The Kingdom of Swaziland!
Monday, October 2nd, 2006The Kingdom of Swaziland is a small country that is sandwiched between the eastern border of South Africa and the south and western border of Mozambique. Swaziland was formerly an English colony I believe and gained it’s independence in the 1960’s. It is ruled by a King and although due to it’s proximity to South Africa is quite different. Sadly, like alot of African countires, Swaziland has been hit hard by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. People view Swaziland as the perfect example of what happens to a country when the issue of HIV and AIDS is not addressed in anyway. More than 60% of the people in Swaziland are affected with HIV or AIDS, mindboggling! People in Swaziland have the mind set of, outta sight outta mind. Most fear how their life will change if they get tested and find out that they are positive. Some of the treatments are free but the costs in getting to the hospitals and clinics is sometimes too much for people. They feel that if they don’t know then essentially nothing is wrong. It is estimated that by the year 2010 the life expectancy in Swaziland will approximately be 27 years of age, yes, 27 years of age. I’m 27 right now and i tell you it’s extremely scary to think about that. There are so many orphans right now in Swaziland and the numbers will continue to grow. When I heard some of the information I just shared with you i was absolutely floored. How sad and disturbing is it that people live in such conditions and continue to smile and go about life as if there is nothing wrong. It always struck me that when I would be in the grocery store that probalby more than half of the people I was shopping with would probably be dead in a few years.
Aside from the bad stuff there is alot of good stuff in Swaziland. It really is a beautiful country and quite safe. Most of the people in Swaziland are descendants of the royal blood line and it’s more like a small community than a country. The King himself is only in his 30’s and has many wives along with many children. The consensus on the King is that people either love him or hate him. He spends rather freely without much regard to the affects it may have on his country.
I spent 4 nights in Swaziland and truly enjoyed it. I felt very safe and the people were great. On my first day I did a day tour of the area with some people at the guesthouse. We went and visited some of the markets and went to have lunch and swim at a waterfall. We saw some local dancing and storytelling and got a tour of a local village. One of the days I went to do a game drive in one of the many game parks in Swaziland. Got close and personal with a group of lions. One Lion in particular my guide informed me was from Kruger National Park in South Africa. As i sat in the front seat and viewed her as she looked like she was ready to pounce on the car my guide informed me that she had attacked a game vehicle while in Kruger and punctured it’s tire and waited for someone to exit the vehice, how comforting.
My last day in Swaziland was spent wandering about with a few people from the guesthouse. It’s quite easy to walk to the road and hitch a ride on a mini-bus and get to wherever you need to go for very cheap. We went into the capital city of Mbabane and had a look around and finished the day at one of the markets not too far from our guesthouse. I loved the woman at the markets as they were so friendly and welcoming. I loved to have a look around in their shops and have some small talk. They loved to hear about where I was from and were always eager to give me the best price on any of the items I inquired about.
My time in Swazliand was extremely enjoyable. What a great little country full of all kinds of surprises and great people. I wish I could have spent more time but my days in Africa were coming to an end and it was time to go back to Johannesburg to fly out to London.
Gagnonius