The end of January is the season of frustration for me. It is the beginning of the school year which should be exciting but ends up being when I feel the most useless!
Government schools in Swaziland cost money. Not a lot to an American, just under $100/year for elementary and $250/year for high school, but for the unemployed or even those that have a job that pays about $5/day, it is out of reach. On top of the fees they have to buy school uniforms that total about $100 (although they can wear it more than one year if they are lucky) How do you decide who you can help and who you can't? Now that I've shared my struggle with this time of year, let me share a success!!
This is Tito.
Tito is 17 years old (he looks 15) and was one of the youth from Mangwaneni CarePoint that Thabo (Cup employee) chose to help make the round cement blocks our Oct. team used for the retaining wall at Fonteyn. The other boys that worked had money credited to thier school fee balance they still owed but Tito said he wasn't in school. He said he wanted to go but couldn't afford it. I told him to see me in January and I would help with school. Instead of just leaving it at that, Tito started coming to the office everyday and going out to work with Thabo. The picture above was when he was helping with the Oasis team. Tito worked without pay everyday from the end of August until school started in January except for Christmas break. He is a hard worker! By November we had promised him that if he continued until school started, we would pay all his fees for next year. He has shown a willingness to work with excellence and with integrity, two of the 6 core values we are working to instill in our young people.
It happened I needed someone to cut my grass early in January. I was able to steal Tito from the work crew that day. When I took him to be trained on my grass cutter (weedeater in the US--that's what they use to cut the WHOLE lawn here) he listened intently. When we got back in my bakki (truck) he exclaimed "I like this!" Tito worked hard that day and we worked out that he would cut my yard on Saturdays and I would buy his school uniform (2 shirts, tie, sweater, pants, shoes and socks). I would pay him to work for me on Saturdays as long as he keeps up in school. In April we will also see about getting him some training at the garden center since he has a passion for yard work. This way he will also have some skills training.
Tito, lives with an "Auntie" and his mother who is very sick. Neither of them would help him find a place in school. Did I mention that even once you have money you must find a school to accept you and it's not necessarily the one closest to your home? (The schools are overcrowded to where there are 50 or more in most classrooms.) Some of our staff helped Tito find a place in a school not too far away and he has started the equivilent of the first year of high school in the US. He is so excited. He has promised to come ask for help if he starts struggling in a subject. Tito attends the HPC church and youth group because Mangwaneni is the one CarePoint close to our HPC Swaziland church. We cannot help them all but we can help some and I know that God has a plan for Tito's life. Pray he grows in his walk with God and becomes a young man God will use to change a generation!!!
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Saturday was definately a happy day as our co-worker Roger married his long time sweetheart Mary!!!. Mary used to be a teacher at our Fonteyn CarePoint when Oasis @ Swaziland was first started. Roger worked with Jacci in our cooks bible study ministry up until last year. Last fall Roger and Mary decided to grow in their relationship with each other, God and in ministry as they signed up for a 6 month Adventures In Missions program. That solidified that they were God's choice for each other. Since returning to Swaziland, Roger has become one of the Healing Place Church pastors. Saturday was a fun day of celebration!!! For all those who find it difficult to remain pure in this day and time, Roger has one thing to say "It's worth the wait!!!!!" .JPG)
Congratulations!!! 
