Meeting Human Need
Medical Missions
Eswatini as the unfortunate moniker of the highest per capita rate of HIV/AIDS in the world, along with a top 10 spot for tuberculosis (TB). This, combined with little or no access to basic medical care in the rural areas of the country, makes the need for medical care one of the top priorities for the Eswatini Partnership. We are meeting this need in a few capacities, but most successfully by fielding American medical teams to facilitate opportunities for medical care, specifically through daily clinics in rural communities. Other teams also deliver hospice relief buckets and to the sick and elderly, containing basic supplies. These two opportunities meet one of the most basic needs of the people, and to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
Types of Care
Medical Clinics
The Eswatini Partnership has a goal of sending one explicitly medical team each year to the Kingdom. These clinics provide basic medications and wound care to rural communities who are unable to afford expensive private hospitals, and are unable to travel the far distances to these facilities. Facilitated in conjunction with other medical nonprofits in country, each clinic comes stocked with medications, and care supplies to treat a variety of maladies, including poor vision, aches and pains, and infections. A variety of medical professionals accompany the trip including doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and optometrists. Each day, the clinic changes locations to reach a new group of rural Eswatini, and families walk for miles to receive treatment.
Hospice Bucket Distribution
Another way we are reaching the physical needs of the Swazi people is through the delivery of 5-gallon hospice relief bucketst. Each bucket includes important basic supplies such as aspirin, lip balm, vaseline, lotion, and rubber gloves. These kinds of supplies ease the pain of many elderly and terminally ill patients, and will help provide sanitary conditions for their caregivers. Each bucket is usually delivered in a homestead visit, where the gospel is preached and evangelistic opportunities arise. These buckets, full of safe and sanitary western supplies, provide much needed provisions for the elderly, the terminally ill, and others. Bucket deliveries are often also accompanied by a food parcel delivery for the family.
Construction Projects
Infrastructure in Eswatini is both limited and costly; rural buildings are often made up reclaimed materials, mud, and rocks found in the bush, and cannot withstand the elements. In partnering in the construction of new church buildings and other structures, the Swazi Partnership is equipping Swazi churches to be sustainable. We strive to carefully and strategically build where the need is greatest, and not to just provide funds. The partnership will often match the contributions of the church itself, and provide labor during a short-term trip.
We have both completed, in progress, and planned construction projects. Each project ranges from weeks to years to complete depending on the size of the structure, and the fundraising efforts of the church. The majority of the Baptist churches do have at least semi-permanent structures and are working towards having permanent structures. These buildings provide not only space for worship, but also places of gathering during the week for the community, and space for our medical teams to have clinics during various short-term trips.
Our construction teams are available to partner with local churches to design and build structures from the ground up, and will often help complete an already started project. Each cinderblock must be poured by hand, and individually placed. This work is truly a labor of love, and means so much to the Swazi churches. The opportunity to work alongside our Swazi brothers and sister is not one the Eswatini Partnership takes lightly.