Velebantfu Primary School Teachers

Hey guys! It’s your old friend Jaci down south of the equator. I've been here a year under the HIV/AIDS health educator sector. Even after all that time, I still feel like I’m figuring out what that job title means! What I do know though, is that it’s opened up a lot of doors to do really cool things in my community. I will be coming home in less than a year now. It’s unbelievable and yet I feel like there is still a lot of work to be done. It’s been great and I’ve learned a lot about the people and circumstances of the area I’m living in. Since you guys know me and are my friends and family at home, I want to share my new life with you the concerns of the Velebantfu community and the challenges we are sharing right now.

Quickly, Swaziland is a small, landlocked country inside of South Africa and also partially bordered by Mozambique. With an estimated 40% unemployment rate, Swaziland is struggling to provide a steady income for the families living within the country. Overgrazing, soil depletion, drought, and sometimes floods persist as problems for the future. More than one-fourth of the population needed emergency food aid in 2006-07 because of drought, and nearly two-fifths of the adult population has been infected by HIV/AIDS. Swaziland is leading the world is HIV/AIDS prevalence.

39.4% of the total population is 14 years old and under. That means a lot of the work is in the primary schools all over Swaziland. Affects of poverty begin at an early age here. The life expectancy of the total population is 31.88 years old. Meaning a little less than half of their life was spent in school. This is a sad reality, but good to acknowledge when trying to be affective. Teachers sometimes need to fulfill the needs of children who don’t have parents or adequate caregivers.



The headmaster at my local primary school, Mr. Mamba, is one of the pastors I taught at a two day HIV/AIDS Outreach Workshop I just hosted in September. We’ve talked and expressed our concerns within the community and school children and have had many great conversations. His primary school has established an EFA program (Education for All) to ensure that orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in the area are coming to school without the stresses of finding money for school fees. The government is helping pay for these children. This particular group of children makes up almost half of the schools attendees at my local school. Although minimal school fees are paid by the government for these students, the school depends on the parents, teachers, and community members to provide for their school uniforms, food, hygiene products and other special needs they come with like reading glasses and school materials. It’s not uncommon to find Mr. Mamba and the teachers using their own paycheck to purchase these things for their students after watching their conditions each day. Mr. Mamba has tried his best to cater to the growing needs of the children and teachers under him. They’ve built one teacher’s house to help a few of the teachers financially, constructed a kitchen to provide a meal for the kids (food provided by the World Food Program), and are borrowing an empty church to serve as an extra classroom for the time being. This was all implemented and built by community members, teachers, and parents. With growing attendance of the OVC population, more teachers are needed. The community began to build a four bedroom teacher’s home before the kitchen and classroom projects were presented. Due to the rapidly growing number of primary students, the teacher’s home was put on hold until they could satisfy the other needs of the school first. The teachers now commute back and forth to school every day from all over the area on a very meager salary. Thankfully the kitchen and classroom was completed. Sadly though, the community’s funds have now been exhausted on those projects. The teacher’s home is left incomplete. In order to finish they will need materials for a roof, windows and door frames. As you may know that this is some of the most expensive parts of the structure and since the location is not near a city, these materials are going to be transported into the mountain area where I live. This has been taken into the consideration and we have tried to make the cheapest routes we could without endangering the quality of the structure. The total amount includes all the materials and the transport to get it into southern Swaziland.



I’m really excited because I can see the potential this roofing project could do if funded. I know the people you would be investing in and I would be here for the entire construction period. I also would help them build unless that scares you…I can just watch. :) I can keep you updated on the process and give you pictures of where the money is going if interested. The community members will be doing all the constructing, using their own tools, and also adding what materials they have left.

Once they heard that I was going to try help them and they began clapping their hands with happiness! Up until now, the community and teaching staff have struggled to get what they have with limited outside help. They are excited to think there are people who may care about this project as much as they do. I know they would appreciate any help with this project we’ve developed. With a little less than 70% under the poverty line, you can see where the stress is for the community when trying to make improvements. Its amazing the work they’ve done to the school while their own families are fighting to get by. On the Peace Corps website www.peacecorps.gov/contribute you can find my project. The project number is 645-075. I know it is around Christmas time and it’s a difficult time to find extra cash, but even if you have an idea of how we could fundraise or who may want to partner in this project, we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much! This project will benefit a lot of Swazis. I'm excited to think how much hope we could install in the people here or the great ways we can invest in this project that could will affect hundreds of students, community members, and teachers here in the Velebantfu area.