “mother”) Simelane (Sim-uh-lahn-ay)and I tagged along.       

 

Make Simelane had said she would wait for us outside her home so we could find her house and as we drove down her road, there was a very elderly woman standing by a gate and I thought “that can’t be her, that must be her mother”.  On the drive out to her home for orphans she pointed out houses of the wives of the former king and told us her amazing story beginning with “Well, the year before Swazi independence…” of how she helped begin Save the Children in Swaziland and soon met with a group of women regularly to discuss and feed the children in the area who were literally starving.  This group of women formed their own organization over 30 years ago that is running today, although Make Simelane is the only original member still living.  Make Simelane lived in the Washington D.C. with her husband, the former Swaziland ambassador.  I was also entertained with black and white pictures of princess Alexandra from England during Swazi Independence with the late King of Swaziland.  Another handmade photo album had a picture of one of the orphans whom she had housed over the last 30 years at his wedding.  “After the children graduate from high school they leave and go and get jobs and we might not here from them again” she smiled “but a few years later we will get a letter in the mail inviting us to their wedding and in the wedding program under ‘parent’s speech’ they have her name or one of the names of the women in the organization”…that brought tears to my eyes.  Most of the women in this country who have all these stories from Swaziland’s past only speak SiSwati so I loved just sitting and listening to her.  Thank you Make Simelane for fanning the flame of my passion for the next generation of this country.