Letter from Swaziland

We received our first letter from Lenhle a few weeks ago, and I thought I would share. Since she’s only 4, her teacher wrote it for her, and in English no less. I found the drawing absolutely adorable, especially the interesting head of the person. It looks as though the teacher wasn’t satisfied with the head that Lenhle drew, so she added it for her! Gave us a good laugh.

Dear John and Melody, Hello. My name is Lindiwe. I’m Lenhle’s Bible club teacher. I’m going to write her this letter because she is not able to write. Her name is Lenhle. She is a girl. She is 4 years old. She lives at Mpolonjeni with her grandmother. She is not at school. She likes playing homes. She likes eating bread with eggs, friend chicken, and rice. She said when she grows up she would like to be a police. Lenhle said have a Merry Christmas. Matthew 1:23. Goodbye, love your child, Lenhle.

I decided to google earth her location… and it looks like Mpolonjeni is a small village which can’t be directly searched for. But the nearest city is Mbabane, Swaziland, which is very close to the village. There’s some articles on Google that even refer to Mpolonjeni and Mbabane as the same region as Mbabane expands its borders. http://www.times.co.sz/News/65316.html. 

The third photo is from a village just south of Mbabane which could portray a village just like Lenhle’s, although there are some articles that state that Mpolojeni housing is a lot of mud and brick.

Swaziland

City of Mbabane

Village outside of Mbabane

The Mpolonjeni Child Development Center is located in Mpolonjeni, a small community west of Mbabane, Swaziland's capital. If they are not subsistence farmers or raising cattle, some adults attempt to find work as day laborers in the city but incomes are sporadic. This area provides special challenges: the rolling hills of Mpolonjeni and higher elevation makes for cooler nights and a frost risk in winter. The children of Mpolonjeni face difficult circumstances on a daily basis, rarely having enough to eat or access to basic health care to treat the chronic skin conditions, intestinal problems, and tuberculosis. HIV/AIDS continues to ravage Swaziland, leaving many children in the care of older siblings or relatives.
The Mpolonjeni Child Development Center provides love and security to children who desperately need stability in their lives. The center provides nutritious meals to combat malnutrition while hygiene training and medical screenings are slowly improving their health. Most importantly, the children of Mpolonjeni are spiritually nourished through Christian education, prayer, and Bible study with caring adult role models. 


I’m just so fascinated by it all! We’ll go there someday to visit her, and spoil her. But until then, this cute little letter will just have to do…
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