Stuck in the ghetto: Ryan and I have made several trips to our old carepoint Mangwaneni (a carepoint is a feeding center for OVCs [orphans and vulnerable children]). Ryan made me drive to the carepoint so I could get used to the opposite side driving in Swazi. It was a little scary at first, but […]

SAFE Problems with Arrival?After my passport frenzy, I finally made it on the plane and had a 16 hour flight to Johannesburg. I slept surprisingly well on the plane, watched a few movies, and made friends with two young kids from Botswana to pass the time. Swazi is four hours from Jo-burg, so I had […]

As much as I have been excited and waiting for this upcoming adventure, it has hit me with full force how hard it’s going to be without the immediate comfort of my family and friends that I take for granted all too often. I have two weeks left until my departure, so I’m trying to […]

AND YOU THOUGHT SLAVERY ENDED?Talk about an intense summer read! If you’re bold enough to take on a book that will wrench your heart, but leave you inspired and encouraged at the same time, pick up Half the Sky by Nicholas D. Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn. In their book, Kristof and WuDunn reveal […]

I met the smiling young girl at GuGu’s school, a free school consisting of 14 boys and girls in the Mangwaneni Squatter Camp. Tanele (whom I nicknamed “Tanele-Bell”) soon became one of my favorite children as I saw the dire need she had to be loved. At 12 years old, she had quite the edge […]

To help raise funds for my 9 month stay in Swaziland, I am selling T-shirts for $15. If you would like to order one, contact me at: martin.mary@students.uwlax.edu and let me know how many and what size(s). (There is an additional $2 for shipping.) T-shirt front: “Tinyatselo Tesandla” means “fingerprints” in the African language called […]

The creators of Manzini Youth Care (MYC) started this free school to serve as a bridging source for orphans or street children who have never had the ability to attend school due to poverty. The purpose is to give these disadvantaged out-of-school children a chance to receive primary school education, and ultimately give them the […]