Turmoil and unrest in Eswatini
As a friend and supporter of our sports ministry program and the overall ministry of Adventures in Missions here in Eswatini (Swaziland) we wish to extend our heartfelt appreciation for your support and prayers.The past month of June has been what i will personal refer to turmoil and unrest.
The past three months will appear in the history books of Eswatini. In May a young aspiring law student was shot killed at late night while driving to visit his mother. It has been presumed that police officers are responsible for his brutal and heinous murder. Sadly, no arrests have been made as yet.The government heeded to pressure from political parties, three outspoken members of parliament, students and pressure groups and eventually an inquest was set up to bring into account all the suspected culprits.As it stands a number of individuals have appeared before the inquest committee and a decision has not yet been made. This incident triggered petitions for political reforms.And in the history of Eswatini, the monarchy abrogated the constitution of 1968 and banned political parties.For a number of years there was no constitution until 2005.However there are a number of clauses which provides for the monarchy to fully control or make decisions on behalf of the government. As a result, the current generation of young people are up in arms for political reforms which will partly strip the monarchy some powers for instance the appointment of a prime minister.The banning of the petitions led to violent strikes and protests with an estimated forty-five unarmed individuals killed in the different parts of the country. As we stand a new Prime Minister was recently appointed by the king. This was a huge surprise and a smack or slap to those who were calling for the political reforms.For in depth details visit https://www.newframe.com/the-voice-of-the-people-rises-in-eswatini/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkB181JYdTU.
In light of the above analysis, am kindly requesting for prayers for Eswatini and South Africa. Our requests is for peace and that the will of the Father be done. I will reserve comments for the developments in South Africa but briefly state that the insurgence or insurrection had a huge impact to Eswatini.We experiences shortage of petrol and diesel with winding queues.But it was not in anyway compared to the Zimbabwe situation of 2002 and beyond and the empty shelves.However there was panic for fuel.But things have normalised.
We miss our normal routines of playing sport, as human beings we were never knitted to be in locked down. However, we are now used to the circumstances. And we have adopted new approaches of consolidating relationships with our disciples or players. In the past months, despite the disruptions the Life Coaches have been meeting in small groups deliberating on discovery Bible study. As it stands there are four key leaders who were identified to lead small teams according to communities. We have plans to add more activities to the discovery Bible study groups, namely analysis of matches and fatherhood sessions.We hope this will keep our disciples engaged.Lately they have been braking the pandemic rules by playing soccer in the bushes where the law enforcers can never reach them.This past quarter we celebrated the stellar achievement of two of our disciples who passed their academics and are ready to enrol and study at any of our tertiary institutions and four who are enrolled and studying, celebrating consistency and encouraging them to even do better and raise the standard and bar for the rest of their team mates.
However not all of our disciples or players will end up in tertiary institutions, this is a hard fact and as a result there is an agriculture project i have embarked on to experiment and test its success. The plot or land is in Malkerns south west of Manzini, a hub of agriculture.There is availability of water and it is nearby to the capital city and Manzini. At the end of the week i will be planting green mealies (10000 square meters) and will sell to street vendors and the general public by end of October or beginning of November.In November the plan is to plant different varieties of vegetables.In the nearby future if this project is successful my goal is to involve some of our disciples or players.It is an opportunity which may sustain our disciples or players considering a number of people who are sustaining themselves through agriculture.This will also address unemployment and most probably shift the mindsets from farming marijuana or dagga which has had an adverse impact during the past twelve months or so.
As a family we recently celebrated Lubabalo Keagan’s third birthday, he is growing fast and was coping well in his junior class his interactive skills are improved as a result. Sadly, the classes were abruptly disrupted due to the third wave of the pandemic and the political unrest. We invited our close friends for the third birthday celebrations and “sadly” the event turned to be a couples outing and a voice came into my spirit to pioneer a group of couples to meet, engage, share our success stories and challenges in the journey of marriage life.It was peculiar in the group of couples present in that all of us are all involved in ministry and to an extent we are trend setters with either spouse having been raised in a fatherless home.Personal the issue or scourge of fatherlessness is my enemy and it can be addressed wounds of the past healed.It is my hope that someday we will pioneer a group of couples or men to engage each other on how best we may empower each other on becoming better husbands, fathers and men.
In addition as a family we wish to extend our heartfelt appreciation to our supporters who have given their hard-earned funds towards our personal budget as we serve in Eswatini.Siyabonga Tatenda thank you, may the Lord richly bless you and you are always in our prayers consistently. However, this past April our support declined to $150, two of our supporters had committed to give $200 for twelve months. We are praying and inviting one, two, three or more supporters so as to meet our goal $350 per month.
Any amount of $10, $20, $40, $50, $60, $70, $80, $90, $100 or plus will be greatly appreciated towards our monthly support and the once off project through the Adventures In Missions support platform. As a family we fully understand the negative impact of COVID 19 with a number of job losses, and we are trusting on the Lord that He is our ultimate provider and will see us all through this season. For further details please visit this link with our first blog update xolanimoyo.myadventures.org. As i conclude this update Sandisile is struggling with a covid 19 infection, me and Keagan tested negative and are taking all the necessary precautions.
We will continually provide feedback through this blog of the latest updates for both ministry and family.
May the Lord bless you.
The Moyo tribe serving in Eswatini
